Défi 13: Entrechat

Ah les jolies petites choses toutes roses des petites filles… J’espère que mon fils me pardonnera quand il sera plus grand de lui avoir mis des trucs de fille sur le dos pour les besoins de la cause… Ceci dit… Il est pas mignonne??

Je voulais essayer une nouvelle construction (enfin nouvelle pour moi!) et tricoter le corps de ce boléro d’une pièce en relevant les mailles des raglans pour former les pans du devant. Et je voulais aussi utiliser une bordure au point mousse verticalement pour former l’encolure parce que je trouve que ça change un peu. Pour bien marquer le mouvement, j’ai placé une bande contenant un joli point texturé — facile cette fois!! le point de vannerie utilisé dans mon Latte Baby Coat serait joli aussi, mais je voulais quelque chose vraiment simple pour les tricoteuses moins expérimentées.

Enfin, un petit effet volanté dans le dos, et zou! Tricoté en deux temps trois mouvements avec même pas un écheveau de Malabrigo Merino Worsted (pour la taille 12-18 mois). Le pattern est écrit et 8 tailles seront disponibles, du 0-3mois au 5-6 ans. Je l’envoie illico chez mon “tech editor” pour contrôle… Donc je pense qu’il sera publié (en Anglais pour le moment… promis la traduction de mes patterns c’est pour bientôt) pour la nouvelle année!

Pour voir les autres défis (thème du mois: techniques jamais utilisées en tricot et couture) c’est par ici!!

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The Défi’13 challenge is a monthly knitting or sewing project in the French blogosphere. The challenge’s theme this month was “new techniques in knitting and sewing”, so I thought I would introduce my latest prototype, whose construction is a bit different — I also used a new stitch in it, which I think is so neat (and VERY easy which never hurts!) ; the pattern will include 8 sizes and should be published around the New Year!

I hope you like it 

Chouette!

Sometimes it feels nice to take a break from this whole pattern-writing/designing thing because it involves a lot of work and can be frustrating at times. There are times where I really miss straightforward knitting, just following a pattern that someone else worked out.

So while I was working on Storytime Scholar, I decided to knit this adorable little number that I kept seeing everywhere on Ravelry. Total no-brainer, the owl is absolutely adorable and the whole thing took less than 2 hours to knit up. Plus Axel needed a new hat anyway.

After going to the park to give it a test-run, it became obvious that the hat was a bit short for Axel and that it was not going to stay on his head, so I quickly whipped up a seed stitch scarf that I sewed on to the back half rim of the hat… This time we have a winner!

He wears this everyday and I think it’s the cutest thing ever (random people in the street seem to think so, too). The pattern is available on Ravelry here, and if you still have last-minute Christmas presents to make, this is a good bet!

Storytime Scholar

I wanted to make something for Axel that was reminiscent of an evening jacket, something that a gentleman would wear by the fireside while catching up on scholarly affairs…

It had to have a shawl collar, some discreet pockets (to stash the monocle), and it had to be double-breasted. BUT since my baby is still just a baby, I added a bit of garter stitch to add a bit of sweetness to the whole affair, including 2 elbow “patches,” a simple touch that I just love.

The result is my new (-ish) pattern, Storytime Scholar, available on Ravelry here. I think it turned out quite cute, here’s a few photos of our little book-obsessed guy wearing it:

 

Pockets hidden behind a large ribbed hem:

And a view of the elbow patches:

Defi13: Latte Baby Coat

Voici mon petit dernier, chaud et moelleux comme un petit caramel! J’ai pensé qu’il s’inscrivait bien dans le thème du Défi13 de ce mois-ci

Le patron est presque prêt et sera est maintenant disponible ici sur Ravelry (en Anglais seulement pour l’instant)!!!

Pour voir plein de belles choses au goût de caramel et chocolat, c’est par ici!

The Défi’13 challenge is a monthly knitting or sewing project in the French blogosphere. The challenge’s theme this month was “Caramel and Chocolate”, so I thought I would introduce my latest pattern, which is now available here on Ravelry!!

