frissymish

When I read that Jaala from Threading Rainbows needed people to help test sew her very first pdf pattern, I jumped at the chance. Jaala's pattern is called "scrappies" and is a versatile pants pattern with a cool side panel that really sets this pattern apart.

Scrappies range in size from newborn to 10. The pattern offers 3 length options or of course you can customise the length to suit your child's likes, which is what I did for Myah who likes her shorts short.

I made a size 10 with a size 9 waistband for my miss 10 but will try making a size 9 for her next time as there is plenty of room for her long skinny legs in the size 10. The waistband on the scrappies is designed for knit, ribbing or lycra which freaked me a bit at first but as it turns out, was so easy. I used lycra and loved the result. It even got me thinking that I should sew up some skirts for myself with the same style waistband.

I love how the scrappy side panel turned out. I didn't want to lose anymore length so ended up using binding on the hem to finish off this pair. Myah loves them and they are perfect for all of her gymnastics moves, which is great because she is always upside down!

Next up was a pair for Fraser who was SO excited about his new pants that he sat on my knee (sans pants!) and 'helped' me sew his scrappies.

I made a size 5 with a size 5 length for my Mr 4 but would make a size 4 next time and use the capri length as I prefer longer shorts on my boys. In saying that, I'm super happy with these and he loves them too.

I made these with a white lycra waistband in a size 2 which fit perfectly for my boys teeny tiny waist. This pair was super quick to make since I didn't get fancy with the side panel whereas Myah's took a little bit longer.

The official release of the scrappies pattern will be on the 14th November in the digital sewing magazine One Thimble. In the meantime, you can check out all of the fantastic scrappies that were made during the testing process by visiting Jaala's website Threading Rainbows or by searching Instagram using #scrappiespattern.

Handmade Christmas

Too funny, a whole year since my last post. Ha! I'm here to show off some of the handmade gifts I'm giving for Christmas this year.

My little man has loved his first year of primary school and adored his teacher. To show her how much we love her and appreciate all she has done for Hamish, I made her this cushion. First time free motion quilting so don't look too close. It was made with love and that's what counts right? I was so happy with how it turned out and am totally loving the pom pom trim. The husband said it was nanna-ish. Whatever.

Myah had her first male teacher this year. I was a bit stuck on what I could make him so went with the always reliable bunting flags. He likes to surf so I hunted down a remnant of some Timeless Treasures Surfin' Santa fabric and managed to squeeze 5 Santa's out of it.

Since he'll be travelling OS during the holidays, I made a passport cover as well, identical to the blue/red colourway shown here. Some rocky road topped it off nicely.

I job shared this year so made this set for my co-worker. She is a lover of yellow and we both have a thing for grammar and punctuation so the fabric called "comma" was perfect for some cute little handmade earrings. Might have to make some of these for myself too I think.

I made the dumpling bag using the free tutorial found here. I ended up making 13 of these bags and they've come in super handy for last minute Christmas gifts.

I've missed being in here and will aim for another post before Christmas next year. Oh and if you're on instagram you can find me there too as frssymish.

Hope you all have a Merry Christmas x

Phoebe Bag

I hope Santa will bring me an SLR this year because then I could take better photos of the things I make, like this gorgeous (if I do say so myself) bag that I made for Myah's teacher.

The pattern is the Phoebe bag, a free pattern which you can find on this blog.

I saw some lovely versions of the bag on Pinterest that had centre panels of contrast fabric and I wanted to do the same. I'm not sure if I went about it the right way as my bag ended up smaller than I think it should have. I'm one of those people who really need a pattern!

Fabric ~ Contrast fabric from Spoonflower and some black linen-like fabric (??) from Spotlight

Sewing : Simplicity Skirt

After sewing so many tops (yet to be blogged) from this pattern, I decided to try the skirt. It was quick and easy and I love how it turned out.

This started out as a reversible headband but when I was ironing it I thought it looked pretty cool half and half, a kind of mishmash. So I went with it and topped it off with a yo-yo and fabric covered button.

Myah modelled for me before we wrapped it and gave it to the birthday girl.

Isn't she beautiful!

Skirt Pattern ~ Simplicity (Sewing for Dummies) 4206
Size ~ 10 on an 8 year old

Fabric ~ Michael Miller Dandy Damask and Michael Miller Dumb Dot

Crafting : Canvas Art

A few weeks earlier I had bought a large canvas to paint but it ended up being eyed off by my daughter and nieces during the September school holidays.

Being the cool mum and aunty that I am, I gave the girls my supplies.

