KCWC Day 6 and 7

Baby tired of having photo taken

Last day of KCWC was yesterday and I made this little top here. It matches the pants I made the day before, but I'm not sure how often she will wear them together. This is the second time I violated my rule of not buying anything for KCWC- I purchased the pattern for this little top late in the week. It is called "The Amelia Top" and I bought it from Mama Stellato. It is very easy to make, and is a very sweet pattern- and it goes up to a size 5 so it will be good to have on hand for the next few years. It would be cute lengthened into a dress and with flutter sleeves added too for summer. (Can you hear me justify my purchase to myself!?)

The fabric for this dress was from a handmade pillow case I got for free at the Salvation Army Shop. I was getting a few things and this was not tagged, so the sweet old man just threw it in for no charge.

It has been a great week of sewing and flexing my blogger muscle for a bit too. My machine desperately needs a service as the tension is all out (it was a struggle to make this last garment), so I'd better get onto that now. And get some things to make something for Caleb!

Thanks Meg @ Elsie Marley for Kids Clothes Week Challenge! What a ride.

KCWC Day 5 and 6

Getting a good picture of a toddler is hard work, but when you are also trying to get a clear picture of what they are wearing, it is a job for the professionals! (For this post we will have to make do with me and my iPhone.) 

I wanted to make another pair of pants for Eve, and the best fabric for the job that I had on hand was brown fine-whale cord. Not the world's most inspiring of fabrics. 

Then, I came across this adorable pair of shorts in the KCWC flickr pool and loved them, and they got me thinking about combining the cord with another fabric to relieve it of its oppressive brown-ness. I was going to try and replicate the ties and pocket at the top of the shorts on Hart & Sew, but in the end remembered a little pair of cords I bought last winter for Eve that had bows on the pockets, so pulled them out to see if I could work out how they were made and gave it a go. It was fiddly to be sure, but not too hard. I'll see how they wash up. I used this tutorial to hem the pants in the contrasting fabric. 

I also used the flat front pants tutorial from MADE to adjust my pants pattern, and it was so easy with a really pleasing result. I am loving brown cord now!

I can fly!

Now to the shirt. I am inspired by folk who make their own t-shirts, but I haven't gone there yet. This is a basic tee from KMart. Eve is loving this book at the moment, so I scanned the cover, printed it on printable fabric and appliqued it on with "heat and bond lite" and a zig zag stitch. I have used this printable fabric before on a t-shirt and it does fade (not so good) and soften (good!) considerably with time, but it is fun while it lasts! My seven year old son was worried that I was violating copyright. Am I? It is purely for personal use of course, so I hope I am not, I am a rule follower at the end of the day. Please excuse the threads hanging in the photo. I wish I could be bothered photoshopping them out, but I can't. They are easier to fix up in real life.

I might take a better pic of the pants on a hanger tomorrow along with the little coordinating top I just finished sewing a minute ago. This week has been surprisingly productive. Who would have thought? 

KCWC Day 4

I am a bit behind on my blogging of the week, but I am sewing up a storm!

I really wanted to make something for Caleb and have come up with some ideas, but they all involved buying something substantial like FABRIC, or a trip to the oppy for something to refashion... and it is always risky to go to the oppy for something specific. He has such a gentle, empathetic spirit that once I explained it to him, he was OK. But I have promised to make him something for winter in the near future.

Besides, Eve really does need new clothes, even with Jemima hand me downs. I cleverly had my girls in opposing seasons, and would you believe Jemima still wears the majority of skirts I made for her as a toddler? They are getting shorter each year, but they are still working for now.

So here is a skirt for Eve made out of the same denim fabric as Jemima's and also with some white lacey trim peeking out the bottom (of a different sort.) The pockets were an idea taken from this MADE tute. 

The crocheted bow you can hardly see is something else I have made (albeit many months ago now), using the crochet bow pattern from Too Sweets Patterns. I have made over ten crocheted bows, and they all turned out cute. It's quite an easy little pattern if you have been doing some basic crochet (like granny squares) for a while.

Back to KCWC: I have spent Day 4 and 5 sewing something I am really proud of, but I will post it when I get a photo of Eve wearing it.

I must also confess I broke my rule (sorry Caleb) and bought some plain long sleeved t-shirts for Eve, one of which I have already appliqued which I will pop in my next post.

KCWC Day 3

The hour today resulted in a finished skirt that has already had its first public outing. It's not the kind of skirt that will blow anyone's mind, but I am really happy with it. It will be a good winter staple. The ruffle trim and fabric for the secret squirrel pockets were given to me, and the denim was left over from another project.

This photo is unnecessary in the context of the post, but it's a cute face!

I'm not sure what to do next... in the interests of fairness to my boy child, I would like to make something for him, but he is getting big- and I don't have any big bits of fabric in the stash. Maybe a refashion...? Perhaps tomorrow's hour will just be digging around in the old clothes pile.

KCWC Day 1 (and 2)

So I surprised myself somewhat by starting and finishing a garment in one day. These are the pants that I planned to make for Eve this week- and that was the only thing I had in mind when I signed up on Sunday. So really, anything else from here is a bonus. They did take me longer than an hour, but the kids were happy so I just kept going. Then once they were in bed, all that needed to happen was the hemming, so I thought I might as well polish them off.

Day 2: I've been working on a very simple skirt for Jemima that I have had in my head for a while. I kept changing my mind on the pocket question, and kept making hilarious mistakes, so there is nothing much to show for my hour's work today. Tomorrow perhaps.

Onesie (twosie)

A weekend or so ago, the urge to sew was too strong to resist. I left all three kids at my mum's house and sewed flat out for an hour before being beckoned back to feed baby. It was very fun- and no mistakes were made in this particular hour which is worthy of noting!

I made Eve this onesie dress using this tutorial as it's basis. I added a "faux bodice" to make it look like a little vintage dress that she owns, and coincidently cover up the little picture. The onesie was Jemima's as a wee one which made it an even more gratifying process.

A little note if you ever plan on making one, keep in mind that you lose about an inch of the length of the onesie in the process of attaching the skirt. This didn't matter in my case because I think Eve is a shorty like her mum.

High on the joy of completing a project in hardly any time at all, I made another one in the evening. I made a mistake when attaching the skirt on this one, so it took a little longer, but cute, hey!

Eve is ONE in 3 days, which in some ways startles me in it's soon-ness, but in others it is almost a wonder she has only been here a year. It feels like she has always been part of the family. We are having a little picnic on Saturday, just our little family plus my sister to take some pics which I am really looking forward to. I sort of forgot about Father's Day, lost in my thoughts about how to make Eve's birthday special (sorry Chris, sorry Dad)- so I had better get onto that!

A little dress

I had intended this to be a Christmas present for Eve, but simply ran out of makey time at the end of last year. I finished it sometime late January/Early Feb, so not a bad effort really. It is still a little bit big for her, but it looks pretty sweet.

It is the Crossover Pinny and Nappy cover pattern from Bettsy Kingston. I have the nappy cover cut out, but when I was about to sew it together (about 2 months ago), someone dropped in out of the blue and I have never picked it up again.

Thankyou for all Miss Eve's get well wishes! I kept meaning to pop back in here and say that she was doing fine, but I kept forgetting, which is not very nice if anyone was worried about her. Sorry! She is now 6 months, so she will be making her appearance soon in her monthly pic post!

Some Christmas makey

Dolly pre nose job.

Despite being eternally distracted by my computer, I have managed a fair bit of craft for Christmas in the last few weeks.

Another cute little owl from my trusty Craft Schmaft pattern. (I think I have made about 6 of these now!)

Some applique singlets and fabric hair bows from this tutorial. I have never done the applique singlet thing before. It is such a quick gratifying little project, I think I will have to do some more soon!

A flower crown which I sort of made up as I went along. (Jemima is sporting a lovely black eye that she got by walking into a pole on the school run last week. Nice.)

And I repaired Evie's doll, but now I am more than half way through its replacement, and I don't know which one to keep. The nose job turned out not too bad. I will have to give her to someone very special if she doesn't stay with us. I have a little girl in mind.

Only a couple of days to go!

A new t-shirt for Jemima

I came across Rocket and Bear recently and loved this idea of putting a favourite cuddly toy on a t-shirt. Lucy sells these t-shirts in her etsy store and shop. As I understand it, you send her a photo of a beloved toy, and she prepares the image and prints it onto a high quality t-shirt for you.

I thought I would DIY this one using t-shirt transfer paper I bought from Kmart. This is Kea, Jemima's fur baby. She actually has 3 of them as Chris and I thought it safer to have a few on standby as she had become such a favourite. She can tell the difference between them all though (only a mother could tell them apart), but she loves them all equally.

The transfer is pretty glossy and stiff, but she really loves her Kea t-shirt and it has already had an outing. It has cracked and bubbled a bit in the wash so doesn't look so flash anymore... to avoid these problems you could buy one from Rocket and Bear!

