So, I've been busily sewing....

At the risk of sounding like a trashy 1980s style souvenir t-shirt (you know the ones: my grandma went to Singapore and all I got was this lousy t-shirt), but I have to say it: I've been sewing like a crazy woman and all I've got to show for it is a few lousy blog photos because it's all for other people!

My daughter's school held its annual fete recently which took an enormous amount of time and effort before the day in terms of organising, selling raffle tickets let alone on the actual day. I was the stall co-ordinator for my daughter's class, and we were allocated the second hand clothing stall so I spent about 3 months lugging home bags of donated clothes from school to sort, wash and store in a large pile in my sewing room. The fete was a huge success though - we made nearly $60,000 and my stall made nearly $900 which is a great result and will go towards installing air conditioning in all our classrooms, upgrading computers and replenishing the library. All things you would think the government would provide (it's a public school) but they don't.

Being a little too quick to volunteer my sewing talents, I ended up hemming tablecloths, making drawstring bags and sewing bunting. Oh the bunting! It took way longer to make than I could ever have imagined:

That's about 70 metres of bunting altogether. The actual sewing of triangles to the bias tape wasn't the longest bit, but cutting out all those triangles and sewing them together took many, many hours. Luckily it looked great, we can reuse it next year and all the fabric I used from stash to make it (about 8m) has now balanced out a recent on-line fabric purchase binge!

Next up I offered to make Anna and her friends matching t-shirts for the sports carnival that was scheduled for last Thursday. Her school decided to have a retro themed sports carnival (in the early years it's all about fun and not competition) so I thought a 1970s style raglan t-shirt worn with some sweatbands would be extremely funny in a cute way. Unfortunately the sports carnival was postponed until mid July due to bad weather, but I did finish all these t-shirts:

I used Kwik Sew 2893 (now OOP) which is just a basic tshirt pattern but is drafted really well (all the notches lined up and the pattern piece for the neckband was spot on) and the sizing of the pattern is quite accurate which in itself is somewhat amazing for a child sewing pattern. I made sizes small and medium for 6 and 7 year old kids and all the tshirts fit very well.

I thought the curved hems, and contrasting sleeves and neckbinding were very retro. The different colours are for their different teams. The lettering on the front is made from iron on transfer paper and each t-shirt has their name and year of birth which the kids thought was very cool so the effort was worth it, even if I ended up making these really quickly for no reason.

Finally I had to make an emergency pair of pyjamas for Anna. Anna's school was holding a wear your pyjamas to school day to raise money for some good cause, and it wasn't until the night before that I realised that Anna has had a spectacular growth spurt and all of her pyjamas were way too short. And here's where the value of having a large stash of fabrics and patterns really proves it worth: I was able to dig out a lovely soft piece of pink check flannelette and some textured knit (like the fabric used for spencers) and made a simple pair of pants and raglan tee using the same Kwik Sew pattern again since it was still out on my cutting table:

Pyjama disaster averted, more fabric used from the stash and all done in about the same amount of time it would have taken me to to get to the shops!

So now that's all over and done with, I can get back to my regular sewing projects. I have a blazer for myself about 85% done which I want to finish very soon and I do need to get cracking on my June and July Burda projects because if I let that get too far behind I'm sure I'll never catch up again. Hopefully I have something more exciting to share next time I post

A cosy dressing gown

Hello dear blog readers - it has been a long time hasn't it? It's amazing how easy it has been for me to fall out of the habit of blogging when I've had so many other things on at the moment. I've always found people who carry on about how busy they are incredibly tedious because they're usually speaking in code for "I'm so important/so popular" - but in my case life is just so incredibly busy at the moment with incredibly tedious things! The good thing is that our house will be on the market in a few short weeks with a sale hopefully by the end of October so the end is in sight.

Of course I've managed to fit in a little bit of sewing in my now dismantled sewing room. I hemmed some curtains that I purchased (yes, purchased!), made a dress for my sister who went to a theme party as Wednesday Addams and made some boring black track suit pants for Toby who seems to have shot up several inches over the last month.

