Splash!

Coles Creation bathers, pair number two.

This pattern is a definite winner.

                   

These were made to compensate for the fact that the last pair didn't fit her and so went to her sister...

She's very happy with my colour combo of dots and bright pink, and I have to say I am too! 

               

These are the size 14 to 16 and I added an extra 1.5 inches to the upper green spotted band as I know this kid is long in the body. 

I was amazed recently to find they despite having the same leg length as her twin sister, she is 2.5cm longer through the back. 

The fit is perfect. She doesn't pull at them at all and there is great coverage across her bottom. 

The best thing is that when getting dressed for the pool the girls are choosing their Mama made bathers over the purchased ones every time, so I think I am on a winner.

If you haven't tried making swimwear, why not? 

Next up I am thinking I might tackle some for me...

They will be a little more complicated I know with the need for soft Bra cups and the like, but what have I got to lose? 

All fabric again from Rathdowne fabric and remnants, perhaps a trip to look for some fabric for me might be in order, yes??!

A Cole's creation

Swimsuit number two.

This pattern is the 'Cole's Corner and Creations Patterns' One 4 All Stylish Swimsuit, and there are several different variation for this one piece swimsuit.  

The combinations that you can make are many and there's something to suit all tastes.

This was meant to be for Miss A - and despite measuring her and then also adding 1.5 inches to the middle band (the floral section over the pink band) to make them longer, they were still quite snug on her, so Miss L happily inherited them.

For the record I made the 10/12 and will now cut out the 14/16. My girls are very long in the torso and so this often affects the measurements.

This is the Retro view with the flat bodice and finished with a halter neck.
You can add ruffles to the bodice or you can add a skirt with or without a ruffle on the bottom.
The straps can be left loose as a halter neck or crossed at the back or left straight.

The binding has elastic through the middle of it so the fit around the back and the bodice is lovely.

As these were on a white background I again chose to layer a white lycra underneath, baste and treat the pieces like one.

Again all the lycra was from Rathdowne Fabric and Remnants, probably from their remnant bins, and quite possibly on special.

I should also say that a remnant from this store is not a small piece, they are all over 1 metre, which for bathing suits, particularly for children, is plenty.

Here are a couple of modelled pics of the first pair I made, as soon as I got the camera out for her sister she put them on and came out so I am taking that as a success!

The fit on these is great too - she says they are a little too big in the bottoms but I think they are just right.

One more pair to come and I am thinking I might combine the green dots with the bright pink for something fun.

What do you think??

PS - In putting the link to Rathdowne I noticed they have some new fabric in from Seafolly!  Now I am tempted to pop in and see what else they have in stock...

Calling Summer!

It's been a long cold winter here in Melbourne and as we are very close to the end of the school term I just can't wait for the warmer weather and the school holidays, HOORAY!!!

My children are part fish (or mermaid they would say!) and with school swimming lessons coming up in term four and school holiday intensives as well, there will be lots of swimming in our future.

As always, the bathers from last year either no longer fit or have faded/fallen apart due to repeated exposure to chlorine. So last night I realised I had better make a start, on six new sets of bathers.

I've used this pattern a number of times before - I think I first saw it on Beccasauras's blog and since then I know Lara has made a number of pair.

I measured the girls and actually CUT THE PATTERN (yes you read right Lara!) in the Large and made up these green ones but after a fitting this morning I decided the older two girls would be better going up a size, so I popped into Spotlight and grabbed another copy of the pattern to cut at the XL size.

In the past I only used this pattern for the bottoms but this time I made the top and the boy-leg shorts. The top has a little gathering in the bust and so I didn't think it would look great on a 3 or 4 year old, but it is perfect now and all the girls want one.

Because of the white dots being a little see-through I decided to line the shorts and I also lined the bust section of the top.

To do the shorts I just baste the pieces together on the edges and treated it all like one piece when constructing.

I got all the fabric from Rathdowne Fabrics and Remnants who really have the most amazing array of swimwear lycra and when they have a weekly special you can pick it up at 30 - 40% off. This piece was quite large and was labelled at $8 (so I probably paid about $5) and there is enough for one more pair.

Excellent value.

I used my overlocker for the seams and my machine on a long zig zag for the hems and elastic.
The other thing I used, and would highly recommend, is this little gadget.

It's called the 'Turn It All' and it is brilliant for turning out little thin straps and ties such as the neck ties for these bathers.

I got mine online from The Haby Goddess and can't recommend it highly enough - I use it all the time.

One pair down five to go... wish me luck!