I hope you like it

Retro back-to-school baby shirt

Back from some lovely R&R in Italy and France… Axel is starting daycare part-time this week and I thought this little shirt I made had a bit of a back-to-school feel to it.

As you can see I’m a bit fixated on the blue chambray and red gingham combo

I’ve bought KAM snaps in many different colors as well as the special tool you need to install them and boy do I love those things! No more tedious buttonhole sewing for me! They add a very cute touch to children clothing I think, and they make dressing a wriggly toddler much easier!

Boardwalk Cardigan

Feeling all summery and nautical-like…

I wanted to make something cute that Axel could wear on the beach in Normandy this summer, since it can get a bit windy there. I made the sleeves elbow-length so that he could play in the sand. I’m really happy with the way the double-breasted shawl-collar turned out. Very captain-like, no?

I’m planning to write up a pattern for this but I’m feeling extreeeemely lazy about it at the moment. I think I’d rather knit something new than spend hours on Excel!!!

FREE: Tiny Explorer Pants pattern and tutorial

I wanted simple pants for my almost 1-year-old that could be sewn during nap time but still have cute details. They had to be comfortable and roomy in the diaper area but not ride up the leg when crawling. I could imagine a hundred customizations of this very basic pattern! I hope you’ll have fun with it

Pour le tuto en français et le patron, cliquez ici!

Click here for pattern. Scroll down for step-by-step tutorial:

PLEASE NOTE: I’ve made this pattern available for free for your personal, non-commercial use. I hope you enjoy it! Please don’t post, copy or distribute any elements of this pattern (including the photos). Instead, please link back to my blog, Frogginette Makes Things, http://frogginette.wordpress.com. You can post the main pattern photo as long as you link back/give credit.

Please email me at lchemery(at)hotmail(dot)com if you find any errors, thank you!!

 

You will need:

• - a printer and 3 sheets of A4 size (i.e. “regular” sized) paper. A word of caution: set page scaling to “none” in the print window to ensure that the pattern gets correctly printed.
• - about 1/2 yard of fabric + scraps for pockets and tabs if you want to  make them from contrasting fabric
• -1/2” to 3/4” wide elastic for waistband: the length I used was 19”, which is my son’s waist measurements minus 1″ (for optimal fit, measure it on your child)
• - 4 buttons: 2 for pockets, 2 for tabs
• - safety pin to insert elastic band into casing
• - thread / pins / scissors…

Note about size: This pattern is intended for 1-year old babies. I’m sorry I don’t have the time or skills as of yet to grade this pattern and offer more sizes. However, it would be very easy to modify it for slightly older or younger babies (probably from 6 months to 2 years old): 1) adjust length of elastic to fit your child at waist 2) just add (for bigger size) or substract (for smaller size) 1 to 2” from leg length, pant width and crotch rise.

INSTRUCTIONS:

1- Print out and cut all pattern pieces and tape pant pieces together along lines A and B

2- Place assembled pattern along fabric fold, cut back side of pant (seam allowances are already included). Fold top of pattern piece along diagonal fold line, place pattern along fabric fold, cut front side of pant. (Tip: if you want, you can then make the “V” at the front of the pants slightly rounder, it will make it easier to do the waist casing.)

3- Cut 2 pockets and 2 side tabs (seam allowances are already included).

You should have 6 pieces total: front, back, 2 pockets, 2 tabs.

4 – To make pocket (repeat twice):

Fold pocket in half (wrong sides together) and sew down 1” from folded edge (as shown on left-hand side on below pic). Then open and press the tube you’ve sewn down:

Fold 1/2” under the sides, then bottom of the pocket, press down and sew the hem in place about 1/4” from edge. Then fold top of pocket under 1/4”, then 1”, press down and sew the hem in place across the pocket width, about 3/4” from top of pocket:

Note: I didn’t make any buttonholes since the pockets are not functional, but you could easily add some at this stage!

5- Pin pockets to back of pants (on right side of fabric). I placed mine approximately 4” above crotch and 4.5” from side edges:

Sew pockets onto pants along outside of topstitched line:

6- Make tabs (repeat twice): fold each tab lengthwise with right sides of fabric together and press down. Sew 1/4” down length, then across. Clip corners. Turn the tube you’ve made inside out, and tuck in the raw edge 1/4”. Press down. Sew all around, 1/4” from edges.

