CathGrace

Sarah's Quilt

2013-05-21T07:05:00.001-07:00

So I haven't even started working on Emmie's maxi-dress because I recently had some plans change around here, instead of going to the US for July with my whole family, now only I am going for a week, to see my Gramma (who will be visiting from South Africa,) and be part of Sarah's baby shower (oh by the by, I can't remember if I said it or not, but her lil punkin is a baby boy, due the last few days in September!) I mean I am going to see my family, and not JUST my Gramma, and Sarah's baby shower, but those things are driving the timeline! We will all be heading back to the US for a visit in September/October (to meet the lil punkin) but this end of June visit is not that visit.

ANYWAY to make a long story longer, I have a lot I need to do, and not a lot of time to do it in now. I am making the bedding set for Sarah's nursery, so I have spent the last week making the top of her quilt, so that I can take it up to Seoul to be quilted (I usually do my own machine quilting, but there is a quilting machine at the army base, and I want to try it out, it's computerized, so it makes pretty pictures, and I want to see if I like it for Isaac's viking quilt too, since one of the sets of pictures they have to quilt into things is viking based with horned helmets and everything.... I know right? who knew.) I still have to make the bed skirt and bumpers, but here is the quilt top.

I seriously don't know why this looks blurry, it wasn't in my phone. I'll be sure to take non blurry pictures of the finished product! This was made with a Moda Hideaway charm pack and the border used parts from a jelly roll from the same line. The white was just 5" squares I cut out from white cotton. Sarah Picked out the pattern (she's going with a coo coo clock/Dutch/garden gnome thing in the nursery that I thing is going to be beyond adorable.)

Anyway, I am trying to get a lot of stuff done, in addition to getting the kid's last few weeks of school out of the way. Summer is hard here on base because there are a lot of nice people moving, but I guess there are a lot of nice people moving in too, so that is good!!! The weather has finally warmed up, so we are getting outside a lot more (Paul and I walk 3 miles almost every night) and I need to do a lot more sewing for the kids to have their summer wardrobe. (although I am tempted to buy a bunch of that in the states during my visit, that is in-between double-fisting American food and smooching on family! Oh, AND standing in Target, man could I be happy just standing in a Target right about now.)

I have been making over a shelf/cupboard thingy too (if you follow my instagram you have seen the before) so I just have finishing touches on that before it's ready to hang in the kid's bathroom, and my burlap wreath, and my front door makeover, etc. anyway I have lots to share as always, but instead of sharing, I just move on to the next thing!!!

Flip This Pattern

2013-05-14T06:56:00.001-07:00

Have you heard about Flip This Pattern? It's a really amazing year long series that the girls over at francessuzanne are putting together!

The way it's going to work is that every month for a year, there will be a different pattern that 3-4 different bloggers are going to sew up into their very own snazzed up version, and then by the end of the month the viewers at home with get the chance to vote for their favorite take on the pattern! (not to mention the great sew along competition that everyone can participate in!)

The very awesome part is, Ashley and Emily have asked me to participate as one of the guest pattern flippers!

Mommy's Apron Strings | Winter Wonderings | doguincho | SoCalSewingMom | nest full of eggs

cathgrace | Welcome to the Mouse House | S is for Sewing | Sewing Like Mad | Elegance & Elephants | Call ajaire Little Kids Grow | Daisy Chain Creations | Once Upon a Notion | Handmade Martini | iCandy handmade | you & mie If only they would Nap | Foster Ramblings | Designs by Sessa | Shaffer Sisters {Jo} | greendoodle | Shaffer Sisters {Al} Siestas & Sewing | mama says sew | Sewing Mama RaeAnna | sewVery | Nap Time Crafters | {lbg studio} Shaffer Sisters {Scary} | Sweeter Than Cupcakes | Once Upon a Sewing Machine | Crafty Cupboard | The Powell Family

Aren't there some killer fun names in this bunch? I am excited and intimidated for my month!
(I'm up in July in case you were wondering)

Anyway, I am so excited for this series, how fun is it to be able to watch something progress for a whole year, and to get to see some really fun takes on the same pattern! (Thinking caps and outside of the box thinking is a must for this series!!!)

What do you think? are you going to sew along this year with Flip This Pattern?

A Knock Off Dress in the Making........

2013-05-06T23:33:00.001-07:00

I have just received some fabric in the mail to make a dress that I have been thinking about for ages, The Truly Me Chevron Maxi Dress by Bunnies Picnic.

(the picture can be clicked on and is a link to the pinterest pin, but the dress can be found at it's source here.) Other than the fact that the original dress is sold out which means I cannot get my hands on it anyway, the main reason I wanted to make this dress rather than buy it, was because I didn't feel like there was quite enough coverage in the top (mostly the back of the dress, but the front scoop neck is a little low for my taste too.) The original dress is made out of jersey, but I couldn't find any knit fabric in the right sort of stripe, so I am using quilter's cotton instead.

I got the blue and cream faux shibori from Joann's ages ago before we moved to Korea, but the stripe just arrived today from fabric.com. I know the faux shibori isn't quite the same as the original dress, but I like it anyway, and this way I don't have to dye anything :)

Anyway, I am going to try to come up with a pattern for a top I like, and then will try to do a tutorial on my version of the dress. Any suggestions for keeping the spirit of the dress, while adding a little more coverage for a little girl to be able to play comfortably in???

Finished "Home is Where" Sign

2013-05-05T01:46:00.001-07:00

I was able to finish my sign this weekend, it took a lot of lettering - so we can never move again because I am OVER the hand painting :) Actually it shouldn't be that big a deal from here on, because I will only have one at a time now that I am caught up.

It's sort of funny to see the last 13 years summed up; Isaac was at all of these bases with us, but Emmie was only from Hill AFB forward, lots and lots of packing/unpacking went into this list, and we have been enjoying the adventure!

Home is Where.....

2013-05-03T07:51:00.003-07:00

I've been working on a new project today......

The plaque is from Hobby Lobby (Yay! for them shipping APO) and I first painted it black, and then hand painted the white lettering. Next I sanded it back a little, and then sealed the whole thing with a clear poly. This is only part 1 of the project, as I am now hand lettering 7 more smaller pieces of wood with all the places we have lived with the Air Force. (I am hanging this outside my door, opposite a wreath that I just made, and will have a tutorial for.)

I certainly didn't invent this type of sign, but I really like how this one is turning out, usually these are red white and blue, or military service colors, but I like the black and white, and the more simple feel.

Breaks Etc.......