After painting the canvas red, we ladelled the white paint from the tin into ziplock bags and then snipped the tiniest bit off the corner. The girls were super nervous to paint over the red.

Finally, away they went.

The masterpiece! Hanging proudly in the kids loungeroom.

Canvas ~ The Reject Shop

Paint ~ A sample pot of Retro Red from Bunnings and a tin of white paint from my shed

Cushions ~ Kmart

Sewing : Oliver + S Class Picnic Shorts

Earlier this year I made these, cute huh.

Pattern ~ Oliver + S Class Picnic Shorts

Size ~ 12

Fabric ~ Both from Spotlight

Another Simplicity 4206

After adding a 3" contrast band to the first top and still thinking it needed to be a bit longer, I made this top adding an extra 1.5" to the main body and a 3.5" band at the bottom. I went with the band again because I love using contrasting fabrics and decided to contrast the sleeves this time as well. So if you ever use this pattern, as a guide it's probably best to allow an extra 5" or so for length (or maybe actually measure before you start!).

Another fabric from Spotlight (a while ago now) but I really love it, it was quite soft. Am loving the birds and really ended up loving the earthy coloured tones. After all, I'm such a sucker for pink.

M's friend kindly modeled for me this time. Without tears, no bribery required and she kept telling me how much she loved the top. Why doesn't my daughter do that??

The back

Simplicity 4206

If anything, kids birthday parties are a great reason to sew.

One of M's friends loves butterflies so when the party invite arrived I thought I would make her something featuring butterflies.

With rarely any time to sew these days, I'm all about the quick and easy projects. I've never seen M's friend in a skirt or dress so decided to make her a top. I remembered I had this Simplicity pattern from the Sewing for Dummies range which I bought when I first started sewing.

The top is basically just a peasant style top which I've made before (as a dress) using the Leila and Ben Sweet Little Dress pattern. I don't have the bigger size pattern (besides my printer has run out of ink so I couldn't print off a PDF pattern anyway) and still can't believe that I am sewing size 7 and 8 for M now!

I loved making this top. It was quick and easy and turned out pretty cute. It was waaaaaay too short though which has me wondering if that is how most Simplicity patterns are? I made a top for myself using Simplicity 4589 and that also ended up being way too short.

Anyway, I was debating whether or not to add a contrast band to this top for some extra length and in the end I decided to which meant another trip back to Spotlight where I found the contrasting stripey fabric. Unfortunately I don't particularly love this butterfly print but I didn't have much choice, no time to order gorgeous butterfly fabric from the states :(

I could probably have made the band an extra inch longer, it still seems short. Even so, it's now a much better length than it was and looks fine on M.

My photos are terrible - sorry about that, no time for nice pics I'm afraid. These days it's an iPhone photo or nothing! Believe it or not, this was the best photo I could get of M modelling the top for me. She was cranky and most unhappy that I pulled her away from playing with her Zhu Zhu pets.

Since finishing this top I've made it again and will blog the next version in the next couple of days.

Quilted Zipper Box Pouch

A couple of weeks ago I took mum along to a Moonlight Market. There was quite a big crowd there and a really good variety of stalls.

Mum was admiring some earrings by Belissima Glass but was unable to decide which colour pair she liked best so didn't buy anything. Now that I think about it, their prices are so affordable I'm not sure why she didn't just buy both pairs. Since it was mum's birthday the next day (and I still hadn't got her anything - whoops) I sneaked (snuck?) back to the stall and bought the red pair that she first picked up and said she loved.

Perhaps it was all the creativity in the room, whatever the reason I decided to come home and make a little pouch to put the earrings in. I found this great tutorial for a zippered quilted box pouch. I've had a quick look at the rest of the blog and really enjoyed looking at all of Lolo's creations. How cute are her pleated pouches, the linen is beautiful. I love the overlocked edges on her checkbook covers too. Cute! Back to the pouch....

It was a really simple sew with a cute result. I'd probably use some interfacing next time, it's just not quite stiff enough but it's ok. I'd also sew a little loopy bit into one of the ends to pull on when you unzip it. Oh and it's unlined too which I figured mum wouldn't mind but a lined version would be good to do.

I'm not sure why my stitching looks orange?? It's red, like the print on the fabric. With a gift voucher from one of mum's favourite shops her present was ready. Happy birthday mum!

Twirly Girl

I've been wanting to make the Pink Fig Girly Skirt pattern forever and a day and was able to squeeze in some sewing time this week (yay)!

I was worried the fabric combination was going to be too busy but I am so in love with this skirt!

M is a very girly girl and loves pink which left me wondering if she would even like this navy and light blue fabric combination. Turns out she loves it just as much, if not more, than I do.

