A weft yarn

Pyjamas sewn - new look 6746

I had a few quiet hours on the weekend and managed to sew Tessy's pyjamas that I had cut out and were waiting in the cupboard. The pattern I used was New Look 6746 in size 8. It is up on the wall behind my sewing table. I kept the pattern instructions open behind the sewing machine and mostly this worked fairly well. I could follow along what I needed to do next and it only occasionally got awkward while I was sewing the larger bits of the PJs. In retrospect it was reasonably detailed sewing for a pair of bedroom attire. Still, I actually think that is rather brilliant - to learn to sew by making reasonably complicated pyjamas.

Tess had picked this pattern because she loved the headband. I liked the pattern because it was pretty. We recently bought the floral blue flannel in Sydney but I had the plain greeny-blue flannel in my stash.

 

The pyjama top closes with snaps and on the front you are meant to attach three ribbons but Tess didn't want to feel all buttoned down around the collar so we just put on two of the snaps and two ribbons. Ribbons were from the stash as well and were the choice of the pyjamee. I love the gathers around the bodice and the skirt-like effect of the top. I also like the little lace trims around collar and sleeves and cuffs. The collar is interfaced and the trimmed with bias binding on the inside of the neck. All these techiques were new to me and in the past I would probably have huffed and puffed and stressed my way through the sewing. I took a bit out of my hand sewing philosophy, which is, that time is not the measure of success. I think in the past, i've always rushed through, made mistakes, not done my research and reading. Anyhoo, I enjoyed the sewing and she loved the pyjamas - smile.

A few other details - cuff with lace and topstitching. Child with strange markings on her hand. She's often self marked but on this occasion it was the school teachers, as she ran around the oval in the cross country. She did three laps but didn't need a mark for the last lap. I wonder if teachers enjoy drawing on children? She certainly enjoys taking a pen to herself.

The pattern is a size 8 and Tess is 9 but it fits her well and has enough room for growth. She is still wearing some size 6's so I was pretty confident the size 8 would be fine. And it was. There's enough length in the pants to maybe get two seasons out of these. She's also wearing her little felt slippers purchased from the Nepalese felt stall at the Folk Festival. Cozy. I know. I have a pair as well.

Happy girl. She's asked for more versions but I've a feeling there are other sewing tasks queued up - aprons, soft toys, quilts....but I'm sold on the joys of garment construction and will return to the scene of my crimes.

Sewing pyjamas

I spent a very enjoyable March following along the talented folks who jumped into the Me-Made-March or in one case Mama-Made-March. It made me want to start sewing again. I was so impressed at how easy they made it seem (hehe ...groan). Anyway, I did my usual thing of spending a whole month trawling through the sewing books I own, making notes, organising my sewing patterns, making lists of supplies I had and those I needed...my usual long journey to the beginning of something. But, then, when I started, I felt reasonably comfortable, instead of the clothes sewing anxiety that sometimes strikes me. All that effort and what if it doesn't fit..blah blah. I also solved the biggest problem by deciding to do more the "mama" thing than the "me" thing. Though trust me, it's all part of the grand plan of moving on to skirts for me next.

Somewhere along the road, I read to iron the tissue paper pattern before cutting it out - that seemed weird but I did it anyway. It actually wasn't that hard. I just made sure the iron was on low and it pressed out heaps of really big wrinkles.

I then laid out my new cutting board which had come recommended by Buttontree Lane - and I too loved it. I could confidently cut without worrying about my dining room table top. (sorry about the gloom in the photos - it was an overcast afternoon)

I had remembered from my sewing adventures in the past that I hated the pinning and cutting phase, so, this time around, I decided to trace the sewing pattern onto the fabric using carbon paper and a tracing wheel. It is a multi-sized pattern and potentially it could be used again - though this is actually a bit of a furphy because the pattern I have goes from size 3-8 and my little one is at the top of the range. I still prefer it though. It did save me some fussy cutting of the tissue paper. Instead I did fussy tracing but then I found the cutting really easy cause I wasn't wrangling the tissue paper and the fabric and those sharp and pokey pins, all at the same time. I did lightly pin the tissue paper to the fabric while I traced with the wheel but I didn't pin as I cut. The fabric is flannel (PJs after all) so it stuck together quite nicely and had a nice weight to it as I cut. The tracing took me about an hour, and the cutting took 15 minutes. I was really happy with that balance.

