:: verypurpleperson :: - Part 30

Apron and bandanna set

February 4th, 2009 | bags and purses

Before leaving kindergarten and entering entering elementary school next April, Sidra and his classmates will cook lunch for the whole school next week. For this occasion, the kids have to wear apron and bandanna which have to be submitted to school by tomorrow.

I didn’t have the chance to buy fabrics because I still got the flu, so I pulled out some leftover from past projects and made this set. The fabric is dark denim (leftover from this dress) and some linen/cotton with red stripes on it (leftover from this bag).

Instead of using ties, the apron bands are attached by a pair of buttons on the side. I think it’ll be easier for Sidra to put it on by himself. The letters on the apron are made of red felt with adhesive backing. I print some letters on paper, attached them upside down to the backing of the red felt and cut it out. Then I peeled off the backing and just stick and iron the letters on the apron.

The bandanna doesn’t need to be tied either, I put some elastic to the band so Sidra can just slip it on. I also made a small bag in coordinating fabric to carry the apron and bandanna. As usual, Sidra wants his helmet beetles (kabuto-mushi) everywhere, so there’s one on the apron, one on the bandanna, and one on the bag.

For a leftovers project, I guess they turned out not bad at all.

The Owl and the snake

January 26th, 2009 | kidswear

Sidra has been down from influenza and skipped school for several days. Today is the fourth day and he’s feeling much better, but the first two days were really bad, so he (and I) was really sad. To cheer him up, I knitted these two animals.

The snake is also a scarf, using the same wool yarn as Sidra’s red cable mittens. Because I only had one skein left, the snake turned out to be pretty short. The owl is knitted with the organic wool sent by Ms. N the other day. I used fabric scraps from Sidra’s shirt to stuff it. The fabric scraps are very soft and in the same colour as the yarn so it wouldn’t show, and I also don’t have to have fibres peeking out from the owl.

In the original pattern, the owl’s eyes were actually the other way around so it looks like sleeping, but Sidra turned the eyes upside down. He said he wanted his owl to smile.

Sidra is very happy with these two, so when he started feeling better, he made two houses for his new ‘pets’.

Snake pattern is Toddler Snake Scarf by crazycatladymel
Owl pattern is Snoozing Ned by Lucinda Guy

Red cable mittens

January 19th, 2009 | kidswear

After seeing me with my grey mittens, Sidra promptly requested a pair of similar mittens with ‘snakes’, but in different color. There’s some red wool in my stash, so I use it to make Sidra’s request.

I couldn’t find any pattern that fit the yarn or the cable pattern, so I bravely decided to create my own, based loosely on Bella’s Mitten pattern that I used for my grey mittens. And just for fun, the left one has a strip of grey, while the right one has a grey thumb. The pattern was just made up as I was knitting it, but stupidly enough I didn’t take any notes. As it can be seen here, the top parts of the mittens are not the same because I forgot the decreases order. I also think that the mittens are a bit too short.

Although they are not perfect, Sidra was absolutely happy with his mittens. He wears them everyday now.

I have holes on my dress

January 19th, 2009 | womenswear

Due to my newest addiction to knitting and crocheting and the dropping temperature in the sewing room, I’d been taking a break from the sewing machine for quite some time. But yesterday, I suddenly got the urge to sew again, so I made this quick project. The fabris is the same type as my husband’s and Sidra’s long-sleeved shirts, only that mine is grey.

This is sort of my experiment in making a clothing that can be worn in more than one way. It started as a long dress with empire line. I traced a long-sleeves shirt of mine to make the pattern of the top part. The lower part is just a wide rectangle sewed on the sides. Then I cut two big holes near the bottom of the dress, using a plastic container as a guide. There you go!

Now I can wear it as a long dress with mysterious holes on the side, and when I don’t want to trip over, I just fold the lower part and slip those holes on my shoulders. As the fabric doesn’t fray a bit, I left the necklines and hem just the way they are.

Not really a winter outfit, I suppose. But I really like it!

Grey things

January 19th, 2009 | knit and crochet

I finally finished the grey scarf that I mentioned in this post. The yarn is grey wool with little bits of colorful tweed on it, knitted in 3.5 mm knitting needles. So far, it is the smallest needles that I’ve used and it sure took a long time as I wanted a long scarf. At the end, the finished piece used up all three skeins that I had and is measured about 12×200 cm after blocking. I learnt a lot of things while making this scarf, and I must say that I’m quite proud with it, the lacey pattern is looking so pretty.

These wool yarns in 3 different colors were supposed to be Sidra’s sweater, but it turned out that I have no patience in knitting a clothing. The same row after row after row and after 6 rows (errr), I lost my patience. So I use the grey yarn to make a pair of mittens and a hat for myself.

The pattern of the mittens is said to be inspired by a pair worn by the female protagonist in the movie ‘Twilight’. I’m no fan of the movie and haven’t seen it myself, but the mittens are very pretty. The pattern is very nicely written and clear. These mittens also gave me the chance to learn using cable needles, that I haven’t ever used before.

The original pattern of the hat doesn’t have cables, but I add some because I really like those cables effects. Now that I can make it, I want to use it everywhere! Anyway, the hat was knitted up really quick and finished last night. Before blocking, the shape was really weird, a bit like stiff mushroom on my head and I was a bit turned off. But then I blocked it over a dinner plate, and it turned into this nice slouchy things.