Mama made March - week four

Week four of Mama made March and the weather is turning cool. Some of the autumn and winter projects on my wish list will have to be fast-tracked, but in the meantime we are cobbling together outfits - albeit a bit eclectic on some days. We are also missing two days as Mama was occupied with the boy-child and his change of season asthma/croup.

Saturday 19 March - adding a base layer to Mama Made tunic/dress

Sunday 20 March - In Mama Made blouse relaxing at home with a good book!

Tuesday 22 March - In my new favourite Mama Made overalls, complete with matching Mama Made dress for my doll, "girl".

Wednesday 23 March - in Mama Made blouse under last year's favourite Laura Ashley pinafore.

Thursday 24 March - yay for staying at home...and spinning in my Mama Made nightie.

Saturday 26 March - fun in the park at Goulburn in my Mama Made tunic. I think that tunic's are wonderful, they turn a plain old white shirt and black leggings into a pretty fantastic outfit.

Sunday 27 March - helping Mama in the vegie patch in Mama Made shorts, note the grass stain on the bottom. Don't worry about the spray I'm using, its only molasses and water.

Monday 28 March - starting to pull at straws here, off to school in a rather eclectic ensemble, including Mama Made jumper/vest.

Mama made March - week three

Week three of Mama made March and the first of our "made especially for Mama Made March" outfits. There are a couple of duplications this week - the first is our new overalls, because they were too cute to wear just once, and the second is because we are not yet ready to give up our favourite dress of the summer.

Sunday 13 March - Enjoying some Sunday sun in Mama Made tunic (actually this was last summer's favourite dress which is now too short!)

Monday 14 March - Gotta love a long weekend and hanging round in your Mama Made nightie till noon.

Tuesday 15 March - Our favourite summer dress (03/09 #18)
on the way to school, today worn with a little shrug.

Wednesday 16 March - On the move in Mama made overalls, (01/09 #11) made from ever-durable Japanese cotton-linen blend.
Thursday 17 March - In Mama made summer dress again, complete with handmade bloomers by Aunty Cherie (image deleted).

Friday 18 March - Hanging out at home in the new Mama Made overalls.

Me Made March - guest blogger

I have been a fan of So Zo for ages, and am so happy to be participating in her Me Made March 2011 challenge. I do have one difference though - my clothes are made by my mama...so I'm calling this month - Made by Mama March.

Sophie xo

PS Mama has actually taken a pledge to sew/knit/crochet everything for me all year, and apart from what I already had in my cupboard, some "hand me downs" and the purchase of shoes - I will be wearing handmade all year! She will parade my fashions each Friday.

Tuesday 1 March - I'm wearing Mama made Make it Perfect shorts (seem discontinued now - sorry!)

Wednesday 2 March - I'm wearing Mama made BurdaStyle Magazine March 2009 Style #135 (will put link up when I find the archive!)

Thursday 3 March - I'm wearing Mama made Simplicity 2831 nightgown.

Friday 4 March - I'm wearing Mama made another pair of Make it Perfect shorts.

Happy 100 Suzy!

Wow! I've reached the bloggerstone of 100 posts...and to celebrate I'm having my very first giveaway!

I'm giving away one set of these three unisex infant bibs . Leave a comment on this post and I'll use one of those random blogger tools to pick the winner. Just make sure you leave your comment by midnight Sunday 6th June (Australian Eastern Standard time)....

I know I've been a bit quiet of late, but I haven't been idle and I'll be sharing lots in the next few weeks.

Shameless self-promotion!

You may recall sometime ago I spoke about setting up a little Etsy shop...well tada here it is.


I've started small, literally - infant bibs in packs of 3. Boys, girls and unisex packs. The front of the bib is made from designer cotton and the backing is a super absorbant and very soft organic cotton and bamboo french terry. It is then snapped together with a very strong plastic snap.

One of the reasons that it took me so long to get this gig together is that I tried an inordinate amount of materials for the backing before I came across this fabric that not only feels beautiful but it can mop up most spills and spits!

For those new to Etsy it is a worldwide community for all things handmade or vintage. All prices on Etsy are in US dollars.

So I'm selling 3 x bibs for $20USD which includes postage to anywhere in Australia and $5 USD postage for everywhere else on the globe.

You can click on the link to the left which will take you straight to my shop on Etsy...

....shameless self-promotion over and out!

Please Miss I need more time...

A little over a month ago Ms Buttontree Lane , Kuka and I decided to have a month dedicated to Big Girl's Blouse. A month dedicated to sewing for the errr more well endowed amongst us.

Despite the best intentions I've failed to deliver...so please Miss I need more time - perhaps another month.

