Part 3 of the finishing week!

Finally got around to finishing this, one more thing complete!
I made this using the contour bust tutorial from Lex over at whatthecraft.com.
As you can see I've added a ruffle edging around the top, straps and two layers of ruffles/gathering round the bottom.

The straps cross over at the back, I was going to have this as a halterneck but the back kept falling down so I decided upon this type of strap, a halterneck look at the front but keeps the back from slipping down. You can't see in the photo but I have elasticated the top part to keep it tighter and still let me get it on, I really didn't want to mess about with zips or buttons.
I have also added in a few pleat/gather type things along the centre of the back as it was a bit too baggy. It creates a nice effect even if its purpose is more practical.

Lastly a close up of the front detailing, probably should have took this picture with the top on my body form but that involved too much messing about!

Well this is one more thing out of the way, few more things to complete before I start creating a whole load more half finished products!

Prototype Rockabilly Amigurumi

Okay, this is what I got up to last night! I know I should have been finishing things but when an idea hits you, you've gotta go with it!
This is only a prototype of a design I made up, just wanted to test out various things such as hair (which previous to this I have never made) and lips.
Below is the front view, everything is a little bit wonky but I would sort this out on further versions.

The picture below shows the side view, I know the head placement is a little off. The polka dot pattern is made up with sewn on beads, perhaps when I am an expert crocheter I will know how to incorporate this pattern with the yarn alone, however as a beginner the beading suits me fine!

Last but not least, a close up of the face! I wish I could style my hair into such a magnificent pomp/bouffant but realistically speaking it would be about 6-8 inches tall! And a 2 inch one looks plenty tall enough whilst not getting weird looks in the street!
I think I will need to use some slightly larger eyes, had to use what I had in my stash though as it was late and I'm trying not to spend money on new things when I have enough stuff downstairs to open my own craft shop!
The lip shape could also use a bit of work but for a first attempt it isn't too bad!

The stitching joining the head to the body is also visible, obviously if it was one for sale I would put more effort into making it as invisible as possible.
I think that the next one I make will have to have more hair to go round the face and an additional strip of hair placed behind the pomp as when the hair is elevated it shows through to the white of the head.

But overall, I'm well proud of this! Hard to believe that less than a month ago all I could crochet was a dodgy chicken egg cosy....which does just about resemble a chicken but looks nothing like the picture in the magazine!

Part 2 of the finishing week!

Remember my algebra headache? Well click on the link if not! For those who do remember, after two months of not actually doing much to this I finally finished it! I'm very proud of it because I used my algebra and some other basic maths, along with a little imagination to make this knitted shrug, no patterns required! I really love not using patterns because patterns give me a headache, I don't really understand them so I avoid them!
Anyway, below is the back view....

I've ensured a decent back coverage to keep the cold at bay whilst enjoying those summer evenings (or just for inside when someone is feeling too stingy to put the heating on ha ha!).

Then we have the sleeve detail, shows my fantastic chunky knit, gathered at the end to attach onto the ribbed section, which finishes it off nicely and stops the ends rolling up.

And lastly a (deceptively slim) shot of the front!

Well, that is all for the finishing week at the moment, if I stop wasting time on the internet and go downstairs into my craft room then I'll get a few more things finished, a 'so close to being finished I am actually insane for not spending those two minutes to get it done' type of dress and a top that's about halfway there. There are probably more things hidden away all over the place that are in a state of unfinishedness, I will resolve to finish things before starting a new project in future!

Part 1 of the finishing week!

You know how easy it is to get distracted from what you were doing by something new and shiny? Well I have been getting distracted by all sorts of things and ended up with a whole load of stuff that needed finishing off! Things vary from just started to practically done, with some things recently cast aside and others have been neglected for months!

I've finished quite a few things in the past couple of days, with plenty more to be sorted!

First up.....

.......A crochet cactus! Pictured here with my coconut Colin. As I can't seem to keep any real plants alive I decided a woolly one would be better! I have killed off three cacti before! I might make a few more cacti when I can afford some more yarn :)

Second up there is a skeleton groom amigurumi, which got included in finishing week because he finishes off the pair of bride and groom! The picture doesn't show it very well but he does have a little top hat on :D Unfortunately his days are numbered as his face is terrible even for me! Another problem is that the groom is significantly smaller than the bride. This is annoying because I thought I had bought the right thickness of wool and although it wasn't expensive I can't afford to go out and buy more :( So I also can't mix up the black wool or the white wool with any other wool I have in my stash - so annoying!!! Perhaps the new wool is the correct sort, the wool previously used came "free" with an expensive craft magazine's crochet issue, so I had assumed this would be the correct sort, it is only marginally thicker but makes a big difference when crocheted up. Really really annoying.

