The Twirliest Twirly Skirt

I was disappointed when I bought the book "Sewing Clothes Kids Love" and realised that this pattern was not included. Sure, there is a great picture of a rainbow Redondo in one of the first few pages, but sadly, no pattern. It is still a great book, though - I promise! So, when Lisa of Crafty Mamas, linked to this pattern in her shop from Facebook a couple of weeks ago, I was sold. It was probably less than two minutes after she posted the link, that I was checking out my purchase on Paypal. This was one of those patterns that I had wanted for a while.


Once I had the pattern in my hot little hands, I went stash diving and found some of this West 22nd Floral Delight, that I purchased from Spotlight about five years ago. I just managed to squeeze this skirt out of what I had with barely a scrap to spare. I popped into my LQS and found some ric-rac trim to add to the edges, using this great little tutorial. There is quite a bit of hem to trim, about five metres all up. I used the blind hem on my sewing machine and it was pretty slow going, but I love the final result.

Kids Clothes Week October 2013

Well, I didn't sew EVERY day for the kids this Kids Clothes week, and I even sewed something that wasn't for the kids, but I do think that three items of clothing isn't too bad. I love this pattern from the Autumn 2013 issue of Ottobre. It's a very basic raglan style tee-shirt with long sleeves and a cute pocket. Perfect for both Autumn and for Spring. Raglan sleeves are great for small children and for babies, as the arm opening is quite large and it is easier to guide small hands through than a set-in sleeve is. They are also easier to sew as it is pretty much a straight line, or in this case a very slightly curved one. I also love the retro look of a raglan sleeve and feel it works really well for mixing and matching fabrics.


I borrowed Mum's cover-stitch machine to do the hems and the bands. Mum was very generous lending me the machine, as it was just back from being repaired and she hadn't even had a chance to use it herself. I can report that it is now making a perfect stitch, and I am having no troubles with the tensioners. You could use a twin needle to do the hems if you don't have access to a cover-stitch, although I do prefer the finish the machine gives, I would love a cover-stitch machine of my own one day, but Mum's will do for now. You could also do the hems with a zig-zag or decorative (stretchy) stitch, or just standard bands and put a band on the bottom as well.


The fabric I used is from Crafty Mama's Fabrics. The Hot Air Balloons, the Pirates and the stripes are all Lillestoff. I added Hilco ribbing to the cuffs and neckband for Noah's tee-shirt. I followed the instructions for the neckbands according to the instructions on page 45 for "binding cut from knit used for the garment" for Amélie's tee-shirt, since the stripes have the same stretch/recovery as the rest of the tee, and for "binding cut from ribbing" for Noah's. When I was cutting the cuffs, I accidentally mixed up the pattern pieces and cut an Amélie sized pair of cuffs for Noah's t-shirt. I figured that we could apply the same theory as for the neckbands, since the ribbing is stretchier than the other knit and didn't bother cutting larger cuffs. There wasn't a heap of difference in the two sizes anyway, maybe as much as the seam allowance?


I also made Amélie some leggings. The pattern I used is from the same issue of Ottobre, and they are the Uncomplicated leggings. To be completely honest here, I wasn't really thrilled with these. The legs have a really close fit, but they are really loose around the bottom and tummy. I guess they are designed to wear over really bulky cloth nappies? I also had to match all those stripes down the outsides of the legs, which makes them not really that "uncomplicated" when you have to do that, although I managed it fairly well. I would rather have mis-matched stripes on a crotch seam that is hidden under a garment than down the sides of the legs where it can be seen by everyone. I liked the way that the waistband was done, though. You put a button-hole in the inside of the waistband before you stitch it down and then thread the elastic through. This means that the elastic can be easily removed and replaced if it is too loose or tight without having to unpick anything. I will use a different pattern next time I make leggings, but I will be stealing that waist elastic idea though.


The kids are loving their new tee-shirts. Noah wanted to wear his to kinder today, but it was all dirty from having been worn yesterday, so I had to wash it for him. As for Amélie, she got way more excited about her tee-shirt when she saw that Noah had one nearly the same.

