Linda tank, Lekala silk blouse & new racer back swimsuit

 

Theoretically, I could get through many summer sewing projects... But I don't have the stamina to go full steam. But I am producing.

I made the Pattern Review 'Linda' top - inspired by the PR contest. Like many others I made it without the bow, and I did a colour blocked version in order to use fabrics that I had. So the black back and bands are offcuts from my leggings made in June, and the white was from a friend who doesn't sew knits.

A feature of this top is the ruching on the sides - which elevates it from a standard tank. I decided to finish with bands, and am very happy with that choice. I wasn't sure how the black and white would work, but using the black for the bands really made it work well.

 

 

Lekala silk blouse

This is finished, but no photos yet. So in order to get the rest of this post done, I will 'post'-pone the blouse! (Silly word play there!).

Jalie Racerback Swimsuit

 

I am very excited about this. My red Racerback that I made two summers ago was a qualified success. It was a bit big, and the fold over elastic (FOE) was a mistake. It made the suit really heavy. I was trying to mimic the contrast bands of my RTW Speedo, but that was unnecessary. I found some swimsuit fabric at Fabricland at a very good price, and I had some swimsuit lining left over (I had not actually used it in the red suit, but had selflined it.)

I did not use swimsuit elastic. Since this suit was made for my 'wild' (outdoor, lakes & rivers) swimming, I figured I could just use what I had. Someone has since informed me that I may have made an error, since the recovery of the elastic might be affected from too much time in the water. Darn. 

 

I am nevertheless very pleased with the result.

 

 

 

Other crafts

I finished two dish cloths with the jute blend fabric I got in Norway. 

AND... I practised my nettle fibre production. Nettle is not super common in my neck of the woods. I had never encountered it before meeting it first hand in Germany! My friends here are unfamiliar with it. But... it is here, and there is a small patch behind the fence behind the house. And my neigbour grows some in her garden.

AFter peeling from the stalk

I harvested a handful of nettles from behind the house (About 10 stalks). Just to try things out. The first step is to rub the stalks (with gloves!) to remove the stinging hairs, and the leaves.

I decided that I did not want to 'water ret' them, because I didn't want to create a mosquito breeding habitat! So I dew-retted them. Retting is the process used to allow the fibre to begin to release from the bark layers. Water-retting involves submerging the stalks in water for 7 - 10 days (depending on temperature.) Dew-retting involves leaving them on the grass, and allowing the dew and rain do the same thing, and it usually takes longer. We had a fair amount of rain in that time, and I added some extra water a couple of times. I worried by how much they seemed to dry out during the day. After two weeks I tested one, and had trouble deciding if they were ready. They seemed okay, so I put them in the garage to dry for a week.

after hackling

In the meantime I happened to see something called a macrame comb at the fabric store. It seemed perfect for hackling (small scale!). And I stumbled upon this suggestion somewhere on the internet: Using a dog brush (called a slicker) instead of buying a carder. It just so happened that my daughter had one. So I would be all set when the time came.

When I began peeling the nettle I was worried, because some of the fibres seemed very brittle and just broke. But eventually I got into a groove and was able to retrieve a nice handful of fibre. I used the scraping method. Then I hackled it with my macrame comb, then combed it with the slicker/carder. In Norway the instructor had talked about the difference between the European nettle and the North American, I think my nettle has longer fibres - longer sections between the nodes...

And my neighbour harvested some of her nettle - she kept the leaves and donated the stems to me! So I have another small batch dew-retting.

after combing

Fresh cutt nettles