Stephanie's Notebook

I made this notebook for my Violin teacher, Stephanie. The cover is removable, so when the notebook is full, it can be replaced.



I went to Spotlight hoping to find some fabric with musical notes on it, so I was pretty pleased when I found this. I have lined it with calico, so that the cover of the notebook cannot be seen through the fabric, as it is pretty thin.

Mum did the embroidery for me. It has a violin in the top left hand corner and Stephanie across the bottom right corner.

I also made it so there were pockets inside the covers.

FIFTIE'S STYLE BIB

This is Liam's bib, I made using the (free) Nicole Mallalieu's Fifties Style Bib pattern from the link over to the right of the page.

Its a pretty good pattern, the photo here doesn't do the bib justice! It has ARM-HOLES!

The fabric is pretty cute too, its got Sheep, Cows, Pigs and Chooks on it. I have some more bias binding in the green and the blue so I can make more bibs the same, yet a bit different.

I had to rush off to Spotlight to get more bias binding to finish this off. The pattern says 2.25m, and I didn't put the pocket on there, so I expected the 2m and a bit I had would be enough. It wasn't.

MUM - THESE BIBS ARE H-U-U-U-GE!

I put in a really good day of sewing today, I got heaps of stuff done. I managed to finish three grow suits, although I have only done the popper studs on one of them.

I also did the bias trim and neckband on two bibs, and I completely made a pair of overalls, including tracing and modifying the pattern. I had to do a last minute dash to Spotlight to get some bias and more poppers so I could finish the overalls. We listened to some Christmas music while I sewed. Liam seems to like the noises in the Crazy Frog music.

I made the green overalls a size bigger than the orange ones, and lengthened them too. I made them a medium size, but the length of the legs was the same as the Extra Large. They have an almost 3cm hem on them, and they fit nicely with the hems rolled up, so he should be able to wear them for awhile. I forgot to add extra to the inside leg seam to allow for the poppers, but there seems to be plenty of room.

I modified the back of the overalls as well. The orange overalls were straight across the back, where these are not. I think I will still change them a bit more for the next pair, I had to cross over the straps a little, and I would like it better if they were not crossed over.

I went looking for some buttons in my stash, and found a really nice one that went really well with these overalls, but there was only one - just like the orange overalls. Paige and I went through the button stash and found these brassy looking ones that we think look nice, so thats what he got. I thought I would have a quick look and see if I could find something for the blue fabric, and once again, found ONE LOVELY BUTTON. I think when I make the blue ones, I might go and buy some buttons to match. I haven't looked to see what matches the red.

Anyway, I had a really good day of sewing (probably the most productive ever), I feel like I have achieved so much! Just need to finish off the poppers on those other two growsuits!

LIAM DISCOVERS HIS TONGUE!

It seems like everytime I take pictures of Liam lately, he feels the need to stick out his tongue!

I point the camera at him, and try and get him to smile. There is a bit of a delay when you take a picture with my cheapo camera, so you kind of have to predict when the smile is going to happen.

So when it looks like a smile is coming, I click... and I see the smile, the screen on my camera goes blank, and then up flashes the picture on the screen, complete with Liam's tongue!

I swear, I never see it until after the photo is taken. He looks so happy though, isn't he cheeky!

UP, UP AND AWAY

LIAM'S STRIPY BODYSUIT

I made this body suit using Kwik Sew Sewing for Baby by Kerstin Martensson.

When I make "grownup clothes" the underarm seam gets sewn before the sleeve hem. When sewing clothes for little people, I sew the hem first, as the sleeve will not fit around the free arm of the sewing machine. The pattern assumes that there are cuffs on the end of the sleeve. In both of these cases it would be okay to just overlock from the end of the sleeve, all the way down to the leg hole. Because the end of the sleeve is already hemmed though, the end of the overlocking is exposed and can come undone. So when I did this one, I pre-sewed the sleeve seam right past the underarm, tapering off near the green stripe. I then overlocked the seam.

I had a bit of trouble deciding what colour to do the cuffs. I plan for this to be worn with red, orange or green overalls, so I was going to match the green, as I could put that with red or orange. There wasn't any suitable green in my stash, so it was being "procrastinated" until I decided - why not do white? It's so obvious, I don't know why I didn't think of it earlier.

With the "Up, Up and Away" bodysuit, I did two popper-studs on each shoulder. This time I only did one on each side. This allows me to attach Liam's dummy clip here if he isn't wearing overalls. Also, he wriggles so much, its a bit of a challenge trying to do up extra poppers! It seams to close quite nicely, it lays nice and flat, and if I change my mind, I can add more studs later.

Anyway, Liam seems pretty happy with his new bodysuit!