Oh Darn!

My husband and I both love our wool sweaters an socks, and it was inevitable that at some point I must learn what felt like the very daunting skill of darning. But really it's not that bad. I first came across Swiss darning in an old needle-craft book. It's the coolest kind! It practically recreates the original knitting stitch with a blunt needle and some yarn.

Last year I acquired some quality wool yarns intending to set myself down and get-er-done... but I didn't. 😏 With baby on the way, priorities shifted and the projects and yarn sat in my giant mending bag awaiting the time I'd finally bite the bullet and learn the useful skill.

This summer I pulled the bag back out and looked up Swiss darning on pinterest. I chose my husband's "chunkier" sweaters in need of darning for my first projects, because, well... I already tried to learn on a super-fine weight merino sweater of mine, and BOY is it hard to learn when you can barely see the stitches! A whole year off brought me to my senses and I started with the larger yarn size... and the larger holes.😬

After I darned one sweater with a CLOSE colored yarn, I felt like I had the idea down well enough to make the contrasting yarn look decent on his cream colored sweater. (What are his elbows made out of, sandpaper?) The second side didn't have a hole, but it was getting very thread-bare, so I darned in a patch over-top to match the other-side. That was SO much easier, folks! I'm gonna be examining the laundry for threadbare spots BEFORE they become holes now... a stitch in time truly saves "nine", or at least a lot of aggravation.

The sweaters under my belt, I went on to socks, a bit smaller stitches, but not needing to be perfect. After-all, it's under your feet and in shoes most of the time. 😊 Once again, thread-bare spots and small holes went fairly quickly and smoothly, boosting my confidence, but the large holes in the heels had me a bit confused and nervous at times as I tried to make heads or tales of the small stitches and the heel "turn", (or whatever it's called).

I'm pretty happy with how the first projects went. They're not perfect, and I have a lot of work to do to hone the skill, but with 9 pairs of socks and several more sweaters to go I should get plenty of practice! 😉

A Foray into Men's Fashion

I got to foray into men's modern fashion a bit more a few years ago, making my brother's 3 piece suit for formal events. He took a break from being behind the camera, and submitted to being photographed so I could share that suit with all of you. :)

After scouring Pinterest for suit ideas, we kept running across this suit with the tail coat and really cool asymmetric vest. We both thought it was the perfect style for him, and only after we settled on making it did we realize we had picked a high formality white tie morning suit to emulate.

 

 

Photos were taken by me this time. ;) :P :D

Regency Christmas Ball Blues

  

It's that time of year again, Christmas is coming, life is busy, and usually I'm reveling in the fun of the annual Regency Christmas Ball I've been attending each year since 2012. Last year the event was sadly cancelled, and I was really hoping to make it this year after last year's deprivation. It's the first Regency Ball since 2012 I've been unable to attend. Nostalgia and event blues hit me as I sit awaiting the very near arrival of our little "heffalump" (as we've nick-named our little fellow, due oh so soon!). 

Since I couldn't go to the ball this year, I thought I'd instead finally finish editing the outfit photos from the LAST Christmas Ball I attended. (Hooray for 2 years of procrastination! 😏)

 

 

My white silk regency gown has served me extremely well since I made it 6 years ago. When I found this piece of white silk in the clearance section at Joann's, I knew I wanted to make a new regency gown with it. I loved the Grecian inspiration so prevalent in the regency era, and the delightful asymmetry of the wrap styles. Enter eking out a wrap regency dress from 3.5 yards of narrow silk fabric... 😬 I had to piece some poly taffeta underneath to accomplish the feat, but it was well worth the challenge to finally make my dream regency dress. :)

 

I found this delicate gold trim for the skirt, and the narrow edges worked perfectly for trimming the top. Just a few snips, and voila, a perfectly matched narrow trim for the neckline and sleeve details.