Last winter I decided I wanted a brilliant red shawl. Just brightest red, no varigation. I did want some interest in the knitting though. I’d also been returning again and again to a pattern called Adularia which has a plain garter stitch body in wool and a deep, very pretty lace trim meant to be done in silk. I put those two thoughts together.
I had ~170g of palest fawn alpaca fleece which I washed, combed and spun, trying for a 4ply finished equivalent. This was back in January.
It came out beautifully and on target straight off the wheel, though it did bloom to become a bit boofier on wet finishing.
I dyed it with Landscapes dye “Desert Pea” which came out really well.
So, so bright and not blue tinted at all which is what I wanted. This is “my” red! It was such a marvellous contrast to the brilliant blue sky on the day.
Knitting beginnings. I didn’t fancy doing so much utterly plain garter stitch. So I introduced a row of yarn over k2tog holes every sixth row.
The silk was purchased from Colourmart, which is a dangerous mill end online shop based in the UK. I skeined off 116g (exact weight not important, I just wanted to make sure I had enough), scoured it and dyed it the same full strength Desert Pea as the alpaca. That came out a kind of dark coral pink, so I overdyed with food colours and very happily got something pretty close to an exact match.
Alpaca at the top, silk below.
Here she is pinned out for blocking
Such pretty lace and oh so many pinsThe cast off involved a whole lot of little segments of crochet chain. I don’t really crochet, but I can manage bits of chain. I’ve done lots for provisional cast ons before but this might be my first crochet that has stayed in a finished garment.
Done. I’m pretty pleased with it. About a month’s worth of spinning, some dyeing and something over two months to knit. Ideally the alpaca would have been a little finer. I had to go up a needle size to get a fabric that wasn’t too close, but that is really a bit loose for the silk. I still really like it though.
On me. It really is my red!
Hmm. I should take those cloth masks down and put them away somewhere. I’ve moved on to N95s.
I have a good friend for whom the quatrefoil is significant. This is a four petaled flower thing used in heraldry. Something over a year ago I got excited with the idea that I could make quatrefoils with shibori. Just do a standard square type fold and clamp it near one corner. But what to make and therefore what fabric to dye? Well, I have the coat pattern I made for her back in 2015 and she lives in Tasmania which is is on the cold side. So maybe a dressing gown? I’d had the thought for a while that such a thing might be nice done in cotton flannelette, which is also easily dyeable. Voila I had a plan. I managed to source some white flannelette, whew.
The small flaw in this plan was that flannelette is bulky, and I only had two appropriate clamps, so I could only do two quatrefoil panels, bother. Never mind, these became the gown fronts. I did another two with similar square folding but just tied which became the back panels. One was done pleated which i used for collar and facings. The last piece was done wrapped around long screws which gives a pretty effect that makes me think of dandelion clocks. This I used for sleeves and pockets.
The best quatrefoil effects I managed, photobombed by a pocket:
A dandelion clock sleeve:
It has deep facings front and back to increase warmthPocket and belt shot. The belt is made of three colours to come the closest I could to the blue of the dye, if you squint and let the colours blend. I had enough fabric to make a self belt but given how flannelette sticks to itself, I thought that was a bad idea.
Here is the whole thing from the front. It’s a fusion garment. A-line body, western cut sleeves and armscye, kimonoesque collar for good chest coverage and I confess, ease of construction.
and from the back
I really like it. It is one of those gift makes that I would be very happy to keep! I didn’t though, I was good and posted it off to her as was intended.
I’ve been thinking on this plan for months. Mid weight linen gingham, purchased maybe 5 years ago as a stash reject at a market. Cut a bodice, make an A-line skirt from the rest of the fabric. Pleat that up and hang it to control what fabric sits in the dye. Then sit it in a black dye bath.
