Sewing clothes...

I've been busy with the Tova pattern and I love it!  I've seen it made up by others and had to have some of my own.  It is such a lovely pattern to make... it's so easy and comes together so well.  I have already made two and I'm half way through my third, with fabric ready to make a fourth.  I will have to leave it there, otherwise I might be known as the Tova lady...

 I've also been busy with dress for friends' daughters birthdays.  This is another pattern that I love!!  I can't wait to make it for my girls - I just need them to start walking!  :)   It's from a Ottobre magazine and it's called the Babushka Doll dress.  I think I'll be making quite a few of these!

My little girls turned one recently - 4 May 2011.  We had a little party to celebrate.  I can't believe I've had twin daughters for a year... it has gone so quickly.  I still remember the day they told me I was having identical twins.. wow.  I said "Oh my God" for about a week!!   It was such a shock, but having always wanted 3 children I felt very happy.  We are so lucky!!!!  They are just wonderful and as exhausted as I am, I am also very happy.  

Ruby on the left and Stella on the right.

I have another milestone approaching too... my 40th!  Shhhh!  :)

Sam x

Dresses, dresses and more dresses!

Sorry for the photo overload... I've been too busy to put these up... 

Some dresses I made for Summer:

 

A dress I made for a friend's daughter's 4th birthday.

Carly asked me to put up some photos of my daughters christening day.  Unfortunately I don't have any good shots of the girls wearing their gowns and bonnets but these are the best I could find. I hope they help you.  I found the pattern to be very easy and I loved the end result!

My gorgeous babies sleeping.  Ahh peace!  :)

How lucky am I?!

I've also been busy making bags but they're selling before I can take photos!  I will take some photos and post them soon.

Sam x

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