Nuts for Knits

I confess, I'm scared of knit fabrics.

But I got "Growing Up Sew Liberated" from our library, and it had some cute, simple patterns in there, which I thought I should have a go at!

I've got a wee bit of precious merino fabric to use for the kids this winter, but I thought I had better test the patterns, and my skills, on something a little less important.

Enter the $1 remnant bin PJs!!

 I got the pink cotton knit fabric in a remnant bin years ago for $1, and was given the white cotton rib by a friend, also years ago, both have been sitting in my stash with me too scared to touch them! Despite it not being a tragic investment if it all went disastrously wrong, go figure. Add in a free pattern = cheap, happy girl PJs!!

I think I need to stretch the ribbing a bit more when I'm sewing it, so that it doesn't waver as much, using a twin-needle made it quite easy to actually attach too..... 

but hey, they're functional & don't look terrible!!! That's all I ask lol..

My big boy

My little big boy is starting kindy this week!! Funny to think that I announced being pregnant with him, on this blog all those years ago..

He needs a basic bag for kindy to hold a spare change of clothes, and a piece of fruit, so I made him this little drawstring backpack -

This is with a spare t-shirt & pants inside -

It's the perfect size for a 2-4 year old, and easy for them to open & shut.. It took me a couple of hours to sew, but most of that was the applique (exacerbated by my machine constantly skipping stitches & breaking the thread!! Methinks it needs the timing adjusted..). But it was dead easy and very simple, and does the job perfectly! I hope he like it...

Here's the tutorial link on Pinterest!

My baby's baby

I finished my first proper waldorf doll!

Not the best photo I'm afraid, but here she is-

Since she was for my youngest's first birthday, she has a lovely soft bamboo velour body, with just the head & upper torso fully formed under her 'clothes'. In the traditional waldorf style she is made from 100% natural fibres - cotton stretch skin fabric, the bamboo velour, carded wool fleece for stuffing, and a strange but very cool feeling wool/soy blend yarn for her (immense amount of) hair! 

I knit her a little dress to wear, and crocheted a blanket too, which I haven't got a photo of yet.

I'm rather pleased with how she came out, except that the velour has a tendency to 'wick' the stuffing out :(

I'm working on a second one now, for our kindergarten's gigantic Advent Fair!

Oink.

I made a pig.

Instant Organisation Vol.2

1 fat quarter + 2 small pieces of scrap elastic + this pin = a bag bag.

for keeping all those pesky plastic bags, that even us long-term-fastidious-reusable-bag users still seem to acquire, tidy!

I love really fast projects :D

(worst photo ever, sorry.)

Cushy

Another Pinterest inspired project, a rainbow cushion for our playroom -

from this Design Sponge pin! Mine doesn't look as smooshy, because I haven't put the central button tuft thingy in.. I'm still undecided about it, but since this is intended as a cushion for the kids, I thought a big button in the middle would actually be not so nice for sitting on!

It was fun to make though, and will look wonderful in our rainbow themed playroom!!

(Disclaimer - having a playroom sounds terribly bourgeois, but I swear it's not lol! Our 3 middle-sized kids share a long single bedroom & the baby is in our room, so that we have a room left over as a playroom for all of their stuff... I'm certain it won't seem so spacious when they are 10-18 years old & still all sharing rooms ;-) but we love the current setup!!! )

going ape.

aaaaages ago one of my friends managed to score us a bunch of merino thermal tops for $10nz, from a factory store, which is fantastic!!

the downside to this particular bargain was that mine was evidently IN the factory store because not enough orangutans were buying thermals from glassons.

no really, look- the neckline is clearly for someone who needs a much lower neckline than the average human, and the sleeves are perfectly suited for "knuckling" across the floor (as Terry Pratchett puts it) -
anyway, inspired by one of my friends who has recently been embarking on all sorts of upcycling adventures, i unpicked the neckline ribbing, chopped the sleeves off, chopped 4-5cm off the shoulders, recut the armpits & back neckline, chopped 8cm off the sleeves & rehemmed them, and attempted to put it back together again!!

ta da!!
thus taking it from faintly ridiculous and decidedly ape-like to actually wearable!!

so if you've got the sewing equipment handy, don't be afraid to attack disastrously fitting clothes & try to make them better!!

home alone

i had some time home alone, and the house was in reasonable order, so naturally i made a mess all over the lounge floor!

