Another red letter day tote

I made this ages ago, as a gift. I didn't write a post when I took the photos (so as not to spoil the gift), and forgot until now!

I used the same pattern as for this bag, the Left Bank Granny Bag from the book Carry Me, by Yuka Koshizen. This time I left off the pocket - I still use my bag daily, and I never use the pocket. I figured that way it could be reversible, too. I also made a matching lil cutie pouch.

I hope she loves it and uses it lots!

Hello Again

Wow! Has it really been so long? Thanks to everyone that's stuck with me and especially to those who have sent me personal messages to check that everything was OK. Things are fine here. In fact, they're great - I live in a beautiful country with my husband and two beautiful and healthy children. Life's just gotten, well, busy. I think I've pulled out the sewing machine 3 times since February. Why? I went back to work. Again, so lucky that I live somewhere where I could choose to go back part-time, but seven days every two weeks leaves me without much energy to sew or knit. I've also started teaching at a different school, with all the extra work planning new lessons and getting those kids under control!

The good news about working? I've got money to buy fabric - I'll save that for another post, when I've had time to snap some photos of it all!

But I thought I'd show you something completely different...we got a new printer yesterday (love it!). We haven't had a printer at home in years and we quickly printed out all sorts of things for the kids to do. And my husband printed out a page to make this:

Anyone who has seen My Neighbor Totoro will no doubt recognise this creature! Isn't it incredible? Here's the link to the pdf. I have never made something out of paper like this and have certainly learned a lot from this first project.

And for a bit of sewing...I made this ages ago for my girlfriend's one-year-old's birthday. It's the skirt from the Portabellapixie Gracie pattern.

I've cut fabric to make myself a new skirt and a tote bag, both using some Echino fabric. Hopefully I'll be able to get the machine out soon to stitch! And now that things are starting to settle down at my 'new' school, hopefully I'll find more time to craft, and to blog again! I miss it.

castle peeps!

I had so much fun making this crayon roll! And I can’t imagine any young boy or girl that wouldn’t delight in all its castle glory. The only thing I’m worried about is keeping it away from the recipient's mother!

I bought fat quarters of castle peeps in every colourway a while ago, but haven’t had a special enough project for it yet. But I didn’t hesitate to cut it for this – part of a little care package for our friends in Brisbane. While their house was spared the worst, the cleanup of their backyard and garage and neighbours’ houses is unimaginable. Hopefully this, along with some baked goods, will help pick up their spirits.

Pattern: Crayon Roll Tutorial from Skip to my Lou

Fabric: Castle Peeps by Lizzy House

Modifications: Cut the inside and outside fabric pieces 6 inches wide instead of 5 – to accommodate the height of the towers on the outside.

It’s the second time I’ve made a crayon roll using this tutorial. It’s really simple and easy to follow and the measurements work out perfectly. It was fun cutting the strips to take advantage of the fabric design. Don’t you just love how the peeps appear on the inside when it’s unraveled?

By the way, have you checked out the auctions and raffles on make it perfect yet? As of last week they’d already accounted for $45,000 in donations to the Queensland Flood Appeal. Truly outstanding. While the auctions end tonight, most of the raffles continue until Wednesday – a $5 or $10 donation buys you a ticket in the raffle.

Tomorrow morning Toni's posting a Raffles Master List on make it perfect, so have a look! I’ve entered already for a sewing machine from the red thread and an amazing Dr Seuss pillow at a cuppa and a catch up.

jill in wonderland

I never expected to sew clothes for myself. Sewing for kids is, after all, much more forgiving - they still look cute in something obviously handmade, they don't have figures to fit, and elastic waistbands are the norm. But after honing my skills on lots of little projects (and a couple of small quilts), I jumped in the deep end and made this:

Pattern: Souffle Skirt from Make It Perfect by Toni Coward
Size: Medium
Fabric: Wonderland by MoMo (Moda)
Modifications: I didn't add a contrast band at the bottom, as I didn't want to draw away from the main skirt panel. I cut the rectangles for the main skirt a bit longer than the pattern called for to compensate (basically my one yard cut in half, so just under 18"), and simply hemmed the bottom.

