Pom tiddly om pom, pom pom

Ah, so much has gone unblogged or almost blogged. 

And in case that sounds dramatic, let me assure you, it's not at all. In fact it's been entirely humdrum, everyday unblogged. I have indeed been sewing, but I've shared things for me over at The Drapery blog so don't want to double up. Ah, might throw in a photo or two at the end here.

But down to business - oh and sorry, it's more dog business. Ew, not that kind.

I made a pompom for Skylar today. It was such a success I wanted to share, and it seemed like a quick and likely way to get back into the blogging habit.

Skylar loves fuzzy things, and had taken a particular liking to a woollen pompom that I made with the boys some years ago, that's been hanging about the house ever since. We throw it for her out the back, she races at it, snaps it up, flips it in the air and basically goes crazy for the thing. It's looking the worse for wear.

 

 I do rather like the traditional method of pompom making, with two cardboard rings, poking the wool through and around, through and around. However, it's time-consuming. And I came across an adapted method that doesn't really feel like cheating, but is a whole load quicker. Yep, found it on Pinterest.

 I think it made a very satisfactory pompom! I tied it as tightly as I could, knowing now the kind of treatment it was in for. (Those are shreds of the earlier pompom around on the lawn.)

 I didn't manage to capture Skylar doing her full flip-out, which she generally reserves for 7am or earlier. Later in the day she prefers a quick trot and lie down. It's easy to see why racing never suited her. Most of the races are at night. Silly races.

 Your move, pompom.

Below are the cardboard pieces I used for pompom construction, after removal. I think these may be bigger than the templates provided in the Pinterest link. When I printed out the largest one, it looked pretty small so I made up my own. I may have buggered up the printing, or I may just prefer a giant pompom.

And the pompom pieces are sitting on the laptop on which I type my blog posts - grubby old thing! Complete with 'bread tag elves' courtesy of Jasper.

Now, on with random recent photo grabs!

Here's a t-shirt I made for Clem with some awesome cotton/spandex knit with NINJAS!! from Crafty Mamas. I have come to the conclusion that as the sizes get bigger in this, my favourite Ottobre 'Best t-shirts' pattern, the neck bands get a bit tighter, especially if you use spandex knit, and I've ended up with a bit of scrunching up around the neckline. So I should make them a bit longer in future.

 

 

 I blogged about my Grainline Alder dress at The Drapery, but suffice to say I love, love love it and am wearing it again right now, which is at least the 3rd day in the last week (less than?) since I finished it. Yes, it has been washed :)

Lastly, lest this end up in unfinished-draft-land, here are some photos from a weekend that Andy and I had in Melbourne, without children. Yes. I tagged along on a work thing he was there for. We ate a lot, walked a lot, saw some children's theatre (work) and saw this utterly gorgeous 'Golden Mirror Carousel' at the National Gallery of Victoria. It turns super-slowly and silently and the seats gently sway and the whole thing was quite magical.

So there. That's a bit of stuff from lately! If you have read this far, may your week be filled with golden mirror-ness :)

- Jane x

A Briar Top, and probably the cutest t-shirt I have ever made or will ever make again

Charlie and Jasper were using fabric markers to decorate a couple of white t-shirts and of course Clem wanted in on the action. I didn't have a white t-shirt in his size and I asked him what he wanted to draw. "Miffy on one side and Pillow on the other" he said with certainty. His two most beloved toys who share his bed every night and are sought out for comfort often during the day.

Well... I had to try to make that work for him, didn't I?

I cut out a t-shirt front and back from some plain cream cotton jersey and taped them to some cardboard, and let him go with the markers and a bit of acrylic paint mixed with fabric medium, when the markers didn't provide the right colours.

See below - pretty good likenesses, don't you think? (Minus the ingrained dirt/love.)

Pillow, made by Charlie for Clem some years back.

Watch out, he's coming at ya in his Miffy and Pillow t-shirt!

