Big Projects, Little Projects, WIPs, and FOs

 

I've gotten really bad at sharing my projects here. I've been posting WIP photos on Instagram pretty regularly, but then I forget I haven't put them here, and months go by and here we are.

As LMC nears closer and closer to her third birthday, I've learned that a toddler's fashion choices have very little to do with my own preferences, and that a great interest in an item one day, may translate to no interest whatsoever for next several months. For example, LMC was super interested in this dress as I was sewing it, but has never worn it aside from those photos. In general she has no interest in dresses at all. So all those lovely detailed Oliver+S patterns I had purchased, have gone into a box.

What she will happily wear almost every day of the week and most nights to bed are tutus (or ballet skirts as they're called in the Cleaver household). So I got smart, bought some tulle and knocked out a few in her favorite colors over the holidays. They even managed to supplant the previous tutu, which was worn every other day for months and has now been relegated to the back of the drawer. As Mr. Cleaver said "You could make her one in every color and she's wear them all the time, light pink, dark pink, light purple, dark purple..." (LMC has some specific color preferences).

I haven't been quite as successfully in supplanting the "doggie hat" (see every photo of my child this winter, indoors or out) with a hand knit one, but I did give myself the greatest chance of success. It's purpley-pink, has earflaps, pompom, and an animal on it. She's worn it a handful of times, which I consider a great success.

But the nice thing about both the tutus and the owl hat is they were low-commitment projects. I made a second tutu before the first one had finished it's round in the wash, and the hat took two knitting sessions, tops.  So even if she didn't like them, ripped them, lost them, etc. It's no harm done. And THAT, I've found is the key to making handmades for this child.

The bonus of only making super-quick simple projects for LMC is that I can do the complex projects I crave for myself. And when it comes to myself, it seems, there are no simple projects. 

After number of deadline-driven knits, I was feeling a bit burned-out on knitting and instituted selfish-stitching Sundays for myself, where I could work on anything I wanted. For my first selfish-stitching project, I chose the Shersock's pattern from Lattes and Llamas. I'm a fan of the show, so I wanted something to commemorate that, but also something that was nice-enough looking that they'd still look neat even if you didn't catch the show reference, and these fit the bill perfectly. They were also the perfect selfish-stitching project, because I don't do a ton of colorwork and it gave me a chance to work on my skills.

My second selfish-stitching project was a pair of very useful  fingerless mitts knit up in some yarn I had dyed in 2011 and spun in 2012. I don't have a selfish project on the needles right now, but I just saw a new design Bristol Ivy has in progress that is absolutely stunning, so I'm pretty sure I know what its going to be.

As for sewing, my motto seems to be no small projects! As I leapt from sewing my first pair of jeans to sewing a winter coat. The jeans are the stovepipe leg version (View A) of the Ginger Jeans. With the inclusion of the sew-along, I found making jeans very do-able if time consuming. I made the lower-waisted version, which I raised a bit by making the waistband twice as wide (hence the two buttons). She's since released a tutorial on doing a mid-rise variation, which I'd probably do the next go around. I'd also make them a size down, because I didn't account for how much the denim would stretch throughout the day. But even with those caveats, I'm super proud of my jeans making. Seriously, making your own jeans makes you feel like a sewing BOSS.

As for WIPs, I'm currently working on my plaid Cascade Duffle Coat. I've been itching for a new winter coat for years, and this pattern was just the thing I was looking for. As with the jeans, it's not hard to sew per-say, there's just a ton of pieces/steps, but it's coming along. I doubt it'll be done by the end of the month as I hoped, but I live in Maine and the winter in long, so I'll still get plenty of use methinks.

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The Penultimate Weekend of Summer

Ocean Park Beach
Ocean Park Beach
Ocean Park Beach
Ocean Park Beach
Ocean Park Beach
Ocean Park Beach
Ocean Park Beach
Ocean Park Beach
Ocean Park Beach
Ocean Park
Ocean Park
Ocean Park
Ocean Park
Ocean Park
Ice Cream
SUP
Sand Angel
Ocean Park Beach
Makin S'mores
Maine Wildlife Park
Maine Wildlife Park
Maine Wildlife Park
Maine Wildlife Park
Maine Wildlife Park
Maine Wildlife Park
Little Bear
Maine Wildlife Park
Maine Wildlife Park
Maine Wildlife Park
Maine Wildlife Park
New Bone

How it is already September? The local schools start back up this week and when I dropped Little Miss Cleaver off at daycare they had changed all the decorations to leaves and pumpkins. Don't get me wrong, I adore Autumn, it's my favorite season, but summer seems to go so darn fast! It doesn't help that it doesn't start feeling like summer until July, but still. 

