sewing down the stash

A little bit of Christmas present sewing, but not so much I feel panicky. And all from the stash. Yay!
For my nephew who's 12 and developing a love for photography (developing! ah so funny):

In Australian-made Stella knit with velour iron-on, both from Crafty Mamas. I probably could have bought a grey t-shirt from Target for about $5, but the fabric was in the stash, the pattern is tried & true Ottobre Best T-shirts and... I am justifying my purchase of a coverstitch machine a few weeks back. Ahem. I mean really... a hem! Check that hem! (Terrible pun, I blame it on living with Andy The Pun King for so long.)

A skirt for my niece who's 8, has fiery red hair and looks awesome in citrusy tones:

In Hilco 'Ringel' rib knit and Anna Maria Horner voile that I was saving for I-don't-know-what, but I figure Ms Horner isn't about to stop releasing gorgeous new voiles just yet.
I used this tutorial from Sew Mama Sew. I keep walking past this skirt and thinking gosh, that looks comfy and fun. Probably a style best left to the eight-year-olds of the world though.

Not for Christmas but long overdue, a wall pocket for Jasper's loft bed, seen here in action holding many treasures:

He chose the fabrics from my stash, showcasing his opulent tastes.... Backing is a lush upholstery velvet I found in an op-shop and the pockets are silk brocade that my Mum brought back from a trip to India.

Jasper has been in on the sewing-for-Christmas too. We were lucky enough to attend the book launch for Hop Skip Jump, by Fiona Dalton who lives locally, has a daughter at the same school as my boys, and is completely lovely. It's a beautiful book about sewing eco-friendly toys and the boys and I are very inspired to create some of the lovely critters. The day after the book launch Jasper decided to make this adorable cloud pillow from the book, as a Christmas gift for his Dadda.

Cream flannelette for the front, green chenille for the back. We used some new corn fibre stuffing I'd bought recently which was great. Jasper did almost all the work: I just started off a few threads, demonstrated a few embroidery stitches and guided the fabric through the sewing machine while he pushed the pedal.

And what would a current update be without a chook pic or two?

We ended up with eleven chicks but - sob - lost one when we were all out on Tuesday. I suspect it slipped under the gate and was snaffled by a cat. I've now netted over the whole chookyard and blocked all gaps under and around the gate. They're still so tiny but growing fast. You can just see in the photo above, they're starting to get proper but miniature wing feathers! It's so lovely to see the mother hens teaching their chicks to scratch about and eat weeds and bugs.

Boys all home. Chaos. Time to hit publish.

- Jane x