Archive for the 'clothing' Category

In May I will…

Published on 03/05/2013 by Mary in A Lovely Year of Finishes and clothing. 6 Comments

A new month and time to set myself another goal for the Lovely Year of Finishes.

I feel like I had a successful shot at sewing clothes for my children last month and think it’s about time I made some for me. So my goal is to make one item of clothing for me.

I have fabric (yes, really I do), including a stash of AMH voile which will be great for tops/dresses:

Some delicious Quilt Blocks which will my daughter is eyeing up but I fancy the green on the left for me…

The two prints below on the left I think might work well as Sorbetto tops;

I have patterns too, I just need to make a decision, which I’m not so good at. I can do the sewing part but I worry that I might not like and/or suit the finished garment. I’m even more conscious of this after seeing this photo of a Tova made by Very Kerry Berry which she wasn’t happy with and she is a bit of an expert at dressmaking so if sometimes she doesn’t get it right what hope is there for me?

Anyway I’ve written this post now so that is my motivation to decide and get sewing – wish me luck and I promise to share any clothing disasters along the way!

April projects

Published on 01/05/2013 by Mary in Boys, clothing, KCWC, Paper piecing and Patchwork. 10 Comments

I’ve just realised that it’s the 1st of May and therefore Fresh Sewing Day, I’m not sure how it sneaked up on me but it did!

I started the month with the And Sew On BOM, this I think is my favourite so far:

After winning the Aeroplane Bag pattern I thought I’d better get on and make it:

Kids Clothes Week was on this month, and I had a productive week along with a few mistakes:

Trousers for Mathias, shorts for the girls:

and pyjama bottoms for Bethan and Mathias:

If you’re interested in fabrics and/or pattern details see this post.

I helped out a lady in distress over missing bee blocks.

Again despite the chaos I’ve managed to get quite a lot of sewing done. Building work is nearing completion; we need doors and windows, more electrics and plumbing work, most of that will be done for us but we do need to paint the plaster work before we can put the kitchen in, I’m hoping that next month we’ll have made great progress!

Linking up with:

KCW round up

Published on 28/04/2013 by Mary in Boys, clothing, Girls and KCWC. 5 Comments

I had a vague intention to blog more frequently this week on my Kids Clothes Week progress, but after the fail so soon after the start I focused on sewing rather than sharing!

So here are the shorts I made, the top 2 pairs are the pairs that due to the printer scaling the pattern turned out more like a size 5 than a size 8. Fortunately for me I have 2 daughters and these do fit my younger daughter and she likes them!

The bottom 2 pairs are the size I intended them to be , they are now shoved in Bethan’s drawer waiting for the sun to shine! It is still pretty chilly here so rather than getting the girls to wear them for a photoshoot (not so great in our building site of a garden) I pegged them up. No prizes for spotting the difference between the pairs but it’s enough for me to know which pair belongs to which child when they come out of the wash!

I also made half of the Goodnight, sweetheart pjs from Sewing for Boys:

Yes I went for the easy part first, the bottoms. I have cut the pieces for the top this afternoon but not yet had time to sew it. I used some lovely soft flannel from the Children at Play line by Sarah Jane Studios.

I hesitated about what size to make these, Mathias is 3 1/2 and his height is below average for his age, but the pattern comes in a 2/3, 4/5 and 6/7. I was worried that 2/3 would be on the small side and the 4/5 would be way too big. Fortunately my sounding board (aka Tobit) suggested 2/3 would be fine and I’m so glad he did, without the cuffs turned up they fit Leah (almost 6) pretty well so with the cuffs turned up 2″ they are on the big side for Mathias!

I sewed a piece of blue ribbon in at the back of the waistband to help him know which way on they go (I opted out of the faux fly).

