Little Elephants and a baby possum

If you're not into cute then look away now. This month the blog is going to go all animalistic, and I'm kicking off with a pair of little elephants followed by a baby ringtail possum.

This is P and his buddy Charlie on the night of their school concert dressed as elephants. They sang a sweet little song about an elephant serenading his girlfriend in the moonlight and then came off stage on such a high. Thanks to Adelle for snapping some photos.

The boys made their elephant ears and bow ties and the requirement was to wear a grey, navy or black tracksuit. P had none of those, and while he could have worn his navy school pants I still would have had to make a top to match.

May as well make a grey elephant tracksuit, right?

I went out to Eliza fabrics and bought some lightweight grey marle sweater fleece. I bought two metres for $10 and quickly realised I'd have enough for two tracksuits. Hence Charlie got one to match.

The top is the altered, up sized, Flashback Skinny T that I did last year for school jumpers. In the stash there was just enough nice Ottobre ribbing for the waistbands, neckbands and sleeve cuffs. From memory it's the size 6 length with size 9/10 width and a little extra height added to the shoulder and corresponding depth added to the sleeve.

The pants are the Oliver + S Nature Walk pants. I went with a straight size 7 but it was obvious that P's were going to be quite a bit too short once they were hemmed. I added a pants cuff of the same fabric to give an extra inch and a half beyond the normal finished garment length. I could have left Charlie's without a cuff as he's shorter than P, but I thought they should match. Equally importantly if I used a cuff on the hems then the whole lot could be sewn on the overlocker and the sewing machine need not come out of the cupboard at all.

I cut about an inch and a half off the bottom of Charlie's pants so that even with the cuff there was no added length beyond the pattern.

The fabric is nice and soft in the way that some cheap, synthetic fabrics can be and the boys have both been using their new tracksuits as winter pyjamas!

Later that week we had someone bring a baby ringatil possum in to work. They had already been told by another vet clinic to put it back in the tree it had been found under and leave it be. They'd done that, but with the possum inside a bag. Unsurprisingly the possum parents failed to untie the bag and rescue their infant and since it was still there the next day they decided to bring it to another clinic.

We check they're healthy and well and then pass them on to a wildlife carer who looks after it until it's big enough to be released and fight for a patch of its own in this possum crowded city.

But it can take days for a carer to become available and since it was the weekend and the clinic was closing I took him home to keep him warm and fed for a few days. The kids didn't mind a bit!

It happened that Monday morning was my rostered turn to "stay and play" at A's kindergarten. I went along for a while, then ducked home to get the possum and brought him back to show the kids. We talked about nocturnal animals, what they do, what they eat and how all they really need is to be put back in the tree away from dogs and cats. Throw in a reading of Possum Magic and the kids were spellbound!

We have a few flowering gum trees in our semi-wild, urban, native garden so our little visitor was well fed over the weekend, even if he did resent having to "sing for his supper".

KCW: Some T-shirts

Kid's Clothes Week continues, and I couldn't resist a couple of nice quick art inspired t-shirts (and to break the beading monotony!)

First up, P drew a vampire to turn into a painted t-shirt.

I had him draw the picture of his choice using a wax transfer pencil (I've no idea where the current vampire fascination comes from). I then ironed the image onto the t-shirt front and then painted over it with metallic black puff paint (Jones Tones brand). I totally took over and claimed that fun bit for myself!

P had wanted red eyes but I didn't have red 3D paint so we agreed on green. It's thankfully a bit less scary for not having red eyes! I signed it for him using a fabric marker.

The T-shirt is the Oliver + S School Bus. I made a size 5 with side 6 length. I was expecting it to be a more roomy t-shirt, but so far both of the kids tops have been a perfect fit, with relatively snug (or impossibly so in the case of the red peplum) neckholes.

 

Normally I'm a stickler for neat double needle hems of t-shirts, but I decided to play around with another technique. I used the double needle to sew a raw edged strip (about 3cm wide) onto the inside of the neckhole and the bottom hem. I was expecting the cotton lycra to curl a bit more for the finish. It curls like heck when I'm trying to cut it, I don't know why the hem bands have decided to remain so flat. It's not a time saver, but it adds a little bit of contrast. An interesting exercise that I may or may not repeat.

