Lost in the Wilderness.....

Well, I've not been very good at the making and posting business have I?!  After the summer holidays and getting the kids settled back into school (btw thanks for the kind words after my last post, she's settled in great, having loads of fun and only a few tears.  She's being bribed with stickers and that seems to work well!) I just haven't got back into the swing of things.   For my recent birthday my OH bought me an overlocker

but my local sewing shop has had trouble getting it from Brother.  I was really excited about it at first now its dragging on a couple of weeks and the novelty has worn off!  The chap phoned me up on Friday to apologise and is going to give me some free threads to make up for it so maybe its not too bad.  When it does arrive I have a list of things to get started on, not all of them NEED to be done on an overlocker but I don't see the point in making them on the sewing machines when I have a new toy to play with!  As it was my birthday we went to Hobbycraft to spend a lovely few hours wandering round looking to see what I could spend my birthday money on.  Spent so much time looking at things I wasn't really interested in (does anyone else get seduced by Hobbycraft that way?  I'm not really into cake decorating but spend ages in that aisle?!) that I ran out of time by the I had got to the fabric bit (must go there first in future).  Anyway I bought myself a new sewing encyclopedia but I was actually looking for a drafting book to complete the one I already have, maybe one of the Built By Wendy range.  I also bought a storage box in a vain attempt to organise my stuff, I find its the fabric thats the problem, my cupboard is overflowing, needs some stash busting projects to get the scraps out of the way!

I'm about to decorate our office and I have bought fabric for curtains but wanted to see how much of it I can do on the overlocker!  Hoping most of it with just a little top stitching on the s/m. 
I'm also going to make some water bottle holders for the girls as they will be having school lunches after Christmas (school is a building site atm as they put kitchen facilities BACK into the school, gotta love the local council for closing down the kitchens years ago and now spending millions to put them back in!  God bless Jamie Oliver!) and I'm sure most of that can be overlocked (is that a word?). 
A friend has just had a baby girl and although I already gave her some goodies I'm itching to make some delicious adorable baby girls things.... dunno what yet!
Bought some Halloween fabrics intending to make some bunting for the spooky day

Also planning on decorating Miss M bedroom and I intend on making lots of lovely cushions, duvets, curtains & bean bags for her.  She's in the process of making me a mood board so that we both understand what she wants and can achieve it (Her plan was to turn her bedroom into a performance area with a stage and curtain!!!!!).

So lots of projects in my mind but waiting on the overlocker to arrive....  Don't worry you'll be the first to know when it arrives!

Off topic.....

So like everyone I'm getting organised ready for Back to School.  The clothes have been bought and labeled.  The PE kit is packed the lunch bags have been made....

This year is a bit different though Miss C is also going.......  I'm sure you've all been through this the youngest starting school buts its a bit scary to realise that she starts on Friday!  She had a trial run of her school uniform the other day and she looked so cute, but she also looked really grown up and also way too small all at the same time if that makes sense!  Shes very positive about going to school, her big sister will be in the same school, her best friend in the same class so she's really excited about it, I'm going along with that and I know that once she goes in on Friday I'll feel OK about it but at the moment I'm having a bit of a wobble.  That's why I thought I would off-load on the blogosphere so I can process what I'm feeling without letting on to Miss C that I'm anxious about it. 

When Miss M went I'm sure I felt like this but I don't remember it.  Miss M's personality meant that I didn't really have any concerns about her starting school, shes so confident and independent that she barely gives me a backward glance going off to do new things!  Miss C can be a little more reticent at doing things on her own, she's usually OK when there are other kids around  and she's one of the gang so I'm know she'll be fine. 

I guess it comes to the fact that I know she'll be fine in school, she will prosper and grow the same way Miss M, she will learn skills I can't teach her, she'll make friends I haven't found for her, she'll have fun I'm not involved in and she'll take the first of many steps away from me.  Miss M is well on that path to independence and with our support has flourished at school and Miss C will be the same, all the same I feel sad that the baby stage of my life has ended. 

I was looking at a family in a cafe the other day with a beautiful pudgy little 4 month old and I felt nostalgic for the days gone by.  Don't get me wrong I'm not broody, I don't want another one, but I kinda wanted to go back to those days just to be able to smell them again, to hold them again and to feel that they need me as much as they did then.  Babyhood is gone in a flash and you don't realise it at the time, it seems like an endless round of sleepless nights, dirty nappies and crying babies.  If you still at that stage with your children give them a extra hug from me and try to remember that smell! 

Right enough wallowing from me, I've offloaded my thoughts on your guys and thank you for listening, normal service will resume soon, I'll have more time on my hands so I might get some sewing done soon!

Skirts

Using my tried and trusted self-drafted a-line skirt pattern I made myself a new skirt the other day.  I got some black linen/polyester blend and made my usual skirt with french seams, concealed zip and blind hem. 

