Hallelujah!

OILCLOTH is here! Yes, finally, Spotlight is now selling Oilcloth! Yippee!

The range is not huge but there is a choice of red or blue gingham, two floral prints and some spots.

 And at just under $16/metre, the price was a good surprise too.

Totes, Lunch bags, Purses, Pencil cases, Aprons, 'Throw in" buckets ... etc ... etc ...

The good thing about Oilcloth? It requires the minimum sewing. It took me less than 15 mns

to do this little "Throw in bucket"... Imagine what you could do in two hours ...

September Op Shop challenge: Items 4 & 5

You remember the Vintage Pillowcases I had found during my September Op Shopping session?
The old cotton was beautiful, the ruffle superb but it was too damaged to make something for Mia ... Yet I had a little dress in mind ... A white little dress paired up with the placemat I had found to keep the vintage look. Well, if there wasn't enough fabric to make the dress for Mia, surely there was enough for her doll ...

Now, I must say that I am more than pleased with the result: I'm OOPI pleased! I'm out there wishing I was a little girl again!

This little dress screams tea-parties ...

I have now another item to add to Mia's Bitty Baby Christmas bundle.

So cute and so easy to make.

And because there was still some fabric left, I couldn't resist making a little matching bonnet.

Tutorial for this darling set will come soon. Keep an eye.

Market, Merguez and Birds of Paradise

Sunday was blessed with sun after all and everyone was out and about. The Frenchs Forest Organic Market was crowded and more than ever it was a feast for the mouth and the eyes.




































Between the flowers and the vegetables,

I'm not sure which ones are the prettiest ...

Vegetables?

Or flowers?

I let you decide.

I'm not sure what pleased my eyes the most, but I can tell you what made my mouth very very happy!

Merguez!

Now, I'm not a sausage person. But these are no ordinary sausages! The Komlaba Merguez are ridiculously delicious! Merguez are spicy sausages originated from South of France/North Africa: I don't handle spicy very well so i was a bit wary of sampling but incredibly these don't burn your mouth, they just burst with flavours! You can actually taste the spices, not choke on them! I LOVE them!

You can visit the Kombala website for recipes and orders but I reckon they are perfect just thrown on the barbecue.

I bought a kilo and put it in the freezer where it will stay

until our first spring barbecue.

And because I could already picture myself enjoying eating out in the garden again, I bought a few plants at a very reasonnable price;$42 for the lot.

Hopefully, they'll soon give us stunning flowers like this.

September Finds ...

Clever or Clutter?

There is nothing like a tour of the local "Op Shops" for a bit of excitement. I just love it. You can never predict what you will find but very rarely do I come back home empty handed. For sewing, these shops are endless suppliers of vintage fabrics and refashion possibilities ...

Now, it is one things to collect stuff with ideas in mind, another to actually translate these ideas into completed projects ... and not clutter.So I have decided to share here what I buy during my monthly, (some time quarterly) "Op shopping" outings and show how and if, I have used them.

Challenge is on!

ITEM ONE:
The messenger Bag

Now this is an easy one. Not much work needed and not too much thinking required either. This will be a great present for Louis. It's the perfect size to carry around his abundant collection of Nerf Bullets.

It's in perfect condition.

With cute mini flags like details on the side. All I need to do is add a few finishing

touches. Too easy.



ITEM TWO:
The bright towel

I fell in love with it immediately. The bright colours, the retro feel ... It is incredibly thick too.

 Fantastic quality ... But it doesn't match any of the towels

 I've got home. So I'm thinking this towel is destined for better things ...

I'm looking at it and I'm seeing this summer new beach bag with a big funky fabric

 pocket on the front ... a spa wrap could be a good idea too.


ITEM THREE:
The stripey quilt cover

 Now, I'm not usually a big fan of these kind of stripes - not for bed linen anyway- but again, the quality is fantastic, very very nice cotton. It is very boyish so whichever project I decide on, I know it will be for them.

More stripes on the inside ...

This represents a huge amount of fabric so it will be used for large projects. Could this be a tent ?

This is the most challenging item so far because I know that if I don't use it, it will clutter my already over crowded fabric shelves ...

ITEM FOUR

Vintage Pillowcases

Although they are damaged, lots of tiny holes, I was most happy to find these two vintage pillowcases, because I love ruffles but I hate making them! 

and these are definitely re-usable.

