Briar love

With the weather finally cooling down here to more autumn like temperatures I've had a hankering for some in-between clothes, something comfy and easy. So I got out my Megan Neilsen Briar tshirt pattern, which has been waiting patiently for me to try it. I bought it a while ago after falling in love with this version by Sophie at Cirque du Bebe (there's also a post by Sophie here on True Bias about why the Briar is her favourite 'tried & true' pattern). And while I plan to buy some metallic jersey knit fabric to do it justice I thought I'd make a (hopefully) wearable muslin to check the fit.

I used a navy jersey from my stash to try it and was really pleased with the result - the drape is really nice, quite heavy for such a thin fabric. I think there must be quite a bit of whatever the stretchy stuff in there is. I don't remember where it came from but to date I've never paid much for my knits (though that may change when I find something with a metallic content, I'm guessing!).

If you're not familiar with the pattern, Megan provides several options for length, sleeve length, pocket options and neckline binding options. I find it amusing that I chose the cropped version... as an 80's teen I loved my crop tops, though they will definitely be worn with a layer underneath at this stage of my life! (worn here with a jersey knit camisole - I like to have these to layer in winter and find hem fantastic to add a bit of warmth without bulk). And even though I'm sure I will look back in years to come and laugh at the 'mullet' aspect of these tops (high at the front, low at the back), for now I like it :-)

And look at that beautifully curved hem - Megan's got it just right.

I must admit that I was hesitant to buy this pattern at first as it's such a simple design, just a tshirt really, but I'm so happy with the fit that I'm glad I did. And I learnt some more about sewing with knits from this pattern - the neckline binding works really well and is a joy to do, rather than a chore as I thought it may be. And I love the fact that you can start with a simple pattern and subtly change details and fabric to create different looks. Of course there will be more versions!

Now I'm dreaming of a lovely crumpled metal knit fabric with a pocket, teamed with a long top and my metallic leggings for a girls night out ;-) ... And wondering how long I can get away with wearing the cropped mullet!!

 

** For anyone interested here are a few sewing notes:

- I made the XS size (34" bust) and the fit is good, though I'm sure the size up would be fine too

- for the sleeve length I went halfway between the provided options of short sleeve and 3/4 length. I think it creates a nice balance as they sit around the length of the front hem. It's also a comfortable place to sit on the arm. Megan has a blog post on making this adjustment here

- on my lovely old sewing machine I don't have zig zag or any sort of stretch stitch (and I don't think there's a twin needle available) so I'm always a little nervous about sewing knits, but this worked fine, and I was glad of Megan's reminder on the pattern to make sure you press the seams along the way - this made it sit so much better. I did finish the seams with my overlocker (serger) but I certainly don't think you'd have to have one to make this pattern

- I opted out of the pocket option as this was made really just to test the fit but I love Megan's suggestion of using a contrasting fabric for one

- I chose the 'binding' method for the neckline, which I like but I'd consider making it narrower next time, particularly if I go for a slightly less casual look.

Joining in on my creative space over here today - check it out!

 

Posted with Blogsy

My creative space

In my creative space this week I'm enjoying the business of matching...

Starting with a design and then layering colour, fabrics, textures...

Adding all-important details...

And tinkering until it's just right. So much fun and so satisfying.

And any excuse to play with some new hardware is good, right? ;-)

Playing along with My creative space here.

Have a good weekend!

 

Posted with Blogsy

My creative space: little caps

Lately we've had quite cold weather (for Sydney) and it seems to have brought out the mother hen in me. When I rugged up the kids to take them out recently and didn't have a hat for my boy I remembered this pattern from my stash that I'd made up when he was younger (one seen here) and decided to give it another whirl.

This time I used a nice cozy medium weight grey wool for the outside and a thrifted piece of yellow linen for the inside. Then, as it was looking a little sparse I added a little piece of sriped grosgrain ribbon I've been hoarding. You know when you buy something on a whim then fall in love with it and ration it in a crazy hope that it will never run out? That's how I felt about this ribbon. It just adds a little something to the cap to finish it off, a cute little detail.

Little champ that he is, my boy took to it straight away "Is that my hat mama? Do you make it for me?" and wore it for most of the day, which of course made me pretty happy :-) When little girl saw it she told him how cute he looked in his "train driver hat" and promptly asked me for one "the same fabric but with a butterfly on it please mama". I was amazed but very pleased that she liked the grey flannel! Yippee, I didn't have to do pink on pink for a change!

So that evening was spent making a slightly larger sized cap, lined with pink cotton (didn't get that far away from it!) and embellished with a felt butterfly that I cut out free form and embroidered onto the brim with thread creating the body and feelers.

 She suitably chuffed the next morning. And I guess you can see what was coming next...

