Winter Sewing

The machine has been whirring away. I took the opportunity while the girls were on school holidays to sew them some winter clothes. Its been nice not to have to rush out the door to school and swimming. We have a quiet two weeks just hanging around, catching up with friends and sewing....

The girls picked some cord on a recent trip to spotlight. Its is so soft. I really wanted to buy some Michael Kaufman Cool Cords but it worked out to be about $17 a metre (maybe when the dollar improves), with postage included. I was a bit worried that the pants looked too much like pj pants. But we had lots of lovely comments when we wore them shopping during the week.

Two little appliqued tees. The tees are from target. They have a little bit of stretch, which I like. I appliqued some wool felt under each image just to give them a bit of a 3D look.

I also managed to make two twirly skirts from this tutorial. Wow it was so easy. I will be making more of these. It was a great way to use up some cord scraps. Its resulted in lots of twirling....

And some baby sewing for little Lily who is now 7 months old. Oops I am a bit late but the little reversible slippers won't fit until she is 9 month. I also appliqued a little lightweight spencer (they live in Cairns) using the wool felt behind the image.

I venterued into the unkown...

...And came out with a knit top, that I am pretty chuffed with. Its the Muksis top from Otto 1/2009.

It was challenging to say the least. Why you ask?

• The knit was super fine and kept rolling at the edges.


• I put a small hole in the sleeve with the overlocker, hence the strategically placed stars.


• I couldn't quiet get the tension right on the wrong side.


• I used a straight stitch as advised by the otto instructions but have a feeling that perhaps I should have used a small zig zag??


• The sleeves are meant to have a large cuff but I couldn't attach it by stretching the sleeve and cuff around the machine table. Does that make sense? So I bound them and added some elastic. I think next time I will just taper the sleeve and bind or hem the edges.
  

But overall I am happy with it. It fits and I love the fabric. I will keep persevering until I conquer knits, as there are some great patterns around.

So if anyone has anymore tips on sewing with knits, then please send them my way.

Mail Swap

Well its all happening in the Two Peas household. The girls have been busy completing their mail swap.

They (and me too) have had so much fun. Its been a race to get to the mail box each morning to see if there are any letters addressed to them. We have received a few and its been excitement plus - we love the drawings, stickers & buttons and its be lovely getting a photo of the child that has sent the letter (wish I had thought of that one!). Of course they want more..and are nagging me about when the postman is coming back. Thank you Christie. Its been a wonderful project.

So look out for some letters from us. We only decorated the back of each envelope but if the girls had had their way then the posty would have been delivering some brightly coloured envelopes!!!

Birthday Time...

Well it was my birthday on Monday..Happy Birthday to me. Which also meant it was my twin sisters birthday. I decided to go all handmade for her pressie and I am now well on my way to meeting my handmade target for all birthdays so far this year. She requested two things - lounge pants and also an Amy Butler Sling. I will start with the good things first...The lounge pants. They were made from a thrifted actil sheet. Not sure if it was vintage but it is lovely... dandelions (or poppers as the girls call them) and I cuffed them with something that was in my stash. They are super comfy and the pattern was made by cutting up a pair of old flanny Susan pj's.

(Do you like my new labels?)

The Amy Butler Sling, almost needs its own post. I am not happy with the finished result (maybe its just me being fussy). I picked some nice AB fabric from here. (Great service by the way). I originally decided to use the AB for the bands and bag handle. But when it arrived it was very blue..so blue it almost glows in the dark. Thankfully I had some Lecien spots in my stash that I thought my tone it all down a bit. The bag came together quickly but when I turned it out..I really disliked all the colours together. So I unpicked and re-cut a new handle from some fabric that was in the stash..ahh much better. But the interfacing bubbled on the inside band (maybe my iron was too hot???) and the band seemed to have stretched (I did cut the fabric on the grain but I didn't wash it but I am new to this, so not sure why?). You can't really notice it unless you look closely but I am disappointed all the same :(o

The orginal band (left) and the final band

The finished sling. It looks good from the distance!

I kept the AB fabric on the internal pockets. See what I mean about it glowing in the dark?

I tweaked things ever so slightly. I added a magnetic clasp (so easy, I was really scared about this one) and in one of the large pockets I sewed in a pocket that will fit her mobile phone.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SISTER xoxo