Squares

Squares

Squares

Plus a few other projects of varying shapes.

Last week I got myself a gathering attachment for my overlocker, allowing me to gather, overlock and sew pieces of fabric together all at once. Of course the obvious time to buy such an attachment would have been before making a pettiskirt, but for some strange reason at that point in time I was feeling frugal. Luckily for me the urge to be frugal has left and have I ever had my $25 worth of enjoyment out of this little accessory. With some spotty fabric I (frugally) bought on sale at Spotlight I made my first tiered skirt, and if it weren’t for the 53 unfinished projects covering my sewing table I would be sitting down this minute gathering my way through my fabric stash.

Here’s the spotty skirt which I think Zoe received more excitedly than perhaps any other piece of clothing I have made for her:

Here’s Zoe modelling the skirt:

And here’s why Miss Zoe thinks this is a good one:

Oh – and what’s this? Another wizard’s cape?

You betcha! Another party today…and still one more invite on the fridge.

I’m going to try to finish some projects over the next week, which is not nearly as fun as starting a whole bunch of new projects, but I have sewer’s guilt which I’m going to try to alleviate. Then I’m going to alleviate my fabric buyer’s guilt by sewing up some of the piles of fabric under my cutting table which is earmarked for various purposes. Hopefully then I’ll start on something new.

…but if I could have I would have!

It is a present from Zoe’s Aunty Jane, bought from her favourite shop Du Pareil au Meme. I think I’m onto a good thing here – I send her girls home made elastic waisted skirts, and she sends my daughter miniature French trench coats. Thanks Jane

This is my favourite yet, and far simpler to sew than attempts one and two.

Two more birthday parties this month. Is it wrong to give all the children in the class the same gift?

Zoe goes to a wonderful kinder. I am confident of that. When I pick her up in the afternoon she is happy and animated and we often have interesting conversations. On the way to kinder however, the conversation goes something more like this “I AM NOOOOOTTTTTTTTT GOING TO KIIIIIINDEEEER”…..”AAAAAAGGGGGGGHHHHHHH”….. “NNNNOOOOOOO” …..”AAAAGGGGGGHHHHH”. (Repeat x10).

To make matters worse, on a Thursday Zoe has to wear pants to kinder, because she does PMP (a kind of P.E. for little ones). Zoe hates wearing pants, and boy does she let everybody know about it. “NNNNOOOOOO PANTS”….”NNNNOOOOOO PANTS”….”I HATE PMP”…..NNNNOOOOO PANTS” (repeat all the way to kinder).

To try to make our PMP mornings a bit more cheerful I have in the past made the prettiest PMP pants possible (see here and here). This year however I thought we’d try something different – the swing top. It’s not a dress, it’s not a top. It’s the perfect PMP outfit!

The pattern is based on the Ottobre Creative Workshop 301 pattern which I cut off under the arm to add some ’swing’ and is made from the stretch fabric I bought at Hilco in Germany. Just to add a bit of interest though I thought I’d cut the whole top sideways so that the stretch goes the wrong way. Wow – that does sound seriously familiar! I keep going over my thought processes as I was cutting the fabric and thinking about all the clues that I was doing it wrong. Thoughts like ‘wow, this print looks like it’s going sideways’, or ‘this fabric is not as wide as I thought it would be’, or my personal favourite, ‘hmmm it’s weird how the stretch seems to go up and down instead of side to side’. I was convinced however that I had it right, so cut away I did. Cut cut away until there was not going back.

I love this top. Zoe loves this top. Strangers love this top! But every time I get close to it all I see is those little arrows going the wrong way across the fabric and I feel so darned annoyed. I know. I need to get over it.

Here’s Zoe in her PMP swing top and very first pair of leggings:

I mentioned a while back that I was working on a few projects that involve squares. This one has to be my favourite – a very pink quilt for my Zoe.

I am very belatedly following the mod sampler quilt-along at Oh, Fransson.  I love retreating to my sewing room with these small pieces of fabric to quietly and every so carefully sew up each block.  But only when I’m not too tired or too busy. Unfortunately that isn’t very often. ETA for quilt…some time before Christmas!

Zoe’s legs

I bought these stockings at the Melbourne Stitches & Craft show. They look pretty spiffy with Zoe’s shiny new shoes!

I figure if a girl is going to wear clothes made by her mum, then she needs to be allowed to indulge with the accessories.

Stockings made by Textile Allsorts.

Dress made not by Zoe’s mum, but by Tina from Purple Happy Tree

Ever since I made these capes I have been thinking about how I could improve the design. With a 4 year old birthday party coming up (and the sparkly stretch velour on special at Spotlight!) I decided it was time to give the cape another go.

I am much happier with this version. Rather than a rectangle, this one is a semi-circle (it would have been a full circle, but I only bought 1 metre of fabric). This one also has some special hemming tape in the bottom to make it flair out which is a nice touch.

I have a number of improvements in mind for the next one though, including the use of lining inside of it instead of satin which makes the cape too heavy for a four year old (I know – I felt like Einstein when I came up with the idea of using lining for a lining. Pure genius I tell you!). I also have a better idea for the neck shape. Oh and the next one will be pink, because next weekend it is a 4 year old girl’s party.

Here’s Zoe doing her best wizard impersonation before we wrapped the cape up for the party

Here are my gorgeous nieces Lucy et Hannah modelling Aunty Bel’s creations in their new home town of Noumea.

Cute huh!

One ballet bag for this ballerina:

And one ballet bag for this one:

Oh how he melts my heart!