Boy Fabrics!

When I started sewing to sell I started using up some of my stash and have been able make lots of gorgeous girls things but sadly nothing for little boy due to the absence of boy fabrics in my stash. Well I am finally able to start on some little boy things as I have received a small selection of gorgeous boy fabrics from Fabric Shoppe on Etsy. I love them and these are the sort of fabrics I would use to dress a little boy in if I had one and I hope you all love them as much as I do! I hope to be able to show you some boy items in the coming weeks.

Magic Yarn Ball Swap

A huge thankyou to Belinda who was my swap partner for the Magic Yarn Ball swap I signed up for on Ravelry. I totally love my yarn and all the goodies!

Check out those gorgeous shoes for my bubba on the way…aren’t they just gorgeous!

Vintage Fabric Swap

I ran one of these last year and with everything going on here at the moment (market sewing, baby baking-12 weeks to go!, knitting…oh and looking after my children too!) I simply don’t have time to do it this year but Selina over at What were we thinking? is organising one so hop over there and sign up!

And the winner is…

Bec (comment number 1)!

I will contact you very soon and get your free bib to you!

Flickr Faves!

I love looking through photos on Flickr for inspiration! There is so much talent out there and I love seeing the designs and the fabrics that others choose to dress their kiddies in. Here is just a little of the inspiration I found today.

1. barefoot rose little splasher bikini, 2. abc and birds reversible skirt, 3. garden roses pleated dress, 4. Hübsch eingerahmt 2, 5. Reversible Park Slope Jumper, 6. Ruffle Dress, 7. kimono pj1, 8. all blued up knot dress, 9. Criss-Cross dress

Knitting Little things

I have so many friends who are pregnant or who have recently had babies at the moment and so I have been taking the opportunity (in between all the market sewing!) to use up some of the smaller amounts of yarn in my stash. I do love knitting for newborns as the items are SO cute and SO fast to knit! I started this Tikki Rainbow dress a few days ago and have just been doing a few rows in between other things. I discovered that Georgie, the designer of this pattern, has released an undated version which fits better and has some gorgeous hem options so……I frogged it! Yes the whole thing (before I took a photo) so I am afraid you will have to wait a few days for a photo…It will be worth the wait! I promise!

A few more milos are on the cards I think and maybe another little dress or two as well as soakers, longies, little bloomers and a couple of lovely new patterns including Tikki’s new one “Bloom”. Hmmm will I really get all this knitting done as well as all the sewing…we’ll see I guess!

Another Little Milo

A friend of mine had a baby boy about 8 weeks ago and I had a little newborn Milo vest all knitted up to give her but he was HUGE (almost 12lb) so I didn’t bother giving it to her as it wouldn’t have fit! I have finally got around to knitting another one in a larger size. I am hoping that this one fits for at least a little while before the weather warms up.

Shirring with Linen

I know! I have been slack! I did have major doubts that I could post every day for a month and I have already missed a couple of days! Oh well I will keep going and hopefully still post most days! (Sorry about all the exclamation marks)

Anyway, I actually came on here to show you all my little shirred skirt. I made another pretty much the same way as I made the flowered one last week but I discovered (which I should have known) that linen does not shirr to the same extent as quilters cotton fabrics. So basically I ended up with a skirt which would have fit a 12 year old around the waist but still at a 1 year old length which would not be a great look! Anyway I just over locked the edges off and made it smaller. Not the most professional look but it looks cute on and hopefully it will last a little while anyway!

Oh and I also made another one out of the quilters cottons too!

Giveaway!

Here it is as promised! You could win one of my recycled denim bibs in a size small(perfect for dribbly little babies to protect clothes) or a large(once little ones are on solids) with an adjustable neck in your choice of a girl or a boy print (only girl prints pictured).

All you have to do is comment on this post and for an extra chance to win then link to this post from your blog, facebook etc and come back and tell me!

I will close this off and draw a winner next Friday(23rd Oct).

Thankyou!

I want to send out a big thankyou to all the generous ladies who have been having giveaways on their blogs lately. Especially Corrie and Kate. I was lucky enough to win their giveaways in the last month! Here are my lovely prizes!

(smocking stickers and some bonus fabric-Retro Mummy)

(a selection of gorgeous fabrics-Two Little Banshees)

 

Watch out for tomorrows post where I will be having a giveaway of my own!

