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!

Dress to see santa

I've just notched up another parenting milestone - the annual torture of getting a photo taken with Santa Claus! Despite getting to the department store before the 9.30am start time, there was quite a queue and we waited 45 minutes to get our photo. I spent that time showing Anna all the christmassy stuff trying to get her used to it all, but to no avail because as soon as she got close to Santa there were tears and screams and lots of them!

So Anna's first christmas photo turned into an impromptu family portrait with Santa because the only way to get her to stop screaming was for me to hold her. She still didn't smile though, and this photo was the best of many that the photographer took (thank god for digital photography!):
Of course I had to make her a little outfit to have her photograph taken in. I made a simple little cotton dress with matching bloomers, and a detachable red spotted belt with a fabric yo yo on it.

For the dress I used a now OOP Butterick 400, which is a simple and basic pattern but which I knew fitted her having used it before. Again the line drawing on this pattern envelope is deceiving - it says one size only and shows a baby in the picture, yet Anna is nearly 12 months old now and it is still a little loose on her! I know she is a skinny baby, but this would be swimming on any baby younger. I left the fit a little loose though to make it easy to get on her, and just used the red belt to cinch it in. For the bloomers I just used a pattern from the Amy Butler Little Stitches for Little Ones book, again because I've used it before and I know it fits. And I'm trying to get my money's worth out of this book!

Originally I was just going to tie the red belt in a bow around Anna's chest, but the little munchkin kept pulling it apart and it sort of looked messy anyway. So I did what I did for the lilac top in my previous post - I put a press stud in the middle to join it but I also folded the ties down so they would hang down at just the right angle:

To cover the press stud and the folded section of the ties I put a fabric yo yo with a fabric covered button in the middle over the top of it which I think looks ultra cute and better than a bow: I also made some little shoes to match, which you don't see in the christmas photo because Anna kept pulling them off after about 2 seconds! But they are too cute:

I made these by adapting the free pattern for Heather Bailey's Bitty Booties. All I did was cut down the upper portion of the shoe, and sew in a ric rac ribbon tie.

And speaking of shoes, can any of you believe that I have gone practically all year without buying any new shoes at all?! Except slippers, which don't count, but I've gone through three pairs of those already. Long time readers would know I have a little shoe obsession, even having a special shoe cupboard for them and I spent almost my entire time pregnancy wondering about what shoes to wear (as it turned out, high heels still at 8 months). But I rectified that recently by acquiring these two pairs in the last few weeks:













The red heels are a birthday present from my parents and are actually of a sensible height to be very comfortable. And the sandals I bought on sale for 30% off and are a lovely coral colour with a very soft and safe rubber sole which is exactly what is needed when chasing a baby around who in the space of the last few days has decided to not only crawl but to climb stairs, walk around holding onto the furniture and stand up without holding onto anything at all!


Don't worry, the flyscreen door is closed in that last photo!

another UFO done and dusted

I had another night out with the ladies from my mother's group on Friday night, and now that they all know that I sew there is always an expectation from them that I will wear something new that I've made! It's fantastic motivation for me to get sewing, just what I need sometimes.... I was going to wear the black and white vintage dress I made recently but we were going to a Lebanese restaurant where you sit on floor cushions around a low table and a dress isn't too practical for that arrangement.

So I decided to finish off this top I started at least 2 or maybe even 3 years ago:

It's made from Vogue 7232 which seems to be OOP now although the patterns is probably only a few years old. I've made this from some lilac satin brocade that has a silver and gold flower pattern embroidered onto it which looks lovely in real life but was a total slippery pain in the butt fabric to sew and press. Probably one of the reasons it became a UFO really! I think from memory I started making this to wear to a specific event but didn't finish it in time and then never got around to finishing it. Hmmm, this seems to be a common reason for me now that I think about it.

It wasn't difficult to sew, but it was very difficult to do a fitting because the side seams are sewn absolutely last - it's basically two shells sewn together around the neckline and hem, turned out the right way and then sewn down the side seams leaving a small opening in the lining layer to slip stitch shut. This makes for a very neat finish but I couldn't really try on the top until this last step to make sure it fit properly, and as it turns out it didn't fit too well at all.

As usual with wrap tops, the front gaped open badly on me because of my rather concave chest (not even breastfeeding for nearly 12 months has helped me in that area!). The pattern really needed adjustment before cutting fabric to fix it, but since I was well past that stage I just pulled the two sides tightly across my bust and put some snaps in to hold it in place to fit rather than put the snaps in the marked places on the pattern. The result of this you can see in the photo above: the hem of one side doesn't lay exactly over the other side, instead it sits lower. But I can live with that, because the wrap around belt sort of takes away the attention from it.

The sides still gape a little, but it's not obscene:

The other problem is that the obi style belt is just a little too short to tie up properly because the fabric is so slippery is keeps untying every time I sit down. In the end I put a press stud on the ties to hold them shut and then just tied the fabric over it. Whatever it takes to make it work right?!

Anyway it's out of the big box of UFOs and into the wardrobe and that's what matters. I've also half made View A (the version in the middle) in a lovely white stretch cotton poplin but it is also sitting in the big box of UFOs too! I don't know if you can see my handwriting on the pattern, but I've written that the top is way too short and the sleeves are way too long. Again I should have done a tissue fit or even (gulp!) a muslin. I have plans of saving this top by sewing a contrasting band around the bottom of the shirt so that it finishes below the waistband of my pants and skirts rather than leaving a very unflattering inch or so of skin between the hem of the shirt and top of my pants.

