small diversions

Oh you guys are too funny - all that love for that fabric I so boldly declared to be ugly! Maybe my photos didn't convey how the colours match the colour of boogers and baby poo (sorry for being coarse). But a big part of the overall horribleness of the fabric is it's feel - it's a nasty polyester that has a scratchy feel, wrinkles if you look at it the wrong way and was so slippy and slidey it was difficult to sew with.

Anyway the dress is looking promising fitting wise, but I haven't progressed much further than cutting out all the pieces. Sadly I backed up my tonsillitis last week with another stomach bug over the weekend, so energy levels and enthusiasm for getting off the lounge have been rather low I must say.

I did manage to eek some sewing time in over the last week though to make some pants for Anna. It seems that Anna has sprung up another two inches overnight because all of her jeans and pants are now three quarter length, so what better reason than to use one of the Ottobre magazines I bought recently? I made the bootleg jeans from Ottobre 6/2010:

and what everyone says about Ottobre is so correct, the fit on these are much better than those I've made from the Big 4 pattern companies. The waistband sits near the waist, and not under the armpits, and the fit is trim and not too baggy. I liked these so much that I made three pairs! First up a pair of boring plain black corduroy ones which will be a good staple in the wardrobe of a messy little girl:

These are straight off the clothes line, hence the peg marks on the legs.

And then I made a pair in brown corduroy with purple polka dots. Seriously, at what other age could you wear polka dot pants and not look a little nutty?

Plus it's a good match for our dog, and you all know how much I love to be matchy matchy!

And for the third pair I refashioned them from a pair of wool/poly blend pants that someone gave to me that never fitted correctly, so instead of trying to alter them to fit me it was much easier just to cut them down to make a little bitty pair of pants instead. For these ones though I left off the back patch pocket, and bound the pocket edge with grosgrain ribbon to make them look a little dressier:

They were perfect to wear slouching around at the Australian Museum:

and for getting soaked in while 'feeling' the falling water!

I managed to make these quite quickly, probably about 1.5 hours for each start to finish. I took a shortcut by leaving off the fly shield - it's a nice detail but a little fiddly and not really necessary for kids pants. Also it makes things go quickly when you're not trying to fit around adult curves and solve the multitude of trouser fitting problems. However I did put some elastic in at the back waist to get a closer fit, especially as we have started toilet training and can hopefully get rid of the nappies soon.

I also made them extra long so I can let down the hem in case she keeps growing the way she has been. Someone told me once that the height a child is at two is half their adult height - Anna was about 90cm at her second birthday which means she'll be 1.8m/almost 6ft!. Not quite as tall as her dad but much taller than her mum....

ps. Samina - my wedding ring is back on my finger, I just try not to think about where it's been!