This is a more controlled version of the dyed borders I did on the Lady Macbeth Gown. It came out neater than I expected. I thought there would be more of an ombre effect. The hem section has been rinsed, washed, rinsed etc then sun dried and ironed. It will probably shed more dye when I wash the whole dress. I didn’t want that to happen until the bodice was attached or it might look unnaturally clean. I am pleased with how black the blackest bits are. That may not be so after some more washing.
Then I built the bodice, which I remembered to cut it with a back seam so I could do the shoulder turn trick with the facing, which means the entire thing can be machine sewn.
Then the hem was faced and the skirt attached. Done.
Or maybe it’s done? I like this on the hanger, though I wanted it longer and with a deeper more complex border. I don’t mind it on but I had somehow forgotten that I’m not fond of pale dresses. Sigh.
I’m really not sure about it. It might go another round with a dye pot. I might wear it for a bit first. Hmm. I’m pleased with the pleating and hook arrangement as a non-resist dye control method. Any attempt at a deeper treatment of this sort would either require a deeper pot or be messier due to tilt and crumple resulting from lowering the fabric further into the pot. That latter wouldn’t necessarily be a bad thing. Hmm, musings.
Early last year, I realised that I had not yet tried spinning fleece that was dyed with colour changes across the sliver rather than parallel. In between lockdowns, in May I was able to get to a couple of fibre markets and bought 100g of lovely coloured merino fluff hand dyed by “Ripples on the Pond” in “Stormy Mountain” colourway. In August I started spinning it.
I enjoyed the extra interest from the different colours as they appeared so much that I thought 100g wasn’t nearly enough fun. So I decided to try dyeing some of the white wool I had on hand to match as well as I could manage, or at least coordinate. The target was enough yarn to make a cardigan. For this, I learned to dye in the microwave after ordering some Landscape brand dyes, and then some more colours when I realised I needed different blues. I used the only white merino I had first off, about 100g. Then moved on to the kilo of ABP corriedale/suri alpaca blend that I hadn’t yet touched. Dyeing in 100g lots. Below is the best match I managed. The narrow sliver is the original, the wider fluffier stuff is corrie/suri dyed by me.
Some of the batches were paler by accident, some were darker by intention. Here is the majority of the spun yarn. Not all of it, I balled this lot up and started knitting before I dyed and spun the last of the wool needed.
Using two types of fibre was for two reasons. Firstly that I wanted to consume fluff I already had rather than buying more. The other thought was that the corrie/suri might be harder wearing so I would use it in the sections that tend to wear out or pill. For me that is where the inner upper arm rubs on the side of the bust and the tummy section where I lean on things; bench tops, tables etc. The merino is softer on the skin so I would put that at the neckline and the lower sleeves where skin contact is more likely. The multicoloured dyeing would hopefully mask the visible difference in the two types of fibre.
I knitted one pattern top down as far as the armholes and then found it really didn’t fit.
So I wailed a little, waited a few days and then pulled it back. The second pattern worked much better. Also top down but raglan:
This pattern is “Albini” by Orlane Sucche. It is designed for 8ply yarn. My yarn is closer to 5ply so I did a bunch of calculations based on gauge. I’ve knitted a smaller size than my bust measurement but with a full bust adjustment that I made up. There is a line of increases forming a dart equivalent running from under the collar to the fullest point to give extra width then some short rows to give the needed extra length. It worked really well thankfully.
The colour placement is almost completely random. I did choose the lightest ball of corrie/suri for the upper body and I deliberately dyed the last 50g lot darker than the rest when it turned out I needed a bit more to finish off the body. At a couple of points I joined on from a specific end of the next ball to give a smoother colour transition. Other than that, the colours lie where they landed. I like the effect.
I won’t bore you with the rest of the progress shots, we will skip to the end. Here it is with the knitting finished but before sewing up the pockets, blocking and dealing with all the ends.
