Sock sweater and sweater cutting up and remodeling link party (2023)

 So the ex had a lot of socks he didn't want and I have a bunch as well 

https://www.threadsmagazine.com/2018/09/12/make-hats-recycled-sweaters

I like the examples of the zig zag stitches used. That and the upcycled sweater article (no free links yet but it's here at https://www.threadsmagazine.com/2020/10/21/how-to-upcycle-a-sweater). I think the latter kinda skipped over the bigger issues with collaging sweaters; the unraveling seam edges. 

You know how when you steek a sweater, you stitch down the future seam before you cut the steek?

You don't?

https://blog.tincanknits.com/2014/09/18/steek/

I'd at least machine sew down those edges first. Wool knits will behave, but poly cut edges can explode.

https://erniekdesigns.blogspot.com/2021/12/sweater-remodel-number-christmas.html

It's a lot of socks to use

Let's get slicing!

I will stitch the heels closed, stack them in a tub and think about them for three years

And finish this post in September of 2026 and post again next week with the finished project.

WIP Deep Stash Edition: dyeing the last of the ventana twill

Well, it's not the last of the twill in my house, per se.

This was purchased in early covid, from a shop that no longer exists, anticipating a need that did not entirely arise at the time. I have storage space. I can stash.

Later, ran across Dharma Trading's handpainting dye flyer, 

https://www.dharmatrading.com/blogs/a/fiber-reactive-dye-the-cold-batch-method

and bought a set of the dye for painting. Wasn't this set, but it was close. bought a couple other colors and the extra bits (urea, sodium alginate, soda ash I already had). Dharma puts all the information on their webpage and it's worth your time to read that before you buy things, so you know what you're going to need beyond physical supplies).

https://www.dharmatrading.com/collections/dye-kits-starter-sets/products/fiber-reactive-dye-custom-color-sets?color=Jewel+Tones+%286+Colors%29%3A+2+Bright+Yellow+-+6+Deep+Orange+-+10+Fire+Red*+-+18+Deep+Purple+-+23A+Electric+Blue*+-+30A+New+Emerald+Green*

Ideas collided.

Time passed.

Staycation 2026 arrived:

Supplies!

Building a frame to work on. 

Reinforcing over-extended aluminum extension poles with bamboo

Duct tape. When gaffers tape would be overkill.

Perfect weather. Not too hot, and dry.

Workbench (back stairs)

The cross bars are bamboo from the forest in my side yard. It was out of control when I moved here in 1996; time has not improved that situation, but it does mean I have a steady supply of six to eight foot poles.

Ending with the yardage hanging indoors because Seattle is one damn raccoon festival.

I decided my best bet with two and a half yards of medium weight twill was to wash it in a tub with a dab of Synthrapol, and then do the rinses in the washing machine with some sacrificial towels to distribute the weight in the spin cycle.

And it has faded. And I will redo the red and add some black details. I need more dye in my paint mix; this was a quarter teaspoon to a cup of solution.

My inspiration for this was this material

This last slide is my talking point. I don't want to dump coagulants, paint, dye, chemicals down the drain. The dab of Synthrapol couldn't be helped, my other cautions make up for that I feel. Maybe they don't. I am not set up for a yard sink that drains into a bucket I run through a filter, I don't do enough painting for that.

What I have started doing is dumping out the contents onto rags and let them dry. I have a lot of them (this might resemble a four or five inch remnant off a too-long tshirt I have hemmed, because that is what it is).

I will make a pair of pants out of the twill over the winter.

Donnybrook

 https://fridaypatterncompany.com/products/donny-shirt-pdf-pattern

I have seen several cute versions, but it needs some editing to be a repeater.

I love the idea: I want a on grain pullover woven shirt pattern, and I am tired of the same self drafted pattern. And it makes sense to support indie pattern makers. And my local fabric store.

Our Other Benefactor, Pacific Iron & Metals

The pattern photos make the v-neck look short enough

Lots of sizes

Oh yes, it's Saturday night, Earth Vs The Spider on Svengoolie

I traced off the XL size.

I traced off a copy because I wanted to save the pattern in case I needed to make more edits for future versions. I don't cut into a new pattern anymore because altering the original keeps me from going back to see where I went wrong. And that is going to be a saving grace for this one.

I traced off the half-yoke on a fold to a full piece, because I am cutting two of them. 
That back neck was not too wide, which surprised and alarmed me.
I am wider now.

The seam lines are not very far apart from each other for each size. The seam allowance is 3/8"/1cm,which is stupid small and the marks are hard to see. I added enough to get to 1/2", and I made the hem 1" longer.

this is a Liberty lawn with text from The Tempest on it, and while it is unreadable, it would be annoying to have it be leaning off. So I grained up the fabric (fortunately the print is on grain)

Oh yeah, the sleeve isn't wide enough for my arms now. If you have arms, check your width before you cut.

Goofed around to get it to fit.

Also made sure the pattern was lined up.

Of course I made a burrito

The construction has a lot of work around the neck. You sew the finished upper collar to the yoke/fronts and then sew the facing/yoke to that. The neck could really get stretched out too far with that much work and such a narrow seam allowance. I was really careful, but there was some distortion.

Yes, there is a center seam up the front. No, I did not match precisely and it is off by a half inch.

The v-neck is too low for my height, but bringing it up an inch, as well as bringing up the lower part of the lower collar and narrowing the upper collar will address the scale problem (I am short. There is no petite alteration line on this pattern. It says the fit model is 5' 6" in the size chart. Just keep that in mind, short and tall folks). 

I am going to move the yoke line up an inch as well because I can feel it when I reach forward. The back of the neck feels fine on my chubby little dowagers humplet. The width around is true to size.

The issue is going to be print matching the center seam, OR altering this to have a v neck and skip the curve on the lower collar facing to make the front one piece. As I think we all know by now, I love novelty prints and I get tired of print matching across the front (thus my repeats of the pullover bias shirt that is not the scout tee). I also have a stack of really nice Japanese yarn dyed shirt plaids that I would love to be wearing.

And this is where it starts turning into a total redraft. Or simply a graft of a new collar onto the old pullover shirt. In the meantime, I am going to close up the collar a bit for my own peace of mind and underwear reveal/non-reveal and chew it over. It generally has a good line. It just needs some thinking.

Oh wait, I changed the collar, eliminated the center seam and made another one. 

I do sew in episodes of the same pattern, with a new monster of the week in each version.

and yes, I was watching Widow's Bay.

The "flange"is removed so the collar has no notch.

Resulting in:

Like you can see the edits here. An old Tula Pink set that has been waiting .

Oh wait, there's another you can't see the collar on.

A Liberty lawn from the last couple of years. They make florals and then they make utter nonsense that makes me deeply happy. this is the latter. As ever, click on the photo to make it too dang big.

Yes, I am this wide now.

Back when I made the first one in May, the cornus kousa was like this:

All the bracts have fallen and been composted. All these shirts have been worn and washed, and require ironing before wearing. Sigh.