Learning to crochet

I went to Transition Dorking’s Stitch Up yesterday.  It’s a chance to learn textile skills with a group of very skilled ladies as instructors.  I went to see what was going on because Transition Horsham would like to start something similar.  I happenned to mention that I would love to learn how to crochet &  I was shown how to make crochet flowers.

 This wasn’t my first attempt, in fact there were 3 earlier efforts but I thought it was worth adding the scraps of silk to the back and pulling it all together with a button.

I’m definitely going to try again. Thanks very much to Dorking Transition’s Stitch up.

Snakes to keep you warm

All the snakes were made by people from Transition Horsham as draught excluders to sell at the 999 event.  They are a fun way to keep the house warm. Clare at www.greenshift.biz made the fabulous pattern & as you can see, they all turned out wonderfully. 

The yellow snake is mine and I’m hoping he’ll keep out the draughts for years to come.

Man’s shirt to woman’s blouse

This shirt belonged to my other half .  It was made of lovely cotton fabric but the collar and cuffs were very worn.  Usually I save things like that for patchwork but decided to have a go at turning it into a blouse for me with as little taking apart as possible.

I shortened the sleeves from the top and took in the sides, shaping them slightly as I went.  I also shotened the body & made slits at the bottom so it would look better when worn over skirts & trousers. 

I cut the collar off  & cut the cuffs to half size.  I added 1960s lace to the collar stand & cuffs to hide the fact that I couldn’t turn in the edges.

The shape still wasn’t right so I added a bust dart.  This raised the length of the shirt a bit so I tucked the back to match the length & added shell buttons to make it a feature.  The front & cuffs now have shell buttons too.

Do I wear it? Yes.  I really like it.  Would I do it again? Yes I would.

The skirt is needlecord made using Simplicity 3881.  The only alteration was to lengthen the straight bit to get my knees covered. Back view.

Evening clothes

These are a bit dressed up for normal life but I like them anyway.  I made the skirt from New Look 6584 and the blouse from Burda 2934.  Both patterns were easy to use.

I changed the skirt to fit a lining with a net petticoat attached to the bottom of it.  The skirt was a bit flat without it.

Other than adding a lining to the blouse I didn’t change anything.  I really like this pattern and I’ve used it for everyday blouses too.