Some much needed mending

Rohan has been going through the knees of a pair of jeans a week the last few weeks - I was up to four pairs in the mending pile and I finally got around to doing some! Just as well - he was down to his last pair!


I went for the open-the-side-seams-and-sew-in-a-strip-of-fabric-all-the-way-across method. They're not perfect but it's nearly summer and he's already in shorts half the time. By the time he's in jeans every day again he'll probably have gone up a size!

Serendipitous sewing

While the boys napped for too long the other day I got carried away at the sewing machine. I admit that I am an impulsive crafter, I don't plan projects and brew over the best fabrics and approaches. If I am grabbed by an idea I want to do it immediately and I will compromise everything about it rather than plan it properly.

Am I the only person who sews this way?

So it was that I stumbled across a link via Meet Me At Mike's for this lunch bag cutlery roll tutorial from BurdaStyle.

image from the BurdaStyle website

I had recently made something similar, a pocket for remote controls that hangs over the arm of the couch, as my tongue-in-cheek crafty contribution to Tavis's fathers' day present. I am proud to say I made that one up as I went along (are you starting to get the picture of the haphazard way I craft yet?) and the instructions for the cutlery roll were very similiar so I was able to start straight away...

ready to get started

...except I only had one ribbon and it was red so this limited the choice of fabric from my stash.

first attempt - I thought I didn't need a pocket for a napkin but the pattern doesn't really work without it

Substitute the stipulated batting for purple felt in the first attempt and iron on interfacing in the second (because the purple felt was too dark for the light-weight gingham fabric), and a couple of hours later I had made two of these things and was quite pleased with the second attempt. I think these are great for anyone who works in an office where forks (and teaspoons!!!) are somewhat of an enigma.

second attempt - much more successful

But best of all, the next day I thrifted the matching cutlery from an op shop I hadn't been to in ages. Complete coincidence! How serendipitous is that?

see the yellow gingham handles on the cutlery?

Planting seeds

I finally got around to planting some seeds on the weekend: Basil, parsley and leek.


No action yet (though believe me I'm checking every day), but I hope they'll eventually look more like this...

1. Growing Basil, 2. Parsley, 3. leeks

Yum!

What I made today

A pretty top for a friend's daughter.


I copied something I'd seen and thought would be easy.
It wasn't easy for me (but it should have been).
It should go a bit smoother next time...
...I hope.

Project for May

My May goal is to knit a vest for Angus but I knew that it would take me more than a month to do this so I've been practicing for a few weeks now.

First attempt at ribbing - not a success

I had never tried ribbing or even stocking stitch before and to be honest I never really understood the whole moving the yarn from front to back to change stitches; but it suddenly clicked and I'm pleased to say I finally feel like I'm starting to get the hang of it!

Second attempt at ribbing and first at stocking stitch - not bad

Next I need to frog all of that knitting and start again using a pattern. I've never tried to read a knitting pattern before and I haven't yet found one I like for a vest for Angus so these are the next things to overcome to achieve my May project. I've just kept going on the knitting in the mean time because I'm enjoying it, but the more I do the more disappointing it will be to frog it and there's no way what I've started will be wide enough for a vest.

It's all about corduroy right now

At least for me it is.
And I'm seeing it everywhere!

1. Boh Tea Estate, Cameron Highlands, 2. long live grunge, 3. orange chair, 4. New Corduroy Bags, 5. sea of purple corduroy, 6. Hometown farm, Laurel, NY, 7. Blue with airplanes, 8. Overman Lounge Chair, 9. pants

I snuck Angus in there at the end because I'm seeing corduroy nowhere more than at home - both the boys seem to be wearing it all the time and I picked up a lovely new pair of cord pants for Rohan at the oppy today for $1. Great quality, french made, fully lined. Gotta love it.

I have some of that gorgeous Lara Cameron fabric from no. 4 above but in a different colourway. It was part of the pack from my lovely cousin and looks great there made up into a bag... hmmm...

I went back the the fabric superstore yesterday and bought some plain brown cord so I think I'm ready to just get the scissors out and go for it with the refashion job on the Levis skirt. There might even be enough leftover to experiment with a bag?

Work in Progress

Very much in progress

I bought this skirt from an op shop without trying it on because it was Levis and looked as though it had never been worn and I couldn't see a size on it anywhere. It was cheap enough that it didn't matter if it didn't fit which is good because it didn't. I later found a tag somewhere on an inside seam that said it was extra small!

It so didn't fit and was never going to fit no matter how long it sat in my wardrobe that it went straight into the fabric box to eventually become something else.

Then when we were well into April, and I realised I had done zero preparation to achieve my April goal of sewing an item of clothing for myself, I thought I might cheat and refashion this one by opening up the two seams at the front and adding new panels of some amazing fabric. I bought some fabric I thought would work last weekend; it's a fine gauge cord and I thought the weight of it matched the weight of the denim.

