Holiday sewing

In September we had one of those "once in a lifetime" holidays. Only it wasn't a one-off, but an exact repeat of the holiday that Flipper and I had in 2006. Sometimes a really great trip needs repeating.

I'm over at the Oliver + S blog sharing all the Liesl + Co patterns I made to take on the holiday with us, including gifts for our kayaking guides. Go check it out. The pattern count numbers 6 Metro Ts and 2 pair of Wynwood swim shorts. Plus, I also took my Sintra Dress and my Cinema Dress on holiday.

Just before we left the big kid realised he's lost a pair of swim trunks somewhere, so he got two new pairs of Ottobre Seamus (03-2009) swim trunks

And he'd also outgrown his boardshorts, so I added two new pairs of the Jalie 2678 boardshorts, again with a cargo pocket addition.

Our kayaking trip was a 7 day trip paddling in the Yasawa islands of Fiji with Southern Sea Ventures. We revisited the same village that we'd stayed in 17 years earlier and even met some of the same people again. I can't begin to describe how great the trip was, the company, the guiding, the ocean, the people.... Can't possibly show you all the pics, but here's a selection from each day...

Our guides were so fabulous. Semi, the Fijian local was quietly funny, always organised and calm and just the nicest, hard working guy. He wore an amazing palm frond hat that his mum wove, so I made him a kayaking T-shirt with his hat stencilled on it.

Russell, the Canadian guide is too awesome for words. It only takes a quick look at his Instagram (seriously, check this out) to realise that paddling tourists around the Yasawas must have been pretty dull, but he never showed it. He was funny, organised, hard working and always up for anything. Bit like Barbie there seemed to be nothing he hadn't done, or couldn't put his hand to trying. He impressed P with being a box lacrosse player, wowed A with his ability to pull of a gymnast backflip and all of us when the guitar came out and of course he could play and sing. But, BUT, he couldn't whip cream*  when it came to our dessert at Navotua village. And that alone will never be forgotten! :)

*the lack of a whisk or beater shall not be mentioned

Of course his kayaking top needed to have a white water kayaker and a whisk on it!

I added the hood from the Jalie skating skinsuit pattern 3135 (all my previous versions here) but sadly didn't think of how much higher the neckline is on that pattern than the Metro T I was using. I got P to try in to before I posted it....

And oops, the hood pulls far too much when it's on. Ah well, it can still be some kind of a back of neck sun protection even if it can't be worn.

After the week of "roughing it" (seriously, we were so well looked after, but composting toilets and no internet still counts, right?) we crossed Fiji to stay on a little island just off the coast from Suva. Toberua island resort is a tiny resort with just a dozen bures around a central pool, a dive shop and a beachside restaurant/bar. Everything is catered and during the morning the staff would find us, bringing the menu for lunch and dinner. The barman recognised Flipper from 17 years earlier! P did a pool dive then joined us for his first ever scuba dive. We all ate too much, drank too many mocktails/cocktails and played all day long.

I'd argue this is a once-in-a-lifetime holiday that would easily stand up to a third round!

Belated bigger birthday dress

The blog now segues from a knitted one year old birthday dress to a sewn 12 year old birthday dress, but the order is all out of kilter. Actually it was as I was sewing some 15 year old birthday pyjamas today I reminded myself I'd never posted about the summer birthday dress....

I'd been about to let the tradition of a birthday dress go, but she asked (nicely) for a light blue dress with thin straps to wear over a white T-shirt as a roller skating dress for her party.

We went through the pattern stash together and eventually settled on the Liesl + Co Tribeca knit cami lengthened into a dress (Size S from memory).

Of course light blue knit fabric was about the only thing missing from my stash, but Fabric Deluxe had just what we needed with this lovely rib knit.

A nice simple make that worked perfectly for roller skating

Or just hanging out at the rink with friends, scrolling on phones...

While I don't mind being told what to make, I do also like to create a surprise when it comes to birthday dress sewing. So I added a second dress

This one is a Liesl + Co Metro Tee (Size M) lengthened and with A-line flare added to make a T-shirt dress. 

The fabric is some leftover silver spotted T-shirt knit that I know will wear fairly quickly but seemed fun to use. Previously turned into a Frocktails knit dress for me and a knit Building Block dress for her

And, of course, a little Silhouette Cameo rolling skate themed iron on. Birthday sorted.