What I didn't DIY was one of these amazing tutus! I bought one this week for Jemima's Christmas present, and it is one of those gifts you just know will be a real winner for many years to come! There are free tutorials online for something similar (can't remember where), but I just know making one with all those layers and ruffles would do my head in and I would never be happy with it. Looking forward to Christmas already! (I just realised I have given Jems a tutu for Christmas every year. Haha. I think this one trumps the ones I have made though.)

PS Lucy knits and crochets really pretty blankets too. She has a very nice little shop.

PPS I think one of the hardest things for me about having a newborn even 3rd time around is "doing the right thing". She is very refluxy and so has difficulty settling to sleep more times than not, and often needs lots of cuddles to help her relax and go to sleep. I worry that she won't learn how to "self soothe", but then I think dammit, she is my last baby and if she needs a cuddle or to sleep in her sling, I will do it gladly. (Before I know it she will be 3 and a half and we will be scratching our heads wondering where our baby went.)

Since having Caleb, I tell all parents of newborns when they are stressing about how to set baby up to be happy and good sleepers is that my experience of the literature is that everyone says something different, so do what pleases you and baby. I need to listen to my own advice.

I made a dress, but didn't iron it.

I managed a spot of sewing last week which was fun. I used an old work shirt of Chris' and this tutorial and now Jemima has a new dress for summer. The fabric is quite lovely and very good quality- but he can't wear it anymore because he has changed jobs and it has the old company logo above the pocket.

I added buttons in the back bodice of the dress to help with getting it on and off and left the shirt hem which is such a bonus as hemming is one of my least favourite sewing necessities. Another bonus is that Jemima actually LIKES it (I think it is the pockets... and the novelty of it being one of Daddy's old shirts.) I have 5 other business shirts in the pile, so there will probably be a few more shirt refashions in my future.

And many, many thanks for all your congratulatory comments on Eve's arrival! I was a bit hit and miss with responding to everyone, but I appreciated each and every one. She is settling into the family well with a swag of nicknames to prove it. We are tired, but taking life at a different (slower!) pace to accommodate our newest addition, which is actually quite lovely.

Baby Kimono - Just a pass, maybe

If I were to grade my latest crafty effort here (Lucy's Kimono from Weekend Sewing by Heather Ross), I would barely scrape in a pass. It started out well enough, but then the obstacles kept on coming...

• I really really hate working with bias tape. I hardly ever do it because I find it so annoying. I think my tape was too skinny for this project (actually probably for any project). I didn't sew the tape on correctly onto the kimono, but it worked out OK. Not as OK is the ends that you tie are completely unfinished. I tried to finish them, but the skinny bias got sucked into my machine and I had to take it apart to get it out again. Was only going to do that once! So the ends will probably go fray-crazy in the wash. Oh well.
• None of the seams are finished. The instructions don't actually insist on this. I started finishing the seams, but got lazy.
• I am sure as sure can be there is an error in the instructions. I have googled the pattern and people mention the bias tape should be longer, but my main problem was that the instructions call for inserting both ties in such a way that they both end up on the outside. So I changed that a little bit, not before blindly following the instructions though and getting annoyed.

I am pretty tempted to give this another try and do it properly, but this took me 3 hours of precious kid free time, and I don't really know if I want to do that. It looks pretty cute in the photo, so I am warming up to it.

On the plus side, I am very confident my quilt will be finished before baby comes, unless I get an early surprise. (Very unlikely)

Cherry/Apple Dress

Lately every time I tell Jemima that I am making her a dress, she says, "Oh, for my wedding?" Not this time Jemima Rose.

Jem has a lot of skirts which she wore with leggings at preschool, but they would always end up wet on the bathroom floor (ew).

So I had the idea if I made her some dresses or tunics, this problem would be avoided.

This is another raglan dress from Wholegrain Baby and the fabric is an embroidered denim from Spotlight. I was concerned that it would be too heavy a fabric for this dress, but the more I worked with the fabric, the softer it became. It's not super drapey or anything, but the dress still turned out quite nicely.

I haven't touched my overlocker since I was crushed by morning sickness earlier this year, but happily it was already set to a roll hem and threaded with white cotton, so that's how I did my hems. (Which is great as I hate hemming... especially little sleeves.)

Best of all, she put it on with no fuss this morning. AND even posed for pictures. Phew!!

Fixer Upper

Jemmie got black paint on one of her t-shirts. I can't remember if it happened at preschool or home, but I do remember thinking, "Oh that'll come out." I don't know why I am always so optimistic about getting stains out, as I am not very good at doing it (not been a mum for long enough I guess!)

I have seen applique in the face of failed stain removal before and have always planned to give it a go.

I realised when I was finished I had decided to do a house or houses, but this is what I did without paying much attention obviously. A gratifying little project all in all.

