Simple sewing is where it is at.

March 3, 2015 thecraftsessions

So I cleaned out my wardrobe last week and I had a few realisations. Not world changing revelations but interesting none the less. And they are all centred around point number 2 of The Craft Sessions Manifesto.

“Beautiful things can be made with very simple techniques and skills.”

— The Craft Sessions Manifesto

I truly believe this is true.

A large part of my wardrobe is handmade and I wear something handmade almost every day. What was interesting (when I pulled it all together after the cleaning out) was that it became clear that I rarely sew anything complicated. Very occasionally I will sew a skirt with a zip (I found 2 zips in total that I've sew in the wardrobe) or a shirt with a placket (the last one I made for my son was three years ago) but normally the trickiest thing I tackle is a gather. The takeaway from this is that simple sewing at it's simplest can take you a long way*.

Please don't think my wardrobe actually looks like this normally. I wanted to show you the handmade top section rather than the everything jammed together in a total mishmash reality.

Without further ado, the realisations were;

1. All the tops that I've made that I love involve super simple sewing and about five patterns.

1a. Not relevant to you but relevant to me. I may have an issue with colour…..Ha! I mean c'mon. Look at that colour palate. It is getting rid-ic-ulous.

2. I realised that the things I sew actually involve a tiny number of skills.

3. And that as a capsule wardrobe they are actually a "get good at sewing 101 post" waiting to happen.

So on Friday I'll be posting "How to go from sewing a straight line to sewing a simple everyday wardrobe you love" in six easy steps*. And then I'll be back sometime in the following week to show you some superdooper simple modifications I make to make things fit my non-pattern-standard shape. The tricks will probably have actual dressmakers totally cringing, but they work like a charm. So hey - It's all good! - am I right or am I right?

Felicia x

*if you are a fan of simple clothes.

P.S. I seem to be playing "idea snap" with Karen today - I'd already written this post when I went wandering around my favourite blogs on the weekend :). Maybe it is great minds think alike? She has some great ideas on a very similar topic in that post.

Incidental craft in Europe - Part 2

February 27, 2015 thecraftsessions

Part 1 of this post (including the why of our trip) can be found in Incidental Craft in Europe - Part 1.

SARAJEVO, BOSNIA

Handknitting was all over the place in Sarajevo, which was by far, one of our favourite places on our trip. Such an interesting city, great food and amazing people. We loved it.

The knitting on the street was mainly similar to what we saw in Croatia. Worsted weight, naturally coloured yarn as a base and then either some colourwork or some embroidery.

I saw the sweetest little vest, stocking stitch, garter border with flowers in dusty pink with green leaves running along the border. I'm still sad I didn't buy it - I had that crazy knitters purchasing dilemma - "….but I could make this."

Common street stall of hand knits. Worsted weight, with embroidery over the top. The patterns were a total mix of styles but had a lot of natural colours. The colour was added as small bands of colourwork or embroidery.

Sarajevo is being rebuilt but the signs of the siege are still incredibly prevalent.

I did however buy the girls gloves from the Bosnia Hand knitters collective. The lady in the store didn't speak any English sadly, so I have no idea what they are made of, other than that it was the softest 100% wool. These gloves are truly divine.

Baby mittens in the hand knitters collective. I adore the colourwork.

More gorgeous colourwork. I am assuming the red was handsewn on after?

The beautiful gloves I purchased for the middle kid. I was told it was wool but they feel to me like they have some alpaca. They are slightly silky in their softness but the yarn isn't over processed.

BERAT, ALBANIA

Walking the kids up the hill to the Medieval Castle of Berat we weren't sure what to expect. What I didn't expect was embroidery. I'd heard that Berat was a centre for wood carving - which I didn't see at all. What I did see was wall after wall of these beautiful table cloths.

Next to each set of tablecloths there was a woman with one on her lap, repairing and mending. I tried in passing, to find one that Anna would love, but hunger and the weather were against me and I left empty handed.

There were also numerous women sitting around the castle site who were knitting colourwork Portuguese style. This was the first time I had seen it. I asked a couple of them if they would mind me taking their photo but they all said no. Fair enough. I am a little camera shy myself.

And then on the way out of Albania in a mountain town that was incredibly beautiful*, we ran into this guy. He was happy for a photo.

We did see more craft here and there of course, but one of the many things that I didn't get to do as much as I would have liked is to take photos….. I'm dreaming of a day when we can travel and I can stop as often as I would like to take photos. For the most part on this trip though, I had to practice what I tell my kids, "Take pictures with your eyes! They last longer - I promise".

