Stash Avalanche

Granny squares Giveaway winner

Thank you everyone for all your entries and comments on the granny squares giveaway.

I had a quick trip to Random.org and...

... number 25 is Dawn who said

 

There'll be an email in your in-box very shortly, Dawn.

Giveaway - last chance

Hurry, hurry! You've got about two hours left to comment before I close comments.

KCW: More trousers

I ended up having more of a KCW fortnight than a week and emerged with another two pairs of trousers for Stashlet and that Casual Lady dress you saw me grumping in the other day (not very KWC admittedly).

I used Blank Slate Patterns' Coastal Cargos pattern and based on Stashlet's waist measurement made a size 4T even though the boy is only 2 and a bit! Strangely the first pair fit him fine while the second pair (cut to exactly the same pattern) is a bit big in the waist but wearable with a belt*.

The first pair were made with an old pair of M&S linen trousers. The seam down the front came with the original trousers and I thought it would add a bit of interest.

The fabric wasn't great to work with and a few of the pieces ended up vaguely off straight grain because no matter how much I pinned them things seemed to move.

I made this pair exactly as the pattern (ie. all the pockets - front, cargo and welt) and all I missed off was the bias on the leg seams because some how I completely managed to miss the fact that I would need bias binding.

Look - you can just see the little cars of the lining fabric here. I love putting little secret things in like this.

The second pair were made from some lovely beach-y Ikea fabric which is a heavier weight cotton that the floppy linen. I wanted a quick make for these so I only put the front pockets on - back patch pockets might make it on at a later date.

These are also 2" shorter than the linen pair (which taught me that half a metre is not enough for trousers these days!) but still need a bit of rolling up to be wearable - not much of a surprise given the 4T sizing.

The pattern is graded as an intermediate project and I would say that although it is pretty straightforward there are a few places where a bit more advice would be useful or the photos don't exactly match what you're doing (I put this down to different sizes more than anything else).

That said, in general, it is an excellent pattern and the fact that it comes together quickly and goes up to a size 8 years means I will be making plenty more of them. By the way, Melly at Blank Slate Patterns is giving away three patterns as part of SMS's Giveaway Day week so if you like the look of them you could even win them for yourself.

Linking up with Make It Wear It today and Show and Tell Tuesday next Tuesday.

Happy Thursday everyone!

* edit 12-05-12  Mystery solved! I just went to put them in the wash and discovered that I had forgotten to put the elastic in the back waist band - no wonder they needed a belt.

 

Granny squares giveaway

Despite the fact that I'm not that big on granny squares, I had a phase a few years ago where I was frantically crochetting them at every opportunity but without any thought out goal in mind.

I think it was pre-Stashlet and I was planning to have a girl (ha! as if you can plan such a thing!) and had great-but-vague ideas of cardigans and cot blankets. Anyway, I crocheted a whole heap of squares in pink and then got rather overwhelmed with the thought of blocking them all and put them aside for a more enthusiastic time.

Well, I've come to my senses. They are totally lovely (if you ask me, of course!) but I am never going to do anything with them so I thought it might be a nice idea for someone out there in blogland to have them and do something beautiful with them instead.

And it's Giveaway week Day all this week - what a coincidence!

There are 57 of the ones with the dark pink centres, 18 of the ones with the pale pink centres and 10 of the all-pale-pink. They're crocheted in Patons' 100% Cotton - I had a brain freeze when I bought the yarn so the cerise is DK and the other two are 4 ply but it doesn't seem to have had too bad an effect on the finished square - and I think they'll make about a 5.5cm square when they're blocked. So enough for a child's cardigan, scarf or small blanket.

This giveaway is open to everyone everywhere so if you would like to have a chance of winning the squares, just let me know what the weather's like in your part of the world and/or what you might do with them, and I'll pick a winner (using a random number generator) on Friday evening.

Good luck!

Edit 09-05-13 Thanks for all your comments so far. It looks like some people have been having problems commenting because I've had a few duplicate comments. When this happens I will keep your first comment and delete the rest, but I will check to see if there is a valid email address first!

Also: I will close comments around 21.00 UK/Irish time so you have around 24 hours left!

Edit 10-05-13 Thanks everyone - comments are now closed. I will email the winner over the weekend.

 

Casual Lady dress

Well, I'm a day late for Show and Tell Tuesday but it's been one of those weeks, or two... 

I do have some KCW trousers (nearly finished) to show you but today I'm jumping on the Casual Lady bangwagon with a photo of me looking half asleep  at 7.30 this morning. Apologies.

I have had this jersey for years, waiting for just this sort of dress, and it turned out pretty much exactly as I hoped.

I made a few changes to the pattern, though. I lengthened the back by 3cm, and added 10cm + 7"  (you'll have to forgive the mixed measurements, it made sense at the time)  to the length, and I  deepened the neckline by7cm and widened it by 3cm at each shoulder. I also didn't bother with the facing; I just turned a 1cm hem and top stitched it with a twin needle which worked out fine. So it might not even qualify as being a Casual Lady any more!

Anyway, I will definately use this pattern again,  it's so quick and simple.

KCW: let's try that again, shall we...

I have triple checked. This week really is Kids Clothes Week. My goal is a pair of Coastal Cargos; let's see how I do...

And just in passing, I made a double batch of these chocolate chip cookies last night for Mr G to take to work this morning. All gone before the camera made it to the kitchen but very delish.

Practicing my pockets

So then. More trousers.

