Category: diy

beanie, cardigan, clothing, diy, hat, knitting, wool

Simple knitted beanie(s) pattern!

christinahopgood
Scroll down for the pattern!
I just finished knitting a beanie from the leftover yarn from my Miette cardigan.  I don’t know if I’d actually *wear* it with the cardigan, since it’s all a bit matchy-matchy but I love it!  I’m going to wear it a lot in winter, so comfy and warm.
But this is actually the FIFTH TIME I’ve made this pattern.  Firstly  I made a dark burgundy one for my good friend who went through chemo and needed a hat.  She loved it so much and wore it almost every day of her bald period, and I knitted her another one in white too.  She wore the white one for “good”.
The red hat before I gave it away.  Yes I’m wearing a mens flanny.
I also knitted a cream coloured one for my mum, and then a nice dark blue one for Charles!  I made Charles’ one bigger than the ladies’ ones so it was nice and comfy and roomy, and then I put a pompon on top!  And now he loves it!

 So here’s the pattern!  It’s from the March 1973 edition of Stitchcraft (do they still make that?).
You’ll need some nice 8 ply (worsted weight) yarn (I used a bit less than 2 50g skeins), and some 3.25mm needles (UK size 10, or US size 3), and 4mm needles (UK size 8, or US size 6).

With the 3.25mm needles, CO 108 sts. Work 6.5 inches of k3, p3 rib, decreasing 3 sts evenly on last row: 105sts.
Change to 4mm needles and starting with a k row, work straight in stocking-stitch until hat measures 2 inches from top of ribbing.

Shape as follows: 
1st row: k. 7, (k. 2 tog., k. 9) 8 times, k. 2 tog., k. 8. 96 sts. 
2nd row and every alternate row: purl.
3rd row: (k. 6, k. 2 tog.) 12 times: 84 sts.
5th row: (k. 5, k. 2 tog.) 12 times: 72 sts.
7th row: (k. 4, k. 2 tog.) 12 times: 60 sts.
9th row: (k. 3, k. 2 tog.) 12 times: 48 sts.
11th row: (k. 2, k. 2 tog.) 12 times: 36 sts.
13th row: (k. 2, k. 2 tog.) 12 times: 24 sts.
15th row: (k. 2 tog.) 12 times: 12 sts.
17th row: (k. 3 tog.) 4 times: 4 sts.

Break yarn, thread through remaining sts, draw up tightly and fasten off.
To make up, press and join back seam with remaining yarn (I used a crochet hook). Fold ribbing in half to right side, or wear as desired. You can also make a pompon for extra cute.

To make Charles’ hat bigger, I cast on 12 extra stitches initially, so that at the end of the ribbing I had decreased 3 sts to 117.  Then the shaping:
1st row:  k. 9, (k. 2 tog., k 10) 8 times, k. 2 tog., k. 10. 108 sts.
3rd row: (k. 7, k. 2 tog.) 12 times: 96 sts.
5th row: as for 3rd row in above pattern.
7th row: as for 5th row.

So basically you extend the shaping by one row, but still decrease 12 sts each time.  You could make it even bigger if you wanted!  Sometimes I like to wear Charles’ hat because it’s so roomy and comfy, so you might want to just make a bigger one!

I hope this pattern is useful!  It’s honestly a really great hat!

Matchy matchy!

craft, diy

How to cover your ring binder with fabric!

christinahopgood
I’m starting my clothing production course soon so I need a ring binder for my notes and stuff!  I didn’t want to go out and buy one since I already have a bunch of functional ones to use.  This particular one I’ve had since I was 15 or so, and it’s covered with Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle contact.  While there is nothing wrong with that, I thought I’d go for a more feminine and less teenaged style, and use this cute blue and pink fabric as a slip cover!  This way, if I feel like being 15 again I can just take it off and see TMNT again. (I was really into ninjas when I was a teenager. I wanted to be a ninja SO BAD.)

 First open out your folder and measure how long it is.  Then add how much flap you want there to be on either side.  I just doubled it essentially, because I wanted to cover up all the weird things I’d written on the inside of the folder.  Plus you want to hem the sides.  Remember to add seam allowances to the height of the folder.
You’ll end up with a long piece of fabric the same height as your folder.  Wrap it round the folder and mark where you need to sew to, and sew it up right-sides-together.  Turn and slip it on your folder!

Done!  It even matches my pencil case!

 It nicely covers up all the weird scribbles the folder accumulated. 

And I can use the cover as a pocket for my notebook!  Or anything else secret I might want to store in there 🙂

diy, OOTD, outfit, sewing, skirt

Black elastic-waisted half-circle skirt

christinahopgood
So the past few weeks Ive done a couple of performances where I needed a black bottom.  I realised this the day before concert 1, Voices In The Forest. It was a lovely opera concert up at the Arboretum, with pretty easy orchestral percussion parts.  The thing was, it was going to be very hot.  I only had black trousers, so I decided to make the easiest skirt posssible.

I used the paper pattern I made in THIS TUTORIAL to quickly cut out my fabric.  I didnt even use pins.
Then I cut the waist a bunch bigger so it would fit over my hips, not my waist.
To make it fit, I attached a piece of elastic to the opening and sewed up the side!  The elastic cinches in the waist so I can pull it on without having to deal with zippers.