Our winter was rather late in coming this year - so warm and sunny for more than the first half of it, and we now seem to be back in warm weather again. But the previous few weeks were very windy, cold and rainy and the perfect weather for staying indoors wearing cosy dressing gowns.
And to use a cliche, here's one I prepared earlier!

This was another project made on my sewing weekend away many months ago now, and it turned out to be super quick to make which is good because she only really got a few weeks wear out of it this winter! I used a vintage sewing pattern, Simplicity 2320, which is from the 1960s I think:

The fabric is a polar fleece by Prints Charming, which is a Sydney based design company that make the most wonderful designs. Spotlight stock quite a large range of their fabrics in cottons as well, and they are all really cool. I let Anna pick out the fabric herself during one of their many frequent sales. Even with the fabric on sale this cost more to make than a dressing gown I could have bought from Kmart, but we all know that we don't sew to save money don't we? But I did make this dressing gown is pretty big so hopefully it should last a few winters.

She likes it I think!

And now on to some spring sewing I think.  I didn't even get started on my winter sewing list this year, and I'm 4 issues behind now on my Burda challenge so I've got a lot of catching up to do there but fingers crossed I'm back in the blogging habit!

May Burda: winners and losers

June already?! Really, the year is just flying by. I bet all of you that did MMM must be breathing a sigh of relief that May is over with, congrats to all you for completing it.

I did manage to finish my May Burda project last Thursday when it was still May, but I'm only getting around to posting it up today so technically I'm still on track with my self imposed Burda challenge (sew at least one item from the mag during it's month of issue).  It was a bit of a struggle again this month to pick a project, not because it was all bad but because this is a summer issue and we're now in the depths of our winter.  There were some pretty dresses and a cute short sleeved peplum jacket and then weirdly this long sleeved, high necked blouse (5/2013 #106)  made in a stretch satin:

It seems rather out of place in a summer issue doesn't it? But since we're having cool weather and I quite like an interesting high neckline I thought I would give it a try.  There was no review on Pattern Review for this one, but there was a lovely version made by a Russian lady shown on the Burda Russian site - although of course I couldn't quite understand what she thought about the pattern even with google translate.

I figured this would be shapeless and baggy since it doesn't have any darts or shaping, but I thought that if the neckline turned out well I would convert that centre front seam into an opening button-up placket and put some vertical darts in front and back to give it some shape.  But I didn't get that far because this project turned out to be a bit of a fail - that neckline sure is interesting but in an eye brow raised kind of hmmmm way....

I should have looked more closely at the technical drawing because what I thought was actually a high stand up collar with an interesting twist at the front, much like a pussy bow blouse, is actually just an extension of the left side front that wraps around the neck like a scarf which is held in place with a couple of snaps.  At least I think that's how it works, the instructions made no sense at all to me. The collar is not attached at the back neckline at all, and when I was wearing this version around in my sewing room I kept feeling the need to pull the collar down at the back.

I think I'd rather just sew a normal shirt and wear a scarf than deal with this complicated mess!  And of course, as I predicted the rest of it was a shapeless mess, too tight at the hips, too loose at the waist and bust.  The shiny satin fabric (from the stash) didn't help things either, so I didn't bother putting sleeves on this one - it's gone straight to the bin.

I could have left it at that because technically I did use a pattern out of the May issue, but it just so happens that I needed some new pyjama pants and there was pattern 5/2013 #117A looking every bit like pyjama pants even if the model is wearing a blazer and heels with her silk satin floral pants!

Using a floral cotton voile from the stash, bought several years ago from Spotlight on sale if I remember correctly, I managed to make these pants in about 2 hours max including tracing the pattern which is the most tedious bit.  I quite like the fabric (they are pyjama pants after all) although my husband thinks they look hilariously ugly.

