All dressed up

As promised, and before January 2014 fades into recent history, I'm popping in today to share some pics of us at my brother's wedding.  Luckily they were married in the space between a couple of Melbourne heatwaves and also dodged the downpour and drizzle of the day before.  They had a perfect ceremony in the garden in the late afternoon sun and then the most fun reception in a gorgeous old house in a romantically leafy street.  It think one of the most picturesque places you can get in Melbourne.

As the only guests with children we had a surprisingly great time, the kids loved it - there were uncles, aunts and grandparents to have fun with, endless amounts of bubbles to blow from little mini champagne bottles and while everyone was looking at the bride alighting from the carriage I'm sure my boys had their eyes fixed on the two handsome horses pulling it.  We trotted the kids back to our accommodation for bed at the appropriate times and thanks to two lovely school friends of mine they were taken care of while my husband and I enjoyed some adult time.  Its so rare for us to be dressed up and out together that I think we would have enjoyed ourselves no matter what!

And the boys outfits - a total success for handmade!  They suited the formal occasion perfectly and gave the boys a sense of importance and inclusion amongst all that adult company.  A few people spoke to me about their little outfits and I wasn't shy about explaining how they were made...and then someone asked me if I had made my own dress...well no, but maybe there will be another time for such a project.

Everyone loves wedding photos so without further ado, here's a selection:

 

And finally, one of my favourite pictures from the afternoon, me and my brothers and my crazy toddler chasing bubbles and getting in the way of an otherwise great photo - love that kid to pieces.

Summer days :: a no sew zone, almost

Not much sewing going on here at the moment, I'm flat out just muddling my way through the summer school holidays with two little boys.  Trips to museums, galleries, the movies, a theatre show, a puppet show, swimming lessons and water play with friends at the local pool.  Mucking about under the sprinkler in the garden, Saturday afternoons on the beach, watching The Muppet Show on DVD, coping with the odd heatwave and a short but sharp runny nose thing that swept through our family.  I'm exhausted just thinking about all that we've done.

In my "spare" time I have squeezed in making a couple of pairs of pants for the boys to finish these outfits for my brother's wedding this coming weekend.

They are Made by Rae's Parsley pants pattern with pouch pockets and the tuxedo stripe options, in a charcoal quilting cotton.  I took a little bit of the flare out of the leg and also for the first time made a flat front pant.  The pants are an easy make even though there were lots of new little details I've never tried in pants making before.  The final fit is really great and the boys can't wait to wear them - win, win.  I'll treat you to a few pics of them in their outfits in due course.

I've also started to make what is possibly one of the easiest garments to sew and it's taking me the longest time ever to finish them...I'm making some sweet pillowcase dresses from some lovely embroidered pillowcases I've had in my stash for some time.

These dresses will be headed for the shop in a few weeks once school goes back and I have time to set up my photography gear sans seventy billion interruptions.

We are off to Melbourne tomorrow (eek, I've still got to pack!) and returning just in time for the first day of the new school year.  If you want to follow what we get up to just come and follow me on Instagram.

Makes 2013 :: looking forward to 2014

Hello 2014!

I really thought 2013 was going to be a year of change for me, and while it didn't really pan out that way I learned to accept things more and enjoy this moment in time in my life.  Particularly in the second half of the year I realised how lucky I am with my little family and our relatively trouble free life.  I ate better, I slept better, I felt happier, I embraced the every day more and worried less about the "should have, could have, would have".  I was offered a great job and then was un-offered it which was just crushing but it made me start to make some serious plans and find connections that were there just waiting for me all along.  The big changes I was looking for didn't happen but in the end I think I was happier for that.

That said, I hope again that there's going to be a lot of changes for me this year, I'm ready to shake off the full time stay at home mum label, I'm ready to use that teaching qualification I finished four years ago, I'm ready for more sewing and ready for having more fun with photography and I'm ready for a few changes to this blog for sure, nothing like a little shake up and refresh. A new look and a slight name change are brewing in my mind, but I will be tackling that all in good time (I've got my fourth party of guests for the holiday season arriving this afternoon...toilets need cleaning and beds need making!)

