little and big

For sweet little Winter, daughter of my friend Han. Winter's turning one, and the weather here is turning cold, so I made this little vest from Ottobre Winter (appropriately) 6/2009.

 Here's the pic from the magazine: they suggest fur but I used felted wool from an old cardigan of mine that had a couple of moth holes.

I made it fully reversible with a button on the inside and outside. 

This side is velour left over from my dress. With two thick fabrics and such a tiny garment, I stitched embroidery thread around the edges to help the seams sit flatter.

During construction I inadvertently invented 'the Infinity Vest', oops. Unpick, unpick.

This was my first experience sewing from an Ottobre magazine. There are no diagrams really and the instructions are fairly brief, but made sense once I got stuck into it. This mistake was just me not looking properly at what I was doing.

Next in the Velour Series, which I can't promise is entirely finished yet, was Andy's hoodie. Typically, he wanted black. Wisely, I agreed, and made him something he'll actually wear. 

Black velour is not cooperative to sew or photograph. So please excuse the quality of these images and instead, enjoy the fact that Andy is writing a shopping list and about to head off with a 4y.o. in a Witchard cape to the supermarket.

Fabrics: black bamboo and organic cotton velour from here, organic cotton knit hood lining from Spoonflower.
Pattern: Farbenmix Yorik, largest size with a little added width and length (please bear in mind for the sake of Andy's body image this is actually a children's pattern!).

Lastly I wanted to add a couple more pictures of our gloop painting, which progressed from the gate to the driveway. I highly recommend this for kid-friendly fun!

Lion, a joint effort by Clem and me.

Fox, by Clem.

- Jane x

and the velour madness continues

Velour + overlocker = lots of fine dust. However, velour + boys = happiness right now so I guess I'll just have to keep vacuuming more often.
These are some more Farbenmix Yorik hoodies.

I ordered a bunch of samples of this bamboo/organic cotton velour from the Bamboo Fabric Store and the boys chose the colours they like. Or rather, Jasper was most definite about his colour choices and Charlie ummed and ahhed and then said something agreeable when I suggested the stripe.

Isn't it boring having to trace off one pattern again and again in different sizes? I made a mistake tracing the sleeves in Jasper's size and they are a bit short: the perfect length for him right now but a little out of proportion with the rest of the hoodie. No big matter. Charlie's is the next size up (second-largest on the pattern). It's pretty generous but you know how these boys grow. Actually this one fits me perfectly... I almost didn't hand it over.

The velour, after cutting, is a bit curly at the edges and with right sides together can slip and slide around. I learnt a useful tip when joining three or four layers: baste in twos first. E.g. at the bottom front, I basted the pocket edge to the front edge, and basted the two edges of the bottom band together. I used a long zigzag stitch very close to the edge so it pretty much just got eaten up by the overlocker in the final seaming.

During the week Andy took five roosters to a 'poultry processor' that welcomes backyarders. He said there were small batches of ducks and geese and all sorts there. So now we have a freezer full of rooster  and might even feel capable of a roast this weekend. We also have one remaining rooster, on probation, dependent upon no crowing before sunrise. He's such a beauty, and taking to his new role as king of the chookyard with impressive pomp and bluster. So please, watch your beak, Blue Roo.

- Jane x

Sew U Home Stretch dress: before and after Jane-ification

I have a bit of a velour fixation at the moment. I ordered some more online but when this arrived, had a bit of a 'what was I thinking?' moment because the colour was a bit too pinkish for any of the boys.

So, something for me then. I wouldn't normally pick this particular hue so I'm not really sure what came over me. Some sort of velour madness. Anyway, let's call it a challenge and get on with it, yes?

I pulled out my Sew U Home Stretch book, from which I've made a boatneck top that I wear a lot.
I used the Size L standard bodice pattern and added some width to the skirt so I could put in a few strategic gathers. I cut the skirt longer too 'just in case'.

Since this was quite experimental, I basted it all together with a large zigzag stitch and tried it on.

Fit: pretty good. 

Overall effect: something between Amish and a dress I would have topped off with a really awkward haircut, circa 1984.

Alterations I then made: 

- shorten bodice a few inches (see where I have pins in the photo above)

- create keyhole neckline and bind in colourful printed jersey

- chop sleeves to three-quarters and finish with same colourful jersey

- shorten skirt

- add pockets with same trim.

Result:

(I thought another bad light photo in the same crappy by-the-fridge location was only fair to truly compare the before and after.)

It feels kind of 'me' now. Jane-ificated.
Would it be more age appropriate for a four year old than a forty-one year old? Probably.
Do I care? Not a lot.
It's really, really comfy. And really comfy dresses with pockets are big winners in my wardrobe.
Besides, Clem whispered to me as I was finishing it off "I think you should never never wear t-shirts because you should always wear dresses because I like you wearing dresses".

And because I don't just want to post rubbish photos of me, here are some from a beautiful lunch we had today with Andy's sister and her family - a gift from them for Andy's 40th - at the ridiculously idyllic Kingsbrook Estate.

- Jane x

purple

Clem has recently declared purple his favourite colour. And I have pounced on the opportunity to sew him some colourful clothes.

Purple velour is not easy to photograph! It sort of soaks up the light. Anyhow, this is the Farbenmix Yorik Hoodie pattern in Nicky velour. I probably should have made the next size up but I thought that the purple phase might be over by the time he grew into something huge. The velour is just gorgeous and 90% cotton as opposed to the completely synthetic and inexplicably expensive stuff in my local fabric shop.

The pattern instructions were in German?/Danish? but there's a visual step-by-step on the Farbenmix website and with a bit of concentration it wasn't too hard to work out.

The hood is lined, what fun! I chose - what else - some leftover Spoonflower organic cotton knit.

I bought one metre of the velour and had enough leftovers to make a couple of silly hats (based roughly on one bought for our big boys years ago), which are very soft, stretchy and cosy.

Actually before the purple hoodie came the purple tracky dacks.
I'd had some bamboo fleece in my stash forever but it was a natural cream colour. I winged it with my standard Clem-shorts-and-trousers pattern and added a ribbed waistband that contains wide elastic.

Then I dyed them using the stovetop method with regular Rit purple dye.

Result: great colour, saggy crotch! I didn't take enough off the top of the pants (which is normally a fold-over-to-make-elastic-casing type) before adding the waistband. Plus, the fabric is stretchy.

A bit of unpicking, chopping and re-sewing and the purple trackies are in business. Perfect for Easter-egg hunting:

 And jumping in a muddy pond.

Not sure if the colour is fading or if they just look paler next to the vivid hoodie.

I'm all excited about sewing with velour now. Just got a bunch of bamboo/organic cotton velour samples in the mail from here... only all conflicted about the enviro aspects of bamboo fabric production. Easy plant to grow but apparently not so easy to turn into fabric fibre. Never simple, is it?

I am currently struggling with another Farbenmix pattern for myself. Will. Make. It. Work.

- Jane x