Wednesday, 30 October 2024

September

Mending, making and fiber updates

1. Laurel's shirt
In the first entry (January) I mentioned Laurel's shirt for the first time and my plan to recreate it. It's almost a year now since she asked me if I could and I know she will be in Europe to visit Naive Yearly in September. Her visit became my deadline and if spurred me into action. I've made a detailed account of all I did on this Are.na channel that Laurel set up especially for this shirt. I hope that we can publish the pattern in the future so that everyone can make it too.

Laurel's shirt

Wednesday, 18 September 2024

August

Mending, making and fiber updates

1. Petite Knit's Oslo Jumper
Back in June I started knitting a stripy jumper for myself. I have a striped vest in red and brown that I really like and wanted to make a jumper with a similar design. Whilst I was thinking through the shape and the colours I would use two things happened: Petite Knit released a new pattern for a striped jumper, and Row's Knitwear posted a picture on their instagram of a top with a really lovely combination of two colours. Both of these things got stuck in my head and I got everything that I needed to start.

Oslo jumper

It was hard for me to get the tension right in the beginning and I unraveled my work several times before I was happy with the dimensions. The most painful moment was when I realised halfway through the bodice that I knit tighter in the round than I do when you go back and forth. I had to take everything out and use two different sized needles to compensate for this difference, a 4mm for knitting back and forth and a 4,5mm for knitting in the round. Taking it all apart so often resulted in a lot of loose ends that I needed to weave in but it was worth it. I'm really happy with the thickness of the stripes and how the colours look together. Just need to wait for some colder days to enjoy wearing it now.

2. Rows's Outline Sweater
In the first entry of this website, the one of January, I was saying that I just bought the wool for the Rows Outline Sweater. I finished it in early May but I still needed to weave in all ends and block it. Motivation was hard to find because the weather was getting warmer but I finally did a few weeks back.

Outline Sweater

Wednesday, 31 July 2024

July

Mending, making and fiber updates

1. Common Stitch's Fawn Dress
I visited the fabric store in Rotterdam for the first time a few weeks back and saw this light blue gingham on the shelves. I've been looking for something like this for a while now to use for a summer dress. I follow an instagram account of someone in Vienna who knits a lot of colourful garments, and on her feed there was an image of a friend of hers wearing a blue checkered dress. I really liked the fit and the style and wanted to try and make it for myself.

Common Stitch released a pattern a few years back; the Fawn dress. I used this pattern and adapted it. I added pleats instead of gathers and lengthened and widened the sleeves. I also shorted the bodice so that it ends just above my waist instead of below.

The Fawn Dress

I wore the dress a lot whilst on holiday and I wish I made the skirt a bit longer and the pleats bigger so that the skirt is more full, but those are my only remarks. It's interesting to think though that every time I make something myself there are always things I can think of that I want to do differently, whilst if I buy something in a shop I always accept it as is. Maybe it's because I know how it's put together so it's easier to adjust, or because I myself am my own worst critic.

2. Ben's trousers
When Ben and I were on holiday in Cornwall we visited St. Ives. After we went swimming on one of the beaches there Ben sat down to put on his sandals and his trousers ripped across his right knee. He has them for some time now and the fabric has worn really thin around that area. How to fix it has been on my mind for some time and I finally did a few days back.

I was doubting whether to just put a bright coloured patch over it or to do a darn, but in the end I opted to fix it with my sewing machine instead of by hand. I added a patch on the inside of the trousers, pinned that in place, and then manoeuvred the trousers so I could stitch multiple crossing lines through both the trousers and the patch.These types of repairs are tough and long-lasting and I'm sure the fabric won't rip there again. It also felt a bit like I was drawing with my sewing machine whilst I was sewing. Ben was really happy with how it turned out.

Done and mended

Wednesday,26 June 2024

June

Mending, making and fiber updates

1. Puff and Pencil's Tie Waist Blouse
I found this pattern brand (Puff & Pencil) a while ago and I really like their designs. They are based in Copenhagen and the clothing they make reminds me a lot of what I saw people wear when I was visiting there last fall. Lots of elegant shapes.

This blouse falls over the hips and has channels in the waist area with a bit of string through them. You can use the strings to tighten the waist and to tie a bow at both sides. A very clever way to give some more shape to the garment, and I love love the bows.

Tie Waist Blouse

I picked a sturdy black denim so that the garment would have some structure to it. The blouse has a lot of topstitch detailing and I thought it would look really nice with white thread. It also meant that I had be super neat when doing all of the stitching because it's so visible. I took my time here and it shows in the end result. The pattern doesn't include a lot of instruction on how to neaten the seams which confused me at first. I kept thinking this step would be explained later on only to have sewn pieces together and realised that I could no longer neaten the seams without taking it apart again (which I did end up doing, multiple times). I'll keep it in mind for next time though when working with patterns from this brand.

