Summer top finished. Just in time for WInter.

Oh my poor little blog! Seems you are well and truly behind. There has been so much going on here and you are having trouble keeping up, so I thought it was time to help you out a little. There are quite a few projects finished (yes finished!) of late, and there is much catching up to do.

Firstly, I finally finished the cool, flowy summer top. This one was started at the beginning of summer at a Perle 8's Thursday session. Now I finally finished it off (thanks to a bit of motivation from my creative space last week), perfectly timed as our weather has turned to winter these past few days with rain and cold. I did get a half day of wear out of it and it fits beautifully. Perhaps it can be teamed with a long sleeve t for wear in winter?The pattern is Simplicity 2962 and the fabric is cotton voile. Its a bit hard to tell, but there are pleats along the front bodice which give it a nice finish and add to the flowiness. Oh well, I guess I'll have to wait till next summer to really appreciate this one!

And note to self: I really need to get myself some labels made up. This top is screaming out for a made by me label. I saw these great ones Patch Andi got, but I am just not sure I will ever use thousands...

My creative space

My creative space
of the future...

We are moving house later this year. Plans are well underway for an extension and a renovation (that our little family will have the pleasure of living through!) And I am very excited about my new 'creative space' that is in the plans (above pic may be difficult to inperpret, unless you are me and spend A LOT of time staring at this little line drawing - The grey shaded bit in inside the house, you can see the windows opening to the outside. My creative space of the future is really just a length of desk, but imagine the possibilities!).

It will have nice big windows overlooking our backyard. Particularly looking out at an existing White Cedar (scientific name Melia azedarach - Persian Lilac) and the rest of a lush garden (that will be there eventually). But at the moment it just looks like this - a tree (a nice one at that) and some grass. It is amazing the excitment I have for imagining what this little corner of my life will be like. It's a while down the track to reality, but the dreaming is fun!

On a more practical level, this is what I am working on at the moment. Finishing off a cool breezy summer top I started last year (not much of a need for it this time of year, but hopefully I will have finished it before next summer...)

Visit Kootoyoo for more in the present creative spaces...

My creative space

Starting to get back into the swing of things this week. In my space this week is a work in progress. More embellishment for little person's clothes. This one hopefully transforms a boring old plain skivvy into a cute, warm winter garment.

Take 1 op shopped skivvy. Add a couple of squares of polar fleece in a warm wintry pattern.
I'm thinking a big square sewn on the front and some lengths doubled over and sewn on as cuffs to the edge of the sleeves.
The creative juices must be flowing readily around our place at the moment, as the hubby has some scrap metal pieces picked up this from the scrap yard. Bits of car engines and brakes and chains. He is going to weld together an outdoor table for my parents.
Visit the very creative Kirsty at Kootoyoo for see many many more creative juices.

A little time out and a crafty embellishment

I've been absent for a couple of weeks. An unexpected stint in hospital proved to be a bit of a hiccup to the normal flow of life. Fortunately all is well in the scheme of things, and some time to recover and 'taking it easy' will fix anything. So they say. And although I did, last minute, throw a couple of crafty projects into the overnight stay bag, the passion and energy was left behind at home so nothing got done. Even Internet access didn't work so the joy of blogging was absent.

I did, however, finish this project before I went into hospital. This was one of my op shopped finds that needed some crafty love to fix a lame decoration. The production line flowers were unpicked, and a new embellishment sewn over the top. I used a blue crochet ribbon, folded it into a bow shape, and hand sewed it to the top. I started this project at the Perle 8's Thursday night session, and finished it in front of the TV a few nights later.
Ooh, I just checked the Perle 8's blog and saw photos of craft'n in action, posted by the lovely quilting Andi. And there's a pic of my ribbon top in progress - fun!

Lucky my little toddler got to have some time out at the playground with her grandparents and aunty whilst Mum recovers. Here is the newly embellished top having a ball on the slides at the playground.

