Saturday 10 May 2014

Pinterest Challenge meets Teacher Appreciation Week

My Pinterest challenge is still going strong but it has been awhile since I actually picked something from one of my boards and set to make it, every week I tend to use my pinterest boards for meal inspirations and baking ideas.

A favorite dinner of ours is Roasted Red Pepper and Italian Sausage Pasta and I make it regularly - the girls usually have it without the sausage and I don't complain about that, I am just so pleased they love the roasted red pepper sauce on their pasta.

And only on Saturday last week I baked these lovely Sour Cream Chocolate Chip muffins from my baking board. And on Wednesday this week I baked a batch of these absolutely scrummy yummy Gingerbread Chocolate Chip Cookies


But onto what I made this week - as it is Teacher Appreciation Week here in the US, a week spent celebrating our wonderful teachers for the wonderful job they do teaching our kids.

Our school celebrates the teachers, by buying them lunches, gift cards, presents, door decorating etc etc, our class did a great job of celebrating Ruby's teacher.

So a quick look through my Pinterest boards and I found the perfect item to make Ms Waller - a personalized zippered pouch - tutorial by Make It Perfect.

Very easy to make and quick to sew up. I made one for Ruby's Teacher and one for Tilly's pre-school Teacher - both girls wrote their teachers name on a little piece of white fabric and both drew a little heart too. I just embroidered over their own handwriting - just to add the personal touch.

And here they are


Pouches are fully lined and the front panel is slightly quilted (to some degree). It was the perfect excuse to use up my scraps - most of this fabric is Bella by Lotta Jansdotter with a little bit of Prints Charming Starburst in there.

I love these pouches so much I'm going to make myself one - I'm hoping I can find enough of the Bella scraps left to do so.


Saturday 3 May 2014

Kids Clothes Week Spring 2014



I love participating Kids Clothes Week (KCW) it's my favorite excuse to hid away in my sewing room for a week, only coming out for cups of tea, well I wish anyway.

As we were on vacation the actual week of KCW, I had my KCW last week and I thoroughly enjoyed every moment. Well I was enjoying myself, until my sewing machine decided to get a little playful with me, turns out a good clean of the bobbin area, and a sharper needle solved the problem.

My first project of the week was a new pattern from Make It Perfect, one of my favorite designers, her new pattern is the Mini Shearwater Kaftan for kids and with Summer hopefully not too far away I thought this would be the perfect top to make my girls - it will be great for the beach.

Here's how I spent my week....

Day 1 - I spent the first day cutting out the pattern pieces.
Day 2 - I started sewing the pieces together, until it was time to sew the sleeves on, and this is when my sewing machine decided to flip out on me, so I thought it was a good time to stop and have a look at it.
Day 3 - Machine cleaned and a sharper needle put in place, the fabric I was using was very lightweight, I made the bias binding and it wasn't long before the Kaftan was finished.
Day 4 - I started the 2nd Kaftan and got as far as sewing the sleeves on, which was great progress (and ok I'll admit it I managed slightly longer than 1 hour in my room)
Day 5 - 2nd Kaftan complete and another one started, I have the Kaftan bug.
Day 6 - 3rd Kaftan was nearly completed today, pieces all cut out and sewn together.
day 7 - I finished the 3rd Kaftan and got started on my 4th which is a present for a little lady friend of ours.
 
And here are the finished Kaftans


Kaftan 1 - made from a very lightweight fabric I bought in Sydney about 8 years ago that I was going to make myself a top with. I never did get around to making that top.


Kaftan 2 - as modeled by my gorgeous (if I do say so myself) Ruby - she picked out this lovely fabric from my stash, which again I bought about 8 years ago in Sydney, which I used to make myself a skirt on a sewing course with my friend Lesley (and yes Lesley I still have the unfinished skirt...somewhere....)


Kaftan 3 - Fabric from my favorite Fabric Designers - Prints Charming - I love love their fabrics and was lucky to pick up about 2 metres of this fabric, for very little, in one of their fantastic sales. I do miss having them on my door step.

And if you live in Sydney you have to do one of their screen printing classes - go book it now you will not be disappointed.

Kaftan Review (after making 3 in one week) - I am totally in love with this pattern - hands down it is probably the best pattern I have ever bought and sewn, the attention to detail is fab, right down to the fact the sleeves have a tab sewn onto the inside so you can fold the sleeves up on warmer days, and it has side slits and a lovely front planket detail - I love it. Pattern is very easy to follow, once I had completed the first one, I whipped out the 2nd and 3rd in no time.

I would highly recommend this pattern.

I plan to make the girls at least 4 more each, with summer coming up and long lazy days at the beach these will be absolutely perfect.

And it has inspired me to get my Make it Perfect Kaftan pattern out to make up a couple for myself.