Rugging up

Warning - pic heavy post ahead!

While snow and sleet are not exactly part of winter on a daily basis in Australia, it still gets cold enough for small folk to need a decent winter coat.

And of course this little person likes things in pink at the moment.

So I decided to have a go at making the Oliver + s School Days Coat in wool, very bright pink wool!

Like all Oliver+s patterns this came together beautifully.
There are A LOT of pieces to trace and cut (keep in mind I traced it in three sizes!)

It's fully lined - I just used a quilters cotton that the small person chose.
In the back I added a hanging hook that I made from a bias folded (but not bias cut) strip of wool, just at the base of the hood.

It has a hood and I went for front snaps rather than traditional duffle-coat-style toggles.

This is the size 7 - and she would have fit a 6 better right now but I wanted it to last for next winter too.

To give you an idea of sizing - Miss L is a thin 122cm tall child.

In typical O+s fashion there are good tips on the pattern about grading seams and doing slightly widertop-stitching when using a thick fabric like wool.

I'm not a fan of velcro - and like it even less in a lovely coat like this so think I will use sew on snaps for that step next time - it just spoils the look of it for me...

There's a little hand-stitching to secure the lining of the sleeve and coat to the hems but the rest was done easily on the machine.

Even the pockets are lined, another nice touch.

I wanted to use self-covered buttons on the closures but my machine couldn't cope with the thickness of the double layer of wool, it wouldn't feed at all.

So I opted for snaps - in the same colour as the coat and I am really happy with how they came out, given they were not my first choice.

My friend is very happy with her new coat.

Even if I wouldn't let her wear it to kinder today, where she and her friends have taken to playing a game called "Smashy" on the slide - where you all pile together, one person's feet colliding into the back of the next.  Hmmm - not good for a new coat!

So instead she wore it on an outing to visit the ducks and have a run with her sisters.

It seemed to do the trick!

Are you following me with that camera??

If you want a traditional winter coat that is stylish enough to be good at the park or a party this is a great option.

I highly recommend this pattern  - and there's nothing in it for me. 

I'm just blogging, not flogging (definition number 2).

A reason to consider shag pile carpet...

It's been ages since I shared any of the amusing things I hear said, or hear myself saying as a result of behaviour witnessed around the house, so here are a few of late that might give you a giggle.

We've been thinking about renovating and it will involve adding an upstairs level where the girls' bedrooms will be located.

The two five-year-olds are very excited about this prospect and have drawn elaborate plans of how their rooms will look.

Then this conversation took place:

Miss A - "Dad, I want a hard floor in my new bedroom, a wooden floor."

D - "What for?"

Miss A - in an incredulous voice "Tap dancing of course!"

Ahh, of course.... is shag pile coming back in....

Photo completely unrelated to anything, it's just a lovely pic of two of my favourite people.

Looking at a big crafty creative mess on the floor of the study while the girls' craft table remained bare I asked...
"Girls where do you think you should make a big mess, on the floor or on the craft table?"
Miss L's response "Both!"


Lyrics from Fairy Dancing gone wrong...
"Just listen to your clothes and point your toes..."

If you are unfortunate enough to also be familiar with the lyrics you'd know it should be ;
"Just listen real close and point your toes".


After seeing me weigh myself Miss A asked;
"Mum can I weigh my feet too??"
I explained that you actually weigh your entire body when you step onto the scales. She listened, looked at me a little quizzically, then repeated her earlier question!


And not to forget the smallest child;
We couldn't figure out what Miss G wanted when she had finished her dinner and was sitting at the table asking us;
"Can I be the table?"

As her frustration and the volume at which she asked grew, we realised she was asking;
"Can I leave the table"!


And finally - the sign of true love:
Miss A did a drawing while at kinder of a small girl with long hair that looped up at the ends and the caption "I love G...."
Miss G on receiving it - "A, why you draw me with long hair"
Miss A "Just because I do."
Miss G "Because you love me A?"
Miss A "Yeah, that's why."

True love if ever I heard of it.

I hope there is some true love and laughter in your day today.

PS - feel free to share your funny story in the comments, they always make my day.

Girl crush and thoughts on style

I've developed a bit of a girl crush on this fabulous lady.

It's singer, Adele, in case you haven't heard of her, and you'd probably have to be living under a rock to not have by now!! (I'm just saying...)

