Working With Knits

I blame my new obsession with sewing garments with knits on GirlCharlee.com.  If I hadn't stumbled across their wonderful selection of fabric I wouldn't have gone looking for women's clothing patterns that use knits. It took a little searching but I found a few that I think are going to be great!! 

My first attempt was a horrendous version of the Penelope Peplum.  Don't get me wrong, the pattern was easy and the top itself super cute!  It just didn't fit me properly.  But I have already printed the pattern again and will be making a larger, longer version in the very near future.

 

My next attempt was the Burda Young 7148.  I'm not sure if it was just me but the instructions included with this pattern were about as clear as mud.  I ended up cutting out all of the pieces called for in the pattern then excluding some and modifying others until I was happy with the finished top.

 

(Sorry for the headless photos.  The sun was in my eyes and I was making horrible faces.  If you saw them you would thank me, they were that scary!)

 

I used a jersey cotton sheet that I found on clearance at Target as my fabric.  Since I wasn't sure how it was going to turn out I didn't want to use my good stuff :).  But look, it has a hood and a front pocket/pouch and everything!!!

 

I will definitely be making more of these.  I've also purchased several other patterns that I've found via Instagram and other blogs that I'm anxious to get started on. But first I need to finish up a few other projects.

Big-City Bags Link Up

I have to admit this month has gotten away from me a little. I've gotten as far as buying all of my supplies for my GoGo bag.

Hopefully you've had a bit more luck than I have!  As long as the kiddos aren't too sickly this afternoon I should get a bit of sewing time.

If your already done I'd love to see your finished bag. So go ahead and link up for a chance at a great prize from this months sponsor, Cluck Cluck Sew.

Big-City SAL-The GoGo Bag

Another month, another great project from the Big City Bags book by Sara Lawson.  This month we will be working on the GoGo Bag.

(Photo used with permission of Martingale Publishing.  Photograph by Brent Kane.)

The wonderful Allison of Cluck Cluck Sew has offered up four patterns to this month's winner!  The lucky person will receive each of her three new patterns--

Plus a pattern of your choice, or if your indecisive like I am, she will pick for you!  I've had my eye on the Pow-Wow pattern for quite awhile but there are several great ones to choose from!  So go dig through your stash and see what you can find make the bag for this month.  I've got my fabrics picked and ready to go.  As soon as the weather improves I'm off to the store for hardware :).

A reminder of the rules:

• We will be sewing the books in the order they are in the book.  Only the bag for that specific month will be eligible for the link up.
• The bag must be complete to qualify for prizes.
• On the first of every month I will announce a new project and prize. 
• You will have from February 22nd until midnight on February 28th CST to link up your project for a chance to win that month's prize.
• I hope to have some wonderful ladies help me out by sharing their takes on the project, as well as with their tips and tricks for completing them.
• Join the Flickr group to see all the projects that have been made.

 

I also need to say a huge thank you to Debbie from A Quilters Table for all of her helpful tips when I was trying to get the ball rolling on this sew along!  Without her it probably wouldn't have happened.

Our Generous sponsors:

Fat Quarter Shop

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Pattern Crush

ByAnnie's Soft & Stable

LimaSews

A Material Girl Quilts

Cluck Cluck Sew

Happy Quilting

Blossom Heart Quilts

Sew Me A Song

Coats & Clark

Martingale

 

And a special offer from zipit:  15% off of all orders for those sewing along

Use code sewingwithsqueak at checkout to apply the discount

ALYOF February

I've been debating and finally decided to commit to finishing my Giant Scrappy Swoon duvet cover as my February A Lovely Year of Finishes project. Since this photo was taken I added a colored border but am not happy and will be spending some quality time with my seam ripper.
 

I only need to remove the current border, add another lv row, reattach the colored border, add one more lv border, quilt it, and add an envelope style back. Shouldn't be too hard, right?!

Linking up with A Lovely Year of Finishes.

We Have a Winner!

Stoney Lonesome Sew Works you are the winner of some wonderful interfacing provided by ByAnnie's Soft and Sable!  I'll be sending you an e-mail shortly and can hopefully get it to you in time to use for the February bag (more on that later). 

(sorry, my photo editing software is on the fritz!)

ALYOF

I actually managed to get my item done well ahead of time for the link up then totally forgot about it.  I did give it a quick mention in a TGIFF post a couple of weeks ago but thought it was deserving of its very own post.

 

After seeing all of the cute Cat Quilts popping up on Instagram (pattern and QAL hosted by O' Fransson) at the end of December I just had to join in.  I was pretty good about staying caught up on the blocks but decided to make it my ALYOF January project to make sure it didn't get put on the back burner like so many of my projects.  In hind sight, I wish I would have added a border around the edges so that the binding isn't directly on top of the cats but since I plan on making another one before too long I'll just chalk it up to lesson learned :).  I decided to make it completely from scraps.  Some of which came from scraps bags that were bought/swapped and were not my usual style but they blend in well I think.  I also used this mini quilt as an excuse to try out a new free motion quilting pattern.  I just used fairly tight rounded zig-zags (I know there is actually a name for this but I have no idea what it is-feel free to leave a comment lettering me know ;P).  I left the cats unquilted which caused them to puff up a bit--and turned out to be my favorite part.  I debated about what to use for the binding but in the end felt the quilt needed a dark "frame".  The black binding has little scissors on it!!

Linking up to ALYOF and off to find my project for next month :)

TGIFF The Big-City Bags Edition

I finished my Fireside Bowl Bag over the weekend but thanks to a lengthy bout with a stomach virus I'm just now able to show it off. There's still time to link up your finished project for this month of the Big-City Bags Sew Along if you haven't already. The link will close at midnight tonight! 

I was surprised at how quickly the construction of this bag went.  The making of the bag itself took a long time but that was due to errors on my part:  forgotten supplies, quilting the exterior, MORE forgotten supplies...

I absolutely love the way my bag turned out.  I did make a couple of changes/omissions/errors.  I managed to completely mess up the first step of the bag (THE FIRST STEP--doesn't exactly set a good tone for the bag).  The way I constructed the zipper panel worked out just fine in the end but I still have no idea how that happened.  That's what I get for sewing past midnight I guess.  I decided to use batting on the exterior and quilted it heavily with a crosshatch pattern and I used fusible fleece to line the interior for added stability.  I also screwed up my interior pockets and as a result have several very shallow pockets that aren't good for much.  One thing I think I will do differently next time I make this bag is to cut the accent pieces about a 1/4" wider than the pattern calls for.  When sewing the bag I had to set them away from the edge of my exterior pieces just a bit to make sure they would actually show up and not get lost in the seam allowance.

  And if for some reason it turns out you bought the wrong size D-rings and can't use them, the lobster clasp will actually go over the D-ring straps and work just fine :)

 All in all this was a quick, easy project (I wouldn't expect any less from Sara).  I can't wait to get started on February's project but more on that on Monday!  

Linking up with TGIFF!