Kila love

You guys I'm just kind of drowning in amazing clothes lately.  I don't know if I hit my groove, if I usually make things for other people, or what.  Or maybe it's simple: the KILA TOP happened.  

First version is in heavy rib knit.  The kind of knit I struggle to use for anything.  The original sweatshirting is long gone, it's too heavy to really make anything with, but I have a lot.  So I made a tester version of this top.  Size 4, no changes to the pattern.  

The finish for the bindings is similar to the Mission Maxi top, I quite like this way of doing things.  The big difference is that now I'm trying to coverstitch to finish the bindings and I don't quite know where to put the coverstitch seams.  I have so many options - I can do 3 or 2 stitch, I can centre it on the rib, over the ditch, or below the rib.  What is the right way to do things?  

On v 1, I did two rows of stitching next to each other on the body.  It's not visible on the rib, and sort of seems like it should be on the rib rather than the body.  Also, this does not actually keep things straight, the fabric is not quite so friendly and so you can see all the places where it slipped around.  As expected, there is a bit too much length in the straps, but the armscye is good and the length isn't too long.  This is going off to a friend of course. 

 

Moved on to v2.  I removed about 1 cm from the front straps on the pattern pieces, which is a usual fix for me.  I didn't adjust the pattern in any other ways.  

This is a very stretchy pink knit with some flecks of brown in it.  I don't recall what blend it is, but probably viscose or rayon.  It is transparent.  I wanted to use it for knit Arthur pants, but I didn't have enough.  So I made this top two layers, and just treated them as 1 throughout.  This time for the bindings I switched to centring 3 lines of stitching with the middle line in the ditch to keep things straight.  This does not actually keep things straight, the fabric is not quite so friendly and so you can see all the places where it slipped around.  It looks a bit messy, also because the top stitching is brown and it is visible.  This shirt is very snug, the fabric obviously has less give being two layers and not ribbed, but none of that is bad.  I don't know if I'll end up giving it away but I am happy with it.  

 

Finally I was inspired to make v3.  This fabric is a beautiful light rib, with irregular ribbing, and of course the pattern is spectacular.  It's very stretchy but retains it's shape nicely.  This time around I did the two outer coverstitch rows but not the middle one (this is my preferred coverstitch), and did 1 on the rib band, and 1 over the edge on the body to catch the underside of the binding.  It looks terrible.  As before no matter how much control you think you have, when the coverstitch machine sandwiches things together it pulls them to one side so a straight line is not always easy to achieve.  Despite this I put this shirt on immediately and haven't taken it off since, so it took awhile to actually get photos because I was busy having fun in my amazing top. 

 

No I'm lying, I eventually took it off to wash, but I basically sewed 6 items prior to my Europe trip and wore them all the time on the trip, they were so fantastic.  I'm just feeling overwhelmed by having so many cool new options!  

scrappy Misusu Cuddle Cardigan

 Here is another project that's languished on my to do list for years too long.  I like Misusu patterns a lot and when this came out I noticed it pretty quickly.  I've wanted to do a cardigan from some sweatshirting and it seemed like a lot of things I like - some crafty colourblocking, big pockets.  

I knew I had some scraps of beautiful knits to make it out of so I had also long planned it to be scrappy.  My scrap pile is too big and that was one big pressure to get this done.  I'm at the point where my scraps don't fit in their allocated bins so I'm putting more effort into the scrappy projects.  But by the time I was making it...I was pretty bored with the idea of this cardigan.  I realised quickly that the scrappy look I was envisioning just looks silly and unsophisticated to me.

I had some confusion with the start because the piece I did in animal print is directional and it was hard to find and match the notches correctly.  Once I did this everything else was obvious.  It's quick to put together and I didn't have any other issues with the instructions.   

 

This was straightfoward to sew together.  I made size BB and I think the fit is as expected.  The cool feature of the collar bands crossing over at the back neck actually really annoys me, it creates a spot that can kind of flip over when you're putting it on.  Once I realised all this I limited myself to a single button to make it wearable and have passed it on to a friend.  Can't win them all! 

This is the Dunya jacket.

I definitely noticed the Dunya jacket when it came out. Fibremood have a lot of instagram influencers and they (when feeds still worked) overloaded my instagram feed.  Curiosity followed, and I had a look at a lot of patterns.  It wasn't enough to make me bite.  It's a different feel than other pattern companies.  You don't get the instructions when you buy the pattern.  You have to do a bunch of drama getting an account in order to access the online instructions.  I guess it's true about age, I'm getting grumpy, I want to not spend time on my computer making yet another infernal account for something I'll use once.  Just in time, instagram is so crappy I've tapered my usage way down.  A funny mental shift, to realise we once didn't think about life in terms of how it would look in a photo...and to go back to living life without documenting it.  Yet again I wondered about my blog's utility.  The act of sewing and the act of blogging about it can be very disconnected from one another, and it's easy to get behind when I'm inspired to sew a lot and not particularly keen to sit in front of the computer. 

Then I posted a lackadaisical post about the Zoey tank top and got over 2000 views (rare for me, as noted, I'm too obnoxious to have so many loyal readers and I'm definitely not influencer material.)  So I suppose for now I'll keep going.  It's reassuring to see that the few remaining blogs out there are still getting some love. 

 A friend told me this would suit my sudden desire for an oversized and cozy coat that would feel like wearing a sleeping bag.  For some reason, I was Inspired.  So much so that I actually bought fabric specifically for the pattern - expensive fabric!  I got Mind the Maker Thelma thermal quilted fabric in olive.  I got it from an Australian website but I don't recall which one.  I went specifically to The Fabric Store to pick out a lining and as invariably happens I didn't like anything.  I bought some silk.  It's pretty but, hm.  I bought the pattern and printed it and then winter got too busy!  I decided to move, I had so little time left and this kept being right on top of my queue while seeming like too much work to actually make.  I even actually bought snaps in the States for the kam snap press so I would be Ready. 

Hopeless.  It took another year to finish the move and get settled and actually buy the snap press.  I found a new lining fabric.  Still not totally convinced, it's Liberty tana lawn with feathers on it.  I just couldn't settle on anything I loved and this was good enough. 

I made size XS

I could have made S by the size chart but the instructions - which are very good - I don't recall too many specific gripes - they recommend going down if you don't want it massively oversized.  I had a moment of puzzlement looking at the pattern I had printed then realised you have options to have the seam allowance printed, or not, and you can have it included, or not.  I included the SA lines and the cut lines in my printed pattern. 

 I didn't rush this project out.  The fabric is a real pain to sew because the raw edges, once cut, leak the thermal midlayer and it's very hard to tell where the green actual fabric is.  The coat gets to be quite a LOT for my small sewing machine to manage.  

 I found to my shock that each step went very smoothly and things came together in a beautiful fashion.  I did have some drama with the corners of the hem facing at the side seams, whatever the instructions said to do was impossible, or maybe my fabric was just too much to wangle.  There is some visible stitching there where I tried to avoid leaving holes and just topstitched everything in place.  The end result is totally fine.  I didn't diverge from the pattern anywhere.  My snap press was magical.

 

 

And I love this jacket!  I wore it a lot this winter, though now it's too warm for such things.  It's completely oversized and ridiculous.  I do wish that the front hem were slightly shorter and the back hem slightly longer.  I do feel a bit silly out and about in town because there is coat everywhere around me but I trust that I actually look cooler than everyone else.