Medellin and Cartagena

Remember my little "tease" photo from my last post?  I'm back today to tell you all about it!

Once again Kennis Wong of Itch to Stitch* has knocked it right out of the park with her newest pattern releases, Medellin and the Cartagena Cami. I was so happy to have the opportunity to be on the testing team for both of these two patterns.

Medellin is a great faux wrap top, perfect for those gorgeous snuggly French terries, sweater knits or double brushed poly. It's a quick and easy sew and figure flattering.  Throw in the comfort of a snuggly knit fabric and it's a definite win for the wardrobe.

I made my Medellin from a lightweight French terry that I purchased as last year (I think from Blended Threads) - it's so snuggly and soft I'm going to be on the hunt for more like it... Bring on ALL the floral French terry!  For my pattern I sewed up a straight size 18.  Other than adding 1 1/2" of length, this was sewn straight out of the envelope.  Like most of the Itch to Stitch patterns, no other alterations were needed for me.  (I like to pretend that Kennis is designing for me personally! Ha ha!  But honestly, they really do fit my body really well as drafted.)

The Cartagena Cami is an absolute wardrobe staple and perfect for pairing with Medellin or a cardi.  Made from very little yardage of knit fabric allows you to pick from your leftover scraps in your stash or treat yourself to some new fabulous fabric - you can afford to splurge because this pattern really takes next to no fabric at all.  The neckline, armholes and shoulder straps are all constructed with FOE (fold over elastic).

I had got rid of almost all my camis recently because they were either too old and tattered or too small, so I've been on the hunt for, at the very least, a black one since. They're harder to find than you'd expect though, especially in the larger sizes.  Add that to the fact I have a long torso so everything is always to short and my search for a ready to wear one has been completely fruitless.  To heck with RTW!!  My closet is going to be re-stocked with Cartagenas instead.  Beware though.  Do not fall victim to over priced FOE (Fabricland here on the prairies is selling it for $4.50/metre which is ludicrous.  I normally pay between $0.80 - $1.00 online so check around for a good price)

My first cami is made with a bamboo jersey left over from the Super Red Panda costume.  It's soft and a bit drapey thanks to the bamboo but was super easy to sew up; I had no problems with shifting or slipping fabric at all!  My only change from the pattern for this one was once again to add 1 1/2" of length.

I've paired it with my brand new, fresh off the machine, Aviero Cardi here, which by the way is my entry for this year's #CosyCardiChallenge hosted by the Stitch Sisters and Amanda from @amanda_isewalot.  The cardi is the regular length version with 1 1/2" of length added and made from a super soft drapey sweater knit I bought at Marshalls Northwest Fabric in the city - it was on the bargain wall and I'm pretty sure I paid no more than about $4/meter for it at most.  My only conundrum is whether or not I want to leave it open or add snaps just for "looks".  I almost never wear my cardigans closed.  Decisions. Decisions.  LOL (PS: You can grab the Aveiro, Lisbon or Paro cardi patterns for a discount using "ITSCOZY" until  November 17th - you have up until the 30th to enter the Cozy Cardi Challenge so why not treat yourself to a new pattern for your entry!)

For my second cami I grabbed some double brushed poly fabric I had left over from my dress I made in the summer.  I did have to add a center back seam because the pieces I had left were two narrow to do the back on the fold, but I was happy to find a purpose for this pretty floral that I wasn't sure what to do with!  This pattern is so quick!  I actually timed my second one I made and with changing the serger thread, running out of bobbin thread and having to wind a new one, plus rethread the machine as well as change presser feet it took me a grand total of 39 minutes.  The FOE is so simple - Kennis has taken out all the guess work and gives you all the measurements you need.  Easy Peasy.  I'm going to make about a million more of these! I'm pairing it here with my first Aveiro Cardi.

If you want to grab your own copy of Medellin and Cartagena, head over to the Itch to Stitch Website right now!!  For the release week only you can get Medellin on sale for $8.00 USD and Cartagena for $5.00 (no codes needed for the sale prices), but if you want both, which I think you will, pop them both in your cart and Cartagena will be discounted 100%.  WHAT?!?! If  you hurry you can get both these awesome wardrobe favourites for the price of the Medellin.

