We are going to the lake next week to swim and sit on the beach and do lots and lots of nothing.  I saw some beautiful linen towels online and thought I could pick up a couple yards of linen and make my own to take with us. I wanted to get 100% linen, but this striped rayon/linen blend was too awesome to pass up. I got 2 1/4 yards, left the salvages as is and hemmed the raw edges, then using this helpful tutorial (by the fabulous cal patch) I crocheted right into the fabric.

The edging pattern comes from the book Crocheting on the Edge* by Nicky Epstein, which has tons of edging patterns (duh) all given in both charted and written directions, which for me is super helpful.

*I have joined the amazon associates program, so if you follow this link and then buy the book you will also be putting a few pennies in the elsie marley cup. I’ve wanted to do this for a while, but been quite hesitant to because I don’t want to get all advertise-y on your ass.  But I’m not going to link to any random thing–wow, that be annoying.  I have books that I genuinely love and want to tell you about and, all told, the profits I’ll make will probably be enough to buy a cup of coffee.  So if you’d like to buy me a cup of coffee :) you can go over to my amazon book store and check it out!

Back to the project: I obviously haven’t finished the pattern yet–I have to put the fringes on, do the other side of the blanket and block it. It is a little more shabby chic then I would have liked, but next time I’ll just make the edging a little simpler.  The “yarn” I used cotton twine and I freakin love it: it’s smooth, just the right thickness (I’d say worsted weight size, but I could be talking out by ass here) and cheap as all get out.  I have already started another–bigger–project with it. And with any luck it will be full of sand and finished by the time we get back.

I’m really not one for the whole princess thing. And I thought we had avoided it, until on her fourth birthday my daughter wished that “all princesses would be sparkly.” There has been a health dose of princessness since then, even though I rarely ever buy princess paraphernalia–and wow you can buy just about anything save for major appliances with a princess slapped on it.

It’s not so much the prince saving the princess that annoys me, it’s the total lack of substance on the part of the princess. Well, that and the rampant consumerism of it all (see above).  For the most part the princess just lies around looking pretty all day long. Because of that I rejected them outright until I found myself looking at a fashion magazine in the check out line and realized it was just grown up princess crap. So I guess if I can indulge in pretty girly things, I can indulge my daughter a little too.

And so the princess dress. It’s not sparkly or even very flooffy, but it’s pink and princessy and she loves it. The pattern is from Carefree Clothes for Girls and with it’s quilted bodice (that’s for you nan) and raw edges it’s more Cinderella before the ball than at the ball. The pattern was easy and a lot like the other dress I made from the book. The only part I couldn’t figure out were the button loops. There was a diagram on how to make them, cut I couldn’t decipher it out, so I just crocheted some chains with quilting thread and sewed them in. And it worked out well, washes up nicely, and gets dirty often. For me it’s a dress with a silly amount of baggage, but to her it’s just a pretty dress to pick flowers in.

I was sick of the stupid bathroom towel always ending up on the floor. So I whipped up this bad boy in the spirit of those awesome old fashioned public bathroom continuous towel thing-a-ma-jigs (which I can seem to find on the internet; have they ceased to exist?).  All it took was a little patchwork bias tape to cover the raw edges and velcro to join the ends.  You could use buttons or snaps, but I could not because my monkey of a son would then use it as his personal bathroom swing.

The towel fabric is a waffle weave muslin that I found when I was looking for fabric for the kids’ summer towels or summer robes. I only bought a quarter of a yard so I could see if it would soften when I washed it. And it did, nicely too. Then I went to get some more, only this time I went to Joann’s instead of the fancy fabric shop, and when I washed the three yards of it I got, it came out super thick and shrunk up (see above).  Does Joann’s just carry inferior everything, or did I wash it wrong? Has anyone worked with waffle weave muslin before and have some insight?  Because I really like how the bathroom towel turned out and had visions of making kitchen towels for everyone for christmas out of this stuff

Wouldn’t it be great in the kitchen? I suppose linen or terry cloth would work just as well.  I’m going to have to use the shrunk up stuff to make the kids’ robes; I just hope they don’t make them look like little sumo wrestlers.

When I first saw the actual mociun tie front dress I think I was pregnant and it looked like some sort of godsend. A dress that is stylish and functional through pregnancy nursing and beyond? I mean that doesn’t ever happen. Then I saw it on cakies last year and she was pregnant and obviously thinking the same thing. Her post led me to Anna’s blog, wildflower::pretty, and she told me how to make it. Of course it took a year for me to actually get up the courage to start.

I made a muslin and thank god I did, because my first try turned out ridiculously poofy. I had to alter it a few times before it fit at least kind of right, but I forgot to alter the pattern I made, so then I had to take the whole muslin apart and use it as a pattern for the real dress. Then I was so nervous about actually making it that I cut it a little bigger than I should have. When I’m nervous I make things bigger, which isn’t so much of a problem with kid’s clothes, but I don’t want to bank on getting bigger to fit into my own clothes.  So I had to take it in a bunch, which fucked up the arm holes and left me with no extra fabric for pockets. And this dress really needs pockets.  I made it a little longers than Anna’s, which might make it a little dowdy, but I’m not big on knees.

But even with all of that I still really like it. It is the perfect dress for summertime and yes, for nursing too. I am definitely going to make another one, but I think I need some fabric help. I used a really lightweight shirting for this dress and it’s ok, but it’s doesn’t hang quite right–it’s a little stiff. I just noticed the original is silk crepe. Man, I know nothing about garment fabrics. All I know is that I like natural materials and I don’t like ironing. Can I have both or was polyester invented because ironing sucks?  Where do you go to buy fabric for clothes (no saying Mood you spoiled new yorkers)? There is a nice little fabric store in my neighborhood where the fabrics themselves are nice, but the prints tend towards the old lady end of the spectrum. How do you buy fabric online if you don’t know what it feels like? Any advice at all would be super duper appreciated.

I feel like I have to say something about ripping this design off, because I so obviously stole it. I love the clothes at mociun and have bought clothes from them before, but can’t really afford to do so. And I could have never afforded this dress, on sale or not.  Is that enough? I support small designers and I’m not copying their designs for profit, so why do I still feel crappy about it?  Imitation blah blah blah flattery, right?

Sorry. I didn’t mean to be gone for an entire month!  Honestly, it’s a little hard to get back on the horse. But better just to jump right back into it (or onto it, if we are still in the horse metaphor), so here goes.

These linen pants were inspired by a fantastic pair little boy pants that popped up on flickr during kids clothes week (see below). I was working on a couple patterns from Carefree Clothes for Girls during kids clothes week and I thought those pants translated that aesthetic–rough around the edges, but still chic; old timey, but modern at the same time–perfectly.  They are made by little bird designs, who also makes some super cute things and sells them on etsy.

I made my pants, well my son’s pants, out of this nice striped linen from Joann’s that I had been saving for another project that just never happened. There was only about a yard, so I had to cut the cuffs against the grain, which actually turned out to be a nice detail.  I did an elastic waist, but I do think that big drawstring on the other pants is more Huck Finn.

Of course right after I washed them my iron broke, which is why they are a mess in the picture–who am I kidding? they probably would be have been a mess regardless.  So are there any good iron recomendations out there? because I can barely sew without one! And I need to get a new one quick, because I’ve been eyeing that same linen fabric in brown for this pattern I picked up:

Granted I have no idea if I can sew this, but we’ll see (it’s V1175, if you feel like sewing along with me). I actually have a few things I sewed for myself I want to show you, but I haven’t figured out how to take a decent photo of myself in them.

And just like that I’m back on the horse.