Wish upon a star

I had this gorgeous fabric in my stash for a while and have been contemplating what to do with it....
The star pattern on the fabric inspired me to make a Farbenmix Anna dress.

The front of the dress is fully lined with the batik. I then sewed stars onto the fabric and cut the denim layer off, essentially doing reverse appliques.

I then dug into my ric rac to select some colours for the back of the dress. At this point I'd like to share a tip with you. Don't just shove 75 metres of ric rac into a drawer along with your other bits of trim. It makes a horrid mess which took me over 2 hours to sort out! OUCH! Hmmmm, maybe that is what made my shoulder sore, not the cutting out of 3 Quiara shirts.


Speaking of the Quiara shirts they are part of my next dyeing adventure. I have some ideas in my head that I hope I am going to be able to execute. Stay tuned for those.

I've been on a sewing roll...I made Moo a pair of pants from Ottobre 01/08, the "Jump" sweatpants. I made them from this super soft pink velour. The only problem was that I didn't take into account the fact that the pattern calls for ribbing for the waistband. I tried using the velour for the waistband forgetting that it has nowhere near the stretch as ribbing. In the end I just cut the waistband larger. I love the look of these pants.

I ended up making these pants again in white velour with a ribbing waistband. I am going to dye them and a velour Quiara to go together.

All about moi!

My darling husband always tells me that it's not about me. Well, this time it is. I made a couple of things for myself. I made myself a top, Simplicity 3768. It went together ok, but I've decided I just don't like the directions. I prefer Ottobre's instructions. I prefer the way Ottobre fits. I did add a bit in length because I hate it when my shirts are too short. I also used the 3/4 length sleeves from another shirt in the pattern. I do like trumpet sleeves, but they bother me when I am trying to cook. Enough waffle, here it is...
Then I made myself the Amy Butler Chelsea Tote. I made it from Amy Butler Pink Henna Paisley on the outside and pink corriander on the inside. I made it to carry around books or different crafty bits. I thought it would be more stylish than a green bag. I had my local model demo it for me.
Here's the inside fabric. Please ignore the dodgy handle. I used a relatively thick interfacing and didn't compensate for it. when cutting the handles.
And it can also be used as a hat

Sweet as Cherry Pie!

Crafty Mamas is having a competition for best Euro inspired project. I just couldn't resist coming up with something for the comp. I usually don't have the time, but I am done with orders and don't have a market until next month. And the prize is a good motivator!

I really should have taken a photo of when I pulled out the stash looking for just the right thing to use. My bed looked like a fabric shop! I don't think DH was impressed, nor should I be reminding him how much fabric I do have!

For the outfit I used Ottobre's Creative workshop 301 t-shirt pattern. It's just a great basic shirt. I used a cotton spandex rib knit that I had around and appliqued cherries to the front of the shirt. The sleeves and hem have been finished with a lettuce edge.

For the skirt I used Farbenmix's Insa skirt. I've had this skirt pattern for a few months, but hadn't had a chance to try it out. The cherry fabric is a super soft and lovely corduroy from Robert Kaufman. I bought this fabric from a co-op in the US not knowing what i would do with it.

The under skirt is a red corduroy that I bought from Spotlight on the clearance table last year. I bought it with the intention of making Will some pants, but now that won't happen as I only bought 1 metre of that fabric and most of it is gone now.

Here's a close up photo of the skirt. The bottom of the under-skirt is trimmed with pink ric rac and green ribbon with white dots. Where the yoke joins the skirt a red grosgrain ribbon is sewn on. The red ribbon has a white running stitch along each edge.

After I made the skirt and Mollie tried it on. I thought it would look good ruched along the seams of the overskirt. This is actually something that is done with this pattern and is in the instructions. I took the skirt from Mollie and put the ruches in. Well, Mollie declared she didn't like it at all as it made the skirt poofy. So I ripped them out. The customer is always right. Right?!?!?!!?!

Love Olivia

I just love the Olivia pattern by Farbenmix. I have made the underdress a dozen times. Mollie just loves the Olivia. It's girly, has a great hood and makes a perfect playdress. This one was made with from a gorgeous floral frottee fabric that I bought from Banberry Place. The long sleeves and hood are a lime colored cotton/spandex. I put patches of the frottee on the sleeve and hood. The sleeves are a faux layered look which almost didn't happen since I lost one of the short sleeves which I cut out and I had so little fabric left. My sewing angel must have been looking over me as I was able to find just enough to get another sleeve cut.

