A Bit of Catch - Up

Catching up on some of my latest projects...

I said the other day that I haven't really done much sewing lately. Mostly because its calisthenics season, meaning that all I get time to sew is costumes. This year's costume challenge for me was a hippo.

It was a big challenge, but certainly not as difficult as last year's alien! Miss Ruth thinks its pretty awesome and she looks very cute on the stage in it!

This Weekend...

This weekend is going to be a lazy one with Mothers Day being tomorrow, I intend to spend the day playing silly games with my babies and relaxing with them. This is if they play along, I did mention to Miss 6yo that I wanted breakfast in bed, and she promptly looked at me with a screwed up face and said; 

"Mummy... why would you want to eat breakfast in your bed??!!??!!"...

My answer...

"I'm not sure sweetheart, but make sure you talk to daddy about it, make sure theres pancakes"

Not sure if that conversation has taken place yet, but she is very excited by Mothers Day this year, she has been to the mothers day stall at school and has come home with something that has been hiding underneath her pillow since Wednesday. I'm sure that whatever it is, it is squished... but apparently this is the only place in the house that I don't look.

Anyway, so today I am spending my time sorting through instructions for Calisthenics costumes for the little miss and also for one of the other girls who I am sewing for this year. I have no markets this month, so I am spending my spare time this weekend and maybe some time during the week making costumes.

The first that I have almost completed is a chicken. It is going to be absolutely gorgeous when it is finished, and I cannot wait to see the stage full of cute fluffy chickens doing their item.

I wont show the whole costume until later in the year when the girls have been to a competition as I don't like to reveal before then. It's not completed yet though as I have run out of those lovely feathers and there are more parts to the costume that I haven't even pulled out to attempt to assemble yet.

When I read the instructions for this outfit I was excited about making it, when I saw the photos of a completed outfit I was excited about contributing and then I sat down to make it and thought... 

"WHAT THE HELL HAVE I GOTTEN MYSELF INTO?!?!"

I will say that once I sat down to just do it, I've actually really enjoyed making it. It is very basic stitching of gathered tiers and best of all there is no lycra involved AT ALL. 

I will mention that I have enjoyed the gathering stitch on my overlocker for this costume, as there is a lot of ruffles to make those feathers all fluffy! I will possibly have to go through and cut off all of the overlocker threads yet, I'm unsure as to whether you can see them when the outfit is completed, on the child and you are standing a fair way away. 

I must remember to use my gathering stitch more often now that I have figured out how it works because I am dreaming of lots of gorgeous fluffy things.

I am also spending some time making a Hippo costume for Miss 6yo to wear for one of the other items they do. I have a pattern this year, which is a step up from that alien I had to make last year which really did make me cry numerous times.

I am a big fan of being organised, so I am sitting with my sewing journal, the pattern instructions and the picture I am working from, and writing myself a good, comprehensive set of instructions from start to finish. 

I have written the jumpsuit instructions so far and will get onto the hood instructions soon. once I have a good look at the hood I have to copy from another hippo outfit that belongs to a girl from a different class that she used years ago. Then it will be on to the tracing and adjusting of patterns and the fun part... sewing!!

What are you up to this weekend? I hope that whatever it is, it is putting a smile on your face.

My Creative Space

So today in my creative space, I am doing alot of nappy sewing, new fabric is such a joy and a refreshing time. 

Plus, I am doing this....

knot....

through fabric....

sequin on...

bead on...

back through and knot...

cut.... repeat...

Oh the joys of sequining... I've gotta stop feeling bad for not volunteering for sewing duties at school. This one is for the school prep performance and thankfully, there aren't many sequins per outfit, I should get them done today.

To find out who is doing things slightly less monotonous, click here!

The Start of the Season.... enter the competition mama!

Today was miss Ruthie's first ever calisthenics competition. She did VERY well and was so so very excited about the entire day. She has just told me she wants to go do some more calisthenics now, but I think she is completely exhausted!!!

Some photos as promised from the day. I wasnt on the roster for dressing today so I didnt get many, and was banished from the room as every time she saw me, Ruth would cry from all the built up emotion and excitement. But she had a fantastic time in the end and her team got an honourable mention in one item which was great :)

The whole team, that's Ruth over on the far left trying to cover her streaked makeup from crying. 

Ruth in her alien suit. The hands are no longer being used (yes they were very frustrating to make too!) but because she couldn't do the correct actions in them I'm glad that she didn't wear them in the end.

All Ready for her free exercises. (Free Arm). Loves the camera now hey??? I may have shed a tear or two when she got on stage for this, her first, number. It was great to see her on stage and loving it!

Well that's it for this week. I am about to go make dinner and then collapse with a beer or 7..... Back to what I get paid for tomorrow. Nappy sewing!! I have selected some great new fabric combos and cannot wait to make them up :)

What did you get up to this weekend?

Crazy Costumes and other stuff...

Okay so I've made no secret for my new disgust for lycra. I have been making costumes for my daughter's calisthenics. To be honest, most of the costumes were done and I had to simply sequin (insert shudders here) and finish them. 

One I had to make from scratch. It was without doubt a nightmare. Id never sewn with lycra before, much less made a body suit and to be honest, had the costume simply been a body suit, it would have been not so bad. But yes, we have to make things sparkly, and beautiful.

I must say that I have NOT come to an agreement with lycra, I still hate it and hope that I never have to sew it again. (we all know that with a little girl who wants to dance this is in no way a reality). I just hope next time it will be easier.

I can take solace that my darling daughter looks incredibly cute in her little outfit and that is what makes this project worth it for me.

I can also be glad that the judges are a LONG way away and wont be able to see my dodgy stitching in places.

I will be able to post photos of all of the costumes on Monday as her first comp is on Sunday! I am so so excited for her, she is going to have an amazing time, and she tells me that I am going to see "the best dancing you have ever seen mummy" and I am sure I will. And Im sure she will see the proudest mummy in the whole room when she gets up on the stage... I may cry... whoops!!

Musketeer Madness

As per my previous post, I was requested by my beautiful daughter to make her a Barbie musketeer outfit for a fancy dress party on Friday night. So on Thursday I started sewing, I had been planning until that point so I wasn't completely disorganised! Just a little bit hee hee.

The Pattern I used was Burda 2463. I only really used the bodice pattern for this, and drafted a new skirt pattern. (that would be drew it with only a length measurement and matched the waist to the bodice piece. My original plan was to use a circle style skirt but I decided on an A-Line instead. I also re-drafted the neckline as the dress I was copying had the low neck but the pattern was a standard crew neck.

And here is the finished product. This photo was taken just before we left for the party, so excuse the flash photography, there wasn't much natural light as it was pouring rain outside!

The embroidery I did by hand whilst squinting to copy from the dvd cover where the image was about 1cm tall. It is slightly wonky but a fairly close match. I used some pink ribbon for the frill on the front and the sleeves.

In action, the green musketeer uses fans as her weapon. 

I'm very proud of the finished product. And Ruth is stoked, the only reason why she stopped wearing it is because she had to wear her uniform to school! Even wore it to bed!