Not only does she have THE most amazing voice she has this incredible sense of style and presence that belies her 23 years.

Take a few minutes to watch this and you'll see what I mean...



This young lady, well, little more than a girl really, has a signature style that makes her look as though she has been plucked out of 1950's London and dropped down behind a microphone in 2011.

She's all sultry eyes, sweeping capes with big collars, simple shapes and swept up hair.

And I envy her....
I've never been someone with an inherent sense of style, who knows what looks good with what, or who can pull off something a little different.
Where does that come from?

This lady has it too - in fact she reminds me very much of Adele, if a slightly older version (that's not too offensive is it Ingrid!!??).
She could wear a paper bag, add a cute little brooch and it would still look great.

So what about you??
Do you have a signature style?? A style ethos that you subscribe to?

And, more importantly, do you have any tips that you can share with those less style-fortunate folk such as myself???

Oh, by the way, There has been sewing here - quite a bit that I haven't shown you of late really, done to loud off key singing (from me) to the sounds of Adele.

My camera was on loan to a friend - it's back now so I will attempt to catch up in the next few days.

Stitch and Yarn (SAY) on tonight

Come along for an evening of craft and a chat.

And a giggle if you want to watch me struggling with some crochet....

Details here.
All Welcome.

No wooden spoon here!

Early on in the sewalong, Megan wondered if she might end up being the winner of the wooden spoon - but here's proof that she is definitely not!

A great combination of Prints Charming reds and blues in the front panel.

Cute dotted denim for the back.

And here she is ready for winter - the scarf looks great with your skirt Megan!
Again I love the hint of red with the exposed bias on the bottom.

Sheridan will also not be awarded the wooden spoon as she has finished her PC skirt - check it out here.

And Lara has completed three more skirts!  See her second skirt on her blog here.

I've got the skirt bug and got my sister-in-law's measurements and made up an Anna Maria Horner and chocolate brown linen version for her birthday.

Excuse the dodgy pic - I snapped it just before giving it to her!!

For anyone yet to make a skirt up - generally it seems people are finding the waist turns out too big using the system in the Sew What Skirts book.

I used the 2" ease measurement for my first attempt and the 1" ease for my second and both times it was too big - keep this in mind and make sure you adjust the fit before finishing the waistband as you are making your own skirt.

I promise I will post some sewing other than skirts soon!!

Not so Silly Gilly

The very lovely Gillian of Silly Gilly joined in the skirtalong and look what she made!

Check out the lovely embroidery on the bird panel - oooh pretty.

I am particularly enamoured with the turquoise coloured piece of fabric in the top right, just over the bird's head.

The bias binding hem just brings it all together perfectly - isn't she clever.

Such a fun and colourful skirt - much like the lady herself!

If you joined in and completed a skirt - send me a pic so I can share it with everyone else.

Or are you going for the wooden spoon??

Ta Da!

At last here are the finished pics.

They are not great - I'd been wearing the skirt and as you will see (from the fact that I am wearing the same boots and shirt) I just popped each skirt on for a few quick pics.

Regardless - here you go:

All done - and getting lots of wear - though soon some waist darts might be in order!

It's really comfortable to wear - quite long which is how I like them but perhaps a little too roomy around the waist, so I will modify my pattern slightly for next time.

I love the colours and the binding on the edge shows dots on the back section but not on the front - just the way the bias worked out - and I actually really like that.

Oops - should have given it an iron before photographing!

This one was my first practice skirt (to make sure I was giving you decent instructions!) and I wear it lots too.

It's made from some super-cheap $2/m stretch denim I got on the shopping trip at Sew It Together earlier this year and I sewed on some Anna Maria Horner and Patty Young Mezzanine dots to give it a point of interest.

I've left the edges of the circles raw and want them to fray in the wash, they look a bit stiff and proper here.

Hmm - should have smoothed that wrinkle out too!

And here's another one.
These skirts are on high rotation in my wardrobe - now I must make a few tops to go with them and complete the look!

This one is in some lovely Echino I bought from Patchwork on Central Park.  

It has a 'feature panel' as part of the design as it was a border print so there had to be some 'fancy' cutting - thanks to Lara for pointing me in the right direction with this while we were at Sewjourn.

