Dress and tee

Last night I ran out of time to post an entry here, so this is a catch up bit. I made a t-shirt for my boy. He loves camo pants and shorts, and loves his tops to all match specific bottoms. If I made him a camo t-shirt I think he'd love it and would always wear it with his camo shorts ... but I wouldn't like that at all. So I've made him a green and black t-shirt. I really like how it turned out. Its been a long time since I've made a raglan tee at all, and this one has a really nice shape. Its from Ottobre, 3/2006, number 30.



Tonight I made a dress for my toddler. I just made it up so I hope it fits. It's based on a "traditional pillowcase dress". She's been asleep the whole time, so I couldn't take any measurements or hold it up to her to see how it's going. I think the neck elastic might be too long - ie the top of the dress might be too wide. We'll see tomorrow. I love the fabric though, and I love how the pockets came out. You can't see it well from these photos, but it also has orange rick rack peeking out from under the hem.

While the black thread is in the machines ...

While the black thread was in the machines, I decided to sew a couple of pairs of black undies for my daughter.





Pattern is Ottobre 4/04, number 38. It's super quick and easy.

I put a tag in the back of the second pair, but only thought of it after finishing the first pair, so I'll see if she needs me to add tags to the others. The tag is just a little piece of really cute braid. I like adding tags to help kids find the backs of their clothes easily, but don't normally do it in t-shirts or in things like undies, incase the tag is scratchy. This little bit of braid will hopefully be soft enough to not be scratchy. And as a bonus, I can write the size on the back.

Quick sewing, quick post

Wanted an earlier night then usual tonight to catch up on some sleep, so just made a quick plain black singlet for myself. I used fold over elastic for the neckline and sleeves which seems to reflect differently in the photo - I don't think it stands out as much in real life. At least, I hope not, otherwise this singlet might be destined for pajama-wear.

I may not have written, but I've been sewing

After getting into a good habit of regular posting, I've taken a few days' off. School holidays and people coming and going here has meant I just haven't had much time. I have still been trying to get stuff done. It's just been a little slower then I would have liked.

I've been working on nappies. My toddler needs a new set (she has fitteds with woolen covers for night time, and they still fit fine, but when we go out I like all-in-ones or similar, and this is what she needed). In the last post I had made one nappy to try out and it was great, so I had to make a lot more.

So ... I took a day or two cutting them all out. That was probably around the 16th and 17th. (I had a day of housework before that too.) Then there were lots of snaps to apply before sewing could begin. That was on the 18th.

On the 19th I finished 4 nappies - 2 purple ones that have beautiful soft minky PUL for the outer, and 2 pink ones that are a crushed velvet PUL.

On the 20th I finished sewing the rest of them, but then had lots and lots of snaps to apply. I did some of them yesterday (the 20th), and today I finished the rest of them - seven nappies completed. All of them are minky outer with a hidden layer of PUL.

Here's a close-up of just one of the nappies.

I know that nappies are a fairly quick thing to make, but things have been so busy here that I haven't had big periods of time to sit down and just sew. I've had to snatch moments of time here and there. The result is that it has taken days just to get these done.

Combined with the one trial nappy that I made earlier, and two that I've bought, that gives 14 nappies. Fourteen nappies should be plenty.

My arms are aching from all of those snaps.

In the past week I've applied 308 snaps, or if I count the trial nappy also (on the 14th) that's 336 snaps.

Tonight I also made a singlet top for myself - another quick project.

Before Christmas I made myself an A-line skirt, which I love, and a t-shirt to match. The t-shirt is quite nice - little cap sleeves and a gather-y bit at the bust (like the singlet), but the fabric has already started to look a bit scruffy, after less then a month of wearing it. It was also a little loose to start with, so now its looking a bit daggy all round. I also prefer singlet tops on these hot days. Finally I got around to making myself one.

I'll wear it once or twice, and if I like it I can make myself a few more in similar styles.

Here is a pic of the skirt that it is to match. I made this before Christmas. I didn't take a pic then and just took this one now, without ironing the skirt. When I get around to it, I'll replace the picture below with a better one.

Next on my list - another pair of undies for my son and one for my oldest daughter, t-shirts for the kids, and most urgent, I have to think of a present for a nephew for this weekend. We already gave him a pencil roll for Christmas, so it can't be that. Most birthdays I make him some shorts. Hmmm ... will have to think about it.

No sewing tonight

Last night we went out and it was a little late when we got home (late for kids, that is). I had to get the babies in bed before the big kids, so in the end, the kids weren't all asleep until about 11pm. Then I had a few quick things to do (like clothes washing) and just as I was heading to bed my toddler started waking and crying loudly; it was as though she was trying to wake the others, although I know that she wasn't. Anyway, in the end I didn't get to sleep until about 4am, and strangely, the kids all still woke before 7am. Needless to say, I'm too tired to even cut out my next sewing task tonight. I'm just going to post a couple of pics, sort some washing and get to bed.


Yesterday I made some bookplates. I'm guessing most people know what these are, but just incase ... they are little bits of paper, usually with some sort of decoration (picture, swirls or whatever) and a place to write your name. You stick them into the front of your books.




The blue one in the second picture is the envelope that they went in. It was printed with Print Gocco. On the back of each little piece of paper I've put a strip of double sided tape, so it can just be peeled and stuck into books.

I also made a beaded dragonfly bobby pin.

For my niece's birthday (which was one of the birthday's we were celebrating last night) we gave her a little parcel of a few things, including bookplates and a dragonfly bobby pin. There was also some writing paper, a book mark, and other things that I can't remember now in my current weary state! They were sort of trendy stationery things from the shop Kikki.K. Actually, the bobby pin that we gave her wasn't the one pictured here, but one I made earlier and forgot to photograph. It was basically the same though.

A nappy to test

Once again, I haven't been able to get a huge amount of sewing done today - only one nappy. I had hoped to get the nappy done during my babies' morning sleeps, but I only got it cut out and worked out and ended up sewing it up and snapping it tonight. And I had a little less sewing time tonight then I planned because I got talking with my neighbour (who will probably read this, so perhaps I should say that I got talking with my lovely neighbour!).



The sewing is very crooked around the wings, but it will work as a tester to see if its the right size for my toddler. If it is, then I can line up a heap of them to make all at the same time.

Quick one

Undies for my boy (Ottobre pattern, 4/04) and the flower yo yos - the red one from a couple of nights' ago, and the pink one from tonight.