Done.  Bam.  Took me like 1.5 hours.

My outufit for Voices in the Forest.

At the Arboretum! It was like 30 degrees.  There were 4500 people there!

We played until after sunset, it was pretty rad.

The next week I wore it in the DRUMatiX concert I wrote about.  Professional photos to come!

And here’s me wearing it today!

This skirt looks nicest with a slightly boofy petticoat underneath.  I’m wearing the one I made way back here.

blouse, buttons, chiffon, diy, OOTD, outfit, sewing

Chiffon Blouse!

christinahopgood
So those of you who follow me on Instagram (my username is cutiefulchristina) or Twitter (@cutiefulchrissy) may know I’ve been working on a certain chiffon *cough* masterpiece *cough*.  In this post I’ve included my Instagram progress pictures and some outfit and worn photos.  I’m really happy with this project!

I have been making New Look pattern 6107, blouse view B with neck ties. So a mixture between view A and view B.  The skirt in this pattern is also super cute.

 Sewing chiffon is difficult.  Last time I sewed a chiffon blouse, I didn’t do proper seams and the whole thing frayed and came apart.  It was very embarrassing.  It was a cute blouse the one day I wore it, and then I saw my elbow poking through the sleeve and had a look, and found that it was beyond saving.
So I used french seams this time, which was kind of difficult since I’ve never done it before.  But I’m confident that it won’t fall apart this time!

Progress shot of it without sleeves, hems, or buttons.

The cute birdies on the fabric.  From far away it just looks like a spotty pattern!

 I completed it last night after MUCH cutting of threads.

Outfits!

 I find that this blouse goes well with my American Apparel trousers.  I couldn’t find much else that goes, in my currently small wardrobe (the rest of my stuff is at my parents’ house).

Looks good tucked in.

The back is acceptable.

It’s hard to see because of the pattern, but there are 6 pearly shank buttons and a neck tie.

Shaped nicely – good darts ‘n’ stuff.  Works untucked too!

Looks good standing on one leg.

I am super proud of myself for this blouse.  It’s going to be a blouse I actually wear!  Can’t wait to wear it with a light coloured skirt, shorts, jeans, a cardigan!  I thought it’d be see through so I bought a camisole, but it turns out it’s fine without!  The pattern is too busy to see through it.  I’m thrilled!  This means it’ll be a lovely cool summer top.  Winner!  I might use this pattern again with a different fabric in future!
craft, diy, dress, fashion, paint

DIY Galaxy Print Dress

christinahopgood
Recently, I’ve been seeing quite a few tutorials on how to make a galaxy dress at home.  I thought it looked fun so decided to try it on my own, and the results turned out great!

You Will Need:

Cheap black/dark blue dress.  Mine is a really cheap thin black dress from Jay Jay’s.  I wouldn’t normally wear something this short!  But I figured, if I mess it up no big deal.

Spray bottle

Bleach

Fabric paints.  I used both normal fabric paint and some old screen-printing paint I had.  I used dark purple, fuscia, red, yellow, gold, silver, and pearly-white.  People in other tutorials used spray-on fabric paint but mine worked really well with normal.

Paintbrushes

Plastic bags 

Let the tutorial commence.

First lay out your dress on top of some plastic bags, with some inside to prevent things from leaking through.
Mix your bleach with about equal parts of water.  You won’t need much, as this stuff is quite potent. 

Spray on some nebulas and galaxies with the bleach.  The more bleach you spray, the lighter the area will become, so it’s nice to have it whiter on the inside of the shape. 

Wait for it to dry… and you’ll see the bits you sprayed more go whiter.

I added some drip drops of bleach to look like little distant galaxies. 

 The fabric of my dress was extremely thin and weird so it was kind of blotchy.

Now you need to put it through a wash to get all that bleach out!  Stinky gross!


Now get a little bit of paint and put it in the (rinsed out) spray bottle.  Dilute with a bit of water to ensure you can actually squirt it through the bottle.  It doesn’t matter if it’s a bit thin, you can layer it up. Sometimes it’ll squirt out little blobs of paint, but that looks cool too!

I started with the darker colours on the outside of the bleached patches, and moved towards the centre with lighter colours.  Make sure you rinse out the bottle each time.

It was easiest to hang it on the line for this process.

 Lastly I sprayed the whole thing with a mixture of silver and pearly-white, which gave the entire dress a gorgeous shimmer.  I sprayed lots of that colour on the middle of the nebulas to make it look like there was lots of stars there.

 Leave it to dry a bit, and then start to paint on little individual stars with a paintbrush.

 Some were little crosses and some were just spots.  I used gold, silver, red, and pearl to do this.

The back of the dress turned out beautiful I think!  It has a cute keyhole back.

Next, leave until completely dry and then heat-set the paint with your iron according to the instructions on the paint.  Probably best to put an old sheet in-between so you don’t get a galaxy print iron.

Done!

 Gosh it’s short.

 But cute!  I’m really happy with this and can’t wait to wear it to all this Summer’s pool parties!  Does anyone I know have a pool?  Guys?  Anyone?

Now I know this method works, I might get a nicer black dress and do it again!  It was a really fun afternoon!