Bethan was very taken by the sight and feel of the flannel pj bottoms and requested I make her some! I didn’t have enough flannel in my stash to make a pair so we had a browse through the flannel section at Pink Castle Fabrics and were very tempted by most of what was on offer especially with 20% off this weekend (code EVERYTHING20). I got the feeling that Bethan wasn’t really prepared to wait a week or so for fabric to arrive and then I remembered that I had found some flannel at the car boot a year or so ago. I wasn’t expecting her to like it but she loved it, so I quickly cut out the pieces and sewed them up, probably the fastest garment I’ve ever made!

These were too long on Bethan so I turned up the cuffs 2″ and they fit better, so hopefully both pairs of pyjama bottoms will last the children a good while!

Again a piece of blue ribbon at the back.

So all in all after the near disastrous start to the week I’m really pleased with how productive I’ve been, especially with plasterers, builders, roofers and electricians working in and on the house.

It was a trying week, seriously; I got back from the school and preschool drop off on Friday morning to discover the contents of the under stairs cupboard all over the living room and the electricity turned off for almost all the morning! I’m hoping that I can get on with the other half of the pyjamas tomorrow but I’m not holding out too much hope as the electrician is due here again!

Now the only thing to decide is whether or not to go and buy some of that delicious flannel from Pink Castle Fabrics ready for next time…

I hope you’ve had a productive week whether you’ve been sewing for children or sewing for something/one else.

Linking up my Sewing for Boys project with:

KCW – #fail

Published on 23/04/2013 by Mary in clothing, KCWC and projects. 7 Comments

On Sunday my eldest daughter chose some fabrics from my stash that she wanted me to make some shorts with.

I’ve used this pattern a number of times before, it goes up to age 8 but I didn’t have the pattern printed in this size so printed it off, cut out the paper pieces, stuck them together and on Sunday night cut out the pieces from fabric.

Yesterday I had a child free morning so got sewing, it all came together as I expected it to and then it was time for preschool pick up and no more sewing was done until after their bedtime.

I started to become confused when attaching the waistband to the shorts. I discovered that it was too big, you can see from the photo below the stitch line on the right with a SA of 1/4″ but I need to make the piece smaller and you can see the stitch line on the left which I had to use to make the waistband fit.

At that point I pulled out the pattern piece for the waistband (which I hadn’t reprinted) and checked that I had cut it right and yes I had.

But I had suspicions that the shorts didn’t look big enough for age 8 so I pulled out all the pattern pieces. And it was then that I realised that my printer must have scaled the pattern. The piece on the left is the original piece that I used at age 6 a few years ago. The piece on the right I thought was age 8 but as you can see it is significantly smaller than the piece on the left:

So major meltdown happened here, I was so cross, gutted and annoyed. A mistake I know but I should have checked.

This morning I confessed all to Bethan and she said ‘don’t worry mum I forgive you’!! Leah is almost 6 and she didn’t turn her nose up at them so I’ll get them finished today and hope they fit her:

They just need elastic and ties in the waistband and hemming. The pockets were cut from the original pattern at ‘real’ age 8 so are a little big for the shorts but I’m NOT unpicking.

Oh and the slightly better news is that I probably do have enough fabric of both prints to make the correct size shorts for Bethan!

Have you had any sewing disasters this week? Please help me to feel better (Moira shared hers yesterday).

Gearing up for Kids Clothes Week

Published on 22/04/2013 by Mary in Boys, clothing, KCWC and Upcycled. 5 Comments

You may know that this week is Kids Clothes Week (KCW). I’ve joined in this event in previous years and had quite productive weeks sewing clothes for my children.

Inspired by the thought of the week ahead and the fact that my little boy now goes to preschool on a Friday morning (as well as Mon and Tues) I decided to do some preparation work:

I pulled out my Sewing For Boys book with a plan for making another pair of Treasure Pocket Pants for the boy. I made a pair for him just over a year ago – size 2-3 years and they just about fit him now (aged 3 1/2):

In this photo from last year they are turned up and he’s wearing a washable nappy which probably helped them to stay up!

