Stitch 2 Stitch

So far, I haven’t been lucky to get any giveaways just yet BUT I am not giving up!! LM’s been kind enough [again] to be giving away either a pretty peasant blouse pattern or ribbons. Since I definitely cant fit into the pattern and know of no one who can, I’ll be picking the ribbons!! They are OH so puurrrrty!!

If lucky, I’ll be getting Patty Young’s Andalucia ribbons – 1 meter of Petal Flora and 1 meter of Petal Mod Blooms. How sweet is that?? Wish me luck!!

It’s that time of the season again when my sewjo goes walkabout. *sigh* After that rather stressing reversible coat I did for Arianna, I simply ran out of puff! *lol* I thought I’d take a break from sewing just to relax for a day or 2 but turns out that that break is a LONG one.

Although I have been sewing bits, it’s mainly just repair work on wait elastics and shortening some upcycle things I’ve made for Arianna. Actually, I’ve done 1 long pants and 1 shorts from Grandpops pjs for her. And a set of Otto tank top and underpants from this dress I got from Salvos. I thought I could have gotten more out of the dress but I was mistaken. Actually I think it was a mistake getting that dress to upcycle. I didn’t do a very good job.

Anyway, Arianna has actually out grown most of her PJs be it the flannel ones or the ones we brought home from Malaysia. So I’ve just cut up a couple of long sleeve shirt patterns and long sweat pants to sew up for her. I think they can be worn at home as well as going out. We’ll have to wait and see.

I’ve also been wanting to sew some dresses for Arianna seeing that as much as I like to see her in pants, I think I should make full use of this age to dress her up in pretty dresses and all that. However, I find it hard to find something that I’d like to see her in where dresses are concerned. Since I scored some Enid Gilchrist books from eBay recently, there are a couple of things I’d like to sew for Arianna and KR but the thing that’s been putting me off it is that I have to draft the pattern myself! Hurrumph….I can be very lazy when it comes to drafting patterns. When I do get my wind, I tend to trace out all the Otto things that I wanna sew so that I make full use of it but with Enid G., eekksss….I will need extra willpower for this. Well, best get back to the sewing….I think my second wind has come!

The day is almost over but heck, I still have about 1/2 hour left of the day. I spent the day doing nothing much. It was an overall good day. It was just like any other day really. I personally think that as the years go by, birthdays to me are becoming less and less important. There are many ways of looking at it, both positive and negative of course.

With each birthday celebrated, to me means that I have been given the privilege of another year to share and experience life as a mother and wife. Every day is a gift that is priceless and once it’s gone, it’s gone forever. Sounds so cliche and so not me but we all know thats the truth. Anyways, enough of all the mushy-mushy…. long story short, I didn’t have any celebration per se but had a little cake cutting thingy at MIL and Thai takeaway tonight. We had planned to go out for dinner but the weather turned really bad so we just had takeaway instead. All in all, I liked it!

Going back a couple of years, this wasn’t really what I had expected to see. But you know what…I’m glad I have these 2 gorgeous girls today. They are the best gifts EVER!!

Wow, I am so over the moon!!! Someone in my Flickr has made my flannel PJs as the ‘ Favourite’!!! I am OH soooooooooo happy and proud. It is a personal milestone albeit it may not mean much or anything someone else but the thought that someone actually likes it enough to tag it as their fav….WOW. It really just blows me away. So to Sewsew…thank you for making my day!!!

I’m in the middle of a decision….should I sew more PJs for Arianna since she is slowly outgrowing the current flannel ones and that spring is now here OR should I be sewing some shorts for her coz she doesn’t really have any? Seeing that yesterday was just so stuffy, poor thing had to nap in her long pants and singlet! I can’t really decide at the mo so decided to just have a peek at my fabric stash and omg, I shocked myself!

This was taken in Feb 09 when I first started sewing. The cabinet which the fabrics are in is actually Ted’s book shelve which he generously donated to me to store my fabric. Note that I’ve only used 4 shelves at this point. And each shelve is not too packed.

Today…

I’ve not only taken up 5 shelves but…

I also have a hidden box which I don’t think Ted knows about! *lol*

Wouldn’t you say that this fabric buying/hoarding/stashing is somewhat of an addiction? I personally think that it is an incurable disease and I don’t think there is a cure for it! I totally blame eBay for it is one of the roots of my being in this position also, having Spotlight nearby isn’t much help either! *lol* On top of that, I am a part of a sewing forum, Crafty Mamas which has sales every now and then, and it’s just so hard not to buy anything. The only thing that is helping me keep my purchases to a limit is that postage can cost a fair bit so its a good thing for my wallet or I would most likely run us into bankcruptcy!