Laid out to for blocking after a nice warm bath. Mostly I’ve just patted it into shape. The only tension is on the forearms which were a bit tighter than I wanted despite being knitted wider than the pattern (one sleeve knitted twice) and a few edges like the neckline and pocket edges so they would sit right. I was amazed at the change in handle of the fabric after blocking even without tension. It is so much more fluid now. This fluidity is probably enhanced by the long staple suri.
Here she is fully finished with label and all. There are a bunch of new knitting things for me in this too. First knitted pockets, first lateral braid stitch and a new kind of buttonhole.
A few friends said this reminded them of Van Gogh’s “Starry Night” painting. I was delighted to find spiral buttons in stash to further that association.
I am so very pleased with the fit. Look, even fully buttoned it fits without strain. That never happens with ready to wear garments on me.
I’m much more likely to wear it open or with only a few buttons done up
When prepping materials to dye in our indigo adventures three years ago now, I pleated up some fine, crisp linen(?)* with the intent of making a tiered ruffled skirt. I was working at speed to get everything ready in time and didn’t think hard enough about how much fabric I needed. This turned out to be only enough for a bit more than the lowest ruffle.
*Possibly not flax? Definitely cellulose fibre. My best guess is a cotton ramie blend. It was bought very cheaply in folded bales from a closed shop clearance sale.
Happily, I also pleated up another piece of the same fabric but slightly differently and with no specific plans attached. This is the piece with the copper coloured clips below
by chance, I have a picture of these three pieces next to each other straight out of the dye vat
Argh. These images are bigger than I would choose to use. I’ve moved to a different computer and don’t currently have a copy of my usual photo editing program. Maybe I have to bite the bullet and shell out for it.
Anyway, All these pieces started the same size and were folded in three before pleating. So they all broke down most neatly to three 38cm wide strips. I used the darkest three for the middle tier and ended up needing 5 of the remaining six for the bottom tier. I still needed a top section to get the overall length I wanted. I originally meant to make another rectangular cut gathered arrangement for the top part, but flat to the body is more flattering even though it will mostly be covered in wear. So I fiddled appropriate shaped curved pieces out of the bits leftover from the indigo rays frock which is also and usefully, a slightly heavier fabric. This is just pinned, prior to final adjustments. Silly me fitted it over another skirt though so it ended up needing more overlap than intended.
The fastening is similar to the overlap method used in this colourful remodel but buttoned instead of the ties used there. A friend suggested the buttons and I think I like them. They are more comfortable than the ties I think, but require sewing on many buttons to provide the same breadth of adjustment. Optimistically I have placed buttons for my current size and a couple of smaller options. Fingers crossed I don’t need to add more.
I couldn’t face braining the pockets until I’d finished everything else. So they are not sewn in as elegantly as if I’d planned them from the beginning. I’m happy that they work though, and I ought to be able to make nicer versions if I make another skirt of this kind. Here are the shapes. The front and back need to be different because of the overlap.
and after insertion: the two sides are sewn together below the opening shown. The front section is sewn in under the waistband to support the pocket and contents, so the pocket bag can’t be fully closed or one can’t get in and out of the skirt!
Here is the full thing, front and back
I’m delighted with the hem. I didn’t want to sacrifice any length, so I needed to bind it. Neither the pale blue or dark navy cloth sparked joy on their own for this purpose, but both together felt like a sweet solution, a subtly fussy detail. It took quite a few hours to achieve though. I used patchwork style rotary cutting for accuracy of the strips and fully assembled the border, sewn and pressed before attaching it to the skirt. Worth the effort I think.
A couple of shots of it on me, one demonstrating the pockets of course. My mirror is the wrong shape for taking pictures of full skirts, but full swishy skirts make me happy. I was worried this one might feel too silly, but happily I like it.
18mths ago there was a conversation or two with my friend Alan about me maybe making a shirt for him. “A nice linen shirt” was what he said he wanted. Some time earlier he had sent me home with some surplus fabric including a really nice piece of tiny checked linen in navy and white. This wasn’t enough for a whole shirt, but if I made the back from something else? Well I had an idea. You see, Alan has a strong fondness for mermaids and I’ve been having fun making stitched shibori pictures. So back in April, nearly a year after the above conversation, I made a mermaid for him.
