Stash Avalanche

Summer tunics

Ok, so it's November and I'm only just getting round to putting photos and text together but better late than never.

This year I used an ancient Prima pattern and apart from some hilariously placed bust darts it went really well. I've previously blogged about tunic #1 - a sleeveless dress - and the plan was to make a second tunic, this time with sleeves, and hopefully resolve the dart issue. Which I did, so here is the dress, now dyed my favourite shade of Dylon, and the tunic-tunic which fits fine but colourwise is a failure.

The photos were all taken rather hurridly in fading light so apologies - they're not fantastic but hopefully you'll get the idea.

I had an idea for a really rich dark purple but the Dylon purple is too teenage-6th form-hippie for me so I will over dye it with blue next time I'm dyeing and see how that turns out, otherwise it's for the Oxfam bag.

Once I'd made those two I felt like I'd finally found a pattern I was happy with, so three more quickly appeared. Sleeveless, because it was summer, and therefore really quick to make. The first one was made from a print muslin that I was oggling over in my LFS. It's pretty sheer and needs a nude bra but I wore it loads. In fact I wore all three of these loads - my usualy summer staple, the jersey vest top, hardly got a look in.

The neck facing is a white cotton lawn. I was a bit afraid that it would be too white (because the muslin is so light) but it doesn't make a noticible amount of difference when it's on.

I also used white lawn for the facing of this next one, made in a heavily embroidered cotton.

I bought this fabric in Germany a few years ago on a whim because I really love broiderie anglaise but although the fabric looks great, all that embroidery makes it a bit stiff to wear so if I had to have a least favourite of the three, this would be it. But I still wore it lots so it is only 1% awful!

The last was a mild cock-up and recovery. I decided to make the neck notch deeper and it came out far too deep, with seriously illegal amounts of clevage on show. So I put in a false camisole type thingy, and that solved the problem and added a little bit of difference to the other two.

The fabric I used for the 'camisole' has a lovely scalloped edge which was perfect for the job.

I now have my eye on a viscose blend at the LFS that would make a good winter tunic but the way my sewing (and blogging) time is at the moment, it'll probably be high summer before I get round to cutting the thing out!

A quick comment on buttons: I put 'proper' sized buttons on the dress and purple tunic but found that they weighed the neck notch down and pulled it open in a kind of flopsy bunny type of way. I decided that the three sleeveless tunics would just have one very tiny button so that I could close the neck enough to keep them from falling off their hangers; this works much better.

Charlie Tunic #2

Well, today is Day 1 of KCWC but don't get your hopes up, I haven't managed to make a Charlie tunic in an hour.

In fact, I haven't managed to do anything at all on the KCWC front. I got so confused about what I had and hadn't paid the childminder that my hour came and went while I had my nose in the internet banking doodah. And I still have to get Stashlet's bag ready for tomorrow. Foof.

So hopefully I'll do 2 hours tomorrow. Cross your fingers for me.

In the meantime, I realised that I never showed you Charlie #2, despite the fact that I made it in July. July!

It's Bomull and another Ikea fabric - bought a few years ago now - and one you might remember from my Danielle frenzy, and a little jacket for Stashlet. I made the18-24 month size and it fitted perfectly. I reckon we'll get a few autumn wears out of it before it gets too small; Stashlet being a hefty 13kg and 91 cm as of last month! I need to make them longer though; I think a couple of inches would do the trick. I might have even said that for Charlie #1 but that was so long ago...

Anyway, the Charlies I intend to make this week will be the next size up as they will be for going over other long sleeved tops and I want them to see Stashlet through to the spring.

Fingers crossed for an improvement tomorrow...

Autumn KCWC

I have a nice long post on tunics for you but my blasted camera has a cracked display (probably because I can never be bothered to put it in it's case) so I have to send it off to the UK to get it mended.

So in the meantime, here's a mention that Elsie Marley's Kids Clothing Week Challenge is back again. From the 8th to the 14th of October, your challenge is to spend one hour a day making children's clothes, or tracing patterns or cutting fabric or whatever needs doing...

I am going to try to participate (I think I missed the spring one) as I want to make two more Charlie tunics - one with some lovely cotton flannel I got when the Stashlet was still a bump, and a long one with split sides in a lightweight fleece to have as a dressing gown substitute - a bit like that towelling post-swimming tunic thingy I made earlier in the year.

And if that works, I might extend it to a Stash Avalanche Clothing Week Challenge, and get my two studiously avoided WIP-cum-alterations off the top of the sewing machine and into a wearable state... We'll cross fingers on that one.

More catch-up

Foof!

It's crazy busy here at Stash Towers so apologies for another absence. I have loads of tunics to show you - finally a tunic frenzy that I can wear! - and a very belated thank you to post but unfortunately those will all have to wait until next time.

In the meantime, here's the rest of the catch-up from earlier this summer.

Bean bags!

Stashlet has a little play area in the kitchen by the back door and he likes to watch the birds feeding so I thought I'd make him a bean bag to sit on (comfier than a stone