I have kept to my goal of taking more time off this summer and we seem to manage two weekends worth of activity in every one (having a kid that gets up at 5 AM helps there). I took a half-day Thursday and all day Friday off, so we could do this penultimate weekend of summer right. 

We took LMC to our favorite beach, which she adored. Splashing in the water, playing in the sand, screaming and running from imaginary lobsters. Mr. Cleaver and I aren't huge beach people, being easily burned, but her joy at it, makes the multiple sunscreen applications and big hats worth it. We lost a sand shovel in the tide and the tide gave it back. We took a beach break for shuffleboard and burgers and ice cream and then returned for more surf and sand angels. The weather was perfect and it was a glorious day.

Sunday, we grabbed a discount pass from our local library (Libraries are awesome!) , LMC picked out her fancy new kitty-cat party dress and we went to the Maine Wildlife Park. We saw all sorts of critters, but if you ask her about it, LMC will tell you all about the turkey that she tried to feed popcorn and that bit her finger and that she told it no more biting. (She's fine, didn't break skin, just scared her.) Both mornings ended with an insta-crash in the car seat and an epic nap at home.

Good summer living if you ask me.

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Pintucks and Popscicles

Oliver + S Family Reunion Dress sewn by Ms. Cleaver
Oliver + S Family Reunion Dress sewn by Ms. Cleaver
Oliver + S Family Reunion Dress sewn by Ms. Cleaver
Oliver + S Family Reunion Dress sewn by Ms. Cleaver
Oliver + S Family Reunion Dress sewn by Ms. Cleaver
Oliver + S Family Reunion Dress sewn by Ms. Cleaver
Popsicle Sticks
Oliver + S Family Reunion Dress sewn by Ms. Cleaver

I don't sew as much for Little Miss Cleaver as I thought I would, or would like to really. I've made a number of little "ballet skirts" that get plenty of wear, but not too much beyond that.

I'll admit that some of it is hesitation on my part. LMC is developing strong feelings about what she wants to wear (yes to tutus and leopard print pants), and more often than not, when I pull out a mama-made dress, her response is, "I don't like that." Of course other days, she totally wants to dress up like Olivia. So there's a balance, but I'm a little gun shy about spending a bunch of time making something she won't wear. 

This dress however was motivated by the fact that my 2.5-year-old is crazy tall for her age, and is solidly in 3T tops and some 4T bottoms and I have a number of adorable Oliver + S patterns that cap out at size 4. So I felt like I needed to get sewing. 

This fabric/pattern combo has been sitting on my to-cut pile for quite some time and I thought now was the time to do it. The fabric was one of the fancy quilting cottons from JoAnn's and the pattern is Oliver + S's Family Reunion Dress. I cut it out in a 3T, with the 4t length, and it's actually fairly big on her, so it looks like I have a little more leeway to sew these patterns up than I thought. 

My only previous experience with a paid Oliver + S pattern was the Birthday Party Dress I sewed for LMC's first birthday (so long ago - sniff!). I thought the end result was lovely, but the construction was a bit fiddly. And I'd say the same for this one, there are certain parts of the directions you just have to trust and "go with it" and hope that it works out in the end.

For example, in this dress you sew half the shoulder seam right sides together and the other half wrong sides together. The odd half ends up getting covers up the collar facing. The folding plackets/attaching hem facing is a bit confusing too, but works if you follow the directions. The only place I ran into a construction issue was when I clipped the corners after attaching the hem facing to the button plackets. I over clipped, and had to re-seam, meaning my bottom edges are slightly curved instead of square.  

In the end, it came together nicely. I finished my inside seams with zig-zagging and added a little Miss Cleaver tag. The only change I'd make is that I wish I had done my top-stitching in a deep pink/red instead of the pale pink I used.

