Little Bear Skirt

I love the texture that hand stitching brings to a garment and I love the slow process of sewing something by hand. But I also love being able to quickly put something together with a sewing machine, so I've been finding myself more and more using a combination of both hand and machine sewing when I'm making things.

This skirt came together really quickly, I finished all the edges with the over-locker and then relaxed in the sun room watching TEDx talks and slowing stitching the hem and waist band. I like using bright embroidery thread to highlight the hand stitched detail and I chose yellow to compliment the gold detail on the bear print.

My little Peace Warrior was very happy to have a new skirt. 

Lavender Dream Pillows

I harvested the lavender from my pot plant recently. I enjoyed watching the bees buzz around the flowers as I sat looking out the sun room window with my coffee or my knitting, but the time came to chop it back and dry the flowers once they had all set seed.
The lavender is beautifully fragrant and I got a decent sized harvest for just one pot plant so I was able to made a little lavender pillow for each of my kids to take to bed with them. I made use of some lovely Japanese inspired fabric scraps from previous projects- making a dent in my stash is always a good thing. I also had enough left over to make a lavender bag to hang between my wool dresses.

Mio's Skateboard Dress

I usually find it really hard to find a pattern I like for a particular fabric I have so I just end up making what's in my head. As I'm totally amateur in my fashion design skills it almost always doesn't turn out perfectly. This is one of those not quite perfect designs but I'm pretty happy with how quickly it came together. 

Mio LOVED the skateboard fabric in the shop and insisted I make her a dress out of it. I made a skirt first because it's pretty hard for a rectangle of fabric and some elastic to go wrong.

Her happy little face just makes my day, what an absolute delight!

I'm going to try get my head around the improvements I need to make because I really like this simple, practical dress.

Little Bear Cape

I didn't plan on this little project, I just wanted to test out the hood design for something exciting I have planned for Mio's birthday. But after rummaging for some test fabric and sewing it together I decided to go all out and turn it into a finished piece. I used fabric from a bag of mixed bits that my in-laws gave me, so all it cost me was my time which is always a bonus.

Little Pants for Mio

I found some cute corduroy fabric in an op-shop recently for $1.25 and knew exactly what I wanted to do with it. Paired with some purple stretch fabric my in-laws gave me, I thought it would make great pants for Mio. I drew around the shape of some of Mio's pants for a rough pattern, altered the length for the leg bands and took a bit off the top for the stretchy waist band. The pants came together really quickly, I love little projects like this that are quick and easy. Now on to the thousand other clothing ideas I have swimming around my head.

Playing in the backyard kitchen.

Through the overgrown garden and into the cubby, life is full of wonder.  

India's Forest Fairy Dress

India made herself a lovely dress this afternoon. She used a singlet that we had previously dyed with plant material for the top of the dress and added a skirt to it. I had a few doilies in my sewing stash which India was very excited about being able to use.
I helped with the pinning just to get her started but she did all the sewing herself with a little extra guidance with sewing the doilies on.
I think it turned out beautifully, I'm very proud of her sewing and design skills.

Playing with Pattern Drafting

I managed to steal an afternoon to work on my pattern drafting and experiment with my exciting new drafting tool- the french curve.

I used a scrap of fabric left from making a baby sling and some stretch fabric that I've been rather nervous to use because I'm still getting my head around working with stretch fabric on the sewing machine.

I still have some tweaking to do but it didn't turn out too badly.

       

Kimono Scrap Skirt

I picked up a silk kimono scrap for $1, it was already in a tube shape so all I had to do was hand sew the elastic waist band which only took a few minutes one evening.

Because the elastic is super stretchy it fits Mio, India and myself which is pretty cool.

  

India's Red Cape

India has officially declared that she doesn't like any of the clothes I make. 'But what about your red cape?' I asked. 'Oh except for that, I like that' she replies. I was slightly disheartened when she told me that she didn't want me to make things for her anymore but she has since asked me if I can make her a long sleeve dress so I think I'll be able to sneak a few more of my handmade things into her wardrobe over the coming months and years. On another positive note having me make less clothes for her means she will have to make more clothes herself which is a great way to take control of your own style and fall in love with creating.

My sewing machine stopped working mid project which meant that I had a half finished cape sitting around for 2 months while my machine was getting a total makeover. The wait was frustrating but oh my is it a dream to use now!

I picked up the fabric on sale when the Lincraft in Melbourne CBD was closing down so I didn't quite get as much fabric as I would have liked but I think the cape turned out nicely. I also came across a shop in Northcote selling hand made wood buttons which turned out to be perfect and I probably would not have found them for this project if it wasn't for my machine being in the workshop for so long so everything worked out perfectly in the end.

Mio's Harem Pants Tutorial

I'm totally in love with these pants. The combination of beautiful fabric and the baggy style is just so cute. Little boys and girls alike would look beautiful in these easy and fun pants. The pattern is very forgiving and should allow wear for many months (something I like to look for when it comes to clothing for little ones).

These pants sewed up super quick and I liked the first pair so much I had to make a second.

Here's a quick tutorial of how I put them together.

First I made a quick paper pattern. Fold the fabric in half and place the pattern on the edge of the fold- that way when you cut it both sides will be exactly the same. These pants measure about 70cm at the widest point and about 32cm from waist to crotch.

Pin fabric right sides together down the sides and across the bottom of the pants, then sew together. You can then use an overlocker or zigzag stitch to finish all the edges including around the waist and leg holes.

Once all the edges have been finished so they don't fray you will need to fold the waist band over, pin and then sew, making sure to leave a gap to thread the elastic through.

I wanted to have a little gathered frill around the waist so I worked out how wide the elastic was and how far to sew from the edge of the waist. I then sewed around so the elastic would fit in nice and snug. I you didn't want a frill you could use thicker elastic or make the fold on the waist band thinner. 

After sewing the waist band it's time for the legs. Fold over and sew around the leg hole making sure to leave a gap to thread the elastic through. For the legs I used thinner elastic than I did for the waist.

Here's the pants ready to have the elastic inserted.

Thread elastic through by attaching it to a safety pin and pushing it through the space in the waist band. When the safety pin comes around to where it was inserted you can then adjust the elastic to the right length and sew the ends of the elastic together.

After threading the elastic through the leg bands you can sew the holes where you inserted the elastic closed and the pants are ready to wear (and you can finish that pot of nursing tea!).

These pants just look so cute, you can pull the legs up to bellow the knee when it's warm or have them long when it's cool- perfect for the all over the place weather in Melbourne.