teaser........!!

i am making emelia something from ottobre! it has pintucks and decorative stitching was optional.... i decided to do it and wow! here is the partially completed item..

only problem is that i was using a pattern alice had traced off to use and she notes 'cut on fold' different to me :-| therefore my front has a lovely big seam down the middle. hopefully the fabric's so busy no one will notice...

stay tuned for the finished item!

lucky rory!

yet another pair of spring capris! i haven't started the matching top yet though. this was some material left from a piece i'd bought and alice made emelia a top out of last summer (before i started sewing).

PS: rory's red cheeks in the last entry are because she is sick :o(

this is us!

as the eb girls are sharing pics. sorry dh isn't in it but he was taking the photo!

more springiness for rory

off for a walk, will post details later (love the pants, not happy with the top)

ok, back from our walk (to get the kids out of dh's hair while he gets dinner prepared, of course he can't cook with them under his feet *rolls eyes* lol)

so the patterns are Ottobre 4/2004, designs #4 & #5.
i love love love the pants! just a gorgeous style and fit! i am half way through a second pair already :oD I think i'll make another couple of pairs, plus some for emelia if they go big enough!

the top .... *sigh* i don't hate it, but it didn't turn out quite the way i thought or hoped. i don't like the applique i've done. i think you need a bigger design to applique, like the one in the magazine. the whatsydoovie in the front of the neck (slit, gap, whatever it's called) is just too big. it needs to be about half the size. and apart from the fact i put the ribbon on at the wrong angle i just don't like the look. next time i'll use a button and loop i think. the towelling is a lovely weight for a spring top but a major PITA as it stretched as it was sewn and overlocked. i will have to invest in some of that tape that stops stretching i think! and then last of all, there's the fact that rory doesn't look good in purple LOL

fabric swap?

as per the eb sewing group

another spring romper for rory

as my poor girl has no spring clothes - only heavy winter stuff and bare-it-all summer stuff, i cut out a ton of spring clothes for her last weekend (with mum's help) here is the first item i've made - this fabric was $3pm from spotlight and it looks fabulous on her! i stuffed up the bloody zipper again so will have to fix it later.

witht he pink velour version i made as pj's for her, i used an iron on motif which just 'made' it - it now looks fabulous! (will take pics later) so i bought a few today to try on this one too, as it just seems to be missing to me...

she is with her aunty 'susu' (as ryan and emelia call her!) in the second photo :oD

and.... i have just been reminded that i didn't report back on my sewing machine! i THINK that i just had it threaded wrong. i assume so as that is what fixed it LOL how embaressment ;o)

arrrrgggggllle!

today was a big non-sewing sewing day!

our bbq plans were cancelled due to weather so geoff and reg took the kids to questacon while rory and i stayed home and sewed.

well, ok i didn't get more than 5 minutes of sewing done - i spent most of the day tracing patterns, cutting out and organising my patterns. mum came over in the morning and helped and then alice came over at lunchtime and did her own :o)

after dinner i started to sew at last! only to discover that something is wrong with my sewing machine :o( hence the argle! the tension is stuffed (i changed it to do the shirring) but i can't seem to fix it - if the tension is on 0 it looks mostly ok on the front but terribly loose and loopy on the back. if i turn the tension the other way even a tiny bit then the top becomes basically a straight thread (on zigzag) with the back thread looping right through from each side to the middle. so basically i'm STUFFED.

any ideas anyone? it's a brother bm2600...

brazen's crafts: woooh! bargains!

brazen's crafts: woooh! bargains!

i've just done a rough count and i think i probably have about 60-80m of fabric (OMG) there were a couple of unopened bolts of 15m each. plus 15m of the dark grey fleecy on the roll etc etc

wow!

woooh! bargains!

checking the paper this morning and there was a garage sale with sewing machines and fabric by the metre / roll. so mum and i headed over and arrived just after they opened at 8am. it was so busy! but i managed to get bargains galore - no really interesting fabrics but lots of basic fleecies, jerseys and ribbing that will last for years. got the lots below (i think you can't quite see some of it and there is also two rolls of twill tape you can't see at all) for $50 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

i LOVE garage sales!

I've been tagged again !

by Lynn (Dreamweaver) *waving hello to Lynn*

1. What is your current pet peeve?
my infected tooth :o(

2. Would you rather be annoyed or bored?
depends who i'd be annoyed with LOL probably bored. at least it's not a totally negative experience.

3. When did you last drink champagne?
not real champagne but i had a glass of omni at my sister's last weekend (and then she kept the bottle for herself dammit LOL)

4. Who sleeps in your bed?
who doesn't???! ok, i sleep there all night. geoff sleeps there anywhere from all night to not at all depending on who has woken and when and what mood they're in. rory mostly doesn't now as she is usually in playtime mode no matter what time of the night, emelia has taken to coming in early in the mornings (though she does more wriggling and chatting than sleeping) and ryan is pretty much the only one who doesn't since i kicked him out after rory was born. the two cats do on cold nights too :-S

5. What TV hunk can come knock at your door?
wouldn't matter who he was, he could knock but i wouldn't have the energy to let him in lol

6. Do you wear perfume?
not often but lately some eden by cacherel and chanel no 19

7.If you wrote a book what type would it be?
booooring. i'm a really bad writer!