 

 

My photos aren't super clear but if you look closely you'll see that there are little red dots that form the shape of the pattern, and that I've traced the pattern marks and then gone over them with yellow tailor's chalk.

In the photo below you can see the red carbon paper all dotty and lined from running the tracing wheel over it mutliple times. I'm reasonably frugal and I've put it back in the cupboard for another day...I think it still has some life left in the red carbon.

That was enough for a single sewing session, so, I took Built by Wendy's advice and bundled up the trim, the bias binding, the cut interfacing and the cut out pattern pieces, labelled it all and then put it back in the cupboard. Crossed fingers it comes out next week and is sewn together and that I don't find it when Tess moves out to University.

Sewing Lucky Owls

We picked up this Lucky Owls pattern at the Canberra Craft fair, which is held in August, a couple of years ago. It is really easy for a young person to make with a little bit of pattern tracing, a little bit of cutting, a couple of simple seams on the sewing machine and not much hand sewing (cause you can leave that to Mum). Then to top it off, you just glue on the eyes and beak. Reading those instructions kind of put me off and at first I was all for over engineering it and adding in lots of hand sewing but really...it wasn't in the spirit of working with a small person who is addicted to completing things. She likes to have something at the end of a project. A couple of sessions is OK but not lots and lots of patient hand sewing.

So, first you trace the patterns onto baking paper....

We are making Olive.

Then you sew up the side seams on the machine and then, strange but true, you use dental floss around the base. The dental floss is really strong and as you have to pull together some reasonably thick Japanese cotton fabric and its a shape with stuffing and pellets, its just as well that the "thread" is strong.

We then stuffed Olive with stuffing and a small amount of yellow split peas to give her a solid enough, weighted base. Then glued on our eyes and beak. I did add a small touch of hand sewing around Olive's pupils. The position of the eyes was not as stated on the pattern but as stated by the 9 year old owner.

When my daughter's best friend came over for a sleep over we made another two - a large one and teeny tiny one. Very cute.

Cleaning out the craft room

Over the next few days I'm going to review the projects I have stored away in my cupboards and work out an inspirational list of things I'd like to make in the coming months. I need sewing and craft projects that are fairly quick to complete and that could involve the youngest member of my family (if possible). I don't want to be too ambitious but I would like to have some ideas, some goals, some wish list projects. Then if life takes over and nothing happens, so be it. Without a plan, I fear the cupboards may stay closed. So, in preparation for the grand plan of small scale craft and sewing project I have created.....mess. Next needs to come order and inspiration. That will come later.

It arrived! My pleated beauty bag from the BTRS swap.

My bag  has arrived from across the world and I love it. As do my children who immediately sugggested a use for it! Thank you partner.

We loaded it up with 3 sketch books (all A3 size), pencils, watercolours, brushes, water and some afternoon tea and we took it along with us to the Botanical Gardens for some fun on an autumn afternoon. I was thrilled to get such a clever package. As it was my first swap, and I haven't done that much sewing, I really didn't have much of a clue about fabrics and choices. So, I didn't give my partner much to go on. She knew I liked gardening because when I signed up for the swap I hadn't started this blog, instead I was using my gardening blog as a link. Other than that, I suggested no preferences for colour or style. Yet it is absolutely perfect. How funny is this?

It matches the colour on my lounge room wall - both are a bluey/green colour. Yvette's bag (now mine!) is also made of a strong woven fabric so it has quite a bit of internal strength. I like that about it. The one I made was a bit soft for my liking. I choose a linen but it was a very drapey, soft linen and once the bag was all sewn up I was a bit concerned about how wrinkly it would get. Perhaps my swap partner can always try ironing it if it's too crumpled for her taste.

The other lovely little things about my gift/swap were the extra hidden goodness inside the bag and the lovely matching up of Yvette's country of birth with my part of the world. Yvette is from Sydney (I mostly grew up in Sydney from when I was 11-29 years old) and so when I opened up the parcel and found this, I was tickled with all the connections. Yvette had made me a fabric covered notepad. Very clever, with beautiful and thoughtful choices of fabric.