2013-04-25T01:27:00.001-07:00

So I know I've been missing, but I haven't been lazing about, just taking a break from blogging for a bit (not actually on purpose, I've just been super busy and taking pictures and editing them, then writing a post just wasn't making the cut.)

We got back from China, and the kids went back to school while I have been trying to finish a lot of projects around the house (I sort of let things slip during So You Think You're Crafty and Project Run and Play.) I have also been closing out the fiscal year for my volunteer position in the Osan Air Force Base Officer's Spouse's Club (I'm the Welfare Committee Chairperson) so that is involving a lot of buckling down with numbers and record keeping for my doomsday report. (Not my strength.)

Anyway, around the house some of the changes I have made have been to the hallway, I bought and had framed a giant map of the world. The kids are loving using white board markers to write about where they've been, where people they love are, and where they would like to go. (If you are wondering how big the map is, it is about 56" by 33" framed)

And then in my entryway I shopped around my house to make a new collage of stuff (I had things here before, they just weren't working, and I moved a table so we had more room here.)

My sister brought me chair pads from IKEA when she came; they were plain cream ones that I asked her to pick up for me, because I already had the velvet fabric for them here in Korea (I brought it with me when I came) It's a lovely woven fabric with a velvet pile in the teal blue parts (which explains the dark spot, it's not a stain, the velvet is just brushed backwards in some spots.) I like the modern print with all the more antique stuff in my house, I think it's the pop I needed to youthen it up.

And then I also made 2 throw cushions for my recliners, I made plain pillows from the crewel embroidered fabric that is in my curtains, and then made a pillowcase out of a vintage grain-sack (I even found one with my kids initials on it) that buttons on with antique mother of pearl buttons. (I've never seen another pillow quite like this, but I am pretty happy with how they worked out even if they are a little unusual.)

I still need to paint my dining table, but when I do, that will be the final task in my living/dining room so I will try to take pictures of it all then.

I am trying to get to my craft storage area, finishing off the family room, and Isaac's bedroom too, over the next little bit (although that will have a few tutorials associated with it) I really do plan to share our vacation pictures, I am just trying to prioritize what needs to be done, with what I would like to do over the next little bit (I am much more unplugged than usual right now.)

Anyway, while I have been away have I missed anything exciting?

Emmie the Chef

2013-04-16T07:50:00.000-07:00

We are back from China! We have actually been back a couple of days, but since it still has been spring break, I haven't been on the internet much. But as all good things must come to an end, everyone is back at school and work now, so I am trying to clean the house and catch up with photo editing so I can share our China pictures.

To prove I am not dead, I have a couple of pictures to share, (sorry if you are on instagram, because I already shared one of these over there.) Emmie has joined the cooking club at school, and obviously needed a chef's outfit (tell me we are not the only family that needs specialty outfits for everything?)

I made her a quick and dirty double-breasted smock off of a t-shirt pattern I had (I just split the front and added some length to the middle) and although you can't see all the details, there are side vents, and 10 buttons down the front. The collar was just one I threw together, since a t-shirt pattern obviously wouldn't have one like this. The sleeves are full length, but Emmie assures me that all chef's fold their sleeves back. I used my Embroidery machine to embroider her name on the front.

The apron has 2 pockets built into the front, and it was made from a 1/2 yard of Japanese fabric I have had in my stash for ages. The hat is just a circle of muslin gathered into a band.

I am pretty sure she will be the only one dressed up (Emmie is in middle school, but because she skipped a grade, she is only 10; I love the fact that she just doesn't buy into any of the middle school popularity, what's cool/what's not, stuff yet) but she has been practicing her French chef accent, so I bet no one even notices the outfit because she will be too busy saying "magnifique!"and "héhéhé" as she whisks things!

Sarah's Maxi Dress

2013-04-05T02:04:00.000-07:00

Remember when I showed pictures of us at the beach and said that Sarah had let me take some pictures of the dress we made her? Here are the pictures of the dress we made her!

We used Butterick B5763 to make the dress, altering only the sleeves, the length, and the fabric choice. (She is a great sister because it was FREEZING, and she was a good sport to take her coat off for me!)

Sarah is over 6' tall, and has a hard time finding maxi dresses that are long enough for her, so she was excited to get a custom length one.

The alteration we made to the sleeves was to pull them in tighter, the pattern had flutter sleeves, but Sarah prefers to have the tighter fit so that her arm hole doesn't gape at all for modesty's sake.

The buttons down the front are vintage plastic ones I had, and the fabric is some we picked up at Dongdaemun on our girl's weekend. The belt is a circle of wide elastic that I made a buckle for (the buckle was made just like my hair clips, but without the clip portion, and sewn directly to the elastic instead.) The dress pattern called for a woven fabric, but we used a comfy knit instead. (I just stabilized the placket with fusible interfacing before sewing it, and then pulled the extra interfacing off when it was done.

And the reason I couldn't share the pictures before, is because my beautiful sister is baking her first baby, and at the time hadn't told anyone yet! (She told family over Easter, and then FB on April Fool's day to be funny, needless to say there were some skeptics!) She was about 13 weeks along in these pictures, so she has only the tiniest of bumps, but this dress should fit her all along her pregnancy! We are soooooo excited for this new and already loved little one, and Sarah is such a sweet and lovely pregnant lady. I was so glad I got to share a little of this pregnancy with her! (Sarah and her husband Scott have been married for 4 years, so the extended family have all been quietly vibrating, waiting for a new little one to come along, and we are so excited about the perfect timing they chose!)

We miss you already Sarah, and are so excited to keep up with your baby news!

I am going to be gone for the next week, the kids are on spring-break and we are going to CHINA!!!! So I think things will be a little quiet around here, (since I am not a great planner, and I didn't schedule a bunch of posts to run for me!)

Patio Rug

2013-04-03T21:20:00.002-07:00

Anyone on my Instagram will have already seen these, but I thought I would share progress over here, These pictures are of our new patio rug!

We bought super realistic Astro Turf from the flower market ($125 worth) and used it to make a rug! The rug is weatherproof, has drainage holes, and is designed to be outside so we have no worries about that, and it's actually cheaper than a lot of outdoor rugs. We had to have one seam, but it was pretty easy to deal with, I used a strip of left over outdoor fabric, and silicone caulk as glue to back the seam and hold it all together. You can still see the seam a little bit, but it is actually getting better all the time, as the pile relaxes from being rolled up, and is sitting more naturally.