 Yes, one last one for my big girl "with a flower please mama". This one sized up at 105% to fit her almost adult sized head, and embellished with a stylised flower in ribbon and button when the intended felt was just not working.

So after 3 evenings of cap sewing I'm pretty over that pattern for now! But at least I know my little munchkins have warm heads... or the potential to have warm heads, as it might be ;-)

Wander on over here to see more of this week's creative spaces.

My creative space this morning

There were scenes of sheer delight mixed with contentment over here at casa bubala this morning, fueled by a morning to myself to create and probably an excess of caffeine ;-) A friend (another SAHM with 3 littlies the same age as mine) and I have started a 'little boy swap' now and then when we can, where one of us has both of them and the other kids are at school/preschool. They love it, we love it - excellent! That's not to say I don't love being with my boy but I had intended to use my morning for screen printing and I find that small children and screen printing definitely do not mix!

 So this was literally my creative space this morning. I'm always happy when I have my sketch books out, and my old set of Derwents actually got to see the light of day, too, which doesn't happen often. Happy happy.

Mixing inks in the daylight - so much better than late at night.

And enjoying the actual process. Having a specific project in mind helped me stay focussed ("do NOT go and put a load of washing on, repeat: do NOT! Time is precious").

 

AND I discovered this great mag when I went to have my quiet sit in a cafe to start the morning - can't wait to devour it.

Hoping you had a creative day too. More goodies to see over here. 

Actually useful sewing

Recently I have been trying to address that list in my head entitled "things to sew that we actually need".

The thing that's been at the top of the list is a new ironing board cover. The old one was so threadbare and tattered that it was actually falling apart. I won't bore you with pictures of it, but needless to say that a piece of sturdy linen from the stash, some elastic and just a bit of my time have transformed this useful household object (largely used for my sewing projects ;-) and was extremely satisfying to do.

The other thing I made was another pair of trousers for my little boy. What with toilet training (ie: accidents) and running out of hand-me-downs his cupboard is always pretty empty at the moment.

I made another pair of 'Basic pocket pants' from the lovely book Growing up Sew Liberated, this time using some stretch cord from my stash. I made the legs a little slimmer this time around and added a little pocket to the back using scraps of one of my favourite boy fabrics, Echino's cars. The only pic I could get of him in his new duds is this one of his cute little behind ;-)

Now if I could just make 2 more pair of trousers, some t-shirts, pyjamas and a couple of hoodies we'd be OK for winter. Hmm... as usual, too many sewing plans, not enough time. I think a trip to the shops is in order unfortunately, if this mama is to get any sleep!!

More creative goodness happening over here.

Big girl bag

Back from our trip away (I won't actually call it a 'holiday' - anyone who's travelled with small children knows why ;-)  I thought I'd show you the bag I made for my big girl in one of my late night sewing sessions before we left.

The last one I made her had been lost on a trip to the cinema, so I thought I'd make her another, after plenty of nagging about looking after your possessions blah blah blah of course... You may know that I love making bags so it was a fun project.

She chose the fabric, a piece from my stash of the fab new range from Prints Charming and I did the same shape as my previous kid bags, but used webbing for the strap, making it adjustable, and also adding a little zip pocket inside for her many treasures. Hopefully less bits and pieces will be lost now. Does anyone else have children who collect tons of little things and bits or is it just me? Drives me nuts at times.

I didn't get any decent pics of her using the bag but she did look after it (probably scared of more nagging) and continually looked up at me smiling and said "I love my bag mama", which of course put her in my good books pretty often ;-)

Speaking of kids stuff, are you participating in KCWC this time? If so, what are you planning on making? I'm looking forward to it, all things going well (hoping for no sick/disasters/whatever that will stop me sewing next week. Now to cut down my growing list of what to make...


Check out more creative spaces over here.

My creative space - birthday dress

This week in my creative space I made my big girl a new dress for her birthday. I searched online for a while for a pattern that wasn't too young or too old, if you know what I mean. She turned 7, so not a little girl but not big either. I found the adorable Maggie Mae pattern from Shwin & Shwin. Have you seen it? I love the beautifully simple style. Even though all the pics on their Etsy shop and blog show the dress on younger girls I thought it would be a nice bridge between little girl and tween fashion.

It features a contrasting yoke and hemline, pleats in the front and back and side seam pockets. I found the pattern instructions quite simple in that their wasn't a lot of detail, but it was still very clear, which was quite refreshing. I find the big name patterns often over complicate the instructions and can make a simple step sound tricky.

Red being her favourite colour at the moment I'd hunted for some inspiration and found a lovely ikat cotton for the body and a beautiful cherry red quilting cotton for the top and bottom. The ikat is so beautiful that I'd like to make a top myself from it. We would just have to organise ourselves not to wear them on the same day ;-). I'm imagining the dress in winter with tights or leggings, cardigan and scarf, hopefully it will be that versatile.