I actually like the extra panel so much I wear it at the front.

Again - apologies about the lack of ironing!!

Another 'practice' version - I love this one so much - Echino = Yum!

I originally intended to put this binding on the inside - but rather liked it on the outside - so that's where it stayed!

Note to self - be aware of placement of small green birds...

So there you go, a new winter wardrobe of skirts for me.

What did I learn.....?

• That I will most likely not buy another skirt for me again - it's that easy to make them.
• That zips are really not that scary.
• That a great piece of fabric - or a number joined together and embellished - provides the basis for a great skirt.
• That it's really nice to have people comment on something you are wearing and when they ask where you got it be able to say "I made it".

How about you?
Did you skirtalong?
What did you learn?

Born to be wild!

Well as wild as two five year olds and a two year old get anyway!

We spent yesterday morning at the Kew Traffic School, with Miss G's playgroup friends.

Despite the fact that 'the guy who lives here' grew up less than 2km from it, he had never been - so it was a treat for all.

Time to ditch those training wheels I think!

This small kid just has a go at anything - today was the first day she rode her bike alone - not that you would have known from the way she took off!

She's got riding sorted - not so great at smiling though!

We had a great time - I think the pictures speak for themselves.

A hem, A hem, A hem

No, I wasn’t trying to get your attention - just wondering how you planned on finishing this skirt??

There are three quick and easy options that I am going to cover here:

• Double fold hem
• Bias binding shown on outside of skirt (pictures are for this)
• Bias binding concealed on inside of skirt

One thing I would say before going any further is have a look through your fabric stash (Sheridan you might like to allow a day or two for this step...!!)

and see if there's anything that will coordinate well with your skirt.

The two skirts I did an external bias hem on lately, I didn't intend to.

But they just looked right.

Double Fold hem

I’m not even going to show you this one - it’s your 'basic fold under twice, press and stitch close to the top folded edge' hem.

A great tip that is in all the Oliver + s patterns is to stitch along the first fold line, press along this fold then tuck the raw edge under so it touches the stitched line on the inside. 

Press and stitch close to the top folded edge.

As my two year old would say “easy peasy lemon squeezy mama”. (and yes she says this to me often!)

The next finish is the bias hem shown on the outside of the skirt.

Firstly, because you have to run this fabric around a curve, cut it on the bias - that is along a 45 degree angle.

Do this by taking your fabric with selvedges lying along each side, and folding it with a 45 degree fold. 

Then grab your ruler and rotary cutter and away you go. 

 I won’t go into detail of how to join pieces to make the bias tape here - there are hundreds of tutorials on YouTube so check them out.

I am using an 18mm (3/4”) bias maker (Clover’s red one) so the strips are cut 35mm wide then run through the bias maker and under the iron.

Pin the right side of the binding to the wrong side of the fabric. 
Stitch right around your skirt on the fold line of the tape. (where the pins are positioned below).

Trim the edges.

Now fold the bias tape up and over the hem edge so that the tape is now on the outside of the skirt.

Shown from the inside/wrong side of the skirt

Shown from the outside/right side of the skirt

From the right side of the skirt carefully stitch along the top edge of the binding to secure it.

Bias binding on the inside

If you feel your skirt is already quite busy print-wise with all the decorative fabrics, you might prefer to do a concealed bias hem.


The steps are pretty much the same as for the bias on the outside except for how you start!

Start with the right side of the bias to the right side of the fabric.

Stitch along the fold line, trim the edge then fold the bias to the inside of the skirt.

Stitch along the top of the bias to secure it.

Remember to use a different colour top and bobbin thread to match if you are using a contrasting bias.

Doing a binding is a great option for a bulky fabric as it reduces the bulk slightly.

It can also add a little pop of colour to the bottom of a plain skirt and it makes a very neat finish.

That's it!!

You're done - woo hoo.

Give it a good press and put it on and prance around a bit.

Well my skirting along friends, we have come to the end of our sewalong.

I’d love to see what you have been up to and maybe post a pic of the many and varied skirts (whether they be Prints Charming or not) here once you are done. 

So let me know in comments so you can send them to me.


I'll put a pic up of mine soon - once I can get 'the guy who lives here' to take it for me!

I hope you have enjoyed making your new skirt and that it fits like a glove!
Thanks for playing along.

