Hello sailorette!

Voila, sailboat pants in a size 3, from Oliver & S. Wonderful pattern.

And here she is. Piaf got fascinated by her belly button while modelling.

They’re a little long, but she’ll have all winter to grow into them.

Have almost finished the skirt – out of a Nina Wish jacket I bought more than 15 years ago. I just need to get some buttons.

The fabric is just the best…. they don’t make it like that anymore. Sigh. Feels good to finally make something out of this old garment that’s been lying around in a drawer for probably a decade.

Birthday banner

A wonderful tutorial for a cardstock birthday banner over at Little Paper Dog. Easy and swellegant. And now up in my lounge room window, even though there’s not a birthday remotely within sight.

And a bag I whipped up on Saturday for a rare party, at Handsome Steve’s at the Abbotsford Convent (lovely spot and well away from the bogans having their 21st at the Convent Bakery downstairs. It’s the second party I’ve been to there in the past three months, and for someone who no longer goes to too many parties, that must be an indication that the place is a keeper).

The bag pattern also is a real keeper: Martha Stewart’s reversible purse. You too can feel like you’re on parole with this casual yet dressy accessory worn on the wrist, and just the right size for keys, tissues, and wallet (but not big enough for the detritus that magically collects in my regular tote).

A bit fiddly on the turnings – you’re turning in and sewing small armholes with steep curves on the bottom. I did experiment with other spots for turning, but no, the construction of the bag just won’t allow it. No biggie, you just take more time on it. Do clip your curves.

The fabric I used was a large bit left over from a free Amy Butler pattern for a scarf cut on the bias. I spent ages wondering what the hell I’d do with it, and this was the perfect project. Love a good stash buster.

Nappy Stacker

The sewing for the twins (not mine) continues.

Found this fantastic tutorial for a nappy stacker over Sew Dang Cute.

When Piaf was born, I couldn’t find anything online to teach me how to make one. I refused to buy one, so just kept nappies on the shelf in her change table.

A few days ago, I picked up a basic cotton stacker at Spotlight for $5, with the intention of reverse engineering it. Got the measurements right, but came unstuck trying to do the pleat in the main body piece and attaching it to the top piece where the hanger goes. Not the sewing whiz I thought I was (sob!).

So this tutorial really solved everything. Big thanks to Tamarynn.

They’re incredibly easy to make. Got the fabric, Very Cotton, from Amitie this very morning, along with some quilting tweed for a shirt (not daggy at all, despite the name). The only drawback is that the train motif runs upside down as well as right side up. If that makes any sense.

The only part I didn’t like doing was sewing the body to the rectangular base. I hate those corners and would really like to find some online tute on how to get them right.

But in all, a lovely cheerful addition to these babies’ room. And my friends are both putting frantic fill-time hours till about, oh, five minutes before the birth, so I know it’ll come in handy.

Babies’ sleeping bag (includes rant)

Just finished this today (a full day and a bit work).

It’s one of two I will be making for a friend in Sydney whose partner is expecting twin boys.

I got me down to Carmel’s fabric warehouse in Braeside, and it was well worth the drive.

They stock nothing over $5 a metre. Incidentally, the lady behind the counter, Yvette, has made up patterns for basic art smock in sizes 4-5 and 6-7, and has a fantastic waterproof cotton, which I think will make a good test drive for the Microtex machine needles I bought from Spotlight yesterday. But I digress.

Most of their cotton quilting fabrics looked hideous on the roll. I would never in a pink fit have bought this selection, but I knew I wanted boyish colours (brown must surely also be great for hiding stains!). And somehow, they’re just right.

Ain’t it funny how an ugly fabric can suddenly look very stylish when it’s made up for the right garment?

Very happy. especially for $3-$4 a metre. And 2 separating zips for 10 cents each.

Anyway, the sleeping bag pattern. I’d wanted to make one for a while, as Grobags and the like are so expensive- $80. We made do with secondhand ones from Tomorrow’s Child for Piaf. Two bags for each season (winter and summer) served her very well. But now she’s 2 1/2, we face the dilemma of how to keep her warm at night, as she has grown out of the biggest size on the market. Yet she won’t keep blankets or quilts on. But that’s for another post (yes, Tim, feel free to fall asleep at this point. Or go back to the social housing blog ).

I picked this pattern because it was for sleeveless bags – I’d been told to avoid sleeved ones because babies and toddlers can overheat. I also didn’t want to work with synthetic fleece for the same reason. It’s a lovely style and I do recommend the pattern. There are some free patterns on the web, but I find the instructions and construction a bit slapdash. (ie, “Take existing sleeping bag and make a copy. And by the way these instructions are copyright.” Yup).