I finished it on Friday night and she has worn it for the whole weekend.

First she tried it on.....

and then she twirled.....

and danced.......

and twirled some more!

Don't you love the wall of fabric behind her :)

With at least 2 birthday parties coming up, I plan to make a couple more of these skirts for presents.

A Prize Winning Dress

Rewind to sometime around October last year. We were right in the middle of all the weddings, packing up the house and ~~coping with~~ enjoying our new baby. One night I plonked myself onto the lounge in front of the TV to feed baby F and by pure chance I stumbled across a sewing show.

Sew What A Feeling was a series aired on Channel 31, a community television station broadcasting to Melbourne and Geelong. The low budget production was aimed at beginner sewers and was a good way to spend half an hour breastfeeding. I enjoyed the discussion on fabric selection, sewing advice and tips they gave on using an overlocker.

The ladies hosting the show run sewing classes in Melbourne and are unlikely to be moving to a prime time slot on mainstream television anytime soon, however they were likeable and have obviously been sewing forever and a day.

A sewing competition was advertised at the end of each show. Entrants were asked to make something from one of these patterns.

McCalls M5094

Vogue V8363

Butterick B5355

McCalls M5572

There was no way I could enter, my plate was full enough.....until I decided that I really wanted to give it a try and would just have to try and plug away it at whenever I could find the time.

So, I decided to make a new dress for M and chose the McCalls M5572 pattern and here it is.

Although a little big for her at the moment, M loves it. One of M's friends tried it on and it was a perfect fit on her. She loved it so much she has requested something for herself in the same fabric. (Lucky her birthday is coming up.)

On the last episode of Sew What A Feeling, I was super excited to see my name pop up on the screen as the winner of the open section.

One must wonder exactly how many entries were submitted for the competition haha!!

Fast forward to today....my prize was delivered! Thank you Sew What A Feeling :)

Sharing the Love

A quick post to share free patterns from HomeSpun Threads.

Become a follower of the HomeSpun Threads blog and be sure to return the love by sharing the link on your blog.

That sure was a nice thing to stumble across but I wonder how long they will be free for?

The A+ Teacher

This year, so early into M's schooling, we were extremely fortunate to have the best teacher ever. Ms F is everything you hope for in a teacher and is a genuinely warm, caring and compassionate person. From the first day of school this year right up until the last minute of the last day of school, Ms F had M's best interests at heart. It was a particularly sad goodbye, since we have moved out of the area and M will be starting at a new school closer to home next year.

I cried saying goodbye to Ms F and told her that all future teachers will be compared to her.

As a class, we gave Ms F a lovely present however I wanted to make her something as well to let her know how much I appreciate everything she did for M throughout the year.

Ms F is from Canada. She travelled back to Canada during 3rd term school holidays and will be going home again next year to get married. Her fiance is Irish so for both of them I made these cute little his n hers passport covers.

Please excuse the awful state of my ironing board cover

Next, I made some Christmas bunting. Secretly, the idea behind the bunting was to ensure that Ms F doesn't forget us and now she will think of us at least once every year when she hangs her Christmas decorations ;p

Although not sewing, Cookies in a Jar is still handmade and from the heart. I saw this idea on Bakerella's website a few months ago and knew I had to make it for her as soon as I saw it. After M and I assembled it, I couldn't stop looking at it. So pretty!

I am trying to be positive about M's new school next year but have to wonder if I will ever cry saying goodbye to another teacher. Hopefully I will.

In a Nutshell

So much time and so little to do. Wait a minute. Strike that, reverse it. ~ Willy Wonka

Things have been busy around here, busy in a good way. In the second half of this year alone, my husband and I squeezed a lot in.

We....

Sold our interstate unit
Bought our own house which we actually get to live in
Welcomed with much love our 3rd beautiful child
Packed up the family and moved into our new home
Went to a wedding in Yamba
Went to a wedding in Byron Bay
Went to a wedding in Melbourne
Celebrated our daughter's 7th birthday
Threw said daughter a completely OTT disco party

and are now preparing to celebrate Christmas in our new home with some good friends who will be staying with us.

Life is good.

Life is especially good because of this divine little boy.

He came into our lives late August and is already 3 months old. My second son is such a joy and the icing on the cake for me. How lucky I am to be the mother of these 3 beautiful children (one of which has the remains of tattoo's on both arms!).

Master F is making the cutest little noises, little squeals, giving us lots and lots of lovely smiles and I am only up to him once (if at all) through the night. He looks so much like his big sister did when she was a baby.

I miss my sewing but wouldn't swap the last 6 months for anything in the world.