10 things about pants.

1) I wear pants every day. I always wear a dress or skirt over the top though to cover my bum. Sometimes I wear tights but I don't love tights because they remind me of the itchy ones I used to have to wear to school.

2) I hate trying on pants in shops. I don't even look at pants in shops. The pants that end up living in my wardrobe/floordrobe have been handed down to me, I have had for ever and ever or are one of the two pairs of jeans I have bought in the last five years.

3) The other day a man popped in to buy eggs. It was the weekend and I was home alone with the girls and I went out to the cool room in the shed and got him his eggs. Later on I was told that I had a big hole in the bum of my jammie pants and he would have seen that I had black knickers on.

4) My sewing idol and friend Kath says that her favourite thing to sew is pants.

5) I dress my girls (well the ones that let me choose their clothes) in pants and skirts and dresses every day. I love this look on kids and it is so practical too.

6) I made these pants this morning to use up some of the smaller scraps in my basket and to try to make some bottoms as fun as the tops and dresses I've been sewing. I think they'd look great with a dress over the top. Something colourful or even a denim pini.

7) I don't like any of the words that mean pants. I don't like the word trousers, or slacks or pantaloons or bottoms.

8) I will never make or buy a pair of day time pants without a pocket or something on the bum. Except leggings. Leggings are ok without bum pockets. But whatever you do, please don't get me started on jeggings.

9) Part of the reason for making these pants today was to use up some of the smaller pieces of Michelle's scraps. Check out her blog to see what she made from the fabric before it became my scraps.

10) I loved making these pants but the fit was a bit of a question mark. I have made lots of dresses and skirts and can pretty easily work out how to size them, but pants are a bit of an unknown. In the end I made some and had to wait until the girls got home from school to see who they fitted. Jazzy! Size 6/7.

I hope you've got some fancy pants to wear this weekend and somewhere fun to wear them to.

See ya. ♥♥♥♥

ps. They're in my shop.

pp. 10 beanie things here.

White pants & stuff.

Yesterday I had a tiny window of sewing time and I made some white pants from a tablecloth I've had kicking around here for a while.

White pants for Miss Pepper!! What was I thinking?

What two and a half year old can stay clean enough to wear white pants? Certainly not mine.

Maybe it was a wish for that sort of trans seasonal weather when you can wear dresses with flimsy white pants underneath. Sew it and it will be?!

That tree that you can see in that pic lying down in the dam fell down last Thursday night. It was a dark, cold and still night and Pepper and I were home alone and I was putting her to bed. All of a sudden we heard an almighty crash and we literally felt the earth move.

We looked at each other in terror and then all the wild life in the area began to bark/squawk/crow/chirp. It took me a minute to work out what it had been, but she was onto it straight away...a dinosaur!! Of course! Why didn't I think of that?

We are just home from a farmers' market in Melbourne. We had a fantastic market selling record numbers of eggs, the girls were mostly gorgeous and helpful, we caught up with lots of friends, stocked up on some yummy produce and packed up before the wild weather came in.

I am cold and tired now though.

I think I'll run a bath and pop all our jammies near the fire to warm up.

We'll have fresh pasta with pesto and parmesan for dinner.

I don't think we'll make it to the surprise party tonight though.

A bit of knitting and bed more likely.

Oh and I finished the bunting dress yesterday and popped it in the post. I hope its new owner likes it.

I hope you are having a great weekend.

What's going on in your world?

My creative space.

Just outside our bathroom window there is a wisteria bush that has been doing the autumnal thing and changing colours from green to red to orange and now yellow. I look at the wisteria each time I visit the bathroom. I notice the colours of the leaves and their shapes, and I think about how the willowy fronds would make a great basket.

But I am usually in a hurry to get out of the bathroom and I forget about the wisteria as soon as I leave the room.

But yesterday afternoon when Pepper was in the bath I decided it was time to capture the beauty of the bush before it loses its leaves.

I got some textas and some paper and drew it.

Then when I'd drawn enough, I cut the shapes from scraps of the tablecloth dress.

Not wanting to lose the leaf shapes I had cut out, I stuck them onto a pair of half made pants I had in my sewing pile.

Then I stitched a few of the leaves in place.

Blue and brown is a new colour combination for me and I love it.

When I get a spare moment I'll stitch the rest of the leaves on, then I'll sew a waistband casing, thread in some elastic, hem the bottoms and maybe add a frill.