Getting ready for winter - Kayla assymetrical jacket

Just writing this post is making me feel hot. We are in the middle of a hot February and here I am making fleecy cardigans and corduroy pants (to come). And I will happily blame it all on the Ottobre magazine, that too damn good Finnish pattern design company that have the opposite seasons to us downunder (they are shovelling snow whilst we swelter away in the heat). Their Winter issue (albeit fantastic) arrives in the middle of Summer, and the Summer issue in Winter...

Enough complaining.

The pattern is the Kayla hooded jacket from Ottobre 3/2009 issue (which I just noticed was their Summer issue, not even a Winter issue. That's what happens when you live so close to the arctic circle I guess). The fabric is a cotton blend fleece. Fluffy on the inside so good for winter (ie not now). Lined with hot pink cotton lycra in the hood. It was the first time I have ever used snaps (instead of buttons or a zipper) on the front panel and they were super easy. Finished with some hot pink binding.

I forgot to take a close up photo of the hem, but there is some twin stitching along the bottom jacket and sleeve hems. Gives it a very professional finish, but also caused some minor distress with a certain broken twin needle about 5cm before the finish line...
Its still a bit too big. But this is a good thing as there is still some growing to do before Winter hits. It was pulled out on a chilly early morning walk to the park a couple of weeks ago (before it was completely finished). Just for a test drive. It worked fine, did all the things a jacket should do. Plus she looked super cute. Next is a skirt to match.

More legs

Two more pairs of leggings this week for an 18 month old. The pattern is the Lola leggings from Ottobre Summer issue 3/2009. These leggings are genuinely so easy so make, each leg is one piece of fabric so the method is simply sew the inner leg and crotch seams, hem the bottom and add the waist band. I have some very cool red/purple/black stripey knit that I want to make for myself, but I don't have a big person's pattern so I might try to wing it tracing the pattern from a pair of bought leggings. We'll see how we go.

The blue pair are made from a very lightweight stretch denim, and are finished with twin stitching. I used two different colours for the twin stitching - yellow and hot pink (although the colours don't show up very well in the pic) - to give them a bit of edge.

The pink pair are made from a plain cotton jersey. The flower is hand embroidered and adds a little girly touch (as if the pink wasn't girly enough...)

Again, more twin stitching on the hems and waistline. I've done a few project now with the twin needles here and here and I am definitely improving in my technique. And learning a lot along the way.

I signed up for My favourite February challenge which was sewing with knit fabrics, check out the others signed up for more stretchy goodness.

My creative space with automobiles

This week in my creative space is a sneak preview of a project recently finished.
Its all about automobiles, bright colours and summer.

But I can't show you the whole thing. Its a present for a friend. Or for their little dinosaur. So instead you get to see little bits and pieces.

It turns inside out. It has a nice stripey brim to shade out the sun.
And a neat round top to hold it in place.Hopefully it is liked by its owner to be.

What mysteries are going on in your creative space? Check out Kootoyoo to connect with others.

Cecile jersey blouse and more twin stitching

I signed up for February challenge - sewing with knit with Carolyn from My favourite. I've been sewing with knit, or stretch, quite a bit lately. Its a challenging fabric, however I've been learning some new techniques, having some successes, some failures.

I didn't start this project this month, I started it a while ago at Perle 8's, but joining Carolyn's challenge, motivated me to finish it. Its made from a a gorgeous brightly coloured cotton knit (probably elastane, but it came from my stash so I can't really remember). The pattern is Ottobre Cecile jersey blouse from the 3/2009 issue. The pattern was lovely. It has some cute shirring on the front and is flared.

There were a few hiccups along the way. I struggled, ALOT, with the binding on the neckline. However I learnt a little trick along the way. Sewing stretch knit to stretch binding was very difficult. It kept stretching too much and turned out all warped. I unpicked and restitched it three times before I was happy with it. I ended up attaching interfacing to the back side to stops it from stretching whilst I sewed the ribbing on the first time, then I pulled it off before I top stitched it. It still stretched a bit, however then I picked up a tip from somewhere (although I can't quite remember where). I used the steam function on my iron over it, and it tightened up nicely. The heat brought the materials back to shape. Whilst still not perfect, it was definitely satisfactory. The twin stitching is also a tad wonky, but that I can live with.

