Vogue 8380

I love this dress!!  It's so cool and comfortable to wear that I live in it these days...

I have to make another!  :)

Dress love....

I love wearing dresses in Summer, do you?  Especially now after 3 children and some extra weight - dresses can be very forgiving!  :) 

Firstly, one I made for Christmas Day (above).  I loved it, until I sawe this photo of it from behind... not so happy with it now.  I love the fabric, and the pattern, although I had to take it in quite a lot in the sides for it to fit me.  It's a Simplicity Threads pattern - 3678 view A.  The pattern was great and I look forward to makign it again, this time with fabric that doesn't require lining... It made the dress bulky where it was gathered I felt. 

This next one I started with a Burda pattern after seeing it made up and liking it Black-eyelet-seersucker-maxi-dress.  Nicole's looks great and I thought I'd make it and make some changes to the straps etc... but it just didn't look right.  Here's me holding it closed at the back to take the photo.  I'm just not happy with the bodice, so I found another pattern, Butterick 5181 - and made that bodice instead.  I am so much happier with the finished product and now live in this dress!  It's so cool and comfortable to wear.  I'm going to make another one with just one layer of skirt...

Then this one... I had an idea in my head and it actually turned out how I imagined - when does that ever happen?!  Mmm... It's just a bit too tight as I took it in on the sides because I'm on a diet and plan to lose 7kgs... it just means it's not terribly comfortable right now, but it will be.  I love how it turned out.   The fabric is from Tessuti and so is the lace.  One of the lovely women helped me choose the lace.

Now, unfortunately I don't have a great photo of this one yet... I have to ask my husband to take some.  It's such gorgeous fabric, again from Tessuti, and the pattern is one that I saw made up and feel in love with - Simplicity 2360.  I love it, although after reading some reviews after making mine, I should have added 1 inch to the length of the bodice.  It's so comfy to wear though, and I think looks great.  I will have to get a better shot, sorry!

So, as you can see, I have been very busy... and still have more fabric in the cupboard for more dresses!  It's just finding the time to make them.  My husband isn't very supportive of my sewing, he's seen how much fabric I have stashed and has done some sums in his head - he's not happy.... is your husband supportive of your sewing?  I wish mine was.  Eventually I'd like to get to the point of sewing things with my HUGE stash and selling them, maybe when my babies are a bit bigger...

I am so blessed!!  :)

Vogue 8380

I've finally made it!!  I've had this pattern for years and the fabric too.  I've admired other people's versions of this dress and now I can say I love it too!  It was a very easy pattern to follow, it's lovely to wear and I think I'll definitely be making another one!  The cotton is from Tessuti.  It is lovely and cool for Summer in Sydney.  Sorry about the photo - I'm home alone (well with 2 little 7 month old girls) so it's the best I could do for now - I really don't think it does it justice...  I am very excited about it though, it's been a while since I've sewn something for me to wear and the fact that I finished it this morning and am now wearing it is a good sign! 

Next I really want to tackle some dresses from the Japanese Sewing Books.  There's a few I've been admiring of other clever chicks so now I'd like to try it too.  I just need some tracing paper and I'm off....

A visit to Tessuti on Monday and way too much money spent means I've got lots of lovely fabrics now... it's just a matter of choosing which fabric for which pattern!  One will definitley be another of these 8380's. 

Sam x

Kaffe Fassett and Dr Seuss...

Well I've been busy lately sewing again!  And loving it!

This Dr Seuss range caught my eye on flickr and I knew I had to make a quilt for Johnny, who's almost 3.  I am quite happy with it, although I must say I had so much trouble calculating how much fabric I needed to frame each picture, I kept getting it wrong.  I'm blaming it on mummy brain!  It's not a great shot but I didn't have anyone who could hold it up for me.

Another thing I fell inlove with recently was this quilt and I've already started making one! 

I've never been a Kaffe Fassett lover but I just love this quilt, it's so rich and wonderful, I hope mine turns out as good.  I've got these 8 blocks plus another 50 odd I think... 144 in total to be done - it's the biggest projet I've ever taken on.  I'm very excited about seeing it finished.

My girls are growing up - 6 months on the 4th of November.  They've started solids and are loving it!

