Ridiculously cute. But ridiculous: Ottobre 3/2009 #11 Jeans

I've always considered myself to be a rather sensible person, and a sensible and rational parent too.  I've tried hard not to join in the mass consumer culture that is pushed on to new parents, with the wide variety of very expensive items marketed as 'must haves' and instead used a lot of hand me downs, some second hand items and what we bought new we went for the mid priced version and not the rolls royce overpriced items ($2000 prams? $1000 cots? pfft!).  When Anna was a baby I dressed her in pretty but practical clothes with comfort and washability the key factors.

Which is why I feel a tad silly showing you the latest thing I've sewn for Toby.  I made him a pair of itty bitty blue denim jeans - nothing wrong with that of course, except that the pattern I used comes with a fully functioning zipper and fly shield, a coin pocket and belt loops. Seriously, what 3 month old needs a coin pocket?!  The pattern is #11 from issue 3 of 2009:

I came to my senses whilst sewing these, and was too lazy to make the coin pocket, belt loops or fly shield because those little details are seriously fiddly when doing it on such a small scale particularly when unnecessary.  I did make the side pockets and back patch pockets because they wouldn't look like jeans otherwise, and I included a zipper because I wasn't sure if they would pull up over a nappy without a zipper (for the record they do and therefore the zipper was unnecessary).  So I could have saved some time and just top stitched some faux pockets and zipper, but it's done now and they look pretty cute:

I used stretch denim, and it has some buttonhole elastic across the back so the jeans are cinched in nicely above the nappy at the waistline.  I couldn't find any hammer on jeans buttons in a small size, so I cheated and used a plastic snap in orange to match the top stitching thread.

Luckily they fit the little wombat, but for how long is the question given he's gaining a whopping 400g (a bit less than a pound) each week!

And I guess I may not be as sensible as I thought, because you can be sure I'll be making him that cute collared button up shirt this summer too!

first birthday dress

Well first day of childcare went great for me - I practically skipped home and had fours hours of peaceful sewing in which time I nearly finished sewing a blouse from whoa to go except for the buttons. Not so great for Anna though.... Apparently she cried a lot and refused to eat or drink too. I only left her there for half a day today to ease her into it, and so I could bring her home for her afternoon nap in her own bed to lessen the trauma (which took more than an hour to settle her) but tomorrow she spends a whole day there. Oh well, I'm sure she'll be right! Is that heartless of me that I didn't even cry or feel bad at all? I just keep thinking it's something that countless little kids go through, and eventually when they toddle off to school it will be the same thing anyway.

I've just remembered that I forgot to show you all the little dress I made for her birthday. I plan to make a dress each birthday and put them away in a box so that she has quite a collection by the time she's 21. Of course she probably won't wear the dresses I make for her from the 13th birthday or so onwards, but still I like the idea of starting a new tradition. First up is this pretty pink number:

I used a vintage pattern, Butterick 5521 which is undated but is maybe early 1970s? It is a simple three panel tunic with a large tulip collar that would be just perfect for catching all sorts of food and drink spills if it were to be an everyday dress. I made the body of the dress out of some pink floral seersucker, and the collar from a waffle weave cotton in white that was from the stash.

It came out a little large for my little beanpole, so I took it in a little to get a better fit. It was also a little long even though Anna is quite tall for her age and despite the pattern envelope showing it as a top over shorts. There's those deceptive pattern illustrations at work again!

It's getting a little hard to photograph this wriggly little worm now that she is power walking around holding onto the furniture, so lucky my mum was there to hold on to her for one little minute to get these photos:

Ahh yes, I only put one lot of christmas decorations this year, and yet there they still are in the background!

One thing that did mesmerise her was the candle on her birthday cake. That funny looking cake is supposed to be shaped as a number one, but it tasted better than it looks!

Which the birthday girl absolutely loved! Notice that I've already taken the dress off, and put her in a ginormous bib, that dress is sure not practical.