This pattern called for interfacing (all the pieces, god knows why!); and batting, but frustratingly didn’t recommend any particular sort ). I picked up a nice 100% cotton batting at Spotlight at $30 a metre – a bit pricey but it’s extra wide so I’ll get two bags out of it (I have since found some 60%wool 40% synthetic screed at Amitie, which looks much more winter-weight and I can’t wait to try it in another sleeping bag, and only $20 a metre).

So, very badly drafted pattern instructions. If you know what you’re doing you can bluff through. That’s the assumption of the big 4 pattern makers, and it’s one I have a big problem with. (See my review over at Pattern Review).

So first of all, the pattern specifies batting but gives no instructions as to how to attach it. Do you attach it to the exterior fabric or the lining? I took a punt and quilted it to the lining fabric, with parallel stitches about 6cm apart. I also dug up an old email from Nikki W at My Black Cardigan who kindly sent a great screed some time ago (ironically when another friend out of town was expecting twins) on how she made her sleeping bags, so muchas gracias Nikki!

Good punt, because I needed the exterior fabric as easy to work with as possible because most of the work inserting the zip was on the exterior layer. I trimmed the seams – not the lining fabric, just the batting, so they wouldn’t bulk up too much. I’m not sure whether in my next sleeping bag I should just make the batting 1.5cm smaller all round. Somehow I don’t think that’s a great idea.

Second, why make separate pattern pieces for the yoke and body when even the pattern photo has the bag done up in the same exterior fabric? It makes sense if you’ve got a contrasting yoke, but if you don’t then there’s no point. I reckon I’ll just trace a single body piece for the next one.

Third, it’s not clear unless you read the whole pattern through, very closely

I liked the method of attaching the bias binding. I’ve worked with it lots, so I know what all that’s about. But they should have been kinder to newbies and said “make sure you leave about 2cm hanging off each neck end so you can fold it in”. And check out this instruction: “Pin the lining on the tape so that the edge meets with the center. Stitch the tape about 0.7cm next to the edge”. What edge? What center?

Huh? I write for a living. I have no patience for crappy instructions. People spend good money on patterns – they cost more than most albums yet you don’t get as much repeat satisfaction from them! They deserve thorough and clear instructions.

Seems to me most pattern manufacturers haven’t grappled with the fact that not everybody learns to sew at their mother’s knee or at school (Home Ec ain’t that fashionable, and there are good reasons why). I make no apology for being an advanced beginner or whatever it is I am in the sewing food chain I’m buying a pattern precisely because I need guidance.

Liesl of Oliver & S (independent children’s pattern maker) says she sets out to teach people techniques in her patterns. That’s what makes them so good. Amy Butler does the same thing – she assumes her market segment is made up of a good proportion of novice sewers trying bags before they embark on garments.

So, the instructions for the zip were scant. I’ve inserted a few zips before but I do like being reminded for the small points that can really stuff up a garment. I took a punt and left a 1.5cm gap between the top of the zip and the raw edge of the neck. Good call. But not after a lot of unpicking.

To insert the zip on this sleeping bag, I actually dug out Amy Butler’s Sophia bag pattern, and there they were excellent instructions and a much easier, logical technique for attaching the zip (you baste right and left fronts together, press seams open, turn right side down and place the zip also right side down so the teeth line up with that central basting seam).

So I’ll be making it again, and next time I reckon it will take me a lot less time next time round.

Look what I made!

Look what I made!!

It’s the Puppet Show dress/tunic by US independent pattern company Oliver & S.

I made the longer version, the dress. This project took me all day up till 10 minutes ago. I have sewer’s back/ shoulder. Now I know why in the days when people used to have to sew their own and their family’s clothes, that they had one Sunday dress, and then one dress which they wore during the week until it turned to rags. ‘Cos it’s hard work, dangit.

Their patterns are super reliable – you can learn quite a few sewing techniques from them (indeed that’s the intention of the designer, Liesl). I’ve made the shorts from this pattern before. They’re cute, and have the most fantastic gathered pockets, but don’t take nappies/diapers into account, and seem to be very much on the small side.

*But if you’re after a simpler dress from an indie concern closer to home, head on over to Nicole Mallalieu’s blog for a giveaway of her forthcoming tulip dress pattern.

There. I digress.

I wanted to try a dress with sleeves and a cute collar for Pia F. It’s easy to make strappy dresses but I find in practice I avoid putting her in them because I don’t want her shoulders to burn in the sun. They’re really only practical for those super hot Melbourne days where you’re indoors the whole time anyway.

I’d done a yoke and yoke facing before – they’re a bit painful but very satisfying when you get them right. The sleeves were a breeze – kids’ sleeves, especially puffy ones like this, don’t need the lengthy modifications from the pattern that adults sleeves do – on me at least. There were some finishing steps that were new to me and had me a bit confused but my trust in the pattern drafting was vindicated.

