Crocheted Party Dress - Motivation

When Alison first sent me pattern for the Crocheted Party Dress, I knew I had to make it. But it was a big project - an entire dress - and I hadn't ever started, let alone completed, a big garment before. Still, I knew at some point I would make this dress. The best part is that is's a crochet pattern with worsted weight/light worsted weight yarn, so it would make up relatively fast.

25 rows completed. Once the bodice and skirt are completed the sleeves are added.

The dress is working up pretty quickly, even if I'm a slow crocheter. The lace pattern is easily memorized. I like that a lot!

I purchased a 1 pound mill end of off white Caron Simply Soft online for next to nothing. I knew at the time that I don't particularly like working with the yarn, but it looks so pretty made up that I had to buy it. That mill end turned out to be the perfect yarn in my stash to make dress.

Out shopping one afternoon, we were talking about the dress and how cool it would look if it were an ombre instead of a solid color dress. We picked up a skein of coral and taupe yarns. I am hopeful that I can get the dress to turn out like I envision it in my head.

I am using the postings of my progress as motivation. I want to be able to show my progress on the dress each time I post an update. I'm not always so good at completing projects, so I have to find motivation where I can.

The original dress.

Happy crocheting!

The Shrug is Finished!

When I started the shrug from the Modern Twin Set I immediately saw the shrug as something that would be perfect for my mother-in-law. She likes shrugs and boleros, and the green would be perfect for her coloring.

The pattern calls for gimp to be crocheted along the edges of the shrug. I didn't have gimp, and I didn't have easy access to a ball or skein of it, either. I ended up buying Vanna's Choice Glamour yarn and using that in place of the gimp. It's a nice sparkly, light-weight yarn (#2/sport/fine/baby weight). The color is "Platinum," a bright grey yarn with silver sparkle woven through it. It looks so pretty with the sheen of the cotton yarn.

Because it is a rib knit, I didn't block the finished garment. That's a great thing! No muss, no fuss when it comes to finishing the shrug. Blocking might have killed the elasticity of the ribbing.

This was the first garment I've ever seamed. I had managed to make hats, scarves and cowls that don't need to be seamed. I did everything in the round. I was a bit apprehensive about the seaming, but purlebee.com had a super tutorial on how to do the Mattress Stitch. It wasn't nearly as scary as I had imagined.

The 2x2 rib is amazingly stretchy. The shrug fits my mother-in-law and my 11 year old niece. While it looks slightly large on my niece, it still looks nice.

Here's what...

While I normally hate cotton yarn, I would definitely use the Vendome Raps 100% cotton yarn again if I can find it. It is soft and silky and has such a pretty sheen to it. I may just start scouring the internet for it. 

I really like the pattern, as well. In fact, I would like to make it again.  As a 2x2 rib, it is is mindless knit: making it easy to find mistakes, and even easier to fix them. This pattern seems like it would be really easy to enlarge.

The pattern for the Modern Twin Set can be found in our Etsy store.

Happy knitting!

Clean Dishes in the New Year

One of Alison's friends does embroidery. She was kind enough to make the tea towels from the 1940's Victory Garden Transfer pattern.

Sam's thoughts for working with the transfers....

"I got that iron-on pen and used tracing paper. Place the tracing paper (ink side down) over the image and trace your design. Then turn the tracing face down and iron it on to the towel...."

"It's easy to get the lines a little too thick so be aware of that as you are tracing the design. You want the thread to cover your lines as you embroider the design."

Two of the towels were purchased at Michael's, the rest of the towels were flour sack tea towels purchased on eBay.

Towel back.

Happy stitching!