Pretty little dresses and my new best friend!

In the last week I have sewn 5 little dresses as well as the skirt I posted about a few days ago and have finally settled on a design that I am happy with and that does take too long to sew. I decided to scrap the frill! I looked into getting a ruffler foot and i think I still will at some stage but for now I will stick to the simpler design of a contrast hem. I have also drafted the pattern for sizes 0-3 now and will stick to that for my sizing for the moment…the resizing takes too much brain power and time!

This little one is a size 1. Isla is kind of in between sizes at the moment so this one is a little too short but still wearable. I love this combo of fabrics and wish I had more!

This one is a size 3. Elsa is a just growing into a size 3 so it should fit her for the whole summer and even in cooler weather with a long sleeve tee and leggings.

Oh and I almost forgot to introduce my new best friend! She only arrived last night and I love her already. I used her to make the bias for the cherry dress and is was SO fast and no burned fingers! I just need to buy another rotary cutter (I have some how lost the one I had!) and everything will be a lot faster!

Fabric

That one little word makes me smile (as long as it is the good stuff and not cheap spotlight stuff!). I have been going through my fabric stash and trying to decide which fabrics to use for dresses, which for skirts, bibs etc. I also have another 8 yards coming from here and am planning to order another 8 yards in a few more weeks so I will definitely have lots to choose from!

The not so successful photo shoot

Mummy: Elsa would you please put on this skirt that mummy made so I can take some photos?

Elsa: Yes, and can I dance to music?

Mummy: If you like

(Mummy puts skirt on Elsa and a new t-shirt that isn’t stained and messy!)

Mummy: Elsa can you please stand over here so mummy can take a photo?

Elsa: No

Mummy: Elsa can you please sit on the step so mummy can take a photo?

Elsa: No

Mummy: Elsa please come back!

Elsa: No

Mummy: Don’t take it off I haven’t taken a good photo yet!

(Elsa runs off to play minus the skirt)

(Mummy takes some photos of the skirt minus the child)

Isla: Me wear Pretty?

Mummy: Yes Honey you can wear the skirt…Oh dear it is a bit big!

(Isla pulls skirt up over her head to make it stay on)

Mummy: Where’s Isla?……Peek a boo!

(Isla also takes skirt off…Photo shoot over)

Details: Skirt made with the full width of fabric and I think it would be a size 3-4. 12 rows of shirring about 1/3 inch apart. I am planning on attaching some cloth covered buttons in matching fabrics as an embellishment on the waist band. (I have ordered lots of sizes from here)

Baby Chalice Blanket

After I dyed up the yarn I blogged about here I decided to replicate it to make a blanket. Fitting 400g in my pot was a challenge but it seems to have turned out pretty evenly.

Pattern-Baby Chalice Blanket

Needles-6.5mm

Yarn-Bendigo Woollen Mills Luxury 10ply, Hand dyed.

Snap!

My snap press is here! Horary! Boy is it heavy though! Carrying it to the car while pushing a double pram was a bit of an effort. I got there though. I spent last night snapping the bibs I have made so far and today I have a sore arm! I think I will build up muscles using the snap press. I am very happy with it although it did take a few goes to work out that I really needed to push the leaver down with all my strength to get them to push together properly so that they will actually snap!

Just a little bit of pink

You probably know by now that I love to knit. I love the satisfaction of casting off and seeing what I have created with each little stitch I have knit. But even better than that is dyeing the wool yourself and then knitting it up! Here is something I dyed recently. I am not sure what it will become yet but having two little girls who are obsessed with pink it had to be pink…now to find a pattern!

 

Shirring Tutorials

I have been thinking about making a little skirt with a shirred waistband. Like the tops I guess but without the straps of course! So I have been off looking for a good tutorial on Shirring. I have seen a few in my general blog reading and have noticed that they each seem to give a little bit of different information so here is the list of Shirring Tutorials I have found in the past few day. Take your pick! I think I will be using a little bit from a few of them!

 

Shirring Madness – Portobello Pixie – I like how this one is finished off as you go. When I first tried shirring there was a lot of adjusting and tying off to do at the end and it was a big job.

Pretty Ditty Shirring Tutorial – I like the elastic casing up the top of this one.