There's a pocket for some notes, a holder for the pen, a pad of paper and some pretty double coloured ribbon to tie it up. I'm a bit nutty about making lists and I love stationery so it was all so perfect. Thanks Yvette. I have to include one more photo so you can see how cute the front fabric is close up.

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Finished. Late, but finished.

 

It is going in the post tomorrow. Late, I know, and it has to travel across the ocean to California. I do hope my swap partner isn't feeling too anxious, sitting at home thinking she has been forgotten. I found this pleated beauty bag an enjoyable project but as it is the most complex thing I have sewn I was probably a good bit slower than a more accomplished sewer might be. I did it over a number of days because with children and work and other commitments I didn't ever have one solid day available for sewing. Besides, according to the note pad I kept on the desk next to the sewing machine, it took me 11 hours to sew! Wow. I must be so slow! I have to admit to quite a few mistakes, picking and unpicking a couple of seams. When putting it together, the outside bag was quite a bit bigger than the inside bag and I had to sew up the side seams again. Also, as an inxeperienced seamstress, I am not that familiar with choosing fabric and I think my linen is too soft for a bag of this size. Some linens are probably quite stiff but this brown one is gorgeously soft. I think I'd love a pair of drapey, soft trousers made from this fabric. Anyway, I'm glad I signed up for the swap. It got me started. It was fun and challenging but I'm sorry to run late (for my partners sake) and will give myself a better head start next time.

I wanted to change a few things, like stiffening the fabric, and widening the straps but decided against it. I had Amy Karol's comments in my head that you had to know the rules to know which ones you could bend. So, for my first attempt I wanted to be faithful to the pattern and instructions. Having said that I did change the embellishment on the front (always optional) and the lady in the quilting store suggested I used a stiff plastic (for making quilt templates) as the reinforced bottom.

Here's the inside pocket and the embellishment on the front. I wrote about my thoughts and plans for fabric and embellishment in this previous post.

 

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I've made a start

I'm taking part in the bend-the-rules sewing swap which is based on Amy Karol's book of that name. This is probably the most complicated sewing I've done to date in my life. At least the most complicated sewing machine sewing. I have been fairly handy with a needle and thread in the creative tapestry realm, but to date have not done that much sewing machine work. I bought a second hand Bernina about 8 years ago from a woman at work who was upgrading to one of those embroidery machines that (at least back then in my naive state) had prices on them that seemed shocking (read thousands of dollars).  I've been reading crafty blogs now for a couple of years and understand that there are some pretty handy and dedicated sewing ladies out there - so I can now put that machine in a context. My old Bernina seems to work well enough for me. Over the past 10 years I've mainly sewed projects for the children. Well almost exclusively the sewing I have done is for the children. I've made lion costumes, pirate costumes, wizard hats, cloaks, library bags and some animal themed towels (a cat and shark). All of these projects came from patterns that you cut out, pin to the fabric and follow the instructions (except for the library bags where I followed an actual bag and worked it out as I went).

Over the past four years, most of my spare time and creative energy has been absorbed and expressed through my gardening. Recently I've experienced a desire to move on from that intensive type of gardening and thought one way to get more involved in sewing was to sign up for a swap. So far, I've loved being involved. I've been a bit challenged by the sewing and rather obsessively read through the flickr group discussion before I started. I think ultimately it was a great help as all the book's errata are up there, as well as tips and questions that lead you away from some known pitfalls. The obsessive reading and some other family distractions have meant that the extremely reasonable deadlines associated with this swap have now crashed into me and I'm officially running late.

Nonetheless, here's some shots of progress from last week. I am now further along but dont have recent photos.

 

I am making a bag for a woman in the United States. I live in Australia and being a gardener and a lover of Australian native plants, I have used a patchwork fabric with Grevilleas on it as my contrast fabric.

Here, I'm fiddling around with the idea of embellishing the front panel. Amy Karol suggests free motion quilting and hand embroidery. I was a bit daunted by the first and as I'd done a wee bit of applique in the past, decided on that tack.

Now you can see the finished embellishment - an appliqued grevillea with some stitching and tiny buttons to represent the curled up knobs on the end of the stamens. It is being guarded by the solemn (but actually quite fun loving) Abyssinian kitten. I think this kitten is Delcatty. Her sister Skitty is almost identical.

I promise to squeeze in the final sewing, blogging and sending over the next week. Late I know but I'll be faster next time.

 

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