Study Break.

Hi there blog. I haven't forgotten you, I haven't forgotten about sewing either.. I got busy.. I'm still busy but there's road works, kids TV and two munchkins hanging nearby so I'm not in the right space to finish the essay and the other two assessments.. I'll get there soon though!

I did, however, decide if I couldn't do a good essay job, I probably could do a good sewing job! Just as well because I felt I was neglecting my hobby and I really wanted to get onto something before winter went away- it's already getting warm through some days!

As I mentioned in the last entry, my not-so-baby boy turned 5 recently. His Aunty Becca posted up a present for him and a meter of printed flannel for me to "make him something"

Yarr!

 And the very same afternoon I just so happened to be walking past a winter clearance rack and picked up a jumper in the next size up (to last an extra cold season!)

Got the mind ticking...

Becca had suggested I might like to add a hood to a jumper, or something.. so I did just that.

I love this kid :D

(And yes, those who know me "in real life" I have a sewing space finally!)
But it wasn't quite done, I mean I had a heap of the material left and it seemed too easy..  so I cut a chunk from the middle of the sleeves and added some material to them too!

Always a goof!

He LOVES his new "Pirate Jumper" :D And I'm a bit partial to it too! It seems that it'll make a good jumper/sweater repurpose when things get holey or a little too small. I will definitely be doing this again! It looks way too cute, really.. and meant to be!

But I wasn't done! Still with a good amount of material and another thought in mind, I quickly cut and whipped up a pair of PJ pants... he loves those too! And they're super easy to make!

More super-silly.

He's going to be a bit warmer for the rest of this season, and onto next.. thanks to Aunty Becca!

Feeling Stitchy!

I haven't updated for a week and a half - I actually haven't sewed for a week and a half! I was feeling quite stitchy by today.. but I've been busy! In the week my beautiful, delightful, thoughtful, caring son turned 5! Amazing that next year I'll have a school kid - I still wait every day for that knock on the door from.. whoever.. to say "Oh my goodness, we made a mistake, we weren't meant to give you a child.. sorry for the muddle, we'll take them back now." But that hasn't happened yet.. thankfully because, truth be told, I've grown attached to the wee midgets. Just a little. ;)

So after a week and a half preparing for the monster party, and heading back to work from holidays and studying away I was feeling pretty stitchy. And today, with it blowing a gale outside as it does in Brisbane while we head back into warmer weather, I thought it'd be the perfect day to just sew -something-

I came across a couple of  strips of material in my stash - nothing to do much productive with alone, but nice colours. And that's when I started ticking. Hot on the heels (hemline?) of my gored skirt, I thought I can make another - for Eva!

The material was perfect for colour matching and the perfect width, I just cut it to the length and sewed the panels together. I love this skirt, it's so cute it hurts. Eva's very pleased with it too- she's a great critic. As soon as I held it up, she whipped off her pants and asked to put the "very-booful!" skirt on. And then clawed at the door so we could go outside and I could get some photos.. she knows how her mummy works.

Yay for leaves and cute skirts! (slightly off centre)

 She had a ball heading out there and throwing around the leaves!

Oh I love it. I want one for me.

I may have to embelish the shirt so it matches, or make a headband.. For now she's bringing over the scraps and asking me to make more skirts for her friends!

Holy Cow! Or is that holey socks..?

I had a problem, I actually had 3.
I have a girl who toilet trained earlier than expected - which isn't a big problem until the next..
I have shirts, Eva's size and a bit bigger, that have snaps to do up between her legs, again, not a problem unless combined with above.
I have the cutest, kiwi, crew socks that have holes in them. Big problem. :(
Now, The Husband implored me to throw out the socks, in his opinion they were stupid looking, they had holes and they were toe-socks. Perfect candidate for trash, says he. They are cute, warm and were a gift from NZ. Perfect candidate for doing something with, says I.

Here are my problems.

Really, could YOU throw out those socks?

I had a friend making way-cute baby legs by repurposing long socks but I wasn't sure if that was the solution for my socks, Eva doesn't wear nappies and she prefers tights under her skirts (No really, she loves to wear tights and skirts) so then I had a brain wave. Use both my clothing problems to make a pyjama shirt. Oh yes, yes I did.

First I cut off the bits I didn't need, just above the highest hole on the socks and just above the leg.. binding... bit, you know what I mean.

I hemmed the bottom of the shirt and then set to work finding out the best way to attach the socks to the arms, to do this the exact same way I did, do the opposite of how I explain it, and then sit on the couch and unpick it, sighing loudly and try again. ;)

Keep the shirt the right side out, turn the sock tube inside out and slip it over the sleeve with the cut end closest to the sleeve cuff, then sew around the sleeve cuff.

