Always love casual Friday and the Finish-It February project presentation at the end was an extra treat! Well done to everyone and thank you so much for sharing ♥️
I LOVED seeing all the finished projects! Thank you so much for inspiring us to do FIF, Roxanne. I didn’t get everything I’d hoped done, but having all those nagging ends woven in on the baby blankets/throws is such a load off my “should” list! I enjoyed the camaraderie of the Ravelry group and look forward to FIF next year. (Although I hope I don’t wait that long to finish a couple of these...) Right now I am enjoying knitting a “no problem” non-FIF item with renewed joy!
I'm always amazed at how much I look forward to February, and how having a dedicated "attitude adjustment" month helps me so much. I feel so great about getting those things off my plate, but I'm also giddy about being able to return to my normal start-all-the-things mode. I'm glad you got at least some of those nagging ends woven in!
So excited to hear your talk. My mom has been an expert seamstress for about 50 years and has never bought or used a pattern. She always drafts her patterns to fit the wearer. I am glad you are getting excited about sewing and hope to hear more of your adventures in that realm.
Your segments are always well-produced, but that showing of projects was exceptional. I had enough time to appreciate the project and your comments without feeling rushed, nor was I waiting for the next; the pacing with the music was spot-on as well. I feel many cases of start-itis coming on from that gallery of accomplishment. Clara Parkes' Knitters' Review and articles in the Twist Collective are the reason I love swatching. I fall in love with many yarns without a project in mind. I usually buy one skein (if in my budget), in some variation between green and blue, and swatch stockinette, cables, and lace, regardless of what it is best suited for. I have large drawer of swatches that are a reference library of fiber, spin, twist, ply, etc. My FiFiFi February consisted of fixing my professional life; I am going to pack all those swatches for an interstate move. Packing up my yarn while I watch your video. Hint, I will get to meet the Knotty Lady!
Thank you for including me (NorthwestDawn, Pandemic blanket)! I'm still surprised I finished it. I'm impressed at your enthusiasm for pursuing the sewing. I tried to like sewing but just can't stand it, every moment sitting at a sewing machine is like an eternity, and all the pattern pinning and fabric cutting, pressing seams open, it's like someone invented a special torture. But give me a tapestry needle and some yarn or embroidery floss and I'll seam up anything by hand, totally different experience!
Moose moose - love the pandemic blanket! I don't knit but love vintage (crochet) patterns and many of the issues with knitting vintage patterns are the same. It's also nice to find someone who views vintage in the same way as I do (not patterns from the 1990s). Your tutorials on customizing socks have also been helpful for making my crochet socks fit better.
"She will donate it because the baby is now 36" . I woke the household laughing at this! It's so nice to see you so enthusiastic about your knitting and sewing Roxanne. I must say my knitting has helped my sewing and sewing has helped the knitting, it's good to be proficient in both.
In the early to mid 80s I purchased lots of sweaters and or vests that had matching tea length skirts loved them too. Woolrich sweaters and socks with Levi's... my state had Pendleton skirt makers too, stores plus outlets . All gone now.. Beautiful projects! Thanks
Oh, the finished were just beautiful! I'm a detail oriented person so I'm going to see if I can slow the pics down to cherish each project. Thanks for sharing!
There's a link in the video description to the discussion thread for Finish it February on Ravelry. All the photos are posted there, so if you want to look at them more closely, or learn more about what patterns or yarns were used, you can click on the photos to see the project pages.
Hi Roxanne. Great podcast. I love the way you ended it with FIF. Beautiful work done by so many talented people! Your 60’s sweater is going to be lovely! Having been born in the late 50’s I have to agree about the skirt. I just don’t see you In a mini skirt! Those were the days, lol. I was able to get a premium membership at Craftsy for 1 full year, for $2.50!! They were running a promotion for $5 and then cut that in half! I’ve been watching the classes and loving it.
So glad it’s Friday evening again🥰 I was a little flabbergasted when you mentioned how many total stitches are usually in your projects. I’m sure you’ve talked about it before, but I just didn’t really notice, but I did this time because I mostly knit with fingering weight yarn. I knit a Boxy designed by Joji Locatelli a couple of years ago, and it’s lower hip length with tons of ease. I’d be afraid to put that pattern into a spread sheet - so many stitches!! It’s very comfortable to wear, but I don’t think I’ll knit another one😬
lol - I meant to work on it a little bit each day this week, but forgot all about it until Thursday night. It took me 6 hours(!) to create that little section of Casual Friday!
