Game on!

I have been busy sewing this month but not too busy showing I'm afraid, the Stash Game has returned over on Sewing Mamas and I have set myself a goal of 30 items completed by the end of the game. That's one a day and I have been working hard, machines whirring away every chance I get and I have almost forgotten what the laptop looks like - I even stayed away from Facebook for three whole days! I have taken some pics to show you though, the first five finished projects so far.

These dresses are for a dress swap I'm taking part on at SewingMamas. I send in four dresses and get four back, my girls are eager to see what arrives! First up I dyed a load of cords then let my girls help me pick out the fabrics for each dress.



The dyeing is really easy, I use Dylon machine dyes and just chuck the dye, salt and fabric in to the washing machine, run a normal wash cycle and voila! Lovely colourful fabric. I decided on two old favourites for the dresses, first up was Ottobre 04/06 #10 which I have made several times before. I have added a dark green satin ribbon to the bodice seam since taking the pics, Princess is modeling and the dress is technically a size too small for her but still fits pretty well.



The back, there's an invisible zipper in the centre back seam and I don't like how short it is. When I make this again I will extend the zip right down to the bodice seam instead of cutting it off where the instructions say to.



The next three all use the same pattern, 04/04 #12, but are different sizes. My older girls were not allowed to see the pink/purple ones when they were finished as they are in their sizes and wouldn't have made it out of the house! I love this pattern, there are small darts at the back shoulder and sleeve seam which gives the nicest fit and the shaping of the dress is just lovely. It's closer fitting than most Ottobre dresses but still loose enough to play in and covers a huge size range, 86cm up to 146cm. I will be making this pattern for years to come and plan on making matching sets for all three girls for as long as I can get away with it :D There's another two ways to make it in the magazine too, I highly recommend getting this issue if you don't already. Here's Princess modelling the 116cm which is again a size too small for her, she is 120cm tall.







I hope their recipients like them! Just one more to see for now, this is a pinafore dress for Toddler (she is nearly two after all, Baby really doesn't suit her any more so she has graduated to the next level :-). The fabric is a Royal Stewart tartan (looked for ours but they didn't have it so went for a generic non-clan one instead) in a poly viscose blend. Silky soft, very drapey but frayed every time I so much as looked at it. Easy enough to sew though, the pattern is Ottobre 03/04 #7 which is one I have wanted to make for all of the girls but never quite got round to until now. It's just as well I didn't wait too, Toddler is in the largest size so I nearly missed my chance!



I cut the front and back as one piece instead of with the panels, trying to match the tartan would have given me a migraine. The side seams have elastic gathering at the hem and large pleated pockets. I lined the pockets (much quicker and looks better than trying to curve up a seam allowance) and added a fabric rose to each instead of the pattern's suggestion of a ribbon with a bead.



I used a dungarees buckle instead of a normal button and hole, the straps just happened to come out he perfect width for them and it lets me adjust the strap length much more easily than having to take off and move a button as Toddler grows.



And here's a couple of modelled shots, Toddler was very pleased when she found the pockets. Perfect for apples and Little People toys!





That's it for now, back to work for me!

Another T....

Green this time, same pattern and fabric as before with an added embroidery - the horrible creases mostly ironed out of the design I am pleased to say! Please ignore the wrinkled state, I was trying to photo it on the washing line and it did not work out well so I decided the grass would do instead.

Ottobre Creative Workshop 303, design from Emblibrary.







The honeycomb stitch, as well as being decorative (and matching the embroidery!) gives a really nice stretchy hem. My new favourite T :)

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.