The mojo returns

Viajante WIP

On Sunday, my creative mojo returned. To me, the mojo is the urge to create. It's what helps me make sewing and knitting the top priority. Up until now, I've been doing a lot of daydreaming about sewing but not taking any action (extenuating circumstances and all that, but still). But now, the urge is back. And so on Sunday I looked through the pre-fall offerings at Neiman Marcus, pre-fall and fall shows at Style.com, and new patterns on Ravelry.

It was on Ravelry that I found Viajante - a very interesting ponchoid shawl. It goes over the head, which means it stays put. And it has a long tail which can be left dangling or wrapped around the shoulder. I plan to wear it wrapped and held in place with a shawl pin. It can also be used as a regular shawl, wrapped around the shoulders, but I find the over-the-head aspect much more intriguing.

My stash may be severely diminished, but I did recall a lovely purple lace-weight yarn from Brown Sheep. Luckily, it had escaped the great purge. After a bit of fighting to get it wound into cakes, I sat down to knitting. And that was all she wrote. I only went to bed because I had a hard time seeing the stitches anymore.

I continued working on the shawl today, stopping only to attend to basic needs (husband's and mine). And to look at everybody's SWAP pictures. Oh my, what a lot of inspiration! Beautiful garments and great combinations... There were so many times that I thought to myself "ooh, I want one of those".

And then it came to me. I had been lurking on the summer 6-PAC thread but could not come up with a reasonable 6-PAC to attempt. But now I had it - I need clothes that are nice, will withstand the demands of a busy travel schedule and attending to household matters, and must be washable as well.

For the bottoms, I'm looking at cotton twill (pants) and cotton canvas or pique (skirt). For the dress, Sophia knit. I already have these fabrics. I do not, however, have fabrics for the tops (which will have 3/4 sleeves but I couldn't find better pictures) and cardigan. I hope to find those soon.

That's it, I'm off to do some more knitting.
See you soon!

Simple black dress

Front view

Several weeks ago, as I was getting ready for a vacation in Turkey, I made a dress to wear there. A prototype of sorts as I want to turn this into my go-to dress pattern.

Pattern details
The base for this pattern is Burda WOF 03/2002 #125, which I had made several years ago but then lost the adjusted pattern in one of our numerous moves.

The original pattern features raglan seams (omitted), long sleeves (shortened), waist darts in the back (omitted), and a large wide cowl-like collar (adjusted to a sleeker, narrower foldover style). I added a self-fabric belt that is long enough to wrap around twice, and pegged the hem for a more flattering look.

Sleeve length here is inspired by Butterick 5247. I simply measured from the neck point over the shoulder to almost the elbow and transferred that measurement to the pattern. It worked out really well - I will continue to use this length.

Back view

When I used this pattern previously, it was for a winter dress and I had adjusted the collar to be more like a loose turtleneck. This time, for a more summery look, I dropped the front neckline several inches. I like it very much. I would also like to try this neckline without the collar, perhaps narrowed by a half inch from each side, to wear with scarves.

Fabric
I was looking for a drapey summer-weight knit like Sophia but there was none in my limited stash. I decided to use a beefy wool doubleknit, which actually makes this a three-season dress rather than a summer dress.

Summary
This is a very comfortable dress and the pattern is easy to sew, so there will be more versions of it in the future.

Seems like forever...

View of the sewing cabinet in the new studio.

It's been a year since I last blogged. A year of changes and challenges. And now we are back in Germany, stationed at our old base for another three years. Our house is slowly looking more and more like home, I've met the neighbors and learned my way around the area, and my sewing studio is mostly up and running as well.

For the last few months, I've been sewing in my head - thinking about new dresses, petting what little stash I have left after last year's great purge, and dreaming about new color combinations. Now that we've slowed down a bit, I will have time to really sew. I want to test some ideas about concepts from seasonal color theory, proportions, and style lines. Along with garment sewing, there will also be some home dec sewing as the new curtains need to be shortened, and some quilting (two quilts planned - one for my husband, the other for the guest bed).