comfy shoes? um, not yet.....

I had a little laugh at Lindsay T's comment on the last post about the shoes I am wearing in that photo. Some of you long time readers may remember my very shallow concerns when I first got pregnant about what shoes I would wear since I predominantly only heels only. Then Vicki assured me that her assistant wore heels up to 8 months and I decided she is my role model and as a result I am still wearing my normal high heels now. I just don't feel dressed properly without heels.

I've been very lucky so far not to get swollen feet or ankles, back or hip pain and in fact apart from being a little breathless and having difficulty rolling over in bed it's almost like I'm not pregnant at all (except for a ginormous growth preceding me by wherever I go!) so it hasn't been a problem so far. My secret to wearing heels all the time is my foot spa. I don't understand why the humble foot spa always makes the list of most useless and unwanted chrisse presents every year, because I love love love mine and use it several times a week, usually while watching tv or on the computer. Then I get my husband to massage cream onto my feet which is the best bit, although he will soon need to paint my toenails too 'cos I nearly can't reach ha ha ha.

But the general vibe I've been getting from many women about child birth is this:

I do have a pretty high pain tolerance level, and so far I'm adopting my usual 'she'll be right mate' attitude, so I'm not overly worried about it (at this stage anyway!). But to cheer me up post birth, and to glide around the maternity ward in a most chic manner, I made some slippers and an eye mask to match a pair of the kimono pyjamas I made recently:

How cute are these? I used the free Alice slipper and Marcel eye mask patterns over at Burda Style, and made them from cotton in red polka dot and pink floral. I added a yo-yo and button to the slippers for decoration. So I guess these count as comfy shoes in a way, although I have to admit I've been eyeing off a new pair of strappy summer heels that have now gone on sale so I might just need to acquire them.....

In other news I've been tagged, but man it's hard to think of interesting answers to those questions so I may leave that for another day. Especially since I need to do my tax tonight - the deadline for submitting a tax return is tomorrow (I've only had since the end of the financial year in July so I have been extremely slack). It's a good thing that the Aussie government has reached the modern age and it can be lodged on-line. Oh well, I'm off to do some creative accounting......

what a weekend - 3 handmade gifts and another UFO done!

Well I had a very productive weekend starting and finishing three handsewn gifts for friends, and finishing off a UFO to boot! All this on top of the usual fun and frivolity of housework and washing and going out on Sunday afternoon.

I had a few bevvies and dinner with three close friends on Sunday evening, one of whom I haven't seen for ages and is now pregnant with her first baby. So I wanted to make something special for her to celebrate her pending addition to the family, and I came up with this cute little wrap top, pants and cap, using New Look 6310:

I made it from a lovely soft cotton jersey in a charcoal grey colour with red bias binding trim. I thought this was a gender neutral colour choice, but looking at the finished outfit I think it looks a like a little ninja outfit! It was so simple to make, and the whole outfit took half a day because there are no facings and the sleeves go in flat. A few of the techniques used are different from big people's clothes, such as finishing the hems before sewing the side seams, but I guess this is because it's very hard to get your hands in those small arms and legs to sew in the round!

Next up I made a sleeping / eye mask for a friend after seeing this naughty one from Urban Outfitters that says "F*ck Off" on it, so I thought I would do something equally obnoxious, but tempered by a sweet pink and white colour theme, since my friend is equally sweet and obnoxious (please scroll down really fast if you are easily offended!):

It's made from some pink and white stripe cotton, with white cotton flannel backing and pink lingerie elastic, using the free Marcel template over at Burda Style. The text is just printed on t-shirt transfer paper using a vintage font from the fontdiner. My friend thought it was hilariously funny, so the joke hit the mark!

And because I didn't want my third friend to feel left out, I made her a pair of slippers again from the free Alice pattern also over at Burda Style, from some scraps of lovely soft grey wool flannel with layers of wool melton fabric sandwiched in between for softness. And for durability I used the rubber soles from freebie disposable slippers I picked up at a classy hotel last time I stayed in one. Put on some buttons for decoration and I think they're pretty cute. And so did my friend.

And finally, I wanted something new to wear out, and remembering my promise to myself to finish a UFO for every new garment made, I finally got around to finishing this simple jacket I started at least a year ago:

I orginially wanted this jacket to be a soft and lightweight summer jacket, as the red polka dot fabric is a light brushed cotton, so I lined it with cotton poplin and didn't use much interfacing. But of course that didn't work, because linings need to be slippery to slide over the clothes worn underneath. So I ripped it apart and it became a UFO. But since I love the fabric I decided to finally finish it by interfacing the collar, neck and front facings, sleeve and jacket hems, and lining it with some polyester lining. But I couldn't remember what pattern I used to make this, and I had somehow lost all the facings, so I just made an exact copy of the outer jacket and had the lining go right to the edge. I also used the cotton poplin back lining piece as an underlining to give the body a bit more structure.

And because I knew the lining would show as there are no facings, I used a funky eggplant purple colour lining picked up in the recent Remnant Warehouse sale for $1/m. I haven't put any buttons on it yet 'cos I haven't found any quite right, but I think it's now moved from the UFO category to wearable WIP category (yeah, that exists for me sadly).

Photo credits go to my husband - yes I am standing in the middle of the street but that's so me and the Sydney Harbour bridge can be in the photo, but since this was taken down in the Rocks (a heritage precinct in Sydney) there were brides galore getting their photos taken in random places for that gritty, urban and unexpected kind of scene.