When I had the pieces cut out LMC insisted I sew it right then (which, not happening kiddo) and when I had it sewn but didn't have the buttons attached, she asked me to finish it so she could put it on, so I have hope that she'll actually like this one. She did wear it this weekend, but then changed into her Wonder Woman t-shirt halfway through the day, so you never know. At least Mr. Cleaver thinks it's cute, he told me so.



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Raspberry Picking


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In The Garden

My princess and the frog

We've had a string of cold and rainy days, so my veggie garden feels a bit neglected. I've peeked in to see how things are doing, knowing I'm a ways away from any kind of harvest.  LMC and I planted some green bean and lettuce seeds, but I'm woefully behind on weeding and my plans to build additional boxes are feeling more like next years prep than anything to be utilized this season.

My garden however, will generally thrive perfectly fine without my intervention. The peas continue to climb up their trellis, the tomatoes continue to grow and my flowers, oh my flower beds. The irises have peaked and are just beginning to decline now, but for a while it was a explosion of purples and creams and whites. My front perennial beds, with their more late-summer blooms are beginning to sneak out buds in yellow and white.  My strawberries however, are getting devoured by something (not me!) despite my (repeated) attempts at bird netting them. 

In any case, out little garden must be a friendly place to visit as we discovered at least two frogs (toads?) in the yard, which I've never seen before this year (or maybe didn't have the child's eyes to see...) 


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What I'm Working On

I have so many ideas these days of things I want to design, make, create and only so much time and/or energy to do such a small portion of them. It's a bit frustrating, but better than having no ideas or motivation!

After two months of straight deadline knitting, my time has opened up somewhat, and I've picked up my long-neglected Lady Heartrose Cardigan, which is inching ever closer to being finished, though I'm nervous about running out of yarn and having a heckuva time finding the kind of buttons I want. I'm thinking about holding off publishing it to do a double photo shoot with that sage lace number, which is the next knit in my queue. It's in some gorgeous Shalimar Yarn that I can't wait to knit more with.  There are going to be a lot of sweater from me this fall. 

I've also been swatching and sketching, coming up with new ideas for sweaters and embroidery projects. I've been talking with yarn dyers and companies and am trying to figure out my schedule for designs, because I have so many projects now that I have to schedule things (which is awesome and a little bit scary).

In this midst of all this, I've managed to make a 30 minute skirt for Little Miss Cleaver in 40 minutes, which was a rip-roaring success that was worn three days in a row before I insisted it needed washing. (Fabric from BeautifulWork) and spend some time with friends, and even drop in on Thursday afternoon knitting at KnitWit, where my Belacqua Cardigan sample can be found hanging by the Quince & Co. yarns. 

It's a good time for making. :) 

(PS - all these photos are from my Instagram feed, if you're into that sort of thing).

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Touring Ogunquit, Kennebunkport and Prout's Neck

LMC boat
Ogunquit, Maine
Marginal Way, Ogunquit, Maine
Marginal Way, Ogunquit, Maine
Marginal Way, Ogunquit, Maine
Marginal Way, Ogunquit, Maine
Marginal Way, Ogunquit, Maine
The Ramp, Kennebunkport, Maine
Walker's Point, Kennebunkport, ME
The Ramp, Kennebunkport, Maine
The Ramp, Kennebunkport, Maine
The Ramp, Kennebunkport, Maine
St. Anthony's Franciscan Monastery, Kennebunkport, Maine
St. Anthony's Franciscan Monastery, Kennebunkport, Maine
St. Anthony's Franciscan Monastery, Kennebunkport, Maine
St. Anthony's Franciscan Monastery, Kennebunkport, Maine
Prout's Neck Cliff Walk
Drinks at the Black Point Inn
Black Point Inn, Prout's Neck
Prout's Neck Cliff Walk
Prout's Neck Cliff Walk
Prout's Neck Cliff Walk
Prout's Neck Cliff Walk

Last week my Aunt and Uncle out from California came to visit. This was their 4th trip to Maine, which meant that we had to dig a bit deeper for the "things to see" list.

Fortunately, they were staying in Ogunquit, which meant that we spent most of our time in the very Southern part of the state, which I hadn't spent much time in myself. So with no real plans and some surprisingly good weather, we mostly just wandered about - popping into a shop or two,  consuming a lot of good food and drink, and walking a lot of local trails. We also, after brief google search of things to do, ended up at a quirky little monastery (!) in Kennebunkport.

