Upcycling, sewing a dress and kringwinkels in Belgium

Hi, my lovely readers, how are you all?

 
Thanks for your positive reactions to my previous post. I'm trying to bring my blogging up to speed with what has been happening during August.

So here is another sewing and upcycling post for a change!

About kringwinkels in Belgium

We are very lucky to have a local kringwinkel in our little village. A kringwinkel is the equivalent of a charity shop in England, you can donate your goods and buy other donations there. They also provide employment and training for people.

Kringwinkels are in most towns, and living around Antwerp, I am lucky to have several to choose from.

I often check to see what is 'new', and I love to image what the story is behind an item. On a few occasions I have seen things that connect to me personally, such as china plates from the Potteries in England (where I used to live before moving to Belgium). Often I have fun taking photos of old things without buying them. Other times I found a nice jacket or other clothing.

However, these days I tend to 'hunt' for crafty stuff. I go through fabrics, crochet doilies and other handmade things, for me they are akin 'treasures'. Of course I need to be strict with myself and make good choices. Not everything is a bargain! I do not buy pairs of knitting needles because no matter how cheap, I prefer working with my nice Knit-Pro circular needles. However, finding someone else's old sewing supplies thrills me. I do not buy questionable acrylic yarn in ugly colours, but I might pick out the one ball of real wool, if I am lucky!

Often it is 'craft at first sight' - I find something and it inspires me to make something new with it!

This happened with the following fabric I located.

It disguised itself as an Ikea curtain, but I could see the dress it would transform itself into.


My Ikea hack - the upcycled curtain dress


How could I resist the lovely printed curtain panel? It was made of thick cotton and a nice length. I love the natural print design.

Here you can see me using my own paper pattern which I had used for my first dressmaking, you can read about it in a previous post of mine.

 This time I shortened the length.

You can see both dresses here next to each other.

My finished dress made from a curtain panel!!!

Later I worked on some extra pieces which I thought to add to make a sort of  'dotty angel frock dress' in my own style. I sewed some pockets and a collar bib by hand which I embellished with some crochet touches.

Upon checking I realized that less was more, and left them off. They might come in handy for another creation!

I really like how the dress looks now, letting the pattern and shape speak for itself.

Extra pockets

 

Matching bib collar

Attending a FEMMA Sewing workshop at the kringwinkel in Niel


You might recall that earlier this summer I mentioned I was taking part in a Sewing workshop at one of my local kringwinkels /charity shops, and yes, I was planning on blogging about it, so here it is, just a little bit later!

Really this played a part to encourage me on my new journey of dressmaking, sewing and upcycling.

This was hosted by an organisation called Femma which provides various courses, in this case it was sewing.

I went there with my youngest daughter, we had both registered for it. On the actual day it turned out we were the only ones (despite some other people having signed up for it!)

So we had the full attention and help of our teacher. We had some really good Bernina sewing machines there. I had brought one of my T-shirt tops that I hadn't really worn much and I bought a second patterned top there to use for this project. After some discussion and measuring, I decided that I wanted to add some panels to my top, which is what I did. My daughter had brought her own sewing project along.

Here you can see one of the finished side panels, with some added vintage crochet lace as a trim.

My upcycled Top with floral trim

My modelling shot (You can tell it was earlier this summer because my hair was really short then. It has grown quite a bit since then!!!)

And here is my instant 'new' sewing box collection with all sorts of goodies. I purchased it on the day of the workshop at the kringwinkel.

I also want to mention that things have been pretty busy this summer. I managed to injure my right knee end of April which caused me quite a fair amount of pain and discomfort. Anyway, long story short, I had an operation on my meniscus 7days ago and I'm hoping to finally get better now, though it might take more time. I also had various dental interventions which should soon be finished.

Crafting has helped me a lot to get through these difficult times. I want you to know I have more things to show you, but I decided to break them down into smaller parts!!!

I hope to see you back here soon...

Thanks for stopping by!!! 😊

A Bright Summer Jumper Dress

Welcome back,

Shortly after my last post I finished my summer knitting project which I haven't showed you yet.

I know that it looks like summer is practically gone, but we still get some very hot days from time to time.

When I found this discontinued and colourful yarn I thought it would be nice to crochet a jumper, but after a few tries I decided that it might be great to do a knitted jumper instead.

