New Pj's

As I'm not working at the moment (I was on an 18 month contract and have not had luck finding a new job, other than 3 hours tutoring at University) we can't afford to buy the kids the new pyjamas they need for winter, so i decided it would be easy enough to make them some :)

little did i know how hard the pattern pieces would be to trace off! there were so many pieces with lines so close together and i felt like i was going to go cross eyed tracing off the pieces. i swear it took longer to trace than to sew ;) luckily most ottobre patterns aren't that hard!!


i used 2 fabrics from my stash (thank goodness for my stash) to make them, using design #20 from winter 04/2005. they are pretty big on him but will at least last next year that way too ;)

Disco Queen!

Emelia is having a disco party next weekend so i decided to make her (and hopefully rory) a disco shirt to wear! it seemed like such a simple idea...

it could have been worse but gosh this fabric was hard to sew! i couldn't get the tension on either my sewing machine or my overlocker right and it was impossible to get straight hems and edges with the sequins. i also made a few little mistakes but hopefully no one will notice.

Pattern is Ottobre 2/2005, Design 11. as Emelia is 110cm tall i made a size 116 but it is really too big. I'd rather big than small and she may need to wear a long sleeve shirt under it next week anyway if the weather's cold! I've done this one before too, loved it then!

rory's hat finally finished!!

it just barely fits :-0 (my kids have such huge heads lol)

i worked out the issue with the ottobre pattern and it's mainly that it tells you to start each row with 3 chain and count that as a double (treble) crochet - but that's actually incorrect, you shouldn't count it as part (on most rows lol)

AT LAST !!! my WIP is finished!!

i lost count of how many times i had to undo this and start again, at least 8. oh my goodness it was so frustrating. i'm not sure if it was me and my inability to read patterns properly, or the ottobre instructions...

anyway, this is the ottobre pattern i used here

i am now making some little flowers to go on it, pattern here

and i have to say thank goodness for youtube for converting US crochet to australian!!!

ottobre WOW!

i have jsut discovered someone on flickr who is totally into ottobre and i am just wow at what she has made - love the colours and fabrics, she's into dyeing and fancy stitching, she has an embroidery machine (how jealous am i??? *sob*) OMG! she is amazing!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/77223848@N00/

WIP

last weekend i got the urge to crochet.

so when i went to lincraft i bought a ball of wool (a bit tricky as i was following an ottobre pattern and it talked about metres per 100g and i couldn't find any particularly close!) thank goodness for youtube as the instructions are in american crochet terms LOL

it's going slowly as i just do a row or two per night (i have discovered i can actually crochet while i read on the puter, wooh lol) and i had to undo 3-4 rows last night as i realised that i had messed up half a row really badly. anyway, here's a teaser...


ETA: aaaagh i think i must have stuffed it up somehow, it is not looking at all like it's supposed to - and i have no idea how, i thought i'd done really well at following directions !! OMG i am sooooo bad at following instructions, i just cannot do it lol

Such a Princess!

Emelia's princess dress is nearly done :) i just need to do the zipper - an invisible one (which i have never used / done before so am a little nervous lol)

i ended up using a different pattern - the new Ottobre arrived and Emelia (who took it to bed with her two nights in a row lol) fell in love with this dress (3/2008, design 19)


i thought chances were the ottobre dress would probably be easier than the simplicity so went with it - so far it has been easy, even though i did stuff up the side seams of the bodice (but i wasn't feeling at all well yesterday so i have a good excuse)

i had to go out this morning to buy the zipper so i bought some ribbon to trim it with too - now i wish i could have trimmed the bodice with some too instead of my pathetic top stitching! i might try later if i get a chance, at least it won't be as fiddly as the ribbon on the bottom to sew straight as i'll have the top stitching line to follow :)

i have to put in a disclaimer too - i did NOT choose the fabric! it is totally not my taste in colours lol emelia picked it from mum's stash ;p i think it qualifies as retro as it's no doubt late 80's lol

here's the princess (with her new princess jiffies, what a blast from the past they are lol)

PS: as it's practically winter here now she'll be wearing leggings and a long sleeve shirt under it ;)
i saw a dress with similar sleeves in myer, made out of fine cord and with decorative stitching so if i can find anything suitable in my stash i'm going to have a go at making this as a winter dress, probably shorter.
PPS: this is a 104 and emelia is 3.5y and wears a size 4-5 top and size 4 bottoms

birthday gift

on wednesday ryan got his first preschool birthday party invitation!

i realised yesterday that rsvp was yesterday, even though the party wasn't til june (very early to send out invites i thought, especially with one day to rsvp!) anyway, called to rsvp and the party is on THIS saturday, someone got confused lol

i meant to have a quick look at the shops this morning but forgot and with our new tight budget i decided i should really try to make something.

the birthday girl is turning 4 and seems to be the youngest of a few children. she is quite tall and slim and seems to be from a european background and has a very individual style which is a bit funky and lot like ottobre. lucky eh?! lol

so i found some nice soft indigo denim and am making this skirt - luckily mum already traced off the wrong size for emelia which happens to be the exact right size for lejla :) i'm going to top stitch with either red or hot pink, i'm not sure if she's a pink girl...

done!

wooooo! not only did i finish something in a day but it was something for me too!!! yippee!! (the kids are just about sorted for winter, i want a whole new wardrobe i can't afford though so i need to be sewing...)

the jacket doesn't fit quite right - it's actually a bit tight across the shoulders and i'm not really sure how to fix that. other than that it's not too bad, could do with an extra cm all round perhaps.

i didn't put elastic on the arms as i decided i liked them as they were. they are also shorter than i expected, but luckily i love 3/4 sleeves ;) i haven't done the ribbon tie yet as none of my ribbon is the right colour.

i don't mind the style - it's probably not quite me for casual wear but suits very well for work. i'll probably make at least one more (i have several more velours waiting lol)

PS: do you like the photo ryan took for me? i asked him to take a photo of my jacket so he did exactly what i asked lol i supposed i shoudln't complain, at least there's no double chins lol!!!

nice rainy day for sewing...

i'm trying to make myself a jacket to take to melbourne - something new :)

yesterday i drafted teh pattern to fit and cut it out. hoped to sew but didn't. today i'm sewing...

i'm making this jacket from Ottobre 2/08 design #10 in a chocolate brown stretch velour. interesting to sew lol

sewing at last

i have just been too busy to sew - and not really in the mood to be honest. yesterday i decided to sew, as rory needed some between seasons pants. i started by repairing some pants that needed new elastic, as a warm up activity, and then moved on...

used ingrid's easy pants pattern and some brushed cotton from an op shop. then i cut up a worn out 2nd hand shirt from kmart and used it as a pattern to make the little purple shirt (the white shirt is also an ottobre shirt i made earlier in the year)

rory is sick atm so she wasn't really cooperating...

shirts for rory

it's been so long since i've sewn, what with being flat out with TW, having the kids home sick (and totally unable to sew when rory is around these days) and being sick myself...

I'd cut a heap of stuff out for rory on the weekend and yesterday got one shirt sewn before crashing into bed to sleep for hours. i cna't seem to get the neckline right, but I think i need to stretch the banding before I sew it on and that should work better.

the shirt is an ottobre one but i can't remember the details!

thanks for tagging me helen :o) i'll get to it later today i hope...

and will put my pincushion swappee's parcel in the mail express today :) (log in and see my flickr for a sneak peak) thank you again to ingrid for a gorgeous parcel and pincushion which I think you can see on her blog by now :oD