Tuesday, March 16, 2010

The Beginnings of Some Fun Sewing Projects

Over Christmas, I got really motivated. Remember that?! Remember (umm, say two posts ago) when I said that I was going to be more on top of writing? Well, I haven't been very good at writing posts, but I have been doing lots and lots of fun stuff. --And writing on my blog hasn't been one of them.

January was a very full month, and so far, February is trying to outdo it! I am loving it though! I just want more time to do all the things I have in my head!


January was full of productive weekends, sewing fun projects and making our own (gulp) sausages!

While we were in Eugene over Christmas, I went shopping with MH and V (Sebastien's mother and sister) to get some cashmere sweaters to felt at Value Village. They are such good shoppers, and I definitely walked away with more sweaters than I anticipated buying, but I couldn't figure out any to put back on the rack!
The colors (or patterns) I bought were: autumny orange, hottt pink, raven black, peppermint candy (pink and white stripes with a green collar and cuffs), sunbleached sunflowers (cream with beige flowers), and my favorite - a rich creamy grass. I am so excited about all of them.


SO, my first project was to figure out how to make hats and mittens for the cold weather we were having. It was fun to figure out the patterns!

7 comments:

Vanessa said...

Can't wait to see what else you got going on over there. I want to see progress on that new Tunic top.

The Telford Family said...

You must have gotten some good prices in those sweaters to cut and make a hat. I can't wait to see the finished hat. Love, mom

Hope said...

The sweaters were all from Value Village, kind of like the Salvation Army stores, so they were fairly inexpensive. I can't afford to buy cashmere sweaters that haven't been worn before to cut up! I wanted them to be really soft and the felt comes out really nicely.

The Telford Family said...

How do you FELT? I see a lot of it on Etsy and it fascinates me... ~chris

Hope said...

Hi Vanessa - Well, the tunic top may take a while, but I am so excited about it, that it may come sooner than later. I am finishing working on some different versions of what I made for Wyatt for some other little ones (shhhhh!) right now. They are too fun!
H

Hope said...

Chris - felting is super duper easy. Basically, whatever your mom taught you not to do with your wool sweaters, you should do. Wash some older cashmere and wool sweaters in hot water and then threw them in the dryer. For me they weren't quite shrunk up enough after the first washing, so I boiled a big pot of water on the stove and threw my sweaters in, one at a time. Then rinse them with COLD water. When they dry, the fibers are all co-mingled, so the sweater is still soft, but you can cut them without the edges fraying. That is how I guage how many hot water bathes to give the sweater. If I can still see the knit, I do it again. Easy peasy. Try it!

Unknown said...

love the hat! very cute....