Knitting

Back in 2012 I made the first of the 'Diamond's are Forever' sweater dress designed by Jacknitss (Jacqueline Gibb) on Ravelry.  I  have knitted several of them over the last couple of years.  My most recent are shown below.  

I think Sasha looks fabulous in this  - someone said she reminds them of the blonde in Abba! I think they are right.

I have been asked to knit some for others and a couple I have recently finished are shown below.

Red on a brunette - looks great with or without leggings.

Love the purple on a redhead!  Modelled by BJ

Same dress shown on a blonde - modelled by Stevie

The light is so bad at the moment it is difficult to capture the true colour...I tried altering the white balance and saturation, but all I succeeded in doing was making poor Stevie look washed out!

Another dress is currently on the needles....

True Upcycling Sewing Commission for Sasha

Despite the fact that I am supposed to be getting organised for my trip to New Zealand by tidying, clearing and sorting etc...I am easily distracted...and when I was asked if would make some clothes for Elsa's Sasha family, I readily agreed.  She wanted some things made with the fabric she had.  Actually it was recycling/upcycling...making use of some clothing and some curtaining that had special memories.

First up is a dress from the curtaining fabric:

Next was a sleeveless dress made from a skirt.

Next a dress made from a blouse:

Next up is a dress made from a very pretty Laura Ashley shirred dress with ties across the shoulders.  I wanted to fully utilise the prettiness of the dress by incorporating the shirring...this is what I came up with.

I am really pleased with this, it is so fine and pretty...I hope Elsa is as well.

Next was slightly challenging as it was a sleeveless top made of viscose with darts in the body.  Elsa wanted a sleeveless dress made from it and although it took some thinking about I believe I have achieved that nicely.

Now that will probably be all the sewing for me for a while now as I really must achieve quite a lot of household chores before I go away.  Six weeks ago I wrote out a schedule to make the work easier for me...did I follow it?  Of course I didn't and now I have last minute panicitis.  It is easy to say leave it...but I know what will happen if I do!  My dear husband will deal with it...and that is a scary thought indeed having experienced his 'tidying' techniques last year while I was away...So needs must.

I'm sure that Henry will pop in though to give some updates... :-)

Have a good week everyone.

Keeping busy, an order, a gift, some sewing and some knitting.

Beautiful sunny day today, although so very cold.  I have been busy in my sewing studio again, finishing a little white dress that someone asked me to make.  

Modelled by Angela

and Serena...

Yesterday on the way home from quilting I passed by a friends house who was unwell and gave her a little 'get well' gift

Modelled again by Serena

Yesterday evening I received an email with a photo of the lovely Lydia wearing her new dress...

I have made another dress for American Girl Kirsten...who has very floppy legs...looks like I am going to have to learn how to tighten them, as it was quite an act to get her to stand on her own.

She is wearing 'Sonata'   The dress is the same style as the one I made the other day, I have just trimmed it with navy crochet edging.

Before Christmas I joined a Sasha Knitting group on Ravelry which is good fun and then the other week I joined another lively Ravelry knitting group for American Girls and joined in with a KAL - Knit A Long.  Quite a challenge, and probably the most difficult thing I have made for a doll yet, although good fun.  It has knitted up a little large and I still have a few items to make as the set includes a hat, cardigan, socks and panties.  I tried it on Kirsten first...

Yes a little big.

Then I tried it on Samantha, still a little big, but I think it probably suits her a bit better.

Sewing on Sunday.

With the house clean and tidy, and the weekend washing done, I had a whole day to myself in my sewing studio, catching up with some projects I had on the go.

A little while ago one of the ladies from my quilting group asked if I would make an outfit for her antique doll.

Well I am pleased to say I am making progress.

She now has some underwear...

A pretty dress...

She is looking much happier now she is clothed.

Not sure whether I will make anything else or not. Will take her to quilting group on Thursday to see what my friend thinks.

Next up I offered to make some clothes for this doll here:

She really is a tiny wee thing.  I was sent a 'model' of similar size.

This is a proto-type outfit I made today.

I will also make some hats as 'Twinny' is bald, poor thing.

This wee girl looks quite happy with the new outfit.

Another of my friend's from Thursday Girl's Quilting Group asked if I would make a dress for her grand-daughter's baby Annabel.  

I don't have a model, but was kindly sent some patterns to make Annabel an outfit, so hopefully this pretty dress will fit.

The light is bad today, but it is a really pretty pink with touches of cream, white and blue.

Just need to make some matching pantaloons now.

Lastly another pretty dress to add to my Etsy Shop.

The fabric is 100% cotton, Morris Print and is quite striking on Cora.