mothers day surprise

mothers day in our house starts when I succumb to dear hubby and our childrens insistence that I have breakfast in bed. Usually I'm up and into my day at around 5am with porridge for breakfast. So my mothers day surprise was a lie in until 8 am and a very BIG breakfast so nicely set up with a sprig of bouganvillea.

Hugs and kisses to my dear hubby and children. I'm very, very proud to be a mother.

more play dresses

Miss 2's first play dress that I blogged about the other day has been so successful that I'm compelled to make her more. So here's a hint of the other fabric colour combinations that I've chosen for Miss 2's other play dresses. Again I'll be using the 'economical dress' pattern. This time I'll make it with a round neckline although I think I'll leave the skirt fullness as it is. There's also a smock dress pattern by Enid Gilchrist that I'd like to make up in the red spot/black & white floral.

Most of the fabrics came from the Spotlight remnant bag, which has proved to be well worth the $5 price. I had to buy a 1/2 metre of the yellow gingham and the red & white spot as I didn't have anything in my stash that would match/compliment the prints.

Just realised today that I really love to fill my sewing world with colour!

1960s inspired mini dress

All of Miss 12's hard work paid off as her Mary Quant presentation was a hit. She looked great in her 60s inspired mini dress and received a lot of compliments from viewers on her outfit, lively speech and colourful display board. Miss 12 was sporting a shiner from netball trials earlier in the week, so we had to forgo the 60s eye makeup and false eyelashes.

I started off with a size 12 Misses vintage pattern that needed to be graded down in size in the bust,waist and side areas. I also had to alter the shoulders, reposition the darts in the back to accommodate Miss 12's swimmer shoulders. The completed length was good as we'd agreed that we wouldn't go too short even with a 2 inch hem sewn in.

It was a great pattern to sew and the alterations were an interesting challenge too after sewing Miss 2's play dress.

Cranford - 'Bessie dearest'

another Cranford moment when 'Bessie dearest', Mrs Forrester's cow suffers a huge amount of hair loss as a result of falling in a lime pit. There's some suggestion that the cow should be put down unless it can wear pyjamas to cover it's nakedness. So Mrs Forrester makes Bessie the cow, grey flannel pyjamas. Now that has to be the ultimate sewing project.

Oh and in case you wondering, there's meant to be a flap for milk and another for cow poos?

play dress

Finished Miss 2's play dress last night and then pressed and hung it up for her to find and wear this morning. With delight she put it on, all the while asking 'for me?' and 'sooo cute!.' There's been plenty of whirling and twirling this morning. The green of the skirt was hard to photograph. The photo of Miss 2 modelling is the closest to the actual shade of the fabric.

Another successful garment made from an Enid Gilchrist pattern. The pattern was drafted with ease. Next time I make this dress, I'll redraft the neckline to allow for a deeper square. Apart from that, it looks like the 3 'ugly' fabrics go together well.

Cranford - the lace incident

I'm a fan of 19th century literature and drama and lately I've been watching 'Cranford' while I sew at night. So I thought I'd share a link to my favourite scene. I've called it 'the lace incident'.

It involves lace + cat + buttermilk = a mess!

vintage doll pattern

my sewing has to be varied to keep me motivated and interested. So every now and then I do some sewing for my vintage dolls. I've just won this pattern on Trademe (NZ's site similar to ebay) and look forward to receiving it before the weekend. There's some printed voile in my stash that would be perfect for making a pair of doll's shortie pyjamas.

play dress progress

Miss 2's play dress is coming along nicely. I decided to add some bright pink ric rac to the yoke and pocket. It's brightened up the dress considerably and draws the mixey/matchy fabrics together more. Putting binding around the square neckline was a little fiddley and I didn't quite get it 'square'. Usually I'd make sure it was 'spot on' but I don't think Miss 2 is going to be looking too closely. She just wants it finished asap!

As for Miss 12's Mary Quant dress, it's almost finished. Just some hemming to do. I'll post a photo on Friday when she's wearing it at her project presentation.

ric rac

I've always had a love of ric rac. I guess it's because it showed up consistently on a lot of my childhood clothing. I bought all this ric rac from a Wellington store. It's the perfect width for trimming either vintage dolls or little girls dresses.

play clothes

Miss 2 has been waiting so paitently by the sewing machine for me to stop working on Miss 12's Mary Quant inspired mini dress & start sewing her play clothes.

Her first item of play clothing is an economical square yoked dress drafted from Enid Gilchrist's 'Toddlers Clothes' book. Again, the Spotlight remnants bag hasn't disappointed. It's yielded up 3 really 'ugly' fabrics that go together in a mixy/matchy sort of way. My plan is to make version 1 using the ice blocks fabric for the yoke & pocket, green floral for the dress skirt, make stripey bias binding for around the neckline, armholes and border on pocket. Thank goodness Miss 2 isn't fussed about colour yet. Her main concern I think is that it's twirly and whirly. So off I go to make it work!

nz artist, chris barry

I met artist, Chris Barry recently and I was immediately impressed by her work, especially her blue & white crockery paintings (as I'm a keen blue willow collector.) Chris is a really lovely person and paints with a considered and thoughtful eye. I love discovering and sharing about fellow NZers craft & art endeavours. You can contact Chris: chriscardbarry@yahoo.com.au

mary quant project update

we're making great progress with Miss 12's Mary Quant project. Miss 12 has been busy researching while I've been working on her 'mary quant' inspired outfit. I blogged earlier this month that Miss 12 had chosen a Mary Quant vest/shorts/blouse outfit. After what seemed like a gazillion alterations, it became obvious that Miss 12 just wasn't liking the outfit too much. The silhouette was great but the outfit looked a little too grown up for a 12 year old. So back to the pattern stash we went and chose this pattern instead. It's more 70s but is still the right shape. After all Mary Quant lays claim to being the very first designer of the mini. So we're going with the mini dress version with short sleeves. Miss 12 has broad, square swimmer shoulders so this should make for an interesting sew.


Quant fashions seem to be mostly plains, spots, stripes, plaids & checks. However we've taken the liberty of choosing a print. The dress fabric is a lovely medium weight cotton mix with a vintage-like leaf print that I bought from Arthur Toyes, Wellington.

mary quant project update

we're making great progress with Miss 12's Mary Quant project. Miss 12 has been busy researching while I've been working on her 'mary quant' inspired outfit. I blogged earlier this month that Miss 12 had chosen a Mary Quant vest/shorts/blouse outfit. After what seemed like a gazillion alterations, it became obvious that Miss 12 just wasn't liking the outfit too much. The silhouette was great but the outfit looked a little too grown up for a 12 year old. So back to the pattern stash we went and chose this pattern instead. It's more 70s but is still the right shape. After all Mary Quant lays claim to being the very first designer of the mini. So we're going with the mini dress version with short sleeves. Miss 12 has broad, square swimmer shoulders so this should make for an interesting sew.


Quant fashions seem to be mostly plains, spots, stripes, plaids & checks. However we've taken the liberty of choosing a print. The dress fabric is a lovely medium weight cotton mix with a vintage-like leaf print that I bought from Arthur Toyes, Wellington.

crafty signs

We walked past this wall several times a day. Each time, we'd stop for a minute and have a go at reading the signs with the worst and fakest accents ever. Even funnier was when people walking by stopped and joined in the fun.



found this fine example of guerilla knitting in the Cuba Mall, Wellington. I would love to have added a piece to this. I didn't have any knitting stuff with me and finding the local Knitworld store was a mission. When I finally found it, Miss 2 decided it was time to have a tantrum, so we left straight away. Despite it's hard to find location, Knitworld looked like a really great store, well stocked and full of goodies. Maybe next time?

monet & the impressionists

Color is my day-long obsession, joy and torment

Claude Monet


the exhibition was well worth the trip to Wellington with dear hubby and 3 children in tow. There were 27 Monet paintings to view including Meadow with poplars, Camille Monet and a child in the artist's garden in Argenteuil as well as works from his Water Lily, Haystacks, and Rouen Cathedral series. The exhibition was structured into 7 parts:

Monet's early career
Sources of inspiration
Monet and early Impressionism
Monet and the triumph of Impressionism: the 1880s
Monet and Japanese art
Monet's series
Monet and Impressionism after 1900

Monet's impressive works were displayed alongside masterpieces by Renoir, Degas, Pissarro, Sisley, Cezanne, Boudin, Millet, Corot, Courbet, Jongkind, Manet, Rousseau, Toulmache & Troyou.

I also viewed 'Impressions of France: French prints 1850–1900' featuring etchings, lithographs & woodcuts from Impressionist & Post Impressionist movements as well as from members of the Barbizon School including Toulouse Lautrec, Manet, Corot, Renoir and others.

I was thrilled by all that I saw. I studied art history years ago and fell in love with the impressionists paintings, with Monet being my all time favourite painter. There's nothing quite like seeing the paintings in person. Prints and photos just don't do the artworks enough justice. I went back and looked at the paintings from different angles and distances and noted new details in light, colour even brushwork detail that I hadn't seen before.

Apart from viewing the exhibition, I did some shopping, saw some great crafty stuff (I'll post about that later) and did a lot of walking. I love Wellington!

wellington

off to Wellington we go...

play clothes

I can still remember as a child, having to take off my 'best' clothes (which were beautifully, 'made by mother' dresses) and changing into play clothes. My play clothes were handmade/homemade smocks, pinafores, rompers, trousers, jumpsuits, all simply designed for comfort and lots of play. Again all sewn by my mother from left over fabric or sheets.

Inspired by Enid, I've been working on making some play clothes for Miss 2. She loves to wear dresses and skirts. She'll happily go twirling and whirling in a pretty dress or skirt straight to rolling around on the ground or stomping in the mud. Hopefully she'll enjoy her vintage styled play clothes too.

I'm off to Wellington tomorrow for a few days. Can't wait to see the Monet exhibition while Miss 12 and Mr 10 are very, very keen to see the colossal squid, urgh lol!

play clothes

I can still remember as a child, having to take off my 'best' clothes (which were beautifully, 'made by mother' dresses) and changing into play clothes. My play clothes were handmade/homemade smocks, pinafores, rompers, trousers, jumpsuits, all simply designed for comfort and lots of play. Again all sewn by my mother from left over fabric or sheets.

Inspired by Enid, I've been working on making some play clothes for Miss 2. She loves to wear dresses and skirts. She'll happily go twirling and whirling in a pretty dress or skirt straight to rolling around on the ground or stomping in the mud. Hopefully she'll enjoy her vintage styled play clothes too.

I'm off to Wellington tomorrow for a few days. Can't wait to see the Monet exhibition while Miss 12 and Mr 10 are very, very keen to see the colossal squid, urgh lol!

not sew good tote bag

with the trip to Wellington in mind, I've been preoccupied with making a tote bag. In the Spotlight remnant bag was this open weave cotton fabric with the worst grain issues ever. So in a moment of mad inspiration, I thought it would be a great challenge to use it for my bag. Looking back, I was certainly challenged!


This tote tutorial makes a nice, roomy bag. It's ideal in size for supermarket shopping, library books or as a gym gear bag. Next time I make this tote bag, I'll sew a lining inside it. For now, the bag is host to a number of toys including a vintage golliwog 'Mr Jim.'

simple nightgown

now the big reveal of Miss 2's simple nightgown. As with all of Enid's patterns, it was easy enough to draft up. I usually skim read the instructions and then put the garment together my way. The fit and length is good. When it was made up, I realised that Miss 2's wrists were larger than the finished nightgown. It was something that I hadn't thought of. So the french seams on the sleeves were undone to make room for her wrists. I guess the 1950s 2 year old had tiny wrists. As you can see that nightie is made up of floral & plain pink wincyette (both remnants), ricrac and leftover pink satin ribbon. My nightie has to be a salute to 1950s thriftiness.

simple nightgown

now the big reveal of Miss 2's simple nightgown. As with all of Enid's patterns, it was easy enough to draft up. I usually skim read the instructions and then put the garment together my way. The fit and length is good. When it was made up, I realised that Miss 2's wrists were larger than the finished nightgown. It was something that I hadn't thought of. So the french seams on the sleeves were undone to make room for her wrists. I guess the 1950s 2 year old had tiny wrists. As you can see that nightie is made up of floral & plain pink wincyette (both remnants), ricrac and leftover pink satin ribbon. My nightie has to be a salute to 1950s thriftiness.

more enid gilchrist magic

finally found the 70s styles pattern book by Enid Gilchrist. It's been on my 'want list' for sometime. It has patterns for over 70 designs, ranging from tops, skirts, dresses right through to caftans. My favourites are the crossovers top/dress & frills and flounces patterns. Definitely watch out for more enid sewing magic!

craft reading

a visit to the library today was a welcome chance to see what craft books were on the shelves. While the children dispersed to different parts of the library, I had the chance to have a good browse. There seemed to be quite a lot of knitting books in, so I chose some 'easy' baby knitting books and a sock knitting book that I've been umming and ahhhing about buying for a while.


I've already started reading the couture sewing book. It's an interesting read so far. It's all about the fascinating world of haute couture & the amazing work that goes into a haute couture garment. Loads of tips and techniques too. I think that I'll certainly have learnt a thing or two by the time I've finished reading it.

little girls nightie

Miss 2 prefers wearing nighties to pyjamas. It was easy to find her nighties for the summertime but it's been almost impossible to find her winter ones. In the Spotlight bag was a floral wincyette remnant which should make up nicely into a little girls nightie. I'm using an Enid Gilchrist pattern from her 'Babies' book. Like all of Enid's patterns, it's easy to draft. Luckily Miss 2 is small for her age so she'll probably fit size 2 for a while with room to grow. The only challenge for me is remembering that I'm working in inches rather than centimetres.

Remember my A+O pants? they're in the 'lack of enthusiasm' box at the moment. I just don't seem to 'feel the love' for the pants project so I guess it'll sit there until I either force myself to finish them or they go into the scrap basket for rehashing.

little easter bunny

The Easter Bunny's feet
Go hop, hop, hop,
While his big pink ears
Go flop, flop, flop.
He's rushing on his way
To bring our eggs today,
With a hop, flop, hop, flop, hop

(author unknown)