The visitor

Don't mind me.
No please, I insist.
I know I look quite big*.
And close.
But just carry on.
As if I weren't here.
I'll ... uh ... be sitting quietly.
Minding my own business.
Yup, yup, yup.

Hey ... is that a sandwich you're eating?


* 52 centimetres


This post brought to you as part of Blogtoberfest - October's blogging festival.

Shiny

When I spied this thread at Open Drawer, I knew resistance was useless.



I quote from the packaging ...

This thread appears matt grey in ordinary diffuse light but flashes a luminous silver when viewed from the same direction as a light source. It is spectacular in low light or at night.



I wasn't sure why I needed it. Or what I would use it for.

All I knew was: Must. Have. Shiny. Object.

Sometime after the purchase of aforementioned thread, I remembered: I was about to make a coat (Jalie 2680 - Women's City Coat). And as you can see, this baby has a shedload of top-stitching.



Although the pattern instructions don't specifically recommend that said top-stitching should look spectacular in low light or at night ....



... I am sure that top-stitched seams flashing a luminous silver when viewed from the same direction as a light source will be a great asset.



Once I have finished the coat I will be able to go walking at night, secure in the knowledge that I will be visible from miles away.

Look out dear ... what's that in the headlights?
Why I do believe its a princess-seamed coat with wobbly top stitching.

This post brought to you as part of Blogtoberfest - October's blogging festival.

Here's one I prepared earlier

Here is a little girl's skirt that I sewed a while ago*



I love this cute pattern - the "Insa skirt" - by Farbenmix. The design, with layering and ruching, reminds me of a princess skirt. It makes an excellent twirly party skirt.



The pattern is available individually or as part of the book "Sewing Clothes Kids Love" [Langdon & Pollehn, 2010 Creative Publishing International].



I've made this skirt once before using a dreamy pink fairy print, called the Sprites of Tillbrook. Regretably due to a lack of forethought about print placement, I decapitated some of said sprites.



I'm not sure about the wearer, but personally I still haven't recovered.



For this version I stuck with less risky Japanese sashiko stars in indigo and taupe. There's only just so much of a mess you can make with a bunch of stars.

* "A little while ago" may mean "10 months ago"

This post brought to you as part of Blogtoberfest - October's blogging festival.

If you do wot I say ...

I just found this partly-penned gem. Clearly Argy has been putting his new-found writing skills into practice.

As Einstein so famously said, "A little knowledge is a dangerous thing. So is a lot."

I can only guess how this would have ended if Argy knew more words.

The one in which I mentioned the thread once, but I think I got away with it

Oooh ... lookee over here at all the pretty threads.

No, on second thought - if you don't live in Melbourne don't look at the overlocker threads. Quick ... avert your eyes. Pretend you never saw them.

And I'll be sure not to tell you that this little shop also has a wall ... yes a whole wall ... of zippers of every description. And beautiful interfacing for just $6 a metre.

Yep, I'm awfully glad you didn't see all that.


Anh Accessories Supply
407 Victoria Street
Richmond, Victoria
Open Monday - Saturday 9:00am - 5:30pm


This post brought to you as part of Blogtoberfest - October's blogging festival.

A bolt of fabric

Earlier this year, when I made this bed cover as a gift, I learned a number of important things about fabric and bolts.

For example: I learned that you can't waltz into your local purveyor of fine fabrics and request 11 metres of their best. No siree.

Apparently your standard bolt in a patchwork store is liable to hold far less. And you will need to buy shorter pieces of different prints and do something called sewing to join them into a bed cover.

Just between you and I, I've heard that some people do this kind of thing just for fun. Sheesh, it takes all kinds, huh?


Prints by Tanya Whelan for Free Spirit - Delilah collection

But more importantly, I learned that a bolt is actually something your 4-year-old is liable to do whilst you are puzzling (in the aforementioned fabric store) over which prints go together and in what combination and quantity.

Yes, this sort of bolt compels you to run up and down the aisles, with eyes wide and bellowing your child's name like a fishwife.

The sort where other customers are liable to look and think ... Sheesh, it takes all kinds, huh?


This post brought to you as part of Blogtoberfest - October's blogging festival.

From the more-is-more school of thought

A book of temporary tattoos.
A stealthy 4-year-old.
Four matching limbs.

Tatts a lot of body art.

This post brought to you as part of Blogtoberfest - October's blogging festival.

Simplicity 2506 mouse ears

Recently it was "dress as your favourite book character" day at school. For the uninitiated this occassion is also known as send-your-mother-to-the-edge-of-madness-with-some-completely-outlandish-costume-request.

So when Argy announced he wanted to go as "The Gruffalo" with his terrible tusks and terrible claws and terrible teeth in his terrible jaws, I had to do some quick thinking.



"Er yes, wow, that's a great choice" I said, all the while trying to fathom how to construct terrible tusks and teeth. But then a brainwave: "How about the Mouse?" I suggested, hopefully. "Isn't the Mouse the hero of the story?" Argy looked a little uncertain, but agreed.

I swung into action (before he could change his mind) and started rifling through my pattern collection. Mouse, mouse, mouse ... surely there must be something here. Sure enough, I found a pristine Simplicity 2506 - view D included a sort of hood with mouse ears. Excellent.

But my moment of triumph dissipated when I saw the words "Costumes for Toddlers".



Yes, there was no denying it: the pattern envelope clearly showed a bunch of smiling babies modelling the costumes. Bother. I looked back and forth between the pattern and 6-year-old Argy's well-above-average crown circumference. This was going to call for a little ingenuity.

I traced off the hood pattern pieces and then after taking a few flat pattern measurements, decided to employ an alteration technique called the LNA ("Large Noggin Adjustment"). The LNA (which is sometimes also referred in the trade as the "Big Head Spread"), involved slashing and adding extra real estate to all the pattern pieces making up the hood.

With the addition of a couple of darts, the fit was good and I was able to make up a snug mousy hood in brown fleece and beige tricot. I was quite pleased with the result. That is, except for a lingering doubt: when I changed the size of the hood, should I have graded up the mouse ears?

I soon knew the answer. On the morning of "dress as your favourite book character" Argy proudly wore his costume to school. "Hey ... look its a koala" yelled someone.

With my costume-making pride just a little dented, I tried to see the bight side. At least that's next year's costume sorted: Argy can go as Blinky Bill.



This post brought to you as part of Blogtoberfest - October's blogging festival.

/blôgˈtoʊbərˈfest/ (noun)

This poor craft blog. Its suffered months of neglect: no words, no pictures. Some 722 blog posts have been sitting about, gathering dust. The only visitors have been ones with unusual names like Viagra, Toilet Paper, Learn Spanish and Protein Powder (.. granted they do always stop and take the time to leave such thoughtful shopping recommendations).

Anyway, its time to pull up my socks and get writing again (although I am at a loss to explain how socks will help ... unless they are toe socks, because they like, totally help with typing).

To get back into the habit, I'm joining in with the an annual blogging event, Blogtoberfest. So I'll see you again soon .... I'll be the one in the stripey socks.