...and to help this whole thing along I went out this morning and purchased some fabric to go with this pattern which I intend to start TOMORROW - I promise Miss!

Well it is a start...Butterick 4987

OK, OK the blog posts since my return to the paid workforce has been, well, nothing short of appalling...and I totally forgive all those readers that have given up and since departed.

Whilst it is true that:
a) I've had little time to sort out how to fit my creative fix into my daily life, and
b) My contribution to Big Girl's Blouse Month has been zip!

...there has been some sewing, albeit a few weeks back. The garment was made for my niece's wedding. When I bought a carla zampatti tuxedo about 4 years ago I tried on a cute top nearly exactly like this. After spending way too much on the suit I declined buying the top, but have always wanted to replicate it. Butterick recently discontinued the pattern which threw me into a totally tizzy, but my local Lincraft, never known for its organisation had yet to return their discontinued patterns...lucky for me.

Here is why it works so well with the suit..




















...and here it is how I wore it for most of the day in balmy
Queensland.


The details of the pattern and alterations made will appear on the side bar in the sewing pattern review...but as discussed in an earlier post details of what I learnt from sewing this garment will be in this post, namely:

• how to sew fine fabrics such as silk, using embroidery thread in the machine seemed to work really well
  
• that I should only pretreat the fabrics (ie washing/dry cleaning) exactly the same way as I will when the garment is complete
• that mixing and matching fabrics (I used silk satin and silk chiffon) and including unusual features such as gross grain ribbon and a mix of two different fabrics can turn a simple patterns into something more special.
  

So whilst this isn't a contribution for Big Girl's Blouse Month, I think that it works quite nicely on a big girl anyway.

Big Girl's Blouse Month!

For the month of March, fellow sew-mad blogger Kuka and I are conducting a sew along titled - Big Girl's Blouse...and who better to be the poster girl of this said sew off, none other than the bubbliest bustiest big girl herself - Dolly!

Well, both Kuka and I share something with our poster girl - and it ain't her money, or her smile, or the penchant for surgery which the above picture seems to show so well...

This "attribute" does require some technical expertise when sewing your own garments, which is something that Kuka and I want to improve on, ergo the reason behind this month's sew along.

There is really only one criteria if you want to join us - you must be greater than a B-cup. Now for this don't blame us - the pattern companies size all patterns for the B-girl.

So come along and join us for some needle and thread!

Falling out of love with Sandra

Well I think it's fitting that tomorrow is Valentine's Day and I find myself falling OUT of love with Sandra Betzina! I don't actually celebrate Valentine's Day, never have - although I am smiling to myself to realise that the acronym is what STD's were once referred to!!! hahaha

Anyhoo...I already own her Fast Fit book, and I love it, so I borrowed Fabric Savvy (the link is for the updated version) from the library. She is right in saying that the hardest thing about learning to sew is what fabric to chose and how to sew it - seams, hems, needles bla bla. So I was prepared to be told EXACTLY what to do.

So I'm making a little camisole top, using silk satin and silk chiffon - sweet! Sandra recommends pre-shrinking the silk satin, but not to bother with the chiffon. I thought long and hard about pre-washing silk, as I will most likely dry clean the top once it's finished and from then on...but I believed her and it's WRONG! Although it's not water marked, apparently silk satin doesn't do that (Sandra says), it has lost it's luster and sheen, something that draws you to satin in the first place really. I made a test garment out of calico, but decided to use the ruined satin to try the design out, so now I just have a very expensive toile and I will have to go to Spotties today and buy some more....aarrrrgggghhhh!

New rule - if I'm going to dry clean the garment always, don't pre-wash. Does that sound fair fellow sewonistas?

PS - sorry for the hiatus - two week shock to the system - back to being a working mother!

I'm trying...

I'm trying to load my stuff on ETSY so I can make my (self-imposed) deadline of launching tomorrow. But my photos are too large...my banner doesn't work - aaarrggghhh! But I will keep trying and fingers crossed will have some good news for y'all later in the day.

psssstttt...the above photo gives a hint to what wares suzy will be selling.

Ikea haul (Part Two)

As I alluded to last week I have been on a bit of a shopping spree at Ikea of late...especially fabric! I just love it. It's simple design at its best, great decorator weight for the home (or bags for that matter ) and cheap. These cushions above were made from pieces found in the remnants bin. I'm not going to insult y'all and tell you how to make cushions. But I will say that I decided to use an invisible zip on these babies, because my invisible zip presser foot is my latest crush...and I'm loving the result.

The second set of projects that I completed from Ikea fabric are these stack of tablecloths. Finally, after years of searching I've found fabric wide enough for our six seater table that I actually like....The top one has a bit of a Marimekko feel to it don't you think?