I guess cleaning wise I will probably vacuum it or something, but either way I love it!!! Korean's really don't do grass (they farm peppers for kimchi in all little bits of land, (except ancestor burial areas,) and it's probably not a great idea to play in that grass) and the grass on base is all dog territory, so not very tempting to stand barefoot on! I got a wild hare when I saw this grass was so reasonably priced at the flower market, and I knew I had to have it!

I only have a couple of things left on my list before the patio is finished, I am looking forward to all the warm weather we have coming up, so that we can actually use the patio!

Patio Furniture

2013-04-01T22:32:00.000-07:00

So, I finished recovering my patio furniture.

It ended up being TOTALLY different than any of my plans! I decided to order the bird fabric and the cream fabric that I was positive that I wanted (along with a yard each of a couple of blues that I liked) so that I could see the fabrics in person, and when the bird fabric arrived....... I didn't love it. wah, wah, wah....

It was a lot duller in person then on the fabric.com website, and the marbling in the fabric made it a little, dare I say it, old lady? (I'm sorry, I am sure in the right context it would be great!!!) I WAS going to mix in bright colors, but after seeing what I had, I knew I would need to start over again if I wanted to go bright, since NONE of the fabric I had would work with that. So instead I decided to re-look at what I had, and see what I could make out of it, without any additional money being spent. I had enough of the cream to cover the entire love seat piece, and I decided that sun fading would be less of an issue with it. (here's what the fabric I took off of my furniture looked, it used to be fantastic and vibrant, but not so much anymore after 3 years on my patio in Richmond VA.

Here's the sad before on the patio here....

So anyway, I ended up using the cream for the love seat, the brown woven raffia look fabric I already had for the seats of the chairs, and then the navy coral (which I actually wish I had more of than just a yard, I think I almost liked this one the best) for the cushion backs and a cushion for the love seat.

I had also ordered yard of a blue faux ikat that I made a couple of cushions out of, and then I decided to tie the different shades of blue together by using the blue bird fabric on just a pillow. The last two pillows are on the chairs, and are color blocked with cream and the brown, and although you can't see it in the picture, there is a row of navy blue beading around the top of the cream section. The colors of everything are a lot more muted than I was planning on, and it's sort of "grown up" looking, but all in all I like it enough to be glad I didn't scrap everything and buy all new fabric, and I think it was stand the test of time well enough! If I get tired later, it should be pretty easy to keep the bases and change out all the colored pillow fabric for a totally new look. I still have 2+ yards each of the brown and bird fabric, etc. so there's that too.

Edited to add these pictures, they show the fabric better...... (although the bird fabric still looks better in photo than real life.)

The beads on the little pillow are navy blue even though they read a little black here.

I'm going to take better pictures later when the patio is actually done, but I just wanted to share this now since I tend to forget to post pictures of things I've been up to!

Guest Posting Today!

2013-04-01T08:43:00.006-07:00

I'm guest posting today over at Daisy Chain Creations, for Sally's Sowing While You Sew series! Emmie and I had a fun time making zippered pouches, and there is a full tutorial. (The Iron/water drips on my ironing pad are so pretty. Ugh, I am seriously the worst blogger!)

Anyway, please hop on over and say hi!

Beaded Owl Dress {Tutorial}

2013-03-26T19:04:00.000-07:00

Anyone remember back forever ago when I made this dress for Project Run and Play week one? It sure seems like forever ago!

I'm finally trying to get my act together and post a tutorial about how I did the beading on the dress.

To begin with, I used my own bodice pattern, and drew on it part of the neck I wanted blue fabric and gap I wanted so I could bead between the blue and yellow portions of the bodice. Next I cut those pieces out, with added seam allowances, so that when I sewed the lining to those pieces, they were finished, with just the gap I wanted. Sorry no pictures of that step, so I hope that makes sense. Here are the button loops on the back; this is what it all looks like before I sew the lining down. My loops are little tubes of bias fabric, that were sewn inside out and then turned, I personally don't like to top stitch loops to hold them together, I think it looks less professional.

So anyway, I fully constructed and lined the bodice, and the neck facing piece before beading, so I had all finished edges to work with. I then used the largest basting stitch on my sewing machine to sew my pieces down to paper, with a 1/4" gap between the pieces.

Using beading thread and a beading needle, I added bars of beads to bridge the gap. (Ignore the bead color here, I only got about this far in before deciding I didn't like the bead color, it was a very navy black, and in person didn't look very good, I unpicked this part and changed colors) I started by knotting my thread on the top piece. next I stitched down through the beads, tied a knot in the yellow fabric edge, stitched back up through the beads, and then another knot through the blue fabric edge.

Then I buried the thread between the outer fabric and the lining (so it cant be seen as it runs along the inside) moved over 3 1/16's of an inch, tied another knot in the blue, and went down through beads to the yellow again. I had to make the bars a tiny bit further apart on the bottom than the top, since the bottom circle was bigger than the top, I just eyeballed it though.

between each section, I knotted off my thread both at the top, and bottom of the beaded bars, so that they couldn't put any tension on the fabric as the thread traveled to the next bar. Here is what it looks like done, with all the paper ripped off. I haven't unpicked the basting stitches yet.

As you can see, the paper held the circles so that they were perfectly aligned with each other, which is no mean feat considering I was putting a smaller circle inside of a bigger one, with only the gap as my guide!

The cuffs and hem were much easier, as they were completely straight, I still sewed them to the paper though, to keep everything aligned.

If you look carefully, you can see the knot at the top of the yellow, waiting for my three beads, and another knot at the bottom.

Once all the beading was finished, I just had to sew up the side seams, attach the fully lined sleeves and skirt, and it all lays perfectly against the body.

The gaps are all perfectly spaced.

And the glass beads go in the washer just fine.

I hope that this tutorial makes sense, please let me know if there is something I need to make more clear!

My Own Labels!!! {photo of the day}

2013-03-24T23:07:00.000-07:00

I'm so excited! My last Project Run and Play Prize arrived today, and they are perfect! I have been wanting personalized labels for at least 10 years (back in the day when there weren't any awesome companies on the internet making them, so I was out of luck) and I am sooooo excited! Did I mention I'm excited?

Anyway, I will never go without again, and will for sure re-order once I run out of these ones now I know how easy it is! (The scissors are copyright free clip art from the Graphics Fairy, and I changed the color and added the font stuff in Photoshop in case anyone was wondering!)

I just have to come up with my first project to use them on!!!