Here are the t-shirts that Jasper and Charlie drew:

(Ahem... proving it's not all organic-earthy-home-baked goodness around here. But he's happy with it.)

And this is a little seal character Charlie has been working on, drawing cartoons of.

And here's me in the Megan Nielsen Briar Top I whipped up during quiet moments at the shop, in a hemp/organic cotton jersey which is a rather striking but hard-to-photograph tangerine colour. I made up a size L because I wanted it nice and loose, chose the cropped version, the bound neckline and lengthened the sleeves, just for fun. I really, really like this pattern and I think I may be another bloggy sewist who makes more than one!

 Andy said 'now walk like an Egyptian'...

(I feel like I ought to offer up some sort of apology to Megan Nielsen for this shot, for making her Briar look dorky!)

- Jane x

a 12 year old! (and a very insistent 5 year old)

Well this dear glowing face turned 12 last week. Charlie is much loved by his youngest brother, who insisted on taking his own pocket money to Haighs to buy Charlie some chocolate as a gift.

Charlie loves to draw and I bought him 'Drawing and Painting Imaginary Animals' by Carla Sonheim which is a simply delightful and inspiring book. The bedroom he shares with Jasper features some fabulous wall cracks that, as the book demonstrates, can be wonderful starting points for all kinds of illustrations!

He also asked for, and received, more Tintin books. I think I have talked him into letting me cut and style his hair like Tintin for Book Week at school this year :)

Charlie is a happy soul, enjoys his own company and doesn't ask for much. Which is fortunate really because he has two very squeaky wheels for younger brothers. Clem has been pestering me incessantly for new pyjamas ever since he laid eyes on the fabric he is wearing above, in our shop. And so, during quiet moments at the shop, on Charlie's birthday, I found myself sewing pyjamas for Clem (sorry Charlie). He put them on as soon as he saw them (after school on Friday, in the shop) and wore them non-stop until mid Saturday afternoon. Pestering + appreciation = happy Clem + happy Mama. And a happy 5 year old means a happier whole family, really.

The printed knit is organic cotton/spandex by Lillestoff and the stripe is some Farbenmix from my stash. Top pattern - Ottobre Best T-shirts, legs from Growing Up Sew Liberated, a rough combination of size 2 width and size 4 length with added seam allowance and cuffs. I just love soft, stretchy, forgiving knits! And I do wish I could rock a pair of stripey leggings like he does.

- Jane x

T for A

When you're onto a good thing, hey?

Andy's 'Pronghorn' t-shirt has become quite a favourite. I ordered this great yarnbombing fabric from Spoonflower along with the latest ones for the boys' t-shirts and it got the thumbs up from Andy. 

I used the same slightly-sized-up version of my Ottobre t-shirt pattern as before, adding an extra couple of inches at the bottom because the Pronghorn tee has a tendency to creep upwards as it stretches horizontally with wear.

'Nuff said... here is my dear lovely husband agreeing to pose for some pics!

Not going to blend into a crowd in this one, is he? :D

- Jane x

tees and shorts for boys

 (ouch)

 "butt five!"

 

In case you hadn't guessed, that's more Spoonflower organic cotton jersey made into Ottobre t-shirts. A surefire winner around these parts.

Actually this Spoonflower knit has been sitting in my stash for some months. I wasn't totally sure how it would sew up because it seemed a lighter weight than examples I'd ordered previously. I was a little disappointed when I received it. I am pleased to report however that so far it has been lovely to work with and the boys have exclaimed about how soft and comfy it is. No doubt it will fade as usual but that has never stopped these boys loving these t-shirts.

The green is Aztec Armor (I thought it looked like dragon scales) and the blue, personally picked by Jasper, is Monsters on the Loose. Bands and the back of Clem's tee are from the several yards of unprinted jersey I got from Spoonflower a while back.