What was I thinking?

During the week I got the seam ripper out and opened up the seams, and today I played around with some stash fabric to test whether the panels should taper or not (not). And that's when I realised that not only is the fabric I bought totally wrong the whole thing might look totally eighties and naff even with the perfect fabric (which I'm now thinking could be a plain brown cord). I haven't given up hope but I've definitely stalled and I doubt I'll be finished by the end of April.

So someone's daughter is going to get a new pinny with butterflies this winter!

Sunday Stash

Two visits to the supermarket of craft stores today.
They are having a sale and I can't resist a bargain.
Woops...
The fabric at the top is for my April mission and I hope some of the others will appear as completed projects soon (but I admit that some are just for the stash for now).


The yarn top right is for my May mission and the rest was just a bargain. Foolishly small quantities I have realised already - a common mistake made by the rookie knitter (who in this case has never completed a garment, except a rather small scarf which I'm not convinced counts).

No excuses now, better get crafty!

New pants a success

As with the last pair of pants I made him they are a perfect fit now so they may not fit him for all that long but they are just great, I'm really happy with them. I used a favourite pair that are now too small as a template so I had to guess at upsizing and I used this tutorial as a guide too.

What I really love is that they are so similar in look and fit to the outgrown pair I loved so much, even the grade of the cord is the same, except they are fire engine red rather than pale blue. Love it!

My new favourite tool...

...is the twin needle on my sewing machine.


I'd never used it before but I wanted to try it on a pair of pants for Angus. I love the finish of it.


You may recognise the material from a certain bakfiets seat, but I did originally buy the fabric (thrifted of course) for the pants.


Verdict: Very happy with the result, I'll be using it again for sure.

Applique fail

It's supposed to be a bat's wing right?

Right?

He Couldn't Care Less But I Love It

Yep, Definitely Hooked

Buoyed by my recent success on my first applique attempt (yes, I did rate it as a success) I was keen to try some more adventurous projects. I started with a mending job which I was quite pleased with - patching the knees of a pair of pants for Angus.


Next I moved onto a t-shirt potentially for a gift and liked the little giraffe so much I did one for Angus too. I'm still not sure how I managed to get it to face the other way though (well I guess I know how I must have done it, just didn't realise I had at the time).

Just need to add a tail to the little guys now.


















And then I made my favourite so far, a little grey elephant on a t-shirt for Angus. The shirt is an old one of Rohan's and the grey fabric is from a thrifted linen shirt. I'm particularly pleased with the ear which I satin stitched with the machine. Next time I think I'll try using a walking foot on the machine, I think I read that somewhere.

Shame I haven't managed my February challenge to make my own pasta but I have at least tried a new thing and I'm enjoying it a lot!

Applique

OK it may not be on my list but I've tried a new thing...


...this is my first ever attempt at applique. Yes, it is a bit wonky. Yes, the stitching is a bit average and the cotton is the wrong colour but the applique was on and I was too impassioned to wait until I had the right colour cotton. Yes, I did choose a square for the most simple sewing because I was terrified that I wouldn't be able to sew around the shape with any kind of accuracy at all.

Verdict: I think I'm hooked - I love it!

Tomatoes

What can I say... after the bushfires and the devastation they have left I am so thankful of the small things as well as the big things. Everything reminds me of what others have lost - the ducted heating coming on in the chill of the morning (so many have lost their homes let alone the comforts and trappings that come with that), the earrings I bought when I was 16 (the bushfire victims have lost their history), the tomatoes ripening despite the weather conditions even they have faced.


I am thankful for these things and so much more, at every turn I am reminded how fortunate we are.

Burst of sewing

I achieved my January challenge of sewing a cushion for the bakfiets! The picture was taken in a hurry, I would have liked to attach the cushion properly to the seat, make sure it was fluff free, have a nice backdrop etc but you get the idea. I used entirely thrifted/upcycled materials for this so I am doubly pleased. It means that the piece of foam in the back rest is not quite the right size but it's just fine for the boys and they love it.


On Saturday I made a small stuffed elephant, Olga, from More Softies (pictured) but I finished so quickly and was in such a hurry to give it to a friend's daughter that I didn't get a picture of the finished Olga. So this is the Olga in the book pictured with the fabric I used for my Olga.


And today I decided I needed a pincushion so I whipped up this one from here during the boys' nap. Cute!

Is that someone waking now? I think so.

Change

My baby (12 months old) started daycare today. Rohan (3 yrs) has been going there since he was 13 months old and loved it from day one, he was excited this morning to be going back to 'school' and was happy to now be in the big kids' room (3-5 yrs).