First attempt.

Third attempt (I didn't bother with photographing the second, it just went straight to unpicking).

Finally, after steam ironing.

The shirring on the bodice was done with elastic thread hand woven on to the bobbin and a normal thread on top. This is such a simple technique but looks very effective.

I got to do some more top stitching using the twin needle. I am absolutely loving this new gadget (despite last week's very frustrating broken needle incident...) This time is turned out really well and the hints I got from Kadiddlehopper (a very talented and inspirational sewer) some time ago paid off. I reduced the tension and the puckering between the twin lines of stitching was no more!

Things I learnt along the way:

• Steam ironing is your friend. It did a great job on reducing the warped stretch of the neckline and arm ribbing. Not perfect, but over time, improving my technique and the steam iron and I should get this under wraps.
• The fabric generally stretched along the seams, particularly when top stitching. I washed the garment half way through and this seemed to straighten everything up again. On reflection, perhaps a go over with the steam function on the iron also might have fixed it.
• Reducing the tension when using the twin needle stopped the fabric from puckering between stitch lines.
• Shirring is easy peasy

Its the next size up for my 14 month year old, so I am thinking it will do her for Winter (with layering) and maybe even Summer next year. Here she is testing out her new blouse and choosing the next thing for me to make..

My creative space

How lovely to be back...
Although to start off my year of creative spaces, I am sharing a frustrating moment.

I was THIS (imagine finger and thumb not very far apart) far from finishing - yes I mean finishing - my latest project. When one of the needles on my twin needle broke...

Just like that.

Very calmly, I managed to make it to my local haby store to pick up a replacement (plus a few other bits and pieces - making it worth the trip). But I was not impressed. Now the challenge of finding the time to finish it.

Head on over to our lovely My creative space host Kirsty at Kootoyoo for (hopefully) less frustration, more construction.

Op shop treasures, waiting for some crafty love

Winter is not far away, so I've started thinking and preparing for the winter wardrobe. Over the past few months, I've found the above collection of various tops, jumpers and pants from my visits to op shops. All are in good condition (two even still had the tags on them!), no stains, and all are plain boring items, crying out for some embellishments. Actually a couple have ridiculous decorations (a pink poodle with the words underneath - born to shop!?), but these will quickly disappear.

So over the next few months, I have a bit of work to do. The embellishments I was thinking of were

- reverse applique for the pink poodle (that way I get the pleasure of cutting him out completely!)

- patchwork patches for another

- more screen printing with contact

- frills for the bell bottom pants

Plus I have a couple of pants and skirts I plan to make up, so I will have to add embellishments to match.

I know its only the middle of summer still, but thoughts are already heading towards the next season. Nothing like being prepared I say!

summer tops

I've added a couple of new tops to the bubba's summer wardrobe. Both were existing plain tops that I added some detail to to jazz them up. The first I started a while ago back here, when I did some dining table screen printing. I finally completed this one the other day by finishing the flower and stitching edges around the petals. Came up rather nicely in the end (particularly because this embellishment was inspired by the need to hide a stain that I couldn't remove.)

The second t shirt was just a plain whitey from target. I unpicked the sleeves from the top at the front and added some gathered fabric leftovers I had lying around. Then restitched the seams. The ruffle edges are raw and there are actually a couple of layers of different fabrics in each ruffle, so now that I have washed it a couple of time, it is starting to fray a little which adds to the look. I think this one is my favourite (although who knows how I am going to manage keeping it white...) as she does look especially cute in it.

Learning to crochet - the beginning

So our weekend away camping was wonderful, albeit VERY hot. Not good weather for concentrating on anything or fiddling around with a big ball of yarn in one's lap. However, my Mum and I persevered and I have now started to learn to crochet. This was my first effort at crochet. Having been a bit of a crochet snob in the past, I had decided it was time to lower my nose and give it a go. And didn't it come back to slap me in the face. It was hard, fiddly (the weather didn't help) and I just couldn't get it (and neither could my Mum). The stitches were uneven and all I could manage was a plain single chain. Every time I tried to turn it into a double or triple stitch, it turned into knots. I didn't find Pip's instructions very helpful (although I hesitate to lay all blame on the author - there may have been some interpretation difficulties there too...).