Keeping it clean

Clean, neat and tidy for art at school of course - what did you think I meant??

The smallest needed an art smock for school so I let her loose in the stash and didn't even baulk when her love of all things green lead her to some of my Sandi Henderson stash.

Long enough to cover her dress so there should be no accidental spillages.

I used the ever-reliable Oliver+s smock pattern - from Leisl's book, Little Things to Sew, a brilliant book full of well considered projects that are beautifully executed.

I made the large - I have made the mistake before of making a smaller smock only to have to make another the following year.

Two size 16 snaps keep it secure.

Because it's still a little large I added two snaps at the back so it keeps it a little more secure on her shoulders, when she's bigger she can just do up one snap.

Painting the toadstools in the garden...

She is absolutely loving school - I've never seen her so happy and full of joy.

She bounces around the house singing at every opportunity - it makes my heart feel warm.

Oh, and the poses and props in these photos were entirely of her own doing!

I've also made a couple more back to school items - a new library bag for both her and her little friend.  Both were very happy to have their names on them, it's still a novelty.

We teamed it up with classic Roald Dahl for a nice little birthday gift that both the birthday girl and her lovely mum appreciated.

Excuse the late night dodgy iPhone pic!!

Floral Tulips

 

Our girls have always been very 'girly' girls - loving wearing dresses and skirts, with frills and flounces in abundance.

Lately though the focus has switched a little and now there is a desire for more shorts in their summer wardrobe, so I hunted around and found a cute pattern on Etsy.

This is the Tulip Short by Cali Faye Collection.

It's a very sweet little short pattern that is (theoretically) reversible and has a loosely elasticised waist and button detail.

I say theoretically because I wonder how often anyone actually reverses a reversible garment.

While I love the final result, I had a few issues with this pattern which I am going to share below:

• I feel that the instructions are not written as well as they could be. The language could have described things more clearly by referring to the components as the 'short lining' and 'short outer' or 'main' so you know which pieces you are working with, particularly as it's not that clear from the pictures.

• The pattern suggested serging (overlocking) the seams for neatness, but as the shorts are fully lined there is absolutely no need to do that and had you done it you'd feel pretty annoyed at the waste of time at the end.

 

• Additionally, there was no pattern marking for the positioning of the buttons.The line drawing showed them to be positioned fairly low on the shorts, the finished product shot showed them to be higher up.  I placed them lower as I felt this resulted in a more modest look but, then found it left a strange crease across the front of the shorts and restricted my daughter's movement too much. The button placement should be marked on the pattern pieces because although they say it's optional I really don't think it is, as the shorts would just flap open without them.

• The instructions say not to scale the pattern - which is unusual for PDF's as you normally scale to 100%. When it was printed, the test box of 1 inch squared did not come to exactly one square inch - it was close - but not quite there - which had me doubting if I had done the right thing.

• My final complaint is that to make the size ten you had to print out four full pages each with the tiniest skerrick of pattern marked on them - such a waste of paper and time.  There was lots of room at the top of the pages where the main body of the pattern was placed - so if the pattern had been positioned better there would have been no need for this.

I guess I have become spoiled by the PDF patterns of Oliver +s who do them so beautifully, so now anything else seems like it is done badly!!

All that said I really like this pattern - and the other patterns in the Cali Faye shop are lovely designs - very modern and simple lines and I do intend to make more of them in the future.

The pattern itself is simple to make and the pieces all came together easily, they matched and were sized to fit each other really well.

        

I think it runs a little small - but I think US sizing might be a little smaller than Aus as the 8 is snug on Miss L and generally it would fit her fine as there's not much of her!

In moving the buttons and having her try them again I noticed a silly error I have made that would probably be affecting the fit slightly too - I have overlapped one side wrongly with the back flapping over the front piece!!

I have these cut out in a 10 and a 7 for her sisters and will have them whipped up soon to show you.

PATTERN:     Tulip Shorts

DESIGNER:   Cali Faye Collection from Esty

FABRIC:         Soft dark Chambray outer with floral cotton lining - both from stash

BUTTONS:     Self-covered buttons from Jackobindi

They were all yellow....

Miss G was lucky and got two completed dresses from my sewing weekend - ironic really as she is the one who gets the most hand-me-downs but she is also not yet in school uniform every day. (That's my excuse and I am sticking to it!)

This is a very sweet little Kwik Sew pattern, number 3940, a yoked dress with button up back.

More awkward smiling...

She insisted on including her lizard in these pictures - and no it's not real!

The yellow fabric for this one was purchased with another project in mind but suited this dress so well that I grabbed it.