Thank you all for your lovely comments on the yellow skirt. It looks great when standing still and I can arrange the fabric to fall properly, but I decided to wear it out at least once and make a judgement on it after that. Verobirdie - I agree that the Burda blouse looks better in a solid rather than a floral like that used by Burda in the magazine, the details get lost otherwise. Redhotpepper - thanks for the tip on the saliva, sounds bizarre but I'll give it a go next time but napisan worked just fine this time around. Gail - I stocked up on some lovely shirting material when I was in Bangkok a few years ago, it was only $2 - $5 aus a metre and how I cursed luggage weight limits! Carolyn - I've been dusting ans polishing my heels, it's been a while but I can't wait to wear them again.

Now it you'll excuse me, I have some buttons to sew on and a few more patterns to cut out!

I need a holiday to recover from my holiday......

Phew, what a long two weeksI've just had. Holidaying with a little kid is certainly not easy, nor a whole lot of fun really. We flew up to Brisbane boxing day morning to stay at my in-laws for two weeks, with a few days in the middle spent out at a beach resort at Kingscliff so it should have been relaxing and easier for me with more hands to help out with the baby. Yeah except I didn't count on Anna being possessed by some evil spirit and turning into an absolute nightmare for the whole time!

Her sleep patterns, which are bad at the best of times, became atrocious and she woke crying and screaming frequently through the night, staying awake for a few hours between 1am and 3am and then waking up at 4.30am for the day. Daytime naps were just as difficult too. Then because she was tired she would scream and have tantrums in her highchair and not eat, just throw her food around making a huge mess. And then because she was tired and hungry she just couldn't cope at all - in the car she would scream and scream until she fell asleep, and all the other times she would be so clingy and whingy all day long. Anyway we're home now so hopefully she'll get back to normal soon.

The little monkey was also terribly spoilt with presents galore at christmas time from my family. I took a thriftier approach though, making her some presents instead. First up I made her a mini moopy stuffed toy, from this pattern over at neststudio:

So easy yet so cute. I also revamped this timber wagon I bought an op shop for $2:

Before:
After:

I gave it a coat of bright red paint and put Ikea wrapping paper inside the tray using some spray adhesive. It bubbled a little when the glue dried which was a tad annoying but I doubt the recipient noticed - she was too busy walking around using the wagon for support:

And of course I made her some clothes. Some really cutesy matching outfits that in a few years there will be no way she'll let me dress her in them, but for now she has no say in the matter! First up I made some yellow gingham shorts with black ribbon trim and a fabric yo-yo, with a top to match with yo yo flowers and the same black ribbon trim for stems. Mismatched vintage buttons too.
Next I made her some polka dot shorts, and made a little cap sleeve ruffle to sew onto a singlet I bought from Target. Again so quick and easy.

I also made some aqua blue gingham shorts with red ric rac trim, and a top to match with an appliqued butterfly from the gingham fabric with a stripe of red ric rac through the centre.

All of the shorts are made from the bloomers patterns in Amy Butler's Little Stitches for Little People book, and the tops are morphed from Butterick 400 view C gown just shortened. I've used this pattern several times before because it's so simple with just two pattern pieces and the neck and arm openings are just finished with bias binding, but for these tops I just serged the seam allowance, turned it under and stitched it down.

Anyway I hope you all had great christmas celebrations, I have so much blog reading to catch up on to see how some of you survived the record snow falls in Europe and the US (we sweltered by the way!)

aloha!

Here are some pictures to mess with your head Carolyn! I hear that some parts of the US and Europe have experienced their heaviest snowfall in many years, meanwhile here in Sydney we have been absolutely sweltering. If it's any consolation the weather forecast for Christmas day is for showers and overcast conditions.

Yesterday we were invited to a Hawaiian themed first birthday party for a friend's daughter so of course we had to get dressed up in a tropical theme. Of course I could have gone down to those cheap stores that sell junk such as plastic flower leis and grass skirts, but me being me I decided to make something!

