Friday, December 27, 2013

impression of the Chanel exhibition in the Hague

   



Above right Gabriele Chanel in 1929, wearing a jersey suit.
Finally visited the Chanel exhibition in the Hague I wrote about here. I made a couple of pictures, but the glass screens and poor lighting didn't make it easy, so here is an impression:

1920's Chanel dresses:
 



   

the little black dress section (not only Chanel's!)


   

60's Chanel suit:
   

pocket details (on the right grosgrain ribbon!)
   

details of a 20's cotton dress:


   

A beautiful silk evening gown:
   

   

The delicate fabric edges were finished with tiny zigzag stitches!


More jacket details, different cuffs and pockets:
   

did you know that...
...professional 'copying houses' have been making illegal, counterfeit versions of Coo Chanel couture for years? It has even happened that Chanel suits, ready fir shipment to the United States, were stolen off the ship so that they could be copied quickly and hung back.

Real and copied suits. Though the one on the left is not a real Chanel, I love the shape!
   
   

Inside a real Chanel jacket:


...and in a real Chanel jacket! Visitors were aloud to try one on for a picture!
   

Thursday, December 26, 2013

New piece of vintage furniture



Are you tired of my retro (MCM-inspired) interior pics yet? Yesterday we've got another hand-own piece of furniture, a sewing machine cabinet. There is no sewing machine inside, but plenty of room behind the sliding door and in the drawers. It has nice tapered legs and it isn't too big for the room. There is a little damage on top, for now I've put my grandparent's 1960's telephone on it to cover that patch up. In case you wonder why aren't any pictures of the other side of the room, there are still unpacked boxes around the dining table...

Sunday, December 22, 2013

Vintage inspired Christmas bow finished!



Finally finished the Christmas decoration bow! Actually, it took just a few days to make it. To go to the edited post, pattern, modifications & details click here.

Thursday, December 19, 2013

vintage inspired crochet: christmas bow pattern



Timing, timing, timing! I was drawn to this Christmas bow because of the vintage feel of it. Initially, I imagined it in combination with a very simple wreath made of branches. I really liked the idea of the contrast between the simple and pure branches and the delicate, vintage-feel of the lace pattern.


I really, really wanted to finish it in weeks before Christmas, but I'm afraid I'm running out of time. Well, I'm still going to try! Instead of a bow this might be a table runner with a contrasting colored tablecloth underneath. If you start to crochet this now and have a few evenings you might be ready on time before Christmas eve! The original pattern comes from a contemporary crochet magazine which means it is probably copyrighted but certainly not available outside some parts of Eastern Europe and Germany. Because most of visitors the here are following this blog from outside Europe I feel I can share the pattern with you.



material:
- the original pattern suggests 250 g mercerized cotton (50g=280 meters) with 1-1.25 mm crochet hook.
- I used about 80 grams of a slightly heavier cotton yarn which I had in my stash ( 50g=210 meters) with a 1.5 mm hook
- silver ribbon (I used a leftover piece of dark green bias tape)

my pattern modifications:
  • smaller squares: the original instruction is to make 1dc + 2ch squares (fill with 2dc's) but after making the first part I didn't like the look of it. The little angel-face was too stretched out for my taste. I restarted the project with 1dc + 1ch (fill with 1dc) and liked it much better. For comparison: the magazine picture (left) and my version (right):
   

  • modification of the flower motif: because the smaller squares I needed to resize the flower a bit in the horizontal direction. For this I replaced the 7 chain 'rays' on the right and left sides with 5 chains. It has been some time since I crocheted something like this, so at first try I also made the mistake of not adding extra chains for the extra single and double crochets which are made in the next row. The pattern includes the finished amount of chains, one side from top to bottom: 4-5-7-7-7-5-4 ch. My count one side from top to bottom: 4-5-5-4-5-5-4 (this is the horizontally shortened version with the extra ch calculated. So this is exactly what you need to crochet if you use the smaller, 1dc+1ch squares:



  • bow variation: I made my own version for the bow, a smaller piece without the flower motifs, just repeating the other patterns around:

   

the original pattern chart:
I used the US abbreviations below which are different from the UK abbreviations! Read more about it here!
- the original pattern uses US 1 dc + 2ch squares (fill with 2dc's)
- the crosses in the center of the flower represents single crochets.
- the pattern below is the edge, originally there are 11 repeats of the flowers in between.

source magazine pic & pattern: 'diana' crochet magazine

Monday, December 16, 2013

Free vintage baby bootie & bonnet pattern from 1965





Okay, I'd take a short break, but then I remembered that I've already prepared this post a while ago, with items that could be made for the holiday season. They could make a great Christmas gift! It seems that free baby-knitting patterns remain popular on the internet. These small projects are quick to make, you can use your left-over wool and finish them just in a few evenings. I've already done a post on testing 3 free available baby bootee patterns from the internet here. Today I have another baby bootee and bonnet pattern from 1965, with a definite vintage air! Cute, isn't it?
 

These booties have shaped toes and heels. The original pattern uses the classic white/pink (pr white/light blue) combination. Unfortunately there is no contrast visible on the original, black-and-white picture below, it seems all white.
Actually the moss-stitch parts are knitted in the contrasting color (pattern instructions: pink) and the 'bobbles' are white. I think a bolder, modern color combination like bright blue and yellow or grey and yellow, grey and bright blue or pale green with pink could work just as great! Below details of the construction (made up a bootie) and a detailed explanation of how to knit the two-colored bobble-pattern! You find the original patterns at the end of this post.

stitches & patterns used


moss-stitch:
The edges and the sole of the booties are knit in Moss stitch (also referred as 'M-st.' in the instructions). Moss stitch is simply altering knit and purl stitches followed in the next row by purl above knit stitches and knit above the purl stitches:


two-colored bobble-pattern:
The main pattern is knitted in two colors. There are 'bobbles' in the main color (here white) and in between stripes in the contrasting color (here gray):


pattern chart:

One pattern unit is 6 rows tall and 3+1 sts wide.


bobble-pattern step-by-step:
1. the pattern starts with 4 rows in stocking stitch (knit on the right side and purl on the wrong side)


2. start the next row in the contrasting color. The pattern is formed by 3 knit stitches followed by a 'drop-stitch':
   

3. drop the stitch until the colored stitch and pick that one up (you will have 4 strands of wool above that stitch)
   

4. put your needle under the 4 strands, pick up the wool and pull it through as if to knit (now you have the new loop on your right needle and the original stitch next to that)
   

5 now pass the original stitch over the loop you just made: pick up the original stitch with your left needle and lift it over the loop
   

Your finished stitch (left) the wrong side of the work (right):
   

material and sizing:

  • The yarn specified in the instructions (see below bonnet pattern) is a fingering weight yarn, with no.10 needles (metric 3,25) and 7 sts per inch. My guess is, the finished items should definitely fit a 0-4 month old baby.
  • I used for my sample a slightly heavier, sport/baby weight yarn with metric size 3 needles. My gauge: 6 sts per in. My finished size from heel to toe: 9 cm (3,5 in). According to baby boot charts this should fit a 3-6 months old baby.

bootie-pattern:
   

These booties are knitted top down. First step is to knit the straight, patterned part above the ankle. After making a row of holes for the tie you separate the stitches in 3 sections. You continue working on middle section for the instep. The turn is made by picking up stitches at the sides, just like when knitting a sock. You finish after decreasing in an angle for the toes. The bootees have a seam along the length of the sole up to the back. As always, I suggest using a flat seam finish to avoid bulky seams inside. (See link under tab 'knitting hints')


   



my pattern modifications:
- instead of 'make one' (m1) by picking up a strand from the previous row I used 'yarn over' to make the holes around the ankle for the tie. A yarn over makes larger holes which are easier in use imo:

Warning: I'd strongly recommend to use a crochet chain or other elastic material instead of a ribbon for safety reasons. Though they look pretty, ribbons are not elastic. When pulled too hard they can be potentially dangerous!


bonnet pattern:
To make up: join back seam from fastening off to first decrease. Sew on ribbon.

Courtesy & source of all newspaper images: AWW through Trove.