Day 195 - Pattern making and mock-up of dress

Today was a very satisfying day for me. I made my own pattern from scratch, using a picture and drafting the shape of a dress. Although I've done quite a bit of sewing, mostly I just use patterns or alter existing outfits. I've made things for the kids without using a pattern, but this is the first time I've ever made a pattern for myself using just a picture. It felt really great because a year ago I would not have had the confidence to do this, but now I feel ready to try anything and I'm really happy with the way today worked out.

Tomorrow I will be making the dress with some of the vintage fabric I got last week and I can't wait to get started. I'll be cutting it out tonight and I might make a little start.

Inspiration from this modcloth dress and the amazing blue floral vintage fabric I put on yesterday's blog post.

Paper pattern drafted.

Cut out of the dress using an old sheet.

Dress semi made up. Fits really well, made a few minor alterations. Very excited!

Day 194 - Footy Fever

It's AFL grand final day here. It's a pretty big deal. Although I'm not really into either team this year, it's traditional to have grand final BBQ's and to choose a side. We are going around to a friend's house to watch the game.

Way back in primary school there was a boy who supported the same team as me (Richmond Tigers). Tragically, he did the unthinkable and changed teams to a more successful team, and I never forgave him this sin. :-) This team is playing in the grand final today, so for no other reason, I decided to support the opposing team, which happens to be the Sydney Swans. Even though they are an interstate team. It's the lesser of two evils really.

In spite of not really caring about the outcome, I did some footy craft today to support my team for the day.

I made some cupcakes, cut strips of paper and made little flags, and some extremely kitch earrings from 1980's telephone buttons. Why not?

Also I wanted to share my latest op shop find - this amazing vintage fabric stash. I can't wait to make some things with these. Very exciting!

Day 193 - Painting rocks

After a stunning 27 degree spring day yesterday, we have thunderstorms and 15 degrees today. That's spring for you I guess.

The kids always bring back rocks when we go up the to the dam, which we did yesterday to check on the yabbies we caught in our new net (we actually caught 5 yabbies - which we set free).

Rainy day activities are needed today, so we decided to paint the rocks. It was quite therapeutic. Juliet started off with a face, but kept adding layers until her rock was quite black.

Here are the kids enjoying the spring sunshine at the gardens.

And now back to stormy weather....

Day 192 - Hand knitted love

I bought these amazing hand knitted brooches on etsy a little while ago. They are so adorable, and, being a romantic, I wanted to wear them to a wedding I went to. Once they arrived I thought they were just too fragile, they would not have lasted the night. So clever and gorgeous though, knitted on toothpicks by this amazingly creative lady in Turkey. Here is a link to her shop http://www.etsy.com/people/yastikizi

I love them so much, so I decided to make a small wall picture out of them.

Day 191 - Dude pants

Back on the sewing machine again. Yay!

I bought this small woven throw rug / table cloth at an op shop for 50 cents when we still lived in Melbourne, so it must have been more than a year ago. I wanted to make some little pants for little A, who back then was the baby of the family. I finally did it today and they are so cute on him. I'm very happy with the results.

Here's what I started off with, the table cloth is about 1m square, or a little less. I also used an old pair of jeans.

I wanted to use the woven tablecloth for the front and the jeans for the back of a pair of little people pants.

As I decided to keep the fringe for the bottom of the pants, I chose to keep the denim raw on the bottom edge as well, and used a pin to pull out some threads and create a little fringe or frayed look as shown here.

I added a little pocket to the back.

And here are the pants, with the 3 year old model who refuses to stand still and only does 'funny' faces.

Day 190 - Sukie button factory badges

Today Juliet and I made some badges using this 'Sukie Button Factory' badge making kit. She really got into it. I think I'll buy some more of these boxes to give as gifts for young girls. Much better than some of the terrible toys out there for girls. But that's another story. :-)

Our badges. Can you guess which one we made with our own fabric?

Little A with his favourite colour 'green' and what he called his 'high 5' (hand) badge.

I'm crazy about getting back onto my sewing machine in the morning, so I think I'll get a head start cutting out something tonight. I'm going to make something out of this.....

Day 189 - Food dye and paper napkins

Today we enjoyed a leisurely start to the day, some baking, and then some running around outside in the spring sunshine.

Here are some photos, first of the boys cooking cupcakes, which we all then decorated.

Using the food dye for the icing reminded me of something Liam and I had done a few years ago, mixing some food dye and water, and then folding paper towel and dipping it into the food dye to make patterns. We all had a turn and it was heaps of fun and strangely addictive. They are all drying in the sun now.

Day 188 - Potato stamping on fabric

I did some experimenting today by with stamping.

First I made a pirate stamp using a potato that went green while we were away. Then I used some fabric paint to dip it in and stamp on fabric. Because I used paint it was hard to get the print even. An ink pad would work better, but I'm not sure if you can get ink that's permanent on fabric. I'd love to do some more research and try more printing on fabrics, so you may see a few more entries on here.

I'm off to a kids festival now. Woo Hoo for spring!!!

 

Day 187 - Hair stencil

You can be as silly as you like during the holidays. :) How good is that?

There has been an epidemic of head lice at school recently, so this morning I went and bought some clippers and did Liam's hair for the first time with a number 3 clipper all over. I think he looks pretty cute.

Then I made a star stencil and used a paint brush to paint blue stars in his hair with fudge hair colour. It was fun. We laughed a lot and then we went outside to play in the glorious sunshine.

Photos below are before and after of his hair, and then the stencilling.

Day 186 - Newsworthy nails?

Just for fun today, and after a busy day surviving on no sleep since Mr D refuses to sleep since we returned from Thailand, I decided to try this newsy nails thing.

One of my tweets made tweets of the week in the local paper, so I decided to make it part of my 'art'. Note: I have no nails to speak of, never wear nail polish, and use the term art in an extremely loose fashion. Anyway, here's what I did.

Paint a coat of light pink polish.

Obtain newspaper and cut our relevant section into small nail sized pieces.

Dip nails, one at a time, for about 30 seconds in tequila (bottle has been in cupboard for about 15 years and moved house with us many times, why I do not know, so this was an excellent use for it). Then press newspaper onto the nail as hard as possible for a few seconds before peeling off.

Paint with a clear lacquer. Had trouble getting the camera to focus. Need practice me thinks.

Day 185 - Vintage paisley and Pom Poms

It was one of those stunningly gorgeous sunny days here today that reminds you that summer is on the way. The days are getting longer and that makes me smile more often.

I took my little boys into town to see the beautiful tulips that are blooming in the park. All the wildflowers in the bush around our house are also out in force and the whole area is looking very pretty.

Over a year ago Juliet chose this vintage paisley fabric in pink and yellow from a market stall where we bought loads of vintage fabric all for a dollar a metre. It has a slight stretch and a small paisley pattern. I decided to make her some spring pants, and add a little pom pom trim. After all, who doesn't love pom poms?

The day made me feel happier to be home again. And after all, tomorrow is the last day of school term, before a two week holiday. Bring it on!

Day 184 - Happy Cow

Day 184 is this happy little cow softie. She's from a pattern from the book 'Meet me at Mike's' by Pip Lincolne. This book got me back into sewing in a big way when I found it in a little bookshop about 3 years ago. She's quite spunky I think.

Struggling a bit being back home. A bit of lack of sleep from the smallest little man since we got back, some jet lag, and mourning the loss of amazing and precious family time. Loved seeing the way the kids grew and blossomed while we were away, and sharing all of those new experiences with them. Missing it now. I know we were really lucky to get to do it, but it will take a while to settle back in.