I also decided that I would try to make friends with my cover stitch machine. I was able to get it to work to hem both sleeves, but couldn't get it to work again to do the hem on the dress. I have looked at some of the things I did when I first got the cover stitch, and I think Will did something to the machine when it was in the cupboard as i can't get the stitching that nice again.

Mollie insisted on wearing this dress to school two days in a row because she likes it so much. I'm a pleased mama.

Another year older!

On Sunday I celebrated my birthday with some of my friends.It was an adventure getting there. Friends running late, friends' car overheating. Quick dash to collect all friends, bar one, fixed the problem. Arrive at favourite restaurant 1 hour later than original booking! The meal was fantastic, the company was excellent and the kids were mostly well behaved.
The restaurant has a lovely garden out back which the kids enjoyed running around in. The consensus was that Will looked like a Pommy raver with his clothes, sunnies, hat and dummy. It's definitely a look!

Here's a picture of Ed helping Will walk through the garden. So cute!!!!
I barely had the camera out as I was enjoying the day. I should have taken photos of all the beautiful food that I ate. I had delicious TIbetean momos. They were so perfectly crisp on the bottom and were served with a very yummy eggplant salad. I loved the contrast of texture between the crispy momo and the soft eggplant. I had Red Braised Mt Tomah Chicken with Soy Beans, Deep Fried Salt & Pepper Tofu for my main. Lovely balance of flavours. Mollie loved the the salt and pepper tofu!
And for dessert I had a divine chocolate dessert of chocolate gel, chocolate pate' and chocolate crumbs. Yet again it was an enjoyable mix of textures. The gel was fantastic, not at all rubbery or slimy. In the centre of the gel was a syrup. It was amazingly citrusy. My friend Pam asked the chef about it and found out it was lemon verbena syrup. Then Pam was given two jars of the syrup from the chef and some lemon verbena leaves, so she could make her own! On the way home, Pam said to me I get why you dragged us all the way up here for lunch!

Ok, for a bit of craftiness for this entry. Today I bought a sewing cabinet! I am glad I'd been dithering about it. It was on sale for Mothers Day. Now I have to wait a couple of weeks to get it.

Is there a chill in the air?

Oh I am in love....

A friend commissioned me to make a few tops forher daughter and also to make a Laguna skirt. I gave her the choice of corduroy that I had on hand. The rest was left up to me.

So I made the skirt and had it sitting around for a few days as I was trying to decide how to hem it. Sometimes I like to look at things for a while because the right way just makes itself apparent. So in the end I chose to use purple ric rac to hem the orange floral cord and orange ric rac to hem the green corduroy.

My friend asked me for some pieces of the cord to do a matching applique onto a shirt. I said of course!!! But then I was inspired by the skirt. It just screamed Autumn with the olive colour and deep orange. Initially I was going to buy a t-shirt, but just didn't have time so decided to make one. It's handy having a stash of patterns, and I have to highly recommend Ottobre's Creative Workshop 301! The pattern goes together like a dream. The best part about making the shirt was that I could do the applique onto the front of the shirt before i put it together. So much easier than using a ready made shirt!

Here's a close up of the tree applique. I used some purple cord for the tree and the cords from the skirt for the leaves. I used a straight stitch to stitch on the trunk and leaves, so the edges are frayed. When I did the leaves, I played around with using the BSR on my Aurora. I've had my machine for almost a year and have finally used the BSR (Bernina stitch regulator)!!! It was a lot of fun to use a new gadget.

I just love this tree!!!


I've also been an Antonia making fool!

My sewing machine has been put away for a few days. I have a horrible head cold (thank you caring, sharing children!!!) and must prepare for the onslaught of 5 year olds on Saturday. Fingers crossed Will's nose is acceptable for daycare tomorrow!

Party prep

My not so baby girl turned 5 on Saturday. We are having a party for her this coming Saturday, and as a craft the girls are going to make no-sew tutus. Mollie and I made one to see how long it took and for me to feel confident that six 5 year olds could manage it.Mollie has declared the tutu fantastic, and said she can help all her friends at her party.
Thanks Kylie for your help!