just for fun

A few weeks back when I was tossing up ideas for the baby boy's onesie, I came up with this logo of 'the boy', which my brother helped me to polish up- thanks Tim! To cut a long story short, I decided to go with the striped onesie instead. Then later I thought some of you might like it to use it. Maybe its more your style, bold and out there rather than subtle and sweet?

  
So here's the PDF if you want to have a play!

You can stencil it with freezer paper (Dana's tutorial here). Or,  I have even reversed the images on the second page of PDF so it can be printed onto Iron on Transfer paper, cut out and ironed directly onto garment. 

I found that ironing it onto stretch wasn't the best idea, the imaged seemed to crack a little as the fabric stretched. So, one solution might be ironing it onto plain white woven fabric, then stitching it to the garment. Or you can try the reverse applique technique (which is what I've done on this outfit... don't look too close, very rough!).

don't you just want to squeeze the boy!

 

ok ok, enough of the photo's mum. My eyes are blinded by the light!

And a side note for those of you that live in Australia:

I have found that Spotlight now sells Freezer Paper for stenciling at the cutting counter. You can buy it by the meter, instead of having to purchase the whole roll which is just brilliant if you are only wanting to do one or two stencils!

christmas 09

Sorry again for the huge blogging pause, things around here have been so hectic!
I hope all of you had a wonderful Christmas yesterday, celebrating the birth of Jesus with family and friends. We certainly did, despite both the girls being unwell. Poor Grace was running a fever all day. She spent most the time lying on the couch, but still managed to enjoy the day.
Hasn't my baby boy grown! He is such a sweet little man.

I had wanted to sew the kids an outfit each for Christmas, but didn't quiet get there.
Here's the skirt I made for Grace, I ended up buying a top to go with it. Pattern is from Ottobre 1/09 with a few changes. Fabric is by Kaffe Fassett. I am so in love with his fabrics right now! Fresh, summery and gorgeous.

Here is the skirt for Maeve. Fabric is also Kaffe Fasset. The lace was some I found at the Op shop, and was a perfect match.

I also made her a top to go with it on Christmas eve (not really something to write home about, but she loved it all the same). There is a giraffe appliqued on the front.

And some new gear for Jude.
The baby essentials, plenty of cute bibs and a sleeveless bodysuit. These ones were so fun to make!

I stenciled the designs on using freezer paper. The wolf and crocodile were from this book, and the fish were my idea.

The clouds on the bodysuit were also from the same book.
This was also my first attempt at fold over elastic on a garment. It was quiet easy to do, and turned out fairly neat.

Another suit the same I made a few weeks ago and he has lived in.

envelope necks are great!


And this is a little pen and notebook wrap I made for my sister in law Kate.
I made up my own pattern for this one, to suit the notebook and pens I had.
Fabric is a beautiful natural linen, with a small piece of vintage floral fabric.

Phew! I really should update my blog more...sorry for the long post.
I have lots more to show you, but we are heading off for holidays in the morning (yay!!).
Then we will be home and getting things ready for Grace's first year at school. Lots of changes coming up.

Happy holidays and New Year to all of you!
xx

stenciling

Recently I had a go at stenciling on a few singlets as a present for a friends new bub. Unfortunately I forgot to take photos, so here are a few I made up last night for my babes.

They are a bit fuzzy around the edges, but pretty cute all the same.

And what do you think about the boy?
Hasn't he grow and isn't he just so kissable!

She's pretty cute too...absolutely adorable.
Spoken like a true mother.

By the way, this is stenciling using the Freezer paper method.
So simple to do.
If you are unfamiliar with the method, just google it and I'm sure you will come up with something useful. Sorry, I don't have the time to add in links at the moment.
Or ask me a question if you are unsure and I will try and answer it later.

stretch for summer #2

There's a lot of practical sewing going on in this house as of late.
Plenty more stretch for summer. Nothing very exciting, more every day kind of clothes.

A pineapple shirt for Grace

Grace has been begging me to make her a shirt with a kangaroo on the front, so here's what we came up with. She wrote 'kangaroo' for me on a piece of paper, and I stenciled it on with fabric paint. Love this shirt! Came in very handy for Australia Day.

Some simple legging for Maeve.
Fabric is really floppy, so they may end up as PJ pants.

Comfy long shorts for Grace. I am loving the honeycomb stitch on my machine at the moment.
It's great for detail and hems on stretch. My tip would be to use the 'walking foot' on your machine. Best machine accessory ever!

And a cool little dress for Maeve. I have so much of that pineapple fabric to get through. These dresses are great for summer, she loves wearing them.
All these patterns are sewn from Ottobre. Let me know if you want specific pattern numbers.

summer boys clothes

Here's something you don't see everyday...well especially at our place- boys clothes! I made these a couple of weeks ago to send to a little boy, in exchange for one of his mum's amazing hand dyed creations. Very excited about this swap! It was so nice to sew something simple that didn't involve frills or gathering or lace or ribbon...you get my point. It took me ages to decide what to sew, as I feel a little clueless when it comes to boys. I had summer boys clothes on the brain and even asked Luke one morning if he wanted summer boys clothes for breakfast (meant to say porridge), sad really!



I also had this homeless shirt sitting around the sewing room, so decided to send it as well, and stenciled the plane on the front. I cut the stencil out of contact and then stuck it on the shirt and painted in the gaps. It worked really well. I've never tried that method before...has anyone else?
Good for one off designs.