Category

The Self-Made Wardrobe

14
Nov
2014

I just want new clothes – The Self-Made Wardrobe Week 15

The Self-Made Wardrobe is a project where I only wear garments I’ve made.
It’s sort of a year long experiment in getting dressed without clothing labels.


Day-99

DAY 99 – NOVEMBER 7th

Moonstruck Cardigan
Graphic Silk Circle Skirt
Black Tights
Black Flats
Princess Necklace
Various Rings

I can never quite figure out how I feel about tights with ballet flats. Some days I think they look fine and keep your legs warm. Some days I think that the combination – especially when the tights and the shoes are the same color – make my feet look oddly long… And yet, in this picture I think my feet look kind of short… I guess feet are just a little weird.

Day-100

DAY 100 – NOVEMBER 8th

Deconstructed Black Sweater
Boring Black Sweater
Basic Black Tank Top
Black Maxi Skirt with a Slit
Black Tights
Sneakers
Princess Necklace
Various Rings

It’s Day 100!!! Yay! Just 265 days to go…

I spent the day at a spindling demonstration/talk at Gauge & Tension (a popup yarn shop in Greenpoint) and would have much preferred to be wearing an easy button up over my boring black sweater – instead of the deconstructed black sweater – because it would have given me more range of arm motion.

Luckily a couple friends and I are planning on doing an Archer* Sew-A-Long starting in December. I have fabric for 2, so I’m going to jump the gun a bit, and sew one shirt before the sew-a-long starts, because I want to be wearing it now…
*Archer is the name of a basic button up shirt pattern, put out by Grainline Studios.

Day-101

DAY 101 – NOVEMBER 9th

Perfect Transitional Weather Cardigan
Basic Black Tank Top
Pirate Skirt
Various Rings

It turns out that the Perfect Transitional Weather Cardigan, is also the Perfect Sit-At-Home-On-Your-Couch-Knitting-Your-Winter-Coat Cardigan.

Day-102

DAY 102 – NOVEMBER 10th

Moonstruck Cardigan
Khaki Scarf
Gingham Skirt
Black Flats
Various Rings

I don’t love how this outfit looks, but it was a day of sitting at the computer writing, and these clothes were cozy & comfortable, so I went with it.

Day-103

DAY 103 – NOVEMBER 11th

Moonstruck Cardigan
Boring Black Sweater
Graphic Silk Circle Skirt
Black Tights
Black Heels

I really love this sweater and skirt combination, but it was so warm I ended up taking off the Moonstruck Cardigan, and just wearing my Boring Black Sweater, which was much more boring to knit than it is to wear.

Day-104

DAY 104 – NOVEMBER 12th

Boring Black Sweater
Basic Black Tank Top
Black Maxi Skirt with a Slit
Black Flats
Long Necklace with Spinning Pendant
Bead Crochet Bracelet
Various Rings

It was 60 degrees (fahrenheit) in the middle of November. WTH?! So I went back to my default blacks, and I realized a desperately want another black maxi skirt – they’re just so easy to wear!

Day-105

DAY 105 – NOVEMBER 13th

Boring Black Sweater
Blue Kimono
Winter Coat
Graphic Silk Circle Skirt
Grey Tights
Black Heels

I took my winter coat out for an experiment yesterday. It was chilly enough to need it, but not cold enough to be a terrible mistake.

I’m super glad to say it worked! I only wore a light sweater under it, plus my blue kimono, and I was quite warm, but I definitely want to add a front zipper, and pockets. I wore the blue kimono over the sweater and under the coat to help keep the alpaca fuzz off all my other clothes – which also worked.

10
Nov
2014

How to Knit a Winter Coat

knitted winter coat

I’m almost done with the knitting for my winter coat. I have a ball and a half left of yarn, which will add about 4.5 inches to the body. And I figure my deadline is the super cold weather we’re supposed to be getting later this week.

I’m not sure if anyone else is crazy enough to try knitting a proper winter coat, but if you are, here’s how I did it.

Step 1: decide to do it.
Ignore exactly how much knitting it’ll be, and don’t think too hard about how cold winter gets. I’m in New York City, so it gets cold, but not quite cold enough for me to decide not to do this.

Step 2: find your yarn.
You want something warm (no shit…), so an animal fiber of some sort. You could also use a wool, or llama, or other animal fiber, but you want to stay away from plant fibers, man-made fibers, and silks.

I’m using Misti Alpaca Chunky, which is 100% baby alpaca yarn. I have 14 or 15 balls of yarn, which translates to 1500-1600 yards of yarn.

sweater sleeve

Step 3: pick your stitch pattern. Density is gold.
A stitch pattern that creates dense fabric, helps help keep out wind/rain/snow/winter slush/gross weather. So I would suggest a slipped stitch, or fair isle pattern. If you have a tight gauge, you might be able to do stockinette, or a cable pattern, but stay away from the lace.

I’m using an all-over slip stitch pattern, in a chunky yarn, on a US size 10 (6.00mm) needle. The stitch pattern is a slip 1, knit 1, on the right side, and slip 1, purl 1 on the wrong side. It makes for slow knitting, but really warm fabric. I really wish I could photograph this sweater in a way that conveyed exactly how dense this fabric is.