I still have the buttonholes to do …. probably have to wait ’til my next sewing class so I can use the machines there.

I’ve had the material in my stash for ages- a Japanese print from Spotlight (yep, it is possible to buy nice stuff there occasionally).

The contrast fabric is from Amitie. I was going to make a cushion cover back with it. But sorting through my stash this morning for a complementary fabric, this worked. Or seemed to. Hmmmm.

As I was basting the sleeves to the armholes this afternoon, Pia F – back from a day at creche – came up, her usual curious self.

She knew it was a dress for her, but insisted she wanted not this one, but a pink one.

Bleedin ‘eck! Spotlight actually stocked the same print in pink but it was a real blergh shade.

This dress is a size 3 with the length a size four (Piaf is very much on the tall, skinny side).

She’s two now, so it’s for next year. I didn’t see the point of sweating over something just so she could get a couple more months’ wear out of it this year.

It’s the first time I’ve done a “bagging out” (this was needed for the hem facingon my own. This consisted of bias binding in the solid blue fabric – you see it only as a strip of colour on the inside hem. It gives a nice finish.

I was flying a bit blind for a while but based on that vague memory of having done it before and the spatial awareness that a year of sewing classes has started to develop (when you start thinking, hang on, it must go this way because that’s what will make it look like that), I nutted it out.

If I were to make it again, I’d not take a half-inch seam allowance on the collar – it needs to be a bit plumper, rounder, for that Peter Pan look. Then again, I’m not sure that Piaf is a Peter Pan kid. She looks great in funkier stuff.

I think I’d use a print as the accent fabric, rather than a solid. For some reason, I think the solid blue might make it look a little too much like a cowboy shirt. Although the colours work well together, there may be a little too much contrast. A smaller print would have worked better (though finding one to match this particular fabric would have been just about impossible.

All in all, though, I is proud!

The downside to not having any work right now is the obvious absence of a pay cheque to look forward to. On the other hand, I am using the time to get stuck into projects that have been hanging round like a bad smell all year. The wrk will come soon enough.

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Toddler hat strap tutorial

OK. This is not rocket science, and hardly deserves a tutorial.

Nevertheless, when I take my two year old to the park in this hat, I invariably get a few mothers asking me where I got it, because they have a hell of a time persuading their kids to keep their hats on. The strap is the main attraction.

WE recently were given about five cotton hats that I didn’t get any use out of for a couple of months – Little One would shrug them off within seconds. Yet it took ages to get around to making the time to buy some cord pullers, and sew some simple straps. It’s amazing how much the inertia can kick in on a project like this.

I thought, it can’t be that hard. And it isn’t.

So…to buy the cord pullers. I could only source the variety with one hole at my local stores. They’re ok, but a two-hole puller, like the one below, is much easier – you only need to make one strap instead of two, and you don’t need to knot them up at the free ends. You can buy them online if all else fails.

Do test them before you buy – some are harder to use than others.

And now to the strap (this is for a one-hole puller):

Cut two strips of your chosen fabric 2.5cm (1 inch) wide. And say, 50cm (19″ long). The width is important (so it can fit nicely through the puller), the length you can play around with to suit.

Fold in half lengthwise, wrong sides together, and press.

Open out the strap, fold in one long edge so that it meets the centre crease (again, wrong sides together). Press.

Do the same with the other long edge.

Now fold along the centre crease again, but this time tucking in those raw long ends. Press.

One at a time, open out each short end, and fold in about 1cm towards the wrong side. Press. Now bring the long sides to the centre again, tucking in the raw edges.

Topstitch all round. You may need to change your needle to a 16/10 if the thread is going a bit berserk.

Attach to the inside sides of your hat.*

Feed the straps through the cord puller, one at a time, using a safety pin if need be.

*For a two-hole puller, cut one strip of fabric, around 90-95cm long.

Follow the instructions above, but attach only one end to the inside of the hat. Thread the strap through both holes in the puller, and then attach the other end.

Voila – Instant hat usability.

And yes, this is the same technique to make bias binding, only for straps the fabric is cut on the straight grain!

Passport wallet

Wow. Been so long between posts. Lots of crafting, and blogging elsewhere.

This is a passport wallet I made last last year, for a friend’s little girl just before they went to Singapore. It’s from a tutorial over at Chubby Hobby.

Quite simple to assemble, satisfying to feel the finished product.

The penguin fabric is from Amitie, the elephant button from Tessuti.

Mind you, I still covet the travel wallet from Catherine Manuell that I bought my sister for Christmas. I would never buy something like pink embossed leather for myself, but it was damn stunning. aaah.