For Anna, I made a little dress from some hibiscus print fabric in a bright red and white colour. I think this may have been a tablecloth because it was hemmed all round, but it must have been used quite a bit because now it is quite a soft cotton fabric.

I used a vintage pattern picked from an op shop (where else?), Style 2170 view 2 - the pink dress. I left off the trim around the sleeves and yoke, and used snaps instead of buttons on the back (yes Katherine H - I sure am getting lots of use out of my snap press!).

The fit was a little large, so I also put a ribbon tie on the back to get a better fit.

And for me, I had a blue floral dress inherited from gran that could be best described as a muu-muu - I wore it in the last few days of my pregnancy around the house and it still had room so you can imagine how big it is on me!

However 20 mins later and a few rows of shirring around the waistline and it looks totally different. In fact I like it so much that I think I will wear it on holidays because we are going to Brisbane to stay with my inlaws, where it is so hot that just even thinking about moving is enough to cause a sweat to break out!


My husband also got into the spirit, wearing an authentic vintage Hawaiian shirt that somehow made it's way from Hawaii to his wardrobe:

Only four sleeps till Christmas and I still have quite a bit to do! You'd think I'd have plenty of time to get things finished since Anna has decided for the last week that 4.30am is her new wake up time, but funnily enough by the time she goes to bed at 7pm I'm nearly comatose. I'm hoping that she's just growing some more teeth and that's why her sleep patterns have gone out the window, because if this is how it's gonna be from now on she is in severe danger of being an only child!

Party frocks

What a difference a year makes! This time last year this is how I looked:

Ginormously pregnant, too fat to get my wedding rings on my swollen fingers let alone squeeze my feet in party shoes or contemplate going to a christmas party! This year though, I'm all ready to partay in my new frock:

It's made from a vintage Simplicity 3918, picked up in mint condition from an op shop and sewn up in some crisp medium weight cotton purchased from ebay. The fabric has enough weight to it that the very full skirt flares out nicely without the need for a petticoat or layer underneath:

Such a simple shape dress, but made just that little bit difference by that red panel on the front neckline called a "vestee" on the pattern. It's supposed to be detachable, held in place by press studs or snaps but I decided to hand sew it down to the facing instead.

The only changes I made to the pattern were to use an invisible zip down the side instead of the awkward lapped side zip installation suggested by the pattern, and to reduce the length by 6 inches becaues this hit my mid calf which isn't so flattering on me.

And I can't not post a picture of the baby now can I? She finally fits into the little red dress I made for her quite some time ago, although it's still a little loose although it's size is meant to be for a six month old.

And to make sure she's not the Paris Hilton of the toddler set, I made a pair of bloomers in matching fabric with three rows of cotton lace across the butt. It also helps keep her nappy since she likes to take her nappy off these days!

oops, how did that happen?

Turns out Anna's head isn't as big as I thought.....

No matter, she seems to think it's funny.....

It will fit her in no time. She's turning into quite the lollypop - her height is 75.5cm which is over the 97th percentile for girls, her head is in the 90th percentile but her weight has dropped down into 50th percentile. She had grown out of her hats, and being the frugalista that I am I wasn't going to pay $15 - $20 for a kiddies hat when I have enough fabric to make hats for all the heads of children in the entire third world. I used Butterick 5717 which according to the Butterick website is now OOP, but I picked it up from an op shop. I used the x-small size, but as usual the sizing of the big 4 pattern companies has foiled me again!

Hats are super simple to make, I don't know why I don't make them more often because I wear them all the time. You won't catch me outside on a barely sunny day without a hat on my head, and I have quite a collection, but like shoes and bags there's always room in the wardrobe for another!