i sorted & re-folded my fabric stash-
that's it in it's entirety, the stuff still in the white basket is all nappy fabrics, so relatively speaking i do not have a big stash!

and whilst sorting the stash, i found that i had some left over black knit from making a baby-wearing wrap years ago, so decided to try out making a couple of skirts using this 'yoga' skirt tutorial!

i call them my fat skirts lol, cos i'm 26-27w pregnant in these photos, but you can't really tell, i just look bigger than i am!

first attempt using the full width of 55" denim-
('scuse the un-prewashed, un-ironed fabric!)
and what actually shows under my mummy-uniform jumper-
and 2nd attempt using some fabric left over from making lexi some pants & a knitting needle case, only used approx 48-50" width + cut it slightly A-line, so it's a lot less puffy-
they're not the world's most flattering garments lol, but since they took under 30 minutes each, including cutting out, it's a great pattern anyway!!

the forgotten files

the Kids Clothing Week Challenge reminded me that i had a pile of sewing done previously that i hadn't added to the archive!

firstly, a little cape & crown set-
on a forum that i occasionally frequent (so should that be "that i occasion"?? ;-) ) one of the members was having a rough time, so a whole bunch of people got together to put together a package for her & her kids!
so these went winding their way to a wee 3 year old boy, who i hope has enjoyed them since!

and for lexi-
a tie-top summer dress

some stripy 3/4 pants-
(ironing?! pfft.)

some peasant tops, i particularly like the ladybird fabric-
(blogger/picasa sigh..)

another summer dress-
covered in butterflies, and with a *zip* in the back! i'm so proud every time i have to use one of those..

and a couple of pairs of dress pants for my little guy-
and now i'm just working on a stack of winter knitting, and finishing off the list of to-do sewing left over from KCW!

Kids Clothing Week round up

ugh i seem to be incapable of achieving a halfway decent photo of any of my stuff at the moment, it seems to be a combination of too bright and too dark at the same time, so you either get dim colours or glare *sigh* so we'll have to just imagine the nice colours ok?

3 pairs of pants for lexi-
two polarfleece in red wine & rich purple colours, and icy blue cords (see what i mean about the colours? :-( )

two merino PJ tops for lexi-
and two for kadyn-
two more pairs of merino baby pants, this time just with the cuff option-

and lexi 'modelling' her new PJs-
they look pretty comfy!

so that makes my tally for the week...
- 1 dress shirt for eli
- 3 pairs of pants for lexi + one pair mended
- a pair of PJ pants each for lexi & kadyn
- 2 merino tops for lexi
- 2 merino tops for kadyn
- 4 pairs of baby merino pants

i also knitted a tiny party dress for one of lexi's favourite baby dolls that got accidentally left behind on our fortnightly custody visit up north, as a consolation present for a very distraught little girl... pics of that to come soonish when we get her back. the doll i mean, not the little girl.

i still need to do another pair of PJ pants for each of the big ones, some winter pants for kadyn, and probably a couple of merino tops for eli (he already has a couple of lightweight thermal ones), but some of those require a trip to the fabric shop since my winter stash is getting low!

kids clothes week day 2ish

two pairs of PJ pants for the big kids(lexi's pair have the friendliest wee dinos you've ever seen on them! which you can't see because of our incredibly sullen winter weather light.. no shiny, bright reflected snow light here!)

the plan is to team them up with merino tops, whenever that happens.

i cut them out last night, along with a couple of pairs of winter pants for lexi.. evidently it takes me the whole hour to sew up two pairs, so i guess that'll be me for tomorrow!

in other news, due to this sewing challenge i also discovered My Sewing Circle.com which is rather like ravelry, but for sewing. if you sign up i'm "novanz" if you wanna be my friend ;-)

paved with good intentions.

ha well i spotted this on a few blogs that i visit-so i thought that it would be a great idea to join in, since i desperately need to get a bunch of things made for the kids before winter really kicks in. the idea is that you spend an hour per day for a week sewing kids clothes, and see what wonderful things you end up with at the end of the week, simple huh? the details are all here....

i had a few things languishing in my to-do drawer- a pair of lexi's pants that needed the waistband fixing, two pairs of merino pants that were never finished before eli was born (!!), and a short-sleeved shirt that i had cut out for eli.

problem one. my overlocker threads had all been terribly tangled by somebody...

