Fabric : Fibre : Family
I have project fatigue.
On the right of this picture are the 29 completed Hello Kitty embroideries for Button’s quilt.
On the left, the 13 still to do.
I cannot find the words to explain how bored of hot pink Kitties I am.
And how grateful I am that Ma will be doing the rest of this quilt.
And how excited Button is at the prospect of a quilt full of hot pink Kitties…which, in truth, makes it all worth while.
It’s bitterly cold still in our neck of the woods. Button has been very brave venturning out in shorts for photos. Thankfully Ma has been busy with her needles as they had grown out of pretty much all their knits.
First up is a little jacket that Button has had before. She absolutely loves it, and this time Ma made it with long sleeves, so it’s even cosier.
Pattern : Sirdar 2358
Yarn : 80/20 poly/wool from Abakhan at £6.17 for a 400g ball
Much as I’d love them to be clothed in Madelinentosh all the time…these two are R.O.U.G.H. on their clothes. This yarn can just be thrown into the wash and comes out as good as new.
The Boy was not to be left out…
Pattern : Sirdar Jolly Beachcomber No 2334
Yarn : As above. Thankfully as well as being resistant to small people, this yarn is also soft. Boy is a whiner about wearing a sweater. Unless it’s super soft it’s a no go.
Thanks, Ma. These are just lovely.
edited to link to Make it Wear It over at The Train to Crazy
Sewing has ground to a halt here…we’re having a lovely family weekend and the sewing loft is the last place I want to be just now. I will get those red shorts whipped up soon though!
However, another day, another new outfit for Button.
I LOVE this outfit. Comfy, cosy, practical, cute. Both of these garments are an age 5, and she’s petite enough that she’ll get some wear out of them, but they’re not completely swamping her.
We found the cute spotty shoes just by chance on Friday evening. I couldn’t resist!
They’re just the ticket to round off this outfit.
edited to link to Make it Wear it over at The Train to Crazy
I’m pushing the boundaries of Kids Clothes Week by including this as it was finished last week, but, hey, isn’t that what boundaries are for?
It’s Elegance & Elephant’s Ruffle Top in the tunic length made up in the last bit of Liberty cotton leftover from my Giverny dress of last year.
I did consider using the pink from the shorts to make the bias for the ties and the neckline, but I’d purchased this ready made bias as it’s a perfect match for the pink in the pattern.
I think it would have worked well either way, but I do like the extra dimension the two pinks bring to the outfit.
Now all we need is some lovely weather. When it does arrived, we are prepared!
PS… These pictures make our garden look fabulous…but don’t be fooled. It’s not! It needs a lot of work.
Wow – I’m on a roll. Today I finished another pair of Bubble Pocket shorts.
These are in a very stable double knit jersey which gives them quite a different look and feel. They are a little bulkier than the cotton versions, obviously, but I think they’ll work. We’ll see when I can pin down a wee small girl long enough for her to try them on!
I now only have a pair of red shorts to sew and my plan for Kids Clothes Week is complete…watch this space!
I really didn’t think I’d get any sewing done yesterday. I’d been at a PTFA cinema club all afternoon and we didn’t get home from school until gone 6.30pm. As bedtime is normally around 7pm, this was late by our standards. By the time the kids were abed I was one tired mummy and not really up for anything except sitting on the sofa waiting for the Great British Sewing Bee to start. But I thought I’d just have half an hour in the sewing loft….
40 minutes later I had the first tee shirt finished!
I’ve never made a garment so quickly in my life.
I did take a short-cut – the original tee shirt that this was upcycled from was a v-neck, and I was a little short on length for the fronts and backs…so this version is straight across at the hem rather than shaped as per the pattern. I cut all 4 pieces on the original hemlines – saving myself having to stitch the bottom of the shirt and the sleeves.
