Internet starvation, and a birthday dress

I am finally home from our annual pilgrimage north to spend time with the inlaws.  As much as I love visiting my husband's parents, not having to cook or clean or wash and getting to spend time with my husband and kids (much easier when there's two of us against the two of them!) it's also nice to be home.  We did manage to squeeze in a mini holiday to a lovely beach resort on the sunshine coast, which was great, but there's only so much sun and heat I can handle.  Ironically we returned home to a Sydney heatwave, the hottest day in 150 years apparently at 42 C (107.6F).

Apologies for the blog silence around here,  pre Christmas was very busy for me and internet access the past few weeks has been sparse and sporadic.  I'm not one of those people who find a technology break refreshing - dear internet, blog and blog readers I missed you! I'm such a newshound that not being able to access several newspapers each day made me feel quite isolated, and of course I've missed reading every one's blogs, especially the end of year roundups.

And being away from home also meant being away from my sewing machine and no sewing so far.  But I can reveal the pink princess dress I sewed for Anna for a Christmas present, using McCalls 4948 which is the same pattern I used for her Halloween costume:

To say she loves it, and the tiara and little plastic heels would be understatement (despite her cranky look above - it was Christmas morning and she didn't want to stop for photos). It's good to have a handmade present so well received.  I also made a few wristlet purses from scrap fabrics (recognise the green drill and black floral?) with movie tickets tucked inside for Anna's teachers at her daycare centre:

Anna turned 4 while we were away on holidays.  Four already, can you believe it?!  For her birthday dress I made Burda 7/2011 #148 from a blue cotton floral, with a white cotton eyelet fabric bib on the front:

Amazingly for a Burda pattern the sizing is pretty spot on and the instructions were sort of clear but it's a pretty simple dress anyway.  The only annoying part is that the triangular bib is actually a lace motif that is appliqued onto the dress last.  Since I didn't have a lace motif handy, I just cut a triangle shape of fabric matching the curve of the neckline, finished the edges by rolled edge on my overlocker and then topstitched it down.  If I was to make this again I would sew on the bib first before finishing the neckline edge.  If you're interested, here is her 3rd, 2nd and 1st birthday dresses.

And now I need to make pirate eye patches, cardboard tube telescopes and drawstring bags for a birthday party we're having for Anna next week before I can get stuck into my real sewing - I need to get back on track with my Burda challenge!

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!)

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*.

getting back into garment sewing

mochimo, you hit the nail on the head with your comment to my last post - I'm missing garment sewing around here too! Making clothes is far more satisfying than home dec sewing or nappies (shudder at the memory of my stuff up there), and since mother's day was just last weekend I decided to make a skirt for my mum to go with a purchased top. Not that my mum often wears skirts, but I figure that if I keep giving her skirts she may one day wear them at least once and gradually change her mind (hint hint if you're reading this mum!). Her excuse is that she needs some new shoes to wear with a skirt - seriously sometimes I can't believe we're related.....

Sorry for the bad photo, I should have ironed the skirt because it doesn't have a seam or crease down the front, it just looks that way. Also I have lost the legs to my dressmakers dummy somewhere along the way between it being stored at my parents house and now being moved into my sewing room, which is why it is sitting funnily perched on the edge of my desk.

I used Simplicity 5914, which is a six panel skirt that I've made several times before for myself here and here. I think it is a good pattern to use when sewing for another person who isn't available for fitting, because with the six panels there are plenty of seams to gradually take the skirt in or out depending on what is needed without affecting the line of the skirt too much. It's also really quick despite having six panels, because it has a facing instead of a waistband and is unlined, although other versions I've made I have lined.

The fabric I used is a light brown houndstooth check of unknown fabric content which was given to me several years ago by my neighbour who is a pattern cutter that works for a clothing manufacturer which must be one of the few left here in Sydney. The good thing about her job is that she often brings remnants of fabrics used in the previous seasons fashions and sometimes passes them onto me - the best kind of neighbour!

I'm pretty happy with the way the skirt turned out, and since there is enough fabric left I may just make one for myself. I swore to myself that I wouldn't wear mummy and me outfits with Anna, but as long as I don't wear it when my mum is wearing hers it should be ok! And this skirt seriously took about hour to cut out and sew, so I have time to make it before I delve back into the arduous task of re-making those blasted nappies (the right way this time!).