It's from the Lisette range about 12 months ago.
The pink is a little pieces of Sherbet Pips, yep I still have a little of that in my stash.

Again this is a Kiwk Sew medium and is probably one size too large, I won't need to sew dresses for a while now will I!

The yellow is a lightweight cotton - lovely and floaty. 

Not as soft as a voile but not a quilters cotton - it has a lovely breezy feel to it, perfect for hot summer days.

I'd been waiting for the perfect project to use these striped buttons on as they are quite a vivid shade of pink but they were just right for this dress.

Oops - should have lined that yoke up better before I took the pic!

I wasn't overjoyed with the way the inside yoke on this was finished - it was overlocked and left exposed - I think next time I would use some Vleisofix tape and position the yoke to align with the top yoke and then stitch it in place with the edges folded under.

Also I wish I had top-stitched one needle position closer to the edge, not a big deal I know but just a personal preference thing.

Oh, and in case you couldn't quite see in the other pics - the tooth fairy has made two visits in ten days to our house.
It's going to be gappy smiles for a while to come I think!

Gorgeous Gappy girl!

P.S. - the post title refers to one of my favourite 'Cold Play' song titles in case it was too obscure!

Flowers in the garden

A dress for Miss L in her favourite colour - blue - or a version of blue that she loves.

This is the Geranium dress from Made by Rae.

Pleated bodice and flutter sleeves for this geranium

It's a great little pattern - PDF so it arrives quickly and there are lots of options you can choose from; dress or tunic/swing top, flutter or faux capped sleeves, gathered or pleated bodice and three neck options too.

I went with flutter sleeves and pleated bodice.

This is the size 8 - again a little roomy, I was being lazy/playing it safe.

I should have made a smaller size and lengthened it as i always say my kids are thin but tall...

Still, when you are making things when they are not with you there is always the feeling that it's best to play it safe and just make it a size bigger to be sure it fits.

She's starting to get shy about having her photo taken...

This fabric is something that I picked up in the free stash swapping that went on at Crafty Hijinx in Ballarat in September.  

The lovely Ms B-fab has a dress in this fabric too - I need to get the two girls together for a photo shoot in their matching frocks I think!

The bodice on this dress is lined - it's nicely constructed and despite my growlings at one point during construction, the instructions are well-written, I had missed reading a step is all!

Pearly pink buttons to finish off down the back

I did a rolled hem on the flutter sleeves because I prefer that look and other than this I made no alterations.

One more 'made in Sewjourn' frock to go, I also got halfway through a sixth dress but it may be a while before I get it finished given ballet concerts, school fair sewing, and kinder meetings!

This dress might be on quite high rotation on the machine I think as there are lots of options to make each one look different and it's a sweet, girly, easy-to-wear dress.

Field of Poppies

Another Sewjourn make... 

This is a Little Lisette Simplicity pattern 1893 that I found on Ebay one day.

It's a darling pattern and was really easy to make, and I love that it's something that I believe the girls will be able to wear for a number of years given the style of it.

She was very pleased to find her shoes matched...

There are three bodice options - the other two with pieced bodices, I have plans for some Heather Ross fabric for another in the future.

The bodice is a little roomy but it should be good for two summers

This divine fabric is from Anna Maria Horner's 'Field Study' range - it's called Raindrops Poppies, in the platinum colourway.

I love this. I bought it for me then decided to share... 

I got mine from the lovely ladies at Millrose Cottage.

This pattern would be great for girls up to about 11 or 12 years old in the right fabric

The bodice is fully lined as you create the outer and  lining bodices then put them wrong sides together (yes I had to read that a few times to make sure I was right!!), then bind all the outer edges and add the straps in bias binding.

The zip you have when you're not having a zip - hides away nicely.

Lapped zipper at the back had me a little tricked but Lara set me straight - I really need to do more things with zips so they become second nature!

Seeing this pic I am reminded I do need to add a hook and eye to the top of the zipper.

This is a gorgeous pattern and again, I love how great fabric doesn't need 'dressing up'.
I made this in a size 10 but she definitely could have gone down a size - that's the ONLY downside of sewing away from home - if only I remembered to get all their measurements before I left!

Yes - there are more dresses to come!

Little Red Rides again

As I mentioned this time at Sewjourn I decided to sew for the girls - and this was my fourth make, the second dress for the smallest kid.

This is a Riley Blake print that I could resist, it tells the story of Red Riding Hood, with a slight twist as it mentions her 'harmless wolfie friend'.

Design wall photo!

