Wednesday 8 October 2014

A little baby gift

A friend of mine had a baby girl recently. She has always liked my creations so I thought I could surprise her with a little stitched up gift.
My first idea was to make a little baby dress. But then.... I remembered how tiny newborns were. How on earth I was going to sew such a tiny outfit. And the fact that babies grew so quickly meant that it would probably end up being worn once or twice.
For these reasons I decided to go for something more practical - fabric storage bin. Who doesn't need one?!


In the past I had made one fabric bin with baby feet applique in blue (here) so this time I could make one in pink (or coral in fact) for a girl.


I wanted to add something else to the present so I stitched up a hanging ornament for the baby room. The idea about this came when I saw a hanging moon ornament from An from Straight Grain.


To make the ornaments, I laid two layers of fabric with some polyester waddling in between and followed the shapes I had drawn on the fabric with a decorative machine stitch. Then I trimmed the excess fabric and waddling. It worked better than I thought it would.





I attached strings and some beads. I added the beads in an attempt to take the attention away from the little knots I had to make on the strings. I hope that they are not so noticeable.


Baby gift mission completed!

Now I am in a process of sewing a duvet cover and a pillowcase for my son's bed. Half an year ago I bought some cotton fabric(I wrote about it here) with the clear idea to make it into a bedding set and I finally got to do that. But I do it with a really slow pace. Today, all I managed to do was to machine stitch the buttonholes. Tomorrow I hope to get the chance to sew the buttons.

And before finishing the post I would like to share with you some beautiful words I read tonight in a book given to my son at school for home reading. It is about a mummy monster who goes to the little monster's bed and thinking it was sleeping whispered to him :
 " I love you my darling,
     I love you my Small,
       But there's so much to do in the day
  That it's hard to sit down and to make enough time
       To say all of the things I should say.
  And it's funny, but now that you're sleeping
       And everything's quiet and calm
  The words seem to be much more easy to speak.
       You're everything I always dreamed of
         You've got so much beauty inside
  The way that you smile, that you laugh, that you dance
      Makes my heart want to sing out with pride.
  You live as though life's one huge present
       Unwrapping a bit every day
  That's just how we should be living, my love
      And look at you showing the way!
  And sometimes I know when I scold you
       You feel that I'm being unfair
  But please understand that it's just out of love.
    There are things in this life that can hurt you
         They come to us all - that I know.
  But they all give us chances to learn, darling Small
        And they all give us chances to grow.
  So when you get knocked down, my sweetheart
       Look up at the sky without fear
  For sometimes we need to be flat on our backs
        Before starlight begins to appear.
     And please, above all else remember
      Keep love in your heart, little one
  Reach out to the world like a beautiful flower
      Stretches out to the warmth of the sun.
  It's the only sure way to be happy
        The only sure way to be free.
  Believe in yourself and believe in your dreams
    And you'll be what you dream you can be.
  My beautiful, wonderful, glorious child
  You light up my world. "
The little monster heard it all and drifted to sleep with a big smile.

Very touching and heart-warming tale (at least for me). Unfortunatelly, my son who is four and a half couldn't get to the point of it. Partly because english is not his first language and partly because it probably sounds boring to him. He was more interested in the illustrations and kept interrupting my reading asking me other questions.

By the way the book is called "I love you, little monster" by Giles Andreae and Jess Mikhail.








 


















 












 
 







Sunday 7 September 2014

A casual summer wrap skirt

About two months ago I sewed this top for my mum as part of the birthday present. While rummaging into her wardrobe I found out that none of her skirts made a good match with the top. That's how I decided to sew a skirt. I had some orangish fabric left over from the top. It is light and drapey polycotton fabric.
So here is the outcome.


It's a wrap skirt with longer waistband which continues into ties.

My aim was to create a skirt that would fit snugly and at the same time wouldn't require great precision and a lot of fittings when making it. All my pattern making and cutting tools were left behind at my home and all I had were pins, a pair of scissors and 30cm long ruler. I missed my cutting mat, rotary cutter and drafting ruler.