Felicia x

*I have no idea what the town was called as we weren't having the kind of day when we could really research the scenery - there was a little bit of angst flying around the car ;). That's how we rolled that day.

Planning only takes you so far.

February 25, 2015 thecraftsessions

This post is a diary entry. A visual reminder for when I inevitably forget this stellar piece of wisdom. Which I will. I seem to forget it periodically, and get stuck in the planning phase of a project. Stuck going round and round and round in my head.

So let's put it out there - into the bloggisphere (spelling anyone?) - where I will inevitably run into it when I am wandering around in past posts trying to find the one where I mentioned some "useful" thing. And here is what I want to say.

“Planning only gets you so far because you cannot plan the PERFECT outcome. You need to MAKE it to see if the materials, design and form you have chosen work together. Or not. The making is where the rubber hits the road. Pre-trip planning will help but really you need to be on the road to know what the conditions are like and what it feels like to be there. ”

— Felicia Semple - just now.

I'm trying to gauge swatch for a second Colourwork Cardy; a few of you have mentioned that you wouldn't mind a pattern? So I'm going to try to make some time to do it. I have a simple plan to make another but I have sat on it for a good while. I already have the pattern - cause I wrote it as I was making it. I have materials - I purchased some naturally dyed yarn in an assortment of colours when I was in the UK last year. And there the project stalled.

You see the colours, well they aren't quite the same. They are pretty and I thought they might work. I've put them next to one another in the shop. Next to one another in my sewing room. I have put them up against the last Colourwork Cardy, and then up against a picture of the last Colourwork Cardy. And they are similar but different. I have sat them all in a row. I have sat them in piles. I planned and thought.

Then there was the matter of gauge. The yarn from the prototype and the yarn I'm using are both DK. Should be easy but I was worried as they had a different composition. Would they work or wouldn't they.

What happens to me when I'm not sure if something will work is I come down with a massive dose of procrastination. A terrible illness to befall a maker who really wants to make a thing. The not-knowingness causing the not-makingness which in turn causes the not-knowingness. And there I sat. Convincing myself that what I was really doing was planning.

The more I want to love the project, the more I'm excited about it, often the longer I procrastinate/plan.

Until I realised. No more planning was needed. No more planning would help. The only thing to be done was the making.

This week's example - colourwork Cardy Mark II

To make a pattern for the Colourwork cardy I need to gauge swatch with the new yarn. So I'm doing that by knitting some hats. The first on 4mm needles and the second on 4.5 to see if I can match the gauge of the last cardy while still liking the fabric it creates.

And then there is the colours. Piles of colours only help a little. Until I actually start knitting with them I have no idea how they will combine. In a ball they are super saturated. Knitted up they have light yarn between them and a whole lot of negative space. And they look totally different. Sometimes a colour sits beautifully next to another and makes it sing. Other times, not so much. Making actually allows you to see the subtleties of the colour combinations - not only are you asking if the colours go together, but how should they go together. An intense colour used too thickly can look too heavy. Too heavy and it makes the whole hat seem more contrasty than I want it to look. I can't see this in the planning.

So I made the first hat and I'm not thrilled with the result. It's OK. I can see it has potential but I need to refine. The bright red is too bright (it isn't in the pictures of all the yarn above). I need to mute the whole thing down and just have one or two hero colours. The blue and maybe one other. I've swapped the red out for another couple of colours I thought wouldn't work in the planning phase.

Trying to mute the palate down by using a mushroom instead of the blue at the edge. This didn't work either ;). One thing that had to go was the brightest red, which softened the whole thing up. — Trying to mute the palate down by using a mushroom instead of the blue at the edge. This didn't work either ;). One thing that had to go was the brightest red, which softened the whole thing up.

Combination of colours and patterns get refined each time I them. Yesterday's example was the crown shaping; I wrote out a shaping idea and started knitting it up. It was awkward and lopsided. I ripped it out, did another chart, and then another chart and started knitting again. Again it didn't work. I realised while I was knitting, that the blue lines were going to be a much bigger feature than the decreases, which was the opposite of my plan or what I thought. I knitted it up and then colour weighting was wrong. I ripped it out, did three more charts and then finally knitted what you saw in the instagram photo. I still think the blue lines are too heavy but I couldn't rip again. This version is done. It is a sweet hat for a small person. I am however going to try something different on the Colourwork Hat Mark II to see if I can crack it. I've planned it, charted it and now all that is left to do is the making; the only way to tell if the planning is sound or not.