Suzy's got it covered...

Yes it's me again, suzy of the cheesy blog titles!

I've quite a bit to share this week, because for once I managed to tick off and complete 3 wips over the weekend. But don't worry this won't be a monster blog post I'll spread them out over the week.

First up is this sewing machine cover, made of course from some fabric that I bought at Ikea! My sewing corner (well it's really a wall) is in our family room and is on show all the time, which makes it a challenge on two levels. One - keeping it tidy and clean and two - stopping everybody dumping their own treasures all over it!


I got the idea from Benita at Chez Larsson - who else I tell you? Between her and my Ikea fixation maybe I should just move to Sweden, but I digress...

The process for each of ours is a little different, same result. Here is the suzy way:

1. Choose a decorator weight, or mid to heavy weight fabric. The Ikea fabric is perfect because it is quite stiff, almost canvas like. I needed 0.5m of a 150cm fabric width.

2. I stood my machine cover on some newspaper and traced the end. For the main part, I kinda rolled the cover along the newspaper tracing away to get one single pattern piece.
So you should end up with 3 x pieces, 2 ends and a main piece.


3. For cutting I was quite particular to make sure that the pattern design on the ends was vertical. I couldn't stand looking everyday at dodgy positioning.

4. Sew the pieces together, right side facing (you know, here's me telling you the bleedin' obvious!). I pinked the seams. It would have been to hard to overlock a u-shape piece, you could have done it before you made the seams up, but this baby won't be washed a lot, so it didn't seem necessary.

5. I really wanted the hem to sit right on the table, so I fitted the fabric cover over the machine cover, turned it upside down and marked the hemline. I then overlocked about 1/4 inch outside of it, turned it up and voila perfect.


6. Last but not least, Suzy added a tag to the front so that I can tell easily which way is the front...and more importantly so I don't forget my name!

Now I've got to go and rip this cover off and do the final push of sewing before my ETSY shop opens next Monday - how exciting!

Into the abyss

Whilst I've been sewing for a wee-bit now haute couture it is not! That is until I saw this latest offering from Vogue patterns - just stunning.

I have a wedding to attend in a month's time...and I'm gonna give it a go, and I promise whether it works out or not I'll post the result...I feel some more bloghonesty coming on.

Organizing Burda

So I've been committed seriously to buying Burda Style (BWOF) every month for over a year now. When I say committed, I well sort of stalk the newsagents in town every four weeks when I'm expecting the latest copy to arrive. It sux that it is 3 months behind and we pay nearly $16 aussie dollars an issue, but no longer people! I've finally got the lovely people at Burda to answer my email and I'm about to get a direct subscription which will come in a touch over 9 bucks an issue, including postage - ORGANIZED!


..and for some time I've been meaning to sort out my issues like thus so that I have a quick reference for when a potential project pops into my head. This way I don't have to flick through every copy to find the right one. So simple, and flogged from someone's blog that I can't recall (sorry fellow blogger). You colour copy the summary page from the beginning of each issue, and then b&w copy the line drawing summary page and voila. Sort them into date order, add some tabs for each year, season if you so desire and clip the pages into a ring binder. Your mags and pattern sheet can then be filed away- see ORGANIZED!!!!

Cheers....

A bit of last minute needle and thread

Yesterday I finished a bit of last minute sewing before we set off on holidays. But nooooooo it's not the crisp white resort pants that I had imagined me strolling around in the Fijian sunset, but a Car Caddy for the boy-child. If the truth be known I meant to sew this for him as a Christmas present, but well, umm...time kinda gotta away from me. Never mind, I think it does the job nicely as a pre-holiday surprise...and it helps me limit the cars that he brings along to 6...hehehe.

Kuka sent me the link to one from So you think you're crafty ...and it then led me to Little Gems. It was so ridiculously easy to make I think I'll start doing some more already for little boy gifts for this year. I used scraps for the inner, felt for the "road" at the top and some lovely soft denim as the outer fabric. I used some fabric paint for the line markings on the road, and figure if they give out in the future I can use some double-sided fusing and add some felt markings.

Well that's it for me for a week or so, Happy New Year everyone!

Ship ahoy Suzy!

Well Suzy has let her hair down and made another garment for herself! This will do very nicely when suzy and co take off on Sunday for a few days r&r in the sun and sand Fiji style!


This is a BWOF ring-stripe top from issue 0409 style #112. Fabric is a cotton jersey (not easy to find let me tell you) from Gorgeous Fabrics. Details of the pattern review will be as usual to the left on the side bar, but I thought that for each blog post that I write about sewing I would list what I learnt from each garment.

What I learnt from sewing this garment...