@@RoxanneRichardson the pacing and explanatory texts along with the lovely music were much appreciated and gave so much respect and dignity to the makers and their projects. 🙏🏻💞
Wawak is the best! Hopefully, you have a tailor’s ham and a press cloth for pressing your seams. Remember that wool can be very malleable when you use heat and steam (and that press cloth between the iron and the fabric!). When pressing the darts and side hip seams open, if you do this over the rounded surface of a tailor’s ham and use lots of steam, that fabric will mold beautifully into just the right curves.
My mom (b. 1943) told me (b. 1965) that you made a wool skirt by buying a yard of 36” wide (because the wool was always 36” wide, unlike cottons) and you seamed it at the back, put in a casing to make the waist fit with elastic, and then hemmed it.
Hi Rox, you may or may not know there are many online who use your Finish it February, it is all over others channels. I steeked a handspun jersey I wasn't wearing and I love it. Also sewed myself a dressing gown and nightie which I had been putting off. I had 4 projects lined up for the month but still have one to complete, only button bands now. Loved seeing everyone elses. I don't mean other casters are misappropriating your idea, their followers are talking about FiF on their channel as well as yours.
That is such an interesting button band construction. I have been working on my first fair isle project (fingerless mitts, although I plan on doing half fingers) and it is taking me forever!! I also decided it would be a good idea to make it a first time for using 9 inch circulars. My point is, I got nothing done in February lol.
Hello, I was thinking I the 60 s they also wore pencil skirts, as well as minis. I must say the colour of the wool, Royal Blue, is my favourite, it is such a striking colour, the jumper and the hounds tooth check material for the skirt will be stunning. When you have finished both items, please let us see a picture of both items together. Keep safe & stay lucky 💞💞💞
The quintessential pencil skirt in the quintessential 60's movie "The Graduate" (1967) was seen when the camera focused on the roommate of the Katharine Ross character who walked towards Dustin Hoffman in the lobby of the dorm with a note for him. Iconic image!
Regarding your 1960s sweater and losing so many stitches in seaming; back then we didn't do mattress stitch to seam, we would put right-side to right-side and over-sew the 2 pieces together just catching the edge stitches.
Afternoon in bed for me unfortunately, so I’ve been binge watching your videos. Love how you share all this information. I still have my Grandma’s and Mums books and patterns, it’s amazing how fashion comes around again. Xx
I’m going to pass on a trick I learned from a British seamtress for ensuring matched plaid at your seams. Pin and cut your front. While the pattern is still pinned to your fabric use colored pencils or crayon to color 1-2 repeats of your plaid pattern onto the pattern piece at side seam edges. When you go to pin your back lay the colored front piece on top of the back pattern piece matching side seams. slide the pattern pieces around on the fabric until the pattern you colored on the front lines up with the fabric yet to be cut. pin the back and cut. Viola! Matched seams. It’s important to get the widths of the color lines accurate when you color not the houndstooth shaping. If you are worried about coloring on your original pattern draft a copy on tracing vellum or on medical exam paper(economical pattern drafting paper). Hope this makes sense. Fortunately you have an even plaid pattern this is easy to match. Uneven plaid patterns are a bear. When working with wool, you are going to want to finish all your seams and be careful not to stretch it as you sew. You should put a lining in the skirt also for comfort.
Thanks so much for the tips! I've been collecting different websites and classes to refer back to when I'm ready to cut into that precious wool fabric. I will definitely keep your tips in my tips document!
Pencil (straight) skirts with a slit on the back were popular in the 60's. I know, I wore them. LOL That would be an easier choice in terms of matching the pattern in the wool. With an A-line you will have to match on a bias. Plan on lining the skirt too or it will rump spring or will cling. I cant wait to see the finished sweater and skirt.
Yes, my Highland mother and granny had many pencil or slightly A-line skirts made from lined tweed lengths at this time - they had a little kick pleat in the back. Always 'just on the knee' - and I can hear my mother saying that now about my school skirts! Anything shorter was too sexy and anything longer too fashionable.
I am SO IMPRESSED at the spectrum of projects addressed this past February, it made my heart soar to see them (beautifully edited), aided by the ethereal Brandenburg Concerto. I am also enchanted by your vintage 60's sweater and skirt. What led you to using yarn from one kit with the pattern from another kit (you might have said but I may have missed it).
