McCalls 6566 with a Little Extension

Heya Babes,

Last year I realised I kept admiring 't-shirt dresses' on mums at school. This year I've made it a goal to make myself a few.

Recently spotlight had 3 patterns for $15 and, after looking through my collection, I decided I could actually do with a proper pattern for said t-shirt dresses. I chose a few patterns (woven and stretch) and McCalls 6566 which is actually a top pattern.

I had a large scrap of fabric from a de-clutter Deb did a while ago and then I had a big fabric score at Creative Junk which is a local charity junk shop. I went in one day and I think someone had brought their whole Nana's stash in. (Usually Creative Junk has small fabric scraps and heaps of other random stuff like paper scraps, foam bits, bottle lids...)

I used the bit from Deb for the front and had to add some pieces where the sleeves are because it wasn't wide enough. The back was a single piece of soft woven cotton.

This pattern couldn't be simpler. It's 2 pieces plus the pocket and the neck is just bias bound. I just extended the line of the top to make it longer - ruled with the side of my monthly planner and free handed the hem.

I had it half finished and then we had people to stay so I left it. After they left we were going out one evening and The Atlas pointed out that I had a stain on the front of the dress I was wearing, probably chocolate! I went to get changed and saw the mostly done dress so I sat on my swiss ball in my undies and sewed wildly and 20 mins later it was done.

I adore! this dress, it's so.darn.comfy. The design is so simple and that tiny pocket is so cute (even though it has no practical use and is placed in an unfortunate spot for someone who teaches children!).

It totally does all the things I want and I can't wait to make some more. The pattern was $5 and the fabric for the back was less than $1. Everything else I needed was already in my sewing room.

I know I'm going to wear this dress so much and now I just need to make some more combos for the next few that will churn out of my sewing room :-).

The cotton fabrics also make it so nice and breathable for summer.

Ahhhhh.... winning.

love you more than crazy pink hearts and bright pink top-stitching xxx

Creative Resolutions

Happy New Year Loverlies,

I love to start the new year with a good old chin wag with my sewing sister, who lives in my city - yay! We go through my, extensive(!), stash and talk about what projects might go with what.

I got all inspired after that and wrote myself a nice long list of creative projects I might sew this year. (I still haven't blogged all my other makes from 2016 yet). Then I tidied my sewing space and sorted a couple of shelves - such a good feeling.

In the meantime my sister (the same one, I have 2 very fabulous sisters) sent me an article about people making reusable bags.  I remembered I had bought a very long piece of mesh from someone in the local community, for the express purpose of making some produce bags to replace those awful ones you get on a roll at the supermarket.

Et voila - 12 reusable produce bags and a tick on my projects list!

However - resolutions was what this was supposed to be about. I'm not a super resolution maker but I like to try a challenge each year to give me a push. So these are the things I am aiming for in my creative, particularly sewing, life this year.

1. Use the stash - there is plenty of stash, it needs to be used.

2. Don't buy new - this will be hard. I'm totally ok with buying new thread if I don't have the right colour and I can't find it second hand. As for fabrics, my aim is to buy nothing brand new this year - I will buy second hand/ op shop fabric and always gratefully received off casts from others.

3. Wasters - reduce the waste coming from my sewing room. I already try pretty hard on this. I save all my empty cotton reels and give them to local pre-schools or 'Creative Junk'. I save small fabric scraps and pass these on to schools/early childhood for collage etc. This year I also plan to be much more disciplined with my sewing rubbish bin - all paper and card to be recycled. As well as this I am making a bag for tiny scraps, thread off cuts and overlocker tales, I plan to use these to fill any soft toys I make this year along with the stuffing. Hopefully this will mean there is a negligent rubbish impact.

4. Craft time - A friend and I are planning to spend a couple of hours a week listening to inspiring podcasts and making whatever we want to. The list is part of helping me to have something to work on every week. Specific time to craft every week makes me feel very excited.

So that's me... what creative resolutions are you brewing for 2017?

Love you more than a plastic free shop xxx

More Summer Reading - Meet Me At Beachcomber Bay

Heya book lovers,

This year I discovered Jill Mansell's books in the local library and read 3, or was it 4?, in fairly quick succession. When I get a fiction book, especially an easy read, I tend to devour them pretty quickly. I like Jill Mansell as an author. She's not too demanding or high brow but her books are well written and enjoyable.

All of the books I've read of hers have been romance based but not based on characters that feel 1 dimensional or too out of the realm of ordinary people. The romance aspects are tactfully written and don't leave you feeling like you need a cold shower.

The latest book I've read of hers is Meet Me at Beachcomber Bay.

The book is set in Cornwall and mainly follows the journey of Clemency and that spark of connection that is long remembered, if forbidden, in circumstances outside of her control.

There are several other key characters as well and each have their own difficulties to face when it comes to love, secrets of the heart and a past that wants to catch-up. There are the inevitable crossed wires and the lovely resolutions, for most, or maybe all - you'll have to read it to find out.

What I enjoyed about this novel was that it didn't unfold predictably - there were some kinks in the road and some unexpected revelations that kept the story moving and engaging. I felt like the characters had some depth and there weren't any perfect or perfectly awful (well maybe one) types.

My critique would be the cover choice for the softcover version - for me it makes the book look like a YA fiction in terms of the photo of the characters and setting. I think the book is much more than the cover suggests, luckily I never judge a book by its cover!!

