Knitting: Clementine Cardigan

I've managed to achieve something quite rare for me - I've finished a knitting project in time to wear it while it's still seasonally appropriate! Please tell me I'm not the only one who usually struggles to do that?! I gave myself a self-imposed deadline of the end of June to finish knitting it, which admittedly I didn't quite meet, but early July is close enough for me.

This cardigan is called Clementine and it was designed by Sarah Hatton for issue 99 of Knit Today. I only buy knitting magazines if there's something on the cover that catches my eye, and this pattern did exactly that (plus there was also a picture of a jumper covered in intarsia stars which I'm definitely keeping in mind for a future project).

It's designed to be worn with a small amount of positive ease, but I like cardigans to be slightly more fitted. Thankfully for me I fell between two sizes, so I just went with the smaller one and the fit turned out pretty much exactly how I wanted.

The cardigan is knit using cotton yarn, which obviously makes it summer-appropriate, but unfortunately I don't have a great track record of knitting with 100% cotton (the last time I tried it, my Mum helpfully told me that the baby hat that I'd knitted would make a good dish cloth!). Because of that I went with a cotton blend and used King Cole Bamboo Cotton DK in Fuchsia.

On the subject of the colour, I'm sorry if it's hurting your eyeballs here - on my laptop it looks the pretty fuchsia shade that it actually is, but I've just looked at the photos on another screen which is showing the cardigan as a particularly garish neon pink for some reason. Odd.

Anyway, the yarn was nice to knit with. I found it a little bit prone to splitting when casting on, but other than that it was fine and the finished cardigan feels lovely to wear. And my Mum hasn't said it could be a dish cloth so I'm calling that a success!

The cardigan is knit in sections and them seamed, which at the moment is my preferred method. I like the idea of cardigans knit seamlessly on circular needles, but the only time I've tried it (my Cria cardigan), I kept getting really sore wrists so I think maybe there's something about the way I hold circular needles that my wrists don't like. Does anyone else have that problem? I'll give it another try at some point (if nothing else, I need a Chickadee cardigan still!), but at the moment I'm sticking to what I know works.

This was my first time knitting any kind of lace pattern, and I was pleasantly surprised by how straightforward it was. I'd always imagined that it would be really complicated but it was easy to get the hang of.

I did end up having to knit most of my first front piece twice because I dropped some stitches in the lace section, and they managed to unravel so far down that I couldn't tell quite what was going on anymore so decided it would be best just to frog it and start that section again. I think it actually may have been a blessing in disguise because the lace panel came out neater second time around anyway. Practice makes perfect after all!

I'm really pleased with this cardigan - both in terms of how it looks and, possibly more importantly, because of the fact that I finished it in time to actually wear it this summer. I'm now trying to decide what to knit next - I inherited all my Granny's old knitting patterns recently and there are some nice cardigans I'd like to try, but part of me thinks I should be good and finish the socks I started and got bored of before this cardigan. Which would you choose?

Sewing World Sundress

Are you a fan of sewing magazines? I am, and I often check out what they're all offering each month. So it was no surprise that when I saw a pretty summer dress pattern peeping out of the shelves in Smiths from May's Sewing World magazine (issue 231), I snapped it up straight away and the dress skipped straight to the top of my sewing list. Here's my version!

The dress was designed by Metia Bethell and has a mock collar, plunge neckline, buttons down the front of the bodice secured with cute little button loops, a swishy full pleated skirt, and it's fully lined. With all those elements combined in one dress, how could this fail to be a winner?!

The sample in the magazine is made in a stripey cotton which emphasizes the lines of the mock collar and waistband really effectively. I tried to find stripey fabric of my own, but I was being picky and wanted multicoloured stripes, and nothing I could find was quite right.

I was being impatient and wanted to make the dress though so I convinced myself that as all the hearts on this fabric (a soft cotton lawn from Textile Express) are kind of in lines, it might do the same job as the stripes. It's not as distinctive as stripes, but the dress is so pretty that I don't really mind. I'm on the lookout for some multicoloured striped material for another version still though - has anyone seen any?

As this is a pattern from a magazine, you do need to trace off the pattern pieces from a multi-pattern sheet, but there aren't too many patterns on each page and I didn't have any problems with tracing.

The instructions in the magazine are fairly brief but clear. I don't think I'd recommend this dress to a complete beginner, because it does assume that you're familiar with steps such as inserting a zip, pleating and making bias binding. It is made clear that this is assumed at the start though, so I think that's fine. And actually, it's nice to have a pattern in a magazine that's not aimed just at beginners!

