The (not quite) Reversible Zippy Hoodie

Oh my goodness it is cold today - after being 33°C on Sunday it is 14°C here today - but that is spring for you!

Speaking of brrrr, a while back I made my girl a hooded sweatshirt/jacket to get her through winter (and this spring!) and hopefully some of next winter, altho she is growing like a weed, so I might have been being hopeful.

Sew details:

Pattern: Reversible Zippy Hoodie that I think I got as part of a pattern bundle a million years ago (or probably last year)
Fabric: The outer fabric says its a Platinum Fleece (what I would call sweat shirting) that I got at trusty Spotlight becos I knew that zbl would love the foxes on it. The lining was an old Mr Vintage t-shirt that I got for tl, that he never wore, so it was in perfect condition, and the orange went with the outside nicely.
Other Stuff: This is a very clever pattern, you basically make up the outer and the inner hoodies and then sew them together with the cuffs and zip and turn them out through a wee hole in the side seam of your inner hoodie.  There is a little bit of sewing origami (a saying I've pinched from someone but I can't remember who!) but it makes for a very neat sew up.  The only thing I did differently - and this was largely becos I thought I knew what I was doing so didn't consult the instructions - was to attach the hood to the outer and inner pieces before joining it together, whereas the patter calls for the hood pieces to be joined together and then sewn to the rest of the body (if that makes sense).  I think this is so that the body pieces are not completely separate aside from the joins at the cuffs and zip.  I fixed this by topstitching around the neckline at the end when I topstitched along the zip, over the hood and along the other zip side.  I also didn't put pockets in it becos I am lazy, but I really must do this more becos she does love them.  Additionally this isn't reversible becos the zip is not reversible, but honestly a white outer on a 2 and a bit year old would be a nightmare for my washing lady (yes that's me), so not a big deal!
I made a 3T, so to hopefully last longer than 5 minutes (as mentioned above), but with a 2T arm as she seems to have her fathers dinosaur arms rather than my Mr Tickle ones.

I think I'll use this pattern again to make her a sleeveless version for this lovely inclement weather we're having, but maybe with a collar rather than a hood, I'd better get on to it before summer hits (which could be this weekend based on the weather forecast!)

Oh yes, and here is the model in her favourite jacket, on the train with tl to Mexfest at Fed Square.

KCW .... a couple of weeks late

So I had fully intended on actually making zbl a couple of things during kid clothes week a couple of weeks ago, but life got away on me.  I had to make one of these for a friends birthday:

 A banana cake with with white chocolate and lemon icing using the icing from this cake as a base.

I have to say it was quite tasty, and the icing was lovely! And even better was that altho half the cake got left at my place, I managed to avoid most of it and while I was away at the craft sessions the cake eating fairy disposed of it for me - so kind :-)

I also had to do a bit of selfish sewing - I thought why not test out the the wiksten tank that everyone is talking about. This is what it turned out like:

Sew details :
Pattern: the wiksten tank
Fabrics: a pretty polyester that I picked from the sales table at Spotlight.  It was horrible to cut out and horrible to sew, but this was my muslin, so I know that I will make it from something with a bit more structure next time.
Other stuff: I cut out a large, based on measurements, but ended up taking the side seams in to probably a medium to remove some of the gap.  I think I'll still cut out a large next time, as the fit on the shoulders an neckline is good.  The armholes are not actually wonky as they look in the pic, it's just the dratted fabric again.

I also make this cake (no pic I'm sorry) which is delicious and definitely is on the list to make again - a great way to use up soft apples and I didn't bother with the glaze although I'm sure it would be delicious.

However I did make a couple of things for zbl last week, so here they are:

Sew details :
Pattern: the figgy's banyan tunic (this is the same pattern we used to make our t-shirts at the craft sessions.
Fabrics: the same cotton jersey that I used to make tl's pj pants. It was lovely to sew although the machine did have the odd conniption, but that could be because I managed to ding my jersey needle on a pin so it is probably not as sharp as it should be :-)
Other stuff: The pattern is super easy to cut out and use.  I have to admit I didn't actually follow the instructions very much as I'd made it a week before, the only difference being the lovely handkerchief points that I had to sew, cut and sew again cos I didn't really measure and didn't get my angles right - whoops!

zbl has already worn this out to lunch and the lovely hostess commented on how much she liked it, which was nice as all tl can see when she's wearing it is his pajamas - no imagination!  It was a tad tight, but she was wearing two layers under it since summer is here today, but probably gone tomorrow!  Regardless I think I'll make a 2T for the next one.

Sew details :
Pattern: This is the recess raglan that I bought as part of this bundle (yay! I'm actually using one :-))
Fabrics: This is a cotton knit that I got from (you guessed it) Spotlight.  It was much firmer than the one above and so was a dream to sew.  I should have used a ribbing for the neck, but all the ribbing I have didn't really go (might necessitate another trip?) so I just used the same fabric and make the neck piece much longer to allow more stretch over the noggin (she is in the 95th percentile for head, so this is important)
Other stuff:  This again was a very quick sew up, I made it in one of her naps.  I'm assuming the instructions are good as again I didn't really used them (naughty!)
She hasn't worn it yet, so I am hoping it fits over her head, it will certainly be wide enough and long enough.

And that is a wrap, next thing on the list is a dress I need to sew up that has been cut out since I was 6 months pregnant - whoops, and also some bubble shorts, cos summer is coming baby - which reminds me I must call the air con guys again.

An amazing weekend away

I was lucky enough to spend this weekend in the Yarra Valley with a bunch of very crafty ladies at The Craft Sessions.  I heard about this weekend way back in June (or maybe earlier) via Sophie, and immediately thought "I want to go to that!".  After a very short discussion with tl, we both decided it would be great idea - I get a weekend off doing lovely crafty things, and he got a weekend solo parenting - for the first time!  Both of us were really looking forward to it - the only thing that needed to happen was to wean zbl.  Fortunately for me, she didn't seem to mind too much, so a week before hand, she was going to sleep without me having to feed her at bed time! So, off to the The Craft Sessions I went!
After leaving zbl for the first time, one of the hardest things to do was to choose which workshops to go to. In the end I did freeform patchwork and block printing with the lovely Leslie Keating on Saturday and sewing with knits with the lovely Sophie Parslow on Sunday.

So to show you what I actually did while I was there other than eat delicious food and be brave and talk to complete strangers who are now much less so, here are some pics:

 my freeform patchwork block, using loads of Leslie's beautiful scraps

my block printing stamp results - I can't decide if I like the birds or sheep better.

the sewing with knits before shot

all of our creations

and on the model - she seemed to quite like it!

All in all an excellent weekend, I would love to go next year if we're still in these parts.  A special thanks to my roomie Lorelei for being lovely enough not to mention my snoring :-)