Embroidery grief

I hate it when this happens. It took over an hour to stitch out this tiger design and look how it came out of the machine!



The fabric between the stitching has gone all wrinkly :( It didn't look like this after it was stitched! Any suggestion on how to stop it happeneing again? I used one layer of cutaway stabiliser and had wash away on top of the fabric (which is bamboo lycra again). I only hooped the cutaway and spray basted the fabric and washaway on top. What can I do differently?

thanks!

A surprise in the post

I got a lovely, unexpected piece of mail last week. A familiar large white envelope came through the door with the words Ottobre printed along it. I was very excited, thinking it was the autumn/winter women's magazine though it did seem a little early for that. When I opened it, this is what I found.



Ottobre had sent me the Women's Best Tops pattern collection as a thank you gift for recommending their magazine to a friend of mine :) Of course I had to try it out! A short sleeve, U-neck tshirt for me was the result. It's a smidge too small, I made a 42cm with bust gathers from the 44cm, I should really have made the 44cm instead but as I'm slowly losing weight I went for the smaller one instead. Odd how I make things bigger for the kids to grow into and smaller for me to shrink into! The pattern is great, the length was perfect for me and as a basic T it is very quick to sew up. I will be making a lot more, both long and short sleeves.



The fabric is a gorgeously cool, soft bamboo lycra from The Fabric Fairy in a really nice grey lavender shade. I bought four yards of this fabric in various colours and have been stashing it for a while, waiting on a pattern I could use it with. It was great to sew and is just fabulous to wear. Really soft and cool while at the same time warm - makes no sense I know but that's the best way to describe it. I *love* it and I will be buying more yardage to make myself some cooler weather tops.

So, thank you Ottobre! And thank you GB for giving my name to them :)

So what's next?

You might have noticed that I've been busy lately :) Here's a glimpse of my incredibly untidy sewing space when I have several things on the go.





The ironing board doubles as a dumping ground for cut out projects and the big pile of boxes behind it hold the fabrics I have fairly immediate plans for, the rest are in the boxes under the desk, by the window and in a wardrobe I sneakily took over when Hubby wasn't paying attention. If I can ever get the boxes in the sewing room sorted out I'll be able to use my whole desk and get all four machines going, it's annoying having to move one out of the way to get another out.

All of my current projects are done, I have a long list of things I should be sewing for the kids while ignoring the fact that I'm rotating the only two summer tops I have that fit me but I think what I'm actually going to work on next are a couple of quilts I've been wanting to make for a while involving these...









I will keep you posted :)

One more little peasant girl

Almost forgot! This one is for a gift, same patterns as before.

French Day

The kids have been learning about France at school this term and there was a celebration on Bastille Day (which they cleverly renamed French Day ;P) where they were asked to wear something red, white or blue. I have yards and yards of stripey fabric which dyes into colour/white stripes so I chucked some in the machine with red Dylon and whipped them up something to wear, the French flag appliques were put together from scraps. Boy's tshirt is #35 from Ottobre Summer 2010 and the girls dresses started out as #15 from Summer 2007. I modified it a little, extended the bodice lines down to hip level then attached a narrow band and gathered a short skirt to fit. I like the dresses, I might make the mod again next year for playdresses.

Baby boy bliss

So many of my friends and family are expecting babies this year and almost all of them are having little boys. I've never had a chance to sew for a baby boy of my own, Boy was around eighteen months old when I started sewing so I missed out on making tiny little outfits for him. Therefore I may have gone slightly overboard to compensate :)

This first one is absolutely tiny, a size 50cm which looks so ridiculously small it can't possibly fit a baby! Both patterns are from Ottobre Summer 2010, #1 HauHau vest and #2 Jodhpur pants. I'm hoping the extra width through the hips of the trousers will make them a good fit over a cloth nappy.



These next three are all 56cm, the wrap tops are #6 from Ottobre Winter 2007 which was one of my favourite baby patterns for my girls, it's a really nice close fit and easy to make. Unless your binding gives you fits! The lizard and animal trousers are #5 from Summer 2003 and the stripey knit trousers are #5 from Spring 2003. It's nice to revisit the older issues now and then, there are some great patterns in them.



The lizard embroidery came from Emblibrary. I hope the recipients like them :)

Little peasants are off to market...

I got my greedy little hands on a few yards of various prints from Sandi Henderson's Farmers Market line a while ago and have just this very minute (well OK, about half an hour ago) put the finishing touches to three very delicious sets for my girls.

The tops are also from Sandi Henderson, the Portabello Pixie Claire pattern (remember the owl dresses?) in the peasant top view this time. The trousers are #23 from Ottobre Summer 2006 apart from Baby's which I showed earlier.


Princess chose the cherries, the spring stripe and the pink henna garden fabrics for herself.


Monkey chose the apples and the two remaining Henna Garden prints

Baby's also uses the apples and as she's the only one home just now she's the only one available to model!



I absolutely love the Henna Garden in this colour, I would have a whole bolt if I could.