Stocking up for a 'Mummy Clothes Week Challenge'...

...of sorts!  But really, I participate quite happily in fun challenges like Elsie Marley's 'Kid's Clothes Week Challenge' but where are the challenges for clothes for Mum to get me going?  Not that I want to get all organised on this, but if anyone else wants to put their hands up for a wee challenge let me know in the comments! Nothing like an element of competition to move things along. Or a deadline...

So here is the pile of fabrics I bought last Thursday when my friend Elizabeth came to visit. Oh it's bad enough fabric shopping on my own but when there's a fellow fabric person there it gets a bit dangerous :) We visited Global Fabrics first and I bought the grey knit (oh so silky and soft and Donna Karan!), the striped knit and the rather virulently pink floral stuff (which is for Hazel natch. It's also not quite as intense in RL!)  Then we popped over the bridge to Nicks Fabric Sale in Takapuna which had come recommended by Heleen at Ruby in the Dust. Oh the marvels! I'm not really used to going to bargain places like that but I'm totally sold now. I'm always a bit grouchy when Americans post about how they don't buy anything over $6 a yard or something because I'm sorry, fabric doesn't come that cheap here. But wait! It does! It comes at $4 a meter which is even longer than a yard. Ahhhh... And there was fusible interfacing for $1/m.  Ok, so the selection was limited, and most of the shop was filled with knits suitable for making polo and rugby tops, but they had some really neat cottons and a table with great off-cuts of posh upholstery fabrics for making cushions etc. I actually recognised some of the fabric as being from Global Fabrics and the guy (Nick?) told us that his uncle owns Global Fabrics so they get their remnants etc. to sell and I can tell you that I paid a LOT MORE for them at Global. Sigh. I hate when that happens! I got the two patterned voiles and the purple knit for 'practicing on' with tops. I've never felt like I could justify practicing on something before!

I've already cut out the green and blue voile for a tunic-style top, have a pattern earmarked for the floral (if there's enough, I need to copy out the pattern and check) and one for the striped knit - all from Burda.  Yay for approaching summer!  I'm hoping to try printing something on the purple knit - has anyone had any experience with doing that on stretchy fabrics? I'm a bit worried it might crack and look awful. I'm not entirely sure what I'm going to do with the grey knit, probably just something fairly basic that will show off the lovely drape.  The pink floral fabric for Hazel - not too sure about that. It's fairly heavy and slightly stiff, with a bit of a stretch. I was thinking a jacket but not sure which one. I'm contemplating this pattern, but I need to look through my Burdas and Ottobre magazines as well. Speaking of which, have you all seen the great clothes in the most recent Ottobre?  Lovely and I'm very very tempted. Ok, so I plan to buy it, its just a matter of time and I have to pretend I have some self-control. Actually I'm tempted to subscribe, has anyone ever done that? Is it worth getting them all or a total indulgence?

Bokky the Sock Monkey

Although it may come as a shock to you all, I'm not the only crafty archaeologist out there! My friend Srey is a dab hand at sewing and knitting, has a Felt shop and even sells at markets down in Christchurch.  When she was up in Auckland recently she passed on the most wonderful present for Hazel. Mat arrived home from having lunch with her with one of those classy brown paper bags with paper string handles and let me have a peek - inside was this beautiful stripy sock monkey wrapped up in tissue. To be honest the first thing I thought was that he'd been in some upscale shop and fallen in love with it and had bought it for Hazel on a whim. But no! As Hazel said later while showing it off to one of her friends (in a tone of wonder) "it didn't even cost any dollars"

The bit that kills me (aside from his little knitted scarf) is that he's made from socks. Socks! Srey says she used the tutorial here.

Of course, I did know that such things existed but to be brutally honest, I really really don't like the ones with red mouths. I don't know why but I find them intensely creepy. However, Srey has such great taste in socks I'm a convert to the stripy funky species for sure. Just keep those red ones away from me! I spent quite a lot of time studying Bokky to figure out what bits came from where on the sock. Of course the tutorial explains it all but it was a fun puzzle to solve on my own.

Thanks Srey! He's been well-loved - here he is in action on Hazel's clothes line in our driveway the other day (when it was warmer!)

Sew Tina book tour winner and Bouncy Beret giveaway reminder

The random number generator has spoken and it has returned

who is:

WandaFish 3 days ago

Could I possibly be so lucky as to win this amazing giveaway? I'm keeping everything crossed and hoping!! This book is definitely top of my wish list and I'm loving the blog tour and seeing what crafters have made of some of the projects.
Hey, it's my girly's birthday this week and it will all be for her, lol. 

 

Congratulations!  And Kiwis and Aussies still have another day to put their name in to win the Bouncy Beret here.

The Sew Tina! book - Part the Second

[The Sew Tina book tour giveaway is the next post down]

I thought I'd devote this post to talking about the three projects I've done from the book, and have a little giveaway as well. I think I'll have to do yet another post on the projects I'd particularly like to do next!