Don't you love it when inspiration comes from somewhere unexpected and takes you on a new direction?

Check out the other creative spaces over at Kirsty's.

Boy babies.

My gorgeous cousin Romy asked me to make her some baby presents for her friends' soon to be born boy babies.

I made some bibs,

in very traditional boy blue, green and reds.

And I made a pair of pants out of an old pillow case.

I'm not very good at boy stuff.

I have three sisters, three daughters, three nieces and lots of girl kids around me too.

What do you make for boy babies?

School Dortjes.

I've been the mother of a school girl or two for the last four and a bit years and one of the things I struggle with every year is the winter uniform.

The brief from the school is that the girls must wear a tunic and tights, which is not great for the monkey bars, or navy pants.

I cannot stand the look of trackie pants and navy pants can never be found in any shops, except for shiny polyester ones which I cannot stand either.

So this year I decided to have a go at making my own.

I used navy cord and the Sewing Clothes Kids Love pattern and went to work.

I did have to sneak a bit of patterned fabric in the inside of the pockets for a bit of fun and yes, I did forget to hem them before I sent her off to school this morning. Oops!

Two more days until the swaperama deadline.

PLEASE don't disappoint your partner who is giving her postie the eye and checking the mailbox every ten minutes waiting for her's to arrive.

Have a great day. XX

Jazzy's Dortjes.

Last night I stayed up way too late sewing these Dortje pants.

Everyone was asleep and it was so quiet and after cutting them out last Thursday, I was itching to finish them already.

I did have one disaster when I tried to rip a seam apart (I've lost my quick-unpick), and ripped right up one whole leg front. But other than that it went pretty smoothly.

I'm loving sewing the patterns from Sewing Clothes Kids Love but I'm still irritated by the annoying tissue thin/enormous pattern pages.

I do love the little details on this pattern that look a bit fancy, like the fake fly and the pockets in the front you can fit your whole hand in.

At one stage right at the end, I held the newly sewn pants up against another pair of Jazzy's pants and they looked too wide. So I turned them back inside out and cut a few inches off the outside pant legs. I think they are possibly a bit narrow now but the girl lives in leggings and hates baggy jeans so I think they'll pass.

She tried them on this morning so I could test the length and waist measurements and now wont take them off for me to finish them so they must be ok.

Funny how things change so quickly sometimes. About a month ago I would have sworn that I was a pattern maker uperer and couldn't bear to make other people's patterns but now I can't seem to stop. And I'm learning so much along the way, so when I do get back to drafting my own patterns, I'll know so many more tricks.

I hope you are enjoying the weekend where ever you are, whatever you are doing. XX

Oh and one last thing, does anybody know what dortjes actually means?

My creative space.

In my creative space this week I am working on my name tag for the big swaperama. Once it is finished covering up my partner's name, I think the crocheted ric rac will go around the inside of the ruffle to cover the stitching.

We are painting eggs with the local school holiday program.

I have just cut out the pieces and started stitching together a pair of pants for Miss Jazzy. These two bits go from the waist (under the waist band), to just above the knee. The pink sheety bits peeking out are the pockets.

I am sewing grey borders onto my grannies.

I am considering this as the start of the back of the cushion. I am not convinced though.

And I am crocheting this fancy trim to be sewn on the pants above.

So what are you working on today?

Why don't you head on over to Kootoyoo and pop in your link.

Weekend sewing.

Well hello there!

Are you having a lovely weekend? I hope so.

I've been having a pretty quiet weekend with the two little girls while Bren has been in Melbourne and Indi has been spending the whole weekend at a friend's house.

Late Friday night when they were asleep and the house was way too quiet, (after I had dealt with the biggest spider you have ever seen, hmmm country living...), I thought I'd make them each a colourful piece of clothing. A top for Jazzy to wear over leggings and some pants for Pepper.

In the morning the top looked awful on Jazzy, too loose in places and too tight in others, so instead of fixing it I cut two strips off the back.

It fits Pepper but is a bit gapey in the armholes.

The pants were more successful.

I made them from a sheet given to me by the lovely SusieQ and some lace that I bought in a bag of scraps from a garage sale a few months back.

Don't worry, she only wore the top with the pants for the photo. I wouldn't let her leave the house looking like a floral bed sheet explosion.

I'm off now to pack some crochet stuff in a bag and head down to the farm stall.

I hope you are having a fabulous weekend! XX

p.s.. In breaking news; Pepper just did her first ever, non assisted, solo somersault!!