Superhero cape

Whilst I am working on uploading the new photos, I thought I would share an old project with you - one of the first things I sewed for J!

It's the world famous Puking Pastilles superhero cape with a reversible batman/superman design.

J is still going through his superhero phase and this cape has been worn to the Supermarket and out and about on many occasions. Although only ever on the Batman side, apparently the superman cape is not as big a hit?

We've got mail!

So, I'm right in the middle of taking photos of my latest creations for the blog when the doorbell rings.

It's the mailman with a package for me. Of course J had to do the honours of unwrapping.

Lotta Jansdotter's Simple Sewing for Baby that I ordered from Book Depository. It's here!

Oh the projects just look so fabulous, I don't even know which one to start with. I saw this book in a shop whilst we were away one weekend and I had to have it. I'm off to drool for a bit now and will be back later to blog all the bags I've been working on.

More outfits for the boys

I'm sure I've mentioned before how much I like the Little Explorer pattern by Make It Perfect? Well I've made another 5 pairs for the boys for Summer!

3 for J: 1 in black linen, and 2 in Denim (spiders and stripes contrast trim).

and 2 for N in Denim (same as J's - the spiders and stripes contrast trim). N was supposed to have another pair in a chocolate linen but I seemed to have *ahem* misplaced that material!

The shorts for N are a size 1 and he is only in size 00 at the moment which is why they look quite big on him.

I love the denim but next time I will do it with a contrasting thread. The matching thread colour just makes the pants look too homemade. I'm also thinking about putting in a fake fly on the denim ones.

And of course there will be matching appliqued tops to follow. I'm just trying to draw some of my own pictures this time so we will see how they go.

Update on the Chalkboard Cloth

I forgot to add an update on the DIY Chalkboard Cloth that I made.

I explained the process in one of my ealier posts - but I just basically painted some heavy denim with bright blue Chalkboard Paint and let it dry - very complicated!

As you can see it works as a basis to draw on with Chalk.

I had to use a baby wipe to rub it out as I don't have a duster.

My very first use for this was as labels for some tins J uses for his various toys - this way we can change the label as J changes his mind.

As soon as I get a chance I will be making one of those portable chalk boards.

The only thing is - I am not sure how 'washable' this material will be. I am going to give it a handwash to start and see how we go!

Snakeskin Bag for me

Well I finished it! My very first bag - not that I needed anymore handbags but can you ever really have enough?

I thought I would choose a simple pattern for the first bag - this one was a freebie when I bought a baby shoe pattern from this site - http://ithinksew.com/ (no 31 Shouder Bag). It is one pattern piece cut twice for the exterior and twice for the lining and then the little flap piece. So I thought I couldn't go too wrong. I used a pellon interfacing which was quite thick and combined with the snakeskin print gives the bag texture .

The bag uses magnetic bag snaps to close and unfortunately every time I try to open the bag it is slightly ripping the linen lining it is attached to open - if anyone has any suggestions on how to lower the magnetic attraction I am listening ..... I installed the magnetic clip on the flap on the wrong side - it is supposed to be on the exterior fabric side and the lining becomes the exterior for the flap for a contrast - which would of course look a little better but once I had put that clip in there was no going back.

The only part of the bag I am not that keen on is the straps tie at the top and I find bags with tie straps really uncomfortable to wear. For this bag I am thinking of putting a button and buttonhole to attach them at the top. For the next one I think I would just sew them together before I turned it out.




I used a chocolate linen for the lining which I was going to use to make N some matching shorts as J (see earlier posts).

All up the bag took me about 3 hours to make and would be much quicker now I know what I am doing. And as it only uses about 70cm of each material it is pretty economical. I would definitely make it again. The website also gave me a free clutch pattern (no 45 clutch) so I am keen to see if I can use the scraps from this project to make that one.

Something for me

It was my boys' Great Grandfather's 90th Birthday on Sunday and the whole extended family had a little afternoon tea to celebrate







On Saturday night I decided I wanted a new hair accessory to wear and raided all my fabric scraps and made up some reversible headbands to wear. I didn't have any interfacing but I didn't worry about it as I used denim on the undersides which gave them a little stiffness

Unfortunately, having two boys, my fabric stash is VERY boy related so I didn't have any lovely girly prints to make the headbands up with (don't mind my unbrushed hair in the photos ...)

But I was so happy to have finally made something for me I thought I would make some other little things for me - starting with a bag. I ducked into Tessuti's yesterday and purchased some snakeskin print (well they call it python) cotton for the exterior and will be using chocolate brown linen from my stash for the lining. I'm making a simple shoulder bag and if it turns out OK I've got my eye on another pattern to try.

I also purchased my very first copy of Ottobre magazine! Now I really feel like I have joined the sewing mums club.

Oh, and I wore the headband with the blue and black geometric print to the party - nobody commented on it so I'm not sure if I looked like a completely eccentric lunatic?

Zippered Pouch

J currently has an obsession for all things Dinosaur and on a wet and rainy Saturday we decided to explore Sydney a little and took him to see the Dinosaur exhibition at the Australia Museum in the city. Although it was only a small exhibition, J had the time of his life. But I think the part that he enjoyed the most was the trip to the giftshop afterwards where they had shelves of dinosaur toys! Of course he was able to pick out a little present for himself and he chose a packet of large dinosaurs.

J also has about 12 small dinosaurs which he has been diligently carrying around with him and I have been promising all week to make him a little bag to keep the dinosaurs in. So when one of the ladies at EB showed me a link to a Make It Perfect zippered pouch tutorial I knew I had to give it a go!

http://tonicoward.blogspot.com/2010/05/zippered-pouch-tutorial.html

The instructions called for a 7 inch zip but when I raided my sewing kit, I only had a 6 inch zip so I just adjusted the width of the pouch by an inch to accomodate (it was Friday night and I had had a few vinos so there was no way I was going out to buy a zip!).

It was such an easy to follow tutorial - I only had to unpick once and that was because I was so clever and managed to sew nice and close to the zip - so close that material would get caught in the zipper teeth when you opened it.

So here's the final product - you can see it is a perfect size for all those little dino's! I can see quite a few more of these pouches being sewn up in different sizes - don't you think a little one in Christmas material would be perfect for holding an iTunes card or gift card for Christmas presents?

Now J is asking for a bag for the big dinosaurs we bought at the Museum!