Here We Come A-Caroling...

...or a-wassailing if you prefer. I thought it would be fun to share a little coat pattern for the holidays. I think I've featured this coat here before, most recently on my Mother-in-law's doll Noni. But here it is again.

This little number would be perfect for the season if you've got a girl who wants to go caroling... well, maybe not in the hounds tooth I've made it out of here, but perhaps in a nice fawn or wine color.

Can't you just see your girl singing from door to door, begging for wassail... wait, does anybody drink that anymore? Hmmm... I expect that's why they changed the name of the song. But anyway here's the pattern.

Bear with me now, I'm a knitter not a seamstress but I'll explain the way I did it the best I can. Keep in mind this pattern is not lined so if you want a lined coat you'll have to cut out extra pieces as needed, also I make very small seams (1/8 to 1/4 inch) so keep that in mind and cut the pieces larger if you need to. If the picture above is not of a decent size you can also find the pdf HERE (just remember where it says 'left back' on the body it's supposed to say left front - I corrected it in the picture I've posted above) Here we go...

Capelet Coat for Blythe

Cut out body and sleeves.

Position sleeves correctly (the F and B indicate front and back and should be positioned so they match with the front and back of the body).

Sew sleeves onto body, right sides of fabric together.

Sew sleeve cuffs

Sew sleeve tops (indicated by stars). Please keep in mind that the tops of the sleeves will make up part of the neckline.

Cut 2 of front capelet

Cut 1 of back capelet

Sew front capelet to back capelet along the top, with right sides of fabric together (indicated by open circles).

Sew all sides (except at the neck) on both the capelet and the coat (indicated by solid dots).

Cut out collar

Fold collar in half the long way, right sides together, and sew the short sides together. Snip corners and turn right side out.

Sew capelet to coat, wrong side of capelet to right side of coat, leaving about 1/2 inch of the coat out past the collar on both sides.

Now sew the collar to the capelet and coat matching the sides of the collar to the sides of the capelet (not the coat)

Fold down the raw edge of the collar and sew the remaining raw edge of the coat neck under (lift the capelet up and sew under all of it to do this). You're basically just going along the same seam again with the raw collar edge folded down.

And that's pretty much it. I hope you all enjoy it. I know I usually say go ahead and do whatever you want with the pattern but because this one is based (albeit very very loosely, and with a LOT of modification) on a coat that my mother made me as a child, this one's going to have to be for personal use only. Have fun!

Oh, if you like the hat and want to make that too, it's not one of mine, it's on Ravelry HERE. This is a brilliant little pattern. IIRC I knit it using two strands of Patons worsted wool yarn in black, on size 8 needles so I could match the needed gauge.

Oh and one more thing... a recipe for Wassail. Given to me by a friend long ago.

 Wassail

1/2 gallon apple cider

1 can pinapple juice from concentrate

1 can orange juice from concentrate

2 cinnamon sticks

1 tbs whole cloves

1 sliced orange

 add rum to taste

Put in a large pot and allow to simmer, serve warm.

Happy Holidays!

Mod Girl

Just having a little fun with some left over fabric... you see I was gifted a pair of tights which I absolutely adored but didn't have anything for the girls they would go with. I dug out the old A line pattern and some fabric and viola!

 

 

I think the dress and tights (and the little white boots) go together nicely.

Oh the Weather Outside is Frightful....

It warmed up to a balmy 4 below today so I took the girls outside in their new hoodies for a few quick pics...

Wren in her toasty wool

Sophie in her pretty orange (love the little flower buttons here)...

 

And Moonyeen in her sequined blue. So pleased they turned out so well   : )

Hoodies Galore

Been absolutely loving the Blythe hoodie pattern by NxtDrGrrl. I've just knit two more to go along with the orange one I started with...

I used the sock knitters trick of knitting two at the same time to avoid pattern fatigue. One is in a nice self striping wool, and the other is a beautiful sequined blue. I'd run out of the cute little millefiori beads I'd used for buttons on the last one so I used large seed beads on the new hoodies... with I think very good results.

The pearl blue colored ones go particularly well with the icy blue yarn. I will most certainly be making more of these in the future. : )

Happy 50th Doctor!

Sophie... a gift bought for me by my husband at the 1st and only Doctor Who convention I'd ever been to. Now fully restored and with a new pull charm and a 4th Doctor scarf knitted on the day of the 50th anniversary of Doctor Who!

As it's been 50 years I just had to do something to mark the occasion. The scarf was knit all in one day. A quickish knit, but oh so many ends to weave in...

A Little Christmas Treat

You know what your Blythe needs for Christmas? You guessed it! Fruitcake!

 Here's how I made some Blythe sized fruitcake myself (yes I know I'm a bit strange).

First I took some of those polystyrene crystals one gets in the Makit Bakit kits and spread them out on an oven safe surface (Any pan that can go in the oven with a bit of aluminum foil over it will do nicely, I use a ceramic workplate, but that's just me). You'll want to spread these out a bit so they are not touching, otherwise they will do what they are meant to do and glom together, you don't want that, so spread them out like so...

I used mostly red and green to simulate candied cherries, but I also threw in some yellow, black, and brown for pineapple, currents, raisins, ect... Then you pop them in the oven at the recommended temperature about (375 F) and bake them until they soften and turn into little hemispheres, like this...

Then you take them out of the oven and let them cool completely. Remove them from the pan and set them aside. Reduce the oven temperature to that recommended for polymer clay (275 F) and while it gets to the proper temperature you can begin sculpting a cake out of brown polymer clay. Like so...

In this particular picture I'm shaping a bunt cake and removing the center with a plastic straw, but you can just as easily shape it into a loaf or brick fruitcake if you like.

Once you've got the cake shape the way you like it you then take your newly rounded crystals and decorate the top of the cake with them rounded side up...

... and with the flat side sticking outward on the cut side of the cake, (as you see in the pic I cut away some of the cake so the the "fruit" on the inside could be seen). On those vertical edges you place the crystals with the flat side sticking outward so it has that "cut" look. In the case of a loaf cake you'd simply do this on the end of the loaf. Make sure that when you put your crystals in that you sink them far enough that they look aesthetically pleasing but are unlikely to fall out later.

Then bake your cake! The polystyrene crystals will not melt anymore, it's not hot enough for them, but the polymer clay will harden up around them. Remove your cake from the oven and let cool, seal with a matte varnish (this helps seal in the crystals), and viola...

After all WHO doesn't love fruitcake?

A Little Witch

Some fun with some left over fabric...

 

I Gotta say, I like the clasp...