Combatting the cold.

It may be May, but it is getting COLD!  According to my weather app it was 3degC this morning (that's 37.4F)  Real Feel (ie, with wind chill taken into account) it was -6C.  21.2F.  I am not a fan of the cold AT ALL!  I prefer to wear layers of lighter weight clothes rather than a few thick or bulky layers, and I needed (as one does) some long sleeved tops which look nice, and can take a merino thermal underneath.  I like a bit of interest as I often wear open cardigans.

Enter the HotPatterns 3 Graces top.  I have made it before, sleeveless, and really liked it, so decided to make it again, this time with sleeves. (I'm wearing a long sleeved merino thermal under this, and I am toasty warm.)

I'm really pleased with this top.  I got it all done in one morning from cutting to finishing.  (It helped that I had the pattern traced and altered to fit already.)  Although I did almost go insane trying to find a SM needle which would work - everything caused skipped stitches, one or two didn't catch a single stitch!  In the end a slightly used microtex size 60 worked perfectly. Which was just as well because I didn't have anything else to try in any type, size or condition. And I even managed to work out the draped bit without having to refer to my previous version, or Trudy's Youtube video.

I really like the overly long sleeves, which help prevent draughts when it is FREEZING COLD walking to school.  Which we started as of Friday when the twins did this.

Where did that five years go?

I Demand A Recount!!!

According to the calendar today is the twins' third birthday. It can't be three years since they made their seven-weeks-early entry into the world!

It is incredibly hard to get two three year olds to cooperate for a photo intended to showcase their new clothes.
Isabella's dress is the one I made a couple of months ago and wasn't happy with. Yesterday I suddenly thought that adding godets would provide the needed fullness, and sat up feverishly sewing till after 11.30pm to finish it. It wouldn't have been so late if I hadn't also had to sew a new shirt for Nicholas. He has seen the robot stencil appliques I've put on other things and rather plaintively asked "My ah-but?". So I made him an ah-but shirt of his own. I also made him new trousers. (I only had the hems and elastic to do on those yesterday though). He chose the dragon applique and when shown them yesterday afternoon insisted on putting them on immediately. (The gigantic sweatshirt is the one he wore home from kindy after playing very enthusiastically with the water table).
Just as well I took the pic as soon as he put them on because about 30 minutes later I was reminded that small boys who are not long potty trained shouldn't be put into new trousers which you want them to wear the next day.
I love this stretch corduroy but my overlocker hates it so I had to zig zag the seam allowances. Thank goodness for my walking foot!

So Spring already!

Well ok the past couple of days have been lovely - I wore my new Vionnet dress yesterday and felt a million bucks in it! David concurred ;-)

In a desperate attempt to force the weather to play nice, I made these two dresses for Isabella.
(Although Keely and I are convinced that as soon as she starts thinking about making a warm coat the weather warms up. Start thinking Keely!)

The one above is made from the softest cotton (?) sateen which has been mellowing in the stash for ages since I bought it as a remnant. There wasn't enough to make anything floaty for me or Georgia, so it waited till I had Isabella. Then it popped up and politely requested that I make it into a summery dress for her. Done.

The one below is the result of several design ideas I've had floating around for a while, most notably back wrapped styles and external facings. I saw something somewhere which smacked me in the face and those disparate ideas coalesced and this was the result. The fabrics are quilting cottons from Spotlight, which I found in their remnant bin on Sunday. There was just enough of the pink, if I cut the bodice upside down and put a seam in the bodice at CF. I'm not sure how they'll stand up to wear, but I'm keen to find out. And they cost only $5.40 so I won't be heartbroken if this dress doesn't wear terribly well. The joy of drafting my own patterns is that I can repeat a design any time I like, with alterations as I choose.

The bird stencil is one I got from a library book. (It took aaaaaaaaages to cut from freezer paper, so I was really careful peeling it off to see if it can be reused. I've never heard that stencils can be reused, but I have heard that when used for patterns for quilting and such, freezer paper can be readhered.) I dropped the paintbrush while I was doing it, and there's a small smudge to the left of the image. Can you see it? I was careful not to go near it with the iron while I was heat setting, so it may wash out over time. Too bad if it doesn't!

In the mean time, not a lot else creative has been happening, often because of this guy. This is why we have a kiddie proof gate across our kitchen. (He's not allowed in at all if the oven is on!)