 

 

Then I went back to my NGV inspiration ideas

and made a T-shirt inspired by the Robert Morris felt sculpture.

This time I used the trusty Flashback Skinny T in size 6. Possibly with an arbitrary sleeve length addition, or maybe not. I've forgotten. - which defeats the whole purpose of having this blog as I try to use it as a reference for sizing and alterations.  Anyway, the fit is perfect, whatever size it was.

The black knit fabric is just the softest thing, dug out from the stash. I suspect it came from the $3 shop (aka Brunswick Fabrics) so I've no idea what the fibre content is, but I like it.

Continuing with my raw edge knit fabric theme I cut my "sculpture" and then sewed on the perimeter using a double needle. Hopefully it will stand up to being worn, and not just get ripped off in the first wrestling match (a daily occurrence round here).

I'm quite delighted with this t-shirt. It looks kind of Duran Duran 80's style, but I know it references a 1970's felt sculpture, which amuses me. I'd love for him to wear it to the gallery and see if anyone recognises it (before we get to the sculpture room of course!).

All that's left now is another couple of hundred small beads and then to back my beaded deer and attach him to A's new sweater. Then my gallery for the week will be complete. I'm loving playing with the theme this season. Did you get arty for Kid's Clothes Week?





Sandbox pants for school

One of the things I was looking forward to, as my children started school, would be the end of sand in their pockets! I swear if I had bought an empty sandpit the day they first started in childcare I could have filled it at least once by now. As it is, we don't have a sandpit at home, but we get sand in the washing machine, sand in the shoe tubs, sand on the bathroom floor....

Obviously a sewing pattern called Sandbox pants which had pockets made no sense to me at all. But when I found a paper copy of this out of print Oliver + S pattern I had to have it.

I had also passed this one over as it seemed a bit simple. But, like all Oliver + S patterns, the delight is in the detail. The finish of these pants with their patch pockets on the front, buttoned down back pockets and drawstring waist, is fantastic.

 



I guess another thing that put me off the pants previously is the hard to resist temptation to use a novelty quilting cotton for the patch pockets. That makes a cute pair of toddler pants but just isn't my style. So here I was, using a pattern that I thought was going to be dull, with some plain navy terry knit, in order to make some school pants for winter. And you know, I was really enjoying myself.

To make it even more interesting I decided to do flat felled seams everywhere. I've learned not to cut big notches in seam allowances and then try to do flat felled seams, but I think with thick fabric like this it would pay to even cut them with an increased seam allowance. They looked perfect when first sewn, but after a few washes there are spots where I didn't quite catch the folded under top seam allowance properly. Still, check out the insides:

After flat felling the outer leg seam it was a bit of a challenge to do the inner leg seam as well. I hadn't thought it through very well and it was only as I was sewing down into the thick, fluffy tunnel of the leg that I realised what was happening. It was slow going but oh so satisfying, and I may have shown my husband more than once how neat they look on the inside.

I now can't recommend the pattern highly enough!

Since P only has one long sleeved school polo and one official school bomber jacket, he desperately needed some pullovers. I tried my Flashback Skinny T hack that I used for his Kenzo jumper again and made two pullovers in school red.

This is a size 9/10 in width, with the neckline of the size 6 and size 6 length for sleeves and hem. I also did a bit of an armhole hack to try and deepen the armhole, and it works fine, but I think I'm asking the wrong question of this pattern. It's a fantastic skinny T pattern, it's not meant to be enlarged to a blouson style pullover. I just can't bring myself to buy a pattern this simple, I'll keep trying....

The pants have been an absolute favourite. Although, since P can't yet tie a bow himself, I might make the next pair without the drawstring. I scored some more of the heavy, navy terry knit for a second pair, as well as some navy moleskin for a pair of Field Trip cargo pants and the last of the navy twill for a pair of Figgy's Banyan pants. I hope I'll find some interesting sewing in that pile.

Notably, the Banyan pants will be my first ever zipper fly. Isn't it funny when you read someone's blog and think, "have they really never done {insert thing you do yourself all the time} yet?".

... Oh, and you know what?... P's school has a sandpit!  Aaaarrrrggh!!

Made last night - Worn today.

When P was invited to a "Disco Diva" themed party at a kid's function centre, he came to me with his "working idea for an outfit".

