Makes for Children

Flashback Skinny Tee

Mum came up the weekend before last, and whilst she was here, I sat down and had a spot of over locker tuition from her. 

I have owned The Beast for a couple of years. I have pottered along, sporadically getting it out of its box and praying it didn't need rethreading whilst I was half way through making something, and being limited as to what I knew how to do with it. I decided that, in the safety of mum being nearby to help, it was time. I got the instruction book out, and had a play about and practise. 

And, while I was about it, fished out some impressively old WIPs and finished them. I am not sure if cutting out t shirt pieces (I used Rae's Skinny Flashback) and abandoning them into a box for two years even counts as a WIP, given no sewing had taken place. But still, last weekend was their time to get made. And, for me to discover they were now not only too small for the original recipients, but, almost too small for the next children down the line as well. That explains why I added the band at the bottom of the smaller t shirt. 

Fabric from Kitschy Coo

In the space of an evening, I managed to sew up five t shirts. It makes me wonder why I had left the first (pre cut) three makes unfinished for so long.

I gave in at midnight and went to bed. The next morning, the dining room was still a mess of threads and scraps EVERYWHERE. Like the sewing equivalent of the aftermath of a drunken house party party with lots of gate crashers. The middle girl wasted no time in getting creative with this little smiley face.

I didn't stop at the ready cut t shirts. I took the scissors to a few of my own old tops and made a couple of new things for the girls. I was particularly pleased with this (super early) birthday t shirt for the middle girl. She likes it, too - and it is now neatly folded in her drawer, ready for the big day. Maybe I should have had the self control not to let her see it until then, but I can't resist a spot of instant gratification when it comes to sharing my makes with people. And this way, she gets to feel excited about her birthday every time she opens her drawer to get dressed in the mornings.

Laura's Jolly Giraffe (made on the current course)

I am so enjoying teaching my groups - I have two on the go at the moment, and I get a real buzz from helping people new to sewing overcome their initial fear of using a machine. I like to watch as their confidence goes up as they successfully finished their first simple projects, and then listen in as the conversation amongst the group moves on to talking about what they'd like to make next. One of my current beginners says he wants to be able to sew his own cycling kit. Another one of my beginners didn't wait until the end of the course to get started - her daughter wanted to go to school on World Book Day dressed as Wendy from Peter Pan. She left last week's lesson (her second) telling me this, and today turned up with the outfit to show us. Awesome!

Nicola and the `Wendy' dress she made for her daughter

I say it to them all - there is nothing to worry about with sewing. Just go for it - the worst that happens is you end up unpicking something, and learning from that anyway. (Actually, in my case, the worst that happens is you burn your fabric with the iron, plod on making the project anyway in the vain hope the burn might not be too obvious, make more mistakes, and then the whole sorry project ends up in the bin. But that, dear friends, is another story.)

On a non sewing note, a really nice (and quite cute) development in the littlest big girl over the last week has been she has joined her big sister as an unstoppable force in making stuff with Sellotape. She made her own adjustments to her existing Wellies, so that they were in keeping for her own World Book Day costume of a dinosaur. She added the buttons so that she would be able to tell which way round her boots go on.

Finally, I have some cunning plans and clever tricks in store for the cupboard under the stairs. The process has now started, but here is a picture of how it looked just as I emptied everything out of it.

Squirrel Dress (and a mini rant about clothes for girls)

Those plaits. I love them.

I bought this fabric a year or so ago, totally on a whim.

It is a lesson if ever there was one on the dangers of the internet and a Paypal account when in the hands of someone like me who is prone to impulsive buys when lovely fabric pops up before her eyes on the Fabric Rehab Facebook feed.

This fabric was used to make a pair of pyjamas worn by Taylor Swift. (Not that I would have had a clue about this fact had it not been for a dealer dangling another enticing prospect under this fabric addict's nose for her to be tempted by. In no way did I then see myself inserted into the picture below, every bit as cool as soon as I was sporting my own pair of pyjamas with squirrels all over them.)

Shortly after my fabric arrived, I found out I was pregnant, and, well, any inclinations I had to spend time making myself a pair of pop star pyjamas (because wearing them would have made me cool, right?) left me. Instead, I eventually made a Roman blind for what would be the new baby's room out of some of the fabric I'd bought.

Squirrel Blind

And then (knowing I had blown enough of the fabric to rule out the pyjama option), I made a little covered notebook for the littlest big girl. And then, a little purse to match (which she proudly pulls out of her monkey messenger bag every Saturday when buying her sweets).

