In which I show you my most favourite shirt EVER.

I'd like to introduce you to my favourite sweater, the Hot Cocoa from Dixie DIY. This top is my homeboy. It's my BFF. My One True Love. (In terms of my closet!)

I first saw it on Marie at A Stitching Odyssey and fell in love. I had never downloaded a pattern before, AND I had never tried a knit. I felt like this would change all that.

Someone's gotta keep an eye on the dog, amirite?

I made this back in January I think? Somehow, with being on an LTO (teacher talk for a job) while working a night job I found time to do this, and then I got the other LTO so I didn't have time to take pictures (though I had LOTS of time to wear this).

K, imma gonna stop ya right here and just say, I look cranky in most of the following pictures. I'm not cranky, it was way too cold to wear these shorts but for some reason I wanted to wear these shorts for the shoot. So I didn't smile much. I don't know. Just deal with it haha.

I literally wear this multiple times a week. I can wear it to supply teach or I can wear it just puttering around the house. It is PERFECT. There I said it. It is super comfy, and was wicked easy to sew up. In terms of construction, I followed Marie and added three extra inches. I didn't think my principal would like the belly-baring look.

For being my first attempt at knits, I think it turned out pretty damn good. And that stripe matching where the raglan sleeve meets the bodice--totally accidental!! SHUT. UP. (Just don't look at my left side seam please.)

Right side seam, again totally acciden---I mean I MEANT to do that. ;)

I have gotten paint, grease, you name it on this bad boy but she's a survivor. It's like the sweater knows that it is my soul mate. Awwww.

I got this ponte knit at my local fabric store. I think it was about $21 a metre? It was a really long time ago, I can't remember. Totally worth it though.

I just picked up a black and white stripe ponte knit and so I might make me another one of these now that the fall weather is here. Alternately, I might use up my leftover Nettie fabric. I definitely have enough to whip one up.

If you haven't made one of these sweet babies yet, I highly recommend. Came together super quick once everything was cut out. If you've never made a knit, this is definitely one to jump right in with.

And, as per usual (I feel like this is becoming a "thing"), best shot of the day:

I think the best part is how smug I look about accidentally blinking hahaha.

Have you tried the Hot Cocoa yet?

{It will make your day more than my shirt makes my day.}

Madam Mix-a-Nettie

How did I come to decide that I was going to make a Nettie when I generally tend to shy away from hip hugging garments? Try and keep up if you can:

I had been given some Spoondollars for my birthday last year, and really wanted to get this fabric (Erin, if you ever have a Dog Lady Sewing Challenge, you know what fabric I'll be wearing at the end!). I had originally planned on just buying it as a woven, but after making a knit project (to be blogged), and getting a bit frustrated with a woven dress PIP, I thought that it would be great to try the Moneta instead. But three yards of fabric at Spoonflower would be roughly $80 and I didn't want to just fly into a knit dress pattern without trying it out first. Cue to my local fabric store closing (everything is currently 50% off!!!!!), and I found a nice navy Ponte knit that I could use to essentially make a wearable muslin with. At this time, I was also interested in making a whale dress for an upcoming protest at Marineland. Again, I wanted to make it a knit, but because this wasn't the fabric that I had been coveting for like a year, I didn't want to drop $80 for 3 yards on it. So I thought maybe I could make it a Nettie since that would reduce the yardage to 2 yards instead of 3. Worried that I would need a muslin before doing that, I scrapped my original plans and used the navy as a wearable muslin for the Nettie (which basically turned out great so it is not really, in my mind, in the "muslin" category). Will the whale dress actually happen? That remains to be seen. (It may end up being a skirt, but we'll see). What about the dog dress. Hells yes! Just not rightnow.

I cut the dress as a 6 in the bust and arms, and graded to a 14 on the hip (see bottom of post). I think next time I might just grade from an 8 to a 14. It fits really nice and snug but, even after pre-washing the fabric, after a day of wearing this, my armpits are blue because it is so snug.

I chose the high neck, medium scoop back. I already have some ideas about a low scoop back version in burgundy with a tartan bow (like Tilly's version) to match the hubby's kilt, a t-shirt version, and maybe a striped version or colour-blocked version using the navy and one of my stripe Ponte knits I have sitting around (P.S. fabric store closing sales are really, really, really bad if you are trying to be good about using your stash).

Although I did stitch the binding down, I didn't stitch some of it close enough to the end so I'll have to go over it. No biggie.

I love that with a blazer or cardigan I can wear this to work, with runners and a sweater I can run to the grocery store in fashionable comfort, but with the right accessories I can wear it to a wedding or date night with Trev. Tres versatile!

Overall, I'm super freakin' happy with this make. It was super easy to make, I probably did all the sewing in about 2 hours over two or three days. The more I make knits, the less I want to make wovens. (And when I do make wovens, the more frustrated I get while making them!) There will definitely be more of these in the works real soon.

Looking at this picture now, I can really see just how tight it is in the pits. Yikes!

Remember that talk we had the other week about photo faces? I'm going to leave you with the best "modelling" I have to offer:

Please share: have you tried Nettie yet?

{See above post}

Home-sews: Harley's Haus

This is something I've finished ages ago (probably last September), but I just really haven't gotten around to posting it until now.

I saw this picture on pinterest and really wanted to replicate the idea for Harley.

So I kept my eyes peeled on kijiji and found this:

The whole thing had really seen better days.

So,, the first thing I did was take off the doors and use some wood-filler on the various gaping holes.

Next I sanded the whole thing down.

I used a spray paint primer:

And then painted this bad boy black, followed by some clear-coat to seal it.

I lined the inside walls and ceiling with home dec. foam and then covered it in fabric (using lots of glue and staples). Then I used pretty nails to cover the staples on the outside edge. Next I roughly cut out a piece of foam to fit the floor of the inside, using that as a pattern for the pillow. I sewed up the pillow, inserted the foam and then added some extra padding (I used recycled PET bottle filling). That's it!

Well, there was more involvement than this (like seven coats of black because I messed up the "smooth" finish and I am anal about stuff like that), but only marginally.

So, what does it look like now?

Well let me show you.

They are not the best quality photos, but can you blame me for not wanting to move this?

Needless to say he loves his bed and I love that I have dual functioning furniture.

It was a fun little project and I love that his bed matches our couches (we have plaid pillows and a plaid chair in a similar colour).

It even inspired us to sand down some other furniture (I won't bore you with that as: A. its still not done and B. it involves no sewing), which is pretty exciting! Reduce, reuse, recycle folks!

Now off to work on some other projects (sewing related) that I am really excited about. Can anyone say Nettie?

{SO GOOD}