I did it, fist pump! KCW Fall 2014, tick!

So there is quite a lot of self back patting going on here at recently!

I decided I would produce something for Kids Clothing Week Fall 2014, and I actually did it on time and kind of within budget! (I did have to buy some lining fabric and notions). 

Obviously in this neck of the woods we're in Spring, but it is still a transitional season, so I'm hoping what I've made thus far will be useful in Autumn too.

KCW this time round has a theme - storybook, which is very cool, but also made me feel kind of ahhhh, how do I still make what I want and have it a bit themey!

Well little did I know this theme would actually be the making of this project!  

I have finally started making a list of all the things I want to make and some kinds of deadlines, so I don't completely jump here and there, and then totally miss out on a season or a birthday or the likes.
Anywho, on this list for zbl was a vest, to wear over a couple of layers to keep warm on the way to places in the morning but not to get her all sweaty by the time we get there.

Anyway, long winded explanation for the Huntsmaidan vest. (self styled for this photo shoot with these pants, and her best yellow gummies!)

Inspired by Snow White and the Huntsman (it's a long bow I know, but...)

Sew details:
Pattern: This is a mash up of the Reversible Zippy Hoodie and a bit of self drafting (the collar and the welted pockets)
Fabric: This vest is made with corduroy - yes sis, corduroy! with a lovely cotton lining. Both are from trusty Spotlight.
Other stuff: As I said above this is a mash up - the front and back pieces come from the  Reversible Zippy Hoodie that I have made before. I drafted the stand up collar based on these pieces and I think it works quite nicely. I also made welted pockets for the first time - whoop, whoop!  And look how pretty they turned out - I should admit here that I only photographed the one that was perfect and not the dodgy one with the slightly unmatching welt.

I used this tutorial from the lovely and exceedingly talented Poppy Kettle to learn how to do it, and they seemed to work out just as she described!  To make the pockets, I cut out a couple of rectangles of each fabric with the width for the welt and the facing and the facing being a bit longer so to give a deeper pocket.  Let's just say these pockets are a hit with zbl marching around the garden with her hands stuffed in them this afternoon.  I also found this great looking collection of tutorials on 10 different kinds of pockets which I will use for future projects.

The other thing I did was to pop some buttonhole elastic in the back and make a casing for it to sit in so it gathers at the back a bit.  I decided buttonhole elastic as I made it up as a 4T length, in the hope it might last for a while, but gave it some shape so it wasn't too boxy.  I popped a couple of buttons inside it and drew it up a bit, and these can be loosened off as she gets bigger.  The armholes are probably a bit too big right now, and if I was to make this again, I would reduce these slightly, but overall I am very happy with the result and the model thinks it is ok too!

Anywho, I am so pleased that I got something up for KCW, and even more pleased when I realised this goes for 7 days and not just 5, so I can whip up some slightly speedier, less thinking about things that she also needs, like summer pj's :-) Yay!

I also just realised while editing this post, that it has been a year since I started this blog.  I have in that time written 12 posts (shocking), collected no followers or comments (also shocking), but had a lot of fun doing it - and that is the main thing!

Long time no hear!

where the bleep are you? I hear myself asking myself (honestly the internal convos I have!). As I suspected I started this off with a hiss and a roar and then silence.... Sorry about that!

So what have I been up to for the last (refer to last post) 4 months!

Well lets see, Mum came to visit in November so we went fabric shopping (as you do).  We went to the usual (Spotlight), but also trekked over to the fabric store in Brunswick to cash in a percent off voucher I got in my the craft sessions goodie bag.  Oh my goodness that place is lovely and dangerous due to the loveliness!
Beautiful silks and merinos and cottons and voile's and lovely things that all wanted to jump in my bag! So indulge I did but not so much that we were on vegemite sandwiches for the rest of the week (phew!)

Here is a pic of the loveliness.

So what do we have in this delicious pile? Starting from the bottom there is a cotton sateen, that I'm thinking a wiksten tank, the next one is a lovely Marc Jacobs cotton lycra that will either be a couple of t-shirts for zbl or a wee dress for her.  The stripes is a nice piece of merino that I made into a t-shirt for tl for christmas - I took a pattern from one of his favourite t-shirts. I'm really pleased to say the t-shirt has been worn several times! The next three lovely pieces of fabric are silks, the mushroom one went in a christmas parcel for my sister, the aqua can go into the stash and the white and navy will be made into a top of some sort.  I'm looking forward to sewing these things altho I'm a bit nervous about the silks. I shall have to do some research.

