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.

Nellie the Elephant Tee

This is probably my favourite thing I have sewed. Ever.

Second go at Rae's Flashback Skinny Tee. Love this pattern.

I love these little elephants, and am considering buying more of this brilliant fabric so I can make myself some clothing out of it. This version is destined for my elephant loving middle girl.

Talking of which, it is her birthday in a week or so, and she has requested an elephant cake - any ideas? Oh, and a baby elephant cake to go with the Mummy one. I think she is intending to eat the baby all by herself, and graciously allow her friends and family small slices of the bigger version. That's my girl.

Cloud Hopping Tee

It has been miserable weather all week.

I've not felt much like sewing, either. Yesterday, I realised it had been a full four days since the post lady had delivered a parcel packed of wonderful jersey goodies, and I thought I just had to do it. It was time to brave the over locker again. And what better pattern to start with than Rae's Flashback Skinny Tee?

It was pretty easy. The instructions were excellent, and the whole process went without a hitch. This is a rare thing for me, I tell you, when trying a pattern out for the first time. Admittedly, there is a bit of wonky stitching on the hem at the bottom (which I really cannot be bothered to unpick), but who's looking? I was able to comfortably get a top for my five year old out of half a metre - and, I think I may be able to wangle a smaller version of the same pattern out of what remains of the piece. We'll see. That would be a nice bonus, though. Like a Buy One Get One Free deal at Boots (and Sang knows how much I like those). Definitely worth a slice of Smug Cake if it happens.

Anyhow, I blame Rae for this latest bout of impulse fabric shopping. I'd mentioned I envied the seemingly vast choice of jersey fabrics there are over the pond - and she promptly responded by recommending Kitschy Coo to me. The internet is indeed a brilliant and dangerous thing, particularly when it comes to funky fabrics and plastic.

I'd been dubious about the price of the jersey I was about to order, but, when they arrived, I was gleeful. I think if it were possible for clothes to make the sun shine, then things made with these prints would do it. At the very least they will make us all smile. The weight is really good, too - and, for once, I followed the proper order of things, and washed the jersey before sewing with it, and I am still very pleased with quality of the product. 

Sophie beamed when she saw her new top, and wanted to wear it straight away. She then kept stroking it and saying how soft and nice it felt, and could she wear it all the time, please. Success. (And just the right amount of positive reinforcement to get her a few more like it before the weekend is out - she knows me well.)

The Play Dress

After all the faffing around with my over locker last week, I got there in the end. I am slowly getting more confident over things like changing the threads and solving minor problems. I may even treat the thing to a more regular spot on the dining room table. You never know.

For now, here we have a ridiculously simple to make dress, perfect for playing in. And Mum, if you're reading, the inside edges do look lovely - thank you (I may ask for another master class next time you're up).

Red linen mix from Singers (about £5 a metre, I think) and flowers
made from scraps of Amy Butler fabric (love, love, love scraps)

The dress is just a lengthened version of a basic peasant top. I'd intended to make it more fitted with an elasticated casing at the waist, but my five-year-old client liked its unfinished, free flowing style. It is the perfect thing for playing in. Apparently. And the customer is always right, right?

I took her advice, and design input, and added some flowers with yellow buttons in the middle. All the yellow buttons we could find, in fact.

These bright and cheery flowers on some lovely free flowing linen mix have got me thinking about summer already. And in particular, the sight of my lovely little girls running around on a sandy beach somewhere.

As the first one was so easy to make, maybe I'll make another two. Oh, go on then. We all know I can't resist a bit of sibling co-ordination when it comes to wardrobes.

Hello again

"Hello again. It's been a while..."

Last summer, my Mum bought me an overlocker for my birthday. Whilst I was excited about the potential of all the things I could do with this new toy, it took a month, and a visit from my industry trained sewing Mum, for me to get it out of its box. Buoyed up by some early success, I had every intention of using it as often as I do my regular sewing machine.

New supplies from Singers...

And then, well, the weeks and months went by, and the poor thing was a bit neglected. Largely in part due to the fact I have a strong aversion to instruction manuals. And my new overlocker (or, The Beast, as I have named it), came with a large one. Plus a DVD, to boot. 

...plus scraps leftover from a recent bunting workshop.

So, following the fun of the January challenge I set for myself (to only make things out of stuff already in my sewing box, rather than buying more stuff), I think my next little sewing challenge will be to properly get to know how this machine works. And I don't mean just coasting along, praying the thread doesn't ever break, and relying on the basic functions Mum showed me. Nope. I am going to attempt to do something I normally shy away from at all costs. To take time to read the manual. Gulp.

FORTY FIVE MINUTES of head scratching and reading the manual later,
we have threaded up and fully functioning machine again. Whoop, whoop!

Actually, I am not being entirely truthful here. I had decided to start using my overlocker more - but without the bit about taking the time to read the manual. (This is me, after all - I have been buying the same brand of phone for the last decade, on the grounds it is pretty intuitive to use, and therefore doesn't require me to open the manual.) 

But, my hand has been forced. During a rare child free afternoon (all thanks to school for one, a play date for another, and, well, one upstairs asleep) I decided to leave the housework and have a go with the overlocker. Armed with some new supplies from Singers in town (end of January Rule!), I had high ambitions to polish off a few (!) items of clothing for my eldest, who appears to be growing super fast at the moment. 