First draw your mermaid. I wanted a vertical design and a cheerful elegant mermaid. I couldn’t find exactly what I wanted but I found a scary mermaid in a good pose and softened her
Then transfer the design to some nice linen with soluble pen and stitch the lines.
Then draw up all the strings tightly and knot them off. Doing that in pairs is much easier.
Then pop her in a dye bath and after rinsing, pull all the threads out (that takes longer than you might think!) to reveal your creation. This picture is slightly amended. All the lines came out pretty well except the one outlining her bosoms. That didn’t work at all. Bother. So I carefully painted that in with white fabric paint.
Then for his birthday I made a completely different shirt out of a fun elephant tablecloth. This was my cunning plan to get sizing information for the mermaid project.
Then we got popped back into lockdown. I went ahead and made up the mermaid shirt. Nice neat checked linen for most of it. Looking at the buttonhole distortion, maybe i should sew my shirt buttons on with stalks, hmm.
And a fun mermaid for the back
Yesterday I was finally able to deliver it, hurrah and well received it was.
There is actually a second mermaid shirt under construction. The stitched resist works better on two layers of cloth, but my design was not symmetrical so I did the whole thing on two layers of linen. So there was a second mermaid to do something with.
Some time ago I wanted a light weight wool cardigan. I made a lovely one and carelessly left it behind on an aeroplane. I made another, which I love but it’s “too good” to wear around the house. I made a pretty red one which I haven’t written up yet, but I’d also like to keep nice for at least a while. So I have made yet another deliberately for wearing while doing rather than with particular sartorial aims. I decided to make one dyed similarly to this skivvi .
Take an inexpensive length of soft teal wool knit fabric. Cut a baggy cardigan based on a tshirt pattern. Sew it up enough to put all the pieces together but without hems or other finishing. Torture it with pony beads and elastic bands.
Soak it for a short while in warm vinegared water. Using food dye set up in hot water so the dye takes fast, dye one side red and the other yellow/green. Fail to take pictures of this stage. Decide this result is nice but not yet interesting enough. Bundle the whole thing up kind of roughly pleated so only bits are exposed and dye that whole bundle black. Start taking the elastic bands off and finally remember to take a picture.
Finish taking the elastics off and impatiently wait for it to dry.
Decide there isn’t enough black and add extra donuts with a fabric ink felt tip. Sew the hems and the front bands. Find some leftover handspun that will make nice button loops.
Find some nice buttons, make the loops with the handspun plaited up. Sew all those on.
Here she is in all her messy glory
On me. I am pleased with it and I think this one I really will be willing to wear around the house while working on stuff, even somewhat mucky stuff. By happy accident it goes really well with this skirt.
From the back. Seeing as I was drawing things on it, there was no reason not to have a trefoil
Take about three metres of black and white wool jersey. Use it to exhaust some dye that you don’t quite understand the behaviour of yet. End up with a messy streaky ombre which was very much not the aim. Get grumpy with it and throw it in the naughty corner for a year or so.
A year or so later, realise that you can cut two skivvis, one from each end. The darker blueish grey end makes quite a nice darkly grungy shirt without further effort.
The paler end just looked dirty until I had some fun with food colours. There are days I would enjoy some mad colour to wear. I amused myself by making sure the red and green are the right way around for port and starboard, or they in wearing.
A few years ago I scored a 4 metre bolt end of white pinwhale corduroy. I immediately knew I wanted to give it some shibori love though it took me until now to get around to it. Here it is divided up, pleated and tied. A tedious process, but the effort was worth it I think.
Put it through a dyebath along with a bunch of other things. In this case I used “indigo” coloured Procion fibre reactive dye from Kraftkolour.