Mochimo - Anna isn't walking yet and she's barely crawling, mostly backwards really which is good because I can see that once she's on the move she's going to need alot more supervision from me. She does like to stand though, and has worked out how to pull herself to a standing position by grabbing onto anything nearby. But you're right, time has flown by this year - I've been off work for a full 12 months now although it only feels like yesterday that I started my maternity leave. I'll be back at work February 1 which sadly is only a bit over 2 months away now! I'll only be working three days a week though so it should be manageable. I enrolled Anna in childcare for those three days a week which is costing $99 a day but it seems like a really good centre and the kids seem happy, so hopefully she'll enjoy it. Has to be more exciting than spending all day every day with me, entertaining little kids is so tiring!

Anyway enough rambling about the baby from me, I have a hem on a dress to finish while she's asleep!

snap happy

Well I'm still having a merry old time using my new snap press - it's absolutely great for kids clothes, and I can see it coming in handy for handbag making as well although it's not that often I make handbags because they are way too fiddly for my patience levels.

Anyway I made a little pinafore dress for Anna from a 1974 Simplicity pattern (Simplicity 6051) which my mum remembers making for me and for my brother (the overalls that is, not the dress!). Too bad she didn't keep them and we don't have any photos either, because it would have been fun to see what crazy fabric she used given it was the 70s! I used a stretch dark denim from the stash, embellished with a line of pink ric rac across the front pocket and pink plastic snaps. It looks rather mature and serious looking, but it is a good neutral colour to offset all the girly pink clothes she has.....

Sorry for the blurry photos, it is getting increasingly hard to get crisp photos of Anna since she is just a ball of movement most of the time!

So how did all of you NSW dwellers survive the extreme heat on Sunday? We were out on Sunday and came home to a house that was 35c degrees (95F) inside and 40c (104F) outside, and even at midnight it was still 30c (86F) degrees inside. Unfortunately we don't have air conditioning and boy did we feel it yesterday! Anna was awake half the night being very upset and unsettled which I thought was because of the heat, but this morning I see she has one top tooth popped through the gum and the other just about to come through, the poor little thing.

It was my birthday on Saturday just gone, and my lovely husband gave up his usual Saturday morning golf competition round for me to have a few hours at a day spa which was just great! Actually the real gift was a few hours baby free time, the facial and the massage were just the icing on the cake..... And my lovely friends gave me one of these very cool and very me brooches by the artist Liana Kabel:

A little sewing.....

Even though it's only early spring it has been absolutely hot hot hot around here this week. In our usual bad timing we've started doing work around the house again after a little lull, finally getting around to finishing the floors in the house since Anna is starting to show signs of crawling soon and we figured that old cracked floorboards with holes and nails in them aren't ideal for little knees and hands. So my poor dad and husband have been slaving away in the heat, whilst I've had the luxury of my mum here to help with Anna and I've managed to get a little sewing done.

Some more curtain panels for my sewing room done (yawn), sewing room almost clean (double yawn) a muslin and some pattern tweaking for a dress I'm hoping to have done by the end of September to enter the Mad Men competition over at Sew Retro (probably way too ambitious), a couple of UFOs further progressed (but still not finished) and a little pair of shorts for Anna that were just too cute not to make.

I used a vintage Simplicity 8040 pattern, which in a quirk of coincidence was printed in 1977 - the year that I was born. The good thing about kids clothes is that they use so little fabric, that I managed to make these shorts from leftover red linen that I made this jacket out of, along with some polka dot cotton for the pockets that was in the scrap fabric pile. They are very simple to make with an elastic waistband at the back, and the pockets are simply sewn onto the front of the fabric.

They are a little baggy around the waist, but they do stay up over her cloth nappy and since summer is still three months away she'll have plenty of time to grow into them. And they seem to pass approval, given the little dance she gave after giving them a thorough checking out:

And the last word on the biting during nursing - Anna seems to have stopped doing this now thankfully, it was getting more than a little annoying. And at mother's group on Wednesday two of the other mums reported that their little angels had started biting them too, so I had a silent chuckle to myself and then passed on all your tips!