Chart 7/7 that I modified even as i was knitting it.

THE MAKING FEEDBACK LOOP OF LEARNING

So the important takeaway that I need to remember is to….

“Plan, then make, then revise, then plan and then make. And continue until in the feedback loop of learning until the project works. ”

The whole process has simply reminded me about how important it is to get things out of my head and into my fingers. I can think and think but there is something about watching a physical product come together that solidifies an idea or shows you where the flaws in your design are. The making provides the essential link in the feedback loop of creating something I will love.

Do you get stuck in the planning? or are you more like my friend Jenn who just makes?

Felicia

Stash Less - Falling Off the Wagon

February 20, 2015 thecraftsessions

In the last Stash Less post I wrote about how I thought I had found the key - and it was true. Having the budget meant that there was opportunity cost in everything I purchased. Having the making list meant that I knew what I really wanted to make and could be more focused with less buzzzzzz about all the ideas floating around in my head and on the interweb. Having the list of triggers meant that I had something against which I could review all potential purchases. All of these things have made a big big difference to my thinking. But we still have a way to go…..

We are now nearly five months into the process and I've learnt a lot. One thing I've learnt is that the whole thing is hard. Another is that I really need to practice new habits.

But in the last week, for some as-yet-unknown reason I've had a little blip. I've practiced my little heart out over the last week. And well, I've also fallen off the wagon.

More about my fall in a minute. But first let's look at where we were at.

A review of the spending so far.

$5 - Knitting needle gauge
$10 - Knitting pattern Flet (gee it's pretty) (gee it's as-yet unused)
$39 - Cotton and needles
$24 - Cotton and pattern tracing stuff
$10 - Knitting pattern Keel (on the needles)
$52 - Kate Davies new book Yokes (with postage) (again as yet unused)
$67 - Liberty in one of my all time favourite patterns
$54 - Fabric for kids Christmas stockings and cotton
$1.50 - Zip for star cushion
$88 - Wool for the boy's birthday jumper (swatted and ready to go)
Grand total until the fall was $350

The great thing about having this list and reviewing it is that I can see that for the most part I am on the right track. The only thing that I really was off base with was probably the pattern Flet and Yokes. Everything else is either being used or will be used soonish.

This makes me happy!

A little pre-fall information

Before we go into what I did, I think it's really important to note that in the moment I've managed to justify all of it. I have been masterful in my reasoning and my rationale. It's been really interesting to look back on - now that the moment has passed - I'm really quite admiring of how I justified it.

In addition to the falling-of-wagonness you will hear about in a moment, I also spent a good thirty minutes with $90 worth, of (super pretty) wool in a shopping cart, uhmming and ahhhing about whether I should hit the go button. I shouldn't. And I didn't. But I wanted to. A combination of FOMA and wanting to own the pretty. Wanting the thrill of the purchase. An hour after walking away I felt really good. I don't need wool. At the rate I am ripping things out, I have enough yarn to last me at least two years of solid knitting.

The fall

So what happened. I spent $219 in the last week. And $127 of that was on totally unnecessary stuff that doesn't follow the rules.

Exhibit A. I spent $77 on new season Nani Iro. It will arrive by mail sometime soon. I did cleverly avoid an old habit of only buying a little bit to make the purchasing less "bad". I purchased enough for a dress. I do have quite a stack of dress fabric - which I showed you in this post. I forgot momentarily that...

“Enough is as good as a feast.”

— Mary Poppins

And so it is.

Exhibit B. Another purchase that fell into the same category was the 1m of new Cotton and Steel Mustangs I purchased to make the top shown in the photo at the top of the post. I purchased it because I know my kid would love it - but she does have more clothes that she will ever wear out. I can't decide if I care about this one or not. It wasn't FOMA or any of the other reasons. It was joy for the kid.

Exhibit C. My third and final totally frivolous non-rule-following purchase was that I purchased 1m of another Cotton and Steel Grey Cross fabric. Again it was super pretty. But the reason for purchasing it meant that I came up with a new trigger - "Just in case" purchasing. Hmm. I justified it by saying that I didn't have the right fabric for part of the boys quilt and needed the grey "just in case". I didn't need the grey. At all.

The final two things were necessary for the making list. $82 for batting for boys quilt and some baby quilts and $8 on cotton. Totally fine.

