Christina Hopgood

Another Belcarra top

June 11, 2018 christinahopgood

I made another Belcarra top but this one was a bit of a fail, and I think it’s because of the fabric. I used some fabric that I’ve had in stash for ages, which was a stiff cotton sateen with a slight stretch.

My previous one was made of a light drapey fabric, and was a bit tight across the upper chest, and the armholes were a bit small.

For this version, I added some length at the shoulders to give me more room in the armhole. But, of course, this meant that the bust darts were in the wrong place (der) and because of the fabric, they really stood out. You can kind of see in this photo how they stood out.

So I took the shoulders back down to their normal length and stitched it again. The bust darts were again in the right place (sort of), but this stiff fabric wasn’t doing me any favours. I chucked it out 🙂

And good riddance!

pants, sewing, Uncategorized

Sewn Guise pants!

May 20, 2018May 10, 2018 christinahopgood

Guise! I made some pants!

fullsizeoutput_5e38

Again, these are the Guise pants by Papercut Patterns. The fabric is some wool suiting that I bought in a little fabric shop in Sydney about four years ago. Possibly it was Melbourne. One of them! It has a lovely hand and drape and the stitches really sink into the fabric.

I wrote about the wearable toile I made a couple of weeks ago here. The fit was good on those so I didn’t make any alterations on this pair!

fullsizeoutput_5e3c

However, there was a problem. While the fit was good on shorts, which are light, the heavy wool long pants dragged, especially when I had my phone in my pocket. I wore these to work one day and wasn’t satisfied with the fit. I even put on two more belt loops at the back to try and compensate for the dragging but I had to alter them. fullsizeoutput_5e39

Because it wasn’t possible to alter the fit significantly without taking apart the entire trousers, I solved this by taking in the elastic at the back… a fair bit. The worn photos are of the altered pants, and the detail shots below are of the pants before the alteration.

The pockets are lined with some China silk I’ve had a little scrap of for years and years. It’s got butterflies on it 🙂

fullsizeoutput_5e36

So I guess I’ve got a good pair of wool work pants now that it’s summer! Ha!

blouse, sewing, Uncategorized

Sewn Sorbetto Top

May 13, 2018May 10, 2018 christinahopgood

So recently I realised that I haven’t got any tops in my wardrobe – I have loads of t-shirts and lots of shirts and a couple of short-sleeved button-up blouses but no tops. I had this pattern already printed out, so I stuck it together and sewed it over a couple of afternoons!

This is the Sorbetto top by Colette patterns, which is a free pattern you can get here! I got a copy years ago but never sewed it up. I always thought it looked a little shapeless, which is true, but I quite like how this turned out.

I bought this fabric as a remnant years ago at a craft and quilt fair (I think – maybe?). There was only a little bit and I only just squeaked this top out of it. I thought it was a polyester because it’s drapey and a tiny bit shiny, but after a burn test I found that it’s natural fibres, likely cotton! But so drape!

The neckline and armholes are finished with bias binding. The pattern calls for binding made of the fabric, and the binding is shown on the outside. I didn’t have much fabric to play with and couldn’t make self-binding, so I used other binding and made it so it doesn’t show on the outside. fullsizeoutput_5e37

I found that it was tight across my upper bust and it was uncomfortable. There’s an inverted box pleat that’s sewn in all the way down the front, so I unpicked some of the pleat at the bustline and instead made two lines of stitching on either side of the opening. I re-pressed the pleat which got a little mucked up and now it looks just the same as before. I’ve tried to show it here but it’s hard on such busy fabric! The modification worked well and now I have some movement in the bust to allow for, you know, breathing. fullsizeoutput_5e3b

The only issue is that the armholes are a little tight and sometimes show my bra strap at the top. Not a big deal, just need to be careful which one I wear! I’m planning to make another one of these soon out of another precious little bit of fabric! Stay tuned!

pants, sewing, Uncategorized

Sewn Guise shorts

May 10, 2018 christinahopgood

These shorts were made as a toile but they turned out to be very wearable so I’m calling that a win!

These are the Guise Pants from Papercut Patterns. They have a fly front and also some elastic in the back for comfort and a snug fit. The fabric I used is just a remnant I got from Stoff & Stil, I suspect it’s a poly/cotton blend. It’s actually got a little bit of sparkle to it!

I put these on and my husband remarked that they look like I should be ready for my first day of grade 7. They DO look a bit like school pants but they’re comfy so I’m not concerned!

These fit fine so I went ahead and made myself a pair of trousers from this pattern! I’ll follow up with another post. fullsizeoutput_5e3d

As you can see, the button sits a bit weird and the back band seems to pop up a bit. I’ll wear these with a shirt over the top so it won’t show!

Overall this was a really nice easy pattern. Flys are always a bit weird and hard to make but this pattern makes it quite easy. Do recommend!

knitting, Uncategorized

“Chanel Blues” cardigan for mum!

April 15, 2018April 8, 2018 christinahopgood

My parents were recently visiting us in Oslo. I had it in my head to make my mum this cardigan for their trip! I finished it literally on the morning of their departure, so she didn’t get to wear it here after all! But I think it turned out quite well.

Details

Pattern: Chanel Blues by Hinterm Stein. This is a lovely, thoroughly written pattern. You have to be careful sometimes when knitting short rows that you don’t zoom past a stitch marker!

Yarn: Madelinetosh MCN worsted, bought on destash on Ravelry. Ravelry has been a bit of a danger to my bank balance recently!

My Ravelry notes here.

No, it’s not inside out – it’s knit in reverse stocking stitch to give a tweedy effect. The pattern calls for two yarns held together to give a speckled effect, but my yarn was tonal enough to achieve that without messing about with two skeins.

The neck band is knit first as a long curved band, and then the body is picked up and worked downwards, using short rows to shape it. The buttonband is part of the main body of the jumper. Sleeves are picked up and knit in short rows to shape the sleeve cap and then knit in the round. No seaming at all!

The bottom band and cuffs are supposed to be knitted-on as a border to match the neckline. I did this, but the gauge was off and it looked wavy and flared. So I undid it and continued the body in ribbing, making sure the side panel flowed into the ribbing.

Mum seems to like it!

We just picked up the buttons on the morning they were leaving, and I sewed them on while my parents were packing their bags in their AirBnB. It’s still too warm in Canberra for mum to wear it, but I hope she can wear it this winter.