Itty bitty baby dress

Some non selfish sewing for once!

Some friends of ours just had a little girl after a difficult pregnancy. It gave me the perfect excuse to make some tiny baby clothes to ooh and ahh over. There are so many baby projects out there, and with no babies on the cards for a few years yet, making gifts is a good way to quieten the biological clock for a while!

They're also goof for trying out techniques on small scales and using up ends of material, and they take no time to sew so they're a good quick fix!

These are probably totally impractical, but its always good to have some pretty dresses, right?

And at least they aren't pink and frilly! My aim was to make baby clothes without the baby feel, as I don't think the parents are into that kind of thing. They are all based on the FREE itty bitty baby dress pattern at made-by-rae.

The first dress is fully reversible...
White bodice with a box pleated blue and orange skirt on one side.

And this lovely brown and brights elephant print on the other.

The other baby dresses

Making the pattern reversible

To make it totally reversible, I followed the instructions given by Rae which makes a lined bodice.

I tried to chose fabrics that would work together as you will see some of both bodice fabrics on the ties.

When I was ready to sew the skirts on, I pinned one to the outside and one to the inside of the bodice, making sure that you have the fabric you want on the right side, and facing the right way.

 (I'll admit I got a phone call from the hubby while pinning this together and when I had sewn and turned it out, the orange was inside out... easy to do!)

Then sew through all four layers (skirt 1, two sides of bodice, skirt 2).

When you turn it out, the dresses fold down over the seam. 

Fold under a little of each skirt, and sew together to hem both sides at once and close up the skirt.

Try and use a thread colour which either contrasts or matches with both fabrics.

Autumn Stripes and Spots

The Autumn is arriving in Perth, and having signed up for Me Made May, I decided to use some of my knit stash to make a tshirt for the cooler days.

This was self drafted and draped. - Dolman sleeves longer than usual for our incoming autumn weather, and tucks up the sides to break up the stripes and disguise the currently-slightly-softer-than-I'd-prefer stomach.

To draft this, I simply used a well fitting t-shirt, folded in half and laid out on the halved fabric. I marked lines up the sides, allowing extra for the seam. When I got to the armholes, I simply drew out more or less straight at 90 degrees to the fold, as long as you want the sleeve to be. 

At the shoulder point of my shirt, I drew another line straight across at 90 degrees to the fold, also marking the point where the neck opening was. Then cut.

Sew up each side, then across the top of each sleeve as far as the marked neckline. You could cut a curved neckline in, but I kept with the stripes, and simply rolled down the front a little more than the back before stitching down a hem at the neck. 

Then I hemmed the sleeves and bottom of the shirt. 

The fabric is something knit-ish, bought at the local fabric shops sale, mainly because I liked the colour and the mix of polkadots and stripes. 

 Finished with a double needle.- Finally attempted it! It didn't work out too well, but you can't see the trouble areas so much.

See my other entries for Raes Spring Top Sewalong.

Have you used a twin needle? What do you think? I like the professional look bit definitely need more practice!

Me Made May!

I, Ellen, sign up as a participant of Me-Made-May '12. I endeavour to wear an item that I have had a hand in creating, each day for the duration of May 2012 

(even on fieldwork in Italy...)

Its that time again. I've seen this kind of challenge before but haven't been in a position to join in.

I didn't think I'd have enough again, but when you throw in all the bags/accessories I've made, the projects that are nearly done, the plans I have for the next few weeks and the op-shop refashions... I think I might be able to do it!

The problems I can see at the moment  are:

I fly to Italy on the 2nd, for a weeks field work

The weather should be OK, so I can stick with my sleeveless tops (sleeves have always been an issue of mine), and also wear some re-fashioned tshirts and vests. Not much of an opportunity for dressing up though!

Most of what I've actually finished are dresses or PJs.

Do PJs count?! 

I need to be brave and cut some of my fabric. 

Even though I'm no expert, and as much as I love my fabric... mostly it was bought on sale so it doesn't really represent a huge investment. And I'm never going to get any better without making a few mistakes on the way.

It'll be my first month at uni.

Do I really want to be the one in the shirt where the hemline don't match? Can I live with being that girl? Can I make up a few things that don't scream "a three year old made this"?

But I'm up for the challenge.

If you are too, learn more and sign up at So, Zo...What do you know!

Bogan Partay

Once I get the photos off the camera, I'll post pictures of our citizenship ceremony...

But for now, here are some from the party we had to celebrate in worst case true blue style!

 

Australiana Biscuits

Tonight we're having a party to celebrate our recently acquired Australian-ness.

I decided to put all my Australian shaped biscuit cutters to good use.

How cute did they turn out!

The echidna

I used the basic biscuit mix from taste.com.au

• 185g butter, softened

• 3/4 cup caster sugar

• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

• 1 egg

• 2 cups plain flour

The dough was really hard to work with, and really sweet, so next time i think I'll use less sugar.

To make it  a bit more manageable, I rolled it out between greaseproof paper, and threw it into the freezer to firm up for 5 minutes before cutting, so that the shapes cut out and held their shape.

Then into the oven until just brown, leave to cool, then I iced with plain icing mix.

The hubby iced with squeezy chocolate frosting. Spot his ;)

Platypus

Om-nom-wombat

Frill neck lizard

Koala

A different platypus

The hubbys frosting :)

2012 Bridges Run

This morning was the Bridges Fun Run, organised by the WAMC. Its a nice 10k race around the two bridges which bookend Perth, and is threatened by the proposed redevelopment of the foreshore by the city, which will probably make the race too hard to organise, even if a suitable course can be negotiated. Last year was supposed to be the last, but (luckily?) redevelopment hasn't started yet, so we got a bonus one!

I wasn't sure I was going too enter. Its the third time I've done it, and I'm pretty sure my time has increased every year. I'm pretty sure its supposed to go the other way! But never mind, its a nice run and a great atmosphere, with about 3000 people running.

The day dawned grey and overcast. Autumn is finally here! High teens, a little wind and very little direct sun. Perfect. I dragged myself out of bed, did the usual hunt around for my good running shorts and bag thing (pre-planning? me?!) hopped on the bike and cycled down to pick up my number and start.

There is also a 5k run, timed to start so the front of the field finishes in front of all the 10k-er preparing to go. Those guys were awesome! 15 minutes for 5km. Wow! 

Then we were off.

My knee was twinging for the first couple of ks, but by the time we were at the Narrows bridge it had calmed down. Probably psychological.

I gulped down too much water at the 3k station, and ended up with a really bad stitch from about 4-5km. D'oh! 

After about 6km I was still making decent time (for me!) and feeling good. The 8km mark was on the second bridge- the Causeway. I was starting to stiffen up, so I decided to take it easy til 9km, then give all I had left for the last km. There wasn't much left, but I made it across the line with a gun time of just over an hour (1:00:10 ish) and a stopwatch time of 58:43. 

I was happy with that.

I stayed around to watch the presentations, something I never normally do. But what else did I have to do? And I figured it would give my legs some time to calm down before the cycle home. I got home just as it stated raining. Perfect! I love the smell of first rain.

Shir Madness!

I finally did it!

I've had shirring elastic for ages, but never had the guts to try it. I think I figured my machine would eat the elastic and explode.

But this morning I decided it was time, so I could use it in a shirt I want to make for myself, and for a baby dress for a friend.

And it didn't explode! It just ruffled up nicely.

Seriously, if you're like me, just try it! I think I just opened up a whole world of new sewing options!