And then, after a promising start, a thread snapped. Probably my own fault, too, upon reflection, as I was not quite careful enough about changing the colour of threads over. 

I had a pretty sulky moment, where I thought to myself that the entire thing would just have to go back into the box until Mum came up for a visit. The insides of this machine seemed impossibly complicated to me, and I did not want to waste precious time reading the manual. Or watching the DVD, either, for that matter.

Anyhow, sometime later, the little pink piece of fabric was the end result. I barely had time to bask in my new reading and following instructions skills, as just after that moment, my youngest little girl announced the fact she had woken up from her afternoon sleep. So no showing off finished clothing yet. 

"I'll try and make more effort to get to know you from now on..."

But, I will say it here (as then I might stick to it), that my next challenge is going to be to overcome my sewing rut with the overlocker, and actually practise using it a bit more. And, who knows, maybe even try out some of the more fancy stuff it can do.

Next project will be to hunt down some nice jersey, and have a go at this pattern...

"MUM!"

Medieval Peasant

Last Wednesday evening at bedtime, my eldest said to me, "So, what shall I wear for Medieval Day, tomorrow, Mummy?".

(Me) "Er, yes, it's er... Medieval Day tomorrow, isn't it?". 

The letter had come home. It had been read, and, at the time, we'd talked about what sort of things peasants would have worn in medieval times. And then the conversation had been completely forgotten about. Oops. 

After kissing good night to the girls, I scuttled off to my box of off cuts, and pulled out anything that resembled peasant like colours. I'd been meaning to get my over locker back out for a while. The need for a super fast bit of fancy dress sewing seemed like the perfect moment.

Peasant dress and apron

I already had a peasant top pattern I'd drafted last year, and so extended it to make a dress, guessing the length as the little monkey who was going to wear it was snoring by this time.

If you want to have a go at making clothes for girls, a peasant top is a great starting point. There are loads of pointers all over the web as to how to go about making a pattern to fit your child. Once you've made your pattern, it is really easy to sew up the top - and a very forgiving style too, as even wonky hems at the top are pretty much hidden by all the gathering once the elastic is in, making this an ideal beginner project.

Book bag to complete the look

This whole `outfit' came together in under an hour. Fancy dress sewing is definitely fun and fast - no pressure to keep everything neat and perfect, and, in the case of this particular theme, I thought leaving all the edges raw just added to the authenticity. Perfect excuse for being lazy!

And, case you were wondering, it seems like Medieval Day was a lot of fun. Jousting, learning to be a squire, making `Stone (vegetable) Soup', and plenty of running around the playground having fun with the other peasants. Wish I could go to her school...

For the girl who likes purple...

Some purple leggings and a long sleeved t shirt to go with the dress...

New Look 6016 pattern

 First go at making anything with jersey on my new over locker. Result? Both garments fit the person they were intended for (hurrah!), and she loves them (hurrah!) - to the point she didn't want to take them off and put on her school uniform when she tried them on this morning.

On a technical note, what would I do differently? Well, work out how to finish the hems with the over locker (instead of straight stitch on normal machine, as per pattern instructions) and/or add cuffs instead of hems. Need to go back to the instructions (or Mum) to work out how to drop the blade and just use two or three threads instead of all four... "Mum!"

Definitely now my favourite pattern for little girls.
Must hide the picture of matching bag, for obvious reasons.

All in all, not too shabby for a first attempt at stretchy clothing.

Let's see what day three of KCWC brings...

My new toy (thank you, Mum)

I'll start this post with an apology - if I bore the socks off you with details about my new serger, then I am sorry. I am currently, to quote my Mum (who has been round this evening to teach me how to use it), truly like a child with a new toy.

Here it is!

In an out of character move, I sat and watched the instructional DVD that came with the serger. Twice. When you see what it looks like inside, you'll understand why. My head actually started to hurt at trying to commit to memory how to rethread this beast.

The insides

So, er, what does a serger actually do? Good question. Until this evening, I had a vague idea that it was the kind of machine used in industry to make t shirts and finish seams. And, thanks to my Mum's repeated warnings when she gave me the serger two months ago, I also knew it had a sharp blade, good for severing the edges of fabric and the fingers of careless people. Which is why it has been kept safely in its box until today, when my industry trained sewing Mum came round for the evening to show me how the thing works.

Mum told me to choose something unimportant to practise on. So, I dug out some of my fabric from Barbara (an elderly lady who, knowing I like making stuff, semi-regularly pops round with fabric she's found gathering dust in her garage) and started cutting out shapes that would (hopefully) resemble a nightie and (hopefully) fit one of my little girls when finished.

Very excited at this point (hence the need to stop and ask my Mum to take a photo). I have
decided that for me, this moment is as exciting and nervy as the moment you first drive
 a car is for normal people. 

And now for the close up on those beautifully neat seams a serger so effortlessly produces..

And so, in half the time it would take on my normal sewing machine (assuming I had bothered to finish all the seams off nicely)...

I'm thinking this could double up as a shepherd costume, or a poor man's version of Joseph's dream coat

 ...and this one definitely resembles a hospital gown.

And,as well as drinking tea, imparting many insider top tips and making
sure I didn't sew through my fingers,  Mum made a couple of pin cushions 

There's still plenty of things the serger can do that I haven't tried yet... for starters, I am looking forward to buying some jersey fabric and having a go at making something stretchy. At least the thing is out of its box and being used - thanks to a bit of confidence and help from Mum!