Despite the look on her face (she was recovering from a few days of illness and mean mum wants to take her pic), she loves the dress and says it's very comfortable to wear. Of course my little girl who's 4 would like one now. It's such a cute pattern, I'll definitely use it again. I really like the linen that Shwin & Shwin have used here, and it looks great with little embellishments (though the ikat fabric has enough detail going on). There's also a Flickr group for lots of inspiration.

Lots of creative spaces to check out over here.

My creative space: my Minoru jacket

My creative space this week is all about my Minoru jacket in progress. It's my single crafty focus at the moment, which I was thinking was a bit boring of me until I read this post over at Make it Smirk on 'circle's of completion'. I love how other bloggers come up with topics that make me think - my life could definitely do with more circles of completion, so I'm going to keep going with this until it's properly done - scraps of fabric folded and put away, pattern neatly put back in the envelope etc. Another reason I'd like to get this one done and dusted is that I seem to be incapable of thinking about much else at the moment!

And what's keeping me so interested, night after night, is that there are so many fun details to work on with this pattern. It's certainly the most complex garment I've ever sewn. There are zips, elastic, lining, pockets and top stitching galore!

One of the reasons I started this project was because we are going on a family holiday to Tasmania in April (yay!) and I thought I could do with a new jacket for the cooler weather there. Can anyone recommend any crafty places to go around Hobart? I'd love any recommendations.

More creative spaces to explore over here.

Playing teacher

My creative space has been filled with children even more than it usually is this week.

This term I have been going in to help out in my big girl's (year 1) art class at school once a week. I've been having a great time watching all the little people express themselves through their art. It's absolutely fascinating watching those little personalities (some I know well, others vaguely) coming through visually.



Then recently I was using one of my hand carved stamps and thought I'd love to teach the class about block printing and to make their own stamp. The very encouraging teacher welcomed my idea, so after much thought and planning I went in this week for a hectic 2 hours full of fun.



I wanted to get the mix right of freedom to be creative with some guidelines so they wouldn't get frustrated or bored. We had them come up with a simple design, then draw it on to their own rubber block. While each child sat with me individually to carve their stamp, the others in the group used my existing stamps (below) to create a card, gift card and bookmark using scraps and samples of cardboard that I'd cut and folded into shapes and brought in. I also thought they might enjoy tying some string or ribbon on to the bookmarks & gift cards, so cut a heap of lengths of various bits and pieces I had. Anything colourful or sparkly is popular, of course!



I didn't get any pics of the kids in action as I was so busy helping them (phew, those teachers earn their money!) and also wanted to respect their privacy of course. They came up with some amazing (and bizarre!) little designs, and again those personalities shone through. What a lovely thing to see.

Take a look at Our Creative Spaces (last week for the year) here.

Chicken skirt

I 'm calling this skirt that I made for myself recently my 'chicken skirt' because... when I found the fabric in an op shop ($2 bargain - lightweight dark stretch denim), I instantly knew I wanted to try to make a skirt like this one from the fabulous Makeshift Project.

But, I chickened out and made one of my standard A line knee length skirts instead. Which turned out OK but nothing exciting. Which is what I should have expected. I realised it was a bit of a dud just as I was trying it on to adjust the hem length (at around midnight one night - hmm) and did contemplate pulling it apart but in the end decided to leave it as I was so close to finishing it, and instead vow to try something more interesting next time!



I did try to add some nice details to this though. I used a scrap of Japanese fabric that I've been hoarding for ages as a pocket bias detail, lined the pockets inside in a blue/green fabric to match the bias and then did a false hem (I think that's what it's called?) and waistband inside in a purple to also go with the bias trim. I do like adding little unexpected bits of colour here and there, even when they won't really get seen by anyone by me - but I know they're there, if you know what I mean ;-)



I also made myself a fabric cuff to wear with it (in an attempt to lift my spirits about it ;-) These are always fun to make and I get to wear a little more of a fabric I love to bits.



Pop over here for more Thursday creativity.

My creative space

In my creative space this week I've been busy designing, screen printing and sewing some tea towels and other kitchen goods (and generally indulging in my new obsession with screenprinting :-)



The design is based around the beetroot design that's been in my head for ages and I finally developed for the recent fabric swap.



Earlier in the year I started selling some of my hand printed and sewn things (including my artichoke tea towels) at the lovely Sweets Workshop, which is a fantastic little gallery & retail space selling handmade objects from local and international artists and designers. Emma and John are just the most welcoming and friendly people and I admire the way they support designers and artists and provide a place to showcase emerging designers' work, while also making art and design accessible to everyone. You can check out their website here if you'd like to know more.



