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Claire

@claireallenplatt

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Sewing, knitting, reupholstery outside-of-work project journal🪡🧶🛋️ For the sewers:
B 32-34" / W 30-31ish" / H 35-37"

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2 months ago

I knit a lot this year. Some of my knitting was a function of unexpected work travel and stretches in airport bars and motels when my flights were delayed by hours or days. But mostly it was a function of my kids getting deep into hobbies of their own. My elementary-school-aged sons are enthralled by fishing and want to spend hours each weekend at the side of a creek - and my role is to like, be present and affirm their catches as AWESOME or GREAT and otherwise blast through my knitting projects in the dappled afternoon sun. What is this phase? I like it, can I bottle it up?
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One of my recently finished projects is this sweater. Though I frequently feel hatred for The Internet at large I do love when it serves a random image, like one (swipe) of actor Jon Hamm in a colorful marled sweater, which immediately gave me the idea to use some colorful gifted yarn to knit a thick wool sweater. Just Tuesday, let's cast on a big new project with no premeditation, inspired by Jon Hamm.
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I used yarn that had been mailed to me by a former colleague, whose arthritis prohibited her from knitting much anymore; the box she sent included several balls of "Crazy," a 100% merino sport weight yarn spun at the @StonehedgeFiberMill in Michigan, from colorful mill ends marled together at random. The color changes are unpredictable and include as many moody browns as hot pinks and lime greens. I held it double with a solid light gray, @KauniDesign 8/2 100% wool, to attenuate the colors and bulk up the gauge.
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I used the @PetiteKnit #HannahSweaterVNeck pattern, which has a shallow v-neck with super duper deep ribbing. Per my measurements (32" bust) I made the size XXS pretty much as written.
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My major mod was to steek the neckline so the color changes were consistent on both sides of the V.
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Jon Hamm's sweater is made by CELINE and retails for €1,500 (> $2,000) and maybe I'm paying myself too big a compliment to compare my work to a European luxury fashion house but my project cost of $28 (Crazy yarn $0 [thanks former colleague Sandy!] + Kauni yarn $20 + $8 pattern) feels pretty good by comparison
#knitting #PetiteKnit #handmadewardrobe by @claireallenplatt

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2 months ago

#memademay day 5, a cold day layer cake comprised of (1) a vest I knit from the @PetiteKnit #NoviceSlipoverMan pattern (in direct imitation of the Samuel Jumper by Sézane - details in a previous post!) and @BrooklynTweed Loft yarn held with @IsagerYarn Mohair yarn; (2) a t-shirt sewn from the #JesseTee pattern by @TrueBias and an upcycled, hunter green men's t-shirt from my local thrift Houseworks; (3) a jacket sewn from the Liz Liner jacket by @DaisyChainPatterns and an antique quilt from my local consignment shop @ArtifactsIowaCity; and (4) a hat I knit for my husband last Christmas (hence it's a little too big and floppy for me) from the @PetiteKnit #WeekendHat pattern and two @PurlSoho yarns, Linen Quill and Cashmere Merino. Jeans were thrifted on Poshmark and altered to be high waist (by taking in the CB seam). #memademay2026 by @claireallenplatt

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5 months ago

#memademay days 3 & 4, in descending order - in an attempt to look assembled and adult-like for various virtual and in-person meetings/appointments, today I wore a collared popover shirt that I sewed from a 1980s Cacharel-for-McCalls pattern (swipe), with a gathered midi skirt I sewed from a free @TessutiFabrics tutorial. The shirt features a teeny tiny collar, horn buttons, and a modified shirttail hem, which is pictured in an earlier post. The fabric is hefty navy blue linen from @PurlSoho. My skirt was an attempt at economy - I pieced the back panel so as to use only 2 yards of this @AtelierBrunette gingham cotton double gauze. The fabric has different scales of the gingham pattern on either side, so I put big checks on the front of the skirt and smaller ones on the back. The hem is enclosed with yellow bias tape and the skirt has nicely tailored pockets and three separate elastic casings for a deep waistband.
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Yesterday (Sunday) I spent mostly outdoors wearing a shirt sewn from the #BlommaTank pattern from @ParadisePatterns, in green ("Pesto") organic cotton jersey knit fabric from @LyricalFabrics. It's a size B which I selected for my 31-32" bust but it's very tight and I'm like, a working mom with no use for chartreuse bodycon so I will definitely size up for the next one. Also pictured - a run for gardening supplies with my son; blocking a half-knitted sweater in the sunshine to check my gauge (though it did get rained on today 😖); the bath that marked the end of a nice weekend. #sewing #knitting #memademay2026 by @claireallenplatt

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6 months ago

#memademay I sewed this top from the #ChamomileCrop pattern by @sarkirsten, modified to raise the darts and lower the armholes, in Marimekko fabric of an unknown vintage gifted to me by a friend's mom. (There were so many Marimekko gems in that box - thank you Philadelphia Ellen!!).
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I also finished a quilt this morning (swipe) to gift to a dear dear friend having a baby - the most whimsical quilt I've ever made - from flying geese blocks and a combination of @RubyStarSociety, @WeAreTheFabricStore, Fableism and Windham fabrics, mostly sourced from my local @HomeEcWorkshop 😊 #sewing #quilting #memademay2026 by @claireallenplatt

