Go To Patterns Signature Dress

I am a little late in this post as I went to social sewing on Saturday and did not get pictures taken..

And let's not discuss Sunday or Monday. The school holidays have started here and so has Spring (what? It must have just started cause we have just organised our garden.)

And so here finally is the next post.

Here are 2 of last week's creations. I recently purchased the Go To Patterns Signature Dress in a combo with a few other patterns and I have finally had a chance to make it.

First up I made a tunic length dress using both the flutter and short sleeves combination. I opted to copy another bloggers idea (sorry I cannot find you again now. Feel free to identify yourself if it was you) and use one big pleat fold in the center front and back rather than 3 smaller pleats or a random gather. I like it better this way.

I made a size 7 for Miss Little who is 5 years old and as you can see it fits her great. So glad this pattern is available to size 12 otherwise would not get much use out of it.

After the tunic top I decided to have a go at the maxi version with longer sleeves and the flutter sleeve - am not sure I will ever be able to do it without the flutter sleeves now the girls have discovered them.

What to say about this? Hmmm... Well, it is longer....
I have used a fabric which I know to be great when new but quickly deteriorates to a grey horrible version of itself upon wash and wear. (cheap fabric - you get what you buy, that is the risk) I knew this would not last long. But when I finished it, the Little Man claimed it as a princess dress up and ran around the backyard. It did not make it to hemming, it did not make it to its intended recipient.

I need to make another one for the Big Miss. And perhaps sort out something for the Little Man to stop him running off with the next one. And so....

Another Signature dress. A size 7 made out of an old satin sheet (I wonder if the person who gave it to me will recognise it?) with flutter sleeves, elastic around the neck and long enough to be princessy but short enough to not drag on the ground. Fingers crossed he will leave the next creations for the girls alone.

New patterns!

This week has resulted in no finished items.

Stuck at home, sick but not sick enough to be completely incapacitated what could I do?

I did what anyone would do, I shopped online.

I bought some Simplicity patterns and discovered that it is worth checking pattern company's sites from different countries. A pattern that was $10 on Simplicity US was only $6 on Simplicity UK. (Let's not discuss the price of the patterns on my home country site) What is with that? The postage was just over a dollar to get it from the UK site. When they arrived (very promptly)  I discovered that this was because they came all the way from a Sydney warehouse. I cannot understand it. No advantage to buy from my home country site at all. Why bother having multiple sites (all were English speaking countries too) surely other people would check this too?

I digress. So here are the two Simplicity patterns I got. I am not certain either of them will suit me as I do not wear dresses much. I am ambitiously thinking it is because I have not found the right one yet. Maybe one of these will be it!

I bought 1537 because I love the look of a scoopy neck and a swishy skirt. (yes, I am sure those are the technical terms.) One thing I already dislike about the pattern is the zip right down the back. Oh well, you want fitted in a non-stretch fabric you need to make some concessions.  

I bought 1800 not because of the cover picture or even the drawings. To put it simply, I bought it because Laura made the most fantastic version with piping and what great fabric. I am not sure of the etiquette for using a picture from someone else's blog so you will just have to follow the link to see what I mean. In order to get my dress to look like this there are a few obstacles I will need to overcome. Including but not limited to, finding awesome fabric, learning how to put in piping and adding zips.

And then because the other pattern I want for me is not in stock yet, I got a pattern for the girls. 

I bought the Geranium dress pattern. I was going to only get the larger sizes but it was only a little more to get both...Can you guess what I did? Yes, I got both. You never know when you will need to whip up a little girl dress after all. This pattern comes as a PDF so I was able to print, tape and trace out the pieces while at home. Now all I need is to get to Mum's and raid the stash!

Cannot wait for next week. I think that all the kids will be able to get to their daily events which will give me some time to sew!

Bliss.

Multi-sized Joy

Well hello there!
You did not believe I would be back did you?
Well I prooved you wrong didn't I?

This week has been a busy week sewing wise. At the beginning of the week I sewed up a pair of pants for each of the girls using my new favourite patterns for pants. I then finished off a top for the Big Miss and whipped up some shorts for them both. Suddenly with the season change we had some warmer weather and the Little Miss discovered a lack of shorts for her to wear. (I did not raise the number of skirts/dresses she could have chosen to wear because clearly it was a shorts day.)

So let's begin with the top.

The pattern is Bevknits 3001 which is a family t-shirt pattern ranging from size 2-12 in Children, 8-20 for women and then 32-46 for men. Really I do not think I would ever need to buy another tshirt pattern now that I have found this gem in the pattern stash, but this does not mean I won't want to buy one. This pattern is perfect for Miss Big who prefers a slim fit top.

Fabric for this top was purchased from the $2 table at darn cheap fabrics a little while ago. I bought a bit of it hoping that Miss Big would like it. I also thought we could try overdyeing it and see what happens. Luckily she did like it and decided that this top should stay as it is - unfinished. She likes the roll effect at the bottom of the top and sleeves. Less work for me. Who am I to complain?

And now we move onto the pants.

For Miss Big I have made a pair of pants using Jalie 3022. This is not the first time I have made this pattern. I will do a post of all the pants I have made using this pattern in the future I think because I have made it A LOT. In the 5 months I have owned it I have made it at least a dozen times. I am currently working out which size I need for me. Did I mention it is another multi-sized pattern? Sizes range from toddler through to adult.