All I can say is be suspicious, very suspicious, of patterns that only have line drawings and not photographs of the finished garments on the pattern envelope - I always get tripped up by them!

not your usual DVF

Think Diane Von Furstenberg and you automatically think a fabulous dress, in particular a wrap dress, correct? In fact I even have this dress pattern picked up from an op shop (of course) but not yet sewn:

Well I was giving my magazine collection (hoard) a clean out recently and was flicking through some old InStyle magazines when this picture from her spring/summer 2007 collection caught my eye:

I immediately thought of my red linen BWOF shorts I recently made, because I've been struggling to find a top to wear with it other than a boring white or grey t-shirt. So I made this:

It's from Simplicity 4589, which is a super simple top with a great square neckline. I made this from some black and white check cotton which looks like gingham but is a thicker fabric and has a slight crinkle to it, paired with a plain black neckband to save matching the checks! All stash material which is a bonus.

I've made this top several times before, and because it's gathered across the front and back it has a tendency to balloon out and look a little maternity. In fact I made a version of this in a nursing/post pregnancy top with just a little tweaking. So instead of gathering I put one inverted pleat at the front and the back, so it sits much better although it still balloons out at the back a little, but I can live with it:

Anyway I'm on hyperdrive for my sewing this week, I have a bunch of things cut out and pinned together so all I have to do is find some time to sit down and sew them production line style. Nothing like a looming deadline for motivation!

it's beginning to look a tiny bit like christmas round here

I don't think you all need me to remind you that it's only about 2 weeks until christmas! Yikes, I had so much planned, but like all good plans most of it I won't have time to complete - there's always next year though.....

I have been doing quite a bit lately though, just haven't got any photos because it's been far too hot and sweaty in these parts for a decent photo. My latest obsession is making these felt christmas ornaments from the tutorial over at Zakka Life:

They are super easy to make and although I don't normally like hand sewing it's pretty fun seeing them come to life from a flat pile of felt circles to a round ball. The good thing about them is that they are baby friendly, indeed a few have already seen in the insides of Anna's mouth and came out looking ok. This is my minimalist version of a christmas tree for our house:

I've been picking up twigs from the streets when I'm out walking with Anna so I must look like a right nutbag to anyone passing by! I had intended to paint them white, but I'd say that's one of the things that may get done next year. I put them in a vase wrapped with hessian and secured with red ribbon - too easy. We're generally not home at christmas, going to both sets of in-laws on christmas and boxing days and so have never really made a fuss of christmas decorations before and would you believe we do not own a single strand of tinsel or even a can of fake spray on snow.

I've also been making some little drawstring bags to use for gift bags instead of wrapping paper. I just loosely based their size on the gifts they are to contain, and then sewed some rectangles of curtain fabric overlayed with some colourful fabric. I did it this way because the fabrics I chose were thin cottons and I didn't think they'd be strong enough to survive long term. Aren't they pretty? Although I suspect little kids love the wrapping paper the most so I may be dudding them from some good old fashioned paper wripping up fun.....

And in on going house renovation news the kitchen benchtop is on (after two long days due to our house being old and the walls being very un-straight!), the new cupboards are installed and all that stuff is off my dining table and back into the pantry. Now we're on the search for some new tiles for the splashback, so I'd say we're looking at next year before it's fully finished *sigh*.

I won the Sew Retro contest!

Yay for lucky old me, I've scored a $100 gift voucher from ZipZapKap Vintage Sewing Patterns etsy shop for winning the party dress competition over at Sew Retro! I can't believe it, I seriously never win anything except for one time I won $800 at bingo but a little old lady had all the numbers as well so we had to split it :(

Even more unbelievable is that I actually finished my entry on time - there's been quite a few that I attempted but just didn't quite get there in time. Too bad this was randomly drawn, 'cos otherwise I would be talking up my phenomenally exceptional sewing skills.....

But anyway thanks to Anna at Sew Retro for organising the competition, and thanks to Katherine from ZipZapKap for the fantastic prize. I'm having buyers paralysis trying to pick which patterns to buy with the voucher, there are too many to choose from!

Carolyn - don't remind me about going back to work! Now that I've got Anna sleeping regularly in the day and through the night I am enjoying being home and doing crafty type things. But I'll only be working three days a week, so plenty of time to get sewing done as long as I ignore the housework, exercise and my husband!

Miss Sews It All - if I tried to finish all my UFOs before starting anything new there's a very strong chance I would never sew anything new ever again! But to assuage my guilt about the waste I do force myself to finish one every now and then.
Pammie - don't be too jealous of our warm weather, it has been unbelievably hot lately and it's only just the very beginning of summer. Sadly our house needed rewiring if we wanted air conditioning so we just swelter on days that it gets well above 30c degrees (86F).

And thank you to the lovely Eileen who emailed me to say she loves reading about life here in Australia and Anna's capers and hopes that I still have time to blog when I go back to work. Don't worry about that Eileen, I'll probably have more time to blog when I'm back at work, I'd say about three more days LOL!

And since I don't like posting without a picture, have a look at my dining room at the moment and see if you can spot what is wrong with this picture:

Yes that would be my kitchen sink and stove top sitting in what is my pantry cupboard lying sideways on the dining room floor. And yes that is the entire content of my kitchen pantry on the dining table, the contents of other cupboards are strewn throughout the rest of the house! We are having a new stone benchtop and some extra cupboards installed in the kitchen at the moment since we enlarged the kitchen during the recent remodelling of the house. So yeah, add this to the post I did the other day of 'this time last year' because this time last year I was still stupidly optimistic it would all be finished before Anna was born. Ha ha ha silly old me....

But look very closely and you'll see two drops of the curtains that I've been putting off hanging there in the background. They aren't quite finished yet as the hems are just pinned up at the moment, but it's a start!