Striped Flared Cotton Blouse with Ties

I have photographed several more items I made for Gaby for her spring/summer wardrobe. Sometimes I take pictures of myself, wearing clothes, sewn for her, as it is always better to see an item on a person, than on a dummy or even worse, on a hanger. However, I was in a hurry to finally send the parcel, so I just took a few photos of each item.

And here's the first of the bunch, a cotton blouse I finished only last night. It is a pattern I've had for some time and I was reminded of it by its reincarnation in the latest Burda 04 / 2022 issue.

This is a raglan blouse, cut on the bias, with very stylish puffed sleeves and elegant ties around the neck. The blouse is wide, but short and would look really striking with a pair of skinny jeans.

The ties can be worn loose or tied in a butterfly and I like it both ways. I am actually so besotted with the pattern that I am definite I am making one for myself as well.

I used some shirting cotton I had in my stash, as it was the only striped cotton fabric I had, but next time i would make it out of viscose or cotton voile, as I think this type of volume requires thinner and more floaty fabric.

 

Pattern: Burda 03 / 2018 #114B

Size: 34

Fabric: cotton shirting

time to make: 2 days

Teal Boatneck Tee

The third of the blouses I made out of the big piece of double knit teal fabric - a boat neck tee for me. I drafted this t-shirt in October, using my favourite simple Shkatulka tee. 

The new teal blouse is almost identical to that brick one I made last year, which I gifted to Gaby. The only difference is that I shortened the length by 2 cm and the sleeves - I added cuffs with buttons and real buttonholes.

 
I came up with the idea for the cuffs out of necessity - I didn't have enough fabric for full length sleeves and I did want 3/4 sleeves. I could have gotten away with simple 4-5 cm cuffs, but I remembered a set of 6 black buttons which I bought recently and decided to add them to the T-shirt for some interest.

I couldn't have just added the buttons without making them operational, where's the fun in that - so real buttonholes. I also made the cuffs symmetrical, so that both cuffs are closing away from the body - a detail I hadn't thought through initially. But when I finished the sleeves and looked at myself in the mirror, I realized that the rules for male and female button closure do not apply to sleeve cuffs - they have to be symmetrical, to reflect the symmetry of the body. So I had to unpick the left cuff and redo it the other way.

Pattern: Shkatulka Fitted Tee, modified with boat neck and long sleeves with cuffs

Size: Russian 42 (EU 36, S)

Fabric: double knit

Thread: black polyester (overlocker), teal polyester (Elna)

Time to make: 2 days 

 

My favourite part of the tee - the boat neck. In my notes in October I described in detail how I made the neck and this time I simply followed my notes - it saved me so much mind wrecking! Otherwise I always wonder which part where goes first :)

All in all, a very nice simple blouse, which was ideal for today's walk in the park under the warm January sun - we had a very rare pleasant and warm sunny day here in Sofia. 

And the snowdrops in front of our building are already in bloom!

Yellow

Pattern: Obsession by Kim Hargreaves
Yarn: Alize Bamboo Fine 100% bamboo (130 g) and YarnArt Violet 100% cotton (90 g),
held together (approx. 580 m)
Needle: 3 mm edges and neckline, 3.5 mm body
Crochet cast on, hook 3.5 mm
Time to knit: 9 days

I hadn't knit yellow for ages. Because of the yellowish tint of my skin tan I've always thought that yellow was not my color, but now I'm reconsidering. The mustard bamboo and sunflower cotton for this little blouse combined in a lovely old gold color, that I instantly fell in love with. There's going to be more yellow knitting in the future. In fact, because of my overstashing, I've got enough yarn for a little shrug for my daughter, which I want to design myself (because shrugs are no-brainer :)))

The pattern is a classic Kim Hargreaves - easy elegance. However, I chose to knit it with bigger needles and seamlessly, so I had to rewrite every bit of it. And given my preference for purling, I also reversed it, so that I would purl rather than knit most of the rows. The blouse is stretchy and with enough positive ease, so that I can put it on and off without unbuttoning the 9 buttons.

The pictures were taken yesterday in the afternoon by my daughter. My little photographer was so enthused and took so many pictures here and there in the park, that I just couldn't choose fewer. My favourite series - among the dandelions :)))

The weather was warm, but quite windy and with a promise of rain, thankfully the wind blew away the rainy clouds.

And in tone with this posting - one of my most favourite bands with a favourite song - 

Coldpay and Yellow:

WIP - Almost Done

My Anais is almost done - just one small sleeve to knit and to join the whole thing and I'll be ready. My hands are itching actually to cast on the second sleeve, but I've got so much more work, money paying work, to do, that my needles will have to wait till tonight. But I just wanted to tell you in how much luck I was yesterday! I was just casting off the neckband, when I decided to weigh my remaining yarn, only to find that I had less than 30 g left - hardly enough for one teeny-tiny sleeve, not two. And I bought the yarn last summer from an obscure small yarn shop - what were the chances?! But yes, I was lucky and the two last skeins from the same batch of my precious yarn were just waiting for me. I took one - because that's all I needed and left the other skein for any other knitter in need :) And then I found just the perfect small buttons - they are so amazingly matching the yarn - better than I could have imagined and ordered!

Should I confess that feeling it was my lucky day then I went into a shopping spree mode :)

Check out what the rest of the world is knitting :)