Coco Funnel Neck Top

I finally took some pictures! Not that the weathers been helping, it tried really hard to give us some proper snow on Sunday, but all we ended up with was a teeny weeny bit that settled. Not even enough for a day off school!

The good weather does mean I've been trying to expand my jumper collection though. This one was made with some left over fabric from a "top secret" Minerva Crafts Project. Its a lovely stretch fabric with a bobble and sequin texture, you can find it here. I was particularly drawn to it because black fits into my wardrobe really well and because the sequins just make it a bit more fun really don't they?

The pattern is the Coco Dress by Tilly and the Buttons. But this is the jumper version with the cuffs and the collar. Its the perfect jumper for lounging around in!

I really like the funnel neck it gives the jumper a sort of french vibe. Or at least I think it does. I definitely needed some more tops in my wardrobe and I'll need a whole set more when summer rolls around!

All in all I love this make. It only took me a little while to run up but it was worth every second. I wear it all the time and I'm hoping that it will be light enough to wear in the spring as well. 

In other news! 

I've taken pictures of two other makes today and I have a whole night of sewing ahead of me tonight. 

I baked cookies today. Because I wanted a cookie. Which seems a bit excessive now I think about it but I do really like cookies! 

I'm working my way up to my next big knit. I have the wool and I've chosen a pattern I just need to find the motivation to start it! 

Much Love

Frankie 

xxx

Vertical Stripe Jumper

When I started this blog I swore that I would try and document all of my sewing projects the good the bad and the ugly. However I'm not sure if this falls into the bad or ugly category? The sewing isn't bad so I'm going to say its the ugly.

I look like a 70's referee. The vertical stripes did not work at all. There wasn't really a thought process behind this, more of a look I have some weird shaped fabric off cuts lets see what I can make from them. I didn't even have enough for the bands! So I used some turquoise jersey from sew essential. The stripe itself is from abakhans, I found it in one of the bargain bins! 

I used the threadcount wardrobe builder cardigan pattern but cut the front on the fold. I can't even remember what the pattern number is and I refuse to stand up and walk across the room to look. This project does not deserve a walk across the room. [I just looked in my notebook and apparently its threadcount 1607] 

Construction wise the main stuff was done on my over locker and the top stitching was done on my regular machine. It took no time at all to sew, but still turned out hideous!!! 

All in all its a pretty god awful jumper isn't it? That said I'll probably still wear it when its winter and I;m freezing my bum off on the walk to school. Plus I had no wasted fabrics so that's a bonus? Although now I'm wondering if I should just start binning my weird off cuts? or donating them to my sons school! 

So yeah that's today's make,

In other news I'm planning my next quilt. We don't need another quilt but I seem to have amassed quite the collection of fabric scraps so I guess its going to happen!!!!

Much Love

Frankie

xxx

Wool and the Gang - #doubletroublejumper

Okay so I've reached the point where I think its impossible to hate something you've spent HOURS knitting. I mean after putting all that effort in only to decide something is hideous seems a bit like sacrilege really doesn't it?

That's the journey I had with this jumper. My problems started when the Hayfield Bonus chunky I ordered from Hobbycraft was a bit more orange than I was expecting. The name Paprika should have given it away but in my defence it did look red on the website.

 

The pattern I chose was the double trouble jumper by wool and the gang. Its a free pattern which to be honest is pretty much how I like my knitting patterns to be! [BTW they actually have quite a few free patterns on their site so its definitely worth a look] I didn't use their recommended wool "wool me tender" because I had a voucher for hobbycraft so it made sense to use the equivalent weight from their.  

I started it on valentines day and finished it in bed last week when I was feeling poorly. Because of the chunky wool and the size 8mm needles the whole thing knits up pretty quick which is very satisfying.

Knitting up wise it was an absolute breeze, there was no complicated instructions and the only trouble I ran into was when I went to cast on the sleeves. They tell you to cast on 25 stitches and knit the rib pattern but I kept getting moss stitch, In the end I just cast on 26 stitches and decided I;d fix any problems with the stitch count afterwards. 

The other issue I had was that after I'd shaped the sleeves it says to knit another 50/60 [I can;t quite remember] rows and well that just seemed like a lot! I think I did about 15 and then cast off and well as you can see the sleeves are pretty long! I'm not sure if this is a pattern error or just because I didn't use the recommended wool but either way if you do make it its worth taking a look at your sleeve length as you go.  

The same applies to the fit as you can see its pretty slouchy on me [More room for cake] and I knit the smallest size so I'm not sure if its because of my wool choice. Naturally I didn't do a swatch test!

