Something different

I decided to take a break from kids clothes and do something different today.

I'd bought some cupcake print fabric a while back and had planned to make an apron out of it, but that was before I got caught up making clothes for Katherine. But as I said, I felt like doing something different today.

I didn't have a pattern, but I had a basic idea in my head of how I wanted it to look.  The finished product was definitely more kitschy looking than I had envisioned, but I think that's part of it's charm.

Now, just point me towards the kitchen!  I feel a baking frenzy coming on...

A frilling afternoon...

I'm really happy with the way Katherine's winter wardrobe is coming together, but I am a little concerned that some of the colours might be a little bit boring for a 3-year-old who adores everything pink. Last week I tried to inject some colour into the mix with the watermelon cardi and stripe-sleeve tops. But I had a niggling feeling that there was something else missing... of course, skirts!

I really only had the Oliver + S hopscotch skirt on my 'to do' list. I decided to put together a couple of ruffle skirts - I thought these would be good as the ruffles would add bulk and help keep those little legs warm. Add tights and boots, I thought, and she will be cozy all Winter. They are also so easy to make! I knew that I wouldn't even need a pattern.

I followed this fantastic tutorial for the bottom half of the skirt. It's for a size 5-6 but I knew from experience - I've made two or three of these in the past - how to scale down the measurements to suit Katherine. I decided to do something different for the top half of the skirt though, so I cut into my never-ending (it would seem) piece of chocolate corduroy.  I decided to put some cute little pockets on the front, and a mock fly.  I added elastic at the back only.

This was the finished product:

Until I decided that my finished product was a little 'unfinished'.  I really felt like it needed another ruffle underneath there somewhere.  So this morning I fetched it out of the laundry basket and got back to work.  Two ruffles are much better, see?

And then of course it needed a belt.  Now it is complete (and very cute, if I do say so myself)!

Please excuse the state of my floors - I was sewing today 
when I should have been doing the vacuuming! 

Hop to it

I've been busy this week, sewing up some more of my SWAP items.  After a day or so of indecision about whether to stick with my original plan, I attacked it with renewed vigor.  This week I've made two cardigans and three more tops.  

I thought it was time to inject a bit of colour into Katherine's wardrobe as I felt I'd been over-doing it with all the brown. Today we ventured out into the backyard for a bit of a photo shoot to kind of 'take stock' of what we had come up with so far.  I am really happy with the way some of the outfits are coming together and I can't wait until I've got everything finished now!

This is the 'Watermelon' jacket from Ottobre 01/2011.  I originally made it in the brown and didn't love it, so I made a watermelon one (funnily enough) only this time I got rid of the awful trim - I just couldn't get it to look nice - and replaced it with a ruffle trim and a little rosette on the neckline.  I think it looks really sweet like this!  Katherine liked it too.  When she saw the finished product she exclaimed "Mummy, I want to wear this all day long!"  

I also had to scale the original pattern down as best I could, as it was 2 sizes too big.  I think this is such a cute and easy, basic cardigan though and it's good to know I can make it in all the bigger sizes as the girls grow.

The tops I made this week were all Oliver + S Hopscotch tops.  I re-made the original cream coloured one in a bigger size, and two more with striped sleeves.  I am addicted to these tops!  Seriously.  I can put one together in less than an hour.  

I like the way this one matches the cargos.

This one looks great with the red/pink hopscotch skirt...

...and the brown cardi.

I wish I could take credit for Ellie's sweet little dress, but it's Pumpkin Patch (and a hand-me-down from her big sis!)

See my vest, see my vest...

(Sorry, I couldn't resist!)

I've managed to finish off a couple of projects this week.  The first was this dress that I've had cut out for a while.  It looked like it was going to be pretty easy - and I guess it would have been if I hadn't have kept making silly little mistakes.  This was Simplicity pattern ("easy to sew" they boast on the front!) 2270.  I don't know what was going on the day I sewed this - I started with sewing the pockets on upside down and it all went downhill from there really.

The finished product is nice but I think it looked better in my head.

I changed the front from a gathered neckline and put a box pleat in instead as I wanted it to have a bit more of a retro look.  The armholes are finished with bias binding but I think if I was to make this again I would line the whole dress instead, especially for cool weather.  But this will be ok I think - it looks good on its own or with a skivvy under it so it'll do.  Plus I also have a cardigan and a coat to make yet, both which are going to match with this dress.

I really wanted the dress to have a flower on it but wanted to do something other than the usual yo-yos I put on everything.  I found this tutorial for tea cup flowers and thought one of these would be perfect!  I made mine with 5 petals though, and added a self covered button for the centre.

The fabric was Riley Blake Pink Cowboy Plaid from their "Wanna Be A Cowboy 2" range.  The brown is Brown Cowboy Dots from the same range.  I bought a few fabrics from this range actually - I love them!

