Posted by Chelsea on 2006-03-31 14:58:58
Post Subject: Need help finding a knitting book
I got this book from the library back when I first learned how to knit (maybe a year ago?) and I can't seem to find it again.
It's a baby knit book and it had a pattern for a baby hat that was straight knitting, and you just sewed up the top and put a pompom on top. I can almost figure it out, but I cannot remember how many to cast on at all (I'm thinking 60, but ???)
If anyone could even tell me how to make a similar hat, that would be great too.
Posted by lovebug on 2008-02-05 21:21:51
Post Subject: Making Clothing: Help!
Okay, so I''ve always been interested in sewing. Stupid me, I thought, what better way to get started on making clothes than by entering a fashion show! Well, I''ve designed the clothes; I have the fabric, but I have no patterns. Now the fashion show is drawing near and I have no idea how to contruct these things! (Just sew them togther.) So, please, I would appreciate nothing more than some, any, help!
Where can I find a pattern for male skinny jeans (or jeans that I can make, then tailor to be fitted?) A URL from a site I can order from would be amazing.
I was thinking of making a dress with a circle skirt, but I''m not sure that cutting it out will be too easy. How can I get the fabric to hang (it''s broadcloth) like it would for a circle skirt? Would panels be easier?
I got baby knit cotton for a shirt, and when I sewed the first hem with a ladder stitch, the stitches made the bottom a lot more stretched out than the top and produced a ripply, round-bottomed effect. I can cut that off, but what stitch/method would be better for the hems? Any patterns for just a plain t-shirt?
I know...I''m way in over my head! Please help any way you can!!
Posted by xuli on 2006-09-10 11:35:29
Post Subject:
If your sister-in-law is into cotton and wool, and has the patience to hand-wash baby clothes, I highly recommend Debbie Bliss Cotton Cashmere yarn or Rowan Wool Cotton for baby clothes. I made sweaters for my nephew from both of those yarns, and they worked perfectly (plus they come in nice, baby-appropriate but not pastel colors). But my sister is willing to hand wash.
I think 100% cotton could be fine for a baby sweater, if you use a nice one. And if you use a pattern that won't require too much blocking, as you mentioned. The thing is, cotton is heavier than wool, but with such a small garment it won't make much of a difference.
I don't think there's much of a difference between cardigans and pullovers -- my practically-newborn nephew wears a lot of pullover t-shirts and onesies and things. The thing to watch out for, more than pullover vs. cardigan tops, is the issue of pants -- lots of baby knit pant patterns I've found have no plackets to open the bottom for diapter changes! Not good!
The only other advice I have about making baby sweaters is to think carefully about when the baby would be born and under-estimate sizes! I don't know where baby clothes companies get the sizing information they get, but when I was buying clothes for my nephew I bought things assuming that the "0-3 months", "6-9 months", etc. sizing would correspond to his actual age when he wore the garment, so I knitted him sweaters for 3-6 months since he was born in July in the hot and humid south. I was wrong. He is totally getting to wear clothes for 9 months now, at 11 weeks old! Sadly, the adorable little green Rowan Wool Cotton sweater I made him to wear in the fall, with cute little duck buttons, will probably be worn only once or twice in that brief window of time between when it's cool enough to wear it and before he outgrows it ... but he's the first niece/nephew, and I have three other siblings besides his mom, so it'll get used by other nieces/nephews eventually.
Here are two other free baby patterns I really like. (I made the "Daisy" cardigan without embroidery but with cute buttons in Cotton Cashmere and it's so cute, and is luckily still several sizes too big for him ... my sister and I tried it on him and decided he looked like Orko from He-Man in it, so we call it his Orko sweater. The other pattern I haven't made yet.)