My simple tutorial on how to make your own covered notebook is here

And finally (for now anyway), a dress. For the littlest big girl again. Well, she is so incredibly sweet in her appreciative `thank you Mummy for making me...'s. I cannot resist spoiling her a bit. Not least because she exhibits pure delight without any of the constructive design feedback her two big sisters are sometimes prone to dishing out. And besides, I'd recently bought the bigger two a few new clothes - and the littlest big girl had a new t shirt and that was about it, due to all the hand me downs available to her. Time for something just for her.

This came together pretty easily. New Look 6016 is a favourite and well used pattern of old. I have made about ten versions, and enjoy seeing them passed down as each owner out grows one. For me, this simple design works beautifully well and is exactly the sort of dress I want my girls to wear. It is loose fitting and comfortable for playing in. It looks like a dress for a little girl, not a mini adult. And, it is great for showing off some funky fabrics and big buttons. Perfect, if you ask me.

So, big corporations who make clothes for kids, please take note. This is how I'd like to dress my daughters. And, I don't think I am alone. Just because they reach the age of five, I don't want them to be clumped in with fashion conscious young teenagers, made to look like miniature grown ups, stuck in styles that restrict their movement, that come in depressing greys and blacks with token bits of sparkle. I want their clothes to be fun and with plenty of room to run/jump/hop/spin/leap around in. Oh, and with a pocket for the endless stream of tissues they get through (and all the random treasures they collect throughout an average day).

So please can we have more children's clothes in shops that have animals all over them, and lots of bright colours (not just a million different shades of purple and pink) and, well, spell fun, I guess.

From dress to messenger bag

There is no doubt that having four children of the same gender has its advantages on the handing down of clothes front. Perhaps not quite as much as people might imagine (tomato sauce being one reason), but a lot of stuff does get passed down as children grow out of things. 

This can at times mean that it feels worth the effort to make stuff for them to wear. Although, I hasten to add, I am not aspiring to make all or even a substantial amount of their wardrobes - but, there are times when a fabric catches my eye and I can see it as having the potential to be a great item of children's clothing.

I made the littlest big girl as she is now known this monkey dress last year. A victim of its own success, she has been reluctant to part with it, even though it is now bordering on the indecent/pointless as a dress even with leggings underneath. Not to mention that it is hardly the right weight fabric for a little girl to be wearing in autumn in terms of keeping her warm.

But she likes it, and I guess I should be flattered when the pain of parting problem occurs with an item of clothing I have made them.

This is all that is left of the original dress.

As of lunchtime today, with its owner at my side (which explains and excuses the ropey stitching in places if you ask me), the dress got chopped and transformed into a messenger bag.

The idea had come to me a few mornings ago. Some mornings with children are glorious. Others are not. You get woken to the sounds of an argument, and asked to referee before you have had chance to have a morning mug of tea to wake you properly.

One such argument happened over bags. Yes, my three eldest were arguing over handbags before 7 am. It occurred to me the littlest big girl has not got a `special' bag made for her by me, and that maybe that explained her theft of the middle girl's elephant bag. So, although the words `please be quiet, let me have a cup of tea and I will make you a bag of your own, darling' didn't quite leave my lips at the time, it did later occur to me that I could kill two birds with one stone and do a bit of recycling with her too small dress.

She's very happy, and wasted no time in a) filling it with a very random collection of stuff until it would barely shut, and, b) showing it off to her sisters at school pick up. Cue another argument...

A dedicated follower of fashion (she is not)

Flamingo skirt and Nellie the Elephant Tee

I am shattered.

Today has been a good day, don't get me wrong. But I feel like I have squeezed every drop of energy I have into a whole manner of things that happen in a busy household with four children in it. And, now that they are all in bed, I am enjoying the luxury of the sofa to myself, a huge mug of hot tea, and peace and quiet. Hurrah for peace and quiet, eh?

And double hurrah - husband has just called to say he is on his way home from work and collecting a take away order from our local Indian restaurant.

My reason for writing is partly for my own benefit. It has been a frustrating half hour getting them to bed - largely due to the middle girl. I have moments when I wonder whether she is actually deaf, rather than plain naughty and unwilling to do the most simple of tasks like putting her clothes away without being asked a gazillion times.

The photo above is a reminder to myself of her glorious nature.

It was taken at the weekend. In it, she (and her little sister) are sweeping up leaves from the front step. It's the first time they'd ever done it, and they went about it like it was the best game I had ever devised for them.

Just behind me, as I was taking the picture, the eldest girl was hoovering. Hoovering! This happened as a result of me making a throw away comment about the new little vacuum cleaner I'd bought (on account of my back being bad) being so light that they (the girls) could probably even manage to use it. It was not long after that all three started badgering me to let them use it. I lavished them with praise and thanked them for being so helpful, and they have asked a few more times if they could do some hoovering for me. Please, please, please let this last, I say to myself. (It's okay to have your children doing housework, right?)