Luckily I had enough yarn and so I ended up with more of a dress than jumper!!!

The yarn is Vero by Lana Grossa in their Linea Pura range. 60% cotton and 40% silk, a luxurious combination.


 Bright Summer Jumper Dress

This shows my working approach: I take some existing garments to decide on a design feature, in this case the cut of the arm holes. Underneath you can see both a T-shirt and a sleeveless top for comparison.

This shows the back panel being knitted. You can also see the stranded work of the fairisle which I deigned myself.

 My first attempt of the front panel was not very successful, it ended up too far cut out!

 

 

This is my recalculated version!

And here it is with the yellow colour accent rib.

 

 

 

 

Worn with a T-shirt underneath...

 

Some of my own observations and hints:


Knitting with a summer yarn is quite pleasant!
Knitting in the round makes this fun!!!
Stripes are easily done, but carry the other colours along inside, saving sewing up too many ends later!
Fairisle adds interest, make sure to calculate pattern repeats (I tend to draw coloured diagrams when I design) and vary the repeats.
Do not carry the second colour over more than three stitches.
I love geometric designs!!!


Have you made a summer jumper or did you do some knitting this summer?
Why not leave me a comment below?
Thanks for stopping by!!!

My Rustic lace square Cardigan is finished!

Hello again,

Thanks for all your lovely reactions to my last blog post, glad you enjoyed the various projects I showed you!

As I hinted last time, there is another project that has kept me very busy indeed. Thankfully I finished it almost two weeks ago and now I will take the time to write about it.

Can you guess what it is? (the hint is in the header!)

 

 

My new Rusticlacesquare Cardigan is finished!!!


My finished project is made of 70x rusticlacesquares, each about 10cm square.

One small rusticlacesquare

These had to be crocheted together , you can see some details here.



Attaching the crochet squares to one another

Here you can see my work laid out on the floor. My feet are there for scale. It was quite a job to lay out the squares so they would look interesting, i.e. different colour schemes next to one another.

I used lot of Katia Jaipur fine cotton yarn an a 2mm hook. I hunted down as many different colourways as possible, I think there were at least 10 different shades!!!

I really love this yarn, it's so nice to work with.

Is it a blanket? No, it's a cardigan!!

 

Choosing some nice buttons to add

Here is the cardigan before the buttons were added. The finished garment is still very lightweight, due to the fine yarn.

Almost done!

And here are some modelling shots.... (courtesy of my son when he visited)

I think all in all, I worked on it for about 10 weeks. Before I started, I knew I wanted to make a garment. On instagram I saw plenty of blankets made from these squares. However, since my squares were only 10cm (compared to the 20-25cm) of some of my fellow crocheters, a blanket would have taken forever to make.

For a long time I had dreamed of a jacket or cardigan made from crochet squares.
Finally I made my own!!

I definitely put all my heart into this project and I feel it is the most challenging and accomplished thing that I crocheted so far. It really dominated my summer!

I'm thrilled that I tried lace crochet, and that I enjoyed I so much.

Well, I hope you enjoyed this post, you can find all previous posts about the rusticlacesquare by clicking on the tags in the sidebar.

(Also I seemed to have re-published my first post from June 2015 accidentally, so take no notice. Of course you are welcome to read it again, if you want to).


I look forward to reading you comments.... so please leave them after the beep! ;)

Oh, and this morning I finished something else, so there will be another post very soon!!!

Bye for now!!!

 

New Crochet Crush - Rustic Lace Square (Crochet Motif)

Hello my dear Blogfriends,

(post first published on 01.06.15)

If you are on Instagram, you might have already noticed that there has been a surge in people trying to crochet this pattern.

You can find it  on pinterest (Print out the diagram on the best quality setting)
and here on instagram!

It is called:

The Rustic Lace Square

So pretty, don't you think? It was love at first sight, but I had to postpone trying it out until a number of other things were completed (especially the baby blanket).

I love playing with crochet, trying new things, and also playing with yarn, see what works and what doesn't.

There is only a diagram, no written instructions. Most people make them in multiple colours, I decided to use variegated yarns.

This time I used Katia Jaipur cotton yarn (50g = 280m, recommended hook: 1.75, I used a 2mm hook).

My squares measure about 10cm square.

