iCandi

Saturday, July 29, 2006

new stuff!

I have been busy making new stuff, swap stuff and researching an idea that I have had in my head for a little while now...

Anyway, photos:




I'm currently using this as my hand bag - it's nice and roomy, an essential characteristic of handbags for me!



Another bag I made, using a totally different pattern. I'm not 100 percent happy with the dimensions, but I'll know for next time.




This is a shirt I made from the same material as the bag above. I put snaps on it as I still can't work out the button function on my sewing machine! It is a small size 3, so it looks huge on Willow!

Tuesday, July 11, 2006

cream floral cords

This morning I made these pants for Willow from the cream floral corduroy. I also tried to make a skirt by eye, but stuffed up and made it too small. I sent an email to my friend whose daughter got the brown pants, to see if she wants it.

I'm pretty happy with them, it is the third time I've made pants from that pattern, so I have it down pat. The previous two times I tried a fancy method for the waist band, but I couldn't get it, so with this one, I just did a casing waist band and it worked!



I have been looking on the internet for patterns for various things, I found a good one for a little baby's hat, so I'll make that out of the stripy and green material in my last post, so that it can be reversible. Who is it for? Shhh!

A and I have been watching an odd movie called Mumford, it has Jason Lee in it! I have a long list of things to do tomorrow. Best get to bed then!

Sunday, July 09, 2006

brown pants and pink pointy kitty

Today I finished of a pair of brown polar fleece pants for my friend's daughter. She is about a size one, so I just drafted a smaller pattern than the size 2 pattern I've been using for Willow.

Polar fleece is a beast to work with if you are making a more tailored garment. I've been working with cotton fabrics quite a bit and if you want to do a hem, you can just press it over and it stays. Not possible with polar fleece! It also has a bit of give in it which means you have to be careful when you are sewing it, that your seams stay the same.

This is the finished product:



I also finished my velvet pointy kitty.

Velvet is one of my favourite materials, but it is not easy to work with. First off, there are the bits of velvet fluff all over the house from cutting it. Then it tends to slip a bit when you are sewing it, though this velvet didn't do that too much. Embroidering on it was not as effective as I'd hoped, the silk threads seemed to slip under the nap and hide.

Here she is:





I dropped them off at my friend's house on the way home from an afternoon out and they were well received. Apparently pointy kitty's tail is good to chew on!

Willow and I had a nice afternoon out. We met an EB member who has just moved to Adelaide, and her daughter, who is 5 months older than Willow. It was a cold afternoon, but a good coffee from CIBO fixed that!

Saturday, July 08, 2006

meta-discussion

I've blogged on and off for the 10 years that I've been on-line. My last blog, I stopped posting in because I had boundary issues. A lot of different people read it and it was hard to know what to write about.

So, I'm going to try to stick to craft related things in this blog, although I will probably write about how Willow is, and life in general.

things I've made

The dress made from greeen chambray from IKEA.







It was a learning process, that's for sure. I made a few silly mistakes that I won't make next time. Probably a good thing as I'm about to start making clothes for other people's children and I'd rather get all of my stuff-ups out of the way!



Mum and I made these curtains and the tiebacks together, I covered the mirror frame awhile after that.



Record clocks are so easy to make! The record is the greatest hits of 1981, but I'd like to get the equivalent from 1977, for obvious reasons!



I started this scarf ages ago, but only finished it a week ago!



A ribbon board showing off some of my Frank Lloyd Wright postcards, it needs more ribbons though.



I made these curtains a couple of weeks ago, sort of shabby chic meets big 80s bows!

Thursday, July 06, 2006

things to make and do

I thought I'd start this blog off by writing a list of the things I want to make.

  • More softies. Willow doesn't really like soft toys, but I'm sure I know enough people with children to make them for.
  • A dress for Willow from the green chambray I bought at IKEA
  • A pair of brown polar fleece pants for a friend's daughter who is not quite a size one.
  • A pair of brown polar fleece pants for Willow
  • A pair of pants from pale yellow with pink flowers cotton for my friend in Darwin.
  • Mystery items for my sewing swap partner!

The material is washed, dried and ironed, so I just need to draft the patterns and I'm ready to go!

This is a photo of it out in the front yard. By the time I'd finished ironing the grey chambray the light inside was not good enough, so I took them outside. The light wasn't great there, but you get the idea!




From the top, the pale yellow cotton, the green chambray, some pale blue ribbing, grey chambray and the brown polar fleece.

I also have some white polar fleece, but white and toddlers don't really go too well!

These are some photos of the pants I have made over the past week.