dolman sleeve top

next up on the sewing list for Miss 13 is bwof 6-2009-109A. It's a fluid, extravagant top featuring dolman sleeves and a tapered in waist. She's chosen a busy, small floral viscose print while I've been sure that this would look great in a bold print. So I'm secretly thinking that I might have to make up this pattern for myself as well, as I've got just the right fabric in mind.

I'm teaching Miss 13 to do the pattern tracing (I hate tracing!) and her help is certainly making the bwof sewing process much easier. She's constantly reading the bwof magazines and sticking post its on all the patterns she likes - yikes, her sewing list is growing by the day. Looks like I'm going to be very busy!

birthday surprise

it was my birthday late last week and my children surprised me with a huge chalk mural in our backyard, filled with sweet messages plus lots and lots of hearts. They also put together their pocket money and bought me these 2 cookbooks. I like Richard Till's cooking style as well as his use of retro kiwi tea towels and cooking gear - his brand of conversational cooking reminds me a great deal of Galloping Gourmet chef, Graham Kerr, whose show used to air in the 1960s/1970s. Plus the christmas cookbook is a real treat. I'm always on the look out for yummy christmas recipes.

then my mother surprised me with a pair of beautiful, hand embroidered pillowcases that she'd made. For me there's nothing more special than heartfelt gifts. All in all , it was a day of lovely surprises!

bwof pants success

 here's Miss 13 dressed in her finished carrot pants and ready to head off to the Open Day for college. She looooves them! and I enjoyed sewing them. The pleats at the front yoke are a really interesting feature and the fabric we chose is perfect for showing this feature off. The pants drape beautifully and are made for movement. This pattern is well suited to a tall and leggy person (which Miss 13 is). I'll be posting a review of this pattern over at patternreview tomorrow. On the plus side, sewing under pressure has brought my 'missing in action' sewing enthusiasm back... hooray!!!!!!

ps: did you notice the tie dye tank top. Miss 13 made it yesterday at school. Very retro cool!

Photo removed for safety reasons due to cyber stalking!

bwof pants success

 here's Miss 13 dressed in her finished carrot pants and ready to head off to the Open Day for college. She looooves them! and I enjoyed sewing them. The pleats at the front yoke are a really interesting feature and the fabric we chose is perfect for showing this feature off. The pants drape beautifully and are made for movement. This pattern is well suited to a tall and leggy person (which Miss 13 is). I'll be posting a review of this pattern over at patternreview tomorrow. On the plus side, sewing under pressure has brought my 'missing in action' sewing enthusiasm back... hooray!!!!!!

ps: did you notice the tie dye tank top. Miss 13 made it yesterday at school. Very retro cool!

carrot pants

pressured by the urgency of making Miss 13 clothes that fit. I'm having another try at making bwof pants even though my first pair were a dismal failure - yep, a total wadder!

Miss 13 is tall (she's still growing) and has a short torso and long legs, so ready-to-wear pants are often too short. If she goes for the length then most rtw pants sit way too high above her waist. After yet another unsuccessful shopping trip, ending with both of us feeling cross (plus my paitence being worn thin!), I've agreed to sew for her.

inspired by MC Hammer's pants (any one remember those?), she's chosen bwof 08-2009-123 'futurism' pants. This pattern states "Carrot trousers/pants are back – in a more modern version. Still ankle-length and cut wide at the hips, ours sport a wide yoke and inverted box pleats. This style was designed exclusively for tall sizes!" My first impression is that the pants have a really nice streamlined style. I like the fact that the pleats come off the waist yoke rather than directly from the waist. She's chosen a black poly-wool crepe and wants to wear them this Friday. So I'll be pulling a late nighter to get them done.
There's nothing quite like a bit of 'pressure sewing' to get back into the swing of things...

crown lynn rejects

my favourite crown lynn vases are all rejects because of hairline cracks and crazing, which makes them perfect for everyday use and display. If they were perfect, I'd be worrying about them getting damaged too much to enjoy them. I've still no inspiration to sew so I'm keeping myself busy with cleaning, gardening, baking and even polishing the silver for the christmas table. I've also signed up for the kiwi christmas ornament swap and am working on a couple of ideas which I'll keep under wraps until I decide on the right one. I'll post photos as soon as I'm done.

performer

with only 4 weeks of school left to go before the summer holidays, Mr 10 has been doing a lot of performing. Here he is with his school's Pasifika group, about to do a Cook Island dance. He's a bundle of nerves but looking forward to dancing. This child of mine never stops dancing. His legs are forever shuffling and moving around in time to the music. Luckily he was able to stay still long enough to have a photo taken with his little sister...

performer

with only 4 weeks of school left to go before the summer holidays, Mr 10 has been doing a lot of performing. Here he is with his school's Pasifika group, about to do a Cook Island dance. He's a bundle of nerves but looking forward to dancing. This child of mine never stops dancing. His legs are forever shuffling and moving around in time to the music. Luckily he was able to stay still long enough to have a photo taken with his little sister...

more comic relief

youtube is a great place to find lots of funny ads... how about this one from Pacific Blue.

lavender

when we bought our house a while back, we inherited a totally overgrown backyard full of fruit trees and shrubs. The elderly owner was an avid gardener and in her last years the garden had completely gotten away on her. Hidden under all the weeds were some great plants including this beautiful lavender, which delivers abundant flower crops every year. Apart from the fact that lavender smells and looks nice, it's also a natural moth and pest repellant.

I've been a little slow packing away the winter woollen blankets (it's late Spring now) and finally got to putting them away today in storage. With the blankets I put in some simple dried lavender sachets that I'd made this morning. An easy 'green' project consisting of 2 squares of fabric (20cm x 20cm) sewn together with a loop of ribbon for a hanger and filled with dried lavender. I dried my lavenders in bunches, hung upside down in the garden shed. Over time the lavender sachets scent may soften. When that happens I use a couple of drops of lavender oil to help refresh them.

picnic food

my mother introduced me to the idea of steamed pork buns as a picnic food. These have become my familys most favourite picnic food, although of course, you can make and eat them anytime. I use this recipe as my basis. I'm forever improvising when I make these. Here's a few tips of what I've tried so far:

* try using mince (any kind) or try diced/chopped chicken etc instead of pork or maybe leave the meat out altogether and go with lots of veg.
* add veges. I like to add grated carrot or shredded cabbag or mixed veges or spinach etc. You get the idea! The options are endless and it's also a great way to have children eat their veges.
* I often leave the rice wine out of my filling mixture.
* you can adjust the soy sauce/oyster sauce measurements until you're happy with the taste, colour and texture of your filling.

My mother's best hint is to have the pinched tops at the bottom when they're being steamed as they become all glossy and rounded when they're cooked.

Enjoy!

sewing commission

to help break my continued sewing drought, a friend has commissioned me to make a royalty gown for her vintage Cissy (similar to the 1st photo). I'm using vintage McCalls 2255 as the basis for the gown and a vintage medium weight brocade with lots of lurex thread. It's proving successful as I'm actually feeling motivated about sewing again. However personal sewing might still be sometime away. Thanks to all of you who took the time to share tips and advice about breaking a sewing dry spell.

90 years young

just a quick post to say that we celebrated my Gran's 90th birthday yesterday. It was a lovely day of sunshine, family and lots of laughs (plus some tears as well)...