So after about 1 hour I had this.

Twisted, too tight, too loose, grubby and of no use to anyone. I spent most of the time undoing and starting over again. I think my skills definitely lay in the automatic department (give me my sewing machine any day). However, not to be too negative, I am determined to continue and will not give up straight away.

And our camping trip was really lovely. There was a creek alongside our campsite where we spent most of our time keeping cool in the hot weather.And the baby had an absolute ball playing in the dirt and mud most of the time, or being spoilt by her grandparents and aunt. I took a photo of her sound asleep, in her shorts (made by me), sleeping on her blanket (made by me). I love looking at this picture, it brings a smile to my face.

So now I admire all those that can crochet, whipping up granny squares or scarves in their spare time. And I look forward to joining those ranks some day. Maybe one day.

Confronting the inner crochet snob

So we’ve got a few days away camping in the country. Looking forward to some fresh air, long relaxing walks, gourmet camping meals and spending time with my family. Looking forward to a getaway from the suburban heat and busi-ness of life.

We go away camping quite often. My skills and passion are mostly centred around my sewing machine so it is always a challenge for me to think of things I can do whilst I am away without electricity. I usually drag a couple of magazines along with me to flick through looking at pictures and getting ideas. And whilst I would hate to downplay the importance of pouring over beautiful magazines to stimulate the creative juices, it is hardly a replacement for actually making things.

So this camping trip I have decided to challenge myself.

I have a confession. I am a crochet snob. I have always thought it to be an old fashioned, out-of-date and something that nannas do. I have seen other people’s blogs showing their latest granny squares or other crochet creations and commented “lovely bright colours!” or ‘how creative!”, but I have always thought deep down, crochet is not for me. I do cool stuff, not crochet. I have seen a picture of somethingerother, and thought how cool and different it was. Then read the print underneath only to find out it is crochet, so I loose interest. Oh, I don’t think it is so cool after all – its crochet.

So now. I’ve decided its time to confront my inner crochet snob.
I am armed with:
- Meet Me at Mikes craft book (a very thoughtful Christmas present) with Pip Lincoln’s ‘how to crochet’ instructions (this will also fulfil the need to pour over beautiful pictures and inspirational ideas without actually doing anything)
- a ball of lovely speckled yellow yarn
- a metal crochet hook (according to Pip, for ‘extra slipperiness’)
- my Mum who used to crochet once upon a time, who thinks that she might remember again
- a long weekend away with plenty of time for relaxing and fiddling around with learning new techniques

I am not sure what I want to make yet, but figure I will play around for a bit and see what turns out.

Wish me luck. If all else fails, by the end of writing this post I have finally learnt to type crochet rather than crotchet. So I have at least gained something!

Eds note: oops, this post was meant to be posted before we went away. We're back now so the results coming soon...

New born baby gift and getting my sewjo back

Ooh and aren't I starting off the year on a good note!

My brother in law and partner had a brand new little baby boy on Tuesday. To welcome little Ollie, I made a few things to make his introduction to the world a little nicer.
A printed muslin wrap to keep him comforted in the hot summer months to come. The edges are bound in bright yellow binding. Cute animal print muslin. I loved the colour combination of the blues with the fresh lemon yellow. I hope the new Mum did too!

A couple of burping towels, finished with the same theme of the muslin print and lemon yellow.
And finally a chew blanky to match. These chew blanky (otherwise known as tag rags) are so easy to make; cut out two squares of bright fabrics, attach a few left over bits of ribbons and notions, sew it all together, and babies love them!
The whole set ready to be wrapped and gifted.

I was especially pleased with my effort as I have been finding it a little hard to get into the making stuff of late. Sewing action has been nearly zero. But I was energised and motivated to get this one done, so fingers crossed, I may have finally gotten my sewjo* back! Yippee!

