In the Pink

As an extremely unscientific dyer I just love it when the colour comes out of the pot just right - exactly the shade I was hoping for. I was wanting a rather orange shade of pink - salmon or coral but definitely not Barbie.

That roving was white Bendigo Woolen Mills ReadySpin - and now I'm impatiently waiting for it to dry so that I can spin it in with some other colours :-)

Almost Spring & some Doll Torture

Spring must be just around the corner when this happens in our garden -
lovely old-fashioned SnowFlakes. This happens too -

A native Australian orchid Dendrobium teretifolium, commonly called Rats' Tail Orchid in NSW and Bridal Veil Orchid in Queensland :-) I've had this lovely orchid since 1982. Love the way the petals curve backwards making the flowers look like a child running with their arms out and I love the perfume of these flowers. Sorry we don't yet have Blog-a-Scent but many native orchids have gorgeous scent - D teretifolium is like a lot of the Dendrobiums, sweet with a powdery quality. Wish I could bottle it!

And now for some Doll Torture - avert your eyes if you are squeamish! No I've not been customising Blythe Dolls (not brave enough) but I'm plotting and planning a project which requires 1/2 a doll. So off to large store toy department where I was bewildered by the amazing array of plastic ... mostly Barbies. BTW they've changed her face again and she looks exactly like Paris Hilton ... very apt! But I bought another sort of doll for a whole $6.

Hubby ripped her legs off, then he amputated half her bottom with a hack-saw, I cooked her arm in hot water



so I could bend it, then we drilled holes in her hips, finally I sandpapered the rough bits ...


More on this project in future posts.



Well perhaps as punishment for all that, there has been a little human torture too. This last week I've been busy sewing for a private client; making among other items, a slip dress in a very soft silk fabric. A really pretty fabric but a nightmare to sew except when perfectly on the straight of grain and this is a bias cut slip dress - the straps are probably the only parts on the straight. I had planned to hem the frock with a neat little machine hem - impossible, the sewing machine just wanted to eat the fabric, I tried all my tricks and nothing worked. SO - I consulted my lovely old "Encyclopedia of Needlework" for a quick brush-up on the technique for a hand stitched rolled hem. It isn't all that slow but my left hand gets the sore from holding the fabric taut.

More tiny sewing - for Blythe the doll

More from that new Simplicity sewing pattern ... the pleated skirt A worn very stylishly by Lillian with the little blouse C








Skirt is longer than given in the pattern and I've arranged the pleats to be flat at the front (like a kilt, sort of). That's a lovely vintage cotton fabric, the blouse is a scrapette of white cotton - we love the neckline.

And here is the coat/dress F - the collar on this is quite lovely.

Sewing for Blythes

Have been sew sew this week! Some of it work for clients (lots of pattern-making) and some of it for the Blythes in my life.

For granddaughter Blythe some winter PJs - she has quite a thing for Duckies and I couldn't go past this fabric with yellow Duckies on the Diagonal ...

Those should keep her warm.

Then for the dolly Blythes I've been playing with that new Simplicity pattern and using some tiny scraps of vintage fabrics. Here is the skirt C - with lace underlayer, made it a bit longer than the pattern - pleats unpressed.
And here is the dress C in a lovely silk gingham (wish I had more of this!) once again made longer than the pattern said and I lined the bodice and "bagged it out".



















Lillian doing a lovely job of being my model - even though it was far too cold for a summer silk frock this afternoon. Both those items are for my daughter's doll BiBi, Lillian is getting a skirt and the little coat F as soon as I've done all the hand-stitching ...

Plotting and Planning

Sometimes the plotting and planning of a project is the very best bit - and sometimes a project proceeds no further than that stage! But let me tell you of my latest schemes :-)

Now I may have mentioned before that I have a very large collection of vintage knitting patterns ... one I've had for a very long time is also one of the oldest in my collection. A Patons & Baldwins "Helps to Knitters" leaflet No: 2324 - probably dates from the early 1930s. There are 2 patterns in the leaflet - only they are called "Recipes".