The second project this week was the Peikko Vest from Ottobre Design 06/2009.  I think this vest is the cutest!  I want to make one for myself.

This was made with some faux fur from Spotlight, and lined with some stretch suede fabric.  Have I mentioned how cute it is?

I'd never sewn with fur before and was a bit worried that I (or my machine) might not be up to it.  But it was really easy to put together.  One thing I found really useful was making sure I had a comb on stand-by and combing all my seams as I sewed them.  I didn't have a walking foot but I used lots of pins and just took it slowly.

One other, very important piece of advice - don't wear black if you're sewing with white fur!

I just had to share this cute pic of Ellie.  She is growing so big now!

Is it Autumn yet?

I've been busy, but haven't been blogging.  Shame on me.

I've been getting a fair amount of sewing done in preparation for the cooler weather, and it seems like it's finally paid off.  The last couple of days have been pleasantly cooler, and I'm hoping it's going to stay that way for a while at least.

Anyway, I've got a fair bit to put up today, on account of my blogging slackness and all...

These are two Raspberry Stripe Tunics from Ottobre Design 1/2011.  I was only going to make one of these but after I made the first one I thought it was so cute (and easy!) that I had to do another!  I made them both in one morning.

This one is Riley Blake fabric - Brown Cowboy Dots, with some gorgeous floral interlock that I picked up from Spotlight on the clearance shelf for less than half price!

I'm calling this one "Strawberry Stripes."  The fabric is Riley Blake again - Pink Quite Contrary Berries, and once again the bottom half is some jersey I picked up from Spotlight at a recent sale. 

Just for something different I decided to try my hand at crocheting.  It's been a while since I've done any, and I wasn't sure how I'd go, but I think I did a reasonable job of whipping up this beanie for Katherine, and she loves it.  

I think it's the only item of clothing I have made for her so far that she didn't argue about having to try on.  Her usual reaction is something more like this:

I think it goes perfectly with the latest outfit that I've made her - the Oliver + S Hopscotch top and skirt.  I love this outfit, and I think she'll be getting a lot of wear out of this over the coming months.

The top is a size 2T and I've decided I'm re-making it in the 3T as it's just that teeny bit too short.  The fabric was some cheap cotton interlock I purchased on eBay.  The skirt is some red and pink spotted corduroy from Spotlight.

I think this is going to look so cute with the brown winter coat I've got planned....

All things chocolate

It's certainly the flavour of the month in our household, anyway.

Today I finished a pair of chocolate corduroy pants for Katherine's winter wardrobe.  She's wearing them now, and refusing to take them off, despite the fact that it's pushing 30 degrees here today.

I purchased this fabric online a while ago at a ridiculously cheap price (I think it was something like $2.99 a metre).  It's not the finest fabric around, and at first I was worried it was a little too 'chunky' for little girl's clothing but I actually don't mind how these have turned out at all.

Sorry, could not for the life of me get this picture to format the right way up!

I girlied them up a bit with a cute floral fabric trim, and pocket inserts.  I also made a fabric belt to match.  Katherine chose some buttons for me to decorate the front pocket with as well.

I actually didn't have a pattern for these, although I used the cargo pants pattern for a rough guide (particularly on the front pockets) and just tried to trim the legs down a bit so they were more like a straight-leg instead of a wide-leg.  I put patch pockets on the back.

The waistband (don't get me started on the waistband!) was a pain in the proverbial as I'd decided on doing a mock-fly front instead of using the zip, but then couldn't figure out which part to sew first.  I think I got there in the end.

We also made some chocolate fudge brownies today.  They were so gooey and fudgey... yum!

I love chocolate.

Jump Rope Dress

I decided yesterday that I was finally going to start my Jump Rope Dress.  I've had this pattern for a while and have heard so many great things about Oliver + S patterns so I was really excited about starting it BUT I was also worried that it looked a bit involved!  Well after some issues with my machine yesterday - which are all sorted now thankfully - I finally got it finished this afternoon!  

I say 'finally' although in reality it wasn't as involved as I thought it would be.  I was expecting it to be one of those projects that I just never get the time to finish, but it really didn't take that long at all to put together.  I will definitely make another one of these dresses, probably in the next size up next time though, as there isn't much room for her to grow in this one.  This was a size 2T. The fabric was something ridiculous like $3 a metre off ebay.

I just love the little details in this pattern.  The sleeves are the sweetest, I think.  The pockets are pretty cute too.

I didn't get many good shots of the dress as Katherine was more interested in harassing the cat...

...and rolling around on the ground.

She thought she was being clever here, evading photos... but I decided that just to spite her, I'd play around with my photo editing software and make a nice shot out of it anyway.

In other news, we also baked muffins, but I think that they'll all be gone by the time I get around to taking any photos of them... and you've all seen muffins anyway.