Goldfish Romper - Ottobre of the Month - December

My gift for subscribing was my choice of back issue. I went for Summer 2012,, as the contents looked hugely useable for our lifestyle, with fome fun shorts designs, new shirts to try and some cute but easy dresses for friends/possible future girls.

But what really drew me in was that adorable vintage style bubble romper. I figured the detailing meant that it would be unisex and adorable.

Its definitely adorable, but I'm not sure its the most flattering on my little man. 

Those high cut legs make it look a little like a swimming costume. I'm not sure if the elastic is still a little tight or if this is how theyre supposed to look.

This is the size 80, cut out as a guess as I have no idea how big he currently is and I didn't bother measuring because he was asleep when I decided to trace the pattern. It seems to fit OK though there isnt as much bubble as I was expecting. There seemed like there was more in the quick muslin  made up, so maybe the poplin just doesnt want to bubble.
I added snaps to the crotch for easy access, and winged the straps.

Nice and cool for the 41 degree (106F) day were expecting here!

I'm contemplating another for birthday cake smash style pictures, with a big 1 on the bib. Or I might just spray baste a big 1 on this one as I have way more ideas than time... If I do I think I'll work on lowering the rise some so theyre more bubble bloomers, though I'm not sure how that will work with the bib.

I've got some shorts to finish up for a friend, and a birthday boy shirt to make, and maybe a top for me, and the new Ottobre will supposedly be here shortly too, but I'm thinking I'll trace off the nautical shorts (number 7) and give those a go too.  So much on the wish list, so little time!

2014 Review

So I've had a lot of things going on this year. Sewing has taken a bit of a backseat, and blogging fell out of the car a while ago! But I've been working a way in the background, making bits and bobs when I can. These are mostly for Bubbaboo, but more recently I've started sewing for me again now I'm coming to terms with my post-partum body!

I'm going to do the usual (all over the blogosphere) round up for a bit of insight into whats been under my presser foot and how its worked out. It wont be a top 5 and its not very specific, but here goes nothing...

Maybe we should start with the misses:

Baby shoes
So fiddly, so cute, so never worn.
He came out too big for the cute pair I made for his Daddys first "I'm nearly a" Daddys Day, And by the time I'd finished these uber cute boots from an old wool skirt he didnt fit them either. Bad planning? Maybe, but I dont think I'll bother for future babies.

Baby shirts
I had great hopes, and they did look very cute on, but they weren't practical on a little one and I don't reach for them still. Maybe I should make an effort now the weather is warming up so he can be breezy but covered. I'll still make him a first birthday shirt as I got a lovely blue paisley Liberty remnant from Tessuti for only $7, but thats more for me than him.


Crochet hats
I had the most fabulous alpaca/wool blend yarn to make a little hat. I even lined it with jersey to stop any potential prickles, even though it felt yummy to me. But it was too big for our trip to the motherland, and Perth doesn't really get cold enough for fully lined alpaca blend bobble hats. I did get a few people asking me to make them one, so maybe I'll contribute it to a fund raising raffle for one of the groups I'm part of next year. Or I could just hoard it for ever and cuddle it.
He did get a couple of other acrylic ones that got a bit more wear, but I think I'll admit he didn't need 4 of them...

Actually, Crochet in general
I started trying to crochet him a winter cardigan/jacket. I found it was something I could do when I was under a sleeping baby and neither of us really wanted to move. But when I got to the end of the first sleeve I lost momentum. Maybe I'll frog it back and add a few more rows to widen the back/should (its raglan style) and give it a go for next year.

Most things for me
Meh. I tried doing FBA, I tried new patterns. But with limited sewing time I havn't had time to faff around adjusting things to fit and preferably still allow me to feed. I had plans to make shorts but I havnt quite got around to printing the pattern out. I will admit I still wear a few of my dodgy bust dart sorbettos and laurels around and about, because they're cool and comfy, but they're not the best. And I just finished a Tesuti Alice top, which is nice and light and breezy. Now the need to feed at any given moment is starting to end though, and I've got a new more fitted pattern muslined that will hopefully break me out of this bad streak!

And the hits:

Most things for Bubbaboo
I'm really proud to say that in just about every photo of my little man and just about every day he is wearing/using something I made. From shorts to pram liners and onsies to suck pads for the ergo. And hats and toys and jeans and playmats... I love that we aren't restricted by the pretty limited boys wear selection. We can do bright colours and non skinny jeans. We can do anything (and he can't complain yet!). Here are some of my favourites:

Purl Soho baby pants, KwickSew Romper, Sirocco dress for a friend, BBBPants with wrap scrap panel, half birthday Oliver+S Sunny Day shirt, Lion shirt for the City to Surf,
Matching Sunny Day and Negroni shirts. Suck pads and my fav (self drafted) pants of all yet rarely photo'd, upcycled onsie, shirt and upcycled lined jeans, Surfing Space Robot cargos, upcycled Tshirts into raglan t and pants,
Upcycled T to track pants- Daddys favourite, christmas shorts, second fav pants- green babycord BBBPants, Yellow cord overalls, red polo from scrap of op shopped red jersey used for maternity dress plus MoVember shorts, Haloween/dress-up box dinosaur/dragon reversible cape.

Megan Neilson Nursing tops
I wear these all the time, though have surprisingly few photos. I love that its easy to feed in but also draws in around the waist and skims the tummy. I found the neckline bagged out, so I sew elastic in the hem to stop that. I also found the modesty panel made it really hard to actually feed  through and the opening also stretched out, so I just wear it with a cut off singlet underneath instead.

Upcycling for baby clothes
I've been saving up old Tshirts and pants for a while. I have maybe also been buying things of varying states of newness to make into different things.  My favourite is this combo- Daddys well worn in tshirt with Daddys well worn in jeans, but as you can see in the above collage, there has been lots of recycling and reusing going on.

So yep, lots of sewing, just not much blogging. Not even much Flickr-ing!

Baby Trousers - One Pattern, many ways

Baby stuff again! But I do have grown up sewing in the pipeline...

So despite the fact that we're still sweltering through one of the hottest summers in Perths recorded history (the rains coming! yey! but now its just warm and humid...) Bubbaboo has many many pairs of pants that he occasionally wears for best or our morning walks, because 22 oC is cold, right?

The ones I'm showing today were all based on Rae's free newborn pants pattern. Its not as newborn as some of her stuff, so with some mods they still fit my 7.2kg/15lb 9 week old who is generally in 3-6m or bigger RTW.

I made a couple of pairs of the straight pattern from woven fabric for true newborn. These never really got worn-Too fiddly and too warm to really bother- but they were very cute.

The next way was out of stretch fabrics, mostly refashioned Tshirts. Sometimes I used the existing hem, sometimes that wouldn't work so I hemmed them myself, sometimes I added a cuff:

I made a matching hat out of the owl tshirt. Bubbaboo wore it lots in the hospital, though the trousers didn't fit yet. In all the commotion of being allowed to finally leave the hospital and make sure he was properly in the baby seat and things, the hat got left behind. I was gutted. I loved that hat and all the memories. But I still have the memories... And maybe someone else got to love it too. How much he's changed already! Now the pants fit, and they're nice and thin so they'll make a good slightly-cool weather layer.

The pink Koala pair are for Bubbaboos second cousin who is about 2 months older (and about 3lb lighter!). We're going a visiting soon, so these were made as a souvenir out of a Tshirt I bought years and years ago on my first visit to what is now my home city. I rarely wore it but I knew it would come in useful some day! Bubbaboo has a matching pair made out of a t-shirt I picked up in Cairns a couple of years ago.

These have ribbing waist and cuffs, and longer but narrower legs. The cuff means they can be longer without overhanging, and the soft waist means they'll be nice and comfy for long term wear, not to mention that the other baby struggles with reflux so a gentle waist is supposed to be better for that.

If you're adding a waist cuff, you can cut away the extra fabric for the elastic casing and just leave a seam allowance for adding the ribbing. But for these I sewed the basic trouser shape then dipped the waist at the front to give them a bit less rise there, then attached the waist band. It just gives them a bit more rise for a bigger baby. In some pairs I also added a bit more width by putting the pattern piece away from the fold slightly prior to cutting.

Then we started getting into the proper winter clothes:

Refashioned from a fleecy sweatshirt, with extra width and length to hopefully last us through the winter.

And my biggest step away from the original idea:

(my old) Jeans fully lined with flannel. These took a bit of imagining and some un picking, but I got there in the end! They have extra width and length, hence the turn ups. And a fake fly (maybe on the wrong side...) and back pocket. If I get time to make another pair I'll do a tutorial, mostly for my own remembering!

Such a quick pattern to make, and so easy to make different every time!

I love patterns like that! Especially when they're free.

Do you have a "quick fix" pattern?

The start of a modelling career!

BubbaBoo is 4 weeks old! 

And we're starting to phase in some clothes beyond onsies.

Being a monster baby he's pretty much into the 3-6 month sizes already!

Here are some of the outfits we've been rocking:

I'm especially loving the Big Butt Baby Pants and the PurlSoho Baby Pants. I foresee more of those in our sewing future! I also foresee a Plantain T shirt to hide the fact that BubbaBoo killed my tummy muscles. 

If I can ever force myself to switch newborn cuddles for naptime sewing...

Top 5 of 2013

So... its 2014 already. Last years review is here. If all goes to plan my life will change forever in less than 3 weeks, hopefully sooner, as I really want to avoid the overdue and pregnant tantrums and eventual induction. So, my biggest hit of the year:

But making people has drastically reduced my sewing output... or at least adapted it and changed my goals for the year! Only a few months into the year we found out about the new addition and all sewing stopped- I didn't want to jinx anything; there was no point making fitted clothes if I couldn't wear them, or maternity clothes if things went wrong early.

So just to change the order around:

Reflections

My goals set last year were:

1. Sew for the person you want to be. 
2. Take part in MMM 
3. Go beyond your comfort zone.
• 1 Pair of shorts/trousers 
• 1 coat/jacket
• 1 set of undies.
4. More separates. 
5. Less is more- join the slow sewing movement and make sure that you're proud of what you are making. 

In general I have been sewing for the person I want to be. Maybe thats because I can use all my crazy fabrics on actual child clothes... but the things I have made have been mostly "more grown up". With a few exceptions, but if you cant sew for comfort during pregnancy, when can you?! And prior to bubs interfering there were plenty of separates, so I was definitely onto a good start on that front.

Me-Made-May fell right in the middle of the first tri and I failed from the start. I wasn't in the mood, I was bloated, tired and stressing. Ah well. Maybe it can spur me on to fit back into my me-mades for this May so I can join in!

Going beyond my comfort zone was a wash out. I did make knickers. And I even made some maternity ones with a dipped front and a banded waist rather than elastic. But pants and a coat... No comment.

My Hits:

Maternity Tshirts - Having the overlocker has really increased my confidence with knits, and my creations have mostly lasted the full duration and been worn on a regular basis, especially the Moustache and the dinosaurs.

And while I'm on maternity wear, my most worn items this year have been shorts I hacked into maternity shorts by chopping out a lot of the front and replacing it with really stretchy jersey. Not hugely pretty if you look closely, but very comfy and a lifesaver. And a money saver since the shorts were ones I owned already and the jersey was salvaged from singlets in matching colours. 

Laurels - I made 3 tops in the end, and still managed to wear one of them up to about 20 weeks. I think there will be more. My favourite never even made it to the blog somehow! Navy blue with a bird print. I wore it at least once a week. Maybe I should dig it out and take a pic!

Rocky Horror Outfits - I loved the whole process of creating these, and I'm very proud of how they turned out. Rocky is coming to Perth but bubs will be too small for us to realistically even consider going, despite the temptation of a tiny golden nappy cover

Meringues - I loved these skirts. Especially this black moleskin one. And I wore the chevron version a lot considering I only made it a week before those two little lines appeared. I used the pattern for my little red dress skirt too, and while that project wasn't a huge hit (worn once) it was a fun make. 

Baby Shirts - So I can't confirm if these are a total win yet, as obviously they are yet to be worn. But when they fit (they're supposedly a 0-3) he's going to be a very cool little man :D

I traced the pattern from a RTW shirt and I've now lost count of how many he has. I even made The Boy a shirt to match (or is it the other way around?!) for a cutesy photo opportunity. My current favourite is the blue and yellow seersucker shirt, though I have one as finished as possible in the most fabulous Australiana surrealist fabric, featuring the highlights of Sydney tourist attractions. Once he's here I'm hoping to find the time/motivation to sew the side seams up to fit whatever tiny newborn size is right so he can wear it on his first Australia Day.

I've had lots of fun making a large volume of tiny clothes. I fully accept that many of them wont get worn, but the process of making them has kept me sane! And hopefully will give me an idea of what works and doesn't once I find time to get sewing again.

The Misses

I'm not going to go into the failures too much. Most of what I've sewn this year has worked for its purpose. Even if I wouldnt wear it out of the house. Examples are hugely bright baggy dresses. Not flattering, but they are cool and unintrusive and keep me covered on the off chance that someone knocks on the door or the neighbours kids are spying over the fence on their trampoline ;) And they removed these fabrics from the stash!

The main miss has been trying to get the Washi Dress to work. One version worked out OK, but tight across the bust. It was wearable right up until recently, when it became too short:

But others have failed-

Cotton Sateen- not enough drape.
FBA attempt - Hard to get smooth with the way the darts are drafted.
Front placket for feeding- without fixing the FBA issue it just gapes and pulls.
Maybe I'll try again at a later date, but for now I'm done!

Goals for 2014

I'm trying not to load too much on my plate this year. I think adapting to life with a baby will be quite enough!
I would love to be able to keep sewing as much as possible once things are feeling a bit more under control, so I might see about setting some more specific goals later in the year.
I think I will try and partake in MMM, even if its simply wearing one item (including accessories) on either me or bubs ;)
But otherwise my plan is just to try and see the positives in the hard times and enjoy this new challenge as much as possible!

I don't think I'll ever be a quilter, but...

I wont say I hugely enjoyed the process of making this quilt. I cant imagine making them on a regular basis. 

I managed so sew some of the blocks the wrong way round, which threw the balance out a little. And it probably could have done with some plain fabric to tone it down a little. And the two afternoons I spent hand sewing the binding with a sore finger because I apparently somehow don't own a thimble of any description? Don't ask.

But I'm pretty happy with how it turned out, especially for a first try. 

I have no idea what the pattern would be called. I just knew that I didn't want plain squares but I also didn't want anything too complicated so I fudged my own pattern after some googling.  The quilt is roughly 90 x 120 cm which will be perfect for a play mat and sofa snuggling. 

I had a pretty hard time attempting to baste it. I used warm and natural batting inside, which handled pretty well and was eventually easy to quilt. But the basting felt like it took forever and despite using tape and the spray and some pins I never quite got it to sit right. Its worse on the back than the front though, so its not the end of the world. 

The actual quilting wasn't too bad. Free motion quilting was asking a bit too much, so I stuck to outlining each shape, and adding an extra square inside the larger shapes too make sure the batting was sufficiently held down.

I followed one of the myriad of internet tutorials for the binding and ended up with some OK mitred corners and a join that is solid yet not obvious. As much as I didn't much enjoy the hand sewing (seriously, how do I not yet own a thimble?!) I do like the clean look. I would never have managed to keep my machine stitching neat enough to be happy with it.

Now we just need the baby to go with it! 

Hopefully he knows its in his best interests not to be born over Christmas
(but doesn't hang around too long after!)

Stash busting Maternity MuuMuu :)

I've had the Burda "Tara" pattern sitting in my online stash for a while, since it was a friday freebie about 18 months ago in fact. I liked the style and different construction to the norm but I'd never quite got around to making it.

I found this lime green and brown cotton voile in the Spotlight clearance wrack some time last summer. I'd seen a women in a dress with a similar "butterflies made out of butterflies" fabric... but hers was a bit more of a muted colourway. I was going to make it into a shift dress to show off the pattern, something Laurel-esque. But I never did. And I probably wouldn't have worn it anyway! Its very green.

With the weather heating up here (I'm typing this outside on a glorious 28 degree cloudless day, yey for spring!) I decided to bite the bullet and make a simple throw on dress for days when clingy jersey just seems tooo nasty.

Actually, it started out as a top with 3 inches added to the length to stretch over the ever expanding bump. I cut the 44, since I figured I needed all the room I could muster and the empire line is brought in with elastic anyway. I contemplated trying to cut a smaller back and shoulder piece but that was too much thinking so I decided to just fudge it into fitting later...

Tara has a different construction to anything I've sewn before- raglan style flutter sleeves that connect the (very deep) front panels to the back pannel. That made it quite easy to fudge the fit by simply pinching out the extra material at the back seam. You finish the edges prior to sewing, so it literally is just a case of pinching then making sure the edges match. I  took about 4cm off on each side... Its meant that the back sits a little higher than it might otherwise but meh. Good sun protection ;)

Once I'd got it so it didn't fall of my shoulders I finished the edges and realised I still probably wouldn't wear it. Because if its too hot for jersey, who can really be bothered with shorts.
So I used the remainder of my fabric (true stash busting win there!) to add a flounce around the bottom hem.

I'm not sure I'll wear this version out of the house- its got a fair few flaws and its lime green and from the front and side I look like a tank- but its cool and flouncy and presentable enough to answer the door if needed. Though they might get an eyeful from that low-low-low front... Its got plenty of growing room left for the next couple of months, and theres plenty of breast feeding access and post-baby tummy hiding potential for the rest of the summer!

And just in case you think I'm neglecting the little one: How cute are these pants?!

The pattern is from Purl Soho here, available free in sizes up to 9 months. 

Maternity Sewing - 6 months in.

Most of my recent sewing has been for the baby, from cutesy nappy covers to nursery decor like curtains (boring! but satisfying) and an underskirt for the cot. Baby stuffs will continue to be added to my flickr set, over on the side bar. Go check it out!
Some of it has been for me though, with mixed outcomes!

My favourite and generally most successful makes are the gathered T-shirts using the tutorial Zoe put out a while back. When I'm wearing them I feel pregnant, not just fat! Definitely a win. I've made 4 of them now, with my favourites being the dino vest (spotlight clearance, 18 months ago!), and this one I just made in preparation for Mo-vember. Its cut from some thin ?slub jersey I got from the charity shop a while back for $1. Win.

The dino vest was an early attempt at sewing knits, so while I love it there are lots of faults. The Mo is much more "professionally" finished, with neck and arm bands and an extra wide hem band to finish it nicely and add a bit of extra length that it badly needed! The pleats in the mo top feel a little high, but it still works. If I make another I'll probably drop them a few centimeters.

Once it was done I used the below image to free-hand a moustache onto the bump. I traced an outline in chalk, then used a paint-tip sharpie to draw the hairs. I just need to hot press it to hopefully make it stay around for a few washes. It looks good and bushy- not sure I could pull that off again!

A semi-success is this boyfriend cut t-shirt made by tracing a RTW maternity top.
Maybe I'll become more of a fan of this style once the weather heats up and its nice and comfy, but the silhouette just makes be feel like I look fat not pregnant...

And on the subject of feeling huge, my least successful makes are the Washi Dresses I made early on. The silhouette just makes me feel the size of a bus now I have a bump to fill it out! I have one in a very light voile that will be good for hotter days without feeling too huge as it drapes ok, but the one I made from cotton sateen for "special occasions" looks like a tank!

I did learn how to make a functioning button placket... I just need to do a FBA to stop all that pulling! So I'm thinking I might make a couple of these in floaty fabric for all the hot months after baby is here to cover the post-baby bump and allow easy access for breast feeding.

Currently on my sewing table are my first hesitant steps into the world of quilting (nearly finished the top, but I think thats the easy bit!) and some burnt orange ridiculously stretchy fabric which I intend to attempt to use to copy a RTW dress I love. If I survive all that stretch. 

And now it is.

Enough, anyway. I think I need to bite the bullet and buy a french curve, as the problems with the skirt resut with me not being able to draw a smooth curve! Can you tell I'd been wearing it sat down for a few hours?

And I finished the last pair of pants for MMM! 

(Can you guess the Boys name?!)