That Darn Skirt..

is now finished! And only 1 week late :) I had intended to make this petti-skirt for my DD's 4th birthday last week. But I ran into trouble when I went to attach the top tier to the bottom tier using my ruffler foot. It worked well enough for the ruffle when I ruffled and attached at the same time. But trying to put the two bigger layers together, one ruffling and one being attached, it wouldn't ruffle. Then having to unpick about 40cm (yes that is when I realised it wasn't ruffling in the right proportion) of 1.5 length stitches was enough for me to throw the towel in! So after unpicking, I bundled it all into a bag and put it where I couldn't see it.
So yesterday being my first day with no kids or hubby at home, I decided to tackle it. I had already accepted the fact that I would have to gather by hand. So I set about doing my basting stitches. What a lovely surprise I got when I realised that my fabric was coming out gathered from the other side of my foot! It seemed that the long stitch, and the normal presser foot, created gathers in this fabric all by itself. After some playing around, I even got it to gather to the correct length, with minimal hand tweaking!
The waist is the darker colour because when I bought the fabric, I matched it to what is now the ruffle colour, but there wasn't enough on the bolt (it really stretched it trying to get enough for one ruffle, the other ruffle is light pink) and I wasn't going to hold up the line in Spotlight any longer than need be! I think it looks nice with the darker waistband tier.
So all that I had left to do today was to join it into the round, and add the elastic for the waist. Exactly one week after the birthday. And I must say, I am mighty proud of the result :)
I also said that I never want to make another one, but just looking at it waltzing around my house, I may have to eat my words lol




Cheers!

Celebrating

We have just celebrated a birthday here at our house. My darling little baby girl turned 4 yesterday. She had a lovely day, with 3 lots of cake. Cupcakes after lunch with her Granny, Poppy and her aunty Carly. Then after school two friends she has known since birth came over and shared more cupcakes! And to top it off, she had pizza (home made of course! and her request) and a magic toadstool cake, complete with little fairy figurines.



I made her a Feliz dress, as I was determined to overcome my fear of this pattern. Thanks to Trillium's sew-a-long, I found it rather easy and really want to make more. So who knows :) She was super excited to receive it and it twirls to specification! Lol





I wanted to make her a petti-skirt as well, but lets just say that it is a work in progress. My ruffler foot decided that it didn't like to ruffle at the same time as trying to attach the second tier, so I have left it for now and will have to make do with hand gathering. Which isn't too bad, as I will only be making one of them.


What else have I been doing........? Oh that's right, making aprons. My DS has finally decided that he wants to go to other kids birthday parties – it has taken nearly 2 years to achieve this. He has always flat-out refused. Being a shy boy, I tried not to push. And now he wants to go to them, so we have 2 in a week. Being both girls, I wanted to make a present, as I really have no idea what to buy 6 year old girls! So I thought this was a great chance to try out my Cindy Taylor Oates Little Retro Aprons pattern. The first one went down a treat! I packaged them up with a wooden spoon and a cupcake mix to make. The second one is off to a birthday girl tomorrow afternoon.







So that is the wrap-up of my week.

Cheers!

Playing Catch-up

It has been awhile since I last posted and a fair bit has happened. The kids are back at school, DS is in Year 1, and in the same class as his best friend – so two happy boys, even though they don't sit next to each other. DD started Kindy last Thursday. It was only a half day, and next week will be two half days, on Tuesday and Thursday. Then the following week it will be two full days! DD is certainly looking forward to going back. There was no tears, from either of the kids, or us. I do miss them though – it is not quite the same at home without them. At least hubby is on holidays, so he is keeping me company for the the next two weeks :)

A few sewing projects have been completed, the latest one was finished today. DD needed a cushion for Kindy and wanted a princess one. My mum wanted to buy it, but couldn't find one that was suitable (they were all too small). So she and my sister found a panel of fabric with a princess on it, and some pretty buttons. I made up a cover with a button closure at the back. Not overly exciting, but functional, and my first cushion cover.




On Monday afternoon, DS informed me that his drink bottle had made his desk all wet. Hmm, ok. So the next day I send his bottle with a tea towel wrapped around it. Now, all I can say about my tea towels is that they are very well used. Not overly pretty let me tell you lol. Anyway, that afternoon, same problem, the bottom of his drink had still made the desk wet. Right – we need to fix this. A stubby holder wasn't big enough, so I had to make something. Then I remembered a lovely crafty mama, by the name of Tracy, had posted a tutorial on her blog on how she made some for her kids. Thankyou so much for this Tracy – made my job much quicker and easier!
So I followed her instructions using the measurements as a guide only, as I had different sized drink bottles. I decided to use some Insul-Brite to help keep the water cold for longer and just some cotton fabrics I had laying around. So get one all sewn up apart from the inside bottom seam, and try it on the drink bottle. It won't fit! It was too small :( Hence why they have a panel down the side. DS took it to school on Wednesday and told everyone proudly that 'Mummy made it!'



Today I finished off the Pink Fig Girly Stripwork Skirt for DD – all her skirts are about 2 years old, and the elastic is starting to go in them. So I got out my scraps from recently made items and managed to get enough to make 20 (yes 20!) strips. This makes for a very long length of fabric – about 2.5m!! Of which then needs to be gathered to a waistband of about 68cm. OMG! This was a perfect time to test out my new ruffler foot. After a little playing around, I got the settings right. Well so I thought. After ruffling it all, I went to attach it to the waistband, and it was ruffled too tight! Argh! So out came the unpicker, and I removed it and redid it. Even so, it was still quicker than if I had run two rows of gathering stitches, and gathered by hand. Plus it was fun!
A gorgeous skirt, but I don't care for the waistband at all. The drop waist is just awful on my DD. It sort of ended where her bottom ended. And then the skirt was way down past her knees. I changed it to just a basic folded over waist. Much better. Lovely and twirly as well :)





Sorry for the long winded-ness – I will try to update more frequently :)

Cheers!