A Crafty Catch Up

I'm back... hope all is well out there and apologies for the radio silence as of late.  I've been posting a fair amount of my crafty pursuits on Instagram lately, but haven't had the chance to sit down and properly write a blog post.  The whole new job thing didn't work out unfortunately - it just wasn't a good fit at all for our life right now, so I'm back to pounding the pavement so to speak and looking for something new.  I'm hoping to be back to work somewhere soon - and hey!  If you know anyone looking for a library technician/parts person/purchaser let me know!!

I have done quite a bit of craftiness in my blogging absence, albeit most of it Halloween related.  I made the boys halloween costumes this year again and of course they had very distinct ideas of what they wanted to be.  Little Man wanted to be Harry Potter wearing his Quidditch uniform and Baby Boy wanted to be a Red Panda, which happens to be his very favourite animal.  But he didn't want to be any ordinary Red Panda.  He wanted to be one that had super powers.  And Red Pandas with super powers have wings.  Not capes. And the wings had to be very specifically shaped and attach to his costume in a very concise manner. Fair enough. Who am I to argue on the finer points of the elusive Super Red Panda?  Little Man's costume even included a very exclusive "Nimbus 2009" model made by his dad.  The boys got to go Trick or Treating at the zoo again this year on the weekend before Halloween and the highlight of course was getting to see mama, papa and baby red panda very active in their outdoor enclosure!

Super Red Panda set to save the world!

Trick or Treating at the Zoo!

Harry Potter's favourite animal is also the Red Panda...

Super Red Panda meets up with his ordinary counterparts

I also decided to put my Silhouette Cameo and some glow in the dark heat transfer vinyl to good use and make them some skeleton tees for Halloween.  I went the easy route and just purchased the plain tees at Old Navy rather than sew them up, so it was a quick afternoon project that I surprised them with when they got home from school one day!

In the un-halloween related realm of craftiness, I finally met our newest little great nephew last week and was finally able to give him his baby gift.  I went with an owl theme - I love owls, so figure everyone else should too - I had got a little book and owl stuffy and had a tiny little owl toque I'd knit ready to go, but I wanted one more little something to go with it, so decorated a little onesie with vinyl.  I was really happy how it worked out!

I also sewed up the Elliot Sweater, which is the newest release from Helen's Closet.  I snapped up the pattern and printed it out instantly when the notification hit my email inbox that it was up on her site, but then had to wait a bit to have the time to sew it up.  I had bought the fabric from Blended Threads last fall or early winter, and when it arrived I had no hot clue what I was going to make with it.  It's a bit bulkier than I wanted for a cardigan and I wasn't sure how it would handle any sort of bands because of the bulk. I thought of a waterfall type cardi, but that wasn't really speaking to me much as something I wanted in my wardrobe, but as soon as I saw the Elliot I knew that was the pattern the fabric was waiting for!  It's a super quick sew.  I had it done in an afternoon, except for the sleeve hems.  I wasn't sure what route to take because they felt just a bit too short for such a bulky knit and because I'd only had 1 1/2 meters to start with, there was no way to cut longer sleeves but I had just enough left over to make nice wide cuffs to create somewhere between a 3/4 and bracelet length sleeve.  I absolutely LOVE the way it turned out and may actually live in this for the rest of the fall and winter.

Lately my knitting and spinning has really take a back seat in my crafting time.  I am not sure why, but I still haven't located my missing knitting mojo.  I want to be knitting, but am finding it hard to find the energy or mental space for it somehow in life right now.  So because of that I am still working on my latest Untangling Knots knit along Populuxe cardi (the deadline was November 1st, but my cardi is, as of yet, still sleeveless.  Ooops!)  so I thought I'd try to jump start my motivation and shift gears with a little colour work project, but sadly even that is not going anywhere quickly.

I have taken some time to do a bit more sewing though this week and I'll leave you with a bit of a teaser of that one.  I was outside in the snow this morning trying to take pictures of it, which was a bit silly, but the light was better out there than in here.  LOL!

I'll be back next week to tell you all about this one, so until next time, happy crafting everyone!