In which Minty sews a Christmas skirt for her kris kringle...

In which Minty wants to be less 'Sonny' and more Cher...

Minty has developed a recent aversion to all pants and shorts.  This probably isn't helped by the odd stranger calling her 'Sonny' due to her pixie hair cut (this recently happened while she was wearing a dress and I wasn't sure whether to be excited by their liberal attitude that boys could wear dresses too, or horrified by the fact that they thought only boys could have short hair).  Anyway, I felt it would be largely impractical for Mint to wear dresses for sports lessons so I needed to come up with some kind of solution.  Rather than hunting around for child hair extensions I decided to sew a pair of 'feminine' yet practical shorts.  I opted for the Oliver +S puppet show pattern and Mint was very happy with them.

Before you all message me to let me know about the existence of 'skorts', I'm aware.  They just sort of freak me out, like a liger or a 'splade' or something and in any case, I've never had any success selling the idea to Mint either.

Retro Minty

I was lucky enough to win a 'Debbie's birthday dress' pattern from Suz at sewpony.  I made one for Minty last night and (for once!) she loves it!

The dress is made with an old vintage sheet I had in my stash. I added a doily collar, partly because I was too lazy to construct a proper fabric one and partly because I was attempting to appeal to Minty's doily fetish (see this previous post).  The button is a sweet little vintage yellow button I picked up at a market when we were in Japan.

The shape of this dress really gives me a Sally Draper vibe so I made Minty a 'Sally-esque' matching headband.  Now I just need to train her up to mix the grown ups G and Ts and we'll be in business! Honestly I think I went a bit too far with the retro styling and the outfit would have benefitted from a bit of reigning in!  Next time I make this pattern I'll probably opt for a more modern fabric to give the vintage shape a bit more edge.

I made a size 4 even though Minty is five and a half, since she is very narrow around the chest.  Since the style is pretty generous in the bodice area this size is fine and even still has room for layering.  Next time I'll probably add a bit of length though, since the size 4 is a bit of a micro-mini on her!

The pattern was quick to sew up and had very clear instructions.  I'm sure I'll be making a few more Debbie dresses for Minty's summer wardrobe!  Thanks Suz!

In which I stick a doily on it...

I made Mint a bubble skirt out of some thrifted (vintage?) fabric.  She loved the fabric but something about the bubble shape offended her aesthetic sensibility.  Lately she's been really butting heads with me about what she will and won't wear.  It's extremely frustrating, since almost all her clothes have recently been deemed unacceptable.  I was on the verge of donating this skirt to the op shop when, as a last ditch attempt at pleasing her, I decided to sew a doily on one of her (most hated grey) shirts.  Suddenly the entire outfit had newfound appeal.  If only all dislike could be solved so easily… Don't like this pumpkin soup?  Don't worry I'll stir a doily through it… Don't want to brush your teeth?  Hang on a minute, I'll just wrap your tooth brush in a doily… Julia Gillard?  Just stick a doily on her.

Cinders, you shall go to the ball!

So I just wanted to reassure everyone after my last post that Turi had a great time at the wedding.  I got quite a few concerned emails and messages!!  After some very unsuccessful shopping trips around our local area, I got creative and put this outfit together for him.  The pants were Minty's which I altered.  I made the bow-tie from some liberty I had in my stash.  I made the suspenders from a stripy elastic belt that I cut up.  I wish I'd managed to get a photo of his back because the suspenders cross over with some matching liberty detailing (I might have to bribe him at some point over the next few days so I can take some more photos!!)  The shirt and hat were from his existing wardrobe.  

He was very pleased with his outfit, not that you'd know it from these pictures.  He fell asleep in the car on the way to the wedding and was a bit grumpy when he woke up!!  The only slight disaster was that the Mr forgot to put Turi's shoes in the car so he ended up having to wear ugg boots.  Never mind.  Ugg boots are generally Turi's preferred footwear anyway.  He's a bit of a bogan at heart!!

A rabbit companion...

Here is a little bunny I sewed for a very special little baby girl.  I've been meaning to send her something for some time now but this year seems to have spun by in a blur.  So here is Mabel Rose.  Her introduction letter reads as follows:

Dear Dot,

My name is Mabel Rose.  I love reading Jane Austen novels and drinking restorative cups of camomile tea.  I also enjoy walks in the garden on sunny mornings.  My favourite flower is lavender.  I have a passion for astronomy and love mapping the stars.  As I currently find myself in need of a companion I was hoping I could join you for future adventures.

Yours Sincerely,

Mabel Rose.

