Sewing for my Niece

I had a couple of nieces born this year and have decided that I should make a few really cute stuff for them. I have seen some really cute panties for girls who are just starting to crawl that had ruffles across the backside and decided to try to make some. I found this old Butterick 3949 pattern which had a pattern for a jumper style dress and some panties. I sorted though my stash and found this printed cotton remnant orange gingham with diasies. I made the jumper then made the panties and added eyelet lace to create the ruffles on the back. Overall it was quite quick and easy to make, hopefully my SIL likes it.

Top and Pants for Mum

Here is a top and pants I made for mum.


The top is made from cotton and is using Simplicity 4165 from the Khaliah Ali Collection.
I really liked the pleating detail and the shaped yoke. I could only make the short flutter sleeves because of a lack of fabric.




Top Front:Top Back:



The pants are made from a linen fabric using Simplicity 4193.



Pants Front:

Mum wearing the top and pants:

Clothes for Mum

I wanted to make Mum some new clothes and had recently bought some new patterns including Simplicity 4193. I seemed to have some very good basics, including a 6 gore skirt. I had some printed linen which I felt would make a fabulous skirt and I know she loves natural fibres.


I did a pocket modification to the pattern so there are pockets on the front side sections.




Skirt Front:
Side Pockets:

I added some name tags to the side seams:

Mum in the skirt:

Spotty Red Dress

I recently bought some spotty border print cotton fabric and wanted to make a cute summer dress using this fabric. I looked at lots of patterns and browsed through my stash of patterns and decided to do a bit of a mix and match design. I used the top part of a princess seam dress to make the top of the dress then used the 4 metre length of the border print gathered at the waist for the skirt. I used some left over as a sash.


This is the result.

Dress Front:

Dress Side:




Dress Back:

Maybe a Manbag?

I recently signed up to the Burdastyle community because they had some interesting looking free patterns.

I saw this simple messenger bag pattern and thought it would be a quick project to use up some of my stash scraps.


The pattern is a simple messenger bag, so I needed to think about how many extra pockets I would need to add and where, making the project take much longer than necessary to create.


I used left over chocolate corduroy with a cotton lining. I had some striped webbing which I used for the strap. The hardware was from a local building supplies shop called "Nuts and Bolts", I hope it gives the bag a more robust look.


I added a few internal pockets, for mobile, glasses some pen loops and the clip from a spare lanyard to hold keys an internal zippered pocket.

There is also a pocket on the outside under the flap.

Overall this is a useful pattern a good size (I can fit DH's 12" laptop in it), with reasonably simple instructions.

Better Late than Never.

Eight weeks ago I had another nephew born, so I needed to make another bear. As I had not started before the baby was born I asked if they had any requests. The only request was the bear had to have a growler.

I also decided it was time I tried making a fully jointed bear. This is the result. He is very large, standing at about 70cm (28 inches). He is made from a dark chocolate corduroy. He is quite fat, has a slightly sad face, a large hump on his back but is quite cuddly. He has kept me company on a long drive (about 900km round trip) out to see my sick Grandmother. I did the hand stitching to close his limbs while I was sitting in her hospital room. So I have grown rather attached to him. Just as well I haven't had to send him too far away to live.

He needed a classic Hawaiian Shirt as his wardrobe which meant I had to find an appropriate pattern and fabric, then match the pattern across the front opening of the shirt. It is not perfect but I had to accept that it was close enough and it would have to do.
Close up of his face, this was also a first attempt at using glass bear eyes instead of buttons.


Side back view with mood lighting:

I will have to try making a furry bear soon. My DH says I should sell them, but I don't think I'm that good at all.

Here I go again!

This is another version of the Simplicity Shift Dress, this time out of a really soft wool blend. It is a dark charcoal with a very slight shimmer too it.

Front:


Back:

With a purple satin shirt and coloured tights. I have worn this to work and got some great complements. I was very unsure about the coloured tights because of the chunkiness of my legs but my lovely work colleagues assured me it was a good look.

With a black and white striped blouse with a tie. I really am not a bow around the neck kind of person so I decided to wear it in a loose approximation of a men's tie, it makes me think of the pictures on patterns from the '70s.