I love that he thought he needed an outfit, I love that he trusted I could make whatever he thought up, and his idea itself?... Mum, said he, I need (not want, but need) an all-over white suit with gold lacy stuff as another layer over the top. See through like, so the white shows....

As much as I would LOVE to make another jumpsuit I talked him down to a pair of pants....

I went for my favourite Oliver + S pattern, the Nature Walk pants. He's been wearing two pairs as school shorts, so I knew they were a great fit, and it was a simple matter of redrafting them to be a bit longer and quite flared.

Then we got the paint out. (and if that doesn't sound exciting then you don't know me and my kids!)

While P was at school his little sister and I practised some stamps on fabric using a small rubber stamp we'd purchased.

That seemed to work just fine, but then when P went to stamp his pants the little stamps just weren't cutting it. I cut a sponge into a bigger star and we stamped over the top of the little ones (they're still very visible on one leg, but this is dress-ups and I had to just let that go and not fuss)

With an old skivvie and a bit of "bling" from the party shop down the street, we were ready.

More photos of P getting ready to get down!
(and you might not believe it but he can be so painfully shy sometimes that at the party he held onto my hand for about half an hour before eventually getting into it and getting his groove on)

 

 

There was no way that A was going to be left out when it came to fabric painting. She was merrily spreading fabric paint all over the kitchen bench when she and I both realised the paint dauber thing we were using to put paint onto the star stencil made a perfect circle stamp in it's own right.

Cue Flashback Skinny T:

When a 3 year old expresses an interest in some handmade clothing you don't wait, you make it fast! (although that's still no guarantee they'll wear it, right?). I suggested grey (duh) fabric she suggested purple (double duh) paint. Everybody was happy.

I used a ruler to mark out spots 5cm apart and she dabbed at each spot. (with a little help from me cause I couldn't help myself). There was a bit of purple ribbing in the stash for the collars and cuffs, and that pattern almost sews itself up after making so many.

I made a size 3 with about 1.5cm added length. The sleeves were cut to the full length but then I made cuffs the same width as the neckband so that adds a little sleeve length. She was delighted to find it in her room this morning and chose the Music Class skirt and love hearts tights to create her ensemble for the day!

Photo shoots seem to be ending with a love-in these days. I'm not complaining. There aren't enough of these moments in our days so if it happens in front of the camera so be it. I'm not pretending it's hugs and smiles every day, but it's so nice when it happens.

KCW Spring (Autumn!) 2014: Day 7

Here we are at the end of the week and I'm delighted to say I managed some daylight sewing today (for only the second time this week) and finished off my last project....

 

...which is brought to us courtesy of my stalker! Somehow she has found out where I live (oh that's right I gave her my address to post the Japanese pattern book to) and has studied me enough to know what kind of fabric I'd take home from a Clear It store. So, being the lovely stalker that she is, she posted me a package of fabric!

 

And I made an Apple Picking Dress, a Flashback Skinny T and another, final pair of Playtime leggings.

 

The dress fabric is a thin, synthetic woven with a tiny self rib almost like rip-stop nylon. I've no idea what it is, but even a brand new, sharp needle had to punch through to make a hole. It was also insanely resistant to pins which is less surprising as my pins are all appallingly old, bent and abused. While it appears to be a flimsy, pretty dress I am happy in the knowledge that my daughter will be very well protected by any attacks from rampaging porcupines!

 

Because it was thin (albeit tough) fabric I decided on full undergarments using the mystery brown knit fabric that was also in the package.

 

 

The knit is quite thin compared to my cotton lycra, has a slightly shiny underside, but is wonderfully soft, super stretchy and deliciously brown. Thanks J Wo for both fabrics, I love them!

 

That was the end to today's photo shoot, as the native grass she's holding is known, at our house, as tickle grass and there was a big brother to chase after and tickle.

 

tickle grass securely attached to handlebars and off she goes!

And the end of my Kid's Clothes Week. I'll take a few on-the-hanger pictures and do a round up post in a day or two. We played "favourites" this evening at the dinner table. A declared her favourite was the brown leaf dress, P's favourite was the Playtime dress "cause it was so funny that she couldn't find the pockets for ages and ages", Flipper looked blankly and said nothing, and I think this one might be my favourite.

 

So now that my favourite little girl is well dressed I'll have to do something about my favourite little boy. But not for a week or two perhaps!

