Saturday 20 October 2012

Snoods, Strawberries & Skirts

Big softie by name, big softie by nature
I've been crocheting a Christmas present for my younger sister K - it's snood.
Since she asked for a snood instead of a blanket (like I've made for other people) I thought I'd go to town with the yarn.
Sirdar Big Softie is sort of thing you see snoods made out of in shops. It's very soft (51% wool, 49% acrylic) and, as it says, super chunky. I ordered my yarn from Derramores in the end as they had 20% off and carry the full range of colours. Annoyingly this colour, 324 - Fripp, turned out to be much pinker than it looked online. I'd been aiming for purple & should have picked 323 - Damson. However my other sister & I agreed that this colour will look really nice on K so on I went.
I improvised the design and it seems to be going ok thus far. It's a big loop formed by joining the ends of the foundation chain into a sort of giant magic ring. Mindful of a previous loopy crochet attempt that had been horribly twisted, I carefully flattened out the chain before joining it. It didn't work. The snood is a mobius loop. Oops.

15mm crochet hook hehe
I don't feel totally at home working with this sort of yarn instead of my usual 100% acrylic bargain basement DK. I feel a bit like I might ruin it with dirty/sweaty hands or if I have to rip back any stitches. I also don't know if loose stitches will be obvious, my tension isn't really consistent and I have a feeling that big yarn and big stitches won't give me anywhere to hide... Hmm.

Rag market strawberries
In other news the next thing in my sewing queue is probably a proper Sorbetto made of this strawberry fabric from the rag market in Birmingham. I'm still undecided on whether to use plain white bias binding, red with white polka dots, or attempt to make my own out of leftover fabric. I think perhaps I'll cut out my pieces and see how much fabric I have left!

Simplicity 2451, green cotton sheeting and a matching zip!
I'm quite excited to have a go at making Simplicity 2451. I've seen loads of great versions around, especially by So Zo, House of Pinheiro, and  Bernie & I.
Cotton sheeting probably isn't the right thing to be making it from but this will do as a muslin. I've got very little chance of getting everything right first time, especially as I've not inserted a zip or interfaced anything before.

This looks like the stuff, no?
Speaking of interfacing, my mum said I could use some of her stash before she went away. The only problem has been finding & identifying it! I think I've got the right stuff here, guidance would be much appreciated.
Does the "light" in the name have any significance? Will it affect the floppitude of my waistband much? I'm guessing the side with the dots & shiny is the gluey side...


4 comments:

  1. I love big softie!

    That vilene is really good interfacing, the shiny side is the side with the glue on and the 'light' means it's the lightest form of interfacing as there are weights of interfacing that determines how stiff it makes the fabric.  Check the pattern to see what weight interfacing it requires.  The strawberry fabric probably isn't the right weight in all honesty, but will be ok for a muslin or toille I suppose.  Give it a go, it's all good practice!

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  2. Aha, thankyou. The pattern says lightweight fusible :)
    It's the green cotton sheeting in the photo with the pattern that's for the skirt. It's light still but far thicker than the strawberry polycotton. I think a strawberry skirt would probably be rather unflattering & see-through!

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  3. Oooh!  I don't think I've seen that simplicity skirt pattern.  I think I'm in love.  Can't wait to see it made up on you.  :)

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  4.  Ahh, there have been a fair few versions from UK sewers but now that I think of it I don't recall any American/Canadian ones. Hmm. So Zo, House of Pinheiro, & Scruffy Badger have all made lovely versions. My green muslin is almost done, just the hemming to go!

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Yay :)