So all in all - I spent 4.5 months worth of budget in a week. And 2.5 months of that spending was unnecessary and just because I wasn't paying enough attention and really being conscious about why I am doing Stash Less. I'm chalking it up to a learning experience.

Where does that leave us?

Spending to date since October 1st. About $570.

What is really annoying about it is that even as I am writing about it I'm still justifying it in my head - "Beautiful Nani Iro that you love is only released once a year (or so)". "Your little girl will totally LOVE the mustangs dress and how fun to be able to do that for her". "The crosses will come in handy". But you know what…..I know, and you know, that none of it was necessary. All of it was excessive. And while I don't want to waste time feeling bad about it, it was a good reminder that I can be very clever at tricking myself when I want to be.

I'm feeling just a little frustrated with the whole idea, with the budget, with the process and with myself. That said, I am also really happy I thought it up, really happy I'm doing it, and really happy I'm learning things. But frustrated none the less.

Some successes - small but important

Just so we don't totally finish on a bum note. I wanted to tell you about some successes I'm having. Over the weekend I cut into some Nani Iro I've been hoarding and made the beautiful Alice from Tessuti you see above. And I made a Grainline Hemlock with some cotton that wasn't expensive but that I was holding on to (hoarding) onto "just in case". Feeling totally chuffed with myself for making two things I will wear all the time, and two things that I needed. And two things that I would have previously have had a hard time actually cutting.

I'd love an update if any of you are working on your own stashes. What you've learned? And if you've had frustrations or setbacks I'd love to hear them too. Setbacks are where it is at today.

In solidarity and wagon-fallingoffedness.

Felicia x

PS. I have now made a Stash Less page that includes all the posts to date in this series.

Incidental craft in Europe - Part 1

February 18, 2015 thecraftsessions

As many of you reading would remember, last year my family went camping. We drove from Denmark to Greece, and then back up through Italy to the UK. I talk a little about how we travelled in that previous post but what I didn't talk about was the craft we saw along the way.

What do I mean when I say "incidental"craft?

As we didn't plan our route at all, we often didn't know anything about where we were, until we parked up for the day. Then tourist information or google would fill in the gaps. This, combined with the fact that we were camping with three little kids ;), meant I didn't really have the time (or the headspace) to really delve into the traditions and the history of each individual countries crafting culture. The daily chores of looking after kids, finding food, travelling and camping totally filled our days.

Some of you reading might think this sounds like crazy talk; with Europe at your feet how could you not take advantage of all the fibre goodness it had to offer. But here's the thing - the goal of this trip was family togetherness, and that meant that everyone's needs had to be considered all of the time. We were asking a lot of our kids - they were only 3, 6 and 7 when we left. Many days the kids were too overexcited/tired/grumpy/hungry/dirty to see the sights that were on our doorstep, let alone go on a trek to see a wool shop. Crazily they don't care about wool. Very occasionally when we stopped in a big city I would purposefully seek something out. But most days generally "incidental" craft was really where it was at.

Crafting tourism is something I think I need to save until they have got bigger or maybe even until they have left home? Those with older kids should chime in here - does it get easier to wool shop?

What they often looked like right before they started to wrestle on the ground in a small pile of bodies.

So when I did see craft, I was pretty happy. And I realised the other day that I didn't show you anything I found - and that seemed a little crazy. So I've pulled off a few photos of places where craft was clearly visible on the street.

Initially I thought I would do this all in one post. But it's getting a little long so I'll post some more next week. Next up we will have Sarajevo and Albania.

Split, Croatia

This was the first place I really encountered craft at a market, or on the street. The lady in the photo came from a knitting family. She or one of her relatives knitted everything on her stall. I (being the stupid tourist ;)) asked where did her wool come from. "Croatia". Obviously.

We purchased some socks from her - which had some side toe shaping I really liked and recently copied in the first pair of socks I had made for myself. I also got some super cute slippers for the girls. A little crazy but they love them.

The wool was fairly rustic and definitely not for the feint hearted. Sadly they only lasted a few months before I wore holes in them.

Showing the interesting toe shaping that I part copied when I made my Irish Oats recently.

DUBROVNIK, CROATIA

I was expecting more knitting frankly but I didn't see a single bit. Instead I saw many many gorgeous examples of the famous Dubrovnik embroidery. This stuff is truly amazing. I watched a few women for a minute here and there and managed to buy a few small gifts. I wish I had purchased something for myself!