Anyway I hope you all had a great mother's day, either celebrating your mother or celebrating as a mother. This is my first year with a foot in both camps and my husband went all out to make it special. The cynic in me however suspects he did that to ensure he gets the same treatment come father's day! He got up early and made a nice breakfast and even though in all seriousness I wanted a new pair of slippers (I know, very cliched) he gave me one of those Ipod speaker systems for my sewing room. Just saying 'sewing room' makes my heart flutter with excitement, although it is a massive mess at the moment because I have just been moving things into the room and haven't sorted anything out as yet. Just another thing to do......

year of trying to live with less stuff

in an effort to dislodge this procrastinating baby out of its home, I've been trying to keep as active and moving around as much as possible. My husband and I went to a museum where I watched the frazzled mothers trying to keep control of their boisterous kids, and no doubt they were looking at me thinking 'just you wait!'. We've also wandered through the crowded shopping centres checking out the post christmas sales but honestly this year I'm a bit 'meh' about shopping and didn't buy anything at all. Sure things are heavily discounted, but nothing appealed at all.

Maybe it's because my body and feet are too fat to try anything on, but I'm hoping it's more because I'm over accumulating stuff. I'm starting to feel seriously claustrophobic in our half house with all of our posessions crammed in while building works are going on, and I finally managed to move the last of my stash out of the baby's room and literally into nearly every other room of my house including several large bags at my parents house (I realise how much I actually have now which made partly ashamed but mostly deliriously happy!). I'm sure there will be an avalanche of things coming in to the house with the new baby, plus we'll be buying a few big ticket items (new lounge suite and tv) we've been putting off buying for a few years until we had finished renovating, so I'm going to make it my personal mission to reduce the amount of things that I personally buy and bring into this house for me at least. One step at a time I guess!

So what does this all mean? Well:

1. I know we all say this at one point in time, but a key thing for me this year will be buying less fabric and using more of my fabric and notions stash. I know I can probably hold off on buying fabric retail, but I may waiver when it comes to op shops and garage sales! But I am going to limit myself to buying new fabric only for project specific requirements if the stash doesn't hold what I need (but that's unlikely) but I'm also going to plan future projects on fabric and patterns I already have to minise this happening.

2. Finish off my UFOs because they represent a waste of my time, money and space plus they are a lost opportunity for a new outfit. Although some of these will depend on regaining my previous body measurments to make them work.

3. Refashion even more clothes this year than last, because I have a huge collection of clothes from my gran and other sources that just need a tweaking to give them a fresh start at life.

4. Use up toiletries and cosmetics before buying new ones - I can't believe how many barely used bottles of bath gels, moisturisers, sun screens, eyeshadows etc that are accumulating in my bathroom!

5. For every thing that comes into the house, I'm going to try to get one thing out either to someone who will love it or to a charity shop.

So whilst I'm sitting around waiting, I put number 3 on the list into action and refashioned a stretched out white t-shirt into a front opening nursing friendly top by cutting it open down the centre front, sewing on a placket from scrap fabric, added some fabric around the armbands for decoration and put on some big white buttons from the stash. And now I have a top to match some pyjamas bottoms I made recently at no cost to me:

From this, a stretched out white cotton t-shirt that has seen better days but isn't ready for the rag bag yet...

.....to this, a sweet new top to match some pyamas bottoms

Also now that christmas is done and dusted I can share with you the presents I made. For my mum I made some loose black linen elastic waist pants and a jacket made from a cotton sateen in a black and white chrysantheum print that I bought from Spotlight eons ago. I used Simplicity 3874 for the jacket, which I've made three times before for myself in red, as part of a skirt suit and from a repurposed curtain. I added a self covered large button and a ribbon loop enclosure because it does sit better when closed, and I used the black linen for the contrast fabric to match it to the pants.

I also whipped up this quick bag (no pattern, just winged it) instead of using wrapping paper to present it to my mum. It's from a small piece of home dec fabric I had in the stash bought from an op shop and lined with some grey cotton also from the stash. It turned out pretty good since I didn't use a pattern, I basically just folded the fabric in half and squared off the bottom, and added a top band and handles:

For my husband I made a small bag for his golf tees (again no pattern just a rectangle with a zipper), and a larger bag for his golf shoes using this simple box bag tutorial over at dragon[knit]fly blog. The black fabric is some leftover black cotton from the stash, the shoe bag is lined with a plastic coated bag that came free with the Sunday newspaper last year for runners in the City to Surf 14km 'fun run' (the biggest oxymoron I've ever heard). I added some red and grey bias trim to match the colour scheme of his golf bag and he was suitably impressed:

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.