Men's (almost) Metro T - Part 2

No sooner had I made Flipper his mtb trails T-shirt than I had a request from the big kid for one too.

I obliged, of course, but not before making a plain long sleeved T first, cause that was the bigger wardrobe hole that needed filling.

This is the Liesl + Co Metro T size M with, from memory about 8cm extra body hem length and 10cm extra sleeve length.

Photographed quickly on the way to lacrosse training with the long pole he got for Christmas. Did I tell you I strung the head myself? Not such a hard task if you're a crafty type. Thoroughly enjoyable if you have a post Christmas lunch glass of champagne and a quiet place to sit.

The T-shirt he really wanted though was the athletic knit with the favourite Strava trails on it...

This is the Strava bike map of his favourite ride in the Mystic mountain bike park up in Bright. If you know the tracks you can probably name those loops just looking at the photo.

I kindly gave up the 2nd 1m cut of athletic knit from Maaidesign, even though I'd earmarked this one for myself. He wore it to lacrosse training on a warmer evening and was rapt, like being nude but with clothes on!

For the transfer I used the Silhouette Cameo again, but this time used a generic brand iron-on transfer material in a holographic silver. It looked great, but in the very first wash it almost all peeled off. It wasn't the application to the fabric that was the problem as all the glue was still adhered, it was the bond between the silver layer and the adhesive layer. I picked off the few bits that remained stuck fast and now there is the faint glue shadow outline of the original artwork, which I've been kindly told looks kind of cool and subtle.

Meanwhile I let the company that I bought it from know and they've refunded me. Only trouble is I have half a dozen other sheets of this iron-on transfer in other colours and I guess I'll have to reserve them for non-washable type projects.

Good thing I insisted on photos before it hit the laundry basket!

Men's Metro T - part 1

Have I told you I bought myself a Silhouette Cameo cutting machine?

I'd borrowed one from a friend ages ago and went crazy making T-shirts for the kids with iron on vinyl designs and one supergirl outfit! I gave that machine back to the friend, and every year or so afterwards I would do another little bit of online sleuthing as to whether the Silhouette or the Cricut was better. Eventually I decided on the Silhouette Cameo 4 based on two things: More freedom to create your own designs and import graphics into designs, and a deeper cutting depth. I know I'm not about to go cutting cork or leather right now, but I sure as heck don't want to not be able to should I decide I want to!

Armed with a new toy I had a sudden urge to create something. Turning to the household head of IT, I asked what he'd like on a T-shirt. "Tabs or Spaces" he replied.

Apparently that's a defining choice amongst code writers. Obviously I had no clue and needed to be instructed as to the graphics that would represent each word.

What I did know was that the T-shirt would be the Liesl + Co men's Metro T in XL as per every other one. Easy. 

He requested navy or dark blue as the colour. That I didn't have, but I'm not above shopping for fabric when the need arises ;) I found this perfect dark blue remnant, about 90cm size, at Fabric Deluxe and I suspect it's a bamboo blend? It is a lovely fabric.

The iron on vinyl is a Silhouette branded one that is a metallic blue and changes colour a bit with the light reflecting off it. Subtle yet bright, and super cool.

Here's the household IT guru in his natural environment: horizontal with laptop

This photo is taken at my parent's house. When he's not to be found napping on a couch or deckchair he'll be out on the mountain bike trails near their place.

After visiting for many years, it's in the last two or three years we've discovered a great network of single track just out of town.  I think when visiting the in-laws involves unlimited GnTs, couch naps and singletrack there can't be much to complain about right? What's that? I'm told we need to get rid of the veggie garden and put in a pool.

Anyway, back in January I had the idea of making him a T-shirt with the Strava map of the local mtb trails on it. We were up in Bright so I dropped into Maaidesign to visit and pick up some of her lightweight athletic knit fabric.

This time the transfer is a metallic silver (still Silhouette brand) with the folks' home town GPS co-ordinates, the fire-road drop in and then about 60km of sweet singletrack meandering. That's his happy place in T-shirt form.

Here we are coming back out of the bush along the fire road with the lure of coffee and cake in town...