Time to take a risk

Following my first achievement many months ago in what came to be a rather long and complimentary relationship between me and lots of knitted fabrics; I decided to make something knitted and fitted for someone else.  I had received so many compliments for my creations and also the various different fabrics I chose to use.  Whenever I wore this top my Mother in-law would comment on how lovely it was, the time had come to hatch my cunning plan (sneaky grin spread across my face).

The garment had been decided but I was unsure of the fabric, I decided to sit tight in the hope she would inadvertently point me in the right direction.   A few months later I made this top and following more compliments I became confident that this fabric would be the one.

The finished article ready and waiting

The finished article ready and waiting

I have to admit buying clothes (let alone making them) for other people is not a road I tend to venture down very often, it’s all about personal preference, style, colour etc, so you can imagine my turmoil (should I, shouldn’t I, maybe maybe not, what if I make a mess of it, what if she doesn’t like it?), the inner fight lasted for a while until I told myself to take a deep breath and do something out of my comfort zone and take a risk.

So the garment was created with shaking hands and put in a safe place, for this was to be a secret until Christmas 2012 – eek!  As it  turned out it was a great success and well received to my relief.   I have realised there is something very rewarding when making garments for other people, the personal touch cannot be replicated.   Having said that I am still quite self conscious about the whole thing and very nervous. So  I won’t be doing it again any time soon then you would assume…………..oh no, no, no, that would be far to easy, my next creation is for my husband  (my biggest critic)  watch this space folks!

Just a little bit crazy revisited

This is the second time I have made this New Look 6940 garment. I had some leftover fabric from a previous top I made, so decided to make another everyday top (two for the price of one, I do love a bargain).

Front View

Without zips, pleats, or tucks it was simple and quick to make.  I am finding my gathering skills are coming along nicely.  This top has horizontal and vertical gathers through the centre, this being my second attempt at the horizontal gathers, I think they worked much better.  I do have to mention though that gathering sleeves is a bugbear of mine and subsequently I don’t feed I do the best job, I would much prefer to fit and wear a flat sleeve rather than all the puffiness on a garment of this nature.

The top has a centre back seam, a centre front seam and a v neckline which was steering towards round rather than v shaped once the bias tape was  added, I inserted a couple of stitches at the centre and the v returned 🙂

I think my next creation will again be one I have made before but the fabric will be more vibrant, there has been quite a lot of black recently, stay tuned.

Knitted top with centre twist

Centre Twist

The centre seams to create the fabulous twist

Top with centre twist

This is the first top I have made out of knitted material.  The pattern is New Look 6940, which comprises a few different tops.  I really liked look of this version and decided to give it ago first.  Oh boy what a struggle that was, the fabric had a mind of its own stretching and slipping and sliding all over the place, it came as quite a shock after using such well behaved fabric in the past.

The top itself is in three parts with a twist on the top half, which is constructed by pushing one side of the top half through the other and sewing centre seams to keep everything in place.  The back is in two parts with a vertical centre seam, I decided to use bias tape on the neckline for a neat professional finish.

I was really pleased with the result although the neckline is slightly too low for me so I had to put a stitch in to take it up slightly.