Wednesday, March 18, 2009

Tying Up Loose Ends

The first thing I wanted to do with my sewing machine was finish the bibs I started with my mom's machine. I had completed the bib part, but didn't have Velcro to sew on by the time mom asked for her machine back.

I used the Chickpea Sewing Studio pattern. Cotton fabric is on the front and terrycloth is on the back. I just sewed the Velcro (learned the hard way to use the non-sticky!) inside the neck straps. The curves aren't great, but they were good practice. I'm happy enough with them that I'll gladly give them as baby shower gifts.



I'm not the only one enamored with the sewing machine. Pi practiced a bunch of the decorative stitches. I'm going to have to find a pattern that is easy enough for us to do together because her interest is really piqued.



When looking for a subway knitting project, I noticed that nearly all the in-the-round patterns require DPNs. I don't have any DPNs right now, so I opted for a regular pattern. This Ballet Style Sweater is might be a bit over-zealous for me, but I like a challenge. I'm using Bernat Softee Chunky.



The recommended needle size is a 10 for the larger one. I did swatch after swatch and discovered that I need a 13 to hit gauge! Crap, I knit even more tightly than I thought!

Side note: Its not a good idea to burn leaves in a backyard if you live in a super urban neighborhood. Some tart burned leaves in his backyard and the whole block and my apartment smells like fire. The fire department even showed up to the tart's house to see what was going on. Hubby and I could hear them yelling at the tart not to do it anymore. Just a reminder that fire = bad.

Sorry I missed Tuesday's Tribute yesterday. It was a busy day.

8 comments:

Andrea Moberly said...

Nice job on the bibs! I love that Pi's getting into it too. I can totally see my kids being interested in sewing, but I just don't trust a 3 and 5 yr old and pointy needles... maybe in a year or so!

T. Joi said...

Handmade bibs are so much better than the purchased ones. I love the fact that Pi is so crafty. I hope Z takes an interest in crafts when she is older. She thinks she is crocheting now but she is only 3...

Kristina P. said...

I love that Pi is so into sewing too! I'm sure she will have her own crafty blog in no time.

Laura said...

Wow, Pi is dong pretty good on the sewing machine! My daughter's Girl Scouts troop earned their fabric arts badge recently, and one of the projects they did was sewing fleece chemo caps for a local children's hospital. Something like that might be easy and fun for Pi.

I love the bibs - very cute! And I'm amazed and how you've just jumped right into knitting and sewing, and are doing so well already. I'd love to learn how to do both, but honestly, both scare me, ha, ha! I can't even figure out how to cast on in knitting, and I can't even cut a straight line on a piece of paper, so I can't imagine being able to cut out pieces for a pattern without mangling them!

Anonymous said...

The bibs are awesome! I envy you and Pi, getting to pla on the machine. I really wish hubby would buy me one, but he won't.

Laura said...

This looks like the pattern my daughter's troop used:

http://www.headhuggers.org/patterns/spatt01.htm

Subway Hooker said...

I am not a DPN fan. At. All. They are really tricky to use. However, there is a technique called the magic loop method that has me happily doing all my otherwise DPN tasks without the tears, heartache, and dropped needles. I highly recommend giving that a shot. There are tons of videos on YouTube that clearly show you how to do it.

And major congrats on the knitted scarf - it's so beautiful!

And doubleplusgood on the sewing!! You're doing an amazing job! Pi is so lucky to have a mom like you as her role model!!

Anonymous said...

The bibs turned out great! I know you're happy to be able to finish them. Yeah, I did the sewing of the adhesive velcro. The needle got sticky and would get stuck while I tried to sew it on. Later, I think I read on the package that it wasn't supposed to be used to sew on!

Sew Piper Sew!!!!!