KCWC - Day one

Well here in Australia it is technically day two - but I thought I'd show you what I got up to on day one first.

I had to break the time down into small 'bites' but in the end had more than an hour to sew - because I am a night owl!

So here's what I got up to...

Oops - needs ironing again, it was shoved in a bag so I could unpick poolside!!

This is a Big Basic Tee from Make It Perfect, it's view A - the slim fit top, done with contrasting sleeves and neck binding.

You can see that I have unpicked the hem - I wasn't happy with it.

I realised as I went to sew the sleeve hems and body hem that I had broken my last twin stretch needle, so chose a stretch zig zag stitch on my machine instead to complete them.

But the stretch stitch warped the shape of the lower hem - making it a little wobbly and it was going to annoy me, so I unpicked it and will re-sew it tonight.

The mushroom is an iron-on velour from Crafty Mama's.
These are dead-easy to put on, give a professional look to a simple garment and Lisa is expanding the range all the time so there are always great things to choose from - for girls or boys.

They are as varied as a retro camera, geckos, truck tyre tracks, deer, stars, jungle animals, crowns, hearts, birds and cute little hedgehogs.

Today has been tough for fitting in sewing.
I've managed the unpicking (no fun!!) - and that might be it for today.

Tomorrow is a public holiday - so despite family plans I hope to get at least an hour in.
Wish me luck!

PS - if you are looking at this on a reader pop over and check out my new header and blog design, with a new font, clean, fresh and simple.

Flora and fauna

I told you I'd be back with the finished Tee's - just took me a little longer than expected!

Here we have three daughters and one niece wearing their new Make It Perfect Basic Tees - now 'dressed up' with some Crafty Mama's iron-on velours.

These things are seriously great.

For a start they cost about $4 each (for the single designs, there are sets available), then Lisa sends them postage free in Australia, so the cost is minimal.

There are a bunch of different designs, sizes and colours - things for girls and boys.

They are super-easy to put on- you just apply a hot iron with no steam, let them cool, peel off the backing and iron again. 

Done. 

Too easy.

The smallest child chose the skrirrel (her words not mine!) - she loves it.

I thought the mushie and two little deer went well with stripes...

And the kids seem happy.
They were good comfortable tops to wear all day long at the zoo - so that is all that counts!

Go get yourself some.

PS - sorry for the vast array of cheesy/odd/awkward grins here today - it was the day of the strange smile I think. They were all a bit wacky!

A shirt for all seasons

Toni has been at it again and has developed a fabulously simple T-shirt pattern for kids big and small called, appropriately, Basic Tees. 

There are long and short sleeved versions as well as a long-over-short sleeved variation.

The girls shirts are slim fitted with a gathered cap on the sleeve and the boys are slightly wider with a straight sleeve.

The pattern includes some great tips for sewing with stretch so don't be afraid! Have a go.

I tested it out in a boys size 4 for my neighbour's son.

A simple freezer paper stencil of a cassette tape was the finishing touch for this one.
Made from lovely stretchy Stella - available at Crafty Mamas.

I did a girl's size 7 with the contrast hem - a very easy detail to add interest to the shirt using just two colours of fabric.
The pink spot for this is not very stretchy so I couldn't use it for the neck.
The contrast band added the extra 'kick' I wanted.

I also did a girls size 8 with stripey sleeves and a solid front - I plan to add some velour iron-ons to these last two so will show you once I have - they are the perfect finishing touch to shirts like these.

As you can see the combination options are endless.
Rachel did a single colour boy version and a girl's shirt with the short-over-long sleeves, so pop over and have a look.

Go and visit Crafty Mamas for all your stretch fabric such as Stella and Campan knits as well as an amazing variety of European knits from companies such as Lilofant, Hilco and Znok.

They are excellent quality and Lisa usually has some fantastic mix packs so you can get some of the cool and groovy prints to mix and match with solids and stripes.

While you are hopping around on the net visit Toni's blog to see some more great tops and also get yourself in the running to win a copy of the pattern. The competition closes Wed 17th August.