Friday, 31 May 2024

March, April & May

Mending, making and fiber updates

The past few months can be condensed into just one or two projects. I've been busy moving house. I've lived in Den Haag for most of my life but since May 9th Rotterdam is my new home, and even though Rotterdam is very close and I know it well moving there still felt like that moment before diving in really cold water, this strange mix of anxiety, fear and excitement.

In between work trips, packing and preparing for the move I did not feel like I had the space to get out my sewing machine and make a mess. I think in my head I was already saying goodbye to my sewing space and the way I'd work whilst being there. How I had to walk from the dinner table where I used to sew to the ironing board in my kitchen to press open seams, or how I had to crawl on the floor of my living room whilst drawing patterns or cutting cloth. The proces of making something was not just contained to one spot but an activity that happened in my whole house in which most of my furniture, floors and walls participated. In the house I now share with Ben the plan is to have one room dedicated to working where all our making can take place. I'm looking forward to getting my sewing machine out of its moving box, to find my collection of threads, my scissors and other tools, and to give them a permanent place. I think it will take a while to figure out how to work in this new space, to decide what to do where but it will be worth it.

1. Merchant and Mill's The Ellsworth
It's been a long time ago but I think I started working on this shirt in the beginning of March. I've worked with this pattern before, but wanted to make another shirt that was a bit smaller. I bought the fabric for it 2 years ago knowing this is what I wanted to make with it, but I only got around to it just now.

The Ellsworth

The shirt is designed as one piece with no separate sleeves, because the shirt is so wide the sleeves should hit just past your elbow. But due to the total width of my fabric (115cm) my sleeves ended up too short. After I'd 'finished' it it hang dormant in my closet for a few weeks until I figured out how I wanted to solve this. In the end I chose to cut off part of the sleeve and attach new ones with the stripes in a different direction. I actually like this better than the actual design and it resembles another stripey shirt I have that I talked about back in January. I always wanted to recreate that shirt and it feels like I've come a step closer now.

I'm insanely proud of the button placket and how the stripes continue uninterrupted throughout

2. The Modern Sewer Co.'s Rib Sweater
For Ben's birthday last year I made him a jumper using teddy cloth. His birthday is in november, perfect season for warm jumpers, and teddy cloth is really good for that. Ever since I made his I wanted to make one of my own. I chose this lavender color with a matching rib.

My teddy jumper

I think I would've liked it a few sizes bigger but it's good to also have a jumper as part of my wardrobe that is a bit more close fitting.

Commissions
If there are holes or tears in your favourite garments I'm very happy to repair them for you. To get a quote, email wietskenutma@hotmail.nl with your request + photos.

Friday, 23 February 2024

February

Mending, making and fiber updates

1. Ben's t-shirt
My big project this month was this simple cotton jersey t-shirt that Ben wore so much that the material has worn thin. It's weave is now super fragile and it had 20+ holes, both big and small. Sometimes I created more by accident whilst puncturing the cloth with my needle.

Ben's t-shirt

The holes are all there because a previous line of stitching split and tore, mostly in the neck area. I think that's where the shirt chafed the most against the skin. I thought of several ways to go about it, and initially thought I could close up all the holes one by one with my sewing machine but I got too scared that the machine needle would do more damage to the fabric of the shirt. I picked up a darning needle and some red thread instead.

The thread with which the shirt is made is a lot of thinner than my darning thread. Usually you're supposed to pick something that comes close to the weight of thread used in the garment, but that's almost impossible in this case. I first reinforced the fabric by stitching in straight lines around the hole and then filled up the holes. Because there were so many holes it became quite difficult to keep the stitching straight, especially because of the curve in the neck area, but I decided to be ok with that. I think the darned patches turned out looking like a composition of different islands.

Close-up of darning

Next to the holes on the back of the shirt, the neck (the edge of the shirt) was frayed as well. This is the most difficult part to mend usually because it's hard to keep the tension. I decided against darning these areas and reinforced them instead with a blanket stitch.

Before and after darning

2. Merchant and Mill's Jack Tar
I've been thinking about this bag for ages now. Bag-making somehow takes the technical level of sewing to a new dimension. There are magnetic clasps, and rivets, and d-rings to install, and next to my sewing machine I used my hammer the most.

Jack Tar bag

I picked up this beautiful oilskin fabric 2 years ago and it sat on my shelf waiting to be shaped into this bag, from 2d to 3d. Oilskin is such an interesting fabric with a long history. Sailors used to impregnate their sails with linseed oil as they would catch the wind better and when the sails were wore out, they got made into garments to protect workers from the life at sea. Merchant and Mills explains more about this and they have a really good selection.

News
I'm going to teach a Darning Workshop at Extra Practice in Rotterdam sometime soon. I did not set a date yet but it will be on here, and on XP's instagram well enough in time to sign up. I'll include more info on here when I know the how, what and why.

Commissions
If there are holes in your favourite garments I'm very happy to repair them for you. To get a quote, email wietskenutma@hotmail.nl with your request + photos.