One thing that I found slightly odd was that it tells you to use an invisible zip, but also says to stitch the side seam up to the zip position before inserting the zip, whereas any other invisible zip instructions I've seen tell you to sew the rest of the seam after you've inserted the zip. I ignored the instructions there and followed my usual method instead.

I also went a bit off piste when it came to the armholes. The pattern has you finish them with bias binding on the outside. That looks fine with the stripes, but I thought that with my fabric it might just end up looking messy so I turned my binding inside and catch stitched it to the lining instead. It means my armholes have ended up being ever so slightly bigger, but they still fit nicely so that's fine.

There aren't any finished garment measurements with the pattern, so I trusted my measurements, made a toile, and thankfully it was fairly spot on. I made a straight size 16, and just needed to make my standard adjustments to add a bit of length to the bodice and skirt. Because of the extra length, I also added an extra button, but those were the only changes I made.

I'm really pleased with this dress. Most of my dresses tend to be "my favourite" as soon as I've finished them, but this is one of the ones that I think will stay in favour even as newer additions appear in my wardrobe. It's a great shape, the fabric feels lovely to wear and all those colours mean that it'll go with plenty of cardigans/shoes and, most importantly, it makes me happy! What's your favourite thing you've sewn recently?

Simple Sew Ruby Dress

Two finished garment posts within a few days isn't normal for me, but I had a weekend recently when I did very little other than sew (a good weekend!), so I got through a couple of projects quite quickly, including the dress I have to show you today. This dress wasn't planned. Not that I have a particularly detailed sewing plan, but I had told myself that I'd probably made enough summer dresses already this year. Then this month's copy of Love Sewing magazine arrived through my door with the pattern for the Ruby dress from Simple Sew on the cover. It was just my style, and then I spotted some fabric on ebay that I thought would make a nice Ruby, so really it would have been silly not to put the two together and create a pretty dress wouldn't it? So that's what I did!

In my defence (not that I necessarily need one!), I have been thinking recently that I haven't made nearly enough polka dot items. I love polka dots, and I always tend to be drawn to them when I'm looking for sewing inspiration, but for some reason they seem to have not featured too highly on the list of things I've actually made. And blue and white is always a good combination for me, and fits in well with my cardigan collection so it's all good!

The Ruby dress has a fitted bodice with a bateau neckline and low V-shaped back, and a lovely full skirt. So this may be another fit and flare dress to add to my growing handmade collection, but it had some interesting details to make it different from the others that I've made before.

The pattern is described as being for an adventurous beginner, which I think is probably fairly accurate as it's all pretty simple (as the name of the pattern company would suggest!), as long as you're OK with inserting invisible zips. The instructions are clear and well-illustrated, although there are a couple of details missing that might confuse a complete beginner - the envelope doesn't tell you what type or length of zip you should be using (I used a 16" invisible zip), and I don't think it tells you what seam allowance to use (I used the standard 5/8" which worked fine for me) but maybe I just overlooked that bit! The envelope does promise full email support though, so that should sort out any queries.

The neckline and armholes are finished together with one facing, which I prefer to having a separate neckline facing and armhole binding as it means there's no risk of the facing popping out at the neckline. If I make another Ruby dress though, I might try lining the bodice instead of using the facings, as I really like the lined bodices of my Lilou dresses.

I made a size 14, but added quite a lot of length. From the photos in the magazine, you can tell that this dress has been designed to be quite short, but I always think that dresses this shape look better if they're around knee length. If they're much shorter than that on me, I always feel like they look like they've been shrunk, but maybe that's just me being weird! I added 1.5 inches to the bodice, and 4.5 inches to the skirt. Lengthening the bodice is a standard adjustment for me, and I am probably on the taller side of average at 5 ft 8, but the skirt would have been really short on me without the extra length. I'm fairly happy with it as it is, but I might add an extra inch or two to the skirt next time.

Have any of you read Love Sewing magazine? I always get sucked in by the pretty covers of magazines, so I had to check this one out when it was first released a few months ago. It's a nice magazine, with plenty of modern sewing projects for accessories, home decor and simple clothes. I haven't actually made anything from the magazine itself yet, but I've enjoyed reading it. Plus there's the bonus of having a free pattern every month. If you're only interested in dressmaking, then it might not be the one for you but it's definitely worth keeping an eye out for it just to see if you want the pattern - this month's issue with the Ruby pattern should theoretically still be available, and next month there'll be a trouser pattern on offer.

I'm pretty happy with how this turned out, and even happier now that I've heard that there could be some more heat coming our way next week so I might get more of a chance to show it off. And if the sun doesn't appear again, well then that's what cardigans were made for! But maybe I should think about planning some more autumn-appropriate sewing. Are you sewing for summer still, or planning for autumn already?