7- With right sides of fabric together, sew front and back of pants together along side seams, 1/4” from edges. Serge or zigzag raw edges to prevent fraying.

8- Hem pant leg by folding 1/4” under twice and sewing hem into place. Do this for each leg.

9- Open pant side seam and with wrong side facing you, pin tab over seam so that slightly more than half of tab sticks out, as shown in below photo. Sew top of tab to pant leg. Do this for each tab. (Note: as with the pockets, I didn’t make any buttonholes but you could easily add some at this stage)

10- With pants inside out, sew 1/4” along crotch seam. Serge or zigzag raw edges to avoid fraying:

11- With pants still inside out, fold under 1/4”, then 1 1/4” for hem. Press down, making sure that front curves and dips evenly. Sew around hem, leaving an opening of about 2”:

12: Using a safety pin, insert elastic inside of casing through opening. Zigzag ends of elastic together. Make sure the elastic is not twisted. Turn pant inside out, sew buttons onto side tabs and pockets. Voilà!

Another kind of knit

One of my resolution this year is to sew more. I also now have a very mobile little guy who needs comfy and low-maintenance clothes. I bought some lovely and soft Michael Miller interlock jersey a while back and found some ribbing on Etsy, and voilà! My first foray into knits = a no fuss romper. 

These photos were taken a couple of months ago. Sadly he went through a growth spurt immediately afterwards so the romper got very little use. To be fair, I also underestimated the collar to crotch length. Note to self: diapers add bulk! Perhaps I should chop it in half and add some ribbing and elastic at the waist to make it into a pajama top and bottom… Ha, something tells me I’ll never get around to it.

The main issue that I had while sewing this was that as soon as I figured out how to use the double needle to sew the ribbing on, I somehow broke it, so it doesn’t look as polished as it could have. Then, with my double needle broken, I got lazy with the hems and left them raw. Can you hem knits with a regular needle without them getting all wonky? Any tips there? I thought of using more of my precious ribbing but since it’s pretty hard to find for some reason, I decided to leave well enough alone.

Introducing Claudine

Ta-da!

Claudine Layered Top and Dress: click on image for Ravelry link

Behold my new pattern !

Bravely modeled by my son, Axel, who thankfully hasn’t yet realized that he is a boy
I put together a quick barrette at the last minute because I thought he wasn’t convincing enough as a girl…

So about the pattern: it’s completely seamless and really versatile, you can make a puffed sleeve or three-quarter sleeve version, and it can be knit as a top or a dress. If you leave the collar and sleeves out altogether, you get a very cute flutter sleeve top or dress for the summer. It comes in 5 sizes, from 3 months to 24 months and is available on Ravelry for $5.

Here’s the “top” version:  

Puffed sleeves

Three-quarter sleeves

  I’m always surprised (and a bit frustrated) at how much effort and time goes into writing a pattern, though it’s true that the process is getting easier. From the idea to the release, this one took about a month and a half!

Of course I have limited amounts of time to work on my designs these days, and between tweaking the prototype, grading, getting it tech-edited and tested… It just seems like it takes forever. But I’m so happy with the result, and I hope people enjoy knitting it

Busy bee

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Fouhlala, comme dirait l’autre, ça fait un bail, hein? J’ai fait plein de nouveaux trucs! Je les ai envoyés dans une boutique à Los Angeles, avec un peu de chance j’en vendrai un ou deux… Et j’ai ravitaillé ma boutique Etsy, ou on peut passer commande!

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Et je ne vous ai même pas encore montré mes tricots de Noël — la maman de Gabe m’a demandé de tricoter plein de choses qu’elle va offrir à ses nombreux frères et soeurs…Bon… ben je retourne au turbin!!

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Seriously it’s been a while, hasn’t it?? I’ve been busy, making lots of baby stuff for an L.A. store, and updating my Etsy shop with some new made-to-order items… And I haven’t even shown you the Christmas knits that I made for Gabe’s mom yet… Wow, I’d better get back to work!