DIY :: Last minute Halloween fix - a witch's cloak

The Toussaint vacation has started here and as always on the last school day before the break, they celebrated Halloween at little H's school. For weeks she'd been debating about what to wear and then on Thursday she finally made a decision. She wanted to be a witch. Only problem: her witch hat was nowhere to be found! On Thursday afternoon, 5:00 p.m., I promised I would fix her something for the next day and off I ran to the mercerie around the corner. Their selection of fabric is limited but they had black lining - just what I needed for a quick fix, last minute witch's cloak! 45 minutes later, I had a happy little witch running around the house. A black shirt and skirt and matching tights and she was all set! I also promised her I would put on some face painting in the morning, so she would look like a real witch.
She was too excited to sleep and woke up in the middle of the night a couple of times. In the morning, too excited for being tired, she got dressed in no time, even thought of brushing her teeth without me having to remind her, and had a final look at the wrinkles and witch's warts I drew on her face. She looked like a real witch, she said approvingly.
As we walked to school she kept on rattling about how great this day would be and about all the candy they would get and what everybody else would be wearing. Right before we reached school, she took off her winter coat, I messed up her hair a bit with my fingers so it would look a bit more witch like, we adjusted her cape and off she went... as happy as could be, my little witch...!
Though they do this every year at school, and you'd expect I got used to it by now, it gets me all sentimental over and over again. Seeing that little girl, who still likes to dress up, her sérieux when doing so, disappear in the crowd, swallowed by the other monsters, witch's, sons and daughters of Frankenstein, gave me a warm feeling inside.
Her Halloween day at school went really well - she got plenty of candy, even got some for her sister, and at night, that little witch of mine, fell asleep on my lap before we could even take care of the wrinkles and warts still on her little face...



If you are as desperate as we were last Thursday about finding a real witch's outfit, below there's a rough sketch of how you could make a witch's cloak in no time. I hope you don't mind my rather poor drawing skills. Since I had to rush it a little bit, there was no time for the usual step-by-step pictures ...

I'm wishing you all a happy Halloween!

// BTL // turns 2 ! - Giveaway

Yes! You read that right!
// Between the lines // is turning 2 today!
And there is no better way to celebrate this than with a giveaway, is there!?

To thank my dear readers and fellow bloggers for their support, sweet comments and encouragements, I'm giving away a 100% wool, lightweight, knit poncho - the very same one as the one described in my latest tutorial - I just made an extra one! All you need to do to have a chance at winning this poncho is leaving a comment to this post - one entry per person. Let me know what you like/ do not like on this blog, what's missing, what makes you come back,... You can do so until Monday, November 1st, 8:00 PM CET. Make sure to leave a valid e-mail address in your comment - if I can't contact you a new random winner will be drawn right away...

Good luck!

xo, P.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                 


Comments are closed now - the winner will be announced November, 2nd. Stay tuned!

Knit knit

I finished little H's poncho and it looks great on her. We haven't had the time yet to take pictures of her wearing it, but she sure loves it. Too bad temperatures dropped all of a sudden, so she hasn't been able to wear it as often as she wanted.

I didn't feel like putting the needles down yet. So, instead I went to get some yarn for a simple scarf. I chose a very soft gray kid mohair - alpaga - wool blend. It's so soft my girls want to sleep with it. I'm knitting with a (European) size 8 needle, which gives the scarf a nice lacy look.


Oh, I can't wait to wear so much softness draped around my neck!

100% easy single seam poncho :: a tutorial

 

In case you were wondering, yes, that's me in those pictures. I had an extremely kind, patient and talented photographer - my big girl M.!

With both of my girls having a poncho now (well almost - I'm about to finish little H's one) I couldn't stay behind, right? I've always had something with "wraps". I have several and especially like them at this time of the year. They're incredibly cozy, but not always handy, I admit - they tend to unwrap easily and get in the way. Not so with a poncho, I figured. 
Now, on several occasions I've seen women wearing this kind of poncho here which I really liked -  a very simple, minimalistic yet elegant interpretation of the classic poncho, with only one seam apparently. With three meters of knit fabric, I thought, I might as well give it a try. And I'm glad I did!
Barely a couple of days old,  it's already become a favorite! I wear it on top of a light sweater or long sleeved shirt,  with jeans and boots.  And it looks great, I must say.  Casual-chic. The perfect outfit for a nice autumn day (well, any day really).  Since I used a not too heavy knit fabric, there's a nice natural drape to it as well.

As it's really super easy to make I decided I wanted to share this project. If it weren't for the step-by-step photos I probably would have finished it in under half an hour!  Also, while making the poncho I figured out a new and very satisfactory way of finishing corners.  I'm probably reinventing the wheel here - if so, please, forgive me - but it worked out really nicely, so I definitely will use that technique again!

Ready to get started?