But back to the middle girl. Here she is, our very own Cinderella, sporting her own unique combination of clothing. This picture is evidence if ever it was needed that making your children's clothes will not necessarily work out with them looking as coordinated as you may have intended. I am not sure what went through her mind as she chose her clothes. An animal theme, I think. Definitely not inspired by colours or patterns that go together. I have long given up trying to influence her choice of combination of clothing. I try and be happy with the fact that she is actually dressed (and not dancing around the landing in just a pair of knickers).

Whatever else can be said of the middle girl, she is joyful.

And, breathe...

I now understand why some people refer to moving house as one of life's most stressful experiences.

Whilst I still think there are far more stressful things people have to endure - I am very relieved to report we have exchanged contracts and consequently have a fixed date on which to move. At. Long. Flipping. Last.

This week has been a bit up and down, waiting for exchange to happen. I took my mind off the process on Friday afternoon with some baking, and got a friend round to share the results with me. Anyone else find that a Victoria Sponge and cup of tea improve a situation?

I could rant about the process. And, I must admit, I did, whilst my friend was round. Thanks, Annabel!

But, right now, I am relieved and happy with my lot. Okay, so the moving date has shifted. Four times, by my count. The uncertainty has been frustrating. But, we are moving.

Hopefully, the residents of my mobile nursery can hang in there for a little bit longer. Slightly obsessive, crazy plant lady? Yes, I think that is what I am turning into. But, in my defence, I thought we were moving at the start of April, and, now I have bought these little lovelies into the world, I cannot bring myself to chuck them into the big green bin for the council to come and collect and turn into compost.

I'll be sad to leave our house. I really, really like living here. Three of our children have been born here, and the place holds many memories. We've had regular clear outs over the years, in order to avoid moving. But, with baby number four getting ready to join us, the time has come to move on. 

What am I most excited about?

Toilets.

We currently have one. It's upstairs. We've gone through potty training (three times) and the challenges involved. But now, the power struggles (mainly the middle girl hogging the loo when she knows one or both of her sisters are doing a jig waiting) and post school dashes upstairs and regular puddles on the bathroom floor are about to become a thing of the past. And that is a happy thought that wins over any cross thoughts I may have about how annoying parts of the moving process so far have been.

With three weeks to go, bring on the boxes. You don't scare me. 

And heck. Now there has been a last minute delay, I think I have time to make that silk polka dot dress before the move. But first, there are sparkles to be sewn onto a birthday dress for the middle girl in time for Thursday. Four days and counting, Mummy. 

Three cheers to the sun shining and it being a bank holiday weekend.

Hope you all have fun.

Flamingo skirts, fairy cakes and Jaffa Cake Cupcakes

This morning, I cheekily finished off the last two flamingo skirts whilst the littlest girl sat next to me with her play dough. 

You see, I'd made the error of unveiling one finished skirt without having the other ones ready. Given the first skirt was an instant hit with its owner, the unfinished nature of the other skirts quickly became a problem when the school girls returned home.

Gathered skirts are not exactly the rocket science of sewing, I know. But they are very satisfying all the same, especially if you have a fabulous flamingo print to show off, and, you need to make three.

Please indulge me and coo suitably over how clever (I feel) it was of me to think ahead and make labels for the skirts. This will make life easier when it comes to sorting out the washing, trust me. (Don't even get me started over the trauma of pairing up all the necessary socks and sorting pants for three little girls so similar in age. Let's just say I am training up the biggest girl, heaping on praise - and house points - each time she helps me with it.)

Ta - da!

 Next, some footage of mine and the littlest girl's baking adventures this afternoon.

Does anyone know or care what the difference is between fairy cakes and cupcakes? We made both this afternoon, so prepare for me to bore you with a quick run down.

Fairy cake (complete with fairy dust)

If you are interested, the fairy cakes of my childhood are a simple equal amounts (4 oz) mixture of butter, flour and sugar, with a couple of eggs, and whizzed up and dolloped into a dozen cases before going in the oven. Simple water based icing with sprinkles is the orthodox way ahead with decorating. Cupcakes are a more recently popular thing here, thanks to our cousins across the pond - and, if you're being cynical about it - an excuse for charging handsomely if on sale. The have more sugar than flour, less egg (instead more milk to make up for that), and, usually have tons of butter icing on (I use half what the recipe says, as have never managed to pile all the recommended butter icing on top of the cake and eat it without feeling slightly sick). In my humble cake eating opinion, both are lovely. Just in case you live in Bedford and were thinking of making a batch of either and leaving some on my doorstep.. he, he.

Here are some of the t shirt designs we came up with together over the school holidays. I've only managed to go the the vast effort of switching the iron on and finishing one. That is now covered in porridge and strawberry juice (above). But you get the idea.

The girl loves washing up after our cooking sessions. Still working on the getting stuff clean without soaking the kitchen floor part of the process.