Due to a lack of access to my sewing room over the Christmas/New Years break I thought I'd start the year by looking back at some of my favourite makes for 2013 ::

I've never done a recap of a whole year of sewing and making before and I'm really pleased to see it all laid out like this.  A range of clothes for my boys (who says boys are hard to sew for!), skirts, tops and dresses for me, a spot of crochet, one cushion, one daycare blanket, one hat, one toy and some quilt blocks started this time last year that remain unprogressed 365 days later.  I started experimenting with knit fabrics (I'm still in the experimental phase there I think), did a good amount of upcycling/refashioning from found fabrics and op-shop garments and took part in some community sewing events such as Selfish Sewing Week and Kids Clothes Week (which is on again soon by the way, click here to find out more).  I also started making the clothing in my shop to a better standard, taking time to add trims and pockets and buttons that give the items a little more finished and polished look, and I've got plans to sew some new patterns to increase the range of things on offer there.  (I say every year that I must do more with my shop but it never happens, it remains a study in what happens when you put things for sale on the internet and then never promote them! And I'm happy with that right now.)

Here's hoping that 2014 is a happy year for you.

Now, lets get sewing!

Holiday fun :: the end of 2013

Summer holidays are on and we are all at home.  We've been alternating between relaxing together and preparing for the Christmas celebrations.  Interstate and overseas guests are joining us this year so it's going to be a full house of laughter, stories, conversations, music and eating up a storm.  I think this will be my last blog post for 2013, time is sparce for blogging.  I'll leave you with some holiday pictures from the last few weeks:

:: we've been playing and tidying up in the garden ::

:: I've been keeping the kids amused sewing them some new pillowcases.  We went fabric shopping together and found the Christmas fabric to be basically sold out so we went for Dr Seuss and dancing gnomes.  I call this photo "Thing One and Thing Two" ::

:: I also snuck in making a new green pillowcase for myself using some vintage sheet fabric scraps ::

:: and in between all this, and usually at nap and TV time, I've been sewing myself a new dress.  Another Washi dress from this beautiful navy linen, a recent op shop fabric find ::

:: I've finished a vintage sheet dress for the shop ::

:: and a book delivery in the mail has had me doing some dreaming and planning new sewing projects for 2014 ::

Thanks for reading along this year :: have a great Christmas and New Year's break and see you next year!  xx

Parsley pants test

Somewhere in the next two months I have to finish some formal outfits for the boys for a family wedding. I already made them some vests during Kids Clothes Week but I'm still pondering options for pants.

I have been buying a few patterns lately, one of which was the Parsley Pants pattern from Made by Rae.  I wanted to see if the style and fit was something I would use in a formal outfit, and also now that we are pretty much out of Big Butt Baby Pants stage its timely that I add another pants pattern to my collection.

From my stash cupboard I pulled out a lovely woven Indian cotton fabric in blue and white stripes and set to work on a test pair that would at least be good for everyday wear if everything went to plan.  I made a size 2 for my two year old and included the option for the box pleat pockets on the legs for a bit of fun.

They were good for playing...

...and good for eating...

...and good for climbing...

...and good for running away in a search for more biscuits.

So overall a success for the one wearing them!

My thoughts?  The fit is slim at the top and flared through the leg and I think I had in mind something with more of a straight fit, but that's something that would be easy to adjust.  They were also very long, I took up a heap of fabric into the hems.  I think I'll do some comparing with some store bought pants to see where I could tweak the fit a bit, and probably I should try them on with shirt and vest to see them as part of a whole outfit.  Some thinking to do here.

Have you made the Parsley pants pattern, what did you think?

One of those moments

We weekended away on an island and after a day of swimming and playing we had a bracing boat ride home with the wind in our hair.  Fresh sheets on the bed at bed time and he crawls into the crispy cotton with a sigh. "I love my Maisy pillow", he says with contentment. His childhood love of Maisy mouse and his Mama's love of sewing for him is wrapped up right there, warming my heart. Despite my own tiredness I read out loud a quick few chapters of his well read and loved Faraway Tree book and he's away to dreamtime.

KCW Fall 2013 :: Little Gentleman's Vest

A full Friday of sewing and photographing and its come time to do my wrap up of my efforts for Kids Clothes Week.

Mission ::
Make waistcoats for my two boys for upcoming family weddings and keep the project on a ridiculously small budget.

Pattern ::
A quick search on Etsy threw up a few pattern choices, one that caught my eye covered sizes for both my two year old and seven year old, plus it included a pattern for pants, so it was the stand out winner - the Little Gentleman's Pants and Vest pattern is available from the Peekaboo Pattern Shop for $8.50 (AUD). It's an instand download, print and stick job and it's beautifully easy to work from with detailed instructions. I used the 3T and 7 sizes.