So on Friday I rummaged around in our rather full loft and found my bag of old jeans, I selected a pair of mine and a pair of Tobi’s and got cutting. I also pulled out a piece of gorgeous Ann Kelle corduroy that the lovely Fiona from Patchwork Delights sent me when she was clearing out her sewing room.

I tried to get a bit of sewing done early on Saturday morning (7am) but realised that the facings I had cut from the pattern were not long enough. I seem to remember this happening before, so after lunch I measured around the hem opening and cut my pieces to that measurement rather than the pattern piece.

So a pretty quick make and while he’s not tried them on yet he seems rather delighted that mummy has made him some more trousers!

I have more plans for the week which involve shorts for the girls and maybe some more trousers; are you joining in? what do you plan to sew?

I’m linking up to Ange’s monthly book challenge:

2012: another year of sewing

Published on 31/12/2012 by Mary in Boys, clothing, gifts, Girls, Patchwork, projects, Quilts, Scraps, teaching and Zakka. 5 Comments

It’s the end of the year so I’m having a quick look back at what I’ve achieved in the last 12 months, I am pleasantly surprised!

Eight big quilts (and a few baby size), six of which I have given away! Quilts for Siblings Together was a big project in the early ‘summer’, it was a joy to sew for others and wonderful much later in the year to read Lynne’s post about the giving of the quilts. I already have plans for next year!

A selection of bags, purses and pouches that have been made, featuring heavily is the Lined Drawstring bag (pattern by Jeni), I love it.

At the beginning of the year I joined in the Sewing for Boys sew along, I guess I managed 4 months before life got in the way. But it inspired me to think about sewing for the children again, and I love the Treasure Pocket Pants pattern, making 5 pairs of those.

There was other ‘stuff’ cushion covers, zakka style sew along items, gifts and I even wrote a few tutorials, and of course the weekend away at FQ Retreat.

A big step for me this year was teaching. I’ve never done it before, but I lead a couple of evenings at a friends home sewing for Dress A Girl Around the World and Siblings Together. In July I taught my first workshop at Arrietty, teaching six ladies how to make frame purses. I’ve done a few more since then and have also taught some private one-to-one sessions. I’ve loved teaching, sharing knowledge, inspiring and giving others confidence in their abilities (and starting fabric habits in others – hahaha!).

So that’s it for today, I have vague plans for 2013 but output may well be determined by building work on our house.

Here’s hoping you have a wonderful 2013.

Ruby Star Wrap Along – week 7

Published on 18/12/2012 by Mary in clothing, featured item, Men, projects and Upcycled. 6 Comments

Once upon a time many years ago I bought a shirt from Top Man, I loved it, yes it was a man’s shirt but it was comfy and soft and I wore it a lot.

Then I met Tobit, the man I was to marry and he liked the shirt too, so he started to wear it. Then some years later something happened, i don’t know what but it didn’t get worn so much, it didn’t really go out of fashion it being a fairly classic fabric and cut. I suspect it was worn whilst decorating by someone, as it had a few telltale paint smears on it.

But despite the relegation to a piece of decorating clothing it was never thrown away. And then, as I flicked through the pages of Ruby Star Wrapping one project jumped out at me, the Button down shirt bag. For some reason Tobit pulled the shirt out of his wardrobe the other week and asked if I wanted it, so through the wash it went and once dry I set to work on it.

The result? A more manly bag than many of the others in this house:

I pretty much followed the pattern in the book. I lined the bag with some new grey cotton to give the bag a bit of strength. I didn’t use any interfacing as although the shirt has been worn alot it is still in good condition. I used the sleeves to make handles and reversed the fabric so the faded side is on the inside.

In conclusion I am delighted with this project, I loved this shirt and it is wonderful that it has a new lease of life and can be used frequently. It was going to be a Christmas gift for Tobit but I was too pleased with it to wait a fortnight to gift it to him!

And if you have made anything from the book now is the time to link up with Sew Mama Sew Ruby Star Wrapping Contest

Linking up with:

Summer Sewing Contest and a favour – please!