* Compliments to Selena's Vintage who introduced me to the term 'sewjo' a while back. Potentially I thought this to be such a cool term when I first heard it that I was subconsciously looking for the opportunity to loose my 'sewjo' just do I could claim to have my 'sewjo' back. Hmm, only time will tell.

Happy New 2010!

**Happy New Year fellow crafters**

The start of a new year and the start of a new decade.
I've decided to look forward to the new year rather than back to the year just past.

Although I should pay my dues to 2009 with a quick wrap up as it certainly was a significant year in my life. In 2009...

• I had my first year on maternity leave from a full time career. Because of this I rediscovered my creative flair and my love of sewing and making things. The Melbourne Stitches and Craft show was a real inspiration for me and got the ball rolling by introducing me to a whole new world of craft, blogging and some amazing people. (I honestly had no idea that such an amazing crafty community was out there!)
• In July I stopped being an anonymous blog peeper and started my own blog! I also joined the great Perle 8's group and met more amazing people.
• I had the pleasure of watching my friend Nic of Yardage Design make a dream come true in creating a crafty business from scratch. Nic is a real inspiration and has documented the whole journey on her blog. It is definitely worth checking out.
• In December by little baby girl turned one. It was time to return back to work, albeit part time.

So in 2010, there are more exciting challenges to come. The end of 2009 saw me going back to work, getting busy and just never finding the time for dragging out the sewing machine (although there were plenty of longing glances into the spare room cupboard where machines, stash and notions are all kept safe). Or turning on the computer to be inspired by all the bloggy creativeness. I have learnt my lesson many years ago on making aspirational and unrealistic new years resolutions that never stick.

This year I look forward to continuing my lovely blog, continuing to make and create lovely things, learning new techniques and finding new inspiration.

We have a house move/renovation/extension thingy to plan and do.

And finally I hope to find that balance between motherhood, wife, domestic goddess (did I say earlier I was going to avoid unrealistic expectations?), part time career, home renovation project management, and finding time for my passion for sewing and craftiness (plus all the other very important things).

So Happy New Year to you all! I look forward to joining in with your adventures in 2010 and I hope you enjoy being a part of mine!

Madness, a 1st birthday and blue food dye

Time flies. Christmas is just around the corner. We've had two birthdays, I've started back at work two days a week, trying (very unsuccessfully) to get organised for Christmas. I've had the flu. Not much time left for anything else.

We had our first ever 1st birthday party a week ago. It was a small affair, with plenty of good food, family and laughter. The baby (who is no longer considered a baby anymore!) got a new birthday dress for the day. (Yes, I was up till 11pm the night before finishing it, always leave everything to the last minute...) It did the trick for the beautiful sunny day that we had. The pattern was from the Ottobre Summer 09 magazine, the same Toffee Tunic as the one I made a while ago here. Except I omitted the sleeves (a time saving strategy as whilst they are cute sleeves, they took the longest to make). Here is the tunic in action, featured along with the blue icing smothered mouth and hands, after having devoured the blue layer of her piece of cake..
The cake was decorated in layers of bright coloured icing, to look like a stacking ring toy - the favourite toy at the moment. It was lovingly decorated by Camille, my sister, and received a squeal of delight (and hopefully recognition) when it was brought to the table.

And those layers were brightly coloured! All in all a great day and lots of fun.

The Christmas list has been a bit neglected (ie some projects randomly started, nothing finished), can I get focused and ready in time? Christmas, here we come!

An oven makeover

A visit to Nic from Yardage Design earlier this week. To check out the brand spanking new range of tea towels she has created. The marvels of this amazing lass as she turns her dream into a reality.

I was lucky enough to come away with this spunky number which has now transformed my humble oven into a showpiece for the blog (Ok, maybe that was a bit over the top. Just keep looking at the tea towel and ignore the oven). It is made of beautiful hemp/organic cotton (we are back on to the tea towel again), lovingly hand printed in a blue colour to match my house (so thoughtful Nic!). It has a really nice feel to it. I don't know how I will ever go back to using a cheap old tea towel again. Check out Nic's blog for more of her new range of tea towels!

