Since getting from holiday I seem to have fallen off the sewing saddle. I tried to remedy this by making the pair of pajama trousers I planned to make hubby for his birthday back in March and I did complete them in one swoop, but whilst he has declared them wearable I am distinctly unipressed and they hasn’t helped. I’m not too ashamed to blog about them but have yet to manage to photograph them.
Tonight I decide to do some PDF pattern printing and matching, not least the pieces I need to recut for the moss skirt I’m making for a present for a friend (having cut the paper pattern out to my size the first time I forgot that not all pattern pieces of a smaller pattern lie within the bigger pattern pieces and when I came to assembly her skirt not all of the skirt pieces match up – so I need to reprint parts of the pattern and recut some of my pattern pieces. Luckily I have oodles of fabric).
This has been frustrating. I knew it would be, but I expected the frustration to be in getting my pattern pieces to match up (yes, I make sure I print them fixed and not scaled, that doesn’t seem to help) – am I the only person who has to choose whether to match up the pattern lines on the long side of the page or the short side when assembly pdf pieces? I have read helpful hints about cutting off one long and one short size to make matching easier, using selotape not glue, making sure your printer isn’t scaling the page, but haven’t come accross acounts of what to do when the pieces simply don’t line up (another problem I’ve come accross, the notches line up or the pattern lines but not both).
Anyway, I’ve not got that far as I’m having printer, wifi, computer and all combinations of the above issues that I won’t bore you with.
Instead, I have been looking at the knit fabric I bought on holiday

new stash
The plain turquoise one I think might be a ponte, its certainly thick and has a fient stripey texture going across it. It’s about 1.5m wide and I bought 2m. I estimate it has 50% stretch (but I’m not confident with knits, yet). The stripey one is thiner, more a sort of t shirt weight (except you get different kinds of t shirt fabric) and again I bought 2m x 1.5 m. I can’t decide if the dark stripe is a really dark navy or black, the other colour is green, it looks too yellow in the photo. I think it has about 60% stretch.
This more than doubles my amount of knit stash. The turquoise fabric is the same kind as one I already brought, 1.5m x 1.5m of dark grey.
. Also I have a quite thin and drapey burgandy knit, 1.75m x 1m (its a strange length as there’s a piece at one end that is marked so I got extra).
So, what to make? When we were away my kids were often wearing things I’d made, me markedly less so, so I’m inspired to do some selfish sewing. I’m also pondering taking part in Me Made May but as I currently only have 3 or 4 items I’ve made for me I’d end up making a pretty weak pledge. Some knit tops might be quick to make up, and help me forget that I still haven’t finished the muslin for my trousers despite my cat doing her best to tear my few wearable pairs to shreds so I’m heading towards trouser crisis territory.
The grey ponte was bought to make leggins with but I really screwed up the other pair I tried to make and I’m not sure now if they’re the right kind of fabric for leggins. However I’m also not sure I want the colour near my face. Hmm.
The burgandy was bought to make leggins for my daughter with but I’ve decided she won’t appreciate it and I want to make something for me. Maybe a plantain? But that’s designed for a C cup, whereas I’m at least an F. I’ve never done a full bust adjustment, can you even do them with knits? Or should I be brave and look out a pattern with a drapey neck effect – maybe something like New Look 6901 view A. I would love there to be enought left to try out the comox trunk pattern that I accidently bought despite my husband voicing reservations but I’m starting to realise that I vastly overestimate what I can make from a piece of fabric.
I have a major crush on this colour blocked coco top Karen at Did You Make That made and I’m considering making a blatant copy in grey and turquoise, which will leave me loads of turquoise left, so maybe a turquoise funnel neck coco too? I was initially wary of the coco pattern as Tilly is so petite and I didn’t think anything that suited her would suit me, but I’m impressed by how flattering it seems to be for lots of different shapes of people in the blogosphere.
And what to do with the stripey knit? A hemlock t shirt? But it’s a one size pattern and I’m not Jen’s size, would that work? I want to make something with it as a) I love the fabric, b) I spent more money than I intended on just 4m of knit (including the turquoise too), c) I want to try and make a buff style scarf (and possibly some comox trunks) with the remnants.
So any thoughts for a knit novice with a reasonable amount of sewing experience but hardly any adult clothes making experience and a slight terror of fitting? What would you make with those knits? (Bearing in mind that I have the figure I have)
Exibit A, the only holdiay snap of me I could find. To show my general figure (as most of the pictures on this blog are of small children, except here and here). Also included as evidence of why I need to learn to make myself trousers that fit.