This is my first attempt at sewing a reversible item. I was very excited about this pattern and when I decided on the fabric, got the pattern cut out….suddenly I found myself so unmotivated to sew at
all!! I really felt weird and a little upset with myself but somehow managed to start on it. It was a superbly slow start as I was literally sewing one seam a day. It wasn’t until I finished the velour/inner section that I got my sewjo back!

Using fine blue cord for the outer wear and hot pink velour on the reverse. The sleeves gave me hell as I could not understand the instructions! Took me 2 days of brewing over before I got it. [I do mention at the end how I did it though.] I am actually quite proud of myself for figuring it out on my own. Buttons on both sides are fabric covered with the same fabric of the coat but on contrasting sides.

Hot pink velour for the inner bit. I see Arianna wearing the blue one more often than the pink as velour is OH so snuggly!

And here’s my little model :

Pattern review :

I found the pattern rather straight forward and easy to follow until I reach the part where we had to join the sleeves together and for the life of me, I could not understand the instructions at all. I took 2 days to brew over it before caving in and asking for help at the forum. The mamas there were helpful but this was more of a ‘show’ problem so it was tough to put into words trying to explain to me. So I took the advice of one of the mamas…I got into the ‘zone’, and while watching Arianna play and literally having my nose take up that wonderful baby sweetness of KR’s hair, it clicked! I quickly dumped the kids and immediately tried this idea I had in my head and VOILA! It worked… So, in case anyone has/had trouble with this as I have, I thought I’d share how I did it :

Place the sleeves facing end to end on corresponding sleeves. Make sure the right sleeves are facings each other of you will be attaching the wrong sleeves together.

I pinned them together starting from the joined sleeves to align them.

This is pretty much what it looks like once you’ve pinned it down.

Stitch the sleeves to join them together

Ta-daa! You’ve done it the Otto way although I’m sure there may be other ways to do this. I put my hand through the opened back bottom hem and pulled the joined sleeve bit so that they’d turn out this way. Hope that helped!

Inspired by a friend who also got me sewing and all, this is my first attempt at upcycling clothes. When I first saw this blouse, I already had a vision to turn it into a blouse for Arianna. So I think it worked out ok….not 100% happy abt the turn out but I think it aint too bad.

I really love the details on the blouse. From the feel of it, I’d say that the fabric a blend of poly and something else, something like spandex or lycra. Despite the soft feeling, it is quite sturdy in its own way.

Arianna is quite happy with it. She normally stretches out her arms and pretends to fly around! lol

Not wanting to leave KR out, I managed to get 2 more things out of the balance material.

A pair of soft baby shoes from the previous post which had me saying that I felt like the elves.

And a pair of shorts as well. Ignore the superbly ugly handsewn flower in the front. It’s for the benefit of DH so he doesn’t put it on her the wrong way around.

Made these from some knit I got off Ebay when I first started sewing. Thank goodness girls can wear blue. This is similar to the one I did for KR just recently. These leggings are made to be 3/4 so will have to check if they really are. Its in the wash now and with the weather being some 29deg tomorrow – it will definitely be dry!

And in my attempt to clear more space in my cabinet, whipped up some baby shoes with the same material and jazzed it up with some ricrac.

Yes, I feel like the shoes elves from that cobbler fairy tale! lol I suddenly have thing craze for making baby shoes.

The free tutorial can be found here.

YAY! Spring is here and I’ve been wanting to sew stuff for the little one. This pattern asks for fleece but since winter is over and spring is in, I thought something less warm would be suitable n since I have a lot of this baby flannel a friend gave me, I thought I’d try to see if it worked. The end product seems ok, but will have to let bubba try it out. This is size 68.

I found the sewing to be relatively easy though I must admit that it had a lot of topstitching required. Almost every seam needed it but I guess it does give the pattern more of a professional kind of look. Happy with it so I really hope KR can wear it.

You must all think I’m mad but heck, they say 3 times lucky!

Anyway, just saw this uber cute reversible pinny and omg, I WANT IT!!!! I’ve always wanted to make one for KR but I don’t have any patterns and this one is just the one that I want to make!!! It’s called the Gaga Bum Reversible Pinafore and I just cant repeat if any more and stress how much I love it!

I’m keeping all my fingers, toes, eyes and whatever else I can, crossed that I win this!!