This is a really feel good read and great for chilling on a deck with a fabulous view over the beach and dreaming of a beach house entirely out of financial reach.

Thanks to Hachette NZ for an advanced reading copy. All opinions expressed entirely my own, naturally.

Details - Meet Me at Beachcomber Bay, by Jill Mansell Hachette NZ 10 Jan 2017, RRP $34.99 also available as an ebook.

love you more than an open home on a Saturday afternoon xxx

Summer Reading

Hey Y'all,

It's summer here in the southern lands and that definitely means the lingering hope of lazy days spent under trees watching clouds and reading easy books. In reality I probably never actually read outside under a tree - I'm not sure it would be that comfortable!

Recently I received Carole Matthews latest book Paper Hearts and Summer Kisses to read.

Let it be said straight up that I'm always keen to read books that feature a crafty/makery kind of protagonist and this book delivers.

Meet Christie Chapman, solo mum, doing it tough with a long commute into London (The Atlas had a very long commute on all the jobs he worked in London too) and a job that doesn't inspire. She has an adored teenage son, an obsession with the craft channel, too many pets (depending on who you ask) and wonderful parents who help her keep the balls in the air.

The book profiles the rise, or will it be a fall?, of her crafty skills and the hard job of parenting when things don't always turn up roses. For the scrapbooker there is all sorts of fantasy scenes with products and making galore.

There is some romantic interest and a wonderful llama date... how badly could a llama date go? But it's more grown up with a (happy) lack of super raunchy scenes or heavy breathing in the mix.

Verdict? It's a fun read, on the whole fairly unrealistic but let's face it we don't read summer, crafty romances for a dose of it's never going to work out in the end overtones. Perfect for escaping into and possibly encouraging you not to make the resolution of not purchasing any more craft materials in the new year.

Would I read this author again - yes indeed.

What are you reading this summer?
And what is your preferred reading location?
Mine is a nice light, inside spot, with bubbly water and a cool breeze.

Details - Paper Hearts and Summer Kisses, Hachette NZ 22nd Dec 2016, RRP $29.99 also available as an ebook. 

Thanks to Hachette NZ for an advanced reading copy. Opinions obviously my very own.

love you more than a crafty fantasy that involves being given a wonderful stash of grandma's fabric xxx

Hello Birthday

Hiya,

I'm firmly in the celebrate birthday camp. I'm so blessed to have had 39 years here and I'm all for a day of laughing and enjoying myself.

On my birthday I tell pretty much everyone - the lady at the supermarket checkout if she asks how my day is, anyone I'm having a meeting with, I take chocolate to work. I believe in celebration and I'm not about to sit a day out thinking 'no-one remembered' and feeling sad.

I'm going to help them remember. ;-)

I'm not demanding anything from anyone, other than a willingness to enter the celebration of the fact we share life together.

I hope that my happiness to celebrate rubs off on other people and that their day is better for having enjoyed a hug or a happy exchange on my birthday.

As an aside, you know you are a mother when you are rummaging with your hand in your handbag searching for a lipstick and you find a nerfgun bullet (toy! no real guns in this house!) instead.

Happy birthday me - here I am looking not my best! May we all be unashamedly ourselves everyday of the year!

love you more than caramel salted brownie xxx

Celebrating

Hiya dear ones,

Some time ago I met a new blogger and a new transplant to NZ. She was in the mama phase, dipping her toe into the water of making, trying sewing out, making new friends, living in a new country, being brave ...

As she taught herself to sew she discovered that she loved paper piecing and designing patterns. She has slowly honed her craft, started to sell her patterns and build a community of people who love her and her work.

One of Juliet's amazing patterns.

Recently she announced that she is writing a book and has a contract - I just about popped with excitement when I heard that.

I'm so incredibly proud of Juliet.

I feel like the lesson of being her friend, and this journey she's been on is...
never stop being a learner, 
don't think if you don't have it worked out by now you never will, 
that it's too late, 
or that you have nothing left to discover about yourself and your creative talents

I can't wait to see her book and celebrate with her. But for today I am so thrilled to have met her through blogging and for the incredible inspiration she is to me.

love you more than the smell of a new book xxx

Wide Legged Pants and Narrow Fabric - Simplicity 3688

Hi y'all,

So I determined that I should not stop my pants endeavour with the poopy-pants-parade! Last year in Adelaide I bought some gorgeous kimono style fabric at an op-shop. I say kimono style because of the feel of the fabric, the Japanese symbols written onto the band of the fabric, the design and the width of the fabric (very narrow, maybe 40cm).

This time I went for a high waisted, wide legged style. I used my sister's (the pant queen) pattern. A re-interpreted 40s style Simplicity 3688 pattern.

I cut the 14 but then freaked out and made the seams narrower, I probably could have done the straight 14. Because the fabric was so narrow I had to sew some extra onto the side in order to get the full crotch width required for the back pieces.

I also lengthened them a bit too because I am freaked out by not-quite-long-enough trousers.

I'm really pleased with the final result, even though Bounce said, "It looks like you are wearing your pyjama pants".

Can we also take a moment to be suitably surprised and stoked that the pattern/ line of the pattern actually works all the way around the legs and across the crotch. Colour me surprised and stoked because I didn't actually think about this while I was cutting out - yay!

I wore them for a full day of work and out in the evening - all good. Really pleased with the shape and drape.

hashtag - winforthepants!

Who knows, this could become a thing!

love you more than a completed success xxx