Don't you just love the snooty model - she looks so terribly bored (and so terribly thin!)

I've been wanting to knit this little top for decades and finally I've found some yarn which I think will work. You see, back in the 1920s and 30s a lot of handknits were in rayon yarns - and in my work with vintage clothing I have seen (and fondled) some rayon handknits ... lovely things :-) Rayon has a sheen and great stitch definition for lace knitting. But until recently, rayon yarn was just not obtainable - until all the bamboo yarns came on the market. "Bamboo" is just a rayon fibre made (we presume) from bamboo rather than from crop waste or timber or some other source of cellulose. Unfortunately, most of the bamboo yarns are in the thicker plys and the vintage knits call for thinner stuff ... but I stumbled upon this 4ply Cleckheaton Bamboo at my favourite yarn shop + cafe - A Coffee and A Yarn YIPPEE

Now I wonder if I can get the snooty look and thin arms (well maybe not that thin!) by the time I finish the garment?

There is also a great deal of plotting and planning is going on in the dolly department.

Simplicity have issued a pattern for Blythe doll clothes - mine arrived today from This is Blythe and Lillian is trying to decide what she would like first - her pet green bird is trying to help but I think he is confusing matters somewhat.

Knitting for my Grandduaghter

Finally - Finally - finished ... the vintage style dress. This languished all neglected for a while but I finally bought some buttons (with shiny pearl finish) and dealt with the dilemmas caused by the collar. Thankfully I had knit it rather too large and so it will still fit my little granddaughter, she's 19 mths old now.

I think it'll look even prettier on her :-) it is a combination of 3 very vintage patterns (I think the earliest was from the 1930s) and I dyed the yarn myself - and ran out so I had to dye up some more the same !!! (see my post from March).

Here is a close up of the front bodice & collar


and the back with those buttons (from All Buttons Great & Small in Newtown)











I'm so pleased with how pretty this dress has turned out :-) here's another picture, this time of the skirt with its graduated waves ...

I'm also making a twin-set for my sweet little granddaughter - also vintage inspired but not quite a classic, conservative Twin-Set. The styling will be totally classic; all in 4ply (sock yarn) the jumper with short sleeves, in a lace stitch and with buttons at the back neck - the cardigan with a medium buttoning V neck, mostly stocking stitch with panels of the same lace stitch as the jumper. Very Classic - Very 1950s.

However, the colour is not classic & conservative at all ...
I kettle dyed that yarn too - both the mad, psychadelic purples and the aqua for the dress are Bendigo Woollen Mills "Luxury" 4 ply - originally "Frost" which is white. I dip dyed the purples twice - the first time most of the colours were really quite pallid, so I mixed up more colour and dipped again. Much Stronger Colours!

Well granddaughter looks lovey in all shades of purple and mauve so why shouldn't she have them all at once!

Finished the jumper this morning - here is it in all its eye-popping, digital camera confusing glory!

Been away but now ... I'm Baack!

Had a lovely time with our daughter and grandkids :-) spent some wonderful quality time together. Ahhh if only we all lived in the same city - or state even!

Gave daughter the big, warm cardigan with "random rabbits" - finished it just in time :-)


the Back and a Sleeve.

My intarsia is far from perfect but the bunnies looked OK with some knit-stitch embroidery - gave them all very fluffy tails with some eye-lash yarn. Daughter says that wearing the cardigan is like "a hug from mum" :-)

Grandson got a Pirate's Beanie ... he loves dressing up as a pirate, and pirates ALWAYS wear stripes! I incorporated his favourite colour - green - and based the shape on a vintage pattern, the motif is a purchased sew-on type.

Darling grandson also did some 'modelling' of his Retro Vest (see previous posts ... it is based on a Vintage pattern called "Lance").

I've several knitting projects for our granddaughter that are not-quite-finished ... but so she doesn't feel left out of this post, here she is modelling a beanie I made some time ago.

A Cleckheaton pattern # 951 "Cocoon Baby" - I dyed the yarn with “blossom spots” in pink and green.