Monday, June 24, 2013

31 Outfits #3

This top is made for hot weather and is perfect to wear this week.
It is crocheted from an unusual yarn made in Italy. The contents are linen, viscose and polyamide. It is what is called a "thick and thin" yarn, which gives an unusual texture. There are about 3 inch sections of pure linen and then the same amount of the shinier and thinner polyamide.

The linen pants are sewn from a basic Vogue pattern and the mauve under tee is a rayon knit also sewn by me.      
    
You may have noticed I have changed my Challenge name from "31 sweaters" to "31 Outfits". That is because I've seen lots of knitted/crocheted dress and skirt patterns that I am anxious to try. It will also give me a more varied wardrobe than 31 new tops would!

Friday, June 14, 2013

31 Knitted Sweaters Challenge-#2

This crocheted warm weather top is made from the Gedifra yarn "Satata". It has cotton and polyamide fibers which are braided into an interesting texture. I used a plain double crochet and then added the flower motif in the front to echo the pattern in the pants fabric.

The off-white undertop is made from a linen knit----too flimsy to wear alone but perfect with it's breathability for underneath.  The pants are cotton, made from a basic Vogue pattern, using a Burda crotch line.

Tuesday, June 4, 2013

My 31 Knitted Sweaters Challenge--#1

After participating several times in the "Me Made Months" sponsored by Zo of  Zo's Blog where I wore items I had sewn every day of the month, I decided it would be a fun challenge to do so with my handknitted/crocheted items.  Of course they take much longer to complete than sewing does, so I am giving myself a year, til May 31, 2014, to see if I can complete this challenge. Actually I have MANY things started so my only rule is that I have to actually COMPLETE it during this year. 


   I'd like to use unusual patterns, yarns and techniques and I really have enough yarn already in my stash to complete this challenge, so it will be a way to use that up too. I particularly like the many summer yarns, which are now made with many kinds of materials. I have linen, rayon, bamboo, milk protein , stainless steel and soy yarns and hope to use some of each.

Here is a portion of my stash with summer yarns only:


So, without further ado here is my project #1, a crocheted overtop made with Louet Euroflax linen.


 I love linen yarn as much as I do linen fabric. It takes dyes wonderfully and is cool to wear in summer. The  holes in the fabric made it too bare to wear alone, so  for modesty's sake I sewed a simple tee to go underneathe. The denim pants were sewn by me too, and overlayed with crocheted motifs and sprayed with bleach, thus the tie-dye look.

So 1 down and 30 to go! On to the next project!