I'm Back! {photos of the day}

2013-03-24T04:56:00.000-07:00

Sorry I have been so absent around here the last little bit, my sweet sister Sarah came into town, and we have been CRAZY busy, and I just haven't had even a minute to blog. (The last 2 weeks have flown by and been way too short, we dropped Sarah off at the airport today, and it was just too soon!) In the last two weeks we have been to Seoul for a girl's weekend, to Lotte World (The World's Largest Indoor Theme Park according to them) Dongdaemun, The Flower Market, The DMZ, the beach, to get Dr. Fish pedicures, etc. We did some sewing, a lot of eating, and A LOT of quality sister time.

Before I go any further, I want to say thank you to everyone for all the votes in So You Think You're Crafty, I am so thankful for all the support and love I have received, and I am excited to have made it as far as I did! I would have been on top of this post before, except Sarah arrived the day that the contest went live, and we were so busy, I honestly never even saw how the voting went! (I actually only found out I came in second when I got an email from Missy since I was up in Seoul for my girl's weekend when the poll closed and I didn't want to look before then!)

If you follow me over on Instagram you have already seen these pictures, but if not, here are a few from our beach trip, we thought it would be fun for Sarah to be able to put her feet in the Yellow Sea, and take some pictures at the same time even though it was FREEZING.

I made Paul these pants last year before our cruise, but never blogged about them, so I took some pictures of the detail's of his pants, so look for them in a future blog post......

Isaac is our little beach comber, he loves digging things out of the sand.

Emmie (who is wearing the Harry Potter sweater I knit her, and the floral embroidered jeans from Project Run and Play) is a little more nervous about encountering wildlife; the crabs and anything dead being her least favorite.

And then Sweet Sarah took off her coat for a few minutes even though it was freezing, to show off a dress we made for her together (also an upcoming post to look forward too - sorry, it can't be seen in this picture.)

I didn't go near the water, because I am a giant chicken when it comes to cold, but everyone else came away with FREEZING pink toes. (I am still cold enough here that my ugg boots are pretty darn hard to pry off of me.) As we were leaving, dozens of Korean teenagers arrived and started shouting everything they knew in English at us, we were told, "welcome to Korea, hello, how are you?" and "I love you!" Koreans are so friendly, and love Americans, which is certainly not universal in many other countries we have been to; making it very special to serve here in the Military!

Anyway, I am ready to give my apartment a good cleaning (We were having WAY to much fun to stop and clean anything) AND we are going to start a food cleanse (we have been doing convenient and fast around here, with WAY too much eating out and processed foods since before Project Run and Play and So You Think You're Crafty started) so we are going back to basics and homemade food, with a dreaded soda purge (say it isn't so, I NEED my caffeine free diet Pepsi!) since I have been feeling super crappy and slow as of late. (I probably won't be blogging about that much though since I am certainly not a gourmet cook.) And we are heading back to the gym with more plans to build up to running 10K again at some point.

We have a trip planned to go see the Great Wall of China the first week of April for the kid's spring break, so lots of pictures should come from that too!

Anyway, I'm just checking in tonight, and I will try to get some of my posts going ASAP, but first laundry and cleaning needs to happen!

So You Think You're Crafty Final Week!!!

2013-03-11T07:32:00.001-07:00

Hooray, it's here! I'm so excited to have made it to the finals of So You Think You're Crafty, and I want to thank everyone for their votes so far! For my wild card project, I decided to make myself a complete outfit, (it's actually my first new outfit since moving to Korea almost 8 months ago, since I am too tall and big for Korean clothes, I have one sweatshirt I bought here that I had to get in an extra large, and it fits me like my regular size small in the US would, except my wrists hang out. A LOT.) I wanted to make something that really encompasses my style and philosophy in making things, so this outfit is a combination of my own original design, along with a cardigan knockoff from Anthropologie. (I am personally really attracted to fine fabric and detail work; and I also love the challenge of making something for a lot less than I could buy it for in a store.) AND I am so excited to have the weather starting to warm up, so I can finally wear something that isn't a coat, so without further ado, I present my Wild Card project, a Springtime Dress and Cardigan (goodness I hope it's more exciting then the name!!!)

The cardigan was inspired by the Felted Flora Cardigan at Anthropologie, (the picture on the top right is Anthropologie's version.) At Anthropologie, this cardigan is $138 and made from cotton; my Cardigan began life as a plain beige, 100% cashmere cardigan that I got at a thrift store for $8. I used 5 different colors of wool roving to needle felt the flowers and leaves onto the front, and I changed out the buttons for a set of 1930's, mother of pearl buttons that were still on the card, (I'm not gonna lie, it sort of hurt me to take them off the card...) I am so pleased with how this turned out, and I actually like the colors on mine much better than the pinks of the Anthro cardigan (and seriously it's cashmere and the whole thing cost less then $15, that's a $123 savings over the original one!!!)

I have a very difficult time finding dresses that fit me off the rack, I have a thin rib cage, but I am unusually busty (something I try to minimize the look of) and I am tall for a girl (I'm 5'9") So in designing this dress, I really wanted to make something that looked like it could have come from a great boutique store, (the one's that never have anything that fits me) without directly referencing any particular dress. The fabric is a luscious green rayon, with beige leaves, and orange and mustard colored birds in the print. I bought this fabric a few months ago here in Korea at the fashion fabric market (it's called Dongdaemun) without really knowing what I was going to do with it (actually my husband picked it out) and when I made it to the finals I knew it would be perfect for a spring dress! All of the materials in this dress cost less than $20.

The fully lined bodice is done in a crisscross design, with gathered shoulders and a wide band at the waist. The band at the waist has random pin-tucking done in different angles and directions creating subtle texture; elevating the dress from ordinary to extraordinary in its detail. (Well, at least I think so! I am a huge fan of fabric manipulation rather than always adding extra trims.) The dress is closed by a hidden side zip, and the lace at the hem comes from a vintage slip I picked up years ago at an antique store, attached to the bodice as an underskirt. The leather belt is held in place by 2 hand embroidered loops on the sides (another old school technique that I feel like makes a couture difference when making clothing.)

I am very excited about this whole look, and I will actually be wearing it for our family portrait this spring (I somehow managed to make my husband a plaid vest for his birthday in matching colors, and my son an outfit for Project Run and Play in the same beige and greens, so I just need to get on making an outfit for my daughter, that I already bought the fabric for at the same time I got my dress fabric!) And best of all, I really feel like I encompassed my true crafting style of making something of quality, for less then I could get it from at a store (less than $35 for the whole outfit!!!) that is uniquely my own.

Thanks for taking the time to read everything :) and I would really love your vote over at So You Think You're Crafty!

