Sew Darn Tired

I found this shorts pattern recently at a Salvo's second hand shop... that was a great haul as I got about 20 patterns for $3! How could I leave them. I thought this was a bit more grown up style with the flat waistband at the front and the fly, as opposed to the Burda elastic waist shorts I usually make for Alex. I have always liked New Look patterns too but never made one for a boy before. The pieces were a different shape to the Burda but I though it wouldn't matter if they didn't fit really well as the time a boy wears clothes when growing isn't that long and this was an experiment in fit and pattern brand to see it this could be used in the next few years.  Bit poufy at the front, but I might superimpose the Burda crotch shape there and make this a go to pattern. Alex was impressed that he had a fly! You can see here that the stitching would have benefited being a bit longer... next time. Pretty good fly though! Pocket stitching I used ...

This is a chair bag. In the primary school my son goes to they store their books in this bag that hangs on their chair. I am not enamoured with this principle but abide by it. I made Alex a chair bag last year... this one with a "W" is obviously not for him but the brother of Alex's best friend. They sell really ugly bottle green ones for $7 at the school but a personalised one is much better in my opinion... I mean if you have to have the ugly chair bag may as well be one that looks a little interesting, no? My friend gave me the fabric last Thursday. She was clearing a storage shed where she has been storing her and her husband's stuff for the last 10 years while working overseas, came across this and decided she's not getting the opportunity to use it any time soon and so she offered it to me. It's a very good quality, heavy Indian cotton ribbed fabric for upholstery use and perfect for a chair bag for a boy. I have some Star Wars fabric bought rece...

Baby quilt... not two words I thought I'd be writing on my blog. Friends who I have known since school days (I finished senior in 1978!) are to be grandparents hopefully by the end of this month. The baby's parents are the indie band members from  The Grates . They have a little café called Southside Tearooms  conveniently up the road... and we meet up there often. I have yet to have a bad coffee there...  Anyway, the baby shower was yesterday and I had some gifts;  a new one and three preloved ones that were a great hit 10 years ago... they asked for used things especially. I also decided to make a quilt out of a remnant piece of quilting cotton I bought a few months ago.... it is so soft and the pictures are so cute. So here's the not very well thought out part.... I bought some cotton batting from Trad's. I left it doubled up and then pinned the backing fabric, batting and the quilting cotton together. I sewed white thread on the dotted lines on the quil...

I wasn't going to do a 2014 review because I don't think I make enough items, good quality sewing or offer very much to the sewing community. That's ok, I sew for my enjoyment and I do love it. So I'll do an overview of my sewing. (A few photos of some favourites) I made a total of 49 items... this includes 14 tops, 9 dresses, 6 pants, and 9 items for Alex which includes tops shirts (4), swimmers (2), a cloak, and some shorts. On top of these 'real' items I made school shorts and trousers, 1 dress for a friend, a tunic for my Mum, 2 other cloaks, a yoga carry bag, 2 shower caps, 5 pairs of undies and a bevy of clothes for little girls out of some leftovers I couldn't throw out and gave to a friend's daughter and I made 4 large cushions for gifts. Also about 15 beach skirts that have nearly all been given away now. I also made jeans but made an error in sizing so I'll be making these come cooler weather in the next size ...

This is my Christmas stollen... it's German Christmas sweet bread. I don't like Christmas cake and many, many years ago I had a German neighbour and she gave me the recipe. My German friend makes it and loves it too. These are the ones wrapped for the neighbours tomorrow. My niece also loves it... she sent me a one sentence email, saying she'd bought some in New Zealand and was disappointed. I picked her up this afternoon... a surprise for the family at our Christmas day celebrations tomorrow. I made some this morning ... nice and fresh. I made two pavlovas too... I hope you all have a great Christmas ... full of family and friends. I hope it is a nice and safe one also.

I took a lot of photos at the exhibition and I won't go on too much but let the photos speak for themselves. I just used an iPhone having left my camera at my friend's place about 3 weeks ago and forgetting to get it when I went last week, so excuse the no so sharp or perfect snaps! This outfit is made from ribbon.. I took this close up to show the netting creating a frame for the ribbon. The rushing is done by channels of elastic. The velvet was quite worn. Yes... a corset with a pregnant belly! There was so much to see in this exhibition. One more set of photos to show. 

I'm back from Melbourne and doing some great things. I saw Nick Cave  on Thursday night and as ever he was great if you like that sort of thing. On Friday I went to the Jean Paul Gaultier exhibition in the National Gallery of Victoria , it too was great. It was a great exhibition. There is a large body of work there...it's probably one of the best exhibitions I've seen. I recently saw the  Undressed  exhibition in Queensland Museum and I wasn't that impressed. It was small and all the exhibits were behind glass and the lighting I thought was poor (others made comments in the visitors book too, so I wasn't alone there). Admittedly the underwear exhibits are much older, but it was hard to see details. The Gaultier exhibition was all uncovered, with many rooms in different themes with many, many exhibits. You were permitted photos with no flash and could get right up close - but naturally not touch. I spoke with a guard there who was writing a report, in great detai...