Materials ::
This was the most time consuming part, a thorough search through my local fabric store saw me come away empty handed.  They simply don't sell suiting type fabrics, there probably isn't that much demand for them.  I wanted something (a) lightweight for wearing in the summer weather; (b) washable because it's kids wear after all; and (c) looked like a man's waistcoat.  Brainwave - head to the biggest second hand shop I know and search through the men's suits section.  I was initially going to buy a suit jacket until I realised that jackets have a lot of seams and tucks and pockets and linings so there isn't a whole lot of usable fabric in them. The suit pants were really the thing I need.  I steered clear of anything that looked too worn out and anything that was dry clean only....and for the grand price of $4 I found myself a large pair of polyester/viscose men's trousers, black with a fine white pin stripe - perfect!.  A quick wash and line dry and I was in business.

The choice of lining fabric also saw me spend about an hour in the fabric store.  I could have gone the way of the novelty lining, and this idea had merit for the fun factor and the vests could have been used in the dress up box after their official duties were done with, but I couldn't bring myself to do it.  I also shied away from a silky lining, in my head silky fabrics are hard to sew and easy to wreck and I didn't need the hassle.  In the end I chose a simple charcoal grey homespun cotton from the quilting section.

Construction ::
I laid out the pattern pieces on the trousers, I cut the smaller size 3T vest from the lower leg and the larger size 7 from the upper leg because naturally the trousers are wider at the top and the larger size pattern is also wider.

I cut both layers of the size 3T at once, carefully lining up the pattern with the pinstripes and making sure the reverse side was also a suitable fabric to pattern line up.  The upper section of the trousers had a lining in them so here I cut the trousers at the outer and inner seams and removed the lining fabric.  Then I cut the four pieces I needed individually.  More time consuming but I really needed those pinstripes going straight up and down the waistcoat and that was the only I could guarantee a great result.  (Note: the back pattern piece was supposed to be cut on the fold but as this wasn't possible I cut 1cm out from the pattern edge and sewed the two back pieces together with a 1cm seam allowance which gave me a perfect back piece, you can hardly tell!).

The pattern instructions are easy to follow and a chopstick to poke out those corners and an iron for pressing are definitely good helpers in getting a nice neat shape to the vest.  I was floundering around for buttons...

...when I realised the pants had the perfect buttons already on them.

Two from the back pockets and one from the fly were enough for the 3T vest and I bought a card of four buttons for $2.50 at the store for the size 7.

Mission accomplished? ::
Oh yes!

I costed up what a shirt and waistcoat would cost from the department store - $56 (not that I think it comes in a size small enough for my two year old).  The average cost of my waistcoats (pattern and materials) was $11.  Throw in a shirt from BigW for $15 and my ensemble is  $26 for each of the boys.

But the best bit?  They're super cute to boot!

Kids clothes week :: some progress

Wow, what a week, I had considered pulling out of Kids Clothes Week due to a lack of time but a last minute reshuffle of some long weekend plans means time for sewing has fortuitously dropped into my lap. 

I have moved my sewing machine temporarily upstairs to the dining room table to speed things up.

I'm going to one big wrap up tomorrow of what I've been up to, for now here's a few teaser pictures of my progress so far - big size pants, button holes and fingers crossed a perfect fit.

Kids Clothes Week

As a rather late decision I have signed up for kids clothes week next week.  

I wasn't going to as the kids don't really need much in the way of everyday clothes right now. We do however have a couple of weddings to attend in the near future and I realised they are coming up faster than I was thinking.  So I'm going to be making something very specific and different and give sewing some formal wear a go.  A little challenge to make the boys some matching waistcoats at least. I'm not sure how I'll go for pants but I really don't think there will be time in my week for those anyway.

These pics are a little flashback to 2010, my then 3.5 year old Alex at a wedding in Bulgaria.  So cute!  Unfortunately this outfit won't fit my youngest boy just yet so I hope I can do a really decent handmade version.  In this quest the internet is my friend, lots of inspiration on Pinterest and a few patterns that look good on Etsy.  I've already scouted out for some fabric but this will be the more difficult part as so far I have found nothing at all decent.  I have but a few days to come up with some solutions and it might have to involve the second hand shop.

Baby tutu fru-fru

I have a friend, she has a baby girl and they're both mad about tutus.  I feel really honoured to have been asked to make some baby tiny tutu skirts.  Even better the request included a "no pink" clause - in case you hadn't guessed, I'm not much a lover of pink myself.  Even though I welcomed the chance to sew with tulle, a new fabric for me, I could not quite imagine myself actually buying pink tulle, that would be pushing my sewing limits.

So, I discovered a few rules about tulle - best to be cut with a rotary cutter for straight edges, it tends to stick to itself a bit which is slightly frustrating so you have to have a good dose of patience to start with, and it's a little bit like sewing air, but you soon get used to it.