I’d been really reluctant to purchase a pattern for such a simple garment, but I’m really glad I did. This is perfect. Sure, I could have drafted it myself, but it took all of 15 minutes to print, tape, pin and cut out. Sometimes it really is worth spending the money for someone else’s (superior) expertise and to save yourself some time. No way could I have drafted this in that space of time.
Cost wise, the pattern came in at a little over £5 at the current exchange rate. As the fabric is upcycled and the thread was already in my stash, each of these little tees cost less than £3. And they are a really good weight of jersey, so perfect for spring days when it’s a bit chilly. £3 will normally get you a skimpy supermarket tee which will shrink the first time you wash it and be constructed from much thinner jersey, so these represent very good value for money in my book!
Also, going forward, I won’t need to include the price of the pattern in the cost of future tees.
This is a very well drafted pattern. I swear that any beginner who can pin fabric together and sew a straight line could make this shirt and get a great result. And you don’t need an overlocker (serger).
I can see myself making this over and over again…and making cute little tee shirt dresses too. A Blank Slate indeed!
Today I also finished the red/cream striped tee.
Again I cut the sleeves using the existing hems, but this one had sufficient fabric in the original shirt to allow me to cut the shaped hemline. I finished it with a quick twin-needle hem
I am in love with this pattern. It’s unisex, so great for The Boy too – he’s a small growth spurt away from being out of all of his tee shirts, and as he flatly refuses to wear a cotton button through shirt this pattern will be a life saver.
I’m planning a photoshoot for the weekend to capture these tees and their matching shorts (the blue pair is nearly done!), together with a couple of other garments that were finished before KCW began, but still haven’t been showcased here.
Now…the waistband and cuffs of the blue shorts are calling…hopefully I’ll get them finished tonight too!
It’s Kids Clothes Week this week and I’m taking the opportunity to clear down some projects that have been languishing in the sewing loft for quite a while. There are 3 t-shirts from Ma SIL, a 1/2 yard length of double jersey, and the red fabric I bought on Saturday, which has been claimed by Miss Button.
I would point out that I knew she wanted a red dress, so bought her some fabric with KCW in mind…
…only to be informed, in no uncertain terms, that it was entirely the wrong colour of red and therefore completely unacceptable. That girl of mine certainly knows her own mind!
The piece I bought on Saturday, on the other hand, was immediately swooped upon with squeals of glee…so we are sharing it!
I’m nabbing the original piece to make a top for me, to go with a skirt from the solid red. I’ve been jonesing for a red outfit for a while…this will certainly fit the bill.
But I digress. The idea of KCW is to spend an hour a day on sewing dedicated to the small people. Yesterday I spent the time happily cutting out t-shirts and shorts. It would be so easy to make a huge list of things, only to be beaten by the clock. I’d rather have a small pile of quick wins and get some more pieces out of the loft and into Button’s wardrobe.
So…I’ll be making 2 Beachy Boatneck tees:
and 2 pairs of Bubble Pocket Shorts, of course:
I think it’s a doable list…we shall see!
Early Saturday morning was cold and crisp and sunny. I know this as I was up with the lark and heading for the train station, heading to Walthamstow to meet a princess.
Yes…you heard right.
A Sewing Princess to be precise. Silvia was in town for the weekend and we’d arranged to meet up and explore Walthamstow market.
I was decidedly nervous. Despite all evidence to the contrary I actually quite shy…not the sort of shy that actually stops me doing things, but the kind of shy that can make me gauche in new social circumstances with new people.
My nerves were groundless. Silvia is every bit as delightful as you’d expect from her blog. She is warm, and funny and has a megawatt smile. Even when I talked endlessly about the kids!
After coffee and a walk along the market, with which we were decidedly underwhelmed, we decided on a change of plan and headed off to the Goldhawk Road, with a loose plan of catching up with Rachel, who had organised a sewing meetup.
As we sat in Costa grabbing a coffee, I recognised stylish hair and a lovely skirt whisking into the loo. Poor Karen was greeted by two joyous sewists as she exited…now she knows how Kenneth King felt!