I got three 1m pieces patterned like this meant for a skirt, some plain bits for a bodice and a smaller pleated bit for pockets. I undid the end most ties on the skirt pieces after the first long dip on the grounds that i didn’t want too much pale over my tum.
From there I built a fairly standard Montjoye dress. Semi fitted bodice and flared skirt. Except that I made a bunch of errors in the cutting. I’m still quite out of practice with sewing garments! Happily all errors were fixable in one way or another. The first big mistake was failing to allow the needed overlap for the intended buttoned front. Bother. Couldn’t fix that really without creating too much bulk. Never mind, I’ll just do a side zipper. Ah, but that means the skirt sections need to match the bodice waist properly both front and back. The skirt pieces were folded in half lengthways and divided diagonally to give a six panel skirt with the back panels joined in the centre. Guess who forgot to allow for the centre panel seam allowance in the back pieces? Yeh, me. That meant I had to dart the back of the bodice to get everything to fit. Happily that was actually a good thing. Then I found I needed to lift the whole skirt to place the pattern more pleasingly which meant the front skirt waist matchiness didn’t work anymore and the seams were all topstitched already so I wasn’t reseaming them. Botheration. I’m mostly laughing at myself here. I sure hope the next garment runs more smoothly!
The bodice has a fair few extra seams than would have been necessary if I hadn’t changed my mind about what garment to make from this fabric before it was even dyed. I had already divided it up into sections and folded it before changing my mind. Oh well. Because I wanted to make the seam allowances behave themselves I decided to top stitch pretty much everything, which also tied in the extra seams and the white parts of the shibori visually.
I still ended up with a frock. Front then back below. It’s cut to be shaped but still quite loose which is comfy and as flattering as possible for the iso belly I’m still carrying.
The pockets manage to be fairly stealthy, achieved by pleating that piece to match the skirt pieces.
and proof the new winter version fits on me. Yes I know it’s well off the vertical. I took a bunch of photos and this was the best despite the kooky angle.
Back in early December last year, I decided to spin up some blended alpaca and silk tops that I had bought on a whim. I wanted something more than a standard 100g skein so I added in 60g of merino in lichen green and indigo blue left over from other projects.
I had a fancy to knit a lace shawl so I spun as fine as I could manage and over 5 weeks, produced 160g of approximately lace weight yarn. Really it was anywhere between cobweb and sport weight but primarily lace to light fingering weight. I was still pretty pleased with myself.
I liked the look of this but felt I might wear it more if I put it through a blue dyebath. So I did.
It was then saying “ocean” to me, so I went looking for patterns that also spoke of this. I settled on “Ocean Scarf” by Eunny Jang but had trouble getting the pattern. So frustrating! I persevered though and found the chart for the body of the shawl eventually. I knitted a couple of repeats of the main pattern and then reluctantly decided I wanted it wider, so I frogged it and started over with an extra motif. Yes, much better.
Yes that is a provisional cast on because I wanted to try my hand at a knitted on border. This was confusing for a bit but fine once I figured out how it worked. Very happy to have conquered another technique. I used a border called “Normandy lace” but expanded it to get a double zigzag to echo the main pattern.
Somehow I ended up in a very tight game of yarn chicken. I had kept records and calculated carefully but must have lost count somewhere. In an attempt to avoid having to reknit the last section, I swapped to slightly smaller needles halfway through the last border.
It was tense there in the last stages but I won!
Having thoroughly proven again that I enjoy lace knitting, I invested in a set of blocking wires which happily arrived a little before I finished. Here she is all pinned out, waiting for the afternoon sun.
I was so pleased with it that I couldn’t resist trying it out even before sewing in the ends. It has come out pretty much exactly the shape I wanted and i love the pattern.
I actually think of it as the Luidaeg shawl, but not everyone has read the Seanen McGuire’s October Daye books
Montjoye Makkinstuff 