keelysews... sometimes

DS is off camping next week. Even though this will technically be the first week of summer the weather doesn't always take notice of what it's supposed to be doing. As DS has activities like tramping on Mt Cook and apparently walking up a glacier planned, some thermals are considered a good idea. Lacking a specific thermal underwear pattern, I decided to see what I could make work. These were very quick and rough sewing. I used Jalie 2805 to recut a puchased (on end-of-season sale) XL polyprop top. Yes, I know the Jalie is a womens t-shirt pattern but DS doesn't (yet). ;) I took the shaping out of the side seams and cut a size smaller than DS chest measurement. The result is a pretty good fit for a thermal top and the benefit is that DD1 can also wear it if necessary. :) DS asked for the topstitching to be in the fluoro yellow cotton which was still on my machine from DD's smiley face jacket. This was one of the projects that suffered from the twinneedle issues - it do...

A few weeks ago I was hemming jeans in a hurry (because I needed them in 10 minutes and I'm sooo organised that of course I left myself plenty of time...) Anyway, I broke the needle. This was bad enough (did I mention I was in a hurry?) but then I couldn't find all the needle and the machine wouldn't turn because something was jamming the bobbin casing. I had to rush and spent the entire pantomime a jibbering wreck thinking I'd broken my poor machine. Luckily, a couple of hours away meant I could approach my machine calmly and logically when I got home. I ended up taking out the bobbin casings etc and the bottom cover of my machine to find that a piece of needle had pierced the hoo-dakky-whatsit (I think it's the race?) that holds the bobbin hook in. In spite of myself, I was impressed, especially after the effort it took to pull that bit of needle out with pliers! Unfortunately I didn't think to take a photo of the needle in there - I was too busy crossing my...

Today I put in a seemingly perfect zip on DD1's Ottobre hoody. It went in smoothly the first time. All the pockets and seams lined up. But, just as I was about to start topstitching I noticed one teeny weeny problem.... To quote Homer Simpson -D'OH!!! After some frog-stitching (rip-it, rip-it) I finally got the zip in, the right way round and finished off DD's jacket at last. She seems happy with it. Here she is with her "modelling" pose (and as you can see, struggling to keep a straight face). One with the hood - This is Ottobre 05-2007-19 : Hooded Sweat Jacket. The pattern comes in sizes 34-52 and I made DD a 36 from her measurements. This pattern was well-drafted and went together like a dream, well, except for my mistake (see above). It fits DD beautifully and is the shape and fit that she likes. The fabric is a genuine 1980s sweatshirt fleece which I got from my Mother's stash. I had a very small piece ( see previous post here ) and it required some care...

...that there can be regional variations in names. :) I know it took me a few years to get used to trousers being called pants on Patternreview. For me, pants conjures up underwear images, lol. Kat mentioned a few words that I'd used that are taken for granted here in NZ, although I would think that any Aussies (Australians) probably know too. So for anyone who wondered, here's some explanations- boardshorts - beach/surf shorts. DD's were very long on her at 3/4 length. and look what I found while googling - How To Make Board Shorts and Swim Suits http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vn5-IvOkb8g although the fashion qualities of the demonstrated pair are dubious it's an interesting concept. gumboots - or Wellies/Wellingtons as they can also be known. The height of fashion to nip off to the shops in, lol. Especially when paired with an old baggy tee and a pair of paint-splattered jeans. ;) As for clucky needs - that's just those fleeting maternal yearnings for anoth...

The sewing hasn't gone as fast as I would have liked the last week fortnight. Where has the time gone? It seemed as fast as I made plans for a day, children or fate stepped in and intervened. However, - I've managed to catch up with Judy and the twins a few times and spent an entire day playing (and fulfilling any clucky needs, lol) with babies last week. We also managed to squeeze in a 'girly' day, which is good because we were at risk of needing name badges soon! (Ja, we'll have to do a Friday soon! If we wear a red carnation we should recognise each other...) I spent a morning weedspraying around the property. This included the quick dash (in spraying clothes and gumboots) to the hardware shop a few kilometres down the road for more weedspray. These are the times I'm really glad our community is quite casual. :) This weekend we hope to get them all pulled out. The weeds that is. I've got my vege garden all dug in and planted. It took me 4 hours and despi...

I am now officially on 'holiday'. :) It turns out that the birthday party is on Sunday, so today was my day at home, but it's after 5 pm and I haven't sewn yet. Instead I spent an enjoyable afternoon baking with my 8yo. We've made a triple batch of Choc Chip cookies made with M&Ms, a batch of Chewy Fudge Brownie cookies where we used the last of the mint crisp M&M's instead of choc chips (Yummm!) and Beer Bread. Hopefully the cookies will sweeten the 'waste' of beer for my DH, lol. No photo of the beer bread - it didn't last long enough, lol. Tonight I aim to add the seam allowances to the patterns I traced last week and hopefully cut something out.