I used a very basic A-line pattern from Kwik Sew 3862 - I love that for a dress like this the fabric does all the work.

It's super-easy with front and back facings, a front and a back - that's it, zip in and away you go.

The plan is to wear it with sandals - not tights and long-sleeves

The border print is very sweet and she loves this dress.

I made the Medium (7-8) and so it's a little big for her - but that just means she will get lots of wear out of it.

Perhaps the most adorable border print ever

I didn't pay enough attention when cutting it and so the back seam is ever-so-slightly off at the back where the zip went in - but it's well-matched at the side seams.

Easy to wear and a great basic A-line pattern.

I didn't get a photo but as we've had unseasonably cool weather here in Melbourne she did team this up with her Red Riding Hood cape - just as I expected!

The sun is shining today so I will try and get pics of the other dresses too.

Bend and stretch...

then flip upside down!

This kid is gymnastics mad at the moment, so when the gym exhibition called for a 'Space-themed' outfit I took her shopping, and this is what we came up with!

Long, long legs...!

She knew exactly what she wanted and I was very lucky to have been given a pattern by Kelly that she no longer needed and it was perfect for this outfit, having leotard and leggings in the one pattern.

It is Kwik Sew 2725.

Raspberry and silvery white, stretchy, stretchy, stretchy.

She wasn't keen at first but I convinced her that a small silver piping strip down each side would look good and I am glad she let me as it really sets off the star.

Always the wrong way up!

The shorts are quite snug - I would probably go up a size next time, but she says they are perfect, and they certainly didn't cause any performance problems on the day.

It didn't take much encouragement to get her back into it!

I realised I hadn't taken any shots of just the leotard, so here she is, bad indoor evening shots - sorry!!

When she raised her arms up the creased section disappeared, without any 'wedgie' factor!

I added 5cm through the lower body of this leotard as she is very long in the torso.

She measured a size 5-6 but length was size 10!

I made a size 7 with the extra length and it was perfect, did not need to be pulled at or adjusted at all.

I think she will be wearing this again and again - and I certainly plan to make her more leotards using this pattern.

To complete the outfit I made two tiny scrunchies that she wanted to wear on two little hair buns to keep her long hair at bay as she was performing.

She was more than a little proud to receive her very first trophy - it was a demonstration day so everyone got one, but that didn't diminish her excitement. She is working hard and loving her gym and deserved something special.

I'm playing along with Blogtoberfest. 

Join in!

A coat for all seasons

Despite my lack of blogging, things on the sewing front have actually been quite busy around here.

Recently I had the pleasure of testing the All Seasons Coat for Nikki (Nicole Mallalieu of You Sew Girl) and I am delighted with the results.

A coat fit for a Princess.

I let the little Miss choose from my precious Heather Ross stash and she didn't disappoint with this Rapunzel fabric being her choice.

It's from the Far Far Away II range - so it's not a quilters cotton but rather a lightweight linen.
I am not sure, but I suspect that it's out of print now - I know it's pretty hard to come by in any decent amount.

I teamed it up with a Michael Miller dot - because I love a dot!

Perfect for watching ducks in, in any season!

This pattern is an absolute winner.

Nikki has designed the coat to be trans seasonal - so it can be worn through Autumn and Spring as well as Winter when appropriate.

It can be made with or without a belt and with or without a hood.

We went for collar, no hood, and belt.

The results is like a little trench coat - a stylish one!

A Princess on the pocket

The pattern calls for buttons or snaps - I went for snaps, particularly when I realised that buttons would have meant putting a buttonhole through the head of the Princesses I 'fussy cut' for the pocket flaps.

Snap closures and a belt keep the coat secure.

There are front facings, and a lining that doesn't peek out at the bottom of the coat because of how it has been designed.

Bright and fun on the inside.

I went for a splash of colour under the collar - just for fun.

The collar execution gives an excellent result

There are lovely little details like sleeve tabs that pull the sleeves in and shape them at the wrists.

The sleeves are made in two parts so they are beautifully shaped and are a dream to sew in.

Sleeve tabs are just one of the details included in the pattern

The pattern is available now and you can check out the stockists here, or grab a copy from Cam - the queen of customer service and speedy delivery.

As with all of Nikki's patterns, there are heaps of hints and new techniques excellently explained so you get a really professional result.

This pattern goes up to size 8 (I made it in a 7 so it will fit next year too).

If your daughter is larger than this, the good news is there is a 'Tween' size one in the works.

Grab yourself a copy and start making your fabric selections now.

Look mum, a waterhen!