Pleated Skirts for My Girls

Pattern: Prep School Pleated Skirt by Little Lizard King

Fabrics: Red and Cherry Corduroy and cotton print from Crafty Mamas, burgundy cord from Spotlight.

Pattern Alterations: I added length on the burgundy skirt, my daughter likes them knee length. I also made it so it sits differently at the front, like a solid panel.

Pattern Comments: Easy pattern to follow. I got a bit confused by the elasic bit, but then I hadn't done it like this before. I'll probably use this method of enclosing the elastic again. Sizing is 1y-10y and measurements for a 18"doll too. After making two skirts, I'm confident in being able to measure up a skirt for any size.

I really like this pattern. The skirt comes together well and the instructions are well presented with lots of pictures. I can see more of these skirts being made for my daughters. :)

Hex!

I need to make 540. So far I'm up to 41!

In my last Back to Basics post I mentioned I'm attempting a hexagon quilt. I started off from reading Gina's post about using up scraps, this lead me to Melanies blog post about her charm quilt along .

Now as much as I am inspired by this quilting challenge, I just don't own 540 different scraps of fabric. I could do some swaps, but I really want to reduce my fabric scraps/stash.

So I'm joing the quilt along, but just the hexagonal part, not the charm part :)

So far it has been great fun. I like how each hexagon can be basted in a few minutes, and it is something that can be done with kids on my lap on the lounge. I don't know how long this will take to make though and the 'putting the whole thing together' thing will be a challenge, but so far so good :)

Lined Jacket

I've jumped in and participated in Carolyn's 12 in 12 Challenge and this month it is something lined.

This is a another Avalon jacket from the Sewing Clothes Kids Love book. This time I made the jacket so that it was fully lined (and reversible).

The Back

The Front

Lining

This jacket is just as easy to make lined as it is unlined, you just have to remember to sew on all your trims prior to constructing the whole garment. I also think when it is lined, it looks better.

Avalon Jacket

This is the jacket I was making in the "My Creative Space" post. I really need to use up some of the fabric I've been stashing away so I went for a dig and found this pink corduroy and patterned cotton.

Lil didn't like it at first...It was too pink (huh? too pink? you can have too much pink? lol), but she fell in love with it after I added the ruffles.

Pattern: Avalon from the book "Making Clothes Kids Love". This pattern is also available as a normal pattern from Farbenmix.

Fabric: From my stash (likely to be from Spotlight).

Blooming Lovely

I came across Miss Madeleine Bloomers over on Colette Patterns several weeks ago. I looked at them, and thought, mmm nice but not so nice on bigger girls. Then a few more weeks later I came across some fabric in my stash which I thought would be perfect for the bloomers, and made these:

Don't they look cute!

And they are really comfty on too. And they look cute on bigger girls too :)

I Love a Good Challenge

This year I'm going to take part in Carolyn's 12 months of sewing challenge. Well at least I'm attempting to.....

The first one is "something for me". I think I might go for the Valeska skirt by Farbenmix. It looks like a sweet pattern and I'm in need of a new skirt. This is going to be a bit of a challenge to complete as I'm going away on a massive big Girl Guide camp in a few days, and although I get back on the night of the 11th of January, I'm sure I'll be greeted with "the washing pile to end all washing piles" along with a fair amount of catching up to do in the sleep department.

On the up side, the skirt does look fairly simple to construct. Stay tuned. :)

Busy Busy Busy

Supplies for a crafty weekend

Firstly some thoughts from my darling daughter.

Scene: Day before school goes back after two weeks and one day's holidays.
Lily: Mama, do I have to go to school tomorrow.
Mama: Yes Lilian you do.
Lily: Can I have the day off then?

This weekend is going to be busy busy busy. I'm making paper bag albums for my mum and mother in law for mother's day. Something like this here. Not sure if they will like it but, hey to bad. I also have two sister in laws who are celebrating birthdays next week. They are both getting a quote book, again scrapbooked and made by me. And one SIL is also getting a scarf (if I can make it in time!). The other SIL got a scarf ages ago.

I'm also collecting fabric to make some gifts for my daughter's 5th birthday. Pinks and purples are the colour palette. I'm thinking scarf, bag and a hat......

In the garden this weekend I need to plants some beans, make up some bug spray and plant out the daffodils and tulips. The other bulbs I planted have started to emerge and the green manure crop is also doing well. I have two mice in the compost bin, having a merry time, so something needs to be done about that......

And I have picked up my book for Green Beans bookworm challenge. I'm reading Affluenza: the all consuming epidemic for the month of May. I first heard of this book at Crunchy Chicken's Book Club and it really has me interested. So if this weekend isn't already busy enough, I'll try and read a chapter as well.

Yep, busy, busy, busy.

A Productive Weekend

I had a pleasant, productive weekend.

I weeded around the apple and orange tree, and popped in some bulbs. Not sure if they are meant to, or even can co-exist, but it should look pretty if they (bulbs) pop up and flower.
I bought 6 punnets of seedlings, alyssum, calendulas, petunia's and pansies. They are mostly for Lilian to plant, she loves gardening, but also to encourage bee's and nice insects. They haven't been planted yet, ran out of time.... but will go in today along with some sweet peas I've raised from seeds.
I bought some weed killer (*gasp*) to kill the couch grass. This stuff is indestructable. It has invaded the vegie patch and I am fighting a loosing battle with it. So I decided it was time to get hard core. I looked online to see what other people have done to get rid of the stuff and decided on chemicals. Hopefully this will work.

I started the mock up for the Desira top over at Burda Style. If it works out well I might buy some nicer quality fabric and whip up a nice top for myself. I don't normally do mock up's, I'm far to impatient, but at the same time, I have a high rate of failures, or 'dress up clothes' (because that's where they end up). Then I get frustrated and nothing is achieved. So, hopefully doing a mock up first will help me make adjustments before I make the final product.

It's also the beginning of school holidays, which means a lot of 'what can I do now'. I firmly believe it is healthy for children to experience boredom, which I believe helps them think outside the square and also helps them creative their own happiness. However it's also important to take advantage of the extra time, and do stuff with the kids. I stumbled across the Crafty Crow, which is a delightful collective blog, with links to various crafty/arty activities for children of all ages.