 
Simply stunning.

Discovering the monogram "M" was an added bonus.

Mia is a lucky girl.

ITEM FIVE

The placemat

Cute print, beautiful cotton ...

I only wish there was more than one. Still there enough fabric to make a little something ...

ITEM SIX

The spotty pillowcase.

Bright, cheerful ... colourful spots are always welcome on my shelves, especially when they're hosted by a deep chocolate brown. Yum!

Total tally for my September finds:

Keep an eye in the sewing section to see what I'll come up with.

To brighten a rainy day ...

I love these Bouquets. 

Louis has a gift for drawing flowers and I thought I'd share with you these treasured pictures of mine, to brighten a grey, rainy, spring day and possibly weekend ...

Van G. Louis?

What a brilliant choice of colours!

That's how I always have a vase of fresh flowers at home .... just for me.

Maybe we should have called him Vincent after all ....

Sunflowers by Louis.

                                    

                                                   

BITTY BABY FLORAL PJ"S TUTORIAL: Part One The Shirt.

Bitty Baby Floral Pj's Tutorial. Part one: The Shirt

Here's what we're making today:

For this project, you'll need:

- Knit/stretchy/Jersey fabric
- 2 x 5"narrow elastic


Here's the fabric I've chosen (both from Spotlight- I'll make two pairs of Pj's for Mia's doll). I don't use much stretchy fabric but for this project it was the best option. I've discovered recently that I have a special knit stitch on my machine (hum ... after ten years!) So, please check if you have one and if not, adjust the tension. For tips on sewing with stretchy fabric click here.

Pattern Pieces.
Very simple.
(Please note that the pictures below are not the actual size. Measurements are indicated on the pieces for your reference.)


First, the Front: You will need to cut TWO. (I know it says cut 1 on the pattern. Ignore that.  My mistake!)

I have made it quite wide as Bitty Baby is a little chunkier than other dolls around the chest. This should fit nicely.



Now, the Back: you need to cut FOUR.

Now for the Sleeves: Cut TWO

 And that's it for the cutting.

So you should have:

Two Front pieces

 

Four Back pieces

Two Sleeve pieces

8 pieces all together.

 Now let's get sewing:

Right side together, Join One Front piece to Two Back pieces at shoulders seam:

 Zig-zag stich or overlock seams.

Repeat the process with remaining Front piece and two Back pieces.

You should have two assembled blocks looking like this: 

 

Red dashes=Straight Stitch, Grey Zigzag= Zigzag Stich or Overlock

Now it's time to assemble these two blocks. With right side together, stitch along the Back opening, all long the neck line:

Stich along back openings,

all along neck line,

like so.





It is up to you to zigzag stitch or overlock. I didn't bother. Trim excess fabric at corners (See yellow markings).




Time to flip inside out and expose the Right Side of the fabric:

 Then, Press:

Neat neck line and back edges!

 Top Stitch along the same lines. (Neck and back opening)

Time for the Sleeves.
(That's when my camera's battery died, so I had to carry on with my  phone camera; )

Fold each piece in two, Right Side out

Stitch along  straight folded edge on Right Side of fabric to form a casing for the elastic.

Your casing should be wide enough to allow a small safety pin to guide your elastic through.

 (1/4 of an Inch should be good.)

  Thread in elastic having ends sticking out evenly at each end of casing.

Zigzag-stich elastic at one end, pull elastic and stich the other end. Trim excess elastic. You should have something looking like this:

With Right Sides together match sleeves'raw edge to raw edge of bodice's armholes and stitch. The curves seem to go opposite directions, but follow the one of the armhole; the sleeve will position itself as you sew.

Stitch along  underarm and side

View from inside of shirt

and outside: a nice puffed sleeve

It's almost done!

 I have chosen to use Velcro strips rather than buttons as it is easier for little hands to manipulate. The velcro strip I had at home was too wide so I simply trimmed it.

Stitch one strip on the Right Side of fabric and one on the Wrong Side, making sure they are aligned at neck line.

Finally, for the bottom edge, I chose to simply overlock. But as you can see, I made the mistake not to test the tension before and the stitches are all ... well they don't look that great ! And I realised one of the needles was unthread too! Since it's for Mia's doll, I've left it like that. Not dramatic but not as neat as it should.

Your Pyjamas' top is now completed. Bravo!