I also used bias binding on the waistband, previously when I've done this I've just sewn the binding on but this time I used the crease and stiched in the ditch on the other side. 

I think I've done quite a good job

I also went back to the first skirt I drafted where I had made a very basic waistband and sewn onto the skirt.  Unfortunately this made for a very unflattering and uncomfortable waistband so I took it off and replaced it with bias binding instead.  It makes a much neater, more comfortable and pleasing waistband. 

More Geocaching

After posting about the bag I made for Geocaching the other day a couple of people wanted more information about it. 

This comes from Geocaching.com

"Geocaching is a high-tech treasure hunting game played throughout the world by adventure seekers equipped with GPS devices. The basic idea is to locate hidden containers, called geocaches, outdoors and then share your experiences online. Geocaching is enjoyed by people from all age groups, with a strong sense of community and support for the environment."

There are over 1 million caches dotted around the world, it can be completly random as to how many there are around you.  We're quite lucky, the town in which we live has over 700 caches in a 10 mile radius, but they are all over, theres even some on Mount Everest (haven't done those ones yet!!!!) 

Caches can be any container but so far the ones we've found have been small film canister, plastic food boxes or old ammunition case.  There are some really cunning containers such as rocks, moss,  snail shells, grasshopper, bolts, pine cones, sticks  or even a coin, all of  which would be a nightmare to find!   The coordinates you are given will take you to a particular area but as they can be quite small and well-hidden there is usually a clue provided as well.  Sometimes the clue can be exact and tell you where the cache is, sometimes they can be a bit vague and continue the game. 

Here's an example of one that was found on the beach under the corner of a drain with stones piled on top.  If you weren't looking for it you certainly wouldn't find it!  In fact sometimes you can't find them even when you ARE looking for them!

Here's another film canister which has a magnet taped to it and hidden on a bench!  You'd never know it was there!  Its handy having little kids for these ones as they can get underneath benches and into bushes without arousing as much suspicion as the adults!

when you find a film canister you usually find a roll of paper like this.....

.... this is the log which you sign and date and whatever message you wish to leave. 

The great thing about geocaching is you get to discover parts of your own town that you didn't know were there, like this lovely woodland we went to on Sunday. 

Here we found a bigger ammo case cache, hidden under sticks and logs.  We found this one easily as you start to notice odd piles of stones or sticks as possible hiding places but you wouldn't have looked twice before. 

Once inside you can find all sorts of goodies!  This is the bit the kids like!  The idea is to swop items in and out, they are usually Happy Meal toys or party bag items but can be anything.  There is a rule that you don't put anything biodegradable, illegal, harmful or controversial in there as its open to anyone who has the coordinates. 

Sign the log book.......

There are some caches which are puzzle caches, e.g. you have to find more than 1 cache for get the coords for the final treasure cache.  Some caches are laid out in circular walks, or have themes (Churches, ponds, railway stations) some are even underwater! 

Its important when you do find a cache to be discrete about it.  Caches are secret and people who don't do caching are referred to as 'Muggles' and you don't want to draw Muggles attention to the secret caches.  This does sometimes mean pretending to be very interested in a particular tree whilst the dog walkers go past and then diving into the undergrowth! 

We like caching as it

• gets you out and about, the kids are happier going out to find caches rather than 'going for a walk'
• you discover places & views you might never have found before
• its like a secret world right under your nose, we often check a couple that are close to our house to make sure they are still there and laugh about no-one knowing what we are doing
• the problem solving aspect is great
• the kids love the secrecy aspect of it, when we first started doing it the kids wouldn't let us talk about it in the car if the windows were open!!

If you have a GPS device give it try, its so much fun but can also be extremely frustrating when you don't find them!  We're going to France soon so we're going to try some there as well!

Can't I get anything right?!

After making and loving Miss M's skort I felt it was time to make another one, especially as we are off on holiday soon and they are great for playing.  I used a different woven this time and set about making the skirt, in doing so I decided my life wouldn't be complete unless I had a ruffler as I find the whole sew-a-line-pull-the-thread method although successful a bit time-consuming and tricky to get the gathers evenly distributed.  I've been umming and aahing about one for a whole and decided enough was enough!  So I've ordered one now and can't wait for it to arrive!  Anyway, skirt was done and all beautiful french seams, overlocked edges and OK gathers, onto the shorts......

OMG even though I had made them before I had a nightmare!  I had made a pattern based on a pair of her leggings and they were OK last time but I wanted them a little closer-fitting so I had trimmed the pattern slightly but not made another pair yet.  I cut out the legs and then proceeded to sew the legs up but when I came to sew the legs together I found that I had sewn one inside out!  I'd used stretch stitch which is really tricky to un-pick.   I was doing them late one night and I wanted her to wear them the next day as we were going to a play centre and they are perfect for that so rather than unpick them I decided to cut another one out.   So I sewed that one up and did exactly the same thing!!!!!!!  Aarrrggghhhh!  So I cut another pair out and guess what I did?!  Yep!  So now I had like 7 legs none of which seemed to fit together!  At that point I threw the towel in and went to bed!   