LMC charmed other tourists in her mama-made tutu, and collected dandelions and rocks,  and rode on my shoulders. She ate french fries and ice cream cones like a true tourist, and did surprisingly well with the lack of naps.

On the last day of their visit, LMC went to her regular day-care day and we had a grown up day at Prout's Neck, sipping cocktails at the Black Point Inn and taking the cliff walk.

The great thing about having visitors is the chance to 1) see things you normally don't take the time to see and 2) seeing them with fresh eyes.

When you live in Maine, its easy to take for granted how gosh-darn beautiful its coast line is, but to see someone take it all in for the first time reminds you of just how truly wonderful it all is. Wandering around the rocky beaches, it's easy to understand why so many artist are drawn to Maine. It certainly had me itching to pick up my long-neglected paintbrush.  

Ogunquit

Kennbunkport

Prout's Neck

  

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Tried and True Review: The Comic Book Dress

The Comic Book Dress (2015) - a Ms. Cleaver Creation
The Comic Book Dress (2012) - a Ms. Cleaver Creation
Shirring the back

A Tried & True Review, where I look back at old project and discuss how it's held up since I made it, both successes and closet rejects, in an attempt to show how my projects have stood the test of time and/or to learn from the mistakes of my yesterdays.

The Original:  POW! The Comic Book Dress

Made: May 2012, 3 years old

Update: This dress is still unreasonably awesome, with a new and improved fit!

Fit: When I originally made the dress, I think it fit fairly well, but since I originally made the dress there's been a pregnancy and breast feeding and stopping nursing and life, and it ended up just too big in the bust and waist to really be wearable. But my love for this garment knows no bounds, and too big is always easier to fix than too small. Enter... shirring!  A quick review of this tutorial and I made my first attempt at shirring. One spool of elastic thread later, I had a new and improved dress, just in time to wear it to the annual Maine Comic Arts Festival to match LMC's "H is for Hero" Wonder Woman tee. 

Style/Materials: A mash-up of Colette Pattern's Parfait and a full gathered skirt (with pockets!), this is the perfect sundress for me.  As for the fabric, I only wish I had bought more of it  (though if you search "Camelot Cottons Girl Power" you can still find a second design printing of similar prints). It's quilting cotton, and its undeniably girly with the pink and the female superheros and it just makes me happy.  

Construction: In 2014, I replaced the original buttons with some fabric covered ones and made the buttonholes functional for nursing purposes. The inside is well finished, with a bias bound waist stay and facings in the bodice. It's held up perfectly well. The shirring makes it even more comfortable and wearable.

Lesson(s) Learned: Shirring is super easy and too big is often easy, and worthwhile to fix!

Final Verdict: This dress is the best. 

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Spring in Southern Maine

Chatting with Supergirl
Checking out the Mandarlorian Mercs.
KIDShorts - Racer version - made by Ms. Cleaver
Goodies from Grey's
kidshortspattern
KIDShorts - Racer version - made by Ms. Cleaver
KIDShorts - Racer version - made by Ms. Cleaver
Fencing the Garden
Blueberry bush pruned and mulched
Playing in the Sandpit
Tulips and Daffodils
Big Slide

It finally feels like spring! The grass is getting greener by the day. the daffodils and tulips are in bloom and I'm cleaning up flower beds and laying down mulch. The blueberry bush is pruned, the veggie garden fence has gone up, and the sand pit has been raked out and is ready for play. Free Comic Book day happened and we've pulled out the sunscreen and the Seadogs hat. 

It'll still be a while before its warm enough for shorts, but that didn't stop me from sewing a pair for Little Miss Cleaver. The pattern is the KID Shorts from Dana at MADE. While I don't love that all the sewing instructions are on her site instead of included in the pattern (meaning I'm following instructions off my phone), the fit seems spot on (I made a 3T, lengthened the to the 4T hem), and the finished product is uber-cute, if I say so myself. I even got to sew in my first Ms. Cleaver label!

It took about 1.5 hours to make from taping together the pattern to finished shorts, and I imagine future pairs will be even quicker, especially if I do the more straightforward versions. It warmed the cockles of my sewist heart when LMC wanted to try them on as soon as she got up from her nap and wear them over her pants for at least an hour before the need to put a ballet skirt on trumped it.