This is the best part of the pattern, whilst its simple in the front it is PARTY in the back! I love this detail! Although I would recommend wearing a crop top or a bralette underneath because when you bend forward it does gape quite a lot.

I can see it being the perfect jumper to fly with though because the open back means its really really easy to get on and off meaning you won't disturb your possibly sleeping neighbours too much!

The other thing I did differently was to crochet the collar and not knit it by picking up stitches. Picking up stitches it a pet hate of mine and I'm lazy so I just crocheted one.

All in all I kind of like it? At first I hated the collar and the whole thing just hung so stiff but after I popped it in the wash it softened up got a great slouchy vibe. I'm definitely going to make myself another one in a cream colour or a grey because its super duper warm and cosy!!! And surprisingly I actually really enjoyed knitting it! 

In other news me and Rikki went on a date to Alton towers water park yesterday. It was so nice to spend a day just the two of us and as we are both big kids we really enjoyed it!!

Much Love

Frankie 

xxx 

#Sewcialist Sweater Refashion

I'm not sure if you can actually call this a refashion, Its more of a garment spruce up!

It all started out with this simple sweatshirt, we had popped over to Rikki's Nan and Grandads for a visit and so his Aunty Di could do my hair and as it goes Grandad was getting rid of two of these jumpers one in black and one in blue. Nan offered them to Rikki who said no because he doesn't really wear jumpers to be honest and she was like "okay I'll charity shop them then" 

AHEM! [waves furiously for attention] I'll take them off your hands! Mainly I just liked the idea of having another jumper to lounge around in but after sometime I though it might make a cool refashion project!

So I cut out a piece of jersey the width of the chest, and chose myself a hashtag , My inspiration for this came from love sewing magazine who made these cute bags one issue. I wrote the hashtag out in chalk and found myself a paint brush.

I didn't have any fabric paints so I used model paint that we brought when Rikki went through his modelling phase [not blue steel modelling, making little cars modelling]. I'm guessing that it wont wash out because it never washed out of his jeans?

I painted the whole word trying to keep it even.

Pinned it too the front of my sweater, popped on a walking foot and lightening stitched it on!

Do I look cool? I was going for a trendy, like a, I live in topshop and drink starbucks kinda vibe.

I was wearing it with short shorts but then I took some pictures and realised that having so much chocolate in the house over Easter has not been my friend! So I switched to jeans!

I feel comfy which I think matters more than feeling trendy.

I think if I were to do it again I would make the slogan smaller so it goes less into my armpits! Saying that sewcialist is a pretty big word so maybe it has to be this way!

All in all I'd say its not a bad little spruce up in my humble opinion and I think it looks pretty cool! Although I do wonder if its a bit too cool for a mother who likes to be in bed at half nine and has an addiction to tea! It also kind of reminds me of the 90s which might be my favourite decade, I could definitely see my sister wearing this at like 16.

In other news you may have noticed my hair is back to being blonde! After growing all of the god awful red colour out, my hair still seemed dark so Rikkis Aunty Di was kind enough to put highlights in for me.

I say kind enough... she tortured me for god knows how long! Have you ever heard of a highlighting method called "using a cap"? Nope? Me neither. Well as it goes "using a cap" is where a condom like thing is put on your head and then small sections of hair are pulled through small holes individually with a thing that looks like a crochet hook. Then colour is applied leaving you with a beautiful head of even natural looking highlights!

Hurts like a MOTHER! Omg I had tears streaming down my face I'm not sure if I was laughing or crying but sweet Jesus, there are literally no words to describe it. That or I'm just a massive wuss! Which wouldn't surprise me! Although my tattoo did hurt less.....just saying!

Anyway afterwards [and after a quick trim] it was worth it because my hairs cute again! and I'm blonde! And according to Grandad my new hair made me extra SASSY! But I think he's just upset because me and Rikki won at cards!

Anyway if you want to see my new hair pop over to my instagram where I've been posting far too many selfies recently!

Much Love

Frankie

xxx

Winter is coming.....

I don't want to alarm you but when I woke up this morning, well, there was a distinct chill in the air. 

Yes a chill

And yesterday a quick trip to the shops left me looking like this . 

Thats right folks, winter is coming, put away those flip flops and dust off your winter wardrobe. 

I don't have a winter wardrobe , in fact when I was at college a friend commented that my transition from summer to winter involved wearing thick tights and a scarf. But that was the good old days, when a puppy dog look in the right direction meant I had a lift to school and didn't have to brave the weather. 

