More curtains

So remember my curtains tutorial here and I mentioned I was planning some roman blinds. Well scrap that, I found an awesome fabric at Ikea reduced by $40 for the bedroom!! I just did simple curtains and let the fabric do the rest!

Don't you just love how the light comes through? Mind you the window faces East and with the sun coming through from 530am I have to say it is a tad bright.

Patch

I recently got asked by a friend of a friend if I was able to embroider some patches that she could sew onto her sons clothes, as he has Autism.

So of course I was happy to oblige and this is what I came up with.

Needless to say she was thrilled with the result. As was I!

New Fabric

I mentioned before heading to Sydney that I would be visiting my favourite fabric store while in the City and that I did!!!!!

I should probably mention I actually have a couple of favourite stores - the one I can afford and the one where I just swoon over the gorgeous imported fabrics from the likes of Armani and Prada!

So here is what I picked up at my favourite store (the one I can afford) - The Remnant Warehouse

The blue and white stripe is a cotton jersey knit and the other 6 are cottons. I am thinking shorts and skirts (including 1 for me). 

I also couldn't go past these fantastic fat quarters especially at only $2 each!

I think they will make some fantastic dummy clips.

Lastly we stopped at Ikea to grab some more glass jars to try and add a bit of organisation to our pantry and I couldn't help myself but to check out what fabrics they had in stock and ended up buying just a couple more :-)

I love how bright the plain cottons are.

Of course I would have loved to have bought sooooooooooo much more, but alas I was reminded that I have more than enough fabric at home hehehe.

So I mentioned I also that I have another favourite store (the one I can't afford) this is Tessuti in Surry Hills. They have other stores around Sydney and also 1 in Melbourne. However, I have only ever gone to the one in Surry Hills!!!!! This is where I buy fabric for special occassions but it is a fantastic store with a gorgeous range!!

Now to get sewing with all my new fabric :D

Sydney Town

So over the weekend we headed to Sydney to see Mary Poppins, and now while we were both a tad disappointed in the show, we had an absolute blast being back in the city.

Now by the sounds of it you would think I rarely go, as opposed to someone who was born and bred there and only left a little over 12 months ago!!!!! But alas, we loved playing tourist. Here is a few pics I took while away.

St Mary's Cathedral

Strand Arcade

Ok, so I use to walk past this door at least 3 times a week for work, and always wanted a picture of it and now I do!!!! I totally love it!!!! I am thinking of putting it on a canvas, your thoughts?

Now what trip to Sydney wouldn't be a complete without a picture of the gorgeous harbour.....umm........ours, we did not venture to the harbour at all (so sad I know cause we had gorgeous weather). So here is a pic of centrepoint tower - as it will always be known to me :)

Birthday!

Just wanted to share this little pic I took and then, shall I say........created, to wish my partner a wonderful birthday!!!! So stoked with how it looks :-)

Yep it is a photo. I promise.

Finally the kids clothes

So I have mentioned a few times about my little business Silly Me! So I thought it was time I shared a few pics with you.

This is only a small sample. I am currently working on some skirts, which are totally adorable (ok so I am a tad bias, but they are cute as I promise!) I also can't wait to head to my favourite fabric store on Friday afternoon in Sydney and stock up on some gorgeous fabics!!

I also need to get some netting as I was given some cute as spot fabric and there are two little dresses that just need to be made!!!!

A Birthday Party

Birthday party day for my partner, which has meant that I have spent the last 2 days cooking and preparing to make this morning a tad easier (must of work since I have time to post this between blowing up balloons)

So what does it take to cater for a 29 year old party. It means taking into account first and for most the following diet restrictions:

1. The "I'm almost a vegan if I could just give up cheese."
2. The newly pregnant.
3. The food allergies (which is me so that is cinch)

The result is:

1 Lasagne from scratch
1 Vegetable pasta bake
40 Sausage rolls
15 Veggie rolls
Carrot sticks
Celery sticks
Cubed cheese
Sliced cabanossi

and one very full fridge. It reminds me of Christmas!!!!!

A very busy morning for sure!!!

