My creative space

It's Nico's 2nd birthday next Monday, so I've been getting to work making him some new pants.

I've used my new Burda 9793 pattern - these ones are 3/4 length pants in size 2. I couldn't follow the instructions to the letter, as I really needed to overlock the corduroy to prevent any fraying.

It's difficult to see in the photo, but this is the first time that I've tried this type of side hip pocket. I think it's pretty cute.

I didn't bother with pockets on the back - does a 2 year old really need pockets anyway (they usually just get filled up with dirt and sand)?

My next job is to cut out the shorts pattern and whip up a pair of those too, and then I just need a couple of appliqued tees and I'm done.

Make sure to head on over to see Kirsty and sign up or just check out who else is playing along today.

Try try again....

Yesterday, it was time for Nico's pants - take 2.

First of all, I whipped up a nice comfy pair of trackie dacks. I had a small piece of dark blue fabric, and a small piece of a lighter blue fabric left over from when I made trackie dacks for the twins.

Each piece was only large enough for half a pair, so I combined them..... I'm thinking of making it a hot trend - two toned pants are the new cool!

Next job - I had just enough of this light brown corduroy for one more pair of pants. I made them slightly smaller than the pants from the day before.....

......but they're still a bit too big.

Luckily he'll grow into them eventually.

The pants man

Sorry about the blurry photo - the model wasn't co-operating (even after trying bribery with lollies)

I've been promising to make little Nico some new pants for a while now. He's at an in-between stage where size 1 is too small and size 2 is far too long in the legs.

I made up a pattern in approximately size 2 but shortened the leg length so that it's custom fitted to his current size. These pants were the first test fitting. A little long in the leg, and a little high waisted, but other than that, they were pretty good.

Time for sample number 2!

The long and the short of it

I'm still madly sewing away, trying to tick pressies off the handmade christmas list...

I found this groovy fabric at Savers a few weeks ago on one of my adventures with Big Cat. It's a really heavy cotton and there was about 2 metres in total.


The little girl who is receiving the twirly skirt has a big brother who is 4 years old, so I made him what was supposed to be a pair of shorts (obviously my pattern adjusting skills leave a lot to be desired). I think these will end up being more like knickerbockers, but I think they'll still look really cute with a blue t-shirt and a pair of brown leather sandals.

These ones are for a friends little boy who is 1.75 years old.... so somewhere in-between the 18 months sizing and size 2 clothing. I'm really hoping that these ones fit, but at least they actually look like shorts, and not knickerbockers.

Now, back to the list!

On My Desk....on a Wednesday

My nephew Nico is having his first birthday party this weekend so I'm making him some clothes. I was planning to be further along with the birthday production line than this, but I had another lot of prospective buyers come through the house at short notice lastnight so it was a mad scamble to clean up all of the crafty mess that I had strewn all over the kitchen again (and make the bed, and pick up the dirty washing from the floor, and bring in the fabric that was drying on the pool fence)!

While my roast lamb dinner was in the oven lastnight, I sat on the couch and did some crazy stitching on the felt star. I had already used vliesofix to set the star in place so the stitching is really just for a bit of added effect.

I almost forgot to mention, that these pants were made from a $1 mens corduroy shirt from the oppy. I cut the two front panels from the back of the shirt, and the two back panels from the front of the shirt. This photo is the back of the pants which have the front pocket from the shirt. I just layed the pattern piece in the correct place so that the pocket stayed in tact. I think it turned out pretty cute!

For much more On My Desk action, head on over to visit Kirsty and check out some more desky action shots.

On My Desk .......on a Wednesday

On My Desk today are a multitude of works in progress.....I constantly swap between projects before finishing them leading to lots of mess. I have bibs cut out ready to sew, a stack of fabric that needs to be put away, a beautiful package of ric rac and fabric that arrived in the mail yesterday from Stacey, a naked softie for the Toy Society (I have an idea in my head about making a dress for her), and the cowboy jeans that I whipped up for Moo Moo yesterday afternoon (waiting on a final fitment).

I loved the giant ric rac that I used on Staceys Apron, so Stacey very generously offered to pick some up for me next time that she was at her local fabric shop....

It arrived yesterday......and it's gorgeous.

Then as an extra suprise, she also include this fantastic cowboy fabric. I had to stop what I was doing and immediately start on the cowboy jeans. There was supposed to be an appliqued cowboy tee to go with it, but when I popped down to the Bonds outlet, they were closed for stocktake. I'll have to try again today.

Thankyou so much Stacey!

Stacey is having a birthday giveaway at the moment with a fantastic prize from her Etsy or Made It shops.....head on over and enter.

Washing Machine update - repair guy arrived at 3PM - good news, it can be fixed - bad news, cheaper to buy a new one. Moral of the story - no point buying an expensive brand like Maytag because they don't last any longer than the cheap brands.

Finally! A pair of cords

It's taken me a while but I've finally made some corduroy pants with the gorgeous fabric that Sherrin so generously sent me aaaaaages ago. I probably should have ironed them again before I took the camera out.

I overlocked all the seams before sewing them too, so there shouldn't be any fraying..... and I actually remembered to add the star embellishment before sewing the legs together this time.

I did somehow manage to overlock two wrong legs together at one stage and had to go back and unpick everything.

They'll be facing the fitment test on Moo Moo and Nico tonight. They are around the same size except that I just shortened the legs for Nico (which means that they're just not as flared at the bottom). Here's hoping that they fit!