Seems this week carries a made by others theme (two similar posts constitutes a theme doesn't it?). Hope you are having a good week!

Knitted cardi

I know. Who ever thought a knitted item would appear on this blog? I can't knit.

However I can't pretend to take credit for this little cutie. But I can put it up here for others to appreciate the beautiful work of our friend Lyn, who so kindly knitted it for my little baby girl (we have had it a few months and got plenty of wear out of it during the cold Winter days that now seems so far away). It was knitted as one piece, in a beautiful cornflower blue. The top yoke bit actually stretches (because of the type of knit used). It is fastened with three buttons at the top and a ribbon threaded along the neckline.

And, there is a quaint little story to go along with it.

Lyn saw the cardi on display in a wool shop in Kyneton, whilst shopping for wool, and asked for a copy of the pattern. The lady in the shop advised that it was from a book she had from the 1950's and that she was not sure how it would copy as it was very old and quite dilapidated. She disappeared out the back and came back with a very scratchy photocopy of the pattern. It was from this that the cardi was knitted. The pattern was extremely hard to read and had to be guessed in some places where words appeared to be missing.

The introductory words to the pattern were:
Baby Layette - one for the novice
This jacket, worked sideways in one piece, and in easy garter stitch, would be within the capacity of the beginner and would be useful for expectant aunts and grandmothers who may feel their needles have become a trifle rusty.

How quaint! (And try reading that in one sentence without a breath!)

I am so glad she did as it is a really cute little cardi (or sorry, baby layette, to be precise). And the buttons are a favourite with the bubs. Luckily Lyn's needles were not too rusty! And thanks also to Robyn for choosing the buttons and the cute tartan ribbon trim. This one will definitely be kept for future use!

So I am sorry to disappoint, but its not my knitting prowess here. My grandmother did teach me to knit once as a child. I think I knitted half a sock or scarf or something but that memory is a tad vague. Something I'd love to learn, but perhaps for another time. In the meantime I appreciate the talent and generosity of others. Thank you Lyn!

screen printing with contact

Oops. Has it really been a week and a half since I last posted? Where did that time go? No idea, but I have been neglecting this poor little blog. Time to give it some TLC I think!

Although it hasn't been a time completely void of crafting (but it must have been very busy with some other very important things, I'm sure...) I got into a bit of screen printing, or the very easy do-it-on-the-dining-room-table method using contact (the clear adhesive plastic used for covering books with), a sponge roller and some fabric ink.

Two projects came to life. A t shirt for my hubby for his birthday and a little decoration for a plain top for the baby. The t shirt is my favourite as it is of our (beautiful lovely friendly) dog Max, who can be seen in the non 2D version on our last camping trip here. I enlarged and printed out a favourite photo of Max. Traced the outline onto the contact. Using a sharp blade, cut out the shape from the contact so you are left with a reverse out of the picture. Then, you hold the sheet of contact over the t shirt, very carefully pull away the backing from the contact whilst trying to stick the contact flat to your item to be printed. This is the trickiest part really, particularly if you have a large picture to print!. Then, once it is stuck down well, you roll or paint your ink in the cut out. Pull the contact off and you have yourself a great screen print!

The print is then ironed from both sides, a lot! The fabric ink jar said to iron for 15 mins, but I can't imagine the fabric would have withstood that, so I just ironed it a lot. The pic is after it has been washed too, so obviously I ironed it enough to set the ink! (A quick iron might have made the final product look a little more impressive too, but I think I was all ironed out by that stage).

I'm sure there are plenty of good tutorials out there (with a few more photos - I always get so carried away in my projects, that I often forget to take photos until the very end!), however I learnt this simple technique at a workshop during the Melbourne Stitches and Craft Show from the very talented Tegan over at Ink & Spindle.

The other print was the base of a daisy, inspired by a a small but obvious stain that I can't seem to remove in the wash. Not overly exciting yet, but this one is a work in progress, as I need to add some material and a bit of sewing to bring this to life. But the print is a start!