I hope she is much loved.

The bunny pattern is from Fiona Dalton's book Hop Skip Jump.  She is made with thrifted plaid suiting, liberty print ears and scarf from some spotty goodness I picked up in Japan.

Hand made christmas gifts...

 

I haven't had a chance to sort through my photos from Christmas day yet, so in the mean time I thought I'd show you some of the gifts I made this year.  I love hand making my gifts, as it forces me to slow down and really think about each of the recipients during the creative process.  This year I was a little pressed for time so I had to keep things simple.  Our new kitchen bench was installed in the week before christmas which meant we didn't have a stove or kitchen sink until Christmas eve so I really had to minimise my baking plans.  Likewise, my sewing time was limited as we were plastering and painting the room I normally work in.  Here is a look at what I did manage to put together...

This is a simple little reversible bag I made.  The shape was inspired by a bag I got many years ago from Douglas and Hope.  It's made with silk I salvaged from a kimono and has a reversible mustard interior.  Minty is my hand model showing how it loops over to be carried!

 

This apron for my sister was made with a lovely printed Japanese cotton.  I lined the apron to give it some extra weight.  It does have a pocket but it's camouflaged in these photos!!

 

I also made this apron for my folks, along with some matching linen/cotton blend tea towels.  I paired it with a plait of lovely organic locally grown garlic.

 

I made a pot of spoon oil for my mother-in-law.  I use this beeswaxy goodness to oil my wooden spoons and chopping blocks.  You can find a recipe for spoon oil here.  This was gifted along with another apron and garlic plait.

This year's sweet treats included hazelnut truffles (I used this recipe) and maple bacon peanut brittle (not pictured but you can find the recipe here).

Halloween Party!

 

Hello strangers!  You may have guessed by my absence that things have been pretty busy around here.  I've been meaning to post here for a while now but The Mr. 'somebody' deleted all my photos from the shared flash card and there was a lengthy recovery process to get them back!  I may or may not have threatened to divorce someone if they didn't find my photos!!

So here is a belated look at the halloween party we had last week.  This is the first year we've really done halloween and it was so much fun!  I love any excuse to decorate the house!

This was my first attempt at pumpkin carving.  Someone should have warned me that it is actually hard work!  I think next year I'll invest in some proper pumpkin carving tools to assist in getting all those hairy bits our of the inside of the pumpkin.  I carved these with a drill and sabre saw.

 

Both the girl's costumes were made from restyled ladies' tops.  We picked up the cute little brooms at the supermarket.

 

This is my bat wall.  I just cut bat silhouettes out of black card and stuck them on the wall with washi tape.  

 

We had lots of scary themed food.  This was witch's hair (squid ink pasta).  There was also slime (zucchini) soup, cheesy maggots (risotto), ghostly meringues, bats blood (black current juice), worms in dirt (lolly worms in crumbled up chocolate cake), severed fingers (mini hot dogs with onion fingernails), plus lots more that I'm having trouble remembering!  Oh and we had some cocktails too!

All the kids made mummy cups.  I hot glued goggly eyes to some plastic cups and let the kids wrap them in white crepe paper.

 

Turi was a scary bear!

Happy (very belated) Halloween!

In which Turi is a gobbledok and we take a train to the land of birthdays...

 

You may have guessed from my last post that there has been a bit of a Faraway Tree obsession brewing about these parts lately.  This weekend we went to a very special Faraway Tree themed birthday party centred around a journey on Puffing Billy (an old restored steam train).  There are quite a few steam trains throughout the books and the forest around Puffing Billy is very reminiscent of Enid Blyton's enchanted wood, so it really was a perfect setting.

All the children were invited to dress as their favourite character from the book.  Minty decided to dress as Bessie.  For those of you not intimately acquainted with the books, when Bessie visits the Land of Birthdays at the top of the Faraway Tree she wishes for fairy wings that could really fly.  I made Minty's wings in chiffon in a simple gathered Waldorf inspired design.  The skirt was a very quick freehand overlocked number.  It was only about 9 degrees so Minty had to add her coat for extra warmth!  Turi dressed up as one of the three bears (the children visit the three bears to help rescue Jo from the polar bears in the land of ice and snow).  We borrowed a generic animal suit from a friend and paired it with his bear mask recycled from here.  Turi was so excited to be wearing his costume.  He kept whispering to me proudly, 'people will see me'.  They really did look particularly adorable, and lots of random tourists stopped to take their picture while they were waiting for the train!

This post was getting a bit long so I've had to split it into two.  Come back tomorrow for part two.