Kim Hargreaves is a Big Fat Fibber

Or, Julia's Adventures in Sewing...

Okay, before I begin to slander Ms. Hargreaves in earnest, let me start by saying that, in general, I adore her. She has a great eye for classic, timless designs and manages to churn them out at an insane rate for Rowan (though I hear that is coming to an end very soon). I have learned many a great technique from Kim, and she rarely disappoints for someone who puts out so much volume. However, anyone who claims that this cardigan is properly finished and will fit as pictured without a bit of non-knitted reinforcement, is, quite frankly, a big fat fibber. Sorry Kim, I have to say it.

Due to this sneaky lack of disclosure on the part of the team at Rowan, this weekend I was forced to borrow one of these:

Dum, dee, dum, dum...

I really enjoy sewing, but it's something I do infrequently enough that the margin for error is quite high.

My first sewing experience was an attempt at a sheath dress under the direction of my best friend Laura. We had lots of fun and laughs, but I ended up with a garment that I couldn't even get over my shoulders. (Imagine me as a two-armed squid, limbs flailing wildly as I tried desperately to free myself from the sheath...)

Round two was less ambitious, and involved an attempt at a single very rudimentary bathroom curtain. It was functional, but not pretty. After this barely successful attempt at merely sewing a few straight lines, I declared myself a non-sewer and effectively gave up for several years.

I was brought back from the edge of the abyss by my good friend Ellen - an amazing quilter with an abundance of patience. Under Ellen's tutelage, I was able to learn to sew a straight line and am now semi-confident in my ability to sew basic items that strictly involve straight lines. Here are some fun floor pillows I made during an episode of the Gilmore Girls at Ellen's house:

I think they're beautiful... but I'm a little biased.

For our wedding, Ellen's present to us was teaching me to make a quilt. She took me and two of our good friends to pick out the fabric for my "wedding quilt" (if he gets a sweater I should at least get a quilt, right?), and then the four of us (well, often just me and Ellen!) worked on it on the weekends. I moved to LA before the quilt was finished, so it's still in limbo (I imagine it will be a third anniversary quilt), but I know whever it's done it will look great.

Anywhooo... since working on the wedding quilt about a year and a half ago, I haven't touched a sewing machine. Needless to say, re-entry was a little rough. Here are some of the things I (re-) learned:

1. When sewing grossgrain ribbon onto the wrongside of a knit cardigan, choose a yarn that matches the cardigan, rather than the ribbon. This is particularly important if your ribbon is much darker than your cardigan.

2. If you have already sewn on your buttons, particularly if they are not very flat buttons, but instead very sticky-uppy buttons, take them off. Do this before sewing and ripping out three times.

3. Despite what the on-line manual for the sewing machine says, you really do need to wrap the thread from the spool around that little silver thingy on the top of the machine. Otherwise your stitches will look like poo. (Or as my more articulate friend Mary would say, your machine will form "stitch bubbles". What a sweet little name for a sewing nightmare.)

4. If you sew the little strands of yarn that you used to mark the button locations into the cardigan, you can rip them out, but they will leave behind a tell-tale bright red (if that's the color you chose) residue. Fabulous.

5. Bonne Marie Burns is a genious. Do exactly what she says. Do not deviate. Don't even think about it.

Oh yeah, I guess a number "6" is in order, too. This little guy is your new best friend:

I may be small, but I'm powerful!

I used my new friend quite a lot. Here I am pretending to be all Zen about it as Moxie takes my picture. And here I am with the honest to gosh concentrating expression that I wore for most of my adventure. (I think I look kind of like a frontier woman in these pics (Dr. Quinn, anyone?), but really I'm just a frazzled chick who's too fixated on sewing to do anything about the fact that her braid is falling out...)

After hours of sewing and ripping (I think about six times, but I've lost count, I have one perfect (well close to perfect) side of the cardi done. And, by George, I think I've got it! Tonight, round two. Pictures to follow soon...

P.S. Take a look in the extended entry - I went crazy and finished the cardi!

For now just the goofy cell pics:

Buttoned... and Unbuttoned! (my fav - more casual....)

We'll do the fancy photoshoot and pattern notes in a couple days.

Posted by Julia at December 20, 2004 06:25 PM
In main | shooz (the knittin' kind)

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