Undies!

New undies for my little man.

These will be a part of his birthday pressie - he's two next week (where did that time go?!?). I used this link over at doityourselfec.blogspot.com I have used this pattern before but it was a looong time ago. They were so much easier this time round (I hadn't been sewing long when I did them the first time).

Here they are next to a shop-bought pair of size 2 undies. They look huge! I made the size 1 - 2 years. He still fits in the size 6m - 1 year I made last time but I figured this size would give him more growing room. I didn't think they'd turn out this big!!

But they are actually ok on. A bit on the baggy side, but they look so cute! Plus, they will be easier for him to get up and down himself if they are a bit looser. And of course, they will last longer!

What do they look like from the back?

Like this!!

I will definitely be making more of these. I've got enough fabric to do another set in reverse colours to these. FWIW, the red fabric is an old t-shirt and the black is an op-shop find. They go so well together (plus we are Bombers fans in this house).

And, for my future reference, I did the seams with the serging/pine leaf stitch on my machine. Here's hoping it holds together well.

Mothers' Day Sewing

A little late in posting this but better late than never - right?

The inspiration for this apron came from this tute (warning: if you've not visited craftster before, chances are you will spend hours wallowing in all the great tutes). I know mine doesn't look much like the tute, but it was my inspiration. The fabric for this started life as a single bed quilt cover (it's just a normal cotton though). So all that great gathering on the skirt of the apron - not my work! That's part of the skirt of the bedspread :)

What did I learn from this project? Don't blindly follow tutes! I love a good tute, they save me from thinking, and this was a nice, clear tute. But if I had of thought it through I could've saved a fair bit of time on all the straps - each of them was two pieces sewn together, turned and topstitched - very time-consuming. Next time I will cut the strap twice as wide and only have one seam to stitch. And there will be a next time, I love the way this turned out, I didn't want to give it away, lol. I love the fabric, I'm thinking it will make a great summer dress for me.

Oh, and I also made two matching pot mitts :)


P.S. sorry for the ordinary photo - we were racing out the door to mum's when I realised I hadn't taken a photo yet.

Putting his best foot forwards

DS has been on his feet for a month so it was time to put some shoes on them. I didn't want to buy any and I'm glad I didn't! These cost me next to nothing to make - I got a bag of craft leather for five bucks at the op shop and used some old jeans for the denim. The elastic was the only thing I paid retail for!


So, h,Here is my little man showing off his cute new shoes. They have leather soles and the rest is denim. I made them from a tutorial on this site. They go together very easily - even more easily if you extend the back piece and fold it over to make the casing like I have here. Have a look in the gallery on that site for some inspiration - so many cute pairs of shoes.



The cute little duckie shoe below is the first shoe I made with leather. It is lined with denim. It was harder to do than the leather/denim purely because of the bulk. I did one shoe a while ago, decided it was huge, and made the denim pair at a smaller size. The denim pair fit, but not for long so I made the second duckie one. In between the first and second shoes, I got a new sewing machine, and as a result, the second duckie shoe is much neater than the first. I find it much easier to go slow on the new machine.

So much to do...

I've just updated my To Do list again. It is forever growing. I am adding to my Completed list as well, but it can't keep up with the To Do list. I need more time!

My sewing room is in a bit of a mess after I switched the desks around last week. Trying to get everything in its proper place so when I do have the time to sew I can do it easily without spending half my time searching for everything. FlyLady tells me I need to spend 15 minutes a day and then my sewing room will be great, neat and functional. Once it's neat and functional I MUST spend five minutes at the end of each sewing session to put stuff away! This means no more rushed, late night sewing sessions.

At the top of my To Do listed, marked URGENT is shoes for my little boy. He's walking now, and it's coming into winter so he needs some shoes to keep his little feet nice and dry. I have a pattern (that I'm too tired to link to now) that I need to adjust down in size. I have the leather (a $5 bargain find at a local op shop). My mission for tomorrow is to resize the pattern and do a test run out of cotton. If the test run fits first go hopefully I will get the leather cut out and ready to go as well.