No photos of me wearing them though, I'm sure none of you need to see me in my jarmies! They are such a simple thing to make, being just straight legged pants with a drawstring waist but surprisingly they are the illustrated pattern course in the magazine - further proof to me that Burda is focused more on the beginner sewists in my opinion.

The slim legs and side pockets differentiate this pattern from other pyjama pants patterns I have, although I don't particularly like the waistband treatment.  The top of the pants are merely folded down twice to make a casing with the raw edge enclosed which means that the pocket facing and hip piece are also folded over twice which makes the waistband a bit bulky and quite fiddly to push the waistband tie through as well.  If I were to make these again I think I would draft a separate waistband piece - it's not that much more effort to cut out and sew on a rectangular waistband to create a drawstring casing.

The waistband on the outside:

The waistband on the inside:

So happily I did get something useful out of this issue and next summer I may even make the vintage sheath dress pattern too as it's quite cute. Now I'm waiting for the June issue to land in my letterbox to see what this month's challenge will be - normally the issue arrives a few days before the start of the month so it's unusually slow this month. 

wadder recovery session

Things have been very quiet around here, sewing wise.  Not life wise though, I've had quite a few minor calamities these past two weeks.  I'm now 36 weeks pregnant, so I'm having the normal aches and pains and complaints that you would expect when this far gone.  But then a few days ago I slipped on the wet marble floor in the foyer of my office building, doing a gold medal worthy splits manoeuvre and landing on my knees, which are now bruised, swollen and sore and I've overstretched quite a few muscles as you can imagine.  I felt like quite the clumsy pregnant woman until I heard that someone else had also slipped in the foyer and broken a leg, so thankfully I wasn't that injured.  Now I have more reason to laze on the lounge, and even Anna is being quite helpful in fetching things when asked (too bad she doesn't yet grasp the concept of rubbing mummy's feet!).

And a few days before that I had a mild case of food poisoning which saw me spend a good 24 hours travelling between my bedroom and the bathroom (no further details required!).  And the week before that I went in for a routine skin cancer check and the specialist decided to take a biopsy of a mole that looked inflamed on my back, and then halfway through merrily announced that he "may as well" take the whole lot out.  I tried to tell him it was just a bit red because of the super dooper maternity bras I'm wearing these days, but I guess it's better to be safe than sorry.  The results came back with no concerns, except that I'm left with some stitches in my back which is less than comfortable.

Plus our dog has spent the a few days this week at the vets having his corneas transplanted to address some eye issues he was having (yes I am serious), which cost us about $4k and we now have to put drops and cream in his eyes as well as getting 6 tablets a day down his mouth.  And the poor thing looks so embarrassed because he's sporting a big plastic cone on his head!

So enough whinging and whining from me.  Looking on the bright side I only have 3 more days of work to go, and I'll get to meet my new baby in four (or so) weeks and find out the answer to the million dollar question: boy or girl?

I have been busy doing some virtual sewing though, planning an awesome winter wardrobe that is however conditional upon my waistline returning! Lots of colour, smart casual separates and best of all most of it from the stash.  However based on my previous experience the more I plan the less I sew to that plan, so we shall see.

Finally getting to the point of this post: the best way to recover from a wadder is to sew something simple that you know you'll have success - it boosts the self esteems and gives you back your sewing mojo.  So I decided to make some simple sleep shorts for myself, because even though we are having a total non summer (one of the wettest on record) and we've now moved into autumn, my pregnant body furnace is turned way up so these will come in very handy. 

I used some vintage sheets from the stash, some cotton lace from the stash and recycled a very stretchy knit t-shirt for the waistband and came up with these (3 pairs are already in the wash, but you get the idea):

About two hours of sewing, a small dent to the stash (ok so minuscule not even noticeable) and I have 5 pairs of very big girl bloomers to laze around in for the next few weeks.