 

 



It's couture knock off time! Kenzo Kids style

I could be accused of getting carried away with "project" sewing (Exhibit A, Exhibit B) but there's a lot of fun to be had in making things just a bit more than was required....

P needed another pair of these pants:

I'd bought these from a now defunct store called Kids on Parade which sold lots of high end fashion clothes for kids. I suspect everyone else, like me, only bought anything from there when it was heavily discounted in the sales. These Kenzo Kids pants were one such bargain

They are a size 4 and have a lovely slim fit and have been P's good pants for almost two years but they're definitely now too short. I wanted to try and make my own and replicate all these little designer-y features.

I experimented with the patterns I had that seemed appropriate and came up with my Pattern Mash Prototype pants. They have proven to be a great pair of pants but were a little more of a relaxed fit than I wanted so I took half an inch of each back panel at the side seam. I also raised the back yoke seam about an inch by adding to the pants panels and subtracting from the yoke.

Then I took the scissors to the old pants and stole all those Kenzo tags (sadly not the pocket rivets as they're one use only)

Essentially I used the front of the Oliver + S Field Trip pants and the back of the After School pants, splitting the front pants to include the extra inner leg panel.

 

I bought some little pyramid rivets from Jimmy's Buttons which is also where I found this grey denim remnant. There was about a metre and a half on the roll and I paid 5 bucks for it!

 



I'm not sure what kind of modelling style we're channelling here....

So there are my Kenzo knock off pants, modelled above with (yet another) Flashback Skinny T

But I couldn't stop just with the pants. Nope, if you're going to wear Kenzo, it would seem you need to get a tiger on your sweater....

The idea of knocking off one of these sweaters with some fleecy sweater knit and fabric paint from Spotlight was just too amusing (for me at least)

I did a dry run here using the Field trip pattern again for the sweater, but decided in the end to do an upsized Flashback Skinny T. I cut a size 9/10 in width and size 5 in length. The blue striped one earlier is straight size 5 and perfect as a close fitted T-shirt using very stretchy fabric. This one could still do with more depth in the armholes and sleeve width and I should have cut the neck-hole back at the smaller size but I'm happy with it.

....if only cause it was fun to paint!

It's a long blog post, but stick around if you're curious as to how some of these things were done.....

First up, the detail on the pants pocket: I don't have a fancy sewing machine that does embroidery so there was no way of perfectly replicating the mid section of the pocket detail from the original pants.

But my sewing machine can do these stitches:

So I used the Orange A stitch for the straight lines and a couple of rows of the Blue J stitch to get the wavy midsection effect

 

And after Heidi taught me to topstitch with two threads I thought I'd try for three!  Using three lots of regular thread is STILL easier than trying to thread a needle with that thick topstitching thread! Here's another shot of how they all sat atop the machine:

 



Now to the sweater....

I downloaded the clearest and flattest picture I could find of the tiger logo and then traced it to tidy up some of the lines and make it clearer. Then from this image I traced again, using a Iron-on Transfer Pencil onto baking paper.

At this step the image needs to be in reverse. If you have a really clear image you can flip your paper over and trace it from behind. Otherwise, when printing the image you need to select T-shirt transfer paper as your printing medium and the printer will reverse the image for you. Or I guess you could reverse the image in any photo editing software before you print. Anyway, make sure it's back to front.

Put your traced picture facing down onto the fabric and iron it on. Be careful as the pencil marks do not wash off and the print is not really useful a second time over without recolouring all the lines. you can just see that I've drawn up a grid with washable pencil markings to make sure I got it straight first go.

Then you simply paint over the drawn lines. I used Setacolour brand paint as the green paint and it is lovely to work with. Two layers gave a good depth of colour with no brush marks. The orange paint however, was Jones Tones and it needs a lot more layers and then develops quite a thick plastic-ky feel and you can still see through it a bit.

 

These paints only take a few hours to be dry to touch and then you iron them (with a baking paper sheet or similar over the paint to stop it sticking to the iron) for a few minutes. Then they wash and wear really well.

So there's my Kenzo Kids knock off outfit.... As I'm posting this last picture I'm making myself laugh wondering if there's any way I can incorporate a conical Gaultier bra into a  princess dress-up costume for A...