Monday, December 27, 2010

Sewing again!

I have been sewing lately, just the Christmas gift aprons that I bought fabric for a few months ago. The first was for my mum. It was a rush at the end so I don't have a shot of the finished apron. Here are a few WIP photos:
Cutting out. I should really get a proper cutting ruler.

Preparing the pockets.

Top section waiting to be attached to the waistband. If you compare with the first apron I made with this pattern, you can see that I made the straps wider and halved the width of the ruffles. This looked much better.
I hope to get a shot of the finished apron sometime soon. Currently I'm about 80% of the way through another of these, in a different fabric, for another relative. There is one more to do after that, which I hope to have finished within the week.

After that there are many sewing projects I could start. While up to now I've preferred sewing clothing, I keep seeing quilting things on the web to the point where I'm thinking of trying a small quilt. My girls keep raiding the linen cupboard for towels to use as dolls' blankets and pillows, so a doll quilt (or several) would be a useful and manageable start to quilting. Hmm, better just get the aprons done and go from there.

Friday, December 3, 2010

Missed one! And my yellow sailor

It was Helen's birthday a couple of weeks ago, and I made her a superhero cape as one of her presents. However, I still haven't photographed it - must fix that.

Last night Helen's school had their end of year concert. Thankfully the little kids performed first. Helen's class sang "Yellow Submarine" and the costume request was for yellow or nautical clothing. I found a cheap yellow t-shirt and a yellow women's tank top. I cut the top off and made the bottom part into a skirt. It needed something else, so I dug out some white broadcloth, googled for tutorials, and added a sailor's collar.

Shirt and sketch for collar pattern:


Skirt and collar cut out:


I didn't have any suitable ribbon or trim for the collar, so in its place I stitched parallel lines with yellow thread. I used a stretch stitch to make it stand out more (the stretch stich on my machine does a back stitch every second stitch, so the finished effect is twice as thick as a straight stitch).

Collar in place (but not attached):


My little sailor with her yellow submarine. The collar is pulling because it is just safety pinned on at the points after she put the shirt on - it wouldn't fit over her head if it was sewn on. I'm not sure if the skirt is really wonky or if it's the way she's wearing it (rush job - could very well be wonky!).


Rear view. I accidentally made the waist too large and had to pin it.