Day 326 - A puffy sleeved top

A puffy sleeved shirt completes Juliet's outfit for next week. She chose this shiny fabric and I made this super simple top that she'll be able to wear again. A little apron would be cute too but I had better start on Liam's outfit now.

Looking gorgeous.

Day 300 - Another robot post - Robot pants

Firstly, back on day 22 I made these pillow case trousers for Dylan and he has finally grown into them is wore them today to our big family gathering of cousins in Melbourne.

 Today he got another pair of pants. These are a lightweight corduroy and I drew a robot shape onto some red cord, cut it out and sewed it onto the bottom of one leg. I zig zag stitched a mouth and sewed two little beads on for eyes.

This is the one where Mum is making me sit down instead of running around.

Day 291 - Sewing with my 7 year old son

My eldest son Liam (7) is the one who I think is the most creative in the family. When he was 2 or 3 we would always find sculptures around the house that he had created, arranging household items into various structures that looked amazing. I tried to find some photos of them just then but the digital photo minefield coupled with the heat got the better of me.

Over the years his creativity has taken him in different directions. This year he began by writing copious pages of notes in a long and rambling tale of superheroes. At last count it was well over 1000 words and he knew every one of them. Lately he has taken to drawing, which I am pleased about, because for many years he would not pick up a pencil, due to a ridiculous maternal health nurse who talked about him as if he wasn't there when he was 3. It left him a bit lagging in his fine motor skills. I find it sad that schools often don't cater for the range of ways in which students can express their creativity, especially in terms of primary school art, but that's a long and rambling story in itself I guess.

He has recently been making hundreds of paper planes every day and filling the house with them, much to my annoyance as they are literally everywhere I step. And lately he has been making people by drawing and attaching various pieces of paper together to make different body parts. His personality can be quite obsessive so once he starts doing something he tends to do it nonstop until he moves onto the next thing. The daily paper plane thing lasted for about 2 months.

He made these two today, and the superman has a detachable cape.

 It suddenly occurred to me that he might like to learn to sew too, so today I lead him through the process of making a pair of shorts.

First he chose 2 fabrics for the front and back.

Then I showed him how to pin and cut from a pattern, before getting him on the sewing machine.

He loved it! And he loved the results. Once he sewed the two sides I showed him how you could put one leg inside the other and sew the crotch. He was dubious and very impressed when actual shorts came out.

And he hardly ever lets me photograph him, but this time he happily did. Liam, you are awesome!

Day 223 - The sewing school files - a skirt

Another beautiful day here today and the boys went out for a couple of hours this morning to milo cricket, so Juliet and I decided to do another sewing lesson.

After our big day yesterday we opted to skip baths in favour of collapsing into bed after books, so you may notice that Juliet still has remnants of face paint from yesterday's party, and a bit glob of glitter paint in her hair from our outdoor painting.

We started off with one of her favourite skirts - made for her by my sister in law.

When we had a look at this skirt we discovered that it was simply the width of the fabric (112cm fabric) cut into a strip and sewn along one side. Easy peasy!

So Juliet set about cutting out a strip - this is leftover fabric from a dress I made her when she was about 3. I love this fabric.

 Happy!

Then she chose some cotton, and this time I showed her how to insert the bobbin and she even threaded the sewing machine needle herself. First time! Sharp eyes.

Here she is sewing up the side edge.

Then I even let her use my overlocker - under close supervision.

After she had overlocked the side seam I overlocked the top and bottom edges and pinned a hem and a top elastic casing for her.







Next I showed her how to press the hem and casing so that it was easier to sew it properly. This is her first time using an iron.

She sewed the hem and the casing, and then inserted the elastic, with a little bit of help from me.

Here is her skirt. Gorgeous!

And here is the model.

 

All this in about an hour! Well done my gorgeous girl, I'm so impressed.

 

Day 205 - A mixed bag.

Today I had what I consider to be one of my most important sewing tasks ever. Fixing up the very special blankie that belongs to the son of a friend. He was in very bad shape and in need of day surgery, but most definitely needed to be home for bed time. I took one look at him and knew this would be an extremely delicate operation indeed.

Here is what he looked like when he came in for surgery.

I picked him apart and did some darts to the blue silk side which was most important to preserve, trimmed a little and sewed him back together. He is looking a little like a map of Australia now. He's not overly pretty, but his life has now been significantly prolonged and I'm very glad he didn't fall apart under my watch. Hope the little man is happy with the changes.

Both Liam (7) and Aidan (3) are obsessed with superheroes at the moment and Aidan bought this little stuffed toy during the holidays. Stuffing was escaping within hours so he also got a repair today and Aidan was very impressed.

While I was on a roll I thought I would do a couple of super quick refashions so that I can now wear 2 things that have been sitting in my wardrobe unworn for ages. I think it's pretty awesome that these two things can get a new life so easily. The 2 'refashions' together took about 10 minutes.

The first is a maternity top from when I was pregnant with Dylan (now 10 months). It had shirring at the top which just became the waistband when I cut off the shoulder straps. It's a really comfortable skirt for summer.

The second is a dress that used to have a diagonal hemline with elastic. Not really me but I loved the rest of the dress and wore it a couple of times.

I didn't really feel comfortable wearing it for everyday wear so it lived at the back of my closet. I forgot to take a photo before I chopped, but all I did was cut off the elastic bottom and even up the hemline. Now it's totally wearable.

I've had a wonderfully productive day. How about you?

Day 201 - Sewing School - Bear gets a dress

Ever since she made the pink bear Juliet has been desperate to make it a dress, so today we had a little sewing lesson where she made the dress on my sewing machine. She has a little kids sewing machine but it is so fiddly and hard to use that we have only used it twice in almost 2 years. She was really excited to have a turn at using my machine, was very cautious with the pedal and listened very carefully to all of my instructions. It was heaps of fun for us both.

Here she is choosing some fabric.

Sewing.

Adding elastic to the casing at the top of the dress.

And proudly displaying her creation. (Oops, we hadn't brushed her hair yet )

I made this dress too, which she calls karate bear. Sewing the tiny little neckline was really tricky. Do people have special sewing machines for this?

Day 197 - Teaching my 5 year old to hand sew.

Today I've been teaching my 5 year old daughter Juliet how to hand sew.

She made this amazing softie, mostly on her own. I showed her how to do a plain sewing stitch around the edge. She cut out a template, and sewed around the edge of her doll. I fixed up a couple of bits where her stitches were too far apart, but she was amazing.

I helped her with the buttons she chose for the eyes, and then she stuffed the doll herself and stitched it closed.

Here she is at work. I'm really proud of her. She wants to make some clothes for her bear now.

Stitching.

Here is her bear before stuffing, she chose the eyes and nose and I sewed the button eyes on for her.

She stuffed the bear.

And here she is looking very happy with her creation. She is currently snuggled up in front of the TV with her bear watching a movie.

Day 137 - Do you like green eggs and ham?

My husband was giving away this old t-shirt and it seemed perfectly suited for a bubba refashion.

I decided on a cute little pair of overalls. First I cut out the pieces, 2 bib pieces and some pieces to make shorts, with a little bit of extra length at the back for an elastic casing.

I decided to add these vintage braces to the bib.

 I cut off the blue bit of the braces in the picture which was a little old and stretched, and sewed the mouse bit to the top of the shorts.

Here's the finished product.