Polka dot dress success

Although all I've done for ages has been knitting, I have completed a few sewing projects too, and finally I can prove it! I made a polka dot dress in the summer but recently not only did I have the opportunity to wear it, I also remembered to take photos of me wearing it - well done me. 

Yes, I am a bit short in the legs so low-cut red court shoes would have looked better, but I haven't got any. And yes, I am desperately in need of a haircut. The skirt is two full circles, so it's very full (the hem of the skirt is 400 inches around, and the dress takes 7 yards of fabric). Looking at the photo now though I think it would look great with a petticoat, so I might make one.

Back view:

And the pattern it came from is this (copyright date 1957): 

If I made it again (and I'm tempted, because I have loved wearing it) I would consider putting pockets in the side seams of the skirt. Just for, y'know, lipstick. You can't not wear lipstick with a dress like this. It would be amazing in chiffon, though I know I won't be able to manage chiffon, but it's very wearable in cotton so I might do another version one day in a different print. 

Oh and these vintage patterns with gussets under the arms... they're an absolute bitch. 

Tube scarf

To go with the wristwarmers I eventually made a scarf, which I call the tube scarf for two reasons: firstly, a lot of it was knitted on the tube. Second, it is in stocking stitch, so it rolls itself up into a tube. This was a deliberate decision, as the wristwarmers are tubular themselves, and in stocking stitch. 

I wanted a long, skinny scarf that would be more decorative than warm. It started off like this: 

But this was obviously too short, so I carried it on for quite a bit longer, as you can see in this picture of the finished thing.

  

The finishing touch was a stretchy garter-stitch toggle to hold it together, decorated with crocheted flowers. It doesn't really show, but the flowers have 3 layers of petals, so are satisfyingly three-dimensional.  

Pixie hat

This funny little thing is a hat - I had two balls of Noro Spring Thaw which were reduced in John Lewis so I couldn't resist. It was made from 7 long oval panels, knitted using lots of increases and decreases. It took a bit of concentration, but was quite straightforward. Once I had seven panels, I seamed them on the inside with a crochet slip stitch, which was nice and simple, although I think I should maybe have seamed it on the outside side with double crochet in a contrast colour, which would have made more of the panel construction. 

When I finally tried on the finished item, I realised the panels were too short and it made for a very strange, skull-cap kind of fit. I did knit a tension gauge swatch, but didn't really take a lot of notice of the results. There's a lesson in that, probably. Anyway, to make it a bit longer I crocheted a double-triple border all around the edge, which improves things, but I still don't actually like it that much. I'd rip it out, except that I'll end up with 8 short bits of yarn, which isn't very inspiring. A bit of a waste of one and a quarter balls of bargain Noro, all in all.