Purl and Seam

5

January 14, 2013

It’s so hard to find the words for this post.

Our amazing, sparky, funny little girl celebrated her 5th birthday on Saturday.

I cannot quite come to grips with just how grown up this little poppet is.

Every single day she amazes us.

She is bold and brave, funny and charming, wild and loud, cuddly and loving.

She is so many things…all of them wonderful. It’s so difficult to find the words.

So I shall quote one of her little school friends. A five year old boy with charm and wisdom far beyond his years.

He told his mother that he adores Button because “she lights up the world”.

I couldn’t agree more. She lights up our world every second of the day.

The wrong trousers

January 11, 2013

The children have been introduced to Wallace and Gromit over the Christmas break and they are entranced.

Unfortunately, Wallace’s genius for incompetence in his creations has spilled over to my sewing loft.

I finally got the 2 pairs of upcycled jeans finished for Button this week.

You know…the ones I started in October of last year.

Just the 2 1/2 months then.

Which, whilst not a hanging offence in itself, doesn’t take into account the annoying tendency of small people to grow.

Right out of the jeans you should have finished for her 2 months ago!

Cue expletive of your own choice! I had several!

For a split second I was tempted to let The Boy wear them…but figured that floral Liberty print pocket linings probably weren’t a look he’d want to rock…and that the grandparents wouldn’t forgive me.

Thankfully, his best friend at nursery is a delightful, curly haired little moppet and these jeans will fit her perfectly.

Phew!

Fair Isle

January 3, 2013

I love Fair Isle knits.

I love the intricacy of the designs.

I love the sense of tradition and heritage.

I love intarsia too.

Frankly, though, I’m crap at knitting either of them!

Can’t get the tension even. Can’t avoid squooshed up stitches or saggy threads or holey bits.

In April all that will change.

Lara Croft and I have done it and signed up for the Knitting with Colour workshop at baa ram ewe in Leeds.

image courtesy of baa ram ewe

We are inappropriately squeaky with excitement at the prospect. This is something I’ve wanted to crack for more years than I care to remember and LC is just the most fun to spend a day with.

I simply can’t wait.

Squeak!

PS….all the pictures of the divine knits are courtesy of the wonderful

Kate Davies.

Perfectly perky party people play princesses and pirates

December 21, 2012

Oh, I just can’t stop myself.

I blame the tinsel!

Little people had their dance class Christmas party last weekend and I promised the family some pictures. So here are my adorable littlies in their party finery!

I can take no credit for these costumes, they came from their elder sisters’ dressing up box. I also take no credit for the shockingly outrageous posing of my children. They love to play up to the camera.

These shots, taken whilst putting up the Christmas decorations only confirm this…

Shameless!

This week was The Boy’s Christmas singalong…he was an Elf!

Too cute!

Both of them!

A pair of perfect patterns

December 17, 2012

Ok…I know…enough with the alliteration already! I just couldn’t resist but I will do better next time!

This post verges on showing off, but I’m so lucky and so thrilled I just had to share.

First up…my in-laws bought me Colette’s Anise jacket pattern as a congratulations for my exam results.

I have some stunningly beautiful Scottish tweed that my friend Liz gifted to me that will be perfect for this. I would share a photo of the fabric but it’s hidden under a pile of Christmas gifts at the moment. The sewing room is the acknowledged hiding place for presents pre-Christmas as it’s out of bounds for the kids unless I’m with them!

The fabric is about 20 years old and in pristine condition…and is the colour of Scottish meadows. It’s so beautiful and I knew as soon as I saw it that the only jacket I wanted to make with it was Anise.

So you can imagine the squealing that ensued Chez Stitches when the postman brought me a lovely package from The Village Haberdashery last week with this pattern in it.

It will be my first foray into tailoring of any sort, but I do have the Anise companion booklet, so I think I’m in safe hands. I just need to hunt down some lovely lining fabric to make the whole thing pop!

As if that wasn’t enough…the lovely Andrea over at Stitch Parade recently held a very generous giveaway and I won the Miz Mozelle Dress pattern by Jamie Christina!

I can’t tell you how delighted I am.

I’m planning to sew a whole raft of dresses next year and this is definitely on the list. Isn’t it so pretty! I think so far I’ve got half a dozen dress patterns that I’m simply itching to sew. I’m sure I can push it to seven to make a whole weeks worth.

So I just wanted to say a very heartfelt thank you to my in-laws and to Andrea for their kindness and generosity. I’m one very happy seamstress.

Picture perfect purple for a prickly party princess – FO 30 & 31/2012

December 16, 2012

Well we almost didn’t make it to the party today…but that was more to do with Madam Button von Stroppypants having a major attitude problem and Mummy foolishly rising to the bait!

However all was resolved 5 minutes before the allotted hour and following a quick change, our prickly party princess was ready to go.

You may remember this dress from That Bloody Wedding…the pattern is New Look 6881 and it’s a pattern I just love.

The fabric is a poly duchesse from Abakhan lined with poly habotai also from Abakhan.

As the dress is sleeveless it really needed a cardigan and this is the finished Langston

knitted in Debbie Bliss Rialto DK.

I did a very cursory block of this cardigan hence the frill isn’t lying as flat as I’d like, but this doesn’t really detract from the overall loveliness of this little cardie.

As you probably know by now, I’ve never met a cable I didn’t like, and this is no exception.

Such a lovely pattern…one I can definitely see myself making again.

And madam had a lovely time at the party and is now, finally asleep. Don’t be fooled by those big blue eyes! I’m off for a very stiff drink 😉

Purple panic for Poppy’s party

December 13, 2012

Button has an invitation to her little friend Poppy’s party.

It’s on Sunday.

With my usual organisational skills this was my sewing table yesterday.

Good job I work well to a deadline!

December

December 3, 2012

Good grief…21 days to go? How did that happen?

Fortunately, whilst there isn’t a great deal of needlework going on here, the Christmas gift list is slowly being ticked off.

Last weekend we stirred up cake and pudding.

On Wednesday I filled the house with the scent of spices as I gave the pudding its first steaming.

Yesterday we surprised the kids with a visit to see Father Christmas in the Hall at our local park.

Whilst The Boy wasn’t having any of it (except the proffered chocolate…he’s not daft), Button marched up to FC, bold as brass.

The conversation went something like this:

FC: Hello little girl. Have you been good? What would you like for Christmas?

B: A Barbie, please.

FC: (In an incredulous tone) Is that all?

B: Yes, thank you.

FC: Speechless!

Having snaffled her chocolate as well, we went off to explore the Hall, and in the kitchens found two lovely ladies set up to make pomanders from oranges and cloves.

A quick turn around a little craft fair garnered so many compliments about the little jacket that Button commented “why are all these ladies looking at my coat?”. I, on the other hand, was really rather pleased with myself.

We all had a pretty lovely day.

A little winter dress – FO 29/2012

November 24, 2012

Oh it’s been wild here. We drove to Basingstoke on Thursday to visit our beloved friends Jani and Ian (of whom we don’t see enough) and could only manage about 50 mph, if we were lucky, due to the high winds sweeping across the motorway.

Today is very chilly and I’m thankful that I recently finished another iteration of Heidi and Finn’s delicious cowl neck dress for Button.

She’s on a bit of a growth spurt at the moment so she’d grown out of the navy striped one I made, but the next size up is a little big…although I don’t think it will be for very long.

The fabric was a dress of Ma SIL’s which I cut into with gay abandon, but explains why the sleeves are 3/4 and the cowl a little shorter that the pattern…I simply didn’t have enough fabric so made these little modifications with surprisingly pleasing results.

This is a dancing dress…

…and great for twirling in…

…and just fabulous for jumping, too!

I think she likes this dress…and wasn’t in the mood for standing for photos this morning!

Thank you to Nana for the makings of a lovely and cosy new dress.

Upcycled t-shirt tutorial

November 16, 2012

It’s official.

I’m the world’s worst blogger.

I promise and I don’t deliver.

Because I forget.

Yep…I forgot that a bajillion years ago I promised you a tutorial about how I upcycle adult t-shirts for the kids, using the existing neckline and hems to reduce the amount of sewing you do.

And then today I saw this splendid tutorial at Elegance and Elephants.

photo by Elegance & Elephants
click on photo for source

Which explains it far better than I could do.

And with the cutest dress as an alternative outcome to a t-shirt.

photo by Elegance & Elephants
click on photo for source

So, I’d go there and check it out instead of waiting for my pitiful offering.

And maybe accept my profuse and profound apologies for being so flipping rubbish!

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