Hurried call for help!!

Do you have a spare hour or two in the next few days to help put make a wish come true for a little boy having a tough time??

Stacey at Polka Dot Daze has taken up the cause to make felt crowns for a special 'Carnival' party being held for a little guy in Sydney called Talin who was given life-changing news just a few months ago.

This little boy was diagnosed at Easter with what doctors have described as an inoperable, life-ending tumour. It is a story that brings dread to the heart of any parent, and makes me hug my healthy little girls that bit tighter.

If you think you can very quickly whip up a couple of super-simple felt crowns to send to arrive in Sydney by June 1st (that's next Friday - a week from today), then head on over to Stacey's blog and click the link to drop her an email.

They can be for girls or boys - the above is just an example.

All you SIT girls - Stacey is coming along this year so let's band together and help out a fellow SITer doing a good deed.

Come on - do you really need an excuse to sew??

Caped crusader

Another finish from Sewjourn - yeah, yeah I know you don't need to hear about it anymore!!

This is the Red Riding Hood cape from the Oliver+s book, "Little Things to Sew" and if you think the fabric combo looks familiar, it is. 

It's the exact combo from the small kid's Oliver+s coat from last winter. (oh my how she has grown!!).

Hmm - starting to pose a bit I see...

This is the wool I picked up on special At Rathdowne Remnants last year and it was a great buy, I still have enough left over for a cape for a friend's small kid.

I love, love, love the lining of this - it's a voile I got from Spotlight last year. 

I made a covered button to match, i love it so much!

I added a bit of topstitching because I always think it adds to the finished look of a garment.

I should have given it an iron before taking the pics as it's bagging a little at the back, but she loves it so it was no trouble to get it on her.

And this shot is just because they are sweet girls and I love them to bits!

They have been separated more this year than any other in their lives as we chose to put them into separate classes at school.

Absence seems to have made the heart grow fonder and they are really enjoying the company of each other when out of school and during breaks in the school day.

I know I am biased but they really are growing into the most delightful girls.

Raven Princess

So do you think she likes this new jacket??

The answer would be a resounding "yes!"

And the best part is we both do.

I've mentioned before that my girls are not very keen on wearing jeans - as winter approaches in order to entice them  - I have been making some pretty jackets and tops they can wear.

I've had this pattern for ages and was rapt to finally get a chance to make it at Sewjourn on the weekend.

This is the Raven Hoodie from Clever Charlotte. 

I first saw this range of patterns when Katy of No Big Dill did a review on their first release. 

This one came from their second release. I love their style - fashionable items for girls that have a funky edge to them.

With the advice of a couple of the clever chicks at Sewjourn, I altered this so that the tie was in a casing - rather than stitched onto the inside and outside layers of the garment.

My concern was that two layers of fabric joined together made for a bulky tie, and I am glad I did it this way as including the ribbon tie makes a pretty feature (though I may trim it slightly looking at the pic, what do you think??)

The fabric is some longtime-stashed Heather Ross 'Far Far Away 2 Sleeping Beauty' and reliable old Michael Miller 'Ta Dot' on the inside.

The jacket is fully reversible - though I doubt it will be reversed!

There will definitely be more of these made in the future - I think it's a great basic that will work for winter, with a long-sleeved T or in summer with a basic T.

Here's a preview of another of the Sewjourn items - more on that one tomorrow.

Sprouting from Sewjourn

I'm back!

Life's been a little busy around here.

Unfortunately I don't just sew and play with kids - there's a bunch of other stuff I have to fit into my day that keeps me from the sewing machine.

You know, stuff like being on committees for both kinder and school, keeping up with friends and family, assisting in a number of classroom activities in the school with both our older girls (so twice the amount of classroom help!!), chasing work, doing work, helping people with IT/design stuff because they are not very tech savvy, running kids to and from activities, running, going to the gym and of course keeping things running on the home front.

So anyway - the weekend just gone involved none of that. It was one of pure indulgence and fun.
Yep - Sewjourn again!!

I won't go into all that we got up to because what happens at Sewjourn stays at Sewjourn!

Let me sum it up by saying the conversations are enlightening, funny, serious, uplifting, heartfelt and always sincere.

The sewing is creative, inspirational, experimental, enjoyable and relaxing.
The company - wonderful sums it up I think, though there are many other adjectives that could be applied.

There are a few pics to give you a feel for the weekend on Lara's blog.

And here is one of the garments I sewed, a Make It Perfect Sprout dress for Miss G - who doesn't like to wear her sister's hand-me-downs (aaaahhhhh), but who very happily put this new snug and warm dress on today for kinder - with no fuss.

It's always a winner for me this one.

I also sunk my teeth into some StyleArc patterns, a Clever Charlotte I have been wanting to try and finally finished off an Oliver + s cape I cut last winter.

More on those another time....
I need to catch up on some sleep!

Cold weather gear

I was given a whole lot of cheesy expressions for these photos!!

This one is not bad - though Miss A looks a bit posed.

Winter has hit hard here in the last few days, so we are into winter uniform.

I detest fleecy tracksuit pants as uniform, so I am super-glad my chicks like to wear dresses.

I wish I could have made them something a little more stylish, perhaps one of my many Oliver + s dress patterns - but the big box-pleated tunic will have to keep me happy for now.

Oops - all the blue socks bar one pair were in the dryer!! Now to get the tights.

Longer and longer

I've mentioned lots of times that I have tall children and hence it is difficult to find things 'off the rack' that fit them well for length.

In fact getting pants to fit their waist as well as leg-length was one of the main reasons I started sewing again after many years, having sewn as a high school kid.

So here's a quick tutorial of how I lengthen pants - I am sure there are lots of ways - here's what I do.

Firstly measure the person (people!) you are making the pants for and compare the measurements to the size chart on the pattern envelope.

I've written the size the girls would fit based on the measurements next to the measurement themselves.

You can see from the chart above that Miss A has an inner leg seam measurement of 55cm - on the pattern this would make her a size 7-8.
Miss L is not far off at 53cm, showing her between the two sizes.

The same for their height measurements, both are a 7-8.

But I think the more important measurements are the hip and waist for these pants.
I don't want them to be saggy and baggy around the bottom , they are a fairly fitted pant, and both girls fit nicely into the size 6 for these measurements.

So I opted to trace off the size 6, which is the right size for both girls in the hips and waist, and then lengthen them as follows:

Firstly cut across the line marked on the pattern as being where you "lengthen or shorten".

I use sew-in interfacing for my tracing as it sticks to many fabrics when you go to cut, making it easy to use.

The next step I forgot to do as I photographed the first bit so you won't see the tape in the next few pics - but you should do it!!

Tape the top pattern piece onto a spare piece of tracing paper.



Now measure down the amount you need to add in a few places and draw a line across to mark it.

See - nothing too hard yet is there??

Now get the lower leg portion of the pattern and, aligning the outer and inner leg edges, tape this along the line you drew in the last step.

To make the next step easier, use a ruler to join the lines along the outer edges of the pants, making the piece complete again.

All done - so simple.

Then lastly trim off the excess tracing paper and you are done, you have now "lengthened your legs".

Don't forget to do the same to the other pattern piece as well - or you will have very strange looking pants.