Sweater Sets and Robots

Short-repeat self-patterning yarns don't lend themselves very well to back and forth knitting. The patterning changes too quickly, so that the beginnings and the ends of the rows (which in this case, mean the fronts of the sweater because the body is knit in one piece) don't match at all. But it's still cute. I do believe that I'll write this pattern (sweater and doll-size fingerless mittens) up and post it this week, for the first Freebie Friday in a very long time.

The whole set includes fingerless mittens for the Girl, a v-neck cardigan and fingerless mittens for the doll. All 3 knit from 100 gr of sock yarn (there wasn't enough left over for a doll hat. I always forget how much yarn these 18" doll sweaters take).

are these cute, or what?

And here's the latest installment in the Spoonflower Obsession: a set of 3 color/cut/sew Robots. I've ordered a sample, and it should be here soon. If the robots go together properly, I'll offer this one through Spoonflower too. I was tickled to discover that someone already ordered the Skirt/Vest/Bag color/cut/sew fat quarter. I'm about halfway done with a Cheater Quilt design (quilt in a yard) for another Spoonflower contest. I haven't tackled the Nautical Theme design yet.

Yeah, I said *obsession*, and I meant it.

Spoonflowerier!

So, you knew I was going to color, cut, and sew immediately, didn't you?

I used the highlighter markers, which did bleed a bit more than I expected, but not too much (though some of that is me not staying inside the lines with the fat-tip markers). I considered leaving the background white for a minute...

and then changed my mind. I colored the backgrounds as lightly as I could, and there's still a little bleeding, but I'm considering it a design element. BTW- there are no purple highlighters, I just needed *another color*, so I mixed blue and pink.

Why you want to work on a protected surface.

Pieces, including bag and vest lining, cut.

Ta Da!

I already ordered the full yard from Spoonflower, with 4 repeats for the Grandgirls. I also did a little looking and found that Crayola sells markers made specifically for coloring on fabric (which may not bleed as much as other markers), so I ordered a set of them too.

I can't wait to see what the girls do with their outfits.

P.S. It would have made sense for me to order a full yard of the fat quarter designs even if I didn't have 4 specific girls in mind- a single custom print fat quarter on quilting cotton fabric is $11, a full yard (with 4 fat quarters, natch) is $18. If you order a fat quarter, select *centered*, if you order a yard, select *basic repeat*

Link- Spoonflower

So, do you all know about Spoonflower? If not, click the link. I'll wait for you.

Are you back now? Are you amazed? And hyperventilating? I was when I first realized that there was a way to have custom fabrics printed. It's spendy, fer shure, but the potential is unlimited.

And of course, I have to try it out. My first custom fabric?

Is on the way. It's a fat quarter with a color, cut and sew outfit for an 18" doll. It took me quite awhile to put this together (it's hard to design a huge single motif for a fat quarter, especially when you're working on an image that is 3,000 pixels wide) (smaller, repeating motifs will be much easier to handle- but for an entire outfit, I had to work with that size). The skirt, vest and bag are my own design, and I think the Grands will love coloring the pieces with fabric markers or fabric paints, or whatever. I'll do the first sample myself, and if it comes out okay, I'll order a yard, and let The Girls go to town.

And if it does work out, the print will be for sale in the Spoonflower shop (designers get a 10% commission, redeemable on future orders, so it's not like anyone will get rich here. I figured others might want to try the design too, just for the fun of it). The sample should be here within 10 days. I can't wait!

And of course, I'm just getting my feet wet. I know I'll be designing more (and not just cut-color-sew stuff, but actual fabrics for quilting and sewing). Woohoo!

P.S. I can already see that I need to revise the piece to say the seam allowance has already been added in (in other words, cut on the black lines), and to practice coloring in the margins to make sure that the markers or paints don't bleed into each other. Also, to color first, and then cut.