Shoulder bag and pouches

This shoulder bag is for a special boy who loves trains. 

With the remnants, I was able to make a couple of pouches as well. The fabric is mostly grey, so I chose a colourful zipper to make it a little more fun. 

Jeans waist adjustment

I had to adjust the waist of the jeans to make the pair fit my shape. If I forget to use a belt, the pants kept on lowering, and that feeling is just not good. 

I saw darts in the yoke of her pants on my friend's handmade pants, and I thought, "Why not darts on the yoke?" This means I can adjust the waist of the jeans without touching the side seams (where there are often rivets at the end of the of pocket openings). 

 It's hard to see above the two darts. So, here is another photo. 

I put two darts and I cut the waist band in the middle to fit the new waist length. On the right side, there is a belt loop, so no one sees the waist band seam at the centre back. 

Now the pants fit me well. 

I had bought these pairs a long time ago (about 10 years ago?), and I don't know why I bought a stretchy pair. The stretchiness was one of the reasons that the entire pants feel like they don't stay. Now they stay on better, but I feel like I am just wearing a pair of stretchy leggings. Ten-year-younger me must have thought it was good to have some stretch, but now I feel I should have just bought jeans with no stretch. Well, the next pair of jeans I own will be the pair I make myself! :) 

If you need something adjusted on your clothes to fit you better (please remember, taking in is easier than taking it out), please feel free to contact me. I'd be happy to help you! 

More granny squares

When I was meandering about in the cyber space, I found a how-to guide to make a granny square with flower in the middle. I made some. 

They are cute, and they are also great for using up small amount of yarn - especially the middle circle bits are great for that! 

Among the five above, can you spot a mistake? Yes, I made another mistake. However, I am rather proud of myself for making it sort of work and blend in with the others. 

Some of my friends tell me that "perfectly imperfect" is the way to go with textile art. 

Have you found the mistake yet? 

I'm waiting... 

Here is a hint below. It's one of these. 

Now I wonder if you saw it. 

The answer: the bottom one has an extra petal! When I was making the centre circle, I must have made an extra stitch. So, the petal was increased by one, too. Instead of 12 petals, there are 13 petals in the red flower. Oh well. It's a baker's dozen! 

This was another post about crochet. I may be crocheting away, but if you need me to sew or mend something for you, please feel free to contact me. :) 

Granny squares

I started crocheting some granny squares. Since many people have generously gifted me with lots of yarns, I decided I needed to use them (otherwise, I run out of space in my sewing studio). They are all good quality yarns like wool, alpaca, mohair, merino wool, etc. I can knit only so many hats and mittens. So, I decided to make all the yarn balls that came in singles or in twos into granny squares. 

I found some charts online, and I started on them!

After I made about this many, I realized that I read the chart symbol wrong. I thought it was triple crochet, but the chart actually said double crochet. Oh well. So, I am making them all in a "mistake version". I had to redraw the chart for myself, so if I don't finish all 200 of them and have to come back later, I will know what I actually did. 

I was keeping the finished squares in a bin, and our cat made it a nice napping bed. I think all the nice squares will have some cat fur mixed into them. 

I may concentrate on making the granny squares for a while. So, my posts may be more of the same for a while. But if you need me to sew or mend something for you, please feel free to contact me. :) 

Cotton toque

I knitted a toque (or beanie) using lilac-coloured cotton yarn. It is an in-between time when I feel hot with a swollen toque but a little cold with a thinner hat that is not a toque. So, I decided to make myself a toque made with cotton yarn. I thought it would be easy because I have made many before using wool yarn. 

I was wrong. For my inexperienced hands, the cotton yarn was hard to handle. It doe snot stretch, and it does not bounce back in shape like wool yarn... But I struggled through the work and finished it. 

I also found that the colours in this yarn was not consistent, and I have lighter sections. Also, among the yarn balls with the same lot number and all, the colours seem to vary quite a bit. Mmm. I don't know if it's because of this brand or that's just the way it is with any yarn?? In any case, I do not think I will be embarking on cotton knitting journeys again anytime soon. 

So, the little sheep button on the cotton toque is like an ironical salut. It is a special ceramic button (I believe handmade) from a dear friend who has a good sense of humour and suggested I put it on my cotton toque.