Rustic Lace Square

Rustic Lace Square Diagram

the first two squares and the diagram

Crocheting 3 squares at the same time with 3 different colourways

7 squares on 29.05.15

Square 8 - 30.05.15

Square 9 - 31.05.15

The Story so far

Mine are turning out really lacy and dainty! I wonder what they would look like with thicker Cotton yarn? I have seen so many beautiful combinations.

What do you think? Do you like the Rustic Lace Square? I urge you to give it a go and also check online some of the wonderful images of other people's work!

Here are some nice blogposts to check out:

http://marrose-ccc.com/2015/04/22/the-rustic-lace-square/

http://pigstails.blogspot.be/2014/12/flower-power.html

http://hellohart.com/2015/05/01/rusticlacesquare-blanket-for-christi/

These are all about this special square, but please have a read around these sites, they are so packed with amazing crochet information and inspiration! Thank you, ladies (Marianne, Magda and Cornel) for such lovely blogs!

Just one more for the road! Square 10 on 01.06.15

As always, please let me have your comments, I'm looking forward to reading them!
Don't be shy, now!!!

A colourful neckerchief, a textured facecloth and a new Scheepjes CAL plus a baby blanket

Welcome back, my dear blog friends,

Come on in, can I offer you a cool drink perhaps? I have plenty of things to show you again....

Well, isn't summer just flying past?! Each of my grown up children came to visit from England, one after another, so there hasn't been any time for blogging. I was very happy to have seen them and we had a great time together. We also visited my family in Germany.

I have some finished projects to share with you. I hope you will find some new inspiration here!


A granny-square Heart

I found this cute little pattern via pinterest. I would like to use it as a warm welcome to all my latest followers. I am truly touched that you come to visit my little virtual crochet corner!

You will find the actual pattern on this blog page.

Of course I had to try it out. What do you think, do you like it? It works up quickly. Wouldn't it look nice as a garland perhaps? Or use it on a special handmade card or as part of gift wrapping!



A colourful neckerchief

After my colourful Funky Crochet Top, I still had some of the same Lana Grossa yarn, but in another colourway. This one was a mix of vibrant colours, such as red, blue and yellow amongst others.

I only had to balls of this yarn (2x50g), so it wasn't enough to make a larger shawl. What I did was to crochet a sort of mini shawl with ties. It sits like a neckerchief around the neckline.

A funkycrochet pattern for a textured facecloth

This was something I crocheted up pretty quickly.

Here is my own simple pattern.
I used a pure cotton yarn with colour changes and a 3mm hook.
The finished size is a square of 18cm.
I worked with 40 stitches in a row. (obviously begin each row with corresponding chains)


First row = chains
Second row =double crochet into back of each stitch
Third row =double crochet into back of each stitch
Fourth row =treble crochet into back of each stitch

Then repeat rows 2-4 until desired size. Crochet around with double crochet once. Finished!!

You will notice the textured rib on the surface of each side of the cloth.
You can use any sort of cotton or bamboo yarn for this. Might also be a nice stash buster!

Feel free to give it a go, and let me know how you get on!

A new granny-square blanket

I still have quite a lot of Stylecraft acrylic yarn left from a previous project, so I decided to start a new blanket for my friend's little son. I chose three shades of blue and two of red. I am making 4round granny- squares.

I started this when my daughter and her best friend were here, we had a granny-square workshop. I showed them how to make them, step by step. We had a lot of fun!

This is a project that in work on from time to time.

The Scheepjes CAL 2015

When I found out about the new crochet along from Scheepjeswol, I was very interested. Especially since they released a new yarn called Linen Soft. My problem so far has been trying to get hold of it locally. I ordered some initial quantity from England, but it took a whole two weeks (after despatch) to arrive.

You can find all the necessary steps in 10x weekly instructions on the Scheepjeswol website.
They are available in several languages and apparently there are also videos.

For some internet images see here. So far I haven't found any images of a completed shawl as yet.

I only begun with this project recently, the reason will become apparent in my next post (where you will see what crochet project has really consumed me this summer....)

Which means that I can work on it more concentratedly now, especially since all the instructions are complete and I don't need to wait.

Here you can see my progress so far.

Well, this rounds up another lengthy blog post for today.
Hope you enjoyed reading it!

As always, feel free to leave me your comments, I love to read them!!!
Thanks for your time!
By the way, do you want another cool drink?