another baby's gifts

And still they keep coming... babies, that is!

Another friend recently gave birth to her first child and, of course, I had to sew for her and her new son.    I thought this friend would appreciate something a little different/quirky so I went online to my Special Place (a.k.a Spoonflower.com) and did a little shopping....

And this is what I made

How are you meant to style a onesie and make it look good?!?

A Dr Who onesie! This is the style of outfit worn by the 11th Dr Who and comes as a cut-and-sew pattern by Spacefem on Spoonflower.





This sewed up quickly and it was straightforward working out the order of the sewing.  Spacefem has downloadable instructions - referenced on the fabric! - if anyone needs them.  I used my coverstitch machine to sew the bands and hems.

and used some matching snaps 

I liked the way this looked so I bought more of Spacefem's fabric

Star Trek onesies

I am in the process of making these up for twin boys.  The blue one is nearly finished (just needs some snaps and the sleeves hemmed)

Being a twin myself, I really can't stand don't like twins being dressed the same so I feel a little torn about giving the parents two of the same item (but they are different colours!).  However, this is Star Trek so hopefully I will be forgiven.



But back to the sewing for the first baby.

I made a second onesie but this time I used the Jalie baby bodysuit pattern and some Vikings cotton-elastane fabric from Ottobre

This pattern is describes as having a boatneck and there is very little difference between the back and front.  In fact, I unpicked all of the stitching because the pieces just didn't seem to be sitting correctly.  After I had rechecked all of the markings I re-sewed the onesie.  I'm still not convinced that I like the neckline.  Fortunately the snaps at the crotch make it obvious which way this goes.

I think the fabric and the orange ribbing are a great combination.  And who wouldn't love these ginger Vikings?  Luckily I had matching snaps to complete the garment!

Coverstitch machine used for the ribbed bands

I placed both of the onesies into a Christmas stocking that I also made for the new baby

 The body of the stockings were made from crazy patchwork panels that I made using the many Christmas fabrics I have stashed.  Then I topstitched the pieces in gold metallic thread using the decorative stitches on my sewing machine

  

I fused each of the completed panels to some pellon and cut out the stocking pieces and stitched them together.  Finally, I embroidered the baby's name onto the stocking cuff and sewed a bell onto the end of the stocking.

I realise that it isn't Christmas, but I thought this might be a gift that a child would keep for a long time and not grow out of or discard after a short period of time.   My husband has a small collection of Christmas decorations that were given to his mother shortly after he was born and they get trotted out every year.  And another friend has a Christmas stocking that was given to him as a youngster and he still hangs it every Christmas by the chimney in the hope that it will be full of goodies on Christmas morning.  

So, I hope that the goodies I placed in the stocking are useful in the short-term but that the stocking is something the child grows up with.

Dresses for new babies and little girls

September and October are busy months for new babies.  As such, there are always things to sew at this time of the year.

My husband asked if I could sew something for one of his colleagues.  In fact, he asked if I could sew two somethings:  one with a traditional/classic fabric and the other a little more modern.  I decided to use a couple of Oliver + S patterns (now there's a surprise?!)

For the first dress I used an "oldie-but-a-goody" - the music box jumper pattern - and used a fabric that is also an "oldie" i.e. an unnamed Japanese lawn that has been in my stash for about 10 years.  I made the 6-12 month size.

I found some perfectly-matched pink mother of Pearl buttons in my button box.

back view

For the second dress I used the Oliver + S croquet dress pattern.  I have always been a little ho-hum about this pattern because it seemed more suited to "Downton Abbey" than 2013.   But I have never used this pattern before and it was sitting in my filing cabinet waiting to be put together....

I used a red floral Riley Blake fabric called sweetcakes.

Size 6-12 months

 flower button with crystal centre

close up of the bow

I was really pleased with how this turned out.  So, with this little success under my belt, I decided to tackle another pattern that I have owned for some time but was also indifferent about... the Oliver + S tea party sundress

This time, I made a size 3, lengthened to size 4, for another friend's very tall 2+ year old.  The fabric is a quilting cotton named Razzmatazz, and for some reason I had 3 yards of it...   I had to fussy cut the bodice and panels although it became very obvious that with such a busy print I couldn't be too fussy!

I used a mustard coloured fabric for the flat binding and cut the binding to 1 1/4  inches, making it a little thinner than suggested.

