Now that I am finally confident enough with my sewing and serging skills, I am switching from sewing with all (affordable) cotton to some wool garments. This will allow me to make matching knit/sewn outfits for 2023 which is soooo exciting! I’ve been fooling around with how to pair handsewn items with my knits for a while, but at first, I was not very successful and it’s taken me several years to a better sense of what works. This year I’ll be posting photos of some sewing patterns that I feel go well with certain knit designs. Ever since I read Karen Templar’s blog, and looked at her capsule collection photos many years ago, I’ve wanted to try to create my own capsule collection. Of course, I try to wear hand-knitted and sewn clothing items regularly but finding combinations that really go together and can be mix & match can be tricky. This is the year I’m going to focus more on getting that right, especially now that I’m learning to sew with wool! I will be using fabric and yarns that mostly come from stash as well as designer deadstock fabric which (lucky me) is readily available locally at stores like Stomemountaindaughter fabrics.
These two skirts are both sewn using McCalls 197 which I used for years to sew cotton skirts. The red skirt is sewed with a boiled wool which I found super challenging to work with. Somehow, (it had been 4 months since I’d sewed a skirt, y’all and I’d forgotten some basic things) I cut the front into two pieces instead of cutting it on the fold, which made the front longer than the back where the two front pieces were seamed. When I unpicked the hem, the smallest threads unravelling seemed to create holes in the boiled wool! I had to cut off the whole hem and shorten the wool skirt and its silk lining considerably. Someone at Stomemountaindaughter explained that boiled wool contains synthetics and that as a beginner, I will be better off using 100% wool for a while, so that's what I'm doing this year! After much adjusting, I am finally happy with how the skirt is looking and find it pairs nicely with Lisa Richardson’s Eliot design which can be found in a UK knitting magazine here or in Rowan Magazine 66. The houndstooth check fabric you can see below was some designer fabric deadstock I purchased at Stomemountaindaughter after the boiled wool incident and, being 100% wool was MUCH easier to use. Then again, I’d learned from my mistakes and cut the front skirt piece on the fold so there was no seam to take out! Did you know there is a second floor room of this fabric shop in Berkeley where you can get fabric half price? The houdstooth check fabric was so affordable ($13/yard x 2 = $26) compared to normal 100% wool prices that I was able to sew and serge my skirt without biting my nails.
I paired my new houndstooth skirt with with Vilma by Sarah Hatton which I knitted in 2019. It looks good both tucked into the skirt and worn loosely over it. Overall, my color palette for 2023 is red, blue, black, white and grey ( if I get fancy, there may perhaps be a teal, forest green, or hot pink thrown in as an accent.) Here are some photos of my stash/ deadstock fabric that I will be sewing with in 2023: