Hi! I'm Lauren: college-educated mom to Harper (and soon-to-be Ezra!) who gave up career life to sew, knit, sing nursery rhymes and watch Yo Gabba Gabba a dozen times a day. Most days, I love it. My husband Scott and I live with our kid(s) and two insanely dumb cats in Salt Lake City, Utah.

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Centripetal is LIVE!

April 6, 2013

Wow. This pattern has taken me about a year and a half to complete from conception to release. BUT, I am so excited that it’s FINALLY done! And I am so happy with the results! You can see full pattern details here on Ravelry. 

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Centripetal is a universally flattering and fashion-forward sweater that is surprisingly fast and easy-to-knit. The back and sleeves are knit flat using simple increases and decreases, and the rest of the sweater is a large, flat circle created using short rows to build a series of cabled wedges.

Short rows making you squeamish? Try the German Short Row Method to maintain your flow and eliminate that pesky wrapping and turning.

Check out this tutorial I created to show you exactly how to use this technique in Centripetal:

I will be posting more about how this design came about and the complete process (from sketching to swatching to testing – ick!) in the next few days. In the meantime, I hope you enjoy it as much as I do!

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Spring Top Sewalong

April 1, 2013

I always get so excited about sewalongs…but I rarely seem to get my act together and make something. I’m hoping to get better about this, and I decided to start with Rae’s Spring Top Sewalong. I am (mostly) pleased with the results of my project!

_DSC1627I am not even going to begin to write a tutorial on this because 1) I kind of hate writing tutorials and 2) I didn’t document things as I went, but perhaps I will whip up some more of these babies and put a little something together then.

_DSC1607This was my first try at doing a freezer paper stencil, and I love the results! I only did one coat of paint, and I haven’t washed the shirt yet, so we’ll see how it holds up. I kind of wanted a distressed look though, so perhaps a little fading will be just fine.

You don’t need a tutorial to do a freezer paper stencil. Basically you just print out/draw/etc. the design you want, trace and cut it out of freezer paper (I just taped mine onto the freezer paper and cut), iron the freezer paper waxy-side-down onto your garment, paint and let dry.

_DSC1575_DSC1581(No, really. It is that simple.)

I used an angled tip fabric paintbrush and Tulip Soft Matte fabric paint in ebony. It was less than $4 for both at Michael’s.

_DSC1606These photos confirm a couple things: 1) I become a lardass while pregnant. And 2) I should not assume the tripod is in the back of my minivan. I had this grandiose idea of awesome Salt Lake photos, but a random fencepost had to function as my camera stand. Not so great.

Oh, and here are a couple outtakes. Harper doused herself in dirt while I got the shots above. Hey, whatever works, right?

_DSC1622 _DSC1614 _DSC1610If I had the top to sew all over again (and I do believe I’ll make more), I’d change a few things. First, I’d go with a more fitted silhouette. I heavily altered a non-maternity Butterick pattern for this, and I went with the “semi-fitted” version. I would do the “fitted” version in the future. I would also maybe not use a ribbed fabric, as this one doesn’t have a lot of recovery and might get a little stretched out.

The alterations I made:

  • Lowered the neckline in front
  • Straightened the side seam in front and gave it a little bulge in the middle for the bump
  • Added a couple of inches of length in back
  • Added about 4″ of length in front
  • Sewed 1/4″ elastic to the front side seams using a multi-step zigzag for stretch (this drew up the front piece to make it fit to the back)
  • Curved the hemline in front a bit
  • Added bustline darts
  • Deepened the armholes a little
  • Used my own method for finishing the neckline…which…maybe I should write a tutorial? It’s pretty sweet.

It was important to me that the gathers at the side seam only be in the front. The last thing I need is more bulk in the back/muffin top area. I don’t need any help.

So what do you think? I have some room to grow, but with 12 weeks to go, that is a good thing. :)

One of those days.

March 15, 2013

Today, I’m having one of those days where I feel like a complete and utter failure.

It’s mostly stemming from the fact that my first sweater design has run into a snag during testing. The worst part about it is that I anticipated the snag. I held my breath. I hoped my worst fear wouldn’t come true.

But it did.

The smaller sizes work – XS, S and probably M. The L might work. But beyond that? I don’t think it’s going to work as written. And this isn’t your average “add a stitch here and there” kind of problem. The entire sweater is designed as a big donut, and changing things means doing math in radians (radii?) and circular hoopla that I know nothing about, really. I mean, I can calculate the circumference or area of a circle but not much else. This is more of a, “change the entire pattern to include another set of short rows on the outer circumference and also add additional patterning to the donut” kind of problem. It’s not insurmountable, but it’s mighty daunting in my head at the moment.