These cord trousers are a remake of a pair I made about 6 months ago that were so horribly baggy they got worn once and pushed to the back of the drawer. I unpicked them and laid Dana's pattern  (the flat front version) out over the pieces. There was a bit of fiddling and a rather narrow seam happened at the crotch but I just about managed it.

The welt pockets are not my best work but considering they're a revamp I'm not that unhappy. Having finally got them on to Stashlet this morning, I feel that they could do with belt loops or the elastic tightening a bit, and possibly another ¾" added to the length of the body for better bum coverage.

I also had to do faced hems because there wasn't enough to do a decent turn back, and I think they come out ok.

These foxy ones are exactly the pattern and length as Dana's pattern and they are a little long at the moment, but the way Stashlet is growing  (he's shot up a whole shoe size in the last 6 weeks) they won't be for too long.

The welt pockets gape a bit on the photo but once there's a bottom inside there, they'll be fine.

I got mildly fancy on the outside hem and did a double top stich so that there is some element of neatness if we roll them up, and I couldn't resist the little colour-check birds on the selvedge, so they got a look in too.

I really like this pattern, especially the flat front element of it and will be using it for as long as I can. It's really easy to run up and play around with.

I'll be linking up this post with Randi's Show and Tell Tuesday next week (this week was hijacked by pc glitches) and The Train to Crazy's Make it Wear it Thursday tomorrow.

The smallest brain in blogland...

Oh dear.  It would appear that I am even more tired and stressed than I think I am.

All that work for Kids Clothes Week back in March.... and I've just discovered that I got my dates TOTALLY wrong and it's this month. Talk about STOOPID.

But that does explain why no-one else posted anything!* And it does mean that I get to do it all over again. Which is actually quite useful because I need to find some time to make the Coastal Cargos that I got from Blank Slate patterns the other week.

So. Moving stiftly on...

Following on from the shark trousers, I'm currently having a small trouser frenzy  - well, really it's just an excuse to make more welt pockets - and should have some photos to post in the next day or so.

*Although it does beg the question, does anyone actually read this blog because not a single person took pity on me to let me know my error. Thanks for that.

Show and Tell Tuesday - shark trousers

I'm a little out of kilter with finishing things off, posting about them and Show and Tell Tuesday this week, but here are a pair of trousers I made for Stashlet over the weekend.

You can read more about them (and the very tawdry stripey t-shirt from Kids Clothes Week)  here.

Added 04-04-13:  Also linking up with Make It Wear It Thursday at The train to crazy. Thanks for the invitation to join in, Andrea!

Kids Clothes Week achievements

Added 10-04-03: I got my dates wrong but feel free to read on...

It's been rather a frantic week here at Stash Towers so despite remembering on Tuesday that I should be sewing, it took until Friday for me to actually get anything done for Kids Clothes Week. So the aim of doing an hour's sewing a day totally went out of the window.

Still, timing failure aside, I did manage a few things so the week is not a complete write off.

Achievement 1: I finally finished that stripey t-shirt that I started for Celebrating the BOY.

I still haven't really got the hang of t-shirt necks. This one is a bit too baggy although I think part of the problem was that I wasn't using ribbing and there isn't a great deal of stretch in the jersey I used. I also felt that the neck opening was a little on the small side so I didn't want to make it any tighter. Anyway, I'm sure it will be fine.

I also put a snippet of rocket ribbon on the front hem, like a logo, to make it look a little less plain. I have some decoration plans for the other two I made but I thnk they'll happen when they happen, y'know?

Achievement 1.5: I skipped on over to Pattern Anthology and got a copy of the Coastal Cargos pattern, which is now printed off, stuck together and waiting for me to unpick a pair of old M&S linen trousers. Not exactly a proper achievement but I used the welt pocket instructions for Achievement 2...

Achievement 2: A pair of trousers, all ready to wear, and pretty fancy if you ask me.

The pattern is Made's Kids Pants pattern, which is downloadable in size 2-3T so perfect for Stashlet this spring and summer.  The fabric is from my LFS (now, sadly, not so L), and I used the flat front option (with only the back elasticated) to reduce the baggyness I've found with previous trousers I've made.

I have decided that you can't have trousers without pockets (especially if you are a boy who collects pebbles) so I ended up getting a bit carried away and put welt pockets on the back. Never done them before but the instructions from the Coastal Cargos couldn't have been clearer, and while they're not perfect, I am pleased enough with them for my first attempt.

I did make a couple of changes. I wanted cropped trousers for the summer so I took an arbitary 7cm off the leg, aiming for three quarter length, and I also sewed down the outside leg seam so that it looks neat if I do turn ups. That worked pretty well.

...and I've just realsied that it would probably be a good idea to add a photo of the inside, so I'll take that tomorrow...

Somewhat stupidly and mostly because it was gone midnight when I did them, so my brain was not entirely keeping up, I put the welt pockets in an inch higher than they should have been, and then I had to fudge the waistband a bit. In the end though, I think they are not too terrible, and I will definitely know better for next time.

Overall, the trousers worked out miles better than any I made when Stashlet was younger and I will definitely make several more pairs using this pattern. I can also say that welt pockets are not half as tricky or time consuming as they look. Length-wise, they are full length on Stashlet at the moment (he seems to be having a short in the legs/long in the body phase)  but I hope he will do a bit of growing over the summer (surely there's a growth spurt coming up...).

Happy Sunday!