So this lot, plus some more things, are on their way there too and will hopefully be well received with their Christmassy colours ;-)

More creative goodness to check out over here.

Secret printing/sewing business

In my creative space today I'm trying out printing with all sorts of things, inspired by Lotta's great printing book which I never get tired of flicking through.

The fennel was a little floppy... the celery stick is yielding quite a cute little boomerang-ish shape, but I'm not sure if it's right for my secret squirrel project... I'll fill you in next week (shh)

More creative spaces here.

- - - - - -

And in unrelated goings on...

Dinner tonight is this great vegetarian shepherds pie with steamed vegies. Mmm, I so love hippy food... followed by a big chunk of chocolate or something equally sweet ;-)
What's for dinner at your place tonight?

My creative space: Schoolhouse tunic

This is the dress that I mentioned on last week's creative space, I thought I'd show you how it turned out.



I finally tried the famous 'Schoolhouse Tunic' and enjoyed the experience. I set out to make a 'muslin' to test the size and save my precious black linen til I had it right, but then I ended up quite liking the muslin after I'd done all the little adjustments to it (see notes below if you're interested). I'd made it in a lightweight denim for my stash and had to use something else for the sleeves as the denim ran out, so it was a bit of a hotch potch to say the least.



To tidy it up I finished off the seams then decided to dye it (this beautiful dress being a big inspiration) and do some top stitching, all in an effort to bring it all together and also just as a fun experiment. There's a sense of freedom in working with something that's not precious, I'm sure you'll agree. Here it is above awaiting its dye bath.



The tie-dyeing was fun to do, and turned out reasonably subtle, which I liked. Obviously it would be much better to dye the fabric first and then cut it out to sew, but it's still OK. And the dye overall helped to tie the two different fabrics together.

As for the pattern, I liked it much more than I thought I would and would definitely make it again. I love how the sleeves sit, and they are in a voile type fabric, so I'm thinking a voile version for summer would be nice.



Some pattern notes:

• Size. I always find sizing tricky. I'd looked at lots of Schoolhouse Tunics in the Flickr group and decided I wanted it to be a little more fitted than I think it's intended to be so I cut the size down from the one suggested for my measurements, thinking I could narrow the seams if necessary. But the smaller size was perfect, what a stroke of luck.

• The pleats. The pattern calls for 2 in the front but I thought it looked too 'boxy' on me and tried one instead (and idea from someone in the Flickr group). Much much better. Love the pleat and how it comes off the front opening.

• The sleeves. Love them. Didn't think I would for some reason. I imagined chopping them off or changing them in some way but I found the elastic just adds a little softness to offset the general structured feel of the dress. Will try this on other garments.

And that's about it. The pattern's easy to follow, turns out well and it's an enjoyable sew.

More creative spaces to be seen here.

- - - - -

We've had lots of computer problems in the last couple of days. There's nothing like technical problems to make me feel crazy! I think I've typed this post about 3 times - arghh! Hopefully I will see you back here again in the not too distant future...

My creative space: dyeing

I have blue fingers again today - only slightly from the cold, mostly from the dye that I have been playing around with again today.



I've been getting hugely inspired by all the blog posts on dyeing I've seen lately. I came across the Make Something blog recently. Have you seen it? Karyn sews the most amazing things (check out her '13 dressses' - I want one of each!). She writes about natural dyeing and 'Shibori'. Inspiring stuff. Karyn also owns and runs a sewing shop where she teaches sewing (and sells sewing related stuff I think) and hires out sewing machines by the hour - how cool is that!! I just want to be Karyn ;-)

OK, off to be me... see you tomorrow for my blogiversary giveaway!! Yay, I've finally got it together (well, almost).


* I'll explain more later about the dresses I'm dyeing and my plans for them - lots of experiments going on.

More creative spaces to be seen here.

My creative space: pop tarts

Creativity of the cooking kind today....



Whilst trying to think of a filler for lunch boxes last night I remembered this great post from Smitten Kitchen on pop tarts. I don't actually know if we have pop tarts in Australia, and I've never tried one. But the kids have been getting quite addicted to some store bought pastry-ish fruity snack bars, so I thought I would try to make a homemade version. Not that I'm against store bought snacks (I'm currently addicted to salt & vinegar flavoured rice cakes - much like eating a salty piece of styrofoam), but I don't want us to get too reliant on them. And it's nice to know what's in your food.



So I took tips from Smitten Kitchen, including her jam filling suggestion (thicken with cornflour) but used a standard sweet shortcrust pastry recipe (as hers had egg in and that would have excluded my allergic girl from the fun).

As a snack I liked these and will probably make them again, maybe trying the brown sugar & cinnamon filling next time. Do you have a current favourite snack?

More creative spaces over here.