Care for a Stitch and Yarn??

SAY is on again Monday night - go on, brave the cold (and possibly horizontal rain!!) and come along.

I promise not to bring along the terrible biscuits I baked today with my girls...
Just some sewing and the chance to chat.

In case you've forgotten the details - click here.

Looking for the next PC skirt sewalong post?? Scroll down - it's just down the page a little.

Let's face it!

NB - sorry - I wrongly scheduled my scheduled post and left you all hanging! 
It would have come up next week....

We’re getting to the business end of things - any day now you will be strutting around in a fabulous new skirt that you made and even better, that fits you perfectly!!

Next up - Finishing the waist.

As I am doing a facing this is what I will give you step by step instructions for.

If you are using a heavy weight fabric such as denim or cord for the main part of your skirt you might like to consider using a lighter weight fabric such as a quilters cotton or linen for the facing as it will probably sit better and feel more comfortable against your body.

The steps involved in putting in the facing are :

• Sewing the second side seam and getting a good fit
• Making the facing up and sewing it to the garment
• Understitching the facing
• Topstitching the waist

First up sew the second side seam (the one with no zip in it) from top to bottom.

Now is the time to try on your skirt and check the fit.

Any adjustments should be made now. 

As we move on adjustments will be harder to make.

Resew the seam with any adjustments

Put your skirt on inside out, it’s easier to make adjustments this way.

Pin any excess you want to get rid of and sew the seam again - starting at the waist and merging into the existing seam.

Be sure to backtack at the bottom.

If you find your skirt is too tight then unpick the appropriate area and re-stitch the seam using a smaller seam allowance - you’ll be surprised the difference a few cm can make.

IMPORTANT

Whatever adjustments you have made here need to be replicated as you sew the two facing pieces together to ensure it will fit the waist of the skirt.

So if you ran it in - then run the waistband facings in too - or if you let it out then sew the facings using a smaller seam allowance.

Once you are happy with your personalised fit press the seam open and move onto making up the facing.

Take the two facing pieces and finish off two of the adjoining ends.

Join the two facing pieces right sides together (on the ends you have finished of course) and take into account any adjustments made earlier.

Press the seam open then finish the lower curved edge of the facing as well.


This is what you will have once you are done.

Run a line of stay-stitching along the top of both pieces - this is so you will later be able to clip into the curve without fear of it fraying.

Now pin the facing to your skirt - right sides together and matching at the side seam of the facing to the side seam of the skirt without the zip.

The open end of the facing slightly overlaps the open edge where the zip is.

Stitch the facing to the main skirt.

Clip the top edge of the curve every 2cm or so, taking care not to clip into the stitching. (this is where your stay stitching is invaluable!)

Next we will understitch the facing so that it doesn’t roll to the outside, but this stitching cannot be seen from the outside.

This is really simple, once you work out the right place to put the stitching!!


Start by opening out the facing and skirt so they are side-by-side and press the sea allowances toward the facing.

This it the section you are pressing up

Nice and flat - toward the facing

You are going to stitch around the entire facing so the stitches run through the facing and the seam allowances. You so this by stitching on the facing side of the seam.

Stitch close to the seamline for a neat result.

Once you are done, fold the facing back to the inside and press so you get a crisp edge at the waist.

On each side of the zip, fold the ends of the facing under (to the inside) so they are clear of the zip.

You can hand sew the facing into place or if you just want to get finished, like me, then carefully machine stitch them down.

Now run a line of topstitching around the very top of the skirt to hold it all in place and finish things off neatly.

I also like to stitch in the ditch of the facing and skirt on the side with no zip as it keeps it from moving around.

So that’s it - facing/waist done!!

Last step tomorrow is to hem the skirt in whatever method you choose.

If you are keen to finish now then just do a simple turned under hem, turn it under twice so all exposed edges are hidden.

Otherwise come back tomorrow and we will talk about exposed and hidden bias binding finishes.

Sewing it all at once??  


Here's where we started out - Making up the pattern and cutting the skirt.

You'll find part two here - Preparing the feature panel and cutting the pieces
Part three is putting in the zip


Once you've completed this step of putting in the facing - click here to finish off with hemming instructions.

And here are a few skirts other girls have finished, for inspiration.