Emmie's Quilt

2013-03-09T06:37:00.000-08:00

Remember when Emmie got a sewing machine for Christmas? She finally finished the quilt she was working on!!!

She cut out all the pieces by herself (using my go baby cutter) and then she sewed the whole top by herself, and did about 50% of the quilting herself! (she was really nervous about ruining all her work, and quite daunted by the quantity of the work in the quilting, so I did every other square for her; I quilted every square that had a plaid block and she did the rest, it alleviated her anxiety that she wasn't doing it right, because I kept taking turns with her at the machine, and it was done in a day, vs. the forever it would have taken her.)

It's not perfectly sewn (there are a few tucks sewn into the back, a little wonkyness in the front, and I even found a few places where she hadn't managed to catch both pieces of fabric in the seam allowance) But we just sewed any holes shut, and you can't even see much of the wonky now it has been washed and fluffed, and to me it is PERFECT. She gave this quilt to my sister Sarah when she arrived today for a 2 week visit (thus the final push to get it finished, she wanted to have it ready in time for Sarah.) I am sooooo proud of Emmie though, she worked for hours to get the border pieced, and even unpicked some squares that weren't sewn in the right order during the process. I am ready to see her next big project!!! (she has only been sewing little things until this was finished, since I didn't want her having a MILLION things going at once....... not that she's seen anyone who works like that at all. nope. not me.

Hand Dyed Quilt

2013-03-08T08:24:00.000-08:00

So Here's the tutorial I wrote for my winning So You Think You're Crafty RIT Dye week craft. I am bringing it home today so that it is on my blog too. I am very excited for Monday, because SYTYC has its last week of my season! (I'm pretty happy with what I made, although nervous because it's our first time not being anonymous, and I am in the pictures, so ACK!) Anyway, here's my quilt........

Because I am here in S. Korea, I can't just go into a store and buy RIT dye, but luckily I had dye supplies already on hand. (I didn't have any RIT, but I figured the brand didn't matter!) The dyes I have are not an all in one like RIT is, so I had to take a couple of extra steps to dye my fabric. (The dyes I used were Procion cold water dye, by Jaquard.) I had to make up some chemical water (click on the link for a recipe) and then I thickened the chemical water with sodium alginate, in order to make a pudding textured goop. After letting the thickened chemical water sit for a bit, I put half a cup of the chemical water into a cup, and mixed in brown dye (made from 2 tsp. of dye powder mixed in about 2 Tbs of tap water) and then just a sprinkle of soda ash (the soda ash activates the dye so it will actually permanently stick to the fabric) OKAY now I am ready to begin putting color onto fabric!

Just kidding, I am totally not. First I had to pin my fabric to my print table (a board covered in thick industrial felt, and then canvas, in order to give me a pin-able surface.) The fabric came from one 3 yard length of white cotton fabric that I ripped into 1 yard sections, and then used t-pins to pin the fabric to the surface of the print table. NOW we are ready to dye!

For the first yard, I used a picture frame (I use the glass as a pallet,) a foam paint roller, and a Lego base plate.

I began by sliding the Lego plate UNDER my fabric, and then I loaded my paint roller with the thick brown dye (don't forget to activate it with soda ash!)

And then gently roll over the Lego base plate, you can get a feel for the amount of pressure you want to place on the roller, as you go. I moved the plate around randomly so that sometimes it was skew, and overlapping where I had already rolled. I covered the whole yard of fabric this way. (My other two base textures, not pictured here, are the suction cups on the bottom of a $1 store, rubber bath mat, and just rolling on the surface of the fabric with the foam roller, alternating the amount of pressure.)

After laying down all of my brown, I mixed up 12 other colors (one at a time actually) in the same tap water, powdered dye, thickened chemical water, soda ash, mix as the brown dye. I ripped all of my yardage into four fat quarters per yard, (for a total of 12) and pinned 2 fat quarters to my print table surface. (does that make sense?) I laid my color down, by smearing it onto each fat quarter by hand in a swirling motion. (I definitely recommend the rubber glove unless you want a very excitingly colored hand)

Here's what the pink and green fat quarters look like once smeared and waiting to dry. By the way, the print table has a couple of old flat sheets pinned to it, so that my canvas surface doesn't get contaminated with dye. (I only mention this now, because in just a second the color is going to change to a clean sheet, and it's a TOTALLY different color.) Anyway, after I let these two colors dry, I removed them from the surface and set them aside for 24 hours. I repeated the smearing process with all 12 fat quarters, in 12 different colors.

After 24 hours, I thoroughly rinsed all of my fat quarters; it takes rinse, after rinse to get the water to run completely clear, (and I used synthrapol to help wash all the fugitive dye out of my fabric) and then I still put them in the washing machine to run through a wash cycle. YOU DO NOT WANT ANY DYE LEFT TO BLEED OUT LATER! After drying my fabric, I pinned 2 fat quarters to my print table, (the red one shows the rubber bath mat suction cup texture) that is now newly adorned with a purple sheet, and got ready to print my pigment. I used a speedball pigment in a pearl white color.

The images I screen printed on top were my own, and the screens are made by a thermofax machine (I am recycling screens from another project, so I did not make them recently) A thermofax machine takes the carbon found in a toner printed image (like the sort of toner used in an old copy machine) and burns through a plastic coating to a screen layer, to make a screen that can be used very much like a screen print that has used a light reactive medium to burn in an image. The same effect could be achieved by stamping on your fabric if you aren't able/brave enough to make a screen!

I had 12 different screens that I could use for my fat quarters, and I used the white pigment for all of them.

Once everything was printed and dry, I cut up all of my fat quarters into 5.75" squares (you can get 9 per quarter) and then took the remainder to make even rectangles.

I randomly mixed up all of my colors, and sewed my squares into 9 square blocks. In order to be permanent the pigment needs to be heat set. I didn't heat set the pigment before now, because I knew I would be ironing my squares once sewn together, so at this stage, all the pigment was set too.

Next I cut my 9 square block into 4 separate squares, by making a cross right down the middle.

I rotated all of the small squares so that they faced the top right, and randomly sewed all the blocks together (my only rule was no 2 of the same fabrics right next to each other.) I didn't use all of my blocks to make the center section, as I only made it 5 by 6. I then added white strips in a 2.5 inch border, and then my outer border was made from cutting the rest of my blocks in half each (I didn't worry about the direction, I just cut them down the middle) and sewing the strips together to create a border.