• how to use a fusible bias tape to stabilise arm and neck openings, and also for binding the sleeve hem. This stops the opening from gaping which can happen a fair bit with stretch fabrics. This notion, which happens to be BWOF's favourite one, works a treat.
  
• how to line up stripes, I winged it a bit using the armhole as a reference and found it much easier than anticipated
• that sewing a t-shirt is pretty simple, and well worth it. Some may disagree, but I like a certain style of shirt (low neck and 3/4 sleeve) & I think that they suit me better than other styles - but they are not so easy to find, and now I can make oodles of them
  
• that my overlocker/serger is really lacking and my lusting after the Baby Lock Evolve Wave is really not that ridiculous!
  

It might be obvious to some...

...but sewing and children do NOT mix! This, yes I've known for a while. Firstly because I've got bugger all sewing done this year at home with two kids, particularly with a wee bairn. And secondly because when I do try to sew something it is usually met with "mummy can I help" and now a standing 10 month old tagging at my apron!

So what am I going to do...move my sewing corner. At the moment it resides in the family room right next door to the baby's room. This makes using the overlocker during sleep time or at night absolutely impossible. So at the next opportune time it will move location......stay tuned!

...and what's the photo of the tulip (Floriade circa 2006) in aid of I hear you ask? Well a blog post without a photo is selling you all short and I needed something pretty to offset my dark words above.

Let's swing again!

Another Amy Butler Swing Bag for a pressie...this one I seriously WANT to keep for my weekly trek to the markets. I think I might toddle back off to the sewing shop next week and get some more of this gorgeous heavy heavy canvas cotton...love it! I lined it with a natural linen and it looks just noice (that's nice with an Australian accent for the overseas viewers).

An update on my complaint to the sewing shop - refund received for TOTAL amount of course taken and materials, no need to shame on this blog any further.

Have a great weekend.....

Home-made nappies

I know that I made the big statement last weekend that I would be finishing FIVE WIP. It was never going to happen, but I tend to often make big plans like that to help motivate me to do more than I should. Anyway, I have managed to get (or nearly get) the biggest WIP that I had off my table (or nearly off).

Towards the end of my pregnancy with the girl-child I discovered the "new" cloth nappies. I hadn't seen them when the boy-child was a babe and I was intrigued by a cloth nappy that didn't have all the drawbacks of the old style ones - in particular the folding, inability to wick moisture away from said-babies bum and the stuffing around with pins etc. These new all-in-one nappies seemed to be about $17 a pop, so they were never really a cheap option...given that I figured we would need about 20.

Then I found a few online places that sold the special fabrics and gave a call-out to Georgie who happily passed on her nappy knowledge to me. She gave me some great advice, pointed me in the direction of some Australian suppliers and showed me the ropes...and I was off. Or so I thought.

I bought my special Snap machine, agonised over fabric, finally purchased it and then it sat - AGAIN! So last week, sick of paying about $17 a week for disposals I bit the bullet. Decided not to buy any more nappies, and basically sewed nappies just out-pacing the girl-child's requirements.

So to the particulars, the outside is Poly PUL. The inside fabric (closest to babies skin) is suede cloth which wicks the moisture away nicely and is not too bulky. For the insert I used bamboo and some old towels (again thanks Georgie) which I overlocked together to make a pad shape. These are stuffed inside the nappy, and after Georgie's advice are the best option for places like Canberra in winter where the washing takes a really long time to dry. I'm thrilled at the result. I'm not adding to landfill with 6 to 8 disposals every day and I'm loving saving money (I estimate about $800 a year)...and I think they look pretty too!
I got about 7 nappies from each metre of PUL and suedecloth, which when combined with the cost of the bamboo insert came to $5.45 a nappy. OK so I had to buy the snap machine, but I'm sewing bibs like a storm and have many other plans for using it...stay tuned for more.

Brown Owl and tell...

A few lazy Sunday afternoons ago little Suzy Hausfrau enjoyed a wonderful Stitchy Tea party with new Brown Owl friends. The craft of the day was embroidery, a foreign and oft strange discipline that Suzy had never had the chance to enjoy. The project of choice was a "steppin' out bib" for the girl-child...inspiration from the wonderful Gifts for Baby book. Suzy learnt how to stitch a little and then raced home and finished the stitching within the hour..........and then it sat.......and sat.........and sat.

Finally this afternoon Suzy picked up said stitching, attached a fine one sided terry cloth, bound the two fabrics with some pretty gingham and added a snap...all in about half an hour! Why is it so? Why have such gusto in the beginning, and then let it languish forever? This I must admit is probably one of about FIVE WIP that I am determined to finish over the weekend. There I've said it - FIVE. Hold me to it!