Onto the next part of the baking adventure. Whilst the littlest girl was busily occupied with her fairy cake decorating and washing up duties, I was free to bake the Jaffa Cake cupcakes unassisted.

This was the very first recipe my friend Sang and I cooed over when we opened up the Hummingbird Bakery Home Sweet Home book just after she gave it to me.

I vowed to make some before too long.

Not least because I a) love Jaffa Cakes and b) had this jar of posh marmalade in the cupboard. I am a Marmite on toast girl, and would choose plain butter on toast before allowing marmalade anywhere near my breakfast. But in a cake? I am open minded.

The verdict?

These were fun to make, and good to look at. Easy enough that I could have made them even if the littlest girl was `helping'.

The taste?

Good. No, very good. Very, very good (even if, like me, you don't normally like marmalade).

And, exciting news just in for those living in Bedford - a new fabric shop has just opened by the bus station in town. They are the same people who run the shop in Bletchley, where the fabulous flamingo fabric came from. Apparently, it is still early days as far as levels of stock go, but definitely worth popping in regularly to see what new goodies they are getting in...

A suitcase full of dreams

The BFG and a little brown mouse on their way to school

Today is World Book Day.

As part of the celebrations, all the children and staff were invited to dress up as a character from a favourite book.

And so, I have just taken the BFG and a little brown mouse to school, and handed them over to the care of the Head Teacher dressed as Cleopatra, a tin man and a gang of pirates. What brilliant fun! I almost wish I was back at school again.

But, I did get to enjoy some extremely rewarding sewing making the costumes with them the other evening after school. And, even better (even better than sewing?), while I was making the cape, I got to watch my six year old excitedly making props to go into the suitcase.

When people (usually complete strangers at the supermarket checkout) notice my bump, and, commenting on the fact it will be child number four to enter the household, respond with a "you're brave!" and look to accompany it that actually says "are you a bit insane?", they overlook things like World Book Day.

Jars of dreams - with (in case you haven't read the book)
deliberately poor spelling, just like the BFG's own labels.

The biggest girl ran to school today, and not because we were running late (which we sometimes are).

World Book Day is all about celebrating the magic of books and the significant places they occupy in our lives. And, for the biggest girl, this has been represented by the joy she took over hand writing labels of dreams, just like in her favourite book.

Scenes like the one at our kitchen table the day we made her costume together are the ones I wish I could show in response to the strangers who comment on my choices over family. (And maybe not the more chaotic scenes of three little girls squabbling over the `dream blower' and inadvertently clonking each other by racing round the house with the `dream catcher'...)

So, hurrah for brilliant authors who inspire our children, and, for the teachers like the ones at their school today, who threw themselves into making it a fun-filled day.

How old is too old to wear a hat with animal ears?

In our house, the answer to this question is six years old. And so, here is a hat that does meet with the approval of our biggest girl.

This new hat coincides with her losing her first tooth. Wow. So grown up. And, unwilling to contemplate animal ears on hats (even if she has given a few admiring inspections of her little sister's new bunny rabbit hat).

Anyhow, this hat is just a smaller version of the bobble hat I made for myself. I cast on 36 stitches instead of 41, and then made the finished length of the hat a bit smaller, too, before following the same instructions of shaping the crown. It worked, and the hat fits. The biggest girl was not too impressed at the plain black hat I presented her with, until I explained I was planning to teach her how to make a red pom pom, so that she could make it look like Minnie the Minx. That went down very well.

What's the going rate for the tooth fairy to leave for a tooth, we wondered. The consensus came back with £1. But maybe a bit less for subsequent ones - depending on how much change the tooth fairy has in her purse...

Bunny Rabbit Hat

On my recent shopping trip, me and the littlest girl spotted some super soft fleece. 

"That would make a lovely bear hat, wouldn't it?", I said, thinking of the pattern from Oliver and S Little Things to Sew. "No," came the reply, "a bunny rabbit hat!". All smiles and charm, how could I resist this request?

The pattern is not new to me - I tweaked it once before to make this dinosaur hat for a small boy.

It was chucking it down with rain all day on Sunday, and so, once things were a bit quieter in the afternoon, I got to work on the bunny rabbit hat. 

I can only say, that the results are nothing short of my own real life Anne Geddes picture. I am definitely in the `dress small children in hats with animal ears for as long as you can get away with it' camp. The sight of my littlest girl in a bunny rabbit hat only makes her cuter than she is already (I think I am allowed to say that as her mum). Love it. And, thankfully, so does she. We might just have found a hat she'll keep on her head when it's freezing cold outside (and when it's not).

And, completely randomly, here are some pictures we took of the elephants at Woburn when we went there in half term. I was most impressed with how nimble they were at balancing whilst their keepers cleaned their feet for them.