One Metre of Mushroom Fabric

 I'll admit that the price of the good European jersey knits has put me off buying them in the past. It seemed a little much to make everyday clothes for the girls. So when I saw this mushroom fabric was on sale at Crafty Mamas Fabrics I thought I would buy it for a birthday dress. After making the dress I realized that there was quite a bit left from the one metre I bought. I thought I would try and use as much of it as I could. The girls really need some basic t-shirts for winter so I used the Tee for Two pattern from Figgy's. I can't seem to find it on their site. It might be out of print which is a shame as it is a really great basic. I'm glad I bought it in both sizes when I did.

 I managed to cut the front and back and the neck band in the 12 month size for Olive. It is a little big now, but will be great later in winter.

I managed to cut out the same in a size 8 and there was a little left to cut some extra sleeve bands and a neckband. I used some left over stripes I had and some red cotton/elastane jersey from Spotlight for the rest of the tops. I shortened the sleeves a little and added bands like the Skater Dress.

Of course my girls wanted their tops to be same same, but different. So they were very happy with these. They were in a funny, crazy mood this afternoon and these were the best pictures I took.

I never think of my girls looking the same, but I could really see it in this picture.

All that remains is a little pile of scraps. One metre of jersey goes a long way and it is great quality. I'm so impressed there may be a little more on its way to me.

New Bag

I had a bit of a bag clean out recently, quite a few were very tatty and for someone who rarely wears makeup a lot of my bags seemed to have lip gloss squished into the bottom.

I bought a couple of pairs of leather straps off Etsy recently (search for leather handles, you will find lots) and used a pair about 16" long with some fabric called Stamped by Ellen Luckett Baker.

 I drafted a pattern and made the lining first so I wouldn't waste the good fabric if it all went wrong. I added a pocket for keys and my phone and some sew in magnetic snaps to close it.

I added a couple of pleats to the bottom piece and some darts to the bottom to add shape.

 The handles were pre punched so they were quite easy to sew in. I used a backstitch. It looks nice and neat on the outside, but to be perfectly honest the inside is a little messy due to my impatience at getting it finished.

 I prefer messenger type bags, but it is tricky to wear bags with a strap across your body when you are wearing a baby so this will be easy to grab to take to the shops when I am wearing Olive.

Little Ellie

I love testing patterns for Marina of Wink Designs. I know that they really won't need testing. They are always well written and she has thoroughly tested them herself first. This is the Little Ellie Dress. Of course I had to make two, my girls still like to wear the same things in different fabrics. All of these fabrics have come from Spotlight over the last few years. The dress on the left is made from quilting cotton and on the right is a patchwork cotton and some lightweight denim. 

My girls love to wear smocks and tops over leggings and long sleeved shirts in winter so these are going to be perfect for the coming winter and I know I will be making more next summer.

Cot Quilts

A new quilt pattern. This is the perfect pattern for those of us with the odd layer cake (or more!) in our stash. You can make both of these quilts with forty 10" squares. Perfect as cot quilts, lap quilts, baby floor mats or little picnic rugs. Both quilts use twenty 10" squares and some background fabric. I used Boho by Urban Chicks for Moda. Now available in my shop, on Etsy and on Craftsy.

 This one measures 44" x 48". It can also be made with charm squares.

 

 This one measures 40" x 44". I quilted both using my walking foot. One has slightly wonky vertical lines and the other has slightly wonky horizontal lines.

 I love this fabric by Sandi Henderson. I used it as the backing for both quilts.  I really should have bought more of this. I would love to make a whole cloth quilt out of it. I think it would make the perfect picnic blanket.

Molly the Hippo

Parts of this hippo doll have been floating around my sewing room for quite some time. I wanted it to have an exaggerated head, but not too big. I had  go a few times at making it right, but various heads sat on my cutting table until last week when I thought I would make one for Eva. Nothing like have a birthday deadline to get you sewing and fixing some design problems. I think she is the perfect huggable size for a 5 year old. She was immediately called Molly and has been tucked under her arm ever since.

I can't promise that the pattern will be ready soon, but it is on the list!

 

 

 

Skater Dress

Someone turned 5 today!! There is has been so much excitement all week and quite a lot of cake.

This dress was not really a surprise as Evie had seen the fabric in my room and loved it so I showed her the Skater Dress pattern and got a big thumbs up. There is nothing better then sewing a great pattern using really good quality fabric. These mushrooms came from Crafty Mamas Fabrics and is cotton/elastane which is beautiful to sew and keeps its shape after washing.

 

This is a fairly simple dress, but it has nice lines, the skirt flares nicely and it has bands on the sleeves.

You sew the neckband on after sewing one shoulder together, but I think next time I'll just do it after I sew both shoulders together

 I can see myself sewing a few of these over the next few years.

The Shirt That Might Not Be

I had high hopes for this shirt for Chris. Ok, to be honest I was really hoping I would make a muslin, it would fit perfectly and I'd make another one without needing to make any adjustments. I was deluded. Kwik Sew 3422 is a great pattern to follow, lovely features, it went together really well, but it doesn't fit properly. It runs pretty big, but I don't think just making a smaller size will fix how it fits.

So now I have to decide what to do, have a go at fixing all the fitting problems or start again. Do I try the Negroni which was my original plan?

Quilting and Kayaking

I thought we had seen the last of summer a few weeks ago, but it is back again for one last week. Friends suggested we go down to the river yesterday and I am glad they did. The big girls had a go on the kayak all by themselves and they loved it. The river is low and calm at this time of the year which is perfect for learning. Chris has a dream where we own a collection of kayaks and canoes and we go out a lot as a family. I couldn't see it in the past, but I can see how great that would be as the girls get older.

I had time for a little quilting this morning, I wasn't too sure how to quilt this quilt so  followed the simple rule - if in doubt use kind of wonky, kind of straight lines, you can't go wrong.

Knitting and Fabric

I love seed stitch. I love the way it looks and the way it feels. I will change garter stitch on patterns and turn it into seed stitch. There is just one small problem, I do not love knitting it. I don't even like knitting it. I have 2 1/2" to knit in fingering weight. A couple of rounds a day. I know it will be worth it.

 How great is this fabric? It is Boho by Urban Chiks for Moda.

Baby Hat



I hope you all had a lovely Easter weekend. We headed further south (like most of Western Australia) and had a wonderful weekend with family. It was over too soon and we are back to the realities of washing and cleaning the house.

The weather is changing and the one thing I have about babies is that they can never have too many hats, especially in winter. You need light ones for inside and heavier, warmer ones for outside. I have a couple of skeins of the ms. gusset cormo which is so amazingly soft and perfect for babies so I searched Ravelry for an interesting pattern with ear flaps. Eventually I found this one and bought the pattern from Etsy.

I made the larger size. It is a little big so it will fit her for ages. I knit it with the undyed cormo and had planned to dye after I finished when I decided on the colour I wanted, but I love the cream colour and will leave it as it is. More details on ravelry.