Something for me...

I love my new bag. I don't know what I love the most about it - the Lizzy House Red Letter Day Fabric (ducks in a row), the stripey lining and handles, the internal zippered pocket (first one I've sewn!), or the amazingly endless bottomless pit that will fit everything I need inside.

I needed a bag to throw everything into for the days that I casual teach, and for the outings with the kids that require food, extra nappies, etc. I thought this pattern was perfect. It's the Left Bank Granny Bag from the book Carry Me, by Yuka Koshizen.

The book's a bit intimidating - it's translated from Japanese and most of the instructions are in diagrams, with only minimal words. There were no full-size pattern pieces for this bag, only schematics to measure and cut out each rectangular piece. But having good maths skills I thought I'd give it a try.

I made a few modifications and had to improvise a couple of times where the pattern seemed a bit lost in translation. I'll try to describe them here for anyone planning to use this pattern:

• My bag is an inch or two shorter - this way I could squeeze it out of my one yard of ducks in a row fabric. Basically, I cut the width as per the pattern for the entire length of my piece of fabric and squared it off.
• I cut my outer piece in half and pieced it so the ducks were right-side-up on both sides :)
• The straps were cut from my lining fabric as I wanted to use the stripes. But if you only have 1 yard of each fabric I think you need to use the lining fabric anyway (unless you piece the outer fabric to get the right length).
• The pattern has you cut interfacing out for the pocket, but never tells you where to use it. I fused it to the wrong side of the lining fabric, where the pocket gets sewn on.
• For the gathers and pleats at the top, the pattern instructs you to randomly sew pintucks. I couldn't see any pintucks in the photo, so I'm not sure if that's what she meant. This is what I did: I 'basted' 7 large tucks (about 1 cm wide), evenly spaced across the top, using my maximum stitch length. I finger pressed them toward the outside of the bag. Then I sewed my gathering stitches and gathered to match the top panel width. Once I completed the bag I ripped out the stitches holding the tucks as well as the gathering stitches. If I did this bag again I'd sew some more tucks (about 1 inch apart instead of 2) before gathering.
• After top-stitching the top panel, I slip-stitched the inside seam to add strength and neaten the edge.

 I grin whenever I see this bag and look forward to using it all the time! I would definitely make another one.

Ice Cream Dress #2

I am so happy with this one! And even happier that I even managed to get my model to wear it for a few quick snaps on a cold morning.

Pattern: Ice Cream Dress by Oliver + S, View C
Size: 12 - 18 months; as you can see in the photos, plenty of room to grow!
Modifications: lengthened to size 2 length for my long girl!
Fabric: Calme by Lecien, lightweight

Nearly a year ago I bought a pair of handmade bloomers at a local market, made out of this fabric. I've always loved the fabric, but couldn't really find anything to 'match' the bloomers. So I was delighted to find the fabric, on special, and quickly stitched the blouse to match.

This blouse was so much quicker to make than the dress, for many reasons - no pockets or double hem for View C; I was familiar with the pattern already; I only needed to cut out one extra pattern piece since I'd sewn View A in the same size. On the other hand, the fabric was more challenging to work with as it is so lightweight, but the result was well worth the fiddly-ness.

 I love this pattern - It is simple enough to sew yet looks elegant and better than what you can buy at the shops!

Fabric Finds

Is there anything more exciting than finding an out-of-print fabric that you thought you'd never get a hold of? OK, I'm sure there are plenty (a recent example - my baby girl finally started crawling, well, er, moving forward with great effort); but what great finds!

Those of you who know me know that I am a little bit obsessed with MoMo's Wonderland fabric. My first quilt was made using one and a bit charm packs. And I've previously shared my Wonderland stash with you.

I'll try to make this story short - my girlfriend was in a quilt shop about an hour's drive away and noticed some Wonderland fabrics. She excitedly rang me and brought me back a yard of the pink vine fabric you see below. I couldn't resist and drove down a few days later and acquired the rest.

From left to right: approx 2 yards; 1 metre; 1 metre; 2/3 yard; 1/2 metre; 3 x fat quarters and a 1/4 metre remnant of dots.

I was in heaven! It was a lovely shop and very bright and friendly. Mostly more traditional prints but a good selection of modern fabrics and some Japanese too! So if you're ever travelling in Australia check out Berry Patchwork Shop in Berry, NSW, about 2 hours south of Sydney.

I also picked up some great deals on lecien fabric on special...
For my first garment for me:

For Miriam's second Ice Cream Dress (View C - the blouse):

Next project is the Ice Cream Dress - fabric is washed and ready for cutting.