Category: sewing

jacket, sewing

Completed – Jacket!!

christinahopgood
Things have been a bit quiet here on the ol’ blog.  I apologise!  Work and husband stuff has been taking up my life.  Husband stuff is not what you’d think, it’s actually us doing a whole lot of performances and work for his studies.  It’s fun and I’d never say no, but it takes time.
So!  Here’s the jacket I made last term (!) for my course at CIT.  I am really happy with it, and wow I even passed the course!
I’m afraid that’s the best photo there is.  
The pattern is Vogue 8701, which also has a really nice dress pattern.  Might get onto that soon too!
No buttons, just pinned at CIT.
The fabric is a wool tweed I found at a St Vinnie’s in Braidwood.  The places you find things!
The lining is a silk/cotton from Spoonflower, which has small screw heads as the print!
Cute back pleat detail.
So yes!  I’m loving this new jacket.  It’s wonderfully warm and structured.  It took me a loooong time to complete, as it’s so detailed and difficult, but it was worth the effort.  I have some lovely dark brown wool to make a second version now too!!
In one of my recent Craft Catchup videos I looked at this jacket in detail.  Worth a look if you’re interested in jackets!!
craft, craft catchup, sewing, vlog, youtube

New venture – Christina’s Craft Catchup on youtube!

christinahopgood

I’ve been a bit silent on the blog for a while… but that doesn’t mean I haven’t been making things!
So… I’ve made some vlogs!  I call them “Christina’s Craft Catchup” because I’m catching you up on all the crafts I’ve been doing!  Mostly knitting and sewing honestly, but some other things will be included too.  My channel is called Christina’s Craft. 
I’m planning to record vlogs every Friday, but it’s been a bit less frequent than that so far – just because of work and being away etc. Hopefully I can get into a better routine!

Craft Catchup no. 1


In this vlog I talked about my new “Shilshole” hoodie; a bunch of underpants (for me AND Charles); and my plans to make a shirt, a dress, and knit a cardigan:

Craft Catchup no. 2
In this vlog, I talked about my new Marion cardigan; Lady Skater Dress; and blouse; and discussed my plans to make a fair isle jumper, another dress, and bath bombs.

Craft Catchup no. 3

This one was a bit shorter as I’d started back at work and had less time to craft.  I talked about my new fair isle jumper of my own design, my bath bombs, and some vintage knitting patterns I’m going to try.

I find it quite hard to watch these because I’ve never listened to my voice before!  It’s the worst!  So it’s quite embarrassing to film and edit.  But we’ll see how it goes the first few times and if it’s good, I’ll continue!

Constructive criticism welcome!

charles, pyjamas, sewing

Pyjamas for Charles!

christinahopgood
This is a bit late coming, but look!  I made Charles some pyjamas!
On The Great British Sewing Bee episode about patterned fabric, all the contestants had to make mens pyjamas out of a patterned fabric of their choice.  After watching that, Charles demanded a set for himself!  This is the pattern I chose, Kwik Sew K2388.
Simple button down shirt with a revere collar and piping, and regular elastic waist pants.  I omitted the pocket and the piping on the pants, as well as the drawstring (it’s only decorative anyway… although now Charles has to look really hard to figure out which way is the front).
And the result (a bit rumpled as he just got out of bed)…
A roaring success!  I used navy spotted cotton, which is quite crisp and not what you’d usually use for pyjamas.  Charles didn’t want flannelette as it’s too warm for him.  I came across some problems with the fabric as it was super narrow.  I needed much more metreage because the pieces wouldn’t all fit across the fabric like in the suggested marker.  I also had to add a bit on to the end of the pants, but you can’t see unless you know about it!
This was my first time doing piping and I think it turned out ok!  Luckily the seam allowance is only 6mm, which was the same width I needed to sew the piping on correctly.
Piping!  Woo!
I made the set in the size small, with the length of the size L.  Charles is a tall dude!
He loves them and wears them all the time, so we’re both happy 🙂
challenge, knitting, me-made-may, sewing

Me-Made-May 2014!

christinahopgood
This is the first year I’ve decided that I have enough handmade clothes to last me throughout the whole of Me-Made-May!  I made my pledge today over on So, Zo.  Here it is:

I, Christina of http://www.cutiefulchristina.com, sign up as a participant of Me-Made-May 2014.  I endeavour to wear at least one handmade item (excluding underpants which are mostly handmade) every day for the duration of May 2014.

I won’t be able to wear unique items every day, I just don’t have enough.  But I might be surprised!  Some days I find myself wearing 100% me-made clothes (excluding footwear and bras) – and some nights too!  I have 2 pairs of handmade pyjamas which are in high rotation.  Plus I think I have an advantage because I have a bunch of knitting as well as sewing!

Why Participate?
1. I really love the handmade/sewing online community and I like to participate as much as I can.  It’d be nice to get some new readers too!
2. I’m looking forward to finding some holes in my handmade wardrobe and filling them!  For example, I like to wear t-shirts and pants on weekends and I have no handmade t-shirts.  Billions of skirts though.
3. This will give me a chance to figure out why I don’t wear some things I made.  And then when the month is over, I will be able to re-work or chuck out the stuff I don’t like!
4. It’s fun to do challenges!

I’m going to take photos of each handmade outfit and post them on my blog – possibly not daily but in a weekly round up.  I prefer that format on other people’s blogs so I should stick to that right??

Links
Here’s where you can sign up on So, Zo’s blog
Here’s a link to the flickr pool where people will post photos
Here’s a link to the Me-Made-May Pinterest board

Will you join Me-Made-May??

knitwit, pants, sewing

Pants! Knitwit pattern 2100.

christinahopgood
Look!  I made some pants!
These crazy pants are KnitWit 2100, and I chose to do view A (the easy one).  View B has pockets and more difficult fastenings at the waistband.  I omitted the pleat down the middle to avoid looking too much like a nana!  I got the pattern from an op shop, I love knitwit patterns!
The fabric was a gift from Charles’ grandmother, and is a fairly old cotton-elastic blend knit.  I can tell it’s got elastic in it because it’s perishing slightly!  It doesn’t quite stretch back into shape when I pull it.  I made these pants as a toile, as I’d bought some nice black ponte to make another pair.
The alterations I plan to make include making the legs narrower, getting rid of the sagging at the hips (not really noticeable because of the fabric here, but I notice), and maybe making the waist lower.
The fit at my butt is pretty good.

Pretty happy with these pants though.  I’m goint to wear them all the time!
Maybe.  They do look a bit like pyjamas.