So now that I've recovered I really must get on with some sewing, I plan to make some newborn sized cloth nappies, replace the elastic in the cloth nappies I made for Anna, sew a change pad cover and make a few cozy cardigans and jackets for Anna and the baby.  This baby had better not come early!  Latest belly shot is looking quite round, but I'm not sure if it's dropped enough to say that it is imminent:

why is it raining?

I'll tell you why - because I am in the middle of building works and have a tight schedule! Seriously, most of Australia doesn't receive enough rain, and we have been in drought for years but as soon as I start demolishing part of my house it starts raining and now I'm hoping the tarps over the roof keep the rain out. But I can still hear the builders out the back excavating and banging and cutting and making other building like noises, so that sound (whilst annoying) is comforting to know that work continues.

Yesterday though I was not entirely happy - I came home from work to discover building supplies stacked up in the front yard and down the sides of the house, so much so that the path to the front door was completely blocked and I had to crawl on hands and knees beneath a small tree to get in the house. It must have been quite a sight, a 7 month pregnant women wearing a dress crawling in her front garden! Anyway once inside I discovered that we had no water or sewer connection, lucky we have great neighbours who let us use their toilet and shower last night.

But the real problem was that the dog is being kept in an enclosure down one side of the house during the day when building is occurring, and I could hear him crying and barking to get out but I couldn't get to him because of all the building supplies! I had to walk around the block to get into the backyard via our back lane, climb down through the excavated section which was all muddy, move some building supplies to let him out. Then the little princess wouldn't walk in the mud so I had to carry him out to the back lane - remember this is a big dalmatian weighing nearly 30kgs!

So today I'm home from work on sick leave - feeling a bit sore and exhausted, I guess being pregnant is finally catching up with me! The water and sewer have been reconnected, work is continuing and all is well again. But since it is raining it is a good time to lay on the lounge writing and reading blog posts.....

And what better to lounge around in than new pyjamas? I could have done the simple thing and bought some new pyjamas, they are relatively cheap after all but why do that when I have so many cottons in the stash and patterns just waiting to be used? So I made four pairs of pyjamas using the kimono top pattern from BWOF 12/07, and for the pants I used a now OOP Style 1012 simple elastic waist straight leg pants pattern.

Both patterns are extremely simple and quick to make, and oh so comfortable! Although the wrap top sits a little awkwardly because I need to tie it either above or below my huge belly, neither positions are where the tie is supposed to sit so it gapes a little, but I won't change it because it will fit fine post pregnancy. And being a wrap top it is ideal for breastfeeding - I've heard that new mums spend loads of time in their pyjamas, so now at least I'll look decent! The fabrics I used are all from the stash:

The yellow polka dot and green floral are both thrifted sheets, while the yellow gingham and red polka dot are garage sale scores, and the pink floral and multi colour jumbo polka dot are long term stash residents. I just need to find a contrasting fabric for the jumbo polka dot so I can put the bands around the pant leg and kimono top and I'll be all done.

The antenatal class on Sunday was really great - yes the videos of actual births were graphic and horrifying, but I guess educational and the midwife running the course was fantastic. She was very informative and reassuring, and we got to do a tour of the hospital which is quite new so everything is spacious and modern. All the birthing rooms have big bath tubs, windows that overlook a nice garden (though I doubt I'll be admiring the view when the time comes!) and the hospital is the main maternity hospital in NSW (RPA for you Sydneysiders) where sick women and babies get transferred to from all over the country, they have a full time surgical team and anaesthetist on the ward if an emergency arises or an epidural is needed ASAP!

The funny thing is there were four other ladies there who are due on the same day as me (by the way Jean the estimated due day is Christmas day) and we were all worried about the same thing: staffing levels due to the holiday period! But we were told its business as usual so it makes no difference. And the other funny thing is that we were all so different in size, I've said it before that I feel huge but see other women bigger, well these others at the same stage of pregnancy were way more ginormous than me so I shan't whinge again. That said, my belly has rounded out nicely now, and yesterday morning the bus driver told me I was a sexy mum to be which is a bit creepy actually but still made me feel better at 7am on a Monday morning......