A Skirt for my Daughter

I wanted to sew something yesterday, I just had no idea what. So I sat down surrounded by my fabric boxes and sorted through looking for inspiration.

I came up with a few different solid coloured knits, some pretty wovens and an off cut of soft denim.

I drafted my own pattern, it simply has 2 rectangles and sews together easily.

The first was my attempt at a newborn skirt.....gosh its been a while since I had a newborn and the skirt ended a bit big. This one has a rolled hem and when I sewed the woven on I stretched the knit to meet the gathered woven to make it able to stretch more, iykwim.

The next I made for my 6yo Daughter, I love the combination of red, blue and white. For this one I didn't stretch the knit to meet the woven so it has less stretch in the waist area.

I added some buttons for decoration and TA-DA, a cute skirt. It really uses very little fabric so is quiet economical. Of course there are options for more tiers or simply a longer skirt section.

Thanks for reading.

Home Renovations - Kitchen Progress

My husband built the bulk heads and nib at the end of the island bench. Plumbing is done and oven is working. (Since the photo my husband has set and undercoated the bulkhead and nib wall).

progress

No working powerpoints or cooktop yet but fingers crossed they wont be long in coming. Oh and lights...3 pendants hanging over the island bench. I am not in love with the pendants I bought but they will do for now, hopefully they will look good

The island is just shy of 3.6m long......I wonder how many stools I will fit along there?. And which stools? So many decisions.

Amy Butlers Style Stitches - Key Keeper Coin Purse.

I bought this book from the UK Book Depository a few weeks ago - I think it cost me about $24.

Firstly, I think the byline goes something like "12 easy ways to 26 wonderful bags"......hmmmm, that is a stretch. I think it has 12 bags, you can extend a handle or make some of the bags a little smaller/bigger, but there are not 26 different bags to be made from this book.

That said, I like the book, I like the spiral bound look and the gorgeous fabrics and photography.

The bags are grouped according to level of skill needed to sew each bag, 3 are rated easy, 4 intermediate, 2 advanced and 3 experienced.

I went straight to bag number 7, the Key Keeper Coin Purse rated as intermediate, because I really wanted to make a little purse. I am not an experienced sewer by any stretch of the imagination but I have OK machines, I can follow clear instructions and can work things out a little on my own when needed. I did find the instructions a little confusing in places, not sure if that's my inexperience or the instructions.

So here is my finished product. I used Amy Butler fabrics, of course, and did not bother with the little tag on the side.

Purse Outer

Lining and Zip

I chose the fabrics because this was a zip I had, passed on to me from my Nan who has rescued it from something else, lol. I think a smaller zip would of been fine...better even, but overall I am happy with my efforts and looking foward to getting into sewing again.

xoxo

Home Renovations Happening

Home renovations are time consuming.....I mean seriously time consuming!

Things are really happening here, the kitchen went in this week....still need appliances to go in and plumbing done but it is so exciting to have progress.

the kitchen space in the extension before kitchen

kitchen installed....needing finishing touches

I feel like there are a thousand decisions to make about every little step, it becomes a little draining and I look forward to it all being done.

The house is slowly becoming a little more ordered, a little less chaotic, and I feel my sewing mojo coming back....I can't wait.

Slack Blogger

I have been a really slack blogger.

There is so much going on in my life at the moment.

Our home renovations and extentions are going really well. My husband is such a clever man and he has been working really hard to get things done, but this means I have the 4 kids constantly and my sewing stuff has been packed away until the house is more livable.

I turned 30 last week - wow, I am growing up.

I have also been dealing with some personal issues, that I might discuss here when I feel ready.

Anyway - my main purpose was to come on here and say I am still around just unable to sew or blog much for a bit.

Bunting - Finished!

Its taken me months to finally finish this bunting, and weeks to get around to blogging about it, lol.

I struggled to get a nice shot of it (this room is tiny) but DD likes it and I think it looks nice. She doesn't actually sleep in her room at the moment as she prefers to sleep in with the boys but hey one day she will appreciate having her own space ;) and even more so if it is pretty.

Library Bag

My daughter is starting Kindergarten next week!

Firstly I can't believe she is 5 already and secondly I can't believe I will have 2 of my 4 children at school this year!

So anyway the reason for the post is that I finally dusted off my sewing machine (been so busy with school holidays and 4 kids at home) and quickly sewed up a library bag for her. I still need to buy a cord as the ribbon probably wont stand up to use too well, but she is very happy with it.

It is so funny that given the choice of all my fabrics she picked some spotlight fabric that my mum bought me for about $2 a metre.