(clock is ticking for my 1 hour already)

problem two. my sewing table has been invaded by a colony of monarchs. see-um, ok a close up then- 5 chrysalises and 5 caterpillars (subsisting on butternut squash). see? invaded.

so i had to deal to those first, and then managed to get sewing! i figured since today is day two of the challenge week i would have 2 hours to play with to make up for missed time...

3.5 hours later....
two little pairs of yummy merino pants, one pair with 'proper' cuffs, the other using pale purple fold-over-elastic.. i thought prior that i'd prefer the FOE method, but turns out i like the cuff look better.

and a wee zipped short-sleeved (rotated grr) shirt for eli-
it has cute tiny piggies on it :-)

lessons for the day- when sewing on a mission, a) don't use stretchy fabrics, b) don't choose shirts cos they have too many pieces, c) DON'T do anything with a zip.

anyone care to join in? lol...

Lexi's 4th birthday!

within a month doesn't count as late blogging!

due to unforeseen circumstances we had to cancel lexi's party, but we still had a little get together with lexi's aunty, uncle & baby cousin, which lexi was more than happy about!

i made a few things for it, firstly a Little Rocket (designed by a very clever friend called megan!)
(auto photo rotating grumble grumble)
made out of scraps of yarn from lexi's earflap hat & felted slippers (not bad value for an $8 200g hank from the titirangi markets!)
and a special new birthday dress (two years running now!)
i'm rather happy with the detail, the buttons are the same as her Spring Butterfly
modelled with the crown & cape that were handmade for her birthday by her nursery teachers(!!!)
and a very silly alien cake-
i think she enjoyed her birthday!

the neighs have it.

3 hobby horses for the kids for xmas!

two horses for the big kids

and a wee pony for the littlun!

They're made from mens socks (the thicker sport type one for the pony worked better than the business socks for the big ones), stuffed with wool fleece, and finished with felt, yarn & ribbon details :-)

The idea is from a book called "Creative Play for Your Toddler; Steiner Expertise and Toy Projects for 2-4 years", and is a lovely, simple craft project, albeit with quite a lot of hand stitching!

On the 1st of december Nova made for me...

.. some bunting for with our xmas tree!
My long ago alluded to pointy secret has finally reached fruition! At last I have a collection of lovely xmas buntings ready for sale!!

These Christmas buntings are handcrafted here in NZ, by me, out of quilting cotton and satin ribbon. They have four prints & three colours.
(small disclaimer- due to the nature of the process some of the prints occasionally appear upside down, but extreme care has been taken to negate any visual impact of this)

They are double sided so are perfect for hanging across a room or archway, or even outside in fine weather!

Each point has hidden overlocking on all three sides, before being stitched into the ribbon, making them much more durable than fabric finished with pinking shears or paper buntings. Looked after properly these should last for years and years!
(Our birthday bunting, made in an identical fashion, has been pulled out & hung numerous times & is still looking perfect)

Why have bunting you ask?!

They're essentially an almost instantaneous way to festively decorate a room!
Whether strung up against an otherwise drab piece of wall, or hung across a room, it immediately injects some energy and christmas spirit!
They're perfect for hanging up outside if you're having a barbeque, because they can be removed super fast if the weather goes bad..
And because they are hanging up they don't clutter up surface areas, and are out of reach of all but the most crazily ingenious children! ;-)

and they look cute.
I have three sizes available-

12 of the "18 Pointers" - approx 3.16m long, including ties
$30

3 of the "16 Pointers" - approx 2.90m long, including ties
$28

and one lonely "17 Pointer" - approx 3m long, including ties.
$29 lol..

Postage will be $5 around NZ (it's a bit late to post overseas sorry!), and they come with care instructions & a little ziplock bag to keep them safe!

SO, if you would like to buy one, please email me at newlymade@hotmail.com

Merry Christmas!!

Project...umm... "Monday" #8

you know, it's really hard to keep a public record of your WIPs when they are mostly secret.

cos you end up with posts like-

two almost used up balls of wool-
i can't show you what they've been used up with, cos it's secret.

pretty gripping stuff really.

but anyway, i'm still chugging along with the penguins, and another of my (unseen) secret projects, but i also snuck in some time to make eli some new nappies-
his ones (size small!!) were getting a bit low in the rise, but were still ok around the leg, whereas lexi's old ones are good for him in the rise, but much too big in the leg, which necessitated the drafting of an almost-medium skinny leg size pocket nappy lol... happy to say they fit perfectly!