Kuky Ideas Shirred dress tutorial – Has instructions on measurements for garments

Your Fabric Place, How to sew with elastic thread - A bit of info on the different stitches you can use to shirr

Pink Fig Shirring Tutorial

Little Girls Shirred Sundress – Sewing Chick

 

There are HEAPS more out there too but these are just a few I have found more recently. I will hopefully have a little shirred waist skirt to share in the next few days!

Linen dress and the missing photo

Ok so the two are not related…well kind of I guess as I used one to make the other, but I wanted to get that photo of my new toy to share and I also wanted to share what I made yesterday.

 

So here she is. Nothing fancy but she does the job. I have to admit I am a little scared of having to rethread her but I will cross that bridge when I come to it!

I made this little linen dress yesterday from a pattern from I Think Sew on Etsy. It was a quick easy pattern apart from the ruffle. That seemed to take me forever! Oh and making the bias is a little time consuming too.

I am thinking of making more of these to sell at the market so I am looking for ways to make the whole process a little faster and easier. So I  am after opinions and advice on Bias Tape Makers and also on a Ruffler foot. Do you have either of these? Do you like them? Any other advice/info?

My New Toy!

With all the market sewing happening here I decided that it was time to buy an overlocker so give my garments a more professional finish. So on Saturday i went shopping! I decided on a basic Janome model which would do everything I needed it to and didn’t cost the earth! So I came home with a Janome Harmony 9102D. The sewing shop I purchased the machine from also offers free lessons with the purchase of every machine so I will be signing up for my free lessons soon to learn how to use my machine better.

 

I had great intentions of taking a photo of my new toy but after a hard day of dealing with toddlers drawing on handknits with permanent marker (not to mention the chairs, computer keyboard and desk!), a flooded bathroom and searching the house for the missing keys on my laptop (pried off by my 3 year old!) I have decided I need to go to bed and recover from my day.

Welcome to the World Isabella and Amielle!

Two weeks ago two precious sisters were brought into this world and their tired and very sore mother breathed a sigh of relief! She carried them to 38 weeks and was huge and in a lot of pain. I haven’t asked permission to post photos of these precious little girls so I am afraid there will be no photos of the babies in this post but I do want to show you all what I managed to finish off for them. When I received the news that they had arrived I still had one leg to knit on one of the pairs of longies so I spent the day knitting and finished them off. They were still a little damp from blocking when I took them to her the next day but I don’t think she minded!

Forgotten…

With all the excitement and planning of getting ready for my first market I have a few things that have been forgotten. This includes my housework but I am not going to post about that because I am sure none of you want to see photos of my dirty dishes and piles of washing that needs to be folded!

 

One forgotten project are some Oliver & S Sandbox Pants for Elsa. I made one pair and was really happy with them until I put them on her and the rise was HUGE! I then realised that the pattern caters for children still wearing nappies and Elsa isn’t so I cut out a size 18M-24M and just added length as this was the size that her hip measurement fitted into. I think I am about 70% through this pair but they haven’t been touched in a couple of weeks now!

 

Anyway here are some pictures of the first pair I made which are going off to a friends little girl. They are still to be hemmed and have buttons sewn on the back pockets but they are completed enough for me to blog I think.

Better late than never!

Welcome to Blogtoberfest! Yes I know, I missed yesterday! I was still trying to decide if it was something I could actually commit to! I mean some months I am lucky to post once a week let alone every day! But I am here and I am ready to give it a go. I think it might be just the motivation I need to get back into my blog.

 

Lots of sewing happening here lately! I have finally taken the plunge and decided to have a market stall at a handmade market at the end of November. I am a little scared and overwhelmed by it all but also very excited that it is actually happening!

 

This past week I have been concentrating on bibs made from recycled denim jeans! You know that pile of jeans you keep because “I might need to wear them to paint the house one day” or “one day I will fit them again”. Well I had SEVEN pairs in my pile and I didn’t want to keep them for just in case anymore but I didn’t want to throw them out either so inspired by all the clothing refashions and recycling I see around on people blogs I decided to start making bib with them!

 

I am waiting on my snap press so I can snap them, but I am happy with them so far. I have 2 sizes, small and large, and they will have adjustable necks so you don’t get that problem with the bib sitting lower than their top.