Sew Darn Tired

With some time at home, I've been sewing a bit lately and I finally had time to make the bikinis for my son's girlfriend for her birthday. I cut them out in February from some scrap fabric my friend gave me. I made my son some swimmers   and I see someone has some for sale if you feel you are missing out 😆.   I had to piece together the bikinis as I had nearly nothing left over. I made the top back and the briefs from the free Madelynne Noelle pattern and the front top from another Madelynne pattern I can't find a link for it but was Mallory Lane. It's a basic top with scrappy back. If anyone wants it I have the download. Looks like it's not available any more.  All this piecing and mixing was purely from fabric limitations. The other fabric I mixed it with was ombre from aqua blue to purple and matched well. I asked Liv if she wanted a frill down the centre front to break up the print as I wasn't sure she would, but she loved the idea, so on the went. She tr...

I made some trifles yesterday. We had a family lunch here and I made a lovely orange and poppy seed almond cake with ricotta cream in the middle and vanilla icing on the top and we just couldn't fit these in.  Mum used to make these for us for special occasions; in these same old type wine glasses that were everywhere in the 70s. It's very clever actually because they are pretty tiny so good portion control and it was pretty fancy! Mum always made her trifle so you could take some out and it would all stay put.. nothing running into each other so that's how I make it too whether it's in a big bowl or individual ones. I used some lemon yoghurt cake for the base as I had some and them some canned fruit, jelly, then some custard. Top with fresh cream and grated chocolate. Yum.  So we didn't eat them yesterday as we were so full after roasted lamb shanks, salad, parmesan spaghetti, potato bake and pastitio (Greek baked pasta dish) and cake. This afternoon I had 9  so I ...

I go to aqua aerobics 3 or 4 times a week and I like to wear a rashie as it's outdoor and it's a bit warmer in the (not very cold usually but really warm this) winter, and I can't reach the spots for sunscreen. In Brisbane you must wear sunscreen every day even in winter as we have the highest skin cancer rates in the world and I don't want to be any more wrinkly than I am! Anyway, I went to the Gold Coast to see my friend for a few days and I left my rashie at her place and I she wouldn't get to Brisbane for a few days so I pulled out KS 2600. I saw this pattern listed on a pattern site and then became obsessed with it till I got it but this is my first chance to try it. Isn't it lovely! I wanted to test it to see how the fit was. I've made McCall's 7417 a few times but it's long between the shoulder and the arm for me and even though I have made a few it wasn't ever a great fit but it is a quick sew. The pants on the McCall's is a good fit...

  Hello 😀 It's been a long time. There are many reasons.  I've had two blog posts ready; one from a trip with a friend last year to Paris and Amsterdam and then a cruise from Amsterdam to Budapest, and the other from my trip in late May/June this year with my son to Athens, and then I went onto Cyprus (to see my maternal family) and then Paris for a lone few days and then to Lisbon to see some friends who were there staying with their family. I've had some lovely things happen in the last two years but some really hard things too. Anyway, I had to go back to Athens to fly home alone and did my fabric shopping then! (as Alex is very impatient with fabric shopping 😊... not sure why. There was lots. I bought a few pieces but the one I'm going to show you today is a more unusual fabric souvenir.  It's a table cloth! I found it at one of the fabric shops in the fabric area; I'll do another post about the area soon. It's quite heavy cotton. I'd say canvas li...

Alex is the big winner in the sewing game lately. He needed some more  as the last ones I'd made was 2020 . The fabric is a cotton remnant from Spotlight from ages ago. I really liked the bug print and perfect size for these boxers. It's the same pattern Simplicity 9958. This is such a great pattern as it's just two pieces with a fly which I normally close but you could leave it open. It's got full size range for kids and adults. You can just see the clear buttons on the photo above. I bought these labels in Stoff and Stil  when in Cologne in 2019 so I'm happy to use it for the first time. I don't like labels in my clothes so I'll only use them when I make something for someone else. I have been cooking still too. I normally make stollen for Christmas but as my sister passed away on 3 December I just didn't feel the love, but on Christmas Eve morning I decided I'm make a small batch. My sister was an amazing cook and she must have been watching over ...

 My friend gave me a box of scraps, actually there are a lot of scraps of some amazing fabric and there was some of this   Bubble O' Bill  sports fabric. I had just enough to make Alex some togs, using the Jalie 3242 undies pattern I'd used before . It had been a while and Alex was in desperate need for togs. I also cut out a pair of Batman ones too but I don't have a photo yet. I'll edit when I do.  I had a bit more of both the Bubble O'Bill and Batman fabric to cut out a pair of togs for his girlfriend but I haven't sewn them up yet. I actually haven't been able to Tetris out the bottoms and looking for maybe a fabric to match with it.  Alex was appalled when I suggested they wear them together... "are you serious Mum!"

Happy new year everyone.  So much has happened since last year. I have a post still in draft about my trip to Europe including 5 days in Paris and some fabric shopping but life has been pretty busy and at times very cruel so I just have not had the time to write a blog post let alone sew. I'll get to that later. One of my sisters wanted a Grinch t-shirt for Christmas but she couldn't find one (although she did later) and she bought a plain t-shirt and a kids Grinch t-shirt asking if I could sew the print onto her shirt. The black t-shirts were a good match. I cut an oval shape around the print to make it quick and easy as time is a valuable resource with not much spare.  Even in real life it's hard to tell it's sewn on. I did put a stretch interfacing that I had in black on the back just for a bit of stability but it worked out perfectly. I sewed the little label on the sleeve. She really liked it and it will be worn for many Christmases in the future. My Dad and his on...