The last four months have not been devoid of craft activities. I have made several items for the children that I usually sew for including a number of t-shirts for the boys:
All are Ottobre 3/2011 number 12
And two t-shirts for the bigger boys in Melbourne:
Another Ottobre basic made from the same dinosaur material I used above because I inadvertently bought it on two separate occasions from the internet site Dots N Stripes!
And a Kwik Sew 'Muscle' shirt that Master T requested for his Saturday morning family workouts
I have also made a couple of t-shirts for the girls:
This is the 'Rosalind' t-shirt (number 29) from Ottobre 3/2009 and the material is also from Dots N Stripes. I finished the sleeves with a rolled hem and then used shirring elastic to make the gathers:
I made a second version using a very cheap remnant (with a sparkly sheen) and added the buttons to the neck edge like the original pattern:
I also made a pattern from a Japanese pattern book
I was able to use one of the sparkly buttons from Melbourne for the back closure.
For many of the t-shirts I used the binder on my coverstitch machine to get a nice ready-to-wear finish.
Apart from the knits I have also sewn a few shirts for the Melbourne boys
Both of these are number 21 from Ottobre 3/2009 which is my favourite shirt pattern for boys. It ranges in size from 62-128cm so there is a size to fit just about every little lad. It also only needs about a metre of material and sews up in about 1-2 hours. I have made a number of these using 1 yard pieces from eQuilter.com in a variety of fun prints.
There have also been some dresses,
Oliver and S Birthday Party Dress
and tops,
Oliver and S Ice Cream Dress pattern
and a skirt with matching bloomers
Skirt is Ottobre 6/2011 number 10
Bloomers are from Tea Party Sundress pattern
I also knitted a jersey for a little boy from the Noro wool I bought in Mendocino last year. It was quick to knit up and knitting was a good evening activity while I was on holiday over the Christmas-New Year period
Obviously it won't be to everyone's liking but this variegated wool has really grown on me and I plan to get more (to inflict on the parents of little boys and girls... although I do provide an opportunity to opt out if the parents really don't think they could put their kids in this!)
Finally, a quilt for a friend who recently gave birth to a little girl. My friend liked a duck-egg blue and brown color combination but the duck-egg blue is much harder to find than you would imagine. The pattern is Sparkle Punch Quilt by Elizabeth Hartmann. The instructions are on her website www.ohfransson.com
I liked her zig-zag/lightning bolt pattern and did the same to quilt the top:
I used 4 different fabrics to make the back
These fabrics probably fit the color brief a little better than the fabrics used for the front and my friend could use either side, if desired.
I really like the Sparkle Punch Quilt pattern and think it would look fantastic in a range of brights, or perhaps some Kaffe Fassett fabrics for a more girlie look. It is certainly a quilt pattern for all age groups.
