Harriet the Hippo, times two

I previously mentioned that I was inspired to take the (not so) itty bitty giraffe Craftsy course by Rebecca Danger's ‘Harriet the Hippo’ pattern from the Fall 2011 Knit Simple magazine. Buoyed by my giraffe success (if I do say so myself!) I did move on to making Harriet as well (and also signed up for Susan Anderson’s other Craftsy course – Wee Ones). Here is the first version:

There were a lot of similarities between the two projects and I incorporated some of my giraffe learnings into the hippo project. For instance I stuffed as I went, rather than leaving it to the end and I embroidered the face instead of using safety eyes. The only additional skill that this project used was kitchener stitch – which to be honest isn’t that hard.

Again, I used stash yarn. You may recognise it from my mitred baby blanket project.

I found I needed to really work the stuffing to get a nice fat tummy and good shape. Fortunately this was covered thoroughly in the craftsy course so it wasn’t daunting at all.

This is another success – such a cute project and really quick and easy to work.

My second version is a gift for my friend’s new niece, all the way in New Zealand. I offered to whip up a second hippo as a pressie and in a flash of inspiration decide to try my hand at converting the design to a ballet dancing hippo. You can see this is yet more destashing in action – using leftovers from my giraffe  project. Hurrah, it arrived in Dunedin two days before my friend’s sister went into labour so just in the nick of time!

I worked the skirt separately and worked the body in a ‘leotard’ pattern then knit the skirt onto the body at the approximately right level. I wrote a little tutorial on my ravelry page if anyone is interested in making the same modification.

If anyone is interested but hasn’t tried making knitted soft toys I highly recommend it. They make great gifts, are quick and easy, and aside from stuffing can usually be made from stash (or at least don’t require more than a ball or two of yarn). As a bonus, if you are wanting to post internationally they weigh next to nothing!

Up next, my last couple of work outfits and some crochet/knit baby clothes.

What I'm wearing to work these days - Part 1

I am aware I haven’t done a sewing post since Christmas so here is my weak attempt to catch up. To be honest I have had one wadder after the next, which is really discouraging so I am ‘making do’ a lot of the time, and with only 8 weeks left at work I will probably continue to do so except for a couple of extra tops.


When the fella and I started trying for a baby I instantly got caught up in the fabulous maternity wardrobe I would have. As it turned out I had 18 months to plan but at the end of the day it all went to sh*t because of morning sickness, tiredness and bad pattern/fabric choices. To take the positive lesson here – I now understand why most maternity clothes (tops especially) are made from stretch fabrics. Wovens have to be made to accommodate the biggest bump and so tend to flap around like fairly unflattering tents for most of your pregnancy. The other key lesson is that styles that don’t suit you when you are not pregnant (ie. big tops and skinny pants for me) will continue to not suit you when you are!

Of course the other issue is fitting an ever changing body. I haven’t had too much trouble with my tummy, my main issue has been the bust area. Not only has it grown – necessitating a fairly substantial FBA, but having to wear non-wired underwear means that my bust point is much lower than usual, and this has taken me a while to realise/compensate for. Of course, this is another reason that knit tops win over woven as they are a lot more forgiving of fit issues.

So here is a run-down of what I have been wearing to work. I don’t suppose full reviews are necessary, but I will give as much info as I can. Please forgive the dying/dead back yard as we have had yet another record breaking hot summer and it's just too hot to care right now!

I am 25 weeks in these picture - yeah I know, huge right?

This dress is made from Simplicity 2219 and the only alterations were an fba and to pivot the top edge of the front skirt by a couple of inches to provide belly room. I love how this dress came out – the interfacing in the bodice give you the best of both worlds with a more tailored look in the bodice without losing the stretchy comfort in the rest of the dress. It came together very easily and is super comfortable.

I had originally planned to make the sleeveless maxi-dress version too but it quickly became clear to me that look is not bra-friendly so if you are going to do the sleeveless style perhaps make sure you a) can go bra-less b) build in support somehow or c) a racer back bra might work.

Would I make it again? Possibly – it would be a good mum-on-the-go dress that would hide any extra midriff fluff quite nicely, although I am not sure if people wouldn’t see me and think a second was on the way!

I made these pants early on, when I busted out of all my regular pants by about 9 weeks. The pattern is a self-drafted mish mash of a Mrs Stylebook pattern, leg shaping form existing pants I liked and my own idea of what a maternity panel might look like without ever having seen one. They do the job but they are certainly not my finest work.

The top is a pre-existing one, blogged here.

You know it’s amazing what photos can show you. I had thought this was a pretty good look but now I see it makes my legs look very stumpy! If I cared enough I would slim the trouser legs a bit and possibly shorten the top an inch or so. But I really don’t care that much – these pants will probably go in the bin as soon as I finish work!

I have not previously blogged this top although I made it sometime ago now. I cut it out thinking it would get me through the early weeks when I would just need slightly looser clothes, but it has turned into a real workhorse. The pattern is Butterick 5495 and from memory it was one of Pattern Review’s top 10 patterns of 2010, or maybe 2009. I simply added a little width to the side seams on the lower front and it worked out great. I can see myself making the long sleeved version of this for winter and possibly another short sleeved version – I have pretty much worn this one to death and am a bit sick of it to be honest!

For the skirt I use an old faithful A-line skirt pattern and spliced on the yoke from a Kwik Sew maternity pants pattern which I'll talk about more next time.

I have a couple more outfits to show and will try to get pictures this week, but in a nutshell this is how I am scraping by at the moment. A bit pathetic really, but there doesn't seem to be a point to having a huge number of maternity clothes.
 
Toe up socks update: I have finished the course and thoroughly enjoyed it however the one sock I have made is a wadder.  As my fella said - how many of those cute giraffes could you have made in the time it took you to make that one ugly sock? Loads is the answer! So the socks are hibernating for the time being! No worries though, I have plenty of knitting and crochet projects to keep me going.