All a bit poo

Life has thrown a few curve balls at me this year and it has been quite a while since I have really had time to sit in an evening and have some me time, or to have blocks of time in a day to find a crafting head space.

I have needed friends more than craft in many ways, and I have discovered even more than I already knew how many wonderful friends I have.

There have been moments of creativity though and these little folk sum up quite well what I think of 2016 so far. I know some others going through a tough time too and they have all appreciated the funny side of having a smiling poo sitting on the desk!

Hopeful though, and believe that maybe this will all be a bit like manure, and better things will come from all the crap 2016 has delivered thus far!!

Another shower cap

The shower cap I made about 18 months ago has run its course - a new one was required and luckily for me I found a fabric I really liked to make a new one last weekend.

This is how it turned out. Tigger didn't oblige with a photo shoot like last time, so here is the shower cap sitting on the lavender bush!

I did attach the elastic using a different technique  than I used for the last few caps I made. I marked the elastic (19" for my head) and circle of the shower cap into eighths. Then I basted around the perimeter of the fabric circle once, and then again next to the first basted circle around the perimeter. Then I gathered the fabric using the basted stitches (pulling up one set of loose threads to gather half way in one direction & then did the same with the other 2 loose threads to gather in the other direction until the cap pretty much fitted my head. Only then did I attach the elastic using a zig zag stitch (next time use a wider zig zag stitch and/or make sure to keep to the right side of the elastic so that it isn't visible when wearing the cap).
Worked much better.

A Sally Dress

I finally bought the Sally Dress pattern & made one for Little Imp. The pattern was super easy to follow, but the fabric estimations were far beyond what I ended up needing. That was a good thing in a way as it meant I had enough of some of the gorgeous print I bought years ago to use for the bodice outer & sleeves.

Paired up with a pink fabric with a tiny olive green and dark brown spot and a green fabric with a small leaf design.

 A little bit of whimsy added with these cute wooden buttons on the pockets, bought in a narrow lane way store in Chiang Mai with Little Imp a few years ago.

  

Size 5. Elbow length sleeves. 

Washi Washi Washi. Washi 3 ways.

2015 was the year that I gained confidence in sewing clothes. It started with a few more kiddy clothes, and then a lovely colleague at work gifted me the Washi dress pattern. I realised I can do this, I can make clothes!

Here is Washi 3 ways.
My first take - a short top in rayon. I really struggled with the shirring on my sewing machine. It was hard work. No amount of playing around with the tension of the shirring elastic on the bobbin worked. Frustrating!

After loads of searching I found a way to do shirring on my machine (husqvarna Viking) that didn't require me buying a special presser foot. Thank you kbenco. This blogger gave me the technique of using the bridging zig-zag stitch and presser foot C to sew over the separate pieces of a looped piece of shirring elastic while keeping them slightly separated. Pull to gather and then repeat enough times to get the width of shirring needed.  No shirring elastic in the bobbin, just sew over shirring elastic laid on top of the fabric.  I wish I had found this site sooner - I could have saved a whole lot of frustration!

The next 2 versions were a whole lot easier with the shirring sorted. I adjusted the neckline slightly (a little higher and created a tunic length in lawn and then a dress length one too.

The dress is my favourite just for the fabric.

Lawn again, a bit too sheer not to line, so ended up doing a fully lined  version. Lining finishes at tunic length.

Details on the shirring on my Husqvarna Designer II:

Cut shirring elastic 40" long, fold in half and lay over marked line. Hook loop of elastic onto little section on back of presser foot C, Set stitch to bridge stitch (stitch #31) and sew. Elastic on right side slips into groove under presser foot and the stitch works right & left to catch both pieces of elastic.

           

                     

Once all lines are sewn (I did 4 double rows), pull up and gather from each end until width is about 10"

Tie off each end to secure elastic.

Thanks again kblenco!

Raglan sleeve Bubble dress for Christmas

A bit past Christmas I know, but LittleImp did get this Raglan Sleeve Bubble Dress (Kwik Sew K3935) in time for Christmas 2015.

Didn't quite have enough of the Christmas fabric I wanted to use, so improvised and used plain red for the back and also a band along the waist at the front.

Ta Da!

Can't forget the  naughty Christmas Elves. Tears when they headed back after Christmas, and even this weekend Little Imp asked after them.

A matching hair clip obligatory of course.

Some Little Boy shorts...or trousers as they turned out, and a skirt

Part of our holiday last year was to Melbourne to stay with some friends. I made some little clothes to take as gifts. The shorts definitely were a bit more trouser like! The skirt was sized much better.

Lots of super easy and fun clothes patterns in this book Making Children's Clothes by Emma Hardy

Another baby quilt

Another request for a quilt towards the end of last year. Same pattern as the last little elephant quilt I made, and some of the same fabrics. Reds, blues and yellows.

This is how it turned out.

 A little crinkly tag toy thrown in for fun

All rolled up and ready to pass on to the new owner.

Finished Dimensions:
Quilt size 41.5" square
Individual blocks (finished): 7,5"
Blue sashing between blocks (finished): 1.5"
Blue sashing border (finished): 2"
Elephant border (finished): 3"

Crazy Monkey Softie

It has been an awfully long time between posts. A great family holiday, Christmas and a computer breakdown all have come in between doing & uploading. Because there has been quite a bit of doing. So here comes a whole lot of pictures of what has been happening in the last 6 months.

Another creature created from the Sew Cute to Cuddle book by Mariska Vos-Bolman. This one for a new addition to the family. Another cousin for the Little Imp.