kris knits

I made two baby slings based on the Maya Wrap pattern for Lisa and Shaun’s little girl Haley, who is due at the end of the month. I had Lisa and Shaun come to JoAnn’s with me to pick out the fabric, and I got the rings from Sling Rings. I used nylon upholstery thread for strength. Since the fabric was non-reversible, I had to double it up and had some trouble getting through all the layers. I finally lengthened the stitch and loosened the tension on my machine and it worked. I’ll try to get some action shots once Haley is here.

I made this Phantom of the Opera Cape for a friend from Simplicity 4482 with fabric that I got at Karlin’s.

I made this beaded purse based on McCall’s 9661D.  The original pattern only had a strip of beads at the bottom so I added the rest.

I made this 1920s style Tango Dress from Folkwear 237 with a spruce-colored crepe-back satin that I got at JoAnn’s.

With Halloween coming up and my plans to make a tango dress, I started looking around for garters.  I could find none that I liked so I made my own instead.  I measured around my leg where I wanted the garter to be and cut 1-inch wide black elastic 2-3 inches shorter than that.  I then just sewed three strips of black ribbon onto the elastic and tied the ends in bows.

I had a long jean skirt that wasn’t quite long enough for me any more so I chopped it off to above the knee and made this halter top with the extra fabric.  The pattern is from McCall’s 3176.  I made the neck strap by knitting an i-cord with Caron Simply Soft 100% acrylic in Toasted Almond (9746).  I used size 7 needles.

I made these shirts for Laura and Kelly for Christmas.  I had bought two little purses on sale at Gap Kids about 3 years ago and instead of just giving them the purses, I decided I’d make matching shirts.  I went out and bought a pattern and fabric and all the notions, and they’ve been sitting in a bag for all this time.  I realize that it’s winter and these are tank tops but the girls can just wait to wear them until spring.  The shirts aren’t really anything they can wear to school, but they’d be good at parties and as bathing suit cover-ups.  Laura’s shirt (pink) is from the McCall’s 3176 pattern and Kelly’s (purple) is from the Simplicity 9611.  The shirts are a little creased in the pictures from being folded for a while.  The fabric is from JoAnn’s.

I made this purse for my friend Jaime for her 21st birthday, which was actually on the 17th. I wasn’t quite finished yet so I just brought my work in progress to her party to show her and told her I’d bring it back since I still had to sew in the lining. This is actually made with fabric leftover from a skirt I am in the process of making. It’s just a little purse pattern, I actually added the closing since there was none. The bag really isn’t as wrinkly as it looks in the pictures, that’s from the light reflecting weird off the fabric. The pattern is McCall’s 3271. The fabric is from JoAnn’s.

After making a very simple pillow, I decided to jump right in and make my Halloween costume this year.   And I gave myself less than 2 weeks to do it.  It probably ended up taking me about 40 hours to finish this thing.  I got up early to work on it before work, and when I got home from work, I stayed up late to work on it too.  I was working on it right up until 5 minutes before I went out Friday night.  I had just enough time to snip all the long threads and put it on before meeting friends for a party.  I got to wear it to a party Saturday too, and Sunday to the Henri David Costume Ball, which was tons of fun.  I have a feeling I will be making another complicated costume for the ball next year.  This is the Simplicity 9899 pattern.  I got all of the fabric at JoAnn’s.

This is the first thing I made in my Machine Sewing Basics class that I took at Temple from September 21st until tonight.  Not complicated at all, but it got me in the habit of using my sewing machine: a Singer Touch-Tronic 2001 Memory Machine.  I actually got the machine in January but haven’t used it up until now.  My teacher for this class was great: Gail Gaines.  I like the fabric for this pillow a lot.  It’s from a remnant I got at Stapler on 12th and Walnut.  The buttons match pretty nicely, stripes and everything.  I got them at Karlin’s on 8th and Filbert.  I have enough fabric to make another one so I probably will eventually.