As for the Sew Your Stash Thin challenge, I used approximately 8 fat quarters making these clothes.
SYST13 Running totals: in = 107, out = 111, total = -4

Confessions of a Fabric Addict

So, about that "Sew Your Stash Thin" thing I am doing...

It's not going that well, since the object of the exercise is to REDUCE the size of my stash, not increase it. But you know what? It's a win-win thing. If the fabric stash is getting bigger because of fabric as lovely as all this, then it can't be that bad, can it?

The fabric above was given to me by Jodie of Ric-Rac for helping her out with some pattern testing earlier in the year. It's a F8 pack which is the equivalent of 21 fat quarters.... I have decided to make a very special quilt using the fabric, and have ordered another 22 FQs which should hopefully arrive this week. Hey, you have to buy fabric to use fabric, right??

A couple of weeks ago, I was at Spotlight and happened to find this lovely drill fabric with the map of the world on it. Ok, I will admit, I heard about it from somewhere and I was at Spotlight during their 40%-off-sale actively seeking this fabric out. I had vouchers for my birthday and one of those scratchy things and I was really good and it was the only fabric I bought unless you want to count the sheer curtain fabric that I shortened and hung the very next day (so if we were to count it as in, we can count it as out as well, but I won't count it, because there wasn't really that much sewing involved). The boys are really into maps and flags and things like that at the moment, and I have a plan, so it's all good. The drill is craft width and I got two 60cm panels, so I would say that is about five FQs.

I had a little extra money after tax time and decided to treat myself to some delicious knit fabrics from Crafty Mamas Fabrics. This is what has come so far, but there is more on it's way soon. I love those Lillestoff Pirates! There is roughly the equivalent of twelve FQs in the image above, and I still have another six on their way to me.

I did some top secret pattern testing recently and received some of this gorgeous Hello Tokyo fabric from The Red Thread and some patterns as a thank you. The total amount of fabric I received was about five FQs. I promise I will tell you about the pattern I tested as soon as I can. You will love, love, LOVE it!

I also had a little spending spree in my cousin's shop Two Blue Birdies, along with some delicious felt*, some Heat'n'bond iron on vinyl and a bunch of brightly coloured zippers, I grabbed half a metre of each of these moustaches and glasses, adding a further 4 FQs to my stash. Yep, that's right, I now have stashes in my stash!

So, in summary, I have added an incredible 75 Fat Quarters to my stash in a very, very short period of time. Luckily, I have a few secret projects up my sleeve that I also haven't talked about - but that is worthy of another blog post (or several).

SYST13 Running totals: in = 255, out = 95, total = +160

*I am not counting felt in my SYST count as I am not trying to reduce my felt stash - it is under good control and fits in it's designated box.

Do you have a fabric addiction? Anything to confess???

Lovely Leggings

I recently made these leggings for Amelie, using a pattern that I purchased from Crafty Mamas. Whilst the pattern is lovely, I was looking for something a little more fitted. So I took a couple of inches out of the middle of the pattern piece, and from that, made these.



Amelie is also wearing the shoes I made her, so you can see them in action. When I made the leather ones, I went up a size as these ones with all their interfacing and wadding were a little snug.



I plan to make a long-sleeved t-shirt from the same fabric so Amelie can wear them both together under brightly coloured little dresses and tunics.

Leggings for Amélie

I have been hunting through my Ottobre magazines, and my Top Kids magazines on the hunt for a leggings pattern. Everything I found either had a seam down the outside leg, or wasn't in a small enough size, or was too baggy. I did try adapting one of my Kwik Sew patterns, but there was a LOT of adjustment going on, and I realised that I would have to do the same thing over again when I made it in a bigger size.



Anyway, last night on Facebook, Lisa from Crafty Mamas posted a picture of a new pattern she is selling in her shop and I was unable to resist. It's the Knit Leggings pattern, by Whimsy Couture, and it's an e-pattern, so you can buy it online and it is emailed to you in pdf format. There was a little bit of cutting and taping required to assemble the pattern, but it isn't too bad when it is for little clothes.



Since there was no waiting around for the postie to arrive, I managed to whip these up last night. Talk about instant gratification!