The final step was to quilt the quilt by machine (with yellow thread in my needle, and fuchsia thread in my bobbin.) I quilted in a free motion style, just randomly swirling, but trying to keep the space between stitch lines to about a 1/4" apart. I bound the quilt by sewing the remaining strips of fabric that was left over by cutting out the 9 squares from the fat quarter end to end, sewing the length of it to the front of the quilt, and then hand stitching it to the back. I then washed the quilt to fluff it all up (this is the stage where you find out if you rinsed out all the dye; if not, your nice white border will get bled all over!)

I know that this sounds like a lot of steps (and it is!) But in reality, if broken down into steps, it's not that hard to do, and boy is it really satisfying to have a quilt top made entirely from my own fabric!!! I hope that this tutorial helps you see that it is really possible make your own textiles, and use them in projects!!!
Thanks again for all your votes, I am excited about the finals!

Henley Button Placket And Stripe Alignment {Tutorial }

2013-03-06T21:02:00.000-08:00

I originally shared this tutorial over at Project Run and Play for my Boy's Week win, so I thought I would bring it home!

Thanks so much for your votes everyone, I am so excited to have won this week for a look I was so excited about! (especially with all the fantastic work I was up against!)

For my tutorial I decided to talk about the henley collar, and stripe matching in a knit fabric.

It's really easy to have stripes stretch out of alignment with knits, especially since the fabrics tend to stretch out at different rates depending on what's by the feed dogs, and what's by the presser foot.

I began by fusing regular fusible interfacing to the back of my fabric, just in the neck area.

Because I wanted the buttons to be centered, I cut the split off center by an inch.

next I fused interfacing to the back of the strip I wanted to use for the placket in the collar,

and then sewed it down to the shirt front so only the green stripe showed. I tapered the seam to being very narrow in the middle of the V, just barely catching the shirt fabric there.

The beige stripe is the only thing showing on the inside, I serged along this edge to make sure the edges were clean from the inside.

Next I top stitched the placket to the wider side of the shirt front, and sewed along the bottom right along the stripe line.

and then folded the other half up and top stitched 1/4 inch above the green stripe. The collar is added and top stitched as you would add any collar, except for the split in the front,

that I folded back and hand stitched down. as soon as everything was put together, I peeled off all of the excess fusible interfacing from the shirt, and cut it away.

I added buttons and buttonholes to finish the whole thing off.

My tip for lining up the side and sleeve stripes, is to take the time to hand baste them right near the seam allowance line. I make sure I stitch in and out of every lining up point while checking both sides to be sure that it is exactly lined up. I know it takes extra time, but I think the final product is worth the extra 20 minutes.

as you can see, the basting keeps everything together, and you just pull it out at the end, and the shirt stretches as usual!

I hope that this tutorial is helpful in getting those little details (like matched up stripes,) to be an easy but important detail in your sewing!

Thank you so much for having me, and I would love it if you would check out my blog cathgrace for some other fun ideas (and I'm excited about the rest of the competition, and seeing the brilliant work of the other competitors!!!)

Nautical Boxes For The Kid's Bathroom

2013-03-04T22:47:00.000-08:00

I have 2 paper mache boxes that I bought YEARS ago before Emmie was born, (I put them in her nursery to hold q-tips and cotton balls) that no longer fit in with anything we had going on (although they are still used to hold cotton balls and q-tips in the kid's bathroom) and they were looking a little worse for wear (one had water damage on its label) So I decided to give them a little makeover so that they go with the kid's bathroom now.

I had left over milk paint from the small batch I made up yesterday, so I decided to use it to make my boxes have a vintage nautical theme. I wet the labels off, and painted 2 coats of milk paint on each box, and then after letting them dry, I sanded back the edges and high points (I was sort of surprised that no green showed through, only the white on both boxes.)

Next I used acrylic paint, and painted a whale on one box, and nautical flags on the other (I used Isaac and Emmie's initials on the flags) EDIT: I totally forgot to add that I finished the boxes by waxing them with furniture wax. Sorry the pictures are bad cell phone pictures, but I thought getting them posted, was probably better than perfecting the pictures. I will post better one's later when I show off their whole bathroom.

For context though, here's their piratical/nautical flag sower curtain,

and then there is this canvas print on the wall, (purchased from urban outfitters.)

Anyway, this was just a quick relaxed project that has been on my to do list, and I am loving being done with all the work from my competitions (So You Think You're Crafty's last week is this Monday, I am already done with the project though!) so that I CAN just sort of muddle through the little things that have been needing to get done around here!

Milk Paint Stool

2013-03-03T23:27:00.000-08:00

So I have a stool that I think EVERY person in the world needs. I certainly didn't discover this stool, (as it's from IKEA) But trust me, if you don't have one, you NEED one. It will be the best $15 you have ever spent.

I have had this stool in it's original unpainted form for years in my studio; I have used it as my weaving bench, as extra seating, and as a step stool to get to the highest things on top of my shelving. Then we moved here to Korea, and I use it to get to tall things in my kitchen, as seating when I craft in the kitchen, and it tends to move around the apartment a bit when I am not looking.

Because of being in the kitchen the unsealed wood was starting to look shabby with drips of water, so I have been wanting to paint it, but didn't know what color to use. I have also decided to paint my dining room table, due to all the scratches the movers put in the top, and recently decided to do it in Miss Mustard Seed's Flow Blue milk paint; I thought that the stool was the perfect opportunity to test out the color (without committing to it on my whole table yet)

The color is about this shade of blue in the picture above, rather than the one below, but the one below is straight out of my phone camera.

I have to say, I really enjoyed using the milk paint, it was easy to use, covered well, sanded back perfectly, and feels like satin when waxed. I am a little scared of the color for my dining table, so I am going to be walking the stool around my dining/living room to see it on the rugs, and with the other furniture, but I think I really like it...... I'm just nervous! (our table is 70+ years old, and I LOVE it, but there are some major across the grain scratches that the movers put in the top, and there really would be no way I could fix them without sanding the finish off the whole table so that it matched everywhere, and I just don't have the facilities or the desire to do that right now.)

I do not think it means, what you think it means... {photo of the day}

2013-03-03T08:37:00.001-08:00

S.Koreans really like Americanized things, so there's a lot of English here on signs and clothes; but it rarely means exactly what it is supposed too. I have a sweatshirt that I bought here that says "Love means never having to say." That's it, I guess you literally NEVER have to say whatever it is; and I sent my sister a notebook that said "music soothes the savage breast" :)

Here is a sign found in a local (to me) coffee shop...

You know I LOVE having some Scorn for Disert. (actually this coffee shop has the best hot chocolate) And I am a little afraid of whatever a Mocha Burn is, it sounds painful!