I'm hoping to sew two more pairs before shorts weather is truly upon us, and then I'm delving into some serious me sewing. I have some grey gingham that I got on vacation last summer that is calling out to be an Archer button-up and I picked up a Watson bra kit and some denim for Ginger Jeans from Grey's Fabric as well as Cascade Duffle pattern that I'll be sewing into my new winter coat come September or so.

I've been super busy with knitting projects of late (look out for a lot of new stuff this fall!), and haven't had much time to sew and I forget how much sewing means to me. To be able to single-mindedly focus on seam finishes and fabric selection and to make something useful and beautiful.  

 

 

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Introducing Belacqua

Belacqua Cardigan by Leah B. Thibault -- A Ms. Cleaver Creation
Belacqua Cardigan by Leah B. Thibault -- A Ms. Cleaver Creation
Belacqua Cardigan by Leah B. Thibault -- A Ms. Cleaver Creation
Belacqua Cardigan by Leah B. Thibault -- A Ms. Cleaver Creation
Belacqua Cardigan by Leah B. Thibault -- A Ms. Cleaver Creation
Belacqua Cardigan by Leah B. Thibault -- A Ms. Cleaver Creation
Belacqua Cardigan by Leah B. Thibault -- A Ms. Cleaver Creation
Belacqua Cardigan by Leah B. Thibault -- A Ms. Cleaver Creation
Belacqua Cardigan by Leah B. Thibault -- A Ms. Cleaver Creation

A key thing to know about my progress as a designer is that I learned to sew a long time before I ever learned to knit. As a result, some of my earlier designs were the product of shoehorning knitted fabric into a sewn-like construction (I thinking primarily of Wetherell and the Carmel Clutch here.) Not to say that they didn't work, but that they weren't "knitterly."

When I say knitterly, I mean something that takes distinct advantage of what only hand-knitting can do, or what knitting does best. Yes, you can knit a woven-look stitch pattern, but clearly weaving does it better (and easier). Knitting miles of fine gauge stockinette? Perhaps you're better off buying a sweater-knit fabric and sewing it together, or working the pattern on a knitting machine. But shaped-lace? Knitting (or crochet) wins. Cables? Only in knitting. Seamless construction that's not a simple tube? Knitting again.

Which brings us to i-cord. 

If, like me, one of your first introductions to knitting was through a knitting doll/nancy or mushroom, then you know that i-cord or "corking" is quintessentially knitterly. Those tight little tubes of yarn that go on and on and on. 

I first ran into i-cord as a garment edging when I knit my still much loved and worn Manu sweater. Having enjoyed it in someone else's designs, I decided to integrated into one of my own, and to see if I could find a way to replicate the effect of i-cord, not just on the edges,  but within the fabric itself. Discovering that a horizontal pleat/welt/ridge did the trick nicely, I ended up with the Bob & Wave Cowl.    

The i-cord/welt combination  stuck in the back of my mind and when LMC needed a winter sweater it sprung back to life (in a surprisingly similar color...).

Here the i-cords and welts play up the structure of a circular yoke and give not only a clean finish to the garment edges, but provide some built-in button loops. The circular yoke  construction is further emphasized by expanding vertical ribs. A simple workhorse yarn - here Quince & Co's Lark, places the focus on the texture and structure.

The finished garment is nearly seamless (there is some grafting at the back of the hood) and, I would say, very knitterly. 

Pattern Details 

Sizes

NB (3 Mo, 6 Mo, 12 Mo, 18 Mo, 2T, 3T, 4T, 5, 6)
Chest Circumference: 18 (19, 19.5, 20.75, 21.75, 21.75, 23, 24.25, 24.5, 25.25)”/ 45.5 (48.5, 49.5, 52.5, 55, 55, 58.5, 61.5, 62, 64) cm”
Sample size 2T, shown on 22-month old w/ sleeves cuffed.

Yarn

4 (4, 4, 5, 6, 6, 7, 7, 8, 8) skeins Quince & Co. Lark in Bird’s Egg [100% American Wool]; 134 yds [123 m] per 50g or approximately 415 (455, 495, 555, 695, 735, 845, 930, 990, 1045) yards of worsted weight yarn.

Purchase

Belacqua is available for purchase via the following methods:

Ravelry  //  Ms. Cleaver Creations  //  Love Knitting 

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