Hugo's just mysteriously sped off in the car, I wonder if it's a Lifeboat call......................... if it is a 'shout', (as they refer to a call-out), I hope it's not like the twelve hour stint he did last time (explanation in this post).
Well, hello! Are your nights suddenly getting longer? I noticed last Wednesday that it was getting dark earlier than usual, as I made my way home from my knitting group meeting. Fliss writes about the thought of shorter days here, in her blog Joshy and Belle. That blog post makes me feel warm, cosy and contented every time I read it.
So shall we talk about the lining of my fair isle dress?
The last time I did any cutting out of fabric from a pattern, was at school a good twenty years ago, in my sewing class. What I learnt seems to have stuck a little, and I must have absorbed something from my Mum, who is superb at making curtains and clothes. I've not made my own pattern before, so I blocked out of my mind any thoughts that I didn't have a clue what I was doing. My friend Bob was going to help me do the lining for my dress, but she couldn't make it after all. So I thought I'd go ahead and try my hand at it all by myself.
I traced round the outline of my dress, and sort of muddled through, eventually producing something that passed as a pattern for the lining.
(Hugo's just returned! It was a lifeboat shout, (swimmers in difficulty at Holy Island), but he didn't get on the boat, they already had enough people by the time he arrived, and he's quite relieved apparently, as he needs the loo, I'm sure he'll be thrilled I told you that nugget of information. There's no toilet on the lifeboat, that immediately rules me out as a volunteer, I need toilet facilities available at all times, within reason).
Anyway, back to the lining. I was going to use the fabric in the above photo, which I love, it's an old curtain from a charity shop, but there wasn't enough fabric unfortunately, so I returned to my fabric stash. I found two single bedsheets, also found in a charity shop, and thought they would do the job. As it turned out I only used one sheet.
How timely that I had some bedsheets in my fabric stash. All buying of old bedsheets in the future, will from now on be perfectly justifiable. As opposed to in the past, when it was maybe a little strange, as I hadn't a clue what I was going to use them for. Same goes for the old curtains.
But maybe that's the whole point of a stash, it's irrational existence is a big mystery until it becomes indispensible and very useful.
Things seem to be going quite well with the lining, which is slightly worrying as these things are never easy in my experience. I'm really hoping I haven't missed some glaring mistake.
I'm trying to be meticulous. I've tacked the lining together, and have also tacked it into the dress, to see how it fits.
I've surprised myself by enjoying the whole dress-making process. The cutting of the fabric, the gentleness of it all. And it's a lot quicker than knitting. I started my lining last night, and I'm almost ready to sew it together on the machine and pop it into place.
It's given me a bit of a taste for dress making, and I think I like, especially if it was to be from a pattern already cut and measurements sorted. I can't get over how FAST it is!
Bob should be at my knitting group meeting tonight, so I'm going to take the dress and lining along for her approval. The others in the group might have some tips too.
Just before I head off to my Wednesday night knitting meeting, some of you asked what the pattern is for the cardigan I knitted above, shown a few posts back. I've had a rummage, and found the pattern.
It's fom the Rowan Magazine, number 39 (Spring/Summer 2006).
The pattern is called 'Crinkle', by Martin Storey, and it's knitted in Rowan Cotton Glace.
The main body of my cardigan is knitted in green, the trim is lilac, I don't have the ball bands anymore, so I can't give you the numbers of the colours I'm afraid, sorry about that.
Well chick-a-dees, I'm off to my knitting group now, so I'll say ta-ra and cheerio. Love Vanessa xxx