So today Angus just went in for a few hours for orientation, he was an angel the whole time we were there and thoroughly enjoyed the experience. I left the room for half an hour or so at a time so he got a chance to know the carers which was great. At morning tea he enjoyed sitting at the table with the other kids, in a special little chair rather than a highchair, and he fed himself chunks of fruit. At lunch he was happy to be fed by one of the carers and ate three helpings of lunch and two of dessert! Then I whisked him home and straight into bed as he usually has a morning sleep. Three hours later and he is still asleep!

I have the day off work to take Angus in for orientation so during this unheard of only-one-child-at-home-having-an-amazing-three-hour-sleep thing that's happening today I made a padded seat cover for our neeeeeeeew bike! The seat part is only half the job, I need to do a backrest as well, so I can't say I've completed my January project yet but I'm half way there. Here's the seat cover. More on the bike later.

Party dress

I made this party dress last night for one of my friend's daughters (please excuse poor photograph). It's been on my to do list since before Christmas. It's a man's shirt turned into a girl's dress from a great tutorial I found online here. It's the third one I've made but unusually the first two were more successful I think in spite (or perhaps because) of my NEW SEWING MACHINE! Sorry, I didn't mean to shout, I'm just so excited to have a brand new sewing machine that sews in straight lines and doesn't continually sew wads of cotton into the underside of the garment.

Don't get me wrong, I adore my old machine which is not actually mine but my Grandmother's 60's Husqvarna 60 20 that I appropriated from my mother (who just bought me the new one). We used to joke that my Grandmother had the first Husqvarna in Bendigo, which was funny because my family raced motorbikes and cars and Husqvarna are probably more well known for motorcycles than sewing machines; and because of the image of my grandma on a motorbike. Anyway, any faults I could attribute to the machine are my own for two reasons: I do not know how to sew; and I can't recall the machine ever having a service. So before returning the Husky to Mum I'm going to have it serviced by a nice man named Barry I googled in Ringwood. I might link him up and say a bit more about him after I've visited him.

So, back to the dress. I found it a bit difficult to find a suitable shirt for the conversion, which is hardly surprising given that patterns for men's shirts and girl's dresses do tend to differ somewhat. I eventually chose plain white with a nice texture (what's that called when the pattern is in the texture of the fabric? Self something?) and after a couple of weeks I cut it up into the shapes I needed to make the dress. Then it sat there like that for weeks, occasionally being moved around because it was in the way. I eventually got to it last night and turned it into something that was not quite a dress or a top and fitted me! Refusing to give up and go to bed as any sensible person would I cut right up the side seams, repinned it, made it a better (smaller) shape and resewed it. I was so over it by the end that I just guessed the shoulder strap length figuring it could be adjusted later and heck the dress might not fit anyway!

Verdict: Sewing machine - fantastic especially since I haven't read the manual. Easy to use straight out of the box even by a non-sewer. Lovely, straight seams and good tension. I even enjoyed trying a few different stitches. Dress - jury's out. We'll have to see if it fits the girl and if she likes it.

Crafter Fail

Oh dear, this is embarrassing. I've seen a few blog posts and tutorials about reclaiming wool from garments and it instantly ignited my thrifty, crafty, op-shopper, good-for-the-planet senses and I was desperate to try it. I finally found a jumper with yarn I liked at a local op shop and it seemed to have the good seams I'd read about.

I spent several evenings unravelling the wool and was finally ready to wash it yesterday. I soaked the yarn in wool wash for a while before throwing in the rest of my wool items that needed washing and ran the machine on its wool cycle. Ba-bowwww fail. What an idiot - of course you're not supposed to run it through the machine, it's in such a vulnerable state! It came out quite matted, not felted, but not easy to roll into a ball.

So devastated was I that I couldn't yet admit defeat and spent the next two and a half hours unmatting one of the skeins and rolling the damp wool into a ball. Yes, it took me two and a half hours to get one ball and I have no idea whether it will knit OK. In fact I'm only just learning to knit so even when I do knit it I still won't know if it's bad or if it's just me.

I have four more skeins of matted wool that is now dry and I don't think I can face trying to get any more balls out of it.

I'm not so smug now about paying $1.50 for a full jumper's worth of wool when I've spent so many hours just to get one ball of questionable yarn.

Snipping...

This is what I've been snipping at lately...



1. Lavender
2. First attempt at sewing from a paper pattern
3. Broad beans

The lavender is absolutely abundant in our garden at the moment and the hum of the bees can be heard whenever we're outside. This is a particularly lovely variety with the wispy petals at the top.

I am not a great sewer and I tend to find it a bit frustrating that when I sew something I spend more time at the ironing board than at the sewing machine, but there's a definite pull to create.

This tunic style dress/top is from a vintage simplicity pattern and was easy because it is reversible. I chickened out with the button holes though (which I've never done before) and fastened with a snap so it's not really reversible.

The broad beans are rampant and I need some new recipes to get creative with using so many of them. I actually enjoy the double podding, it's quite therapeutic.