Finally, finally I can post some pics of my lovely lovely chicken quilt for Jackie. I finished it off this afternoon and gave it to her tonight. I hope she loves it, I miss having it around with it's cute wonky seams and uneven quilting stitches!
The Alternative Health Podcast that Kath and Chrish have been working on is finally available to listen to
here. The banner uses a pattern based on the lotus flower. On the sewing front, I've decided the peasant skirt was a flop and I'll recycle it for another project. I've got a few other things on the go, including Jen's quilt and Jackie's birthday present and another little baby rug for Conan... none of which I want to post a picture of yet since it'll spoil the surprise. They'll come to a close in the coming weeks though and i'll have something to show.
Peasant Skirt. I've decided to journel my clothing-sewing explorations, so this is the early part of the journey. I'm not too happy with this one, i think maybe a sheerer fabric, and a single fabric-pattern per teir might have yielded a better result.
This was made by cutting 15cm wide strips of fabric and sewing them all together to form one strip. Then cut them to 7 teirs of 1m, 1.3m, 1.6m, 1.9m, 2.2m, 2.5m, 2.8m lengths. I lay them all out on the floor from shortest at the top and did any cutting and re-sewing needed to keep the fabrics random. Then I gathered the top edge of one teir at a time (starting with the 2nd tier) and overlocked it to the teir above. This took too long. The overlocker knife decided not to cut cleanly. I just wanted to be done. Peasants clearly have much more patience than me.
The final stage is of course to overlock the back seam (make it a tube) and put elastic in the waist.
What I do like about this skirt a lot is that it tends to sit away from my skin which is great in the hot weather - no other piece of clothing i own does this!
Warning - this is not a toy. i had to laugh - do you think anyone has told the teddy?
This kit was a present for Em, who's getting a bit interested in sewing.
Kids Pants - Sewing Pattern! i'm no sewing expert, but i've been making my kids elastic-waisted pants for years, and they love them. The first pair I made Em were muslin ones to protect her from mosquitoes in Bali when she was two. They had a more tapered leg so that while they were too long the excess length just gathered around her ankles until she grew into them. We've also done some printed corduroy ones, black wedding ones and quite a few pairs of pyjama ones.
Anyway, this is a very basic pattern, and can be made smaller or larger by varying the crotch-length, distance to the fold, and the crotch to hem length. I usually just compare to a current pair of pants. The leg can be made wider or narrower, just try to ensure the inside leg seam at the hemline is vertical for a enough distance so that the pants are easier to hem.
Construction: There are two pieces. Fold each piece right-sides together and sew inside leg seam of each. Finish raw edges. Turn 1 leg right side out. Place this leg inside the other leg so that right sides are together and the crotch seams line up. This seam is the crotch from waist-back to waist-front. You way want to sew this with two rows of stitching for extra strength. Turn pants inside out. Finish the waist ready to thread elastic or drawstring. Hem the bottoms.
If there's anyone lurking out there with helpful suggestions or links to other clothing patterns, please comment!
Words.
Found this on a blog-meandering adventure (http://craftingscriptorium.blogspot.com/)
"Whenever we find ourselves ensnared in negative behaviour, [Patanjali] suggests, we should increase the amount of time, thought, and energy we direct toward positive behavior," "We do not need to enter a showdown with our self-destructive behavior, nor can we deny its existence. We must simply come to know it, and move on. We learn to focus wholeheartedly on positive behavior," "As soon as I began to direct my energy and attention to a new [path], the old one fell away."
(from Meditations from the Mat by Rolf Gates and Katrina Kenison)
And also this one (who's link I can't find again, but there was a lovely picture of a labrador - so sorry!)
"God, please help me to be the person my dog thinks I am"
Jen & I made these jamie pants... they were going to be a present for Finn, but when we went looking for a top to go with them we found a great set of skeleton-theme summer pj's, and decided to keep the home-mades for Alex (who loves them). Thanks to Netty for finding this great fabric.
I got to play with my gorgeous sister all weekend and it was the best fun - making paper, singing, playing card games, sewing and singing, singing, singing! The pics are of the paper-making part, which went for quite a few hours. Emma was dying to try out our Paper Recycling kit, which we picked up at the local charity shop for $4 during the week. We've been quite into the op-shopping of late, looking for fabric remnants but coming out with all sorts of things. And Alex always manages to get something for free.
i can't describe the joy of creating these things for Emmy. They took an hour each. And they fit beautifully.
Thank you to Jackie and Margie for the 'how to' on stretch necklines.