Published on 19/06/2012 by Mary in Boys and clothing. 6 Comments

The sun is shining, 2 children are at school, the washing is hanging outside and oh look I’ve made the finals in 2 categories in the Summer Sewing Contest at Ellison Lane Quilts.

So can I ask you a favour? If you feel so inclined would you please vote for me in the Bags and Accessories category

My project is number 9, the party bags I made for Leah’s birthday party.

And in the Clothing category, number 10, the Treasure Pocket Pants:

Please note that out of 12 finalists there are only 2 projects for boys – they do always seem to come second on the clothing front.

And then you can also vote in the other categories, Home Decor and Quilts. In the Home Decor category you might want to vote for Hadleys gorgeous Union Jack cushion (pillow) that she started on the FQ Retreat – I’m not a fan of Union Jacks but this is pretty special.

Thanks lovely people I’m off out for a walk in the sun with my lovely boy.

Mens Trousers reinvented into Boys!

Published on 29/05/2012 by Mary in Boys, clothing and Upcycled. 3 Comments

It’s no secret that I love a good craft/sewing book, recently I came across this new release ‘reinvention: sewing with rescued materials’:

It’s written by Maya Donenfeld. Maya shares 28 projects to help you “reinvent” materials like linen, burlap, wool and more, so funnily it really appealed, if you’re a regular reader you will know about my habit of recycling and reusing fabrics:

Sew Mama Sew are running a Summer reinvention challenge so I thought I could find something to enter!

A few weeks ago I had an enquiry from a lady asking if I would be able to make some trousers for her 2 year old boy, she’d seen this photo:

She is in a similar position to me in that she had 2 girls and then a boy, and finds it difficult finding boys clothes she likes. So a few emails back and forth, some fabric photo’s shared and an order was placed for 2 pairs of Treasure Pocket Pants. I’ve been under so much pressure time wise recently (all down to me, no one else to blame) but once the order was placed it became a priority so in a couple of days they were finished and in the post.

Made using the wonderful pattern from Sewing For Boys and using old adult jeans for the front and back panels. I had an email from her yesterday saying that the trousers fit perfectly and they look great – phew!

Aprils’ projects

Published on 01/05/2012 by Mary in clothing, fabric, Patchwork and Quilts. 5 Comments

It’s been a busy month which I suppose is no great surprise! Here’s a summary of what I’ve achieved.

I’ve been taking part in the Zakka Style sew along:

My big finish of the month is this beauty:

I joined in the Oh My Stars quilt along, starting a month late and finishing less than a month after the proposed finish date! So the fastest big quilt I’ve ever made!

I joined in again with the Sewing for Boys sew along and KCWC;

I made good progress on Quilts for Siblings Together and have finished 3 quilt tops:

Fabrics for this ‘boy’ quilt very kindly donated by Celtic Fusion Fabrics with a few extra’s thrown in from the lovely Joanne who saw a test block on Flickr and offered up some leftovers of Children at Play.

Sock Monkey fabrics donated by the very generous Jennifer who offered up piles of fabric from her stash for Siblings Together quilts. My lovely friend Jo came over and helped to sew these blocks – thanks!

This is from my own stash, Sherbet Pips, my precious, offered up because it is no good just sat in the cupboard and I’m sure some girl will love it (with a few pieces from Joanne again). I’ve joined in the My Precious QAL with this one, it is fantastic, an encouragement to all of us fabric lovers to cut the precious fabric and do something with it! I had a sewing day with Emily and I got some of these blocks sewn while she quilted one of her quilts for the project

We (my husband and I) have set up a crowdfunder campaign so if you are able to financially support my quilt making for Siblings Together we would be really pleased. Just click on the donate button at the top right of this page. We’ve had great support already but could do with some more to cover the cost of batting/wadding and backing fabrics. Thank you.

I think that rounds up April, I’m beginning to see why I feel so exhausted!

Linking up with: