Comfy Tee

I really wanted to call this post "how now brown cow", but then I thought it sounded sort of degrading. I will openly admit I have a poor body image, so I'll leave it at that.

I've made this shirt once before. It's from Ottobre Woman 02/07, pattern #4. The pattern has puffed sleeves, but I just used a regular short sleeve from that same magazine. Lisa over at Crafty Mamas was having a competition to create something made from items purchased through her shop. Since I subscribe to Ottobre through her and I bought this luscious chocolate brown cotton/spandex knit from her, I decided to make myself a shirt! A girl can always use another shirt. And another shirt that fits....not that sags off of her. Plus this fabrics is so nice and soft. It's a pleasure to wear!

New toy!

Janome in Australia is running a special on their CoverPro 1000CP (AU$499), and well, I just had to have one! I also bought the centre guide foot and a binder.

Here's the triple cover stitch straight out of the box. The machine had four spools of thread which I've just left on for testing.

Here's the binder attached to the machine
Here's what the binding looks like. The stitching isn't aligned as I'd like, but hey it was my first go! I was just checking if I could get it to work.

I love new toy. I wonder if I can convince my other half that I need the embroidery module for my sewing machine?

Oh, we finally picked up my cutting table last weekend!
The table is only open on one side. When I open it all up, there is lots of room. But I can also only use one side which is very handy when I am working on small projects. The table has also given me a bit of extra storage, so I've filled that space up with fabric, of course!

Yes, that is the Farmers Market Feliz in the background. It's waiting to go to its new home. Once it's on its way, I will post proper pictures of it. I'm having a hard time parting with this dress.

Farbenwiki

The lovely Sarah has created a wiki for Farbenmix and StudioTantrum/fledge patterns. It will be a fantastic resource for us Farbenmix addicts. Check it out!

Market Produce

I cut into my stash of Farmers Market. I'm pleased I didn't uhm and ahh over it as long as I thought I might. I made this dress and another dress for a friend's daughter. My friend moved up to Queensland over a year ago and for ages I've been meaning to make her daughter a dress. I thought this type of sundress was perfect for those hot days up north!

The dress is from Ottobre's super spring issue, 01/08. It's the "jigsaw dress", pattern #18. I loved sewing this dress as it gave me an opportunity to mix up some fabrics and make something super cute in very little time.

Now to start my next Farmers Market project, a Feliz dress...you'll just have to wait and see.

New books!

Last month I ordered some books from Amazon. As usual I bought some for me and one for each child. The books for Will and Moo are for later though, so will be put away until they are ready for them.
So for me...
Colour on Cloth by Ruth Issett - I've only had a glance through this book, but it's a great book for someone starting out with dyeing. There is a chapter on resists which I think I will find useful as I haven't really worked with any resists (besides tying, of course!). The author also seems to like to use thickened dyes which is right up my alley and I love tinkering with dye viscosity. But if you wanted to do way cool tie dyeing, I still think the True Tie Dye DVD's are awesome, Tie Dye 101, 202 and 303.

The Children's Year - one of those quintessential Steiner/Waldorf craft books. I didn't own it and thought I would add it to my collection.

Printing by Hand by Lena Corwin - If you are interested in printing, this book looks fab. Yet again I've only had a flick through. The instructions seem easy to follow and the projects are beautiful. I bought this book as I am interested in printing on fabric. Even though I did that screen printing workshop, I thought it would be nice to have a book on the subject.

Metric Pattern Cutting for Children's Wear and Babywear: From Birth to 14 Years by Winifred Aldrich - I bought this book after reading about it on another blog (Karen's work is just exquisite!). It is a really in depth book, and I haven't had a chance to read through it. I really wanted a reference book to assist me with drafting my own patterns. I thought it would be a fun extension to what I am already doing.

Brown Thread

I had to buy it, brown thread. I didn't have any which might not be surprising if you read my blog. Most things I make are rainbow-coloured. So now I own some brown thread which I used to make myself a shirt. It's from the Antonella pattern by Farbenmix. I don't know how I feel about the fit of the shirt on me. I almost think that no matter what I make myself, I will dislike it. I had to add a bit to the width. and I always add to the length.

The crazy paisley fabric was from Spotlight. I think I paid $3/m. I still have a bit of this fabric left. It's like my knit muslin fabric, so you might see something else out of it. Mollie keeps asking for something out of it as I had previously made myself a t-shirt from Ottobre Deisgn and I think she wants a shirt like mum's.

I enjoyed making the shirt, so I will probably make Moo a couple for summer. Obviously in more girlish fabric.

Zoooooom!

I think Will is pleased with his new outfit. The pants are from Prints Charming's fabulous Stars on Mars rocket print fabric. The pockets are the coordinating stripe.

The top is light blue and red cotton spandex knits. I did a reverse applique of a shooting star on the front of the shirt. I was really pleased with how the reverse applique turned out. I hadn't done this before on a knit.

Both the shirt and long shorts (on Will more like pants!) are from Ottobre design. The shorts are from 02/03, #30 and the t-shirt is from 02/05, #5.

Excuse the wrinkles. I had him model quickly before bed and the outfit had just come out of the dryer. I had to wash my markings out. The orange texta wasn't very becoming!

I printed this!

Here's the fabric that I screen printed on Sunday. Not sure what I am going to make with it. I definitely learned some things about scale as the stars are quite large, so it's not really suitable for clothing for Will at his size.
Here's a close up...

Any suggestions about what I should make with my fab fabric???