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6 months ago

I decided to come out of Internet retirement for online spring sewing joy with #memademay 🤗 Coming off a strange year - turned 40, unexpectedly changed jobs, watched my older kid start dabbling in my old YA chapter book paperbacks from my childhood which smell exactly the same as they did in the 90s, bla bla bla, had a banger year for knitting including the sweater I am wearing today, which I knit in imitation of a piece from @Babaa (swipe for an inspiration photo) but feels more like Where's Waldo just walked off a ski slope. Which I don't really mind. We've had some beauteous spring days with 70 degree temps, but today, in my prairie flyover state, was not one of them - wool-worthy and cold enough for overnight frost. Here are some project notes on the sweater if interested:
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Pattern - #MetamorphicSweater from @DreaReneeKnits, heavily modified to be two-stripe, inside-out, and a different gauge (detailed notes on Ravelry). I used @BrooklynTweed Loft yarn (RIP), three skeins each in Cinnabar (red) and Fossil (white). My first circular yoke! Which one really has to have faith is working before splitting the arms from the torso? Before the split, I tried it on and my sons told me I looked like a clown (swipe).
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I like when people are transparent about materials costs in today's inflationary climate but given that I bought this yarn in 2016 for a different project that I started and later unraveled, it's probably not relevant for me to recommend that folks obtain a time machine, and specifically travel back to the trunk show at @BrooklynGeneralStore for Jared Flood's book "Woolens" in 2016, and apply the discount for purchasing his line of BT yarns during that event, as I did, in a former life when I would just attend fiber trunk shows on a random Tuesday. I used six skeins of Loft and am estimating I spent a total of $60 or less on yarn (10 years ago, discounted) + $4.50 on the pattern (discounted/BOGO). The Babaà sweater I tried to dupe retails for $319 USD so that's a savings of ummm, $250+ depending on how you look at it 🤗 #knitting #memademay2026 Day 1 by @claireallenplatt

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6 months ago

#MeMadeMay Day 10: Revisited a core childhood memory of watching and re-watching and re-watching "Riverdance: The Show" taped off PBS with my brother in the late 1990s because I spent tonight with my young son in a packed auditorium at the live Riverdance 30th anniversary performance - highly recommend some Eurovision/Celtic dance magic commingling with a childhood memory haze. I sewed:
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This blazer, from the #HeatherBlazer pattern by @FridayPatternCompany in deadstock windowpane wool suiting from @BlackbirdFabrics
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This shirt, which I sewed from the #InariDress pattern by @NamedClothing almost a decade ago. It was originally a dress length before I chopped it in half, and before that, it was originally a thrifted shirt dress (swipe for my original post about this project from 2016 ...)
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These pants, sewed from the @AnnaAllenClothing #PomonaPants pattern (leg width between the tapered and wide leg) in black bull denim.
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#memademay2025 #mmmay2025 #sewing #imakemyclothes #namedpatterns by @claireallenplatt

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a year ago

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a year ago

#MeMadeMay Day 7: Midweek evening date to see @ilovelucius. I'm wearing: a swing shirt (mini dress?) I sewed a decade ago from a vintage 1950s maternity pattern, Simplicity 4353, in organic cotton jersey that used to be a sort of tan/beige color - swipe for a photo of vintage me wearing said color ca. 2015 as well as the pattern envelope. I hadn't worn the shirt in years because I no longer think this color suits me so I finally threw it in a RIT dye pot on a hot plate in my backyard and changed it to black. Since taking this photo last night I've also chopped 5" off the length so stay tuned when I wear it again at a shirt's length ...
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I sewed these pants from the @annaallenclothing #PomonaPants pattern (leg width adjusted somewhere between the wide and tapered options) in denim from @StoneMountainFabric and this jacket from vintage Butterick 5078 (lots more about the jacket and heavyweight army green denim earlier in my feed!). #sewing #memademay2025 #mmmay2025 #vintagesewing #slowfashion #imakemyclothes by @claireallenplatt

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a year ago

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a year ago

#MeMadeMay Day 4: Low-key Sunday spent mostly outside, I smell like bonfire smoke after roasting marshmallows with my kids around a friend's fire pit. Featuring one of my oldest and newest makes:
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I sewed this shirt from the #PennyRaglan pattern by @GrainlineStudio about 9 years ago in magical grayish bamboo jersey from @MoodFabrics that does not seem to age
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I finished knitting this hat over the weekend from the, perhaps too fittingly, #WeekendHat pattern by @PetiteKnit in decadent poppy-red cashmere/merino yarn from @PurlSoho
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#knitting #sewing #memademay25 #mmm2025 #slowfashion #imakemyclothes by @claireallenplatt

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a year ago

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a year ago