8. When did you last go to the dentist?
don't ask, to many times lately. and for the first time in my life i wish i could do sooner than next thursday, i'm in so much pain :o(

9.Ooops, you've just had boy/girl twins- what are they called?
i think i'd been too tired to give them names! so probably just baby and baby hehe

10.How do you get your news- TV/Internet/paper?
from eb and dh

11.Do you believe the story that Naomi Robson was going to save a boy from cannibals?
who cares?!

12. If you could go back in history where do you want to visit?
the hippie 60's

13.I am having a fancy dress party. What are you dressed as?
a sleep deprived mum?? oh ok, maybe a hippie or a cowgirl lol

i'm going to tag
natalie
and helen

budding super model LOL

oh gosh, this top was a bloody nightmare! lucky my cross dressing supermodel was happy with it LOL

the girls on eb made shirring look soooooo easy and i've been desperate to give it a go. so i used this scarf i bought at the vinnies in curtin. unfortunately i didn't find it as easy as i thought :o( 2 days, half a roll of shirring elastic and lots and lots of unpicking later i finally have a top which is finished but which i am not particularly happy with. still it is done and i think emelia will look very cute in it. i was going to make one for rory with the other half of the scarf but i think i'll try a new technique.

i will probably give shirring another try, but with a slightly heavier fabric...

look at me!

emelia had to go to the mirror to look at herself in the new skirt LOL unfortunately it only just fits :o(

twirly skirt for emelia

just whipped this up quickly (well except the ribbon which was a PITA). it was an ottobre pattern but no idea which one as it wasn't written on the pattern and i'd cut the pieces out before chirstmas last year LOL i'd bought the fabric after being inspired by an incredibly simple yet incredibly expensive fred bare skirt last summer (of course it looked nothing like this one, i think it had pleats in it lol)

i think i've cut the elastic too big again, uggggghhhh

the ribbon was a pain because silly me (brain totally fudged by this rotten and aching tooth) cut the ribbon 1.6 x the length of the bottom tier, when it was to be attached to the top tier...

what is needed for summer

emelia - some plain, basic shorts and skirts, summer weight jackets
ryan - everything especially shorts
rory -

here's my girl

me tagged?

i haven't had time to go blogging lately and so i've only just discovered clair has tagged me! i'm too headachy and tired to do links but here is the tag thingie...

The rules of the tag are: List 5 weird things about yourself or your pets. Tag 5 friends and list them. Then, those people need to write on their blogs about 5 weird things, and state the rules, and tag 5 more people. Dont forget to let the people you tag know by posting a comment on their blog!

so I will Tag:
susan (susan's scrap n sew)
penni
mousey
paula
and dani (dsk)

and my 5 weird things...
i was going to write that i talk to myself but seeing as everyone else did it's obviously not that weird lol

1. i used to have fillings done without ANY anaesthetic, now i'm so bad i'm going to have to have a general for my root canal so i don't freak out on the chair (if i ever get the referral, despite the constant pain and infection)

2. i find it difficult to eat food prepared by family if they haven't chopped all the ingredients the same size and shape. i have to concentrate to get past it.

3. i have huge ridges in my toe nails and smaller ones in my finger nails atm, most likely from the blood loss i had at rory's birth.

4. i am the lazy perfectionist where my house is concerned. hate it being messy and dirty but am too lazy to clean it! where are my housework fairies???!!!

5. i constantly compare my children. how else am i going to know if they're developing normally???!!!!

PS: why on earth did blogger turn rory's pj's upside down? good grief!

new pj's for rory

as she's outgrowing all her others. i haven't had time to try these on her yet (she's asleep) but they are made from velour (pink as pink was the only colour zip i had lOL) and FOE. pattern is design 8 i think from ottobre 4/2005. sooooo easy to make. started this last night and it took a little longer than i thought because the zip was done differently (yet again)

my nose is still itching too - i'm sooooo over sewing fluffy material, ack.

found some time this afternoon...

to make ryan one of his long overdue pairs of pants!





i'm very happy with how these turned out - and they only took me a couple of hours!

they're made from what is like an uncut cord with a diagonal stripe. the top and bottom panels are cut running the opposite direction. all the top stitching was done using a thick rainbow thread (for the overlocker but sewed well on the machine). i used a denim needle which made sewing this fabric a breeze.

the pattern is design 6/7 from ottobre 1/2006, the same pattern as i used with the fleece to make him trackpants a few months ago.

the only annoying thing is that even though imeasured the elastic around his waist i didn't take out enough and it stretched as i sewed it on. i find it so hard to get the waists right!

emelia's party dress!

got it made in time - yay!

decorative stitching

by request :oD juts click to see it in better detail

it is a feather stitch in a pink satin thread.