The first thing I made was the Zigzag dress. It only has 6 pieces - two bodice pieces, two skirt and two neck bindings and as you might expect it was super easy to put together. I love the kimono-style neckline and the whole aesthetic of it.  Not to mention the gorgeous Nani Iro fabric I used. Hazel on the other hand...well it's just so different than what she's used to I think it will take a bit of getting used to. But look what I managed today!

Very exciting - and after the photo shoot she actually left it on for most of the day, only insisting that she needed to change right before we left to go to an ex-pat Canadian Thanksgiving dinner. Darn! But small victories, small victories.  The picture above is very sweet and pensive, but really 90% of that set looked more like these (which actually give a better idea of what the top looks like on)

One of Hazel's friend's mum says that Hazel looks like butter wouldn't melt in her mouth, but I tend to think of her more in this kind of light :) "Please" I say, "Please just stand there and smile nicely? No, not like that, put your hands down, stop jumping, what are you pretending to be? Oh, a puppy? Well puppy could you put your tongue back in for a moment? Puppy!" Who'd work with children I ask you?

The only problem I had with it was judging the distance to set the neck edges apart on the bodice. The instructions said no more than 8" which I tried for, but it was hugely too wide and I had to pick it all apart and bring it in. Markings on the pattern to suggest the overlap would have been really useful.

The next item was the Reversible Skirt.



I asked Hazel to pick the fabric and then tried to work with that. Using this kind of bright fabric and putting other prints with it really takes me out of my comfort zone big time. I feel totally lost trying to judge whether the prints go well with each other, whether I'm over-doing it, or under-doing it, ack!  It's a very simple pattern though, just two tubes of fabric sewn together at the top with a channel for the elastic, and binding at the the bottom.

(sigh)

When I'd finished with it last night I was slightly appalled with what I'd wrought, but Hazel leapt upon it this morning with cries of delight and put it on immediately. When I saw her in it outside it actually looked much better than I'd imagined it would, somehow it blended in with the rest of the clothes or something. Well as much as it could anyways...

Personally I prefer the reverse side :)  Hazel says it's the "autumn side" and the other is the "spring side"

Lastly we have the Bouncy Beret

Hazel picked out the outer fabric and I selected the lining and binding. I really enjoyed making this hat, it has a cunning way of using up the inner circles from cutting out the bottom edges - they form the embellishment!

It's being modelled by a teddy because although the pattern says it fits up to age 7 or so, Hazel has been blessed with so many brains that she has a simply enormous head (just like me actually, bane of my hat-wearing life!) and it's too small :(  It fits ok around her head circumference but isn't deep enough top-to-bottom.  I'll make her a larger one by scaling up the pattern a bit, although looking at the photos in the book they seem to have more depth to them and I'm now wondering if I stuffed up the pattern somehow...maybe when I printed it from the pdf it scaled it down a bit or something?

Anyways! Her loss is your gain - I'm going to give away the beret so that some other little girl can look extra pretty walking down the street.  In case you're wondering if it will fit your little muffin, the unstretched circumference of the band is 55.5cm/22" and I can easily make that a bit smaller for you before sending it off if you needed.

I'm limiting this giveaway to NZ and Australian residents only, my apologies to non-ANZAC readers.  To go in to the draw simply leave a comment telling me about the best hat you ever wore (or the worst!) and make sure I have a way to contact you. I will use a random number generator to choose the winner on the afternoon of Friday 15th NZ time.  Good luck!

The Sew Tina blog tour and giveaway!

I was really excited when Lark Books asked me to participate in Tina's blog tour because I love her fabric but was completely new to the patterns so it promised to be fun! I had the pdf of the book for a wee while to start with, so I could get going on a couple of projects, but I didn't have much of a sense of it as a whole until it arrived in the mail and it's really lovely. Perhaps I'm a bit old-fashioned but there's something about having an actual book in my hand and pages to turn! Plus it's beautifully laid out, with a nice spiral binding so it stays open, and the patterns are on nice heavy paper. It's built to last!

It's divided into four sections: Introduction, Sewing the Tina Way, For the Little Ones, and For the Bigger Ones. There's also a bunch of sections at the back with resources, templates and a handy-dandy metric conversion chart for us metric people who are a bit challenged with inches! There are patterns for clothes, accessories, decor and even a Moses basket for babies, so there's something for everyone - including the mothers of boys! The sizes run from infant up to about size 7 and are roomy with lots of space to grow.






I'm going to kick this off with my interview with Tina, which I really enjoyed very much!  No doubt you will begin to see a theme to it - my never-ending struggle to make clothes that Hazel will wear. I know I'm not alone in this so hopefully there are people out there that find some hope in Tina's answers!

Jacqui: In the wide world of books on kid’s clothes yours really stand out, both in style and in use of fabric.  Where do you get your inspiration for the clothes from?

Tina: Thanks Jacqui that means a lot. I think the basic answer is from kids themselves. I have a few of my own (lol, twins aged 8 girl and a boy) and an 18 year old... and they are so free to speak and play and move... it would be nothing for my daughter to walk into the room on her hands... and of course Jonty slides in a room on his belly... so from when very young I create and make for them. I have always created garments with an unusual free from silhouette and I enjoy movement in my clothing so it just grows from that!