They really are such lovely babies and every day I marvel at how lucky I am!   :)

Sam x

Oliver + S

I have many Oliver + S patterns, some bought over a year ago and many bought since my girls were born, but I had not made any of them until recently. 

We had our girls christened last week (photos to come) and I suddenly realised that after the church they would have to take their gowns off but had nothing cute to wear!  So I whipped up these little skirts...

The pattern was great and I look forward to making them more skirts.  The fabric was $1 from Spotlight and I'm not that keen on it but I figured it was a way of testing the pattern.  The fabric was too thick to do buttonholes - I did a few but kept having to unpick them so I just sewed the buttons on the front!  It was a very easy pattern and I can't wait to try some more Oliver + S patterns. 

I then decided I had to make the sandbox pants that I'd had the pattern to for over a year!!!  Here's my model - sorry for the picture quality....

Again, I found the pattern to be brilliant, so easy to follow and just a great little pair of shorts made up.  He'll be getting more of those for Summer!! 

Last week I also whipped up these little shorts for him - my pattern and fabric I had in my stash...

Front

Back



Here is one of the quilt top for the girls - finished except for trimming.  I've also finished the backs - pale pink with a row of the squares from the front.  Now I just need to baste the three layers together - a job I hate... but I really want to get onto the hand quilting and get them finished for them. They're really lovely, the photo isn't very good, sorry.  I love the Liberty fabrics I've used. 

Anyway, it would seem that I've got my sewing mojo back and now that the girls are getting a little easier to handle I'm able to sew more.  Here's my three little munchkins...

How lucky am I????  I really do think that every day!  Even when I change three pooey nappies in a row!  :)

Sam x

The Christening gowns

Here is the Christening gown... one of two!!  Almost finished... and I'm really happy with how they've turned out so far.  I'm going to make bonnets out of the lace too.  As you can see from my little model, Stella, the girls don't have any hair so hopefully little bonnets will make them look a bit more like girls!  :)
 
The lace and silk is from Tessuti's and the pattern is Simplicity 5813.  I lowered the neckline at the front a little, lined the whole dress and put in an invisible zip instead of buttons.  They're a little big on them, but the Christening is still a couple of weeks away so they should be ok.  I will need to take some better photos!!  I've never sewn anything with lace like this and I was pleasantly surprised at how easy it was to sew with.  They're my first dresses sewn for such a momentous occasion, have you sewn anything for a special day?  I'm sure I'll be sewing many more with two girls! 

Next thing I have to do is finish their quilts!

Sam x

Ruby and Stella

Well these are our girls!  They arrived very unexpectantly (at 35 weeks and 5 days) on 4 May 2010 at 10.47 and 11.31pm weighing 2.26 and 2.28kg, Ruby Jane and Stella Maree.  Identical girls, we are absolutely thrilled!!!  There were in the hospital for 2 weeks and it was a tough time when I was home and they were not, but we got there.  I was lucky enough to have the birth I wanted - both naturally with an epi.  It was an amazing experience actually and I feel a little sad that I won't be doing it again!   They are 3 & 1/2 months old now, I have been very slack indeed, or very busy indeed!!!  I will try to post more often now!

Here's my last photo of me pregnant, at 35 weeks... I was so ready to pop, I felt like there was baby everywhere!!!  Which there probably was!

I haven't had much time to myself since the girls came along, but I am so happy!!  I am in the middle of making them quilts, but still quite a way to go... they're mostly Liberty fabrics that I'd been hoarding waiting for a daughter (or 2 ha ha) to sew something for.  I'm planning on doing a 4" white border and then a bright pink and another colour for the other quilt binding, with hand quilting... when, I'm not too sure!  I'd like to get them done before Summer. 

We're getting the girls christened in October and I'm going to make them Christening gowns which I'm quite excited about... I will post some photos when I do them.  I'm hoping to find some fabulous lace at Tessuti's.

I hope everyone is doing well, I love reading everyone's blogs, even though I don't post much, I'm very jealous of all the projects everyone is doing, and hoping to have some time soon to do some things myself.  This really didn't take too long so I really should post more often! 

Sam x