However me and lil knitwit, we walk to nursery, and I mean 20 minute walk. 30 minutes if he's grouchy/tired. In fact it's that much of a walk that I destroyed my winter boots last year, the soles came away and they had to be binned! 

But anyway it's got me thinking about my winter wardrobe and winter fashions. And here's a few things I want to make/buy/steal from relatives this year. 

I want a hat like this, something with a seventies hippy vibe, but preferably in a dark brown/black. 

And I'm going to attempt to make myself a slouchy beanie. There's a few patterns online I just need to find a nice grey wool I like. 

I'm seeing this is a darker grey or black knit with the bones appliquéd on. 

A tartan skirt, I did have some left over tartan poly cotton but I wasn't sure it would hold up to being a wiggle skirt. (Read: my backside would have destroyed it!) 

A grandad jumper, complete with fake leather buttons and chunky cables! Every year I say I'm going to make one for myself and every year I bottle it. Note to self: must be braver, or create knitting monkeys to do it for me. 

A leather jacket, I have a brown one but my sister has a black leather jacket she's getting rid of so there might be a refashion on the books! 

Cable socks, yet again my lack of knitting skill and dedication lets me down. 

I just really love the heart elbow patches!

Stag jumper, send like a pretty simple appliqué project if I can find the right jumper. 

Anchor jumper, ditto

So yeah winter is coming and I'm already preparing myself for cold mornings and wet hair ! 

Much love

Frankie

X

Valentines jumper refashion!

I love valentines day! I know it's gimmicky  but a day that includes flowers and chocolate can never be bad in my opinion. And seen as mr Knitwit is exactly verbal about his emotions it's nice that's there's a day that forces him to be. 

Saying that this year I will be spending the morning with the other live of my life little Knitwit, waking Rikki up in the afternoon, packing him off to work and spending the rest if the evening watching gossip girl and sewing! 

Yerp looks like I'll have to be romantic all by myself this year, but I'll still need something snazzy to wear! 

(I'd like to say i don't do a valentines refashion every year, I'm not that sad! So I'm blaming the mind numbing amount of cough medicine I ingested last night) 

I started with this

Cue a new neckline

Oh that's a bit low! I'm gonna need a vest top! 

And some bias binding 

A lil bit of love 

And some hand sewing 

Some placement 

And voila finished!

It's super tacky but also kind of adorable! And I can't wait to see me knitwits face when I wake him up wearing this! 

 

I chain stitched the "I". The "you" I'd running stitch and the heart is appliqué.

But this is the best bit! 

I'm so soppy 

And apparently not sick of him yet! Sometimes I even astound myself! 

Much love

Frankie

Xxx

Is it an A? Is it a rocket ship? No actually it isn't..

This is embarrassing, there's nothing worse than the thin line between success and failure, but more in that later! 

Welcome to a first for my blog! A step by step refashion!!! (I'm not calling it a tutorial becuase I think that pretty hard for refashioning, unless you stalk me and find an identical jumper , and identical buttons, and fabric....  You weirdo) 

Anyway I started with this! 

A too small mr Knitwit jumper, in grey in a lightweight knit fabric.

I took out the faux tee shirt thing (let's all just take a moment to giggle about the fact it looks like knickers) 

And removed the buttons! Meh still hideous! 

So I cut a new neckline and stitched on some bias binding. 

Which I then folded back in! This wirks in two ways you get a clean edge and (hopefully) your garment won't fray. 

Voila! There's a little bit if bagging at the neckline but I like the slouchy look! 

Next I channelled my inner old man and decided elbow patches were the way to go. Luckily I have some faux leather ones in my stash so used that as a template for my new ones (using scraps from my mimi blouse fabric) 

I cut interfacing the same size and stitched up up pairs. 

Next I hand stitched them to my elbows on the jumper (it's worth trying on for this, my elbows are not where I thought they were) 

Now I decided I needed a lil something more! 

I folded a peice of paper in half to get a semetrical shape and voila! 

  

I drew the shape on my top using the template and cut a fabric one which I then covered in buttons! And then stitch to the top by hand! 

Please excuse how awful I look , the boys have been poorly and mama is exhausted. 

Now here's my problem , I wanted an Eiffel Tower ! Which I think it looks like! Mr Knitwit however says I'm channeling Alvin from Alvin and the chipmunks and lil Knitwit keeps saying it's a rocket ship! 

What do you think? 

Much love 

Frankie 

Xxx