Mar 2021 – My Stash Reduction Quest

Greetings all. The sun is out in the UK for a few days so I took advantage of it and wore my new Named Reeta dress. This dress feels fabulous to wear and I can definitely see space in my wardrobe for another.

Both pattern and fabric were impulse buys so it’s fitting that I paired them together. I bought the Reeta pattern as part of the Fold Line Sewing Weekender, and after reading lots of reviews and perusing #namedreeta on Instagram.

Fabricate Mirfield was a “new to me” store who were selling the new Dashwood Studio prints, which included this vibrant ‘Paper Jungle’. As well as the pattern on the fabric, I love the name! It’s a rayon with lots of drape which has benefits and disadvantages. It feels great to wear but can be a bit disobedient during the sewing process.

I know I’m short but…..

This pattern is supposed to be a midi-length skirt but when I held the traced piece against me, it was clear that I was going to need to get the big ruler out. I ended up taking 10″ (yep, inches) off the length! My dress is shorter than the pattern intends because I’m not a fan of the midi-length due to my “dancer’s calves”. However, 10″ is still quite extensive. I split this by taking some length off below the vent and some above so that I still had a vent, but it wasn’t at my waist (that would be a bit too revealing). On reflection, I think the vent could start a few inches lower as it’s still a bit revealing when I’m sitting down.

Other than that, I cut a straight 40 as it’s a loose fitting shirt style and the waist tie does the work in shaping to my body. The other alterations that I made were style choices:

Added in-seam pockets. Mine started about 7cm from the waistline and are slightly too low because they peek out at the top of the vent.
Used satin bias binding for the waist-channel, rather than ribbon.
Created a waist tie from the same fabric as I couldn’t find any matching cord that I liked. I interfaced it but it’s a bit too stiff so probably didn’t need it.

I didn’t need to do a full bicep adjustment which was a pleasant surprise because I often have to.

Construction Challenges

I often think this section should be called “the parts that made me swear the most”. In my sewing journal, I’ve written “collar a nightmare”! Writing this several weeks after I completed the dress, I realise that a bit more detail would have been useful as I can’t remember what the exact problems were. I think the main stumbling block that I have with collars is that they are so difficult to illustrate in instruction booklets. This isn’t a dig a pattern designers, I think it’s just really hard. I’m yet to find a collar that hasn’t needed a YouTube consultation. For my Reeta, I found this tutorial by Sew Sew Live really helpful in putting the collar together.

My only other real challenge was the delicate nature of the fabric. I noticed when playing with some remnants that this was a fabric that was going to get runs in it easily. I find it really frustrating when fabric does this because it means I’m always a bit cautious about actually wearing the garment in case I spoil it. The main danger zone is the button holes. Even with a brand new sharps needle and fray-check, some of my buttonholes pulled. I can recommend using a buttonhole chisel (thanks for buying it for me, sis!) rather than seam ripper method to minimise this happening. I used my seam-ripper on some buttons as I was working with small holes but both pulled badly. When I switched the trusty chisel, it was more effective – lesson learned!

Button purgatory

I’m beginning to see buttons as a sort of sewing purgatory. On one hand, there’s the joy of tipping buttons onto a table, sifting through them to find the best options and trying them against a swatch. On the other hand, buttonholes…! I had three button choices for my Reeta and it was a hard decision. After a lot of debating and asking the sewing community, I chose some navy glass hearts from Swagman’s Daughter. I really like these as they’re pretty and quite different to anything I’ve used before.

Final thoughts

I’ve been swishing around in this dress all day and it’s so comfortable to wear. I’m really pleased with how the collar turned out and it actually lies flat, which is not always guaranteed for me. I’m really looking forward to wearing this dress all summer. Thanks for reading :o)

Hello all. Even with a hint of spring in the air, I’m still on a mission to warm my toes up! Today, I’m writing about a make that got me thinking longingly of holidays.

When I’m knitting, I sometimes like to pair up yarn and pattern. Sometimes the links are tenuous, other times they’re obvious, but they’re always meaningful to me.

In Dec. 2020, I pre-ordered the January Blues box from Curated Yarn Co as a way of taking the sting out of January. Rarely have I ever been so thankful for ‘past me’ choices. When the UK went back into lockdown in early Jan. 2021, I found myself obsessively checking my inbox to see whether my self-gifted present had been dispatched.

When it arrived, it did not disappoint. The box was a Norway-themed delight with a green “Lofoten” sock yarn, a wax notions pouch, a tiny grass-roof stitch marker and various Norwegian snacks. Lofoten being a collection of islands in northern Norway known for spectacular scenery.

Perfect match

When the time came to cast on a new project in late January, I did what I always do and got my stash out to have a good squish for inspiration. The Lofoten yarn proved to be a queue-jumper.

I had also bought the the recently released Larvikite socks pattern, which caught my eye because of the link to Norway. The name of Larvikite rock originates from the Norwegian town of Larvik…and there ends my geology knowledge!

One of our favourite holidays was in Norway and this yarn/pattern combo prompted me to dig out photos from the weeks spent exploring the picturesque landscapes, beautiful fjords and remember the general feeling of contentment. We didn’t actually make it to Lofoten or Larvik, but we saw enough of Norway to add it to the list of places we want to return to.

As well as fantastic memories, I think my longing to leave the UK (I’d settle for leaving the city at the moment) was a subconscious factor in my decision!

Casting on

As Larvikite is predominantly a knit pattern (there’s an 11-stitch pattern with some purls), the changes in the green really shows up. Every now and then, I spotted a pop of bluey-turquoise which isn’t noticeable when looking at the full sock, only as individual stitches on needles.

I knit the Medium size which called for a 64-stitch cast on. As I’ve mentioned before on my blog, this is a good starting size for me with socks so I don’t tend to deviate from it.

I struggled to get a decent photograph of the pattern as it’s quite subtle. West Beach Knits have better pictures on the pattern if you want to get a better look.