J: Many of the patterns use your fabric as a focal point, do you design the clothes with a particular print in mind or fit the prints to the pattern afterwards?

T: It works both ways but mostly I think the clothes can be made in any fabric. Even a solid... Because the fabrics are mine I tend to cast them as a priority but have found that if you love a fabric use it.... it will look good in anything you make.

J: The projects have a real whimsical feel to them, obviously designed to appeal to children. As an adult I find I’m often pretty lousy at judging what kids like to wear and have tendencies to want to make more grown-up items for my 5 year old daughter Hazel (and consequently have a few failures when she won’t wear an item!)  How do you find the delicate balance between clothes that kids like and clothes mums are willing to make?

T: That's a tough question because they are all unique as we are. My daughter doesn't wear anything I make unless it's for a special event, and sometimes I have to make it in someone else's fabric?!?!? But she's her own person and I don't want to push me on her... she once stood in Target at 5 years old with her hand on her hip, after I asked her what she thought of something I'd found for her, and she announced "I am not funky like you mom!" Well, on that note she picks out everything she wears and I on occasion will cringe. As long as it's not showing her belly or something too old for her I will honor her decisions.

I find making for infants and toddlers (2-almost 4) is the most fun because they will wear anything, 4 and 5 year olds get more opinionated but they have definite ideas whether frilly, sporty or none of the above. So buy fabric they like, show them something they agree on and there you go. And, 6 and up good luck! However, choose things like a nice coat or accessory you both like... this way she gets to wear her t-shirt and jeans but can throw on the coat you made her...

J: Following on from that, it seems as though the way to guarantee Hazel will wear something is to make it pink and frilly, which doesn’t always sit well with me on a number of levels – what’s your experience in terms of the way to a little girl’s heart through clothing?  Any tried and true tips?

T: I am not a pink and frilly designer but maybe there's a way to design clothes for that style that they'd like... Jacqui you may have inspired me... the frilly wardrobe for little girls (and their moms approve?) For now I suggest using pink (maybe a softer less saccharine pink), peaches and a tangy fuchsia... soft fabrics, modern prints and solids, frills but soft frills not the kind that stick up from their neck or arms... with a modern silhouetted flavor. And of course sport it up with leggings... love the leggings and tights....

J: I’m going to make up a project from the book in honour of you stopping by on the blog tour – do you have any recommendations for me in my ongoing quest to make clothes for Hazel that we both love?

T: The Zig Zag dress is fun one on the cover [and the one up the top of this post].... mix and match the fabrics and you could even add a frilly along the bottom hem or the neck.... eek.... and thanks for making it... I want to see it....

And here it is Tina! Not being modelled because Hazel's being 5 this week, but it's still gorgeous hanging on the fence. It's made in Nani Iro Fuccra and I plan on having Hazel wearing it at least once a week by the time summer rolls aroud :)  It's deliciously light and floaty, with close-fitting sleeves up to about the elbow. I loved it on her but I if I push her to wear it now it'll be all over red rover so I'm being subtle.

Ok, so now the moment you've all been waiting for - the fabulous giveaway. One lucky commenter will win the book, four (4!!) yards of fabric, two boxes of stationary and two extra sewing patterns. Wow.  

All you need to do to go into the running is leave a comment below and make sure I have some way of contacting you if you are the lucky lucky (lucky) person whose name the random number generator picks. Did I say lucky? I think I did. I totally want to win this myself to be honest! [ETA: I guess I should put a date down when it closes! I will draw the name on Thursday 14th at 9am NZ time]

Now I'm not actually finished with this book or the projects, but this is a massive post already! Check back tomorrow for more on what I've sewn up so far, a bit more on what the book's like to work from, what I plan to sew (essentially raving about those little mice slippers and how I want a pair), and a little giveaway all of my own!

Follow along with the rest of the book tour here:

9/24 Lark Crafts.com
9/27 A La Mode Fabric
9/29 Quilters Buzz
10/1 Sew Baby
10/4 Sew Chic
10/6 Sew Mama Sew
10/8 Hazelnuts
10/11 Mama’s Pocketbook
10/13 House on Hill Road
10/15 WhipUp
10/18 Quilt Dad
10/20 HodgePodgeFarm
10/22 Pink Chalk Studios
10/25 Fat Quarterly Blog
10/27 The Jolly Jabber

Spring is still springing

Down our front path, making me look forward to checking the mailbox.

A is for Apple and P is for Pear

Why did I post about the apple when clearly I wasn't finished with it?  The way the post finished just screams "will not be able to leave it alone".  So I made another leaf for it, and then a pear, and then because that wasn't enough, I put some shiny shiny beads on both of them.

Beads are very important on functional items like pincushions.

Hazel wants a pear now. She won't wear the clothes I make but she wants a freaking pear. Actually I think she just wants stuff, full stop. (bitter much?)

And I promise I won't touch these again before I send them out. Honestly and promisedly.