Bucket Hats and Bridesmaid dresses

Busy, busy, busy...........Not enough time, or peace and quiet..

I am busy sewing 3 dresses for a wedding party. 2 junior bridesmaid dresses and 1 flower girl to match.. I have been eagerly waiting for the fabric to arrive so I can get a head start, but then of course the day it arrived I got a damn head cold. Infact I still haven't shaken it a week later.

There was a mountain of folding and ironing, that kept propping itself up higher and glaring at me.. But I must sew, if for no other reason than to get all that fabric off the bench and onto a hanger. (then I will have the bench back for the folding, makes sense huh!)

I am now pleased that all dresses are cut out and all bodices are put together. I only have 10metres of tulle to cut for the skirt overlays now.. wont that be fun. Cant wait to gather that all up together. I must admit the silk dupion is very nice to sew. Linen is still my number one, it will never be beaten.... Spotlight had a sale on over the weekend and my stash welcomed a few new additions. some nice little prints for hats, and a few nice rolls of you guessed it 'linen'...

SO now that order has been restored to the house after a frantic weekend of bridesmaid dress construction, I needed to satisfy my appetite for a challenge.

I have tried a few different bucket hat patterns but never quite found the right fit. SO I pulled one apart that did fit. I drafted my own pattern. (can I call it my own??)

After all that unpicking I think I can.

The hat needed to be bigger so I increased the pattern by 10%. How you ask, well I did the top of the hat on the photocopier at 110%, I measured the circumference and added the required amount to the length of the band and the brim. The funny thing is, that it is way too big... So I will go and make a 5% bigger one.

Miss4.5 chose her own fabrics.. Oh so bright!!!!Check it out......................

My sewing room has become rampant with little budding sewers, I finally found the patience to sit down and explain the buttons, knobs, and safety issues to the very excited little girls. I'm not sure they were actually listening to all the boring stuff. I could almost hear their little inner voices singing "Just let us go!!" They had great delight in sewing lines of decorative stitching onto fabric and paper. Check out the concentration..Now If only Master2 wouldnt try to 'service' or 'fix' the machines, life would nearly be safe in my little haven.

Heres to a week of sewing, I hope. We might throw a few chocolate cakes in too just for good measure. I am trying to stay close to home whilst the toilet training still continues for Master2. He is going well, but we will just stick to visiting places that have a 'free willy' policy.. it is a drought after all and watering the plants is great, no matter how its done....

I should be sewing.....

I have not posted for over a week, that is not cool.

I have been busy doing Mummy stuff. We are toilet training Mister 2.. Today he has worn his 'jocks' all day. I am also frantically trying to plan my next few weeks so I can squeeze in time to sew, as I have just recieved a delivery of 10 metres of Silk Dupion to make 3 Flower girl dresses... The wedding is in about 5 weeks so I better get my skates on.

Why do I always start with "I have"?

I have been busy chasing around some wholesale fabric suppliers, Oh my God...I am so glad I dont own a fabric shop.. It would be stacked up to the roof..Too many choices.

Whilst surfing the net I stumbled across this little gem..Lecien.. particularly this fabric range..My Folklore. I think I will use this in my childrenswear range.. (If I ever get time out to do so!!!)

More procrastinating is required, about how many items to make, What sizes?? Should I do less not more??

I wish there was some way of having a gaurdian crafting angel...preferably one that has successfully sewn and marketed her own childrens clothing. Any takers?

A favourite little dress I made for Georgia some time ago.

More making

I have completed the second apron dress.
I drafted the pattern off , cut out the fabric, made tea, then sewed it all up after the kids had gone to bed... I was finished by 10.45pm. Not a bad job

This time for Miss6, and because she is so tall, I had to draft the pattern up a size from the largest in the book.

Very serious, we had to hurry so she could go motorbike riding....


And a hug for little sister....

I think the length is better than the first one, I will add a good bit extra on from now on, I just need to find a few nice fabric prints and keep sewing..... One thing that has me a little baffled, is that the pattern instructions don't show a length for the shoulder straps? Or I just can't find it... Any clues?

Having not much fun with Miss6 starting Grade 1, not settling in at all. Hope this improves. I am not finding it pleasant to cope with, watching her crying and screaming for her mummy when I leave her schoolroom. Hopefully this will settle down soon. fingers crossed....

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Next project... this dress, I just have to find that fabric I have in mind,,

Happy sewing and let hope the week is a good one. It is supposed to rain, so bring it on...

Humour is a good way to start the day

I sat down to do some business bookwork (boring!) and I thought I'll just see if any of my fav blogs have posted anything new... So browsing through I thought, lets have a look at some of the blogs they like to read too.
I came across this pearler... I nearly fell off my chair laughing..and yes I hear you Molly Chicken I love it....

I have overnight been to my sewing group and actually did some sewing instead of just yacking and drinking coffee....

So here is my first attempt at The Apron dress from the front of my first Japanese Craft book.....Onnanoko no Oyoufuku Camisole Kara Kichinto Fuku Made .

I was inspired 'at long last' to use my Heather Bailey "mums"... I hope the fabric loses stiffness once washed, so that it will drape a little better.

Miss4.5 is very pleased once again, and Miss6 has made her fabric selection from the cupboard, so I will start one for her this afternoon (after the vacuuming and mopping of course..) :<

Happy sewing...

Yo-Yo's and Gourmet Pies

I have made my first yo-yo. I decided to make a home for my sewing scissors. So after finding and preparing the tin, I got out the felt, lined the base, then cut, glued and the rest is history....Although after doing this I decided I should start a little collection of vintage flower buttons.. I have a few, but not quite enough...what an excuse.

My absolute favourite buttons are Mother of Pearl which I try to use on everything!!!!. and maybe I need some more?

So now I have a SCISSOR POT.

I saw this little rosette on a website and I presume it is a set of yo-yo's so I might give it a go one day soon.....

After indulging in so much time wasting for myself, I thought I should treat my dear husband to one of his all time favourite foods. Home made Gourmet meat-pies...

I never follow a recipe, unless it is cakes and biscuits. So I just browsed through the spice drawer and popped a bit of this and that into the mix, lots of Gravy mix and home-made Tomato sauce.
The kids love watching the pastry get cut out, I think that is why I find them asking for round sandwiches. They have such creative thinking and when I say " I cannot cut a round sandwich!". They get the pie making cutter and shake it at me like I am utterly daft."Yeah, with this!"

So here are my yummy pies.

A few months ago, whilst tossing around ideas of selling my childrenswear, I bought a new pattern drafting book, just for children. It is absolutely loaded with valuable information and will be very useful when I alter or design patterns. I am keen to design and make all my own things.

I have long admired things that friends have bought from City markets only to discover that some of these dresses and tops are actually made in China. How do you know what is really custom or handmade anymore???

Does everyone have one of these bobbin holders? They are worth their weight in gold, especially when little people are about....

As for the Heather Bailey, I still cant decide what to do. Not the standard shift dress that is about, something a bit more funky... More homework is needed before I cut into this one..

More Pattern Books & more sewing

I got 2 new Japanese sewing books today.

Koharu no fuku and Girly Style Wardrobe.
Girly Style Wardrobe appears to be every bit as good as I had expected and I am eagerly trying to decide which one to sew first...... I won't pass judgement on the other one yet, but so far I only have the urge to make 1 particular item in it..

* But today I finished the skirt out of this book.

I used a quilting fabric, that had a herringbone texture to it, it was like brushed cotton. really nice, will be very transeasonal.

The skirt took no time to whip up, Miss4.5 was very excited and quickly popped it on and asked if she could pose for another photo... How could I refuse. Here is the finished outfit.

The fabric was just beautiful to sew and I am sure once I steal it and wash it in the cover of darkness it will come up beautifully.

I am really happy with all the sewing from my Japanese pattern books so far. I now have 4 books in total.

I have to cut out a 2 dresses yet and Miss6 is starting to complain about the lack of modelling opportunities. It is funny how I find it hard to get the required inspiration for mundane domestic duties, but just a few quick glamour shots are no problem. It must paint a very weird picture of me cruising around the house like some famous freelance photographer.. Whatever gets you motivated

Rousabout

What is rousabout?

As an australian, a rousabout is the person who works in the woolshed at shearing time. They pick up and clean up after the shearers ( in basic terms).

They go flat out, sorting, cleaning, picking up, tossing fleeces, getting in more sheep etc.

I think that mothers are just a domestic rousabout. They go like crazy all day, cleaning and picking up just so the place can look the same as it did that morning.


So when I decided to give my sewn items a label, I thought long and hard of a name that was undoubtedly australian yet related to my bustling lifestyle as a mother.
When I first began sewing labelled garments, I made very traditional things, like Rugby tops, collared shirts, peasant tops and tiered skirts. While I still like the appeal of those Aussie Classic styles, I have an addiction for Euro childrens fashion. Namely the french labels Jean Bourget and Cakewalk from the Netherlands. I love simplicity and have now moved towards the Japanese sewing books, and I am currently going crazy collecting them. Move over Ottobre there are some new books on the shelf..


Sometimes I browse through etsy and see some gorgeous cutesy names,(fruit+colour+animal etc.) but I have a squillion little woven labels and couldn't waste them just on a whim for a more contemporary name. So ROUSABOUT it is.

I will let my product do the talking. ( Once I figure out just how to market it and where?)

These are some shots of my new sewing room. We just built a new house and I have my very own dedicated sewing room, with benches all way round and a built-in robe for all my fabric and mags etc. I still need more shelving so that inspiration is only at a glance, but I am getting there. I have a Memorycraft 10000, which I should sew with more often, But my trusty 4000 never lets me down...
I have a flip out ironing board and a big window for plenty of sky views. What more could a woman want??I know, more time to sew.....YES