Who is ready to play?

I am pondering having a little sewing competition.
I shall nut out the details in the next day or so and post about it soon.

Long time no post!

I have done it again it seems, totally neglected this blog.

This year I would really like to keep this blog updated!

Lets try for a post a week and see how we go :)

What a great idea!

I haven't been up to much sewing lately, i feel a bit boring!

I just came across this awesome tutorial over at Sabbespot
I wish we where coming into winter rather than summer, i will have to remember to try this come the wetter colder months!

Welly Warmers

Welly warmers tutorial link here



I have been working in the garden this last week, i hope ill have photos for you soon.
xoxox
Kim

Well havent i been distracted lately?

I have been a very slack blogger the last few weeks haven't i?

Can i make it up to you by mentioning that i have 3 dress patterns about to be released for sale on etsy?

My hope is to have them all up by Friday, wish me luck

Pettiskirt fun

Oh the joys of having a little girl (even if she isn't big enough to know what girlie is)
I have been quite sick for the past few days and now that i am feeling relatively better i decided to pick myself up with a Pettiskirt for Sammy.

I found this wonderful Tutorial on how to make one.
You are suppose to use Nylon chiffon but it is hard to find and the only place i found to order it online wanted to charge far too much for shipping. Also i am far too impatient to order it and wait weeks to get here.

So i decided to give it a go with the regular polyester chiffon you can get at most dress fabric stores.
It just meant i had to overlock all of my strips of fabric. (i keep telling myself the time it took to overlock it was well worth the savings from not ordering online)

I ended up with about 43 meters of the lilac ruffle and about 26 meters of the pink layers! (that is allot of overlocking)

One fantastic tip i found was to set my sewing machine to its longest stitch length and set the tension as high as it would go (9 for me).
As i sewed my chiffon gathered its self, i really cant imagine hand gathering that many meters of ruffles!!!!

well enough with the rambling here are the pictures

 

 

 

all my ruffles, was very proud of getting through all of that!

all the bits and pieces

This is what happens when i finish while Sammy is napping. Chris didn't want it off though and is now demanding i make him something!

 Sammy modeling photos will come soon!

Exciting things

Things are starting to get exciting around here, my very first sewing pattern is almost ready for release.
It is about to go into the testing phase then once i am sure it is all perfect i will be putting it up for sale in my ETSY store
here is a little sneak peek for you

Sizes- NB, 3m, 6m, 12m, 18m, 2, 3, 4, 5 & 6

Family fun

My gosh i wish i took my camera last night.
We took the kids out to a little town about 40km away.
They where having a fireworks festival, roomerd to be a trial for the Sydney harbor New years eve fireworks display.

It was truly amazing, i don't know if i have ever seen a display so amazing! just WOW
The kids weren't so sure though, they both got a little out of sorts.

Chris had his first ride on the Cha Cha though, he was so excited and impatiently waited in line for a LOOOOOONG time. I was sure he was going to freak out the moment it started to move but he seemed to really enjoy it.

Best bit? we arrived home with 2 sleeping children :)

Sew and Show Saturday

A little bit of sewing for Miss Samantha today-
         Linen look cotton with cute floral trim, quite retro i think.

Elastic tutorials

Here are 2 quick alternatives to traditional cased elastic.

1- Fold over Elastic (FOE)

This wide elastic has a fold line down the middle that allows you to easily fold it over the raw edge of your fabric and sew it down making it a quick elastic edging.
Great Aussie suppliers of FOE- GBAU or Nappies covered

Take the length of elastic required by your pattern and shorten it by approx 1" as the stretch of FOE is a little different. Sew into a loop right sides together, you can snip the corners of your elastic if you like.

Mark your loop of elastic in quarters as well as your garment opening then pin the elastic to the opening at those marks. Lay your fabric onto the wrong side of the FOE to the center line then fold the FOE over encasing the raw edge of the fabric.

Set your machine to do a wide 3 step zig zag (the dotted zigzag line on your machine) if you dont have 3 step zigzag normal zigzag will be ok.

Sew carefully stretching your elastic to match the length of your fabric as you go, concentrate on one quarter at a time,  Be sure your fabric is right in the fold of the elastic, you should be catching the bottom layer of elastic, the fabric and the top layer of elastic.

Start and end at your join in the elastic.

2- Serged Elastic (false casing)

Attaching your elastic with your serger can be a quick and simple way of creating your casing.

Cut your elastic to the length indicated on your pattern, mark in quarters and also mark your garment opening in quarters, pin together at these marks. (be very aware of your pins as you surge DO NOT SEW OVER YOUR PINS).

Serge the elastic to the wrong side of your fabric taking care to not touch the elastic with the knife, pull your elastic gently to match the fabric at each pin mark.

On your sewing machine fold your edge over just the width of the elastic, sew a straight stitch just catching the very edge of your elastic as you sew, pulling the elastic flat as you sew.

There you have it false cased elastic with a lovely serged edge.

Removable Fairy wings singlet Tutorial

I was doing this tutorial for a friend so i figured i may as well share it with everyone.

You will need-

• 2 pieces of tulle cut into ovals one slightly smaller than the other, i cut mine about 30cm long and about 20cm high (12" by 8") You can add more layers if you like
• 1 singlet, onesie, t-shirt, what ever you would like to put the wings on really
• approx 10cm of 2.5cm wide ribbon (4" of one" wide ribbon)
• a 2.5x2.5cm (1"x1") piece of both hook and loop (touch tape, Velcro etc)

*Your ribbon and hook and loop don't need to be exactly these widths as long as they are both the same width or the ribbon is a little wider than the hook and loop.*

Lay the smaller piece of tulle on top of the larger one and mark the center at the top and bottom

set your machine to do a really long straight stitch and sew 1 line ether side of your center marking

Place a pin at the top and bottom of your stitching

At one end twist your thread tails around the pin securing them in place

at the other end get hold of the top thread on both sides and begin to push the tulle backwards towards your anchored threads, it will start to gather, keep sliding the tulle along the threads till it is about 1 1/2" wide through the middle.

Twist the tails at this end around the other pin to keep gathering in place

Now you can remove the pins and wrap your ribbon around the gathering (back is shown) fold the raw edge of the ribbon under to prevent fraying. Once pinned you can pull out your gathering threads gently by pulling one thread all the way out at a time.

Set your machine back to a normal length stitch (about 2.5) and sew your ribbon to your tulle, sew a rectangle around all edges to keep it nice and secure.

Sew the Hook (scratchy part) side to the back of your wings, another rectangle.

Then sew the Loop (soft part) to the center back of your singlet etc

Have I inspired you?
Post your photos in the Cuddles'n'chaos Flickr group