Close up of bodice.  I like the effect of the fabric around the neckline!

back view

Of the three dresses, I think this is my favourite and I particularly like the colours (Yes, MORE purple!!). Initially, I wasn't really sure about the flared skirt but now I like the way the skirt falls and I'm sure it will have a bit of the twirl factor that seems to be so popular/necessary in little girl's clothes.  

I also recently sewed up the new Oliver + S library dress for Rosa.  My sister said it looked like a school uniform so I added a Clarice Bean badge to the lapel.  After all, a great literary work seemed entirely appropriate for a library dress

size 4

I cut the front band and the cuffs on the bias

So, another Oliver + S pattern crossed off my list of things to sew.

That is enough for one post but there is still more sewing for babies to show!

Monet and Munch for the gifted child

It seems to me, that many parents today want to raise gifted children.  There are a zillion different books, DVD's and websites on the subject.  Apparently, exposing children to fine arts at a young age helps to develop the right-sided brain abilities like creative problem-solving, enhanced photographic memory, visual and spatial thinking, musical talent etc etc etc.

So, I thought I'd help out some of my friends who recently celebrated the birth of their daughter by getting her started on the journey to unlocking the right side of her brain....

At my favourite on-line fabric store, Spoonflower.com, I discovered Edvard Munch's the scream and Claude Monet's water lilies

Foolishly, I only purchased a fat quarter of each fabric in the organic knit.  Thus, I was only able to create a sleeveless top in the work by Munch

Front - the neckline doesn't look even but it is just the way the top is placed on the hanger

size 74cm

Back

The pattern is "Diamond Deer sleeveless jersey top" from Ottobre 3/2011.

Of course, the observant will note that I overlapped the front and back pieces incorrectly.    I blame my sister: I was trying to multi-task, chatting to her on the phone and sewing at the same time...   However, I obviously need to pay more attention when it comes to overlapping shoulder seams because this is a common problem for me!

For the water lilies, I used the Oliver + S hopscotch top pattern.  I knew that I wasn't going to make any amateurish mistakes with this pattern.

size 6-12 months

Dad told me they really liked BRIGHT fabric so I also made a little dress for the new baby (just in case Munch was too much for these new parents...).  I used another favourite Oliver + S pattern: the music box jumper (view B).

 size 6 - 12 months

I lined the bodice with a dotted off-white quilting cotton, and used some decorative mother of pearl buttons.

So here's hoping that these are a hit (or should that be a scream?) with Mum and Dad.

An Oliver + S weekend

I expected all of last weekend to be taken up with a work activity. It didn't eventuate, so I spent the weekend in my sewing room with my Oliver + S patterns instead.

The first item I made was the book report dress.  I wanted to make it all in one colour and I made a few little alterations to the pattern based on this t-shirt from Daks that I bought at Christmas time

Note the zipper and the quilted shoulders and sleeves

So I borrowed those ideas and incorporated them into my dress:

Size 4

I quilted the fabric onto a fusible batting first before cutting out the back yoke.  It was surprisingly quick to do and produced the result I was after.

It really isn't that wrinkled in real life!

I inserted invisible zippers at the front and back yoke shoulder seam.  They are not perfect but I think they will look OK once the  dress is on.   Perhaps next time I will make the zipper more of a feature like the Daks's t-shirt

The only other modification I made was to use the "burrito method" to enclose the stitching for the  back yoke and its facing just like on a man's business shirt.  The batting added quite a bit of bulk which made this a little bit more of a fiddle than it might have been but it turned out looking very tidy on the inside.

And to finish off, I found a little sparkly button in my button box that matched the dress colour perfectly.

Although the photo is out of focus

On Sunday, I made a skirt using the rather appropriately named Sunday brunch a-line skirt pattern - although it would have been a very late meal if it had been needed at the time suggested by the pattern!  

I cut up an old Anna S dress that I bought for about $5 at a school fair several years ago and tried to recreate something a little like this skirt that I snapped in Tokyo last year.... while trying to not look like I was stalking the child

this skirt

plus

equals

Ok, so this looks nothing like the little girl's skirt but you gotta work with what you've got!

And then in the second half of the day I whipped up a roller skate tunic from a Nano Iro print, and some Japanese lawn from Spotlight

And I bundled these up to send to Rosa with yet another Sailboat top I recently completed.  I think I have probably had the knit fabric for at least ten years!  So, another successful stash bust here and therefore time to buy more fabric....

And look!  I managed to get the shoulder pieces overlapped the correct way again

Now, that was a much better way to spend a weekend than doing paper work....