It fits perfectly! And my husband gave me the ultimate compliment, saying, "you don't need to buy clothes anymore." Does this justify a fabric shopping spree?

I could wear this everyday and just stare at the beautiful Wonderland fabric. If you don't know about my obsession with Wonderland fabric, then you should read this, this and this.

Of course, I did learn a couple of things to improve on next time:

1. Match the zip to the waistband fabric, not the main skirt fabric - that zipper pull stands out a lot!
2. Place the zipper stops at the top, not the zipper tape! The zip stops about and inch short of the top.

At least I always wear my shirts out, not tucked in, so this gets hidden.

I was so anxious to get this photographed that I had my nearly-four-year-old try to photograph me in it. This is the result:

Not badly composed, but he got the exposure all wrong! Luckily, my husband got home with enough light out to take the second photo above.

Have you sewn any clothes for yourself recently? What did you make?

my sewing space

 This is my kitchen table:

It's also my sewing space. I am envious of the beautiful sewing spaces and rooms I see on Flickr and blogs. But for now, this is all I have. At least it's well lit (this photo was taken in natural light on a gloomy day) and I always start off with a clear and clean space!

This is my machine. It's seriously heavy, but I love it.

I'm not sure I can call it 'mine'. It's my mother-in-law's. But it lives at my house. She tells me I've used it more in a couple of years than she has in decades.

It's a Bernina 830. I think it's from the early '70s. It's fairly basic, but it runs really well. It only has a handful of stitches, a 5-step buttonhole, and is, obviously, 100% mechanical. But it can pretty much do anything, including quilting. I was told it would cost me thousands to buy a modern machine of comparable quality to this one. So this will be with me for many more years!


I love the Bakelite accessories case:

It's filled to the brim with new and old:

I unpacked it all today and turned kitchen table to sewing space to work on this - The Souffle Skirt:

It's from the Make It Perfect book by the wonderful Toni Coward who is organising the Flood Appeal Auctions. If you can't afford the copy she's auctioning, then you can purchase it here.

I've actually finished the skirt - I'm wearing it now, and it fits! But no one else is home to photograph it. I'm in Wonderland heaven! I'll hopefully get some photos soon for my next post.

Happy sewing!

free as a bird gypsy skirt

I've been resisting the urge to purchase some of MoMo's Freebird fabric pretty much since it was released. So I was delighted to have an excuse to buy some - I just didn't have the right fabrics, or the right quantities of the right fabrics, in my stash, to make a cute skirt for a two-year old. So I was off to a new-to-me fabric shop, where I bought a few bits of Freebird, and whipped up this cute skirt in two evenings:

Pattern: Gypsy Skirt, from Making Children's Clothes by Emma Hardy
Size: 2-3 years
Fabric: Freebird by MoMo (Moda)
Modifications: instead of adding ribbon, I topstitched along the bottom edge of each layer.

Yay! I love how the colours work together (something I'm not always good at choosing). The pattern was straight-forward and easy - just lots of patience and time to get the gathers right.
The birthday girl wanted to put it on straight away. Here she is looking beautiful and pensive:

And holding a balloon. What could be better than a balloon and a new twirly skirt?

Happy Birthday Lila!

Cute!

I was introduced to Noodlehead and lil cutie pouches by the comments on my giveaway post. I just had to whip up some myself!

I used Bloom and Grow fabric by Riley Blake for the exteriors - I love these prints, especially those dots. The interior is a lovely turquoise blue kona solid, but I just couldn't photograph it well. The tabs are scraps from Modern Meadow and Red Letter Day. The one with dots is for me and the other is part of a belated Christmas present for a friend.

I do like them, but they are rather small (my phone doesn't fit). I think I'll use mine when I go to the pool for a swim, something I aim to do more often this year!
While I was scouring my stash for cute fabric combos, I stumbled upon this:

It looks even better in person! I foresee a cute little pleated tote - with the dots across the top and for the handles, and the peeps (from Lizzy House's Castle Peeps line) as the main body. The dots coordinate well with the whole colourway from Castle Peeps - wouldn't it make a cute playful twirly skirt for a little girl?