Wednesday, 24 January 2024

January

Mending, making and fiber updates

1. Row's Wave Vest
During the Christmas Break I casted on for the Wave Vest by Rows Knitwear. I have never really worked in a pattern before (and if I do it's mostly knit & purl combinations for edging or colourwork). This pattern here really plays with the structure of the stitch and asks you to go back a few rows to pick up a loop here and there.

Close-up of the loop stitch

Alice (the designer) said the stitch pattern was inspired by the Hokusai print; The Great Wave. I can sort of see a cresting wave in there, but it's most obvious to me on the back of the work where you can see rows and rows of these wavy lines.

Back of the vest, before construction

I love the back almost as much as the front and wish I could've made it reversible somehow. It was a joy to knit anyway and the contrast between the different patterns of the main body and the edges is really beautiful.

Finished vest

2. Laurel’s shirt
Back in October Laurel visited Rotterdam. When we met in Copenhagen for Naive Yearly she told me about this much loved shirt she bought 8 years ago which is now quite worn. And how she was dreaming of creating a pattern for it or replicating its essence somehow.

When she came to R'dam she brought the shirt with her to show me. We talked a great deal about clothing and identity and how clothes support the various roles we play in life, the people we aspire to be, or the character traits we'd like to have when we wear them. Similar to how I have always opted wearing the same boxy buttoned-up shirt whenever I feel nervous about the day ahead. That shirt has become a uniform of sorts, providing a sense of reassurance and making me feel more ok.

Laurel's shirt & my shirt, side by side

It was really nice to reflect together on the use of her garment, the energy it carries, and what it would mean to recreate it. She has loved and worn it for years now and along the way the shirt acquired some stains that can't be removed, a few holes here and there and some of the buttons have faded or went missing.

Different signs of wear

3. Merchant and Mill's Ellis Dress
Making this piece was a bit of a spontaneous decision and I didn't really plan for it to happen. Merchant and Mill's recently released a 'hack' to one of their dress patterns (the Ellis dress) which adapted the style and added a full sleeve and placket and 'let down' tucks on the skirt. There are instructions for the hack but ultimately it comes down to you redrawing parts of the pattern.

The image of what I wanted this dress to become, the color, and its design got stuck in my head, and every time I closed my eyes I saw it taking shape. I did not plan to do anything else except sew for 2 days straight during a weekend, and that's the time it took to come together.

Sewing the neckline of the dress

4. Row's Outline Sweater
Upon completing the Wave Vest, I started another pattern crafted by the same maker. The construction of her pieces are really beautiful and I love the details that make it a bit more special. You knit the the jumper in two flat pieces that are then joined with a visible seam done on a crochet hook.

Casting on for the sweater

A project like this one requires a lot of wool, and picking what yarn to knit with is very important to me. Something that takes a significant amount of time to make needs to sit right on your body, and I want to know it came from a good place. I read this wonderful book a while ago titled: "Worn. A people's history of clothing" which essentially traces clothing and textiles over the world back to their origin and the people that craft the material. I think it can often be tempting to rely on notions of ‘globalisation’ to normalise the fiction that the object's origin are simply too complex to understand, but this book does a great job at demystifying the places, people and practices that are involved in making the clothes that we buy.

There was this one short paragraph that really struck me whilst reading, it said:
"Clothing signals place. Like pride in a local dish, local cloth had historically been used to display hometown identity. This "Wisconsin" t-shirt might serve the same function for its wearer, but it is also a product from South India. It has left its residues there. It has taken its debt from there in the form of water."
What interests me is the notion of debt that is used here. In Robin Wall Kimmerer’s book “Braiding Sweetgrass” I read a lot about reciprocal relations and how we must always give back if we take something, to have a fair and caring exchange. In the case of this jumper, the wool and its fabrication process, the designer, and me (the maker), what does that mean? And how can I make these various relationships and the making process in itself a reciprocal one?

I'll continue to ponder this question, and I hope I'll find an answer someday. I think I'd like to try and execute all the steps in the making of a jumper myself. Maybe it sounds silly but I'd like to get to know the animal whose wool I'm wearing and how to take care of them, I'd like to sheer a sheep, wash the wool, spin the yarn, knit the jumper and to get to know the people that are experts in these various fields of craft and do it for a living. In the meantime, whilst I continue to manifest this small dream on here and elsewhere, I have started knitting the Outline jumper with wool from a Yorkshire based company called Wooltrace. You can read all about them here, but in short they have created a fully traceable yarn that guarantees fair pay to farmers, ensures the welfare of their animals and supports sustainability within the British farming industry. You buy their yarn in hanks which means you have to wind them into balls or 'cakes' as I'd like to call them. Quite an enjoyable process.

Picture of the winding process, and the finished 'cake', side by side

Because of the big needle size you need to knit the jumper (5mm) it comes together really fast. I'm excited to love and wear it and to take pride in this thing I have made not just because I have done so, but also because the material came from a good place. I want the finished item to have a good and honest energy.