Totally unrehearsed or coached - he just watches us and when allowed in for a snack, copies. The boy is T.R.O.U.B.L.E.

Maybe this would help?

Would you believe that this was his idea as well?

The best way to spend Sunday morning

My kids love playing on my Dad's boat whenever we go and visit my parents, or when it was parked outside our house while I worked on The Cover . And when it was realised, by kids and everyone else, that they had never been out on a boat Dad accused David and I of coming close to child neglect and a trip was rapidly arranged. The twins were left in the expert hands of my Mum while Dad took David, Georgia, Oliver and I for a run. (Cayden was sleeping, in preparation for the all-night networking session he and two friends were having that night!)

Sunday dawned calm and warm with a little patchy cloud. Perfect for a run from Back Beach to the Heads. (Back Beach is just behind Port Chalmers, and the Heads is Taiaroa Head at the mouth of Otago harbour.) We saw seals and even a penguin (well, I didn't because I was putting away the camera, damn it!) albatrosses, shags and all sorts of other neat stuff. The kids took a bit of getting used to the motion of the boat, especially just outside the Heads, where it was a LOT bumpier, but declared it great fun. (And to my profound relief, nobody got seasick!)

I love looking at Dunedin from the water. It is fantastic to live so close to such easily accessible beautiful scenery. (Well, if you have a Dad with a boat. Otherwise you can climb a hill on one side of the harbour and then you can admire the other side and a whole lot further. The walk from Aramoana to Haywards Point or even as far as Murdering Beach is one of my personal favourites.)

I have been sewing, (and I've been discovering the joys of freezer paper stenciling too, hehehe.) But I've had two nights of crap sleep (on top of goodness knows how many patchy ones) thanks to one or other or both twins and today is too gloomy to photograph the pants I made anyway, so a post will have to wait till I can summon a bit of energy!

The vagaries of photography and children.

I don't feature in a lot of photos - I'm almost always the one behind the camera. But as the kids have got older they've been allowed to have a go. Georgia (who is 10) has always been one to rush on ahead without preparing first, so the photos she takes are sometimes blurred or have bits of the subject cut off. However, purely by accident she has taken some absolutely beautiful photos where the blur only adds to the photo. (The one above is currently our computer's desktop, and I absolutely love it. Even though it did force me to notice that my Jalie top is hanging very unattractively and should be taken in if I'm going to keep on wearing it!)

She also took this one of me and the twins playing with duplo. We play with duplo a lot. It's just as well I really like the stuff because every morning they drag out the box. So it's kind of nice to have a photo of something I do so much with them. (Same Jalie top, different day.)

And then I decided that I'd like to photograph pants I made for the twins a couple of weeks ago. I didn't get a snap the first time they wore them because Nicholas - well, let's just say the result required a bit of scrubbing and a soak in Napisan before a trip through the washing machine! So this time I thought I'd try again, but I did it before the big kids (ie, the twin wranglers) got home from school, so it was just me. I should know better.

Isabella is remarkably amenable to being told to go and stand by the window so I can take her picture.

Then Nicholas got in on the act. He wanted Isabella's book. Or cup maybe, despite having his own in his hand!

Being Nicholas he really wanted it. Usually he just wanders over and removes the desired item from her hands, but occasionally she tries to hang onto it. Despite the disparity in their sizes, he is most definitely The Boss. (He looks a LOT shorter than her here, but he has bent knees. Really she's only a little bit taller.)

At this point I finally noticed the drying rack and moved it so I could keep trying for the Perfect Photo. At which point what little cooperation I'd been getting finished.

And shortly after that Nicholas did the same thing in his trousers. He hardly ever squelches out of his nappy, so I can only assume that he was striking a blow for unwilling photographic subjects everywhere! Oh well, next time....

Just for the record, Nicholas' trousers are my own draft in a size 1 with added length, and I just love love love the fit on him. I added a very simple dog embroidery to one leg from one of my Ottobre mags. Isabella's pants I'm less pleased with. They're an Ottobre legging pattern I've used for pants for her before, but since I was using a stretch woven rather than knit I added to the width, and added too much. There is too much fabric around her bum, but there's also growing room in the length, so they may fit better later (although I rather doubt it). I love the leg shape of these, so I might just use the Ottobre pattern on my own draft for her size and see how that works. Isabella of course doesn't care. She's only 22 months old and hasn't realised that Mum made her pants that Make Her Bum Look Big.