Step 3.5: Swatch liberally.
It’ll save you a lot of headache, heartache, and knitting time later.

alpaca sweater

Step 4: choose your sweater shape/knitting pattern.
I’m doing a super straight forward, drop shoulder, boxy cardigan, so I’ll be able to layer lots of layers underneath it.

I knit the fronts and back in pieces to keep them portable. Then closed up the shoulder with a 3 needle bind off, picked up stitches for the sleeves and knit down towards the hem. Then I sewed up the side seams & underarm seams.

Now I’m adding as much length as possible to the body, so I picked up the stitches around the hem, and am planning to knit until I run out of yarn.

Step 5: figure out how you want your sweater to close.
Buttons? Toggles? Hooks & eyes? Snaps? Zipper?
I’m waiting till it’s all knit to figure out how I want to close it. I’m debating between toggles, hooks & eyes, snaps, a zipper, belting it, or some combinations of the above.

Step 6: knit.
Because the slip stitch makes for very slow knitting, I’ve kind of lost track of exactly how much tv I’ve caught up on while knitting this sweater.

Step 6.5: just keep knitting. just keep knitting.

Step 7: Finish it. Wash it. Block it. Wear it.
(which might actually be four steps, but I haven’t gotten there yet.)

sweater

I’m still knitting the body, which I’ll (hopefully) finish tonight. But I’ve done all of the sewing up, and wove in the ends (mostly so I could photograph it without the sweater having unintentional fringe.)

I waffle back and forth on if the sweater will be warm enough to actually be a coat. Today, I’m leaning towards “it will be warm enough.” And if it’s not, I’ll probably cry, then add a  full (sewn) wool lining.

But I’ll deal with that once the knitting is done, for now, it’s “just keep knitting, just keep knitting.”

7
Nov
2014

The Self-Made Wardrobe Week 14 – a new sweater!

The Self-Made Wardrobe is a project where I only wear garments I’ve made.
It’s sort of a year long experiment in getting dressed without clothing labels.


Day-91

DAY 92 – OCTOBER 31th

Boring Black Sweater
Khaki Scarf
Black Tank Top
Black Maxi Skirt with a Slit
Black Flats
Long Necklace with Spinning Pendant
Various Rings

Halloween! I’m not a huge dressing up for Halloween person, I figure I made things for every other day of the year, and so I just can’t get myself excited about October 31st. But I did go with all black, and those shiny things on my shoes are skull beads… so we can pretend that was intentional, and not just coincidence.

Day-93

DAY 93 – NOVEMBER 1st

Deconstructed Black Sweater
Black Tank Top
Graphic Silk Circle Skirt
Black Tights
Black Shoes
Various Rings

This sweater is new, but not quite finished. I wore it all week because this week has been particularly cold and rainy, and this sweater is pretty warm (especially if I actually cover my shoulder.)

Day-94

DAY 94 – NOVEMBER 2nd

Deconstructed Black Sweater
Black Tank Top
Striped Pirate Skirt
Black Flats
Various Rings

This sweater is sewn out of a nice thick, cushy, sweater knit, so it’s warm and cozy. However the exposed seams do have a tendency to shed, I’m continually sweeping up yarn pills (but that’s nothing new). The original plan was to stitch down all of the seams, but I think I want to over-lock them instead.

I must not be the only person who wears a new handmade garment multiple times in a row. I do it partly because its new(!) and I want to wear it. And partly to get a sense of how it’s going to hold up, and if there’s anything I should go back and fix/rework (like finishing the seams on this sweater.)

Day-95

DAY 95 – NOVEMBER 3rd

Deconstructed Black Sweater
Boring Black Sweater
Black Tank Top
Graphic Silk Circle Skirt
Black Tights
Sneakers
Various Rings

This sweater is acting a lot like a fall jacket would, since I didn’t have time to make a proper fall jacket. And with another sweater under it, in this case the boring black sweater, it becomes particularly cozy.

Day-96

DAY 96 – NOVEMBER 4th

Colorful Knit Sweater Dress
Black Tank Top
White Underskirt
Black Tights
Black Flats
Bead Crochet Bracelet
Various Rings

I spent one of the only warm sunny day this week sitting at my desk, looking longingly out the window…

Day-97

DAY 97 – NOVEMBER 5th

Boring Black Sweater
Khaki Scarf
Black Tank Top
Black Maxi Skirt with a Slit
Black Tights
Black Flats
Bead Crochet Bracelet
Various Rings

Back to black. I definitely prefer this skirt without tights, since they kind of negate the effect of the side slit. It’d probably work better with different tights in a different color.

Day-98

DAY 98 – NOVEMBER 6th

Deconstructed Black Sweater
Jade Cropped Sweater
Black Tank Top
Cascading Flowers Skirt
Black Flats
(I actually turned around at my front door and changed into boots.)
Various Rings

The Jade Sweater was one of the first things I made for this project, but haven’t worn until now because of a dropped stitch that needed fixing.

This was the perfect day for staying inside with tea. But I didn’t. It was also the kind of day that turns you around at the front door to change into boots. Cold, rainy, and grey. Perfect for brightening up with some flowers. I’m never quite sure how I feel about wearing a skirt with flowers in the middle of fall, but I think for this particular day it worked.

Also! We’re almost at day 100 of the self-made wardrobe project!!!