Instructions for an 100% easy single seam poncho:


What you'll need:


- 78cm of knitted fabric (150cm wide) or any other fabric with a nice drape
- matching thread
- pins and sewing needle
- sewing machine equipped with a ballpoint needle when using knit fabric
- iron

1. Fold your fabric as shown in the above diagram. 
2. Shoulder seam: Pin one of the open sides together as shown in the diagram, leaving a 30cm opening to start from the fabric fold, for the neck. Sew on the machine.
3. Corners and hem: At the wrong side of the fabric, fold in the corner as shown in pic. 4, so you get the acd triangle and use a pin to secure. Next, fold the end ab such that  a and d coincide, and do the same with the end bc to let c coincide with d as shown in pic 5-6. Secure with pins. You'll get a corner which looks as shown in pic 6. Continue to pin the hem all the way around. Next, sew on the machine. The two corners will look as shown in pic 8. With needle and thread close the little opening between b and acd, using a whip stitch (pic 9). The finished corners now should look as in pic 10 (wrong side of the poncho) and 11 (right side of the poncho).
4. Neck line: fold in the fabric at the neck line, pin with needles to secure and top stitch on the sewing machine (pic 12).
5. Press all seams flat and your poncho's ready to wear!

That's really all there is to this very simple poncho!

I'm planning on making a couple more of these when I come across the right fabric. One of the things I'd like to try is to make one in a light weight fabric, gauze cotton, or maybe silk, for summer.
I think that actually might look nice on top of a pair of jeans and a tank top, don't you think... ? To be continued, I'm sure...

And now I have to find something to make with the remaining 2m22 of fabric left...

Please note, this tutorial is intended for personal use only. Therefore, do not reproduce, sell or commercialize in any form.  Thanks for understanding!

If you made something using a tutorial found on this blog or if you got inspired by something you found here, make sure to post your pictures here.

100% laine

On my last trip to the Marché Saint-Pierre here in Paris I found some really nice knitted fabric, heathered gray/beige, 100% wool (it still smells like sheep!), at the ridiculous price of 12 euros for 3 meter (a little less than 17 USD for 3 1/3 yard). It's been sitting in my closet waiting for me to find the right use for it and... time. And today I did!
So, stay tuned as I will show you some pictures of what I made and there might be a short how-to coming up later this week as well...

Poncho!!

She's wearing it to school today...
The final episode in the poncho saga! It's ready! Done! Finished!

But I'm working already on the sequel. Another poncho, for little sister this time.
I took a slow start on that one. Or maybe not really. I almost finished one panel when I decided it would be too small. That's the problem with knitting. Especially, when not using a pattern. Sure, for the poncho I had an example. I even made notes. But my experience with knitting is that you never/ not always know, what you'll get. Unless you work from the book, use the right yarn, knit the sample as indicated... which I never do. I usually start with some yarn, some knitting needles, an idea and lots of trial and error. I consider it being a process, where I might have to redo things over and over again before getting it right... But in the end I get there or, worst case scenarion, the project ends up in the closet.

Don't you worry, though, little H., I will finish this one!!

How do you knit?

We've had the most wonderful weather for the last couple of days and the weekend promises to be very nice too. I hope we'll get to enjoy some time outdoors. In between activities and birthday parties, that is.
M. won't be needing her poncho, which I'm about to finish (Yes!) but we might try it on for a short photo shoot...
I'll keep you posted!

Wishing you a great weekend!

xo, P.

Poncho... finally

For years in a row M. has been asking me to knit her a poncho.
When our friends came to visit us in Paris a couple of weeks ago, one of their girls was wearing a gorgeous hand knit poncho. I had a proper look at it, took all the measurements and even counted the stitches and number of rows. I had no excuse anymore not to knit her that poncho, except for the lack of the right yarn, maybe. "Something with blue, mommy!" I went yarn hunting several times and was close to the state of despair when I finally found some yarn yesterday which I thought would look nice on M. She wasn't convinced at first, but with the help of a little swatch she was able to make up her mind. So yesterday evening I knit and knit and I'm happy to announce that I'm almost half way the poncho thanks to fat needles and some really yummy fat yarn! And I really need to finish this one as I already have another one on order. A pinkish red version for little H. - will she ever outgrow her love for pink, I wonder?

So, sorry K., but I'm afraid you'll have to withstand at least a couple more nights of ticking needles next to you in the couch. Can't help it - the girls told me so...

The week in a jar

This is the jar I keep within reach while sewing. All loose ends and bits and pieces of fabric end up in the jar. The bigger pieces go in a separate scrap bag, which is getting way too big, by the way.
I like my little jar. It's a nice way of keeping track of projects - a time line in a jar. A sequence of projects.



So, yes, I've been busy sewing again. Several projects at the same time, as a matter of fact. Maybe they'll end up on the blog one day, maybe not.
I still have to see about that...

Have a great weekend!


xo, P.