floating world

brighter

When I was pregnant with Ali I did a bit of research into prams and strollers, and decided to get a Maclaren Vogue. It was light, compact and inexpensive, and according to the almighty Choice they are safe and reliable. Overall I have been really happy with the stroller - we've used it since day 1, it doesn't take up too much room in the boot and Ali seems comfy in it.

However, I have one gripe. It is very, very grey.

I'm not a fan of all the orange and lime fluro baby gear, but I do like a bit of colour. I've been thinking about making a stroller cushion like this for months, ever since reading Kat's post about strollers, but kept putting it off due to lack of naps and other distractions. Once I bit the bullet and sat down to make it, it took all of 90 minutes, so I wish I'd started earlier. This one was made from Ikea fabric, a bit of wadding and some bias tape. Now I've worked out the measurements I have plans for more... perhaps a patchwork one from Cloth scraps? It is the perfect way to use up bits of fabric and bigger prints. I love it when a sewing project works out just how I imagined it, and all the better when it's as quick and simple as this one.

(What I think Maclaren really needs is a Pimp My Ride-style makeover option, to equip the strollers with leopard-print seat covers, sub woofers, flashing lights and disco balls. It would be fabulous, no?)

a cape for me

We went to a wedding on Friday, and I was worried that the strappy dress I planned to wear might not be warm enough for autumn weather, so I made a simple cape to wear on top. The pattern is Burda 8173 and the fabric is from Tessuti - a beautiful chocolate wool on the outside, and lined in a silk satin I found in the remnants bin. It was very cosy, and the silk felt all swishy and luxurious against my skin; so much nicer than polyester. I've never worn a cape before, and when I told Mark I was making one he looked slightly worried... I think he was expecting a rectangular, Superman-style creation. But this one comes just above the elbows and is not superheroesque at all; I can see it getting a fair bit of wear with skirts and boots this winter.

sleeping sack

Another, larger sleep sack from Burda pattern 9640; the ones I made when I was pregnant are outgrown now. The sleep sacks are a key element in my campaign to encourage more consistent sleeping from Ali, so I think I'll make a couple more. I totally recommend this pattern - it's so easy to put together, and it means that the sleeping bags cost almost nothing, whereas if you buy the Grobag ones they're about $60 each. I do like feeling thrifty (it doesn't happen very often).

The fabrics are from Sprout Design and Ikea, and it's lined with an old shirt of Mark's. The shirt was one he had made in KL when we were there on a stop-over years ago, and I think it's Zegna fabric... anyway, it's very soft and feels lovely. And there is a flannelette layer, cut out of an old sheet and sandwiched inside for added cosiness.

I used Amy's bias tape method, which is great, although I made it hard for myself by accidentally buying the super-thin bias tape... not ideal when you are trying to trap 3 layers together. And I had a breakthrough with the zipper... I have always had a phobia of zips, and this was the first one I'd done on the new sewing machine. I followed the instructions in the Janome manual exactly and even though the diagrams are really confusing it all made sense and turned out much tidier than any zip I had done previously. Very exciting! If I do a few more to practice I may actually stop avoiding zips and getting stressed by them. And then maybe I'll finally get around to making myself some clothes. 

top stitching in action

The top stitching photo from the last post was a close up of these pants - pattern M from this book again. Made up in a soft browny/grey Japanese cotton I bought at Tomato before we left Japan. The red top stitching is down the side seams and around the hem.  Nice and simple and soft and crawling-friendly.

top stitching

I would love to be able to make things beautifully, but right now my sewing is very patchy. This is partly due to a slapdash temperament, but also because I have cobbled what I know together, rather than learning formally. I did a basic sewing class at Grace Bros when I was 13 (remember when they had fabric and haberdashery in department stores?), and Textiles at school in year 9 and 10, but mostly I've learned from my mum, craft books or just by figuring things out. This means that there are lots of simple things that I dread doing, like zippers, and other things that I don't know how to do properly. One thing I could never work out is why when I hemmed jeans or did decorative top stitching, the stitches kind of disappeared into the fabric. Hooray for the internet. Last week I found this post on Pink Chalk Studio via Whip Up, and after a quick trip to the monster that is Spotlight I now have a denim needle, top stitching thread, and can do nice visible top stitching. Yay! Reading craft blogs has definitely been a big help, not just for practical sewing tips like this one but also for inspiration. I don't know if I ever would have started knitting if I hadn't been tempted by all the gorgeous things I kept seeing other people make.