Charlie's shorts are some hemp/organic cotton stripe from Kelani, made up to a basic pattern I traced off a favourite pair of RTW shorts he has. Jasper's are a super-soft washed linen that happened to coordinate brilliantly with his t-shirt, made in my self-graded-up Oliver + S Sketchbook Shorts pattern. Clem's shorts are not me-made, but actually some baby shorts that used to have elastic in the hems, bloomer-style. I removed the elastic when he got past crawling age and he is still managing to wear them, now as pyjamas!

Charlie and Jasper's t-shirts are pretty large, as are Jasper's shorts. Sizing can be tricky when these boys are shooting towards the sky at a frightening pace. But better a bit of room to grow, I guess.

Right at the end here is Clem with the latest harvest from our garden. That's a butternut pumpkin (squash), reduced to bonsai size by the special magic powers of our soil. Pumpkin soup for fairies, perhaps?

- Jane x

KCWC - tee two with tie

Clem is having his birthday party at home tomorrow so I thought he would like a new t-shirt to wear. And because I bought a bunch of these coordinating Farbenmix knits (partly with a voucher I won from Crafty Mamas, lucky me), it's clearly in the same 'family' as Jasper's tee from yesterday.

Before I could take some decent photos of it there was food down the front but I don't think you can really pick it in these trampoline action photos, where Clem was willingly letting Jasper bounce right over the top of him, even though it was clearly unnerving.

(covered as usual in bandaids and temporary tattoos)

Pattern: Ottobre Best T-shirts, with bands added on the sleeves, calculated at .85 x circumference of sleeve ends so they pulled in a bit

Fabric: Farbenmix cotton/elastane jersey from Crafty Mamas (I cut the neck and sleeve bands from the wide stripe version of the red/turquoise knit)

Iron-on: another from Crafty Mamas

Tie tee is in the wash as I write, ready for party duty tomorrow!

- Jane x

KCWC - beetle tee

I really wanted to take part in the Kids Clothes Week Challenge this time. I didn't sign up last time and then I felt a bit left out when I saw the awesomeness everyone else was posting on their blogs.
This time, when I tried to put the KCWC button on my blog it wouldn't fit on the sidebar. Maybe I should have taken that as an omen. As I previously posted, it's been quite a week here. The hour-a-day of sewing thing hasn't been happening.
But today I managed this:

Pattern: Ottobre Best T-Shirts (skinny version)

Fabric: Farbenmix cotton/elastane jersey from Crafty Mamas

Beetle: iron-on velour from Crafty Mamas

Am I still allowed to call this a KCWC achievement if I haven't adhered to the rules? It was certainly inspired by KCWC. The volume and quality of garments being sewn out there is simply incredible.

How cool is that iron-on beetle? And it's fuzzy!

Okay so enough of the cool cropped photo stuff, let's see this kid enjoying his new t-shirt.

That's more like it.

- Jane x

production line sewing

I tend to get all excited about making one thing and just go for it. Although I might then make more of the same, it's not really in my nature to methodically cut out multiples of something and line up the sewing in stages.
Except I did this weekend and it's pretty satisfyingly productive.
Using my old faithful Ottobre Best T-shirts pattern I made these two, and two others - being made for gifts - are almost finished.

Jasper's is a Spoonflower print (organic cotton jersey) from an order I got a while back. I know I rave about this fabric all the time but it is just so, so soft and a joy to sew. And Charlie and Jasper choose their Spoonflower t-shirts over anything else, any time they can.
Clem's is a 'Lilofant' print in a lovely thick cotton interlock. I bought a half metre in green and yellow (both equally bright!) about a year ago and his green one has been worn a lot and is a bit small now.

Note that Clem insists on wearing these pants with the worn-out knees, on their third winter I think... they're comfy, I suppose I should just patch them.

And check out this pose that the two of them used on me yesterday when they were begging to go to the DVD shop to borrow some movies... "pleeeeeeeeaaase!"

Ack, what am I supposed to do in the face of teamwork like that? Anyway, while they watch movies I can sew!

Do you ever sew production-line style?

- Jane x