Fabric Stash: I found some more fabric!

I was missing a piece of fabric that I knew was around somewhere. I had previously made a pair of pants for my son when he was 3 year old with it, and a matching pair for my husband (they looked so cute together, but do you think I have a photo of them in their matching pants?)

This fabric missed the cut when I documented my fabric stach, but I figured that the reason was because it was actually a few remnants of fabric, and I didn't bother with remnants. I did a quick clean up this morning before I had a visitor, and look what I found under a pile of T-shirts that are waiting (very patiently) in my studio to be made into a T-shirt quilt!

I bought some books

On my list of goals for the year ahead I had listed a couple of books that I wanted to buy so I can try out some new stuff.

This morning I had an appointment in the city, so after that, I ran a few errands, and thought I'd pop into Kinokuniya Books before I went home. It can't hurt to look at a few books, right? What I was actually looking for was Drape Drape 2. I've already made my version of a dress from this book, but wanted to try some more from it, inspired in part by Meggipeg, who I have watched working her way through the Drape Drape books.

I had a look through the sample copies of Drape Drape 2 and 3 (they didn't have a copy of the first one available to flick through), and then my attention was caught by Pattern Magic. Back on the shelf went Drape Drape 2, as I decided that I would get more use from Pattern Magic.

Five minutes later with Draping for Apparel Design in hand as well (that one was a definite from my list), and I was out the door!

Sewing Machine Review - Janome 1600P

Hands up who reads sew mama sew? I must admit that I only follow this website via facebook, so at times it's pretty hit and miss what I actually see. I did however, come across a post recently about reviewing your sewing machine. What a great idea to have a group of owner reviews all in the one place! So here it is, the first of my reviews on my pride and joy - a Janome 1600P sewing machine.

Did Someone Say Ice Cream?

Spring is officially here! The last week of winter here in Sydney felt decidedly summer-ish, with temperatures in the high 20's. With a winter that warm, I don't even want to think about how warm our upcoming summer will be!

With the weather warming up, I intend to give my new ice cream maker a thorough work out. Do you remember last year when I was lamenting what to do with egg yolks when I was making macarons most weekends? Well, I haven't actually made any macarons at all so far this year (something that will be remedied sooner or later), and now my freezer is filling up with egg whites. A few weeks ago I made 2 different batches of friands in an effort to clear them out, but after this latest ice cream adventure, I'm right back where I started, with about 23 (yes, you read right - 23!) egg whites in the freezer. So, maybe I've been building up a supply ready to make some macarons, but just haven't gotten around to it yet. Methinks maybe there'll be some more friands coming out of my oven sooner than macarons though.

Cinnamon Ice Cream

Book Week 2013: Hooded Cape

In previous years, my son has come up with an idea for a book week costume about a week before, and expects that I'll be able to whip up something for him. Last year when I said no, he went as the saucepan man, and I wasn't even there for the parade thanks to a quick trip to Melbourne with the husband (Book Week Parade, what Book Week Parade? I'm having too much fun!) The previous year I convinced him to use an existing dress up and go as Robin Hood. I did have time though, to make him a quiver for his arrows (which he was rather impressed with).

This year, I had plenty of notice that he wanted to go as Lief from Deltora Quest. He has been devouring the books, and just in the last few months has read all 3 series from start to finish. Quite an effort for a boy who isn't even 8 years old yet! Thankfully my husband had been borrowing the books from him and reading them too, so he was able to give me a pretty good idea of what we needed for the costume. The boys came home from a walk one day with seven giant gems to use in a belt, and we all went for a trip to Marrickville in search of some fabric for a cloak. We were after something dark, but not plain black, and when we came across this fabric we knew we'd found the perfect fabric. It's a black stretch fabric with sparkly threads all through it.

The Fabric

Rainbow Brite costume

If you've read my previous post on doing a leather jacket refashion, you'll know that I have started to do blog posts on some of my more interesting sewing adventures.

A few weeks ago I received a request that stated:

costume for city to surf

Nothing heavy but would like to know if you can make a Rainbow Brite costume?

"Matrix Jacket" Refashion

Sometimes I get some very interesting requests via my website. For a few of these recently I have asked my clients if I can write a blog post about these somewhat more interesting projects. I recently received one such enquiry from Sheila, asking if I could turn her leather jacket into a skirt. I got quite excited by the prospect of being able to cut someone elses leather jacket into smaller pieces.