I made up my own pattern for these skirts using the measurements of my friend's baby for sizing.  The lining is poplin and I found three layers of tulle lightly gathered together gave a good volume to the skirt.

I have just finished making a green spot tutu with white layers and mint lining...

...with a touch of a doily under it all.  Subtle and cute I think.

It's gone to join it's friends: a pale blue spot tutu with blue layers and silver trim,

and a yellow star tutu with apricot layers and yellow lining.

I tell you, I'm loving the appreciation photos my friend is sending me of her tutu wearing girl.  So sweet!

And back

Whoa, Easter school holidays - what a blur.

I feel like I had just enough time to post off some tutu skirts to a friend's baby, 

complete a custom order for my shop,

and cut out, stick together and trace a pattern for a Washi dress.

All sewing things were then packed away downstairs, the sewing table tidied and dusted and I got on with the business of eating too much (cheap) chocolate and too many hot cross buns, taking boys to the dinosaurs at the museum and trips into the city on the bus.  Then we all hopped on a plane for a whirlwind trip to Melbourne to celebrate my brother's birthday.  An intense couple of weeks that's for sure.  

I came back to prepare for a total waste of time job interview on Tuesday...and just when you were thinking things couldn't get crazier, well yes, they did.  We signed a contract and blokes started coming over to our house every morning at 7am to start a renovation.  

I tell you, sewing has almost, just almost, been the last thing on my mind of late.

Today in between the audio assault of the sound of angle grinders and steel beams and the olfactory assault of steel primer paint I'm alternating between vegging out on the daybed with coffee and Frankie magazine, attending to toddler needs and intermittently attacking tulle with my rotary cutter to make another tutu skirt.

I'm going to leave it there, I think I'm getting high on primer fumes....

Wednesday night, Batman night

Last night's school disco theme: superheros!

The superhero outfit I made in 2010 for my then four year old is still a favourite dress up, but it was too small and he needed an upgrade, something new and special for his first school disco.

Batman was his superhero of choice.  I made a black cape from a metre of black poly/cotton, found a Batman hood in the shops for $5 (added bonus, it reverses into a Spiderman hood!), and grabbed this old red star t-shirt and appliqued a Batman symbol on the front (just machine basted it on so I could easily pick it off later).

I was looking for "cool Mum" points when he came home from school, and the first thing he said was, "Mum, you sewed the Batman thing on upside down".  Lucky for that machine basting, yes?

I was mortified, we all had a good laugh.  Not so cool Mum after all... 

After that small costume redress we went discoing - a school hall full of little kids in costumes, loud music, glow sticks and flashing lights - crazeeeee!  

Boy sewing: pants and that hat

Pants making this year has been severely limited by fabric choices - sometimes I can't find colours or patterns I like, yellows look too mustardy, blues too dusky or prints and patterns too silly for my taste.  I waited what seemed like forever for some plain old navy blue pinwale corduroy to arrive in my local Spotlight store.  It didn't.  So when they recently had a % off sale I rang and confirmed that another store had it in and took a trip out of my neighbourhood to go and claim my piece.  I haven't actually made pants out of it yet though.  When I do they'll look just the same as these in style - and thank goodness for good old elephants.

A pair of elephant print corduroy pants for the little boy.  The same fabric I used for a vest for my oldest. I literally squeezed these pants out of the remaining fabric.  I had to add some black trim at the hem to make them long enough, just a cuff of black homespun cotton, worked well.  These are of course the Big Butt Baby Pants pattern by Made by Rae.  I've made heaps of these before, in almost every size the pattern comes in.  This is my "go to" pants pattern of the moment, it will be a sad day when there is no more butt pants making in this house.

Last of all, with left over scraps of t-shirt fabric and polar fleece I made this beanie.  It's supposed to be for the toddler, but he won't have it on his head for more than about 5 seconds.  Put it on, take it off, put it on, take it off.  It's a game that doesn't allow for any kind of artistic or in-focus photography, the hat is practically off before I get my finger to the shutter button on the camera.  I offered to make one for my older boy and he looked at me and said "Why do I need one of those?".  Well, he doesn't, he's right...but I'm not so sure he's got a beanie that will fit for our snow trip later this year so maybe he'll change his mind and go matchy-matchy with his little bro.  Now that will be a photo that's hard to snap!

So that's my last post on boy sewing for a while.  Thanks to Dana from Made and Rae from Made by Rae for hosting their Celebrate the Boy sewing week - it put such a firecracker of inspiration under me to sew for my lovely boys.