For some reason the damn picture thing won't appear to let me upload any more pics, will have to do the rest in part two!

Recent sewing

First up is a top I made yesterday, same fabric as the daisy circle skirt, lace trim and ties made from the same material. Very summery! The bust part is from a tutorial by Lex (Contour bust tutorial) and the elasticated back was my own addition because I didn't want to mess about with zips or buttons! I will be doing a version with a zip when I get around to it on my big list of thing to do!

Second is the dress that I made for my mum, isn't the butterfly print cute?!
Just a basic halterneck dress like the other ones, finished all the seams really nicely and even hand sewed the excess material around the elastic casing! Mum has promised me a picture so when I get it I'll post it up to show what the dresses look like when they are on a person as opposed to on my living room floor!

Silly crochet!

Two macaroons and a jammy dodger!
I did these a while ago but forgot to blog them - silly and adorable!

Introducing Grim Rita!

Greetings to my second amigurumi from the creepy crochet book pictured in all her glory!
I had done most of it yesterday and finished her off tonight, it's getting easier to read the patterns now which is good and my ability to remember how many stitches I have done is also improving thank god! Nothing more frustrating than forgetting and having to unwind the thing for the fiftieth time.
Not sure which one I'm going to attempt next, would like to make the skeleton groom but that requires going into town to purchase some black yarn... which means I will put it off until I have about a million reasons to go and have no choice in the matter. Should probably finish off all the other things I have to do before starting another creepy cutie... but they're so quick (well a couple of hours) to make and sooooooo adorable!!

Amigurumi skeleton bride!

For my birthday I got a super cool book called 'Creepy Cute Crochet' by Christen Haden. It is full of the most adorable little amigurumi creations....sod kittens, I want a crochet zombie!!
For those of you who have never seen a crochet pattern it is basically a big enigma with sc's (in England we call them dc's - more confusion!) and inc's and all manner of coded mumbo jumbo. The picture guides of said mumbo jumbo make quantum theory look like a child's homework! So I had to start off with a beginner project from the selection including a skeleton groom to accompany the pictured bride, a ninja, a fuzzy alien and the grim reaper.
For future headaches and eye strain I can move up to intermediate, difficult or epic projects, epic projects including a Trojan, Spartan and cyber zombie!
You also have to learn how to make a magic ring, otherwise renamed in my house as the magic anus. This was problematic, frustrating and made me violent. Eventually I found a tutorial online that I understood and from there it was up, up, and amigurway!
Finished article is cute albeit wonky (what a surprise there...) and I'm almost done with a pink grim reaper (I had no suitable black yarn so improvised) but my eyes are about to explode so it will be finished tomorrow.

Hello Sailor ;)

Well it's been a while! Having had a little break from the sewing machine I kick started my sewing with this awesome (if I do say so myself!) nautical dress.
This is what gave me a stripe headache for all those that heard that little tale!
Basically I picked up some navy and white striped cotton jersey for a reduced price and thought I would spoil myself with a dress to wear in the sunshine. I only have a small selection of patterns to use and didn't think the fabric would work well with any of them. A lot of the problems involved it being too complicated to match up the stripes as I'm a novice when it comes to stripy fabric! So after hmmm-ing about it for a while I decided to use two patterns and frankenstein them into one... So I used a wrap style top and the skirt piece from the halterneck dress pattern. So far so easy.
I then had a stripe worry, being a rather well rounded girl, I didn't want all the stripes going horizontally for fear of looking massive(r). Diagonal stripes would have worked well for the whole thing but I didn't have enough fabric to do so. I don't half make things awkward for myself!
So I decided I would use stripes going in all different directions as you can see from the pictures. Cue headache and spazzy eyes! I have no idea what the deal was with that, the finished dress does not induce weirdness!
Anyway, I cut out all the pieces and sewed 'em up, then needed to sort out some sleeves. I used the sleeves pattern piece from the wrap top but shortened them, sewed them on and then cut them diagonally for a bit more room. It looked pretty silly. So I ruched them, added a button and voila better sleeves!
I also added four buttons to the front for decoration. The buttons are really cool, they have little anchors on the front adding to the nauticalness.
I also had to add a 'modesty panel' to the bust, I would happily have had my boobs out that much but old ladies are prone to tutting at me so I thought I would spare them the need on this occasion, and it is a daytime dress too so a little modesty is ok!

Next project I'm going to be working on is a dress for my mummy, a version of the infamous halterneck dress I have made many times previously, won't take me too long, two hours maximum so I'll post it up tomorrow probably - and maybe I can persuade mum to take a picture of it to put up here too!