The short answer is that it's no different from finding a pattern you like that calls for a particular yarn, but you prefer a yarn from a different company. I like the yarn I'm using. The kit that included the pattern is a color I would never wear. I just wanted the kit! :-)
Yes, you will need to finish the seams. Mum (a professional dressmaker who trained in the 1930s) sewed a lot with these fabrics always hand-neatened them, just by simple over sewing. Or handed them over to me as her unpaid apprentice. :-) She was still sewing at 90 and never owned an overlocker. Hems would just be turned up the once and hemmed by hand with a stitch that criss-crossed over the raw edge of the fabric. Occasionally she would bind the raw edges of seams with art silk cut on the bias, especially for an unlined garment where the inside might show (a jacket). Sometimes she fully lined the skirts or more often had just a half lining in the back to stop the fabric "seating" - her term for the fabric stretching and getting baggy, although I doubt this quality fabric would seat. Linings were from "art silk" - I think that's viscose/rayon. I'm really looking forward to seeing how you get on with this project - jumper and skirt.
Winifred Aldrich metric pattern cutting book is a great book, also, Ann Tuit basic pattern cutting, they’re are quite a few on eBay and not expensive either xx
The baby is now 36...I feel ya. I am in the process of moving. I found a finished kimono sweater meant for my niece...she just turned 39. The last time I found it I was going to send it to her daughter as a doll sweater...we were moving then too...that was 8 years ago...she’s 12 or 13 now. 🌈🌈🦋🦋
So great to see your excitement for the sewing discoveries. Warning: it’s whole other rabbit hole of intriguing technical textile stuff 😉 Hurray for all the finished objects 👏 I came as far as making a list of my UFOs. February turned out a month of new things instead. May install some finish-it fridays throughout the year as one of your commenters mentioned. 💕
As a seamstress, I feel your excitement as you learn about drafting and sewing your skirt. Once you've done your mockup workI would suggest you take a good look at The Couture Dress by Susan Khalje on Craftsy. before you cut into your lovely fabric. One of her lessons deals specifically with working your kind of fabric...houndstooth and checks. I found it incredibly helpful. I'm really excited about this whole project and will follow with great curiousity.
Is it possible or feasible to carry and work the 1960’s button band on a smaller size DP needle without dropping it off,, or does it also need so much extra length that sewing on really is necessary? Loved the show & tell-instead of speeding it up, several times I had to tap back to peruse something better.
I'm not a sewer jet, but watched a lot of videos. I'd reccoment securing the edges and washing thewoolen fabric before using it. Also, when you are done with the buttonband on the 60s jumper (obviously ther would be more rows in the buttonband) wouldn't it be passible to unite the buttonband with the jumper and instead of in- and decreasing just make a wandering 'cable' as division between stockinette and ribbing?
Hi! Thank you for the knitting instructions. Not very adept with digging in facebook. Did you give information as to where this 60's sweater pattern can be obtained? If it can be obtained.
The only thing I do related to FB is to embed links of my videos into a FB post. The show notes are part of the video description, which is on RU-vid. You will have to click on SHOW MORE below the first line or two of the description. Having said that, the pattern is out of print, but not in the public domain, so you'd have to try to find a seller on the internet somewhere. I haven't seen another copy of it in the past few months, any time I looked, but that doesn't mean it won't become available at some point. In later Casual Fridays, I've drawn a schematic, and explained how the yoke is constructed/shaped, which might be enough for you to apply it to another sweater.
The wool fabric for your skirt appears to be an even plaid. By that, I mean that as you lay the pattern on the fabric, and you are talking about an A-line. You may have to reverse the top of the pattern peices.... i.e. the front has the waist at the top of your uncut fabric and the back would reverse the orientation so that the waist faces the bottom of the fabric because your fabic width is limited. Be sure that the center of the bright blue lines have the houndstooth pattern slanting in the same direction.... Hope you have enough. You may have to go to a pencil shapped skirt. Hope you understand my discussion. Feel free to message me if you need clarification. Good Luck. I look forward to following your progress.
Thanks, Judith! I should have enough for an A-line skirt, based on the information I have so far. I will definitely be exploring skirts for the next couple of months. I realized I don't have to limit myself to the styles that fit me off the rack, because I'm designing for my own measurements. Makes a big difference!