We were quickly welcomed into the group and found ourselves joining a shoal of sewists heading off for lunch. What an unexpected surprise and pleasure.
What a wonderful, wonderful, day! Sewists are without doubt the most genuine and lovely group of people you are ever likely to meet.
Thank you Silvia and all the other amazing ladies for making a trip to London very special indeed.
Oh, that Heidi! She’s a marvel!
She makes the most delicious patterns.
Hot on the heels of the fabulous Ruffle Top pattern, today she’s launching the much anticipated Bubble Pocket Shorts pattern.
I swoon!
I was delighted to be asked to participate in pattern testing them. Lucky me!
Hot pink embroidered cotton.
They are too adorable for words. I just know this will be my go-to pattern for the summer.
These shorts are a joy to make – simple and straightforward to sew. The pattern is beautifully drafted and the PDF is so well tiled. The pattern pieces tape together perfectly and in a jiffy.
You can go from inbox to completed in a gentle afternoon’s sewing. With tea breaks.
Heidi’s instructions are a joy! Clear, detailed and beautifully illustrated with step-by-step photographs. She holds your hand every step of the way. I would recommend this pattern to any confident beginner. The Sailor version might need a bit more experience, but the Classic version, shown here, are really not at all difficult…if you can sew straight lines and insert elastic, I promise you that you can make these shorts.
One word of warning, though…when you do make them you’ll have no end of trouble getting your little fashionista to take them off. We nearly had tears, she loves them so much.
And you’ll have to make her a matching ruffle top tunic too! More of that when I can convince madam to partake in a photoshoot (stroppy little minx!).
But I can deal with that…and I recommend you dash off now and get your copy. New shorts for the weekend, anybody?
It seems that I’m not actually producing a great deal at the moment, and I’m really OK with that. I have stuff on the go and hope to have something to share with you next week…if I can just get my act together to sew the darned hem!
But I am also working on developing (n)ewe skills…and that, my dears, takes time.
Sadly, the jokes are still very, very old indeed!
This week, Lara Croft and myself treated ourselves to a colour-work knitting workshop at Baa Ram Ewe in Headingley, Leeds, to celebrate making it through the Easter school break without murdering the little horrors.
image from baaramewe.co.uk
We set off bright and early on Saturday morning with rare sunshine on the hills as we crossed over into Yorkshire. Thankfully our visas were up to date ;-).
Baa Ram Ewe is a delightful yarn shop stocked to the ceiling with beautiful yarns such as Jamieson and Smith, Rowan and Debbie Bliss.
image from baaramewe.co.uk
But their speciality is Yorkshire Yarns and their own Titus yarns had me twitching to make a purchase.
image from baaramewe.co.uk
Thankfully we were whisked off to a nearby coffee bar to start the day.
image from salvos.co.uk
Coffee in hand, Sara, our Rowan tutor for the day, lead us gently into the world of colour knitting.
Sara’s samples
At this point I’ll admit to be more than a little nervous. Lara Croft is a very calm and accomplished knitter.
Me…I don’t do calm.
But I’m going to let you into the three big secrets I learned during this course:
There it is…the secret key to colour-work knitting. It turns out even us mere mortals can do it!
BTW, I’m not being flippant. I realised that it boils down to knitting and purling and picking up and putting down two colours of yarn.
It’s really not that hard as long as you aren’t afraid to just get stuck in and give it a go, work slowly and pay attention to the chart and your work.
This isn’t knitting for in front of the TV…unless you’re far more skilled at this than I am. At which point I’ll tip my hat to you for being fabulous.
I left the day with the feeling that the lovely mittens pattern and yarn currently languishing in the loft can finally see the light of day and my needles.
I can do this!
And so, I think, can Ewe…
Disclaimer…no animals were harmed in the cracking of these jokes!
PS…I really would like to go back to Baa Ram Ewe and buy some of their lovely yarn.
PPS…The coffee at Salvos is delicious…as are their sandwiches