So that was November, much thinking, not much doing other than having a fun time hanging out with my Mum :-).

December is always a busy month for me - I have so many ideas, and it is nice when most of them come together, like they seemed to this year!

We had our annual ham fest - any excuse for another ham and pav  - yum!

I also made some things too! I made a wiksten tank for my sister using some cotton fabric I bought at Spotlight. It was far easier to cut, iron and sew than the polyester I used for my muslin.  Incidentally, Mum liked the muslin version so much I made one for her too, it was still a pain to cut, iron and sew!

The next thing I made and finished at M&D's was this gorgeous wee dress for the daughter of a friend.

Sew details:
Pattern: The Louisa Dress
Fabric: This lovely fabric is a cotton drill from the usual suspect - Spotlight.  It was the perfect weight for this dress, it hung nicely and sewed up very easily.
Other stuff: I learnt so many new things in sewing this dress. I did my first invisible zip - which turned out pretty well I think - I'm looking forward to using my invisible zip foot to do the next one; I had to make my own piping as the local fabric store didn't have any (weird!); I also had to install the piping, which I have always avoided as it looked too hard - it is not the easiest thing to do, but the results look great, and the more you do the better it looks - if you were to look at the front pocket you would see that is where I started.
The pattern was very easy to follow and sew up, and Marte has excellent links to all the various tutorials for the different ways of popping in zips etc.

The last little thing I made for Christmas was zbl's christmas day outfit.

Sew details:
Pattern: I made her a wee romper using a pillowcase romper pattern - I can't remember which one tho!  I'm sure if you google pillowcase romper and there will be heaps to help you out.
Fabric: a quilting weight cotton with wee gingerbread men on it! It worked really well for the billowing.
Other stuff: this was a very quick sew, cutting out and sewing took less than an hour which is very speedy for me, especially given it required me to do shirring which I had never done before.
I should have popped some snaps on the bottom to make for easy nappy changing, however as this was finished at the last minute, so I just sewed up the bottom, and we undid the straps to get at what we needed to :-)
I should say the photo above was self styled - zbl added her own beads, and I think she might be a wee fashionista in the making - which is exciting, cos she can help me out when she gets bigger :-)

Right, this post is now huge, so I will stop here and post - hopefully the next post will be less than 4 months from now!

And so it begins....

I decided I needed to start a blog to kick start my motivation to craft (sew, knit, do something more with my hands).  I don't need a motivation to cook, I have one already, it's called my stomach!

Regardless, it worked, that and having a reason to sew - tl's birthday (on Sunday he is turning old - ie as old as me!)

So/sew in the last week I have made two pairs of pj pants - I made him a pair a couple of years ago, which he loves and often takes with him when he travels (bless) - so I used the same pattern Simplicity 5329.
Last time it was a bit wide, and a bit long in the body, did I remember this, no of course not, and in fact one of the pairs may be a bit short in the leg (ankle grazers - hot!). What I am hoping will come from this blogging business is a better appreciation for thinking about these things before hand! Regardless, hopefully he loves them as much as the old pair :-) So here they are:

Please excuse my toes at the bottom, I might also get better at composing photos!
So details (and I am going to totally copy the lovely Sophie in the format here as it suits my love of lists):
Pattern: Simplicity 5329
Fabrics: Both from Spotlight - the one on the left is a lightweight cotton jersey knit, and the one on the right is a medium weight cotton drill which I am hoping will soften with much washing.
Other stuff: This is a very easy and quick pattern to sew up (as it says on the packet). As I mentioned the body length (above the crotch) is very long, which is a good thing as the legs are a bit short (I think) for a tall person like tl particularly when I forget this and don't lengthen the legs! He might just have a pair of poo pants - hot!  The legs are also very wide, which I did remember, so cut a size medium rather than large like last time (I think it was large last time based on the size the pattern was cut out at), hopefully they fit :-S

Also, a copy of something I saw at the South Melbourne market - upjujing (a technical term) a plain t-shirt with a wee trim on the armband.

Since I am now posting this after the event, I can say that all the clothes were well received. He hasn't tried on the pj pants so I'm not sure of the fit, but the t-shirt was worn yesterday and his brother made mention of it, asking if he had bought it at the South Melbourne market - tick!