Anywho - I'm on instagram now (well, I've been on it for a bit, I just had it set to private, and I recently decided to unlock it for public viewing) so if you would like to see some of the day to day pictures I have been taking here in Korea, they are over there, I'm cathgrace on instagram too! I would love some followers over there, and although I don't have a ton of pictures yet, I am going to try to keep up with it!

Beaded Crystal Hair Clips {tutorial}

2013-03-03T08:12:00.002-08:00

I originally shared these over at So You Think You're Crafty, but I thought I would bring them home to my blog too!

I'm so excited to be here with you today to share my beaded crystal hair clips, and I want to thank everyone who voted for me! I wear some variation of bun in my hair almost everyday, so being able to add clips to my hair is really a great way to add color and style.

(the head on the left is not mine, it's my daughter's, which is why her color is different)

I'm only going to show pictures for the clip on the far right, because it used the most steps, but all the clips are some variation on the same theme. To begin with I put some plain white cotton fabric in an embroidery hoop, and then put a square of wool felt on top. The felt is for structure, and the cotton for something that will stay taught and not stretch.

In the middle of the felt, I sewed down a green flat backed plastic crystal; next I added a ring of glass beads, and then an additional ring of navy diamante trim. The trim is couched down on the low spots between the crystals.

For the next step I added teardrop shapes of gold chain by stitching through the holes in the chain. Inside of the teardrop I couched clear diamante.

Inside of the clear diamante I added more blue glass beads, a couched row of real gold bullion chain, and then cream glass seed beads; I then traced 3 new tear drop-ish shapes in pencil onto the felt.

And then there was MORE layering!on the outside of the gold chain, a layer of green crystals, and then more blue glass beads. Then I added more green crystals to the additional teardrop-ish shapes, and then more blue beads, gold bullion, cream seed beads, etc.

After filling in everything, I lastly added some more navy crystal diamante, and then some glass beads to bridge the top loops shape to the rest of the clip, so that it's not floppy, and although I didn't take the picture, on top I added a ring of the clear and green crystals over everything (can be seen in the finished product.)

Once all the beading etc. is done, you cut the cotton fabric as close to the stitching as you can on the back.

I also cut the felt a little closer, but not all the way close to the edge yet.

Next I cut a tiny slit in the back piece of fabric, and slotted an alligator clip through.

Here's the closed clip on the inside.

Then I covered the back of the felt in a lot of fabric glue

and thoroughly squished the clip and fabric onto the back of the felt piece. I stretched it from the center out so there is a slightly cupped shape to the clip, so it forms better to the head.

Before the glue dried, I trimmed the edge closer to the beading, and then blanket stitched in tiny stitches around the edge. I sewed it before it dried, because it is easier to stitch then. I don't think there is any likelihood of fraying with the felt, and all the glue I used on the back fabric, but I added the blanket stitch so that there is no chance the layers would start to roll apart or separate at all.

and then here are the finished products.....

I used a hole punch to open up a couple of holes in the clip, so there wasn't the expanse of blank felt. For the other two clips I used some large plastic jewels, and the yellow one has some sequins too (I also couched a navy silk cord down with the blanket stitch on the edge) but they are pretty much just about hand stitching and building the layers. My big hints are to have a variety of beads and stones, use felt that will blend into the background (the felt isn't the star of the show!) and use really strong thread. I have so many more of these clips in the works as soon as we get done with So You Think You're Crafty! I need more colors! I would love it if you came and said hi! to me over at cathgrace, and I am so excited for the rest of the competition!!!

Emmie's Room

2013-03-01T02:43:00.000-08:00

Emmie deep cleaned her room this weekend, and wanted me to photo document the occasion, and I agreed that this is probably the best moment to capture her room. Sorry the photos aren't the best, we get very little light through our windows. Everything we did in here has to be able to be undone when we move out of base housing when we PCS next. (permanent change of station)

Emmie's room is the first door down our apartment's hallway, she's a very bright and self described Bohemian child, so her room reflects that (she's also at a stage where she is a mix of little girl, and pre-teen. The purple cubes at the bottom of her bed came from World Market on clearance, and have American Girl Doll clothes in them.

Just inside her door, is a canvas with some of her art on it, and a princess name painting we had done in Disneyland just before coming to Korea. Three of her room's walls are a pale blue color.

There is a horse hook here to hold her backpack so it doesn't end up on the floor after school.

Her curtain's are some I made for her while we lived in the US while waiting to come out here, they are all Anna Maria Horner fabrics (not a sponsored post, I was just throwing it out there in case anyone was wondering.) The desk is one we picked up for Emmie at an antique store in Richmond, VA, and the chair is IKEA (so's the rug.)

The mirror is one I spray painted pink, and she uses it to turn her desk into a vanity.

The polka dots are all red fabric, that was cut out by my Go Baby die cutter, and then stuck to the wall with wallpaper paste and a roller. I can just peel them off and wipe the wall down when we leave Korea. The cubes are from Target on clearance a couple of years ago.

To the one side of her desk, Emmie has her American girl doll bunk bed and babies. The bunk Bed is made from two IKEA doll beds that we cut and glued together before painting them red.

Above the bunk bed and down her whole wall, there are IKEA rods and tension wires that keep Emmie's books and art.

The art piece above the rods that hold her books and desk supplies is a piece of art I made for her when I was in school, it's embroidered and all fabric, and a picture of Emmie.

My favorite thing on her tension wires is the felt zombie Isaac made Emmie for her last birthday, he used seed beads to make a bony arm, and a hanging button for the eye, gross but cute and completely hand sewn.

Emmie loves this wall, because she can hang whatever she wants on it, and doesn't damage the walls.

Emmie's bed started off pale wood colored, and I painted it green and monogrammed it in gold with an E on the headboard. The bed skirt is Anna Maria Horner, from her Innocent Crush line.

I made the "canopy" since moving here to Korea.

I say "canopy" because it is really just around the edges, there is nothing over the top, I didn't want to block her ceiling fan or light with a top. The paintings are art I made, and the pillows are fabric I had printed with the art for a school project. The quilt is all hand dyed and printed fabric by me, also a school project.

Emmie's lamps are from Lowe's, and the side tables are from Crate and Barrel. Her orange dresser is from a thrift shop, that I painted and replaced the knobs on.

The My Little Pony shrine is a shelf we got from the scratch and dent section of IKEA years ago, and Emmie keeps her Ponies here all ready to play, she's very meticulous. (a place of honor goes to her original 1984 Gusty pony on the top of her black Wade Whimsy collection case.)