Miss Big loves these pants (see above how many I have made for her) and it is now the go-to for school pants. The back is made up of two pieces So they fit really well.

This is the best picture I could get of the back. Ignore the VPL, Miss Big would not stay still any longer.

If you want to buy this pattern (or other Jalie patterns) I will suggest sew squirrel as they are such a great price! This particular pattern is not listed, but I think you could ask and you may be able to get it in for you anyway. I bought it from somewhere else and seriously paid more than $10 more for it. What the? Wish I had known about Sew Squirrel then.

And the pants for Miss Little...

These are another Jalie multi-sized pattern, Tights and Mini-skirt JA2920. These have also been made multiple times, and if you look closely....no hem on the bottom of these either! They don't need one as the girls both tuck them under their socks.

What else to say about this pattern then? 2 pieces, 3 seams (because I do not do a hem) and I do a turnover casing for the elastic. The hardest most time consuming part? lining up the stripes to match. Even though I do not worry about hemming them, I cannot handle the stripes not matching up at the seams. Especially at the butt.

Now apart from this sewing (and the shorts which are as yet not pictured) I have also been shopping up a storm in patterns. More on that later as this seems a mammoth post!

See ya!

Back again...

Well it's been awhile...

And in that time I have really knit up a storm. So much knitting that I now have a recurring inflammation issue in my arms which makes knitting for long periods very painful.

This has meant randomly searching the internet for other interesting things to do. And I have discovered lots of bloggers who sew in my city! I never knew and now I feel I should try and put up some of my sewing so that if I ever get to a meet up I can say "oh yes, I have a blog" :D

Now the way I sew is kind of sporadic. Over a period of time I usually cut out a few items and then on a day when the planets align (and the kids behave, which happens more often?) I can sew up a storm. So my blog may be like that too.

Sorry if you are really hoping for more regular updates but if you have followed me for a bit you know I am a hopeless blogger. I aim to change that but I do every time. Sometimes RL just sucks all the life from me and I cannot communicate with people.

Fingers crossed I can continue to update this...

I have a post coming up soon of what I have completed this week however the camera batteries require charging for uploading. Who knows when I will find it. UGH

School Holidays

We have been on our third term holidays recently and I thought I might get lots of knitting done. Maybe a sleep in or two. How wrong could I be?
In reality we have had some beautiful weather and even better - children who are cooperative and can play together.
So what have we done?
We visited friends, did some shopping, and played and played and played...

Yes, my playing was with the camera. But there also been plenty of puzzles, running, chalk drawing, painting and hiding by me as well.

Spring dress

Ok so I have not done so great at posting regularly.
But I have a good reason, really, I do...
I have been knitting like a mad thing to finish a dress for BigMiss-100m tall....

 Why did I decide to make her a dress? Because she loves her other one I knit for her. She wears it all the time.

People have suggested how fantastic it must be because I can knit for the BigMiss and  the LittleMiss will get to wear them too.This is because lots of wear = a knitters dream I think. Yet BigMiss does not give up her knits.The cardigan which only just fit her last year and is really stretched on her now is still not able to be given to the LittleMiss (who it would fit perfectly). And given that she wears her existing dress on any day deemed to cold for a summer dress by Mum, it is unlikely to ever be handed down.

So really having two girls close together does not help because it really means you need to knit twice the amount at almost the same size. LittleMiss has requested a dress like this one now. I have enough yarn left and obviously the pattern but I lack the will right now.

So I will just bask in the joy BigMiss feels wearing it.

Don't you just want to jump and twirl too?


 Oriental Lily by Tikki designs available for purchase on Ravelry here

A knit for me

I am trying again. A knit for me. Not socks, a hat or scarf - a sweater. Sleeveless because we are heading into summer. (and because it is quicker, but we won't dwell too much on that...)
So I scoured the patterns on ravelry found a couple and shortilisted them in my queue then got MrToffle to pick which one to attempt.
I measured and found I could fit into a smaller size than my head told me. And anyone know what this means? Less yardage required! Fewer skeins, same budget...
You see where I am going?
So I ordered some beautiful yarn from the loopy ewe and yes, I even got MrToffle to help with colour selection because it can be kind of overwhelming with so many shades of  the same colour available.
It came in skeins so I have been busily winding it into balls using my makeshift swift and nostepinne.

Doesn't it look great? 

And I have already started swatching, something I never do. EVER.

But this time, I want it right. So I have started with a flat swatch and I love it. The yarn is so soft! I noticed when I was winding it into the ball but knitted it is devine. The only issue is, not quite the right gauge. For someone who never swatches this is the interesting bit...I need to do another with different needles. How many times will this happen? What do I do with all these little squares when I am done? Will all this work mean I will finish the top? I think I want to know more than anyone else.

Just in case any of you are wondering, I have started another sweater for me. It has some beautiful cables on it. It has stalled at the top of the front side. (knit bottom up in the round) I am tossing up whether to ever do the sleeves or adapt it to sleeveless. Because who am I kidding? I started in January 2011 and stopped working on it...oh, around the time the friend I was knitting along with finished hers. Maybe July of 2011. It sits in a box in my loungeroom glaring and laughing at me. I would provide a photo but that just gives it more power...

Anyway onto new and hopefully completable things!