Star Wars and freezer paper

Not two things you would normally think of at the same time but if you add in fabric paint well, it all makes sense. I have wanted to have a go at freezer paper stencilling for a very long time and this week I did it! I had my go, I had a lot of fun and Hubby and Boy both have a new T-shirt as a result. A fanfare if you please...............



How cool are they?? I am so incredibly pleased with how they came out, the stencils are done with Dylon silver fabric paint and took three coats each to get a good even coverage over the black cotton lycra. They're very shiny :D





You can also see in those photos the glint of the metallic silver thread I used for topstitching and hemming. The hems are all sewn with a closed overlock stitch which took f...o...r...e...v...e...r to sew but looks really good when finished.



I haven't used metallic thread before and it was horrible at first, it kept shredding and breaking every few inches but after changing the needle from a stretch 11 to a topstitch 14 that all stopped and it behaved beautifully. I really, really like these T-shirts. Oh, pattern details! Hubby has Jalie 2918 again and Boy has Ottobre 03/10 #25 with an extra 2" added to the length. It's a nice slim fitting raglan T-shirt that I will use a lot for this summer.

The perfect leggings

Ottobre have finally published the perfect leggings pattern. These are #20 from 03/11 and are supposed to have an attached skirt but I left that off as Princess really only needs plain leggings now. Perfect fit and length, I have wanted a decent capri legging pattern for the longest time and even better the size range covers all three girls, woohoo! Plain black and pretty boring but I just had to share anyway as I'm so happy with the pattern.

Jalie 2918

Jalie are another pattern company that offer great value patterns with a huge range of sizes in each. This is my first time using 2918 for Hubby, it's a basic T-shirt pattern with neck and sleeve options. He went for a short sleeve crew neck which is what he wears 99% of the time and the blue interlock is from stash. Orange embroidery and topstitching brightened it up a little, the embroidery is from Urban Threads. I made one alteration before cutting out the fabric which was a usual alteration for Hubby to allow for his high round neck (we are the computer generation! I need the same adjustment). Other than that the T-shirt is made as it comes and it's a great fit on him, he really likes it. Or at least he does a good job of pretending :D





Without the high round back adjustment the back neckline gapes away from Hubby's neck, the front neckline is pulled up and he is always tugging it forwards throughout the day and the shoulder seams sit too far back. With the adjustment it looks like this, it's well worth taking the extra five minuets when tracing.

Farbenmix Antonia

I keep seeing versions of the Farbenmix Antonia pattern and absolutely loving them so I finally made time to sew up three testers for the girls. Random fabrics from stash (there was a fight over the pink butterflies but I squeezed some out for Toddler and it was all good) and one for each girl as per the pattern. I need to lengthen them all slightly in the body and shorten the sleeves for Toddler when I make the next lot.







It's a useful pattern, the sleeves have colour blocking options as well as a short sleeve and there are alternative body pieces to make a bound keyhole opening. It's worth a look if you haven't got it.

Ottobre sewing for Toddler

Toddler got three new tops last month and I got to use three new patterns, two of which I have been meaning to sew for a while and noticing that Toddler was in the last size for them I thought I better hurry up. First shown is the Muksis envelope neck tunic #5 from Ottobre 01/09 with a velvet iron-on to fill in the very empty looking space above the pocket. The second is one of my favourite fabrics, I love the colours in it and have been hoarding it for ages trying to decide what to make. The Muru tunic #6 from Ottobre 01/09 was the pattern of choice and I just love it, I want to make a couple more before she completely outgrows it. The third and final top is a basic long sleeve tshirt, #6 from 01/10. The dragonfly is an iron on applique I bought ages ago, no idea where from.