I hope she will wear it. It won't fit much longer.

Fresh off the sewing machine!

Another one of these from Sparkle Power! Probably a long tunic rather than a dress. Not for Jemima, but for a little friend who turned 2 recently. The fabric was given to me last year some time, and I quite like those tiny swans. For the sleeves, I used left overs from the jedi robe, and the buttons are probably at least a couple of decades old, and are a perfect match in my opinion.

A new dress for summer

Truthfully, Jemima still fits into most of her handmade dresses and skirts from summer last year, but I felt like making her something else. It's a bit of a practice as I want to make her something similar to wear to my brother's wedding.

I have made something similar before using this tute, but I could never get the right dimensions (I may have mentioned before I lack the ability to be precise), and so when I saw this pattern from Wholegrain Baby I snapped it up after a moment or two of indecision (that's how I buy anything). It is a very easy pattern to follow with lots of pictures.

I discovered once more I am really bad at hemming stuff and making a neat casing for the elastic. Next time I hem something, I think I will do it by hand. Overall though, it was a very quick (even for me) project that I will use over and over again.

The fabric for this one was all in the stash. The sleeves are a thrifted bed sheet and the little roses for the main body of the dress were given to me by a stash buster last year some time.

Caleb is feeling a little left out in the crafting for the kids department and has been asking me for a "hoodie dress". I was a little bemused, but it makes more sense when you consider the attire of a jedi knight with the phrase "hoodie dress" in mind.

Eye Spy... seasons change

I have managed to play along with Eye Spy this week! Thanks to Lisa for this week's theme of "seasons change". It was pretty easy as evidence of Spring time is everywhere you look! The warmer weather on the weekend inspired me to make Jemima a new dress for the new season.

I have had my eye on this tutorial for a while, and then I saw what Dana made (I love the buttons!). I used Dana's measurements, which I think would be about a size 2 Australian. I increased the length a little to make it into a dress. I am wondering about adding a sash from the same fabric. Yes, I surely will.

The fabric is a lovely light seersucker that I was given, and in fact the buttons were given to me as well. You may remember I was the lucky recipient of some pretty grand stash reductions during the year.

Next time I will make the sleeves a bit wider so there is more rufflyness! I must have done something wrong there. I always make at least one mistake!

I was thrilled when Jemima saw the dress this morning and said "Can I wear that today?". Win!

More Eye Spy here.

Repeat

I made this little dress last year, and Jemima wore it once or twice maybe, but the fit just wasn't right. I was very pleased to discover yesterday that it fits beautifully now and looks kinda cute with cropped black leggings.

She is playing with her pink silk which was a present she got for her birthday from here back in March. We gave her 3 (pink, dark blue and dark green). They get quite a workout, especially the pink one.

Tutu skirt. Again.

Another tutu experiment. I am resisting buying one of these sorts of things, but nothing I make is quite as cute as shop bought... yet. So I keep trying. This one inspired by here.

The main problem with this one is the tulle again. It is that really stiff netting stuff that I keep using only because I have a bunch of it at home. It doesn't look that bad in the photo. In RL it really does stick out at all weird angles. I really need to go get some bridal tulle. Later. I'm over tutus for the time being.

I'm sure I'll get the urge again. Especially since Jemima is becoming a ballerina before my eyes.

Coping

I've been unsure about what to post here: I made something today, but there was is a whole lot else going on.

I got a call last night from my Dad explaining that my Grandpa is very ill in hospital. So today has been a day of waiting for news. Good news. Bad news. Just any little update to dictate how I should be feeling/acting. The good news is he is stable. The bad news is his condition is still critical. So at this point we still just don't know how this will pan out.

I would love to go and see him. But Caleb and I are sharing a cold and so we are just waiting it out at home. Waiting for a text message or phone call. Just waiting. Hoping and praying that he and we will be better in a day or two so that we can visit.

To help a slow day pass a little more quickly I made Jemima an apron. Coping.

The yellow bit of the apron was an op shop find. It appears to be home sewn and was a little small to fit around my waist. So I refashioned it for Jemima. I had a quick look through my stash and found this vintage gingham and feeling a bit lazy, used some ribbon to make ties rather than make them. Then I chopped off some hem and used the Oliver + S Lazy days skirt tutorial to hem it a bit shorter with the same ribbon I used for the ties.

When I put this on Jem she whispered, "ooooh princess" and refused to take it off until bath time. A nice moment in a sad day.

Tweaking

I did some tweaking with the buttons on Jemima's capelet this morning. It sits quite a bit better now and the buttons are now sewn on with cotton, not wool. Much better.