When I came back to them a couple of days later I decided the problem was the pattern and admitted defeat and went to the fabric shop to buy a commercial pattern (I know, I know, surely for something as simple as shorts I should be able to do it on my own!?  Did you not read what just happened?!)  So anyway came home, got the knit fabric out again, cut out the view I wanted sewed up the legs and guess what I did?  Yep yet again!  How can I make the same mistake so many times!!!!!!!!!!!  I managed to quickly unpick this one and do it properly and once I had the shorts I was able to finish the garment quickly!  Finally!  I can't believe how much trouble I had with this, I'm not even sure how I kept making the same mistake but now at least I have a better pattern than my original one as it does fit better, its closer fitting and the crotch junction looks neater and more comfortable.  Also it brought Burda patterns to my attention, what great, modern, clean-lined, easy to wear clothes they have. Especially for Miss M who at 7 is needs more mature designs (but not as mature as the clothes in the shops!) so I shall come back to their collection after the summer I think.

So finally a great skort, she wore it the next day to the park and was climbing all over the equipment and flying high on the swings with her modesty intact!  Now I just need to sort out all the legs I have left over........

Baby Shower Gifts

A friend is having a baby in the next month and so we're having a baby shower next week for her.  Surprisingly I've never been to a baby shower before and I found it much harder to chose a gift for a baby that hasn't arrived yet and we don't know if it is a girl or boy.  Usually I buy a gift after the event so I know whether to go to the pink section or the blue!  I wanted to make something for this baby so after getting inspiration from the blogosphere (as ever) this is what I made.

A taggie blanket and ball

I had this great Maisy Mouse fabric and the beige fleece is a baby blanket both my kids used so I thought it was fairly gender-neutral.  I thought it would be nice for the blanket to comfort another child.  The ball and blanket was made using this tutorial from New Conceptions.  The blanket was very easy but the ball was a little trickier, the fleece slipped a bit as I was sewing so the points don't quite meet as neatly as I would like but it looks good.  I also tried to make some matching shoes but as the fleece was slipping I've ended up with one shoe bigger than the other!  There was no way I was going to give them to  my friend so now the girls have some shoes for the dolls!  I think if you used fabric for both layers you would have no problem and they would be absolutely adorable! 

After the disaster of the shoes I wanted to make something else so I settle on a baby busy book. 

More fleece.......

Continuing the Maisy theme......

Busy/Quiet books seem to be quite popular across crafty blogs (I think a lot of kids have them for church and there seems to be a correlation between church going and crafty bogging esp in the US!)  Most of them were for older kids so I just blagged it with mine, must admit there was a bit of trial and error and some of it was determined by the size and colour felt I had.  When I know the baby's name I'll offer to put the name on the back of the book.  In my searching I found this great blog to make a quiet book for an older child, there were other tutorials out there but this one was comprehensive. 

The pink corduroy came from a old pair of trousers that both Miss M and Miss C have worn but how have an unrepairable hole in them!  The orange triangle is left over from the Superhero cape I made for this baby's big brother.  I made that ages ago but will give it to him at the Baby Shower.  I quite like the fact that I managed to recycle some fabric in this project to make it a bit more meaningful.  I hope the mum likes them, just in case I bought some babygrows and bibs in the sales!

Boden or Anthropologie?

So I just got the new Boden catalogue in the post, I covet Boden very much, in fact its been part of the inspiration to make a lot of my own clothes now as I love the fabrics they use but I don't like their prices.  Whilst browsing this morning I was struck by how familiar lots of their pieces are and I realised that they are similar to loads of posts that various bloggers I read have done recently which have mainly been influenced by Anthropologie (which is not a company I was not aware of until recently discovering all these great sewing blogs) and J Crew, so I thought I'd show you a few and see if you agree.

 

 

Embellished Tee-shirts
Frilled T-shirt
Pleated neckline top
Ribbon trimmed cardigan which exactly like this one
Ruffle top which I already made a sorta similar version
Rosette cardigan
Corsage necklace
Pleated neck
Circle Applique Dress
Ruffle jacket

 

I can't link the images from the Boden website!

 

I've seen so many examples of these kind of garments in recent months, Suzannah (who's fabulous at making her version of stuff she sees), Disney (even though she's gone into retirement)  to name just a few!

 

And look what I saw in Phase Eight yesterday and heres how you can make one yourself!

So the question is

• have Boden been reading all the blogs I do and making their own versions,
• have Boden been looking at Antropologie for inspiration,
• is there a world-wide common inspiration source
• or are there no original ideas and we all steal from each other!?