I was so excited about this design and all the positive feedback I’ve gotten on it, so the thought of heading back to the drawing board is a really nightmarish one.

So here I am…feeling like a failure. Feeling like people are never going to want to knit my designs again since my first one isn’t going so well (at least, not in the larger sizes). Feeling like perhaps I am in over my head. Feeling like I should work on these projects in secret so I don’t have that nagging feeling that others are expecting more of me than I can deliver.

This other part of me realizes I picked a REALLY complicated design for my first one. But you know? That’s just what I do. I don’t know what kind of short circuit I have that demands I choose the absolute most difficult route for my first marathon. (When I shouldn’t even be running a marathon in the first place.)

I know, I’m all gloom and doom and first-world problems today. But that’s just how I feel. And I needed to get it out.

Harper’s New Dresses…and Some Coloring, Too

February 21, 2013
Harper’s New Dresses…and Some Coloring, Too post image

Lately I’ve been getting a lot of sewing done. Harper has reached this glorious age where she likes doing things on her own – playing with her babies, running around in circles, watching a show or climbing to dangerous heights on unstable furniture. She also loves creating artwork…

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Here are just a couple of things I’ve made her in the last week:

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T-shirt dress using an upcycled t-shirt for fabric. I saved time by keeping the bottom and sleeve hems intact. Such a quick, instant-gratification project. I used Rae’s Flashback Skinny Tee pattern as the base for the bodice.

And this little number…I just love it. I used a piece of fabric I thrifted for $2 a year-or-so ago. I’ve been hanging onto it for the perfect project, and this was definitely it. I used Rae’s Geranium Dress pattern to make this little piece of heaven. Harper seems to dig it, too.

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Oh, and that’s not all. Little Ezra (yes, that’s the name we chose!) is going to have a sweet little handmade wardrobe to come home to this summer. I can’t wait until next week when I can Celebrate the Boy! with Rae and Dana. Stay tuned…

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Things that are happening.

December 12, 2012

Well first, there’s this.
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My sweater design for KnitPicks is ALMOST ready for testing! At least it’s knitted. Now, I just have to let it dry. Seam it. Photograph it. Grade the pattern. Make tutorial videos. Have it tech edited. Sign up testers. Have it tested. Edit the pattern if necessary.

And then, you know, THEN I’m done.

I had hoped to have this thing ready to send off at the end of November. Ahem. Ha! That didn’t happen. I kind of forgot about the whole tech editing and testing part. I guess that’s part of the “budding designer” learning curve.

All that aside, I am PSYCHED about how it’s looking so far! I really hope this comes together as I’ve envisioned it, and I really hope others like it (and want to knit it!) as much as I do.

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Oh yes, and this. I waited until the last minute to whip something up for Harper for Halloween (I know, I know, that was a month and a half ago. Sue me.). Can you even get over the massive amounts of cute???!!_DSC0800

It’s hard to tell she had a fever of about 102 degrees in these pics. We weren’t out very long before this little one was ready to go home and get a nice big dose of Children’s Tylenol.   _DSC0736

She clearly wasn’t a huge fan of her wig at first…_DSC0745

Maybe “not a huge fan” is an understatement. _DSC0757

But she got used to it. _DSC0764

Maybe even liked it!_DSC0792Is it weird that I get a high out of all the, “Awwwwwww, look how cute she is!” comments from onlookers? I didn’t think so.

And finally…

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This! We are due at the end of June next year. We couldn’t be more excited. :)

I sewed something! KCWC Fall 2012

October 15, 2012

I haven’t sewn in forever. Forever in my world is, you know, a few months. Recently, however, I discovered Kids’ Clothes Week Challenge on elsiemarley. I was kind of bummed at first because I didn’t find out about it until day 5.

But look! I was able to whip something out at the absolute last minute! I finished this dress at exactly 11:58pm on the last night of the challenge. Now, I know the goal was to spend an hour each day working on something, but circumstances as they were, I did all the work in two days.

I started with this pattern:

It’s a size 3 pattern from the late 1970s. I changed the neckline and the sleeves, and I took out the gathering on the skirt. Oh, and I made the front and back one-piece instead of having a separate yoke. Then, I graded the size down to about an 18-month size. It is probably a bit too big for Harper (she’s sleeping – so I can’t try it on her until tomorrow!), but she can grow into it.

Oh – haha! I didn’t mark my pattern pieces, and I ended up swapping the front and back accidentally. I was going to do a back zipper, but instead, I ended up with buttons on the front. Biiiiiiiig buttons!

The perfectionist in me would have changed a few things, but overall, I’m happy with how it turned out. I’m feeling motivated to get back to sewing now that Harper doesn’t grow out of things in one week. Sewing for little babies isn’t that much fun!

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