Planting the seeds

I decided I am going to plant corn this summer to act a screen across the back fence, but thought I would start them off in seedling pots made from newspaper! Yep, you read right, newspaper! They are great cause you can just plant them paper and all!!!! (I also decided to try toilet roll's and see how they went)

Fingers crossed they grow - 6 to 10 days according to the packet lol. Instructions for the seedling pots can be found here :-)

I planted 2 seeds in each pot so, in theory, at least half should grow! I'm placing good odds on them lol.

New Curtains - Tutorial

Since moving into our new place, we hated the curtains that were in the lounge/dining room, and since we can never find ones we like I went about making our own!

This is what was on the windows. BORING!!!!!!!!!

Now what is on the windows!

So here is how:

First of all measure your windows, this way you know they will fit. Essentially you want the top to be where the curtain rod goes through and the bottom to line up with the bottom of the window architraves or wherever you want the bottom of the curtain to be. I decided to just use the width of natural drill fabric x 2 to make a pair of curtains, as I wanted a slightly gathered look. 

Next pick your colours, I used 6 cotton homespun for the top and bottom and natural drill for the bulk of the curtain.

 

Now for a bit of maths. Take the width of your fabric you are using for each curtain and divide it by the number of colour pieces you are using, in my case 6.  Then add 1cm.  (0.5cm seam allowance) This will give you the size of the square you need to cut out of each coloured fabric 4 times. To make cutting the squares easier I made a simple template out of cardboard.

Still using your maths skills, work out how much of the bulk fabric you need. Taking your measurement of where you want the curtains to end, minus the size of your square then add 1cm. This will be the size of your bulk fabric including a 0.5cm seam allowance.

Cut out your squares and the bulk material.

Sew your squares together. You will end up with 4 sets of sewn squares (One for each top and bottom)

I probably should have ironed it but anywho lol

Sew a small hem on each end.

Now fold the strips in half WRONG sides together and pin it to the RIGHT side of the bulk material. TIP: mark the middle of the bulk fabric and work outwards so they are in the middle :)

Sew the coloured strips onto the bulk material. I used an overlocker/serger to sew them together. If you do not have one just straight stitch and zig zag the edges no biggy.

Repeat with the bottom and the other curtain.

2nd last step (I promise) if the bulk fabric is slightly wider than the coloured strips, hem the sides.

LAST STEP: Hang the curtains, sit back and admire your handwork!

I am now in the planning stage of some roman blinds, in a similar style for the bedroom. Will post when complete also.

New skirt!

As summer is on the way, I thought I should make something for myself for once, so I checked through my stash to see what I had in the way of appropriate 'grown up' fabrics (as most of what I sew is for kids this was a challenge in itself). Anyway, I came across metres and metres of black homespun and decided a black skirt never goes astray.

It is a really simple pattern, I just doubled my waist measurement and using my waist to knee measurement (or in my case more my hip to knee) cut out two huge rectangles. Ok so that probably doesn't make a lot of sense - I will try again. Say your waist measurement is 70cm then you would cut two rectangles of 70cm long x waist to knee measurement (don't forget to add a bit for the casing and hemming).

Yep it felt like I was sewing a tent. Add a simple elastic waist and it was done. The elastic will be about 10cm or so less than your waist measurement, it is trial and error and depends how tight you would like it to be. It really is that simple and took about an hour to make.

Next time I will be definitely adding pockets!!! I am heading to Sydney in a couple of weeks time and will be heading to my favorite fabric store for some supplies and I will definitely grabbing a metre or two for some more skirts for moi!!!

Check out the pasty white 'winter' legs lol!!!!

Slice of Heaven?

Tacky title? Probably, but anyway, yesterday I made this awesome slice full of oaty goodness. It tastes really good and something I will definitely be making again. (As you can see from the pic, I couldn't resist and dove straight it mmmmmmm)

Oh by the way don't test the slice like a cake or you will end up with a nice finger print in yours too!

Slow creating week!

This week has been a little crazy, with my supervising job for the Census finishing up, so I have been finalising all the paperwork, all in meantime applying for more jobs! Alas, though I have managed to make a bean bag stool! It was rather simple in the end, two big circles of fabric 60cm in diameter, one long piece 188cm long and 1 zipper. Fill it with beans and its done. (Ok so it may have been a little more involved, but to be honest, not much more)

It is super comfy and cost only the price of the beans as I had the fabric already! I believe a few more will be on the cards.