She wanted a picture of herself in her room, in action, she worked really hard on it all weekend, even purging clothes that don't fit, etc.

Anyway, I love that this room works for her now, but will also work for her 13 year-old self when we move, the ponies can one day be replaced with hair things and makeup (not too soon) and she can change out her pictures and posters.

Patio Furniture Revamp {the fabric}

2013-02-28T05:26:00.000-08:00

So I am planning on redoing our patio furniture in the next few weeks (in preparation for warmer weather, please, oh please may it warm up!) And I am having a hard time deciding what fabrics I wanted to go with. (all of the fabrics came from fabric.com) Here's the Patio set I have,

But it hasn't had these cushions for a long time, I redid them in red ages ago, but they are sun faded now.

On one side, I'm thinking something pulled back, a hint of French Colonial with a twist of nautical. The pros of this are the blue matches what I have going on inside (you can see the patio through my major window) and I will probably not get tired of it very quickly. The cons are, I'm not really in love with any of these except the bird one, which I love.

scheme 2 is bright and poppy; the pros are I feel like they scream summer and color, a little bohemian and they aren't too matchy patchy. The colors sort of work with my house in the sense that I have mustard, green and blue in my house, just not this brightly. The cons are they are really bright for what is going on in the rest of my house, and I worry about seeing them from the window.

The third scheme is the most fleshed out in terms of me liking all the fabrics together, and actually liking all the fabrics, but beige? I am not sure how I feel about my patio being this well BEIGE. The pros are I already have the fabric in the bottom right corner, so I would be buying less, and it has a cool traveled feel,plus the coffee table glass is a little amber/beige colored. The cons are, it's BEIGE. and I think a little too grown up looking?

Paul is leaning towards the colorful scheme, but I can't get the blue bird fabric out of my head, and The beige just feels safer...... Opinions anyone?

Anthro Jupukka Jacket Knock Off {Tutorial}

2013-02-25T23:14:00.000-08:00

Here's the tutorial for my Jupukka Jacket knock off, originally posted at So You Think You're Crafty, and I thought I would bring it home!

This jacket was made entirely from my stash, I have actually been carrying the blue cotton velvet around for YEARS, and was so pleased to find such a good use for it! I drafted the pattern myself, but if you wanted to make one, I am sure you could adjust a shirt pattern to overlap a little in the front, and have the right neckline. I serged around all of my pieces with a 1/4 inch wide stitch, and then sewed the shoulder seams together.

The next step was to fold the serged edge in, and use it's width to gauge the depth of my blanket stitch, I used a brown worsted weight 100% wool yarn to do a double blanket stitch around the edge of everything.

the double blanket stitch (I have no idea if this is what it really is called, I just keep calling it that) is where you use the same hole in your fabric twice rather than moving on to a new section for every stitch. (not sure if that makes sense, but I think you can see what I did in the pictures.) I just used a large darning needle for the stitching.

Next I dyed some cream worsted weight wool in green, and yellow (the only two colors I didn't have in my stash.)

for a grand total of red, brown, yellow, green, light blue, and dark blue.

for the sleeves, I started by single crocheting through my blanket stitch in red, with 2 rows around the sleeves. I used a size 6 crochet hook for this, simply picking up stitches that fit the fabric, without packing in too many, or so few that it pulled too tightly.

That was all the crocheting that the sleeves took before I finished them off by hand stitching brown micro-fleece to the inside, using a very small blanket stitch.

I then used blue yarn to whip stitch the sleeves into sleeve tubes.

for the body, I began by going all the way around with a single crochet row of brown, then red, and then I focused only on the collar, by single crocheting green, dark blue, light blue, yellow, 2 rows of lt blue, dk blue, green, red, dk blue, 2 lt blue, yellow, brown, and then red (this is the same order as the original jacket) then back to going all the way around the jacket again, came green dk blue, lt blue, and then yellow for the final row.

at this point I had a bit of a panic, as the colors were too bright, so I actually stick everything into a pot of pale purple acid dye (it was scary after all that work) the red became a nice maroon, the green was slightly saddened, the dark blue and light blue became a little warmer, and the yellow was made to be a little browner (since purple is the complimentary color to yellow, it makes it brown when added.) Because the dye was an acid dye, it didn't affect the cotton fabric, because it only clings to protein fibers. (a lot of the pictures are after being dyed, so for the pre-over-dyed colors you could look at the yarn picture to see the brightness of the red, etc.)

next I hand stitched the brown fleece lining (again using a blanket stitch.) I didn't take off any of the 1/4 inch seam allowance, so some of the fleece goes onto the crocheting.

The crocheting is completely overlapped and hand stitched on the sides, and sewn 4" down the side.

The sleeves were then whip stitched on in the pale blue wool (I dyed some extra lengths of yarn in the purple the same time as the jacket, so that I had some for the tassels and the stitching.)

here's what the tiny blanket stitch looks like in the fleece.

on the inside of the jacket, I used 3 small antique mother of pearl buttons, one for a hand stitched loop that holds the cross on the inside, and the other two prevent the ties from ripping through the body.

the button loop was made from thread, that was blanket stitched around, it's a traditional way for making a good quality loop in clothing.

this picture shows the open sides pretty well,

The ties are made through chaining the light blue wool, and then adding simple tassels to the end, 2 of the ties are sewn through the fabric with the buttons over the top for stability, and 2 are sewn down to the crocheted edge.

and you can see the knitted cuff here, I simply used 4 size 5 double pointed sock needles to knit a cuff in the round (2 rows of green, 5 of dark blue, 3 of light blue and 10 of yellow.) in a pearl, knit rib. the blue whip-stitching shows pretty well too!

the shawl collar lies fairly well against the neck because I shaped it by feel as I went, around the back of the neck, I would skip a chain every now and then to pull it in, I am afraid I pulled out a row every now and then to get the shape right, but it was entirely by feel so there wasn't a plan per say.

The cuff knitting was just picked up by the loops in the crocheting and knitted in the round.

I hope that all of this makes sense! this entire jacket was made with blanket stitches, whip stitches, single crochets, and plain/pearl knitting - not anything a beginner couldn't work their way through.

I'd like to thank my husband for taking most of my pictures, it's not his thing, but he was really great (and my best cheerleader!) The fleece lining has been perfect for our freezing winter here in Korea! and I just love the easy fit!

I hope you like my version of the jacket, I already have an order from my daughter to make her one in her favorite colors for next Christmas!