Big yays for Sharon for showing me how to sew
tight, small circles like this.

Repeat with the other sleeve, turn it all the right way and put it on your awaiting model!

Big grins from the rosie-cheeked teether
who also has a cold.

And the all-important "pretend you're sleeping!" shot

Sure, the kiwis are upside down, but if you have socks with no patterns it'd work even better! And besides, they're just PJs! :)

Problems solved!

And hey, it's a bit of a tutorial, innit it? :D

Eye Spy a Shirt and a Silly Hat.

I've been sewing away on a few different things, as you do. I could rabbit on about each project or I could do a pic-post and post a couple of pictures and some things about what I've been doing for the last fortnight or so.

When I was on a beanie spree a couple of weeks ago I made one more for a little belly-babe who was still baking away. Lucille's on the outside now so I can share the beanie or silly hat!

I promise you she was impressed!

Some will argue that the best part of the silly hat was my pre-baby model...

Woof! I liked making this beanie, it was a quick sew of two rectangles with the little thingies in the corner. Very technical, aren't I.

I found this very retro polo in an oppie, I had to buy it, it was $3 and it reminded me so much of my childhood, my dad.. I'm sure it's something he would've had in the wardrobe (or still does!), the soft knit fabric, brown with retro stripes.

Much like the sweater dress, I just put one of Cobey's shirts over the top of this one, traced around then sewed, it doesn't take me long to do these- I did this in a morning before we were due to leave and he was to wear it.

It looks so sweet on him, I love how the stripes sit lower than the original and feels good too. I made it slightly too big so it'll last a little longer and through the summer.

And the Lucky Last thing to post about is yet another present. Today we celebrated a good friend's 4th birthday! I had seen an Eye-Spy tube years ago and with my son's I Spy book obsession I had been meaning to make an Eye-Spy bag for ages- so with Stella's birthday coming it seemed like a great age for the gift!

I used various little things and rice for the inside, and fleece and clear PVC for the outside. I didn't need a tutorial, it was fairly straight forward!

Taking a photo of all the bits and bobs and writing the poem was what took me the longest!

I just know I'm going to be making a few more of these, for presents and for long car trips as the kids get older! Bound to keep the squidlets quiet for a while!

Is it a bird?

Have you had someone gift you some material that you're not entirely sure of what to do with it because.. well.. because it's a bit ugly? And, let's face it, since getting your sewing machine you've realised that you're quite the pack-rat when it comes to material.

Here's an idea, turn it into a super hero cape and gift it to your child's day care!

They're nice mermaids.. but really..

And the action super girls!

At least at the day care, the children can wear it (and they don't care what it looks like) and you don't need to look at it! Win-Win!

Well THAT didn't take me long!

Not long at all, under an hour was all I needed to make myself a skirt! Yahoo! I signed off from that last entry and set about it.

There's not much to say about it - it's 2 rectangles and some elastic. It only took me an hour because I included cutting, ironing and sitting down to ask twitter for recommendations on no-think TV I should watch on the holidays. I didn't need a tutorial for it either! I do think I need to wash it with some fabric softener though - or just wear it and wash it and wear it and wash it.
This is the print (smallish) on the other material I have, I think I might make a gored skirt to give it a bit more oomph!

I like it.

Hoods and Rainbows! Oh My!

I've lamented before, if not on here than out loud, that sewing for boys is SO HARD. There are so few sewing projects at hand, especially for clothes. This week I've created one!

It isn't perfect, it's far from in fact. But I really like it. I can see the crooked hemline, the double stitching, where the machine ate the material.. and I can even see where I accidentally stitched right-side to wrong-side (including zig-zag) and then had to unpick it all.. but I am really quite proud of it, so long as no one looks too closely ;)

Cobey loves it too! It came about after I was talking to my mother-in-law on the weekend when I mentioned I was thinking of doing something with some jumper material (I called it Jersey Fleece, but I have no idea if I'm using the right words when I talk about material), she was sure she had some just lying about and found, not only the jersey fleece stuff, but also some very cute patterned material with a rainbow pattern and a flower pattern - too cute! I believe I have Sue to thank for those two.

I traced one of his shirts without the sleeves, then traced a hood.. I was going to do it as-is but then thought about how cute the rainbow would be lining the hood and as a pocket! What (nearly) 5 year old doesn't love rainbows?

Of course the most nerve wracking thing was attaching the hood. I ummed and aahed as to how to do it, I pinned, unpinned, repinned, threw it down, put in inside, outside, swore but eventually just did it - and it worked!

A trapezium for the pocket and voila! Warm ears, warm neck, warm hands! 

Cobey is so pleased that today's sewing project went to him instead of his little sister, for once.. although he HAS commissioned one for her already.