There are so many fabulous tutorials out there, but a couple of good ones I've seen lately are this bias tape one from Angry Chicken and this elastic casing one from Jade. And Collette has lots of really useful links and tips on the Tessuti blog, like how to cut delicate fabric. Hopefully one day I'll get to do a sewing class like this one and learn how make things properly, but until then the internet is my classroom. If you have any links to other good tutorials or sewing / knitting tips, please share.

bird textiles

(photo from the Bird website)

I visited a gorgeous new fabric shop for the first time on Thursday: Bird Textiles sell beautiful handprinted fabrics, original clothing designs and a range of homewares. AND they support sustainable design. Their Sydney store is in Surry Hills in the most divine old pharmacy - it still has all the original fittings and is heritage listed. For anyone in Sydney I definitely recommend a visit, and for everyone else their stock is available online - have a look. It's expensive, but very cute.
 

this post is brought to you by kleenex, sudaclear and panadol

The baby and I have been struck down by a cold, and neither of us are impressed. Ali is outraged because his nose is running like a tap, he doesn't know how to blow it and hates me wiping it. He keeps gagging on mucus and he's totally off solids. So sad. I am unimpressed because it's the first time I've been sick since I had a baby, and I'm realising that my previous get-well strategy of curling up on the sofa to watch Oprah, read trashy magazines and feel sorry for myself is not an option anymore. I have become a human hankerchief... my top looks like a snail crawled all over it, but it is from a 7-month-old nose. So we have been all about panadol, tissues, and the sudaclear plug in vapour thing here.

On the plus side, being housebound gave me the chance to finish off Ali's hoodie - I really loved this pattern (Knitting Pure & Simple baby tunic), you can literally cast off and put it straight on the baby, there is no seaming at all. And how cool is Kitchener stitch? I had never used it before, and was so excited to work it out. I keep finding that all these intimidating-sounding knitting things are actually not too bad when I try them. (I realise I am sounding like a total knitting geek here. Apologies to all non-knitting readers)

The pants are ones I made a few weeks ago, from a pattern in this book. Most of the stuff in there is for girls, but there are some nice unisex pants, shorts and overalls too. Having found a pattern for crawling-friendly pants at last, I'm going to be making a few more pairs the same to keep Ali's knees cosy over winter. But not just yet. Right now I am going to try and convince Ali to have a nap so I can too. Please send end-of-cold wishes our way...

bend-the-rules clutch

Considering the huge amount of sewing stuff that lurks in the study, it's not often that I can complete a project without having to buy anything at all. Even if I use fabric and patterns that I have already I almost always need to get a zip or thread, so I was really happy to finish this clutch from Amy's book without buying anything at all. I used silk from a swap on the outside, an old flannelette sheet as padding and left over Japanese cotton from this bag as lining.  And a button from the button jar... I can't remember where I got it originally, maybe from Allison? At the last minute I realised I needed corded elastic for the closure, and couldn't face a trip to Spotlight, so used a hair elastic instead (Spotlight with baby = awful). It's a great simple pattern - actually the whole book is great - and it was so satisfying to be able to make something from start to finish while my mum minded Ali for a couple of hours yesterday afternoon. Not that I have much call for a silk clutch bag these days, but it was fun to make nonetheless.

a top, and other things

Ali had a decent nap yesterday, so I finally sewed together a top I'd cut out weeks ago. It's a lovely gauzy fabric from Tessuti... they have such great stuff. Not much to say about this one, since I've made it twice before, although I think it definitely works better with soft fabric like this - the first one was in a stiffer cotton and doesn't get worn nearly as often. I did french seams on this version, and the tidiness and lack of loose threads is very pleasing.

More exciting things:
- I met up with some other Sydney based crafty types today for coffee; it was lovely to put faces to blogs and swap tips for finding buttons / buying fabric online / good Japanese food etc.
- Ali's jumper is coming on a treat... I have 1.5 sleeves to go, which shouldn't take too long, thanks to the chunky 10 ply yarn I'm using.
- I saw The Namesake this week on DVD and it is excellent, well worth looking out for at the video shop.
- There's a new issue of Mixtape coming out! You can preorder here now. I can't wait!
- I don't have room for a compost heap, but I am investigating getting a work farm from here. They look very cool!

owls on towels

Owl prints seem to be everywhere at the moment. So when I was stuck for something to print in class last night I though I'd have a go too.

And so we have grey and red owls on teatowels;

and grey owls on baby body suits;

I think I've got them out of my system now. Although there is some cute owl print fabric lurking around that might just have to become pants for Ali, to match his body suit. Because my days of matchy-matchy dressing are surely numbered, and I should enjoy them while I can.