What I like most about this skirt, is that it could be worn in more than one way. The ties could be on the side, on the front or even on the back. I personally prefer 'ties on the side' look. I wish I had got the different looks photographed, but it didn't come to my mind at that time. I was lucky to get even these photos done as my little one was clinging to my arm, constantly moaning.


The funny thing was that after I made the skirt and paired it with the top, it didn't turn up the way I expected. The blouse was way too wide for the skirt and when tucked in, it created bulk. So in the end, I had to pair it with another blouse.

Saturday 16 August 2014

Pretty owls summer dress

Hello! Summer is not over yet, so I have taken the opportunity to sew another summer dress for Eva. Dresses have always been my favourite garments to design and sew.


It all started with two fabrics in mind - the pretty owl fabric from "Nested Owls" collection by Addornit (I wrote about it here) and the red mini polka-dot fabric by Sevenberry. I thought they would go well together so I started planning what I could turn them into. They both are 100% cotton and have a little a bit stiffness which is great for adding some volume to a garment.
For a week or so I couldn't decide on the style. I envisaged a little dress, coquette and with an interesting
detail.


For some reason my daughter didn't want to try the dress while still in the making. I would try to persuade her to wear it so I could do some measurements but she wouldn't try. What if she refused to wear the dress once it was all sewn up and ready. It would be a shame to have spent so much time designing, drafting, cutting and sewing something that could never be worn.







Luckily, once the dress was completed, washed and ironed, she willingly let me dress her in it. I was more than happy as believe it or not that little girl could be very stubborn and picky.


To make the dress hang nicely I opted for a decorative finish of the hemline. That was the best I could achieve with my mum's sewing machine (which to put it mildly could be unmanageable at times).


I used snaps to close the side of the dress. They are so practical and easy to sew that I wonder why I haven't used any before. For me one of the most important things to consider when sewing for the kids is the easy wearing of the garment. Because if wearing is complicated, kids quickly get annoyed and they might never want to wear that garment again. I remember when a few years ago my boy couldn't take one of his jumpers off and got panicked so I had to cut through it. After that for a period of time, he was scared everytime he was wearing something through his head.

Monday 4 August 2014

An easy summer dress

Time to blog my next project - a summer dress for Eva.




She already has so many summer clothes but that didn't stop me from making another one. What better than a light and comfortable dress that allows enough ease for running and jumping on the hot summer days. And you know, a girl could never have too many dresses!




In fact I sewed the dress a few weeks ago, but just couldn't sit down and blog it.
It is a very simple dress with two asymetric pleats on the front which meet just at the neckline. For this dress I actually drew a simple A-line dress with no pleats. Then I made two asymetric pleats on a piece of the chosen fabric (the piece had to be big enough to cut the front piece from it). I placed the front pattern onto the pleated fabric, adjusting it a bit and cut out the front piece.






 The fabric I have used is pure cotton from "Dainty Blossoms" collection by Carina Gardner for Riley Blake. It is the same print but in different colour which I used for this summer hat.


I even made a button loop on the back of the dress, using this tutorial from Oliver + S.


 If I had to give this dress a name that had to be "Lara" dress :) I like having some music on when I sew and while making this dress I was hooked on Lara Fabian' songs. Listening to some music and sewing - my perfect spending of leisure time! What is yours?

Wednesday 9 July 2014

What I sewed for my mum's birthday

How do you choose a present for someone special? Do you usually plan it well ahead or leave it for the last moment?
For me personally choosing presents for children is easy but choosing presents for adults could sometimes be a torture. I am a fan of practical presents. I don't want to clutter up someone's home with beautiful but unusable gifts. Maybe because I don't like receiving such.
Anyway, my mum's birthday was a month ago and that was a good reason to get creative and make something special for her.



In fact, the initial idea was to buy her something, but with two little "helpers" with me on the shopping trip, the only thing that I would have come back home with was lots of stress and probably no present.

Just like me, my mum loves clothes. We have similar taste for clothes and I knew it had to be something simple with a little twist.
That simple thing I decided to be a short sleeved top(which I drew using a vest of mine as a guide - luckily we are almost the same size) made with two contrasting fabrics and "crooked bamboo seams" on the front. The "crooked bamboo seams" is improvisational pleats technique which I saw here and I loved it . The fabrics are lightweight polycotton and fall really well.


The necklace was also a part of my present. I grabbed one for myself as well.



If you wonder whether my mum has liked the present, to be honest I don't know. I just hope she has. She has worn it once so far. Now I am planning to sew a knee-lenght skirt to go with it. I will probably use that orangish (??? how do you actually call this colour?) fabric for it.



Wednesday 25 June 2014

Another summer hat

Wow!  A few weeks since my last post here... Time has been flying...
The last few weeks I have been taking it slowly and spending less time in front of the computer. That doesn't mean that I have given myself a break from sewing. I just didn't have the opportunity to photograph my recent creations. By the way I have been fascinated by the beautiful and quality photographs of some other bloggers.

One of the latest things I made was something for my mum's birthday, but more on this in a future post.

Another thing I made was a summer hat for my daughter.


 Yes, another sunhat!



 If you have seen the previous two sunhats I had sewn (one for my boy and one for my girl), you have probably started thinking that I am addicted to sewing hats. Well, I am not. And although I have already made three of them I can say they just don't bring me that excitement as the one I get with creating garments. I was just trying to be practical and sew things that were needed.

The blue hat has been much worn so I decided to make another one in pink to go with her swimsuits and some of her clothes.
For the making I used a cotton fabric from "Dainty Blossoms" collection by Carina Gardner for Riley Blake. I didn't want to make exactly the same style as the first one. I wished to try something new.
The pink hat featured a wide brim like the blue one, but this time the crown of the hat consisted of several triangle pieces joined together.
To draw the pattern I used an old favourite summer hat of mine which my mum had kept over the years.

My old little summer hat

 I liked how the new hat turned out in terms of shape and execution, but was disappointed to see that it was bigger for my girl's head. And the annoying thing was that I actually started making it right but somehow got concerned it would be too tight on the head and added another little triangle to the crown, which I regret now. One or two more years before she could wear it....What a pity!


Monday 2 June 2014

The new addition to my daughter's handmade wardrobe - little green trousers

Firstly, I would like to thank to all who voted for my golden dress in the Improvisational Pleats Contest. It was fun taking part in it and seeing what other ladies have come up with.

Now back to my latest project.
It's already a fact - I have sewn my first trousers.




I am not sure why it took me so long to try my hand at making trousers. Somehow I always ended up making tops and dresses and never trousers or shorts. I suspect it was my conviction that it wouldn't be easy to achieve a good fit.
Well, starting with toddler trousers was a good point as they were more undemanding to make.



I drafted the trousers pattern myself. If you have followed me you would probably know that I don't like using shop bought patterns. It takes half of the pleasure of the whole process.

For my first trousers I chose not to make a front opening and insert a zipper. I added elastic on the back waist and incorporated two pleats on each front side. I thought this would make trousers look more stylish and less babyish.

I had a dilemma whether to attach a separate waistband or just to fold at the waist. Well, I decided on the second option. And guess what?.....I forgot to put the fusible interfacing to the waistband. This is the second time I forget about the interfacing when making a garment! I am really mad at myself for being so forgetful.


There is a little pocket flap on the back, without a real pocket. Toddlers don't need pockets on the back, right? They can't even reach them!

"These trousers are so comfortable that I can exersise in them!"


"I can run really fast in them!"


"They are not making my bottom look too big, aren't they?"


"This photoshoot is exhausting!"


For the trousers I used lightweight green cotton fabric which I bought from Bulgaria not long ago. It was for clearance and was unbelievably priced at 2 leva/metre which was around 80pence/metre. Now I wished I had bought all of it. I was told that it was cotton but the cheap price makes me wonder whether it could be polycotton instead. Next time when I go to Bulgaria, I intend to stock on some more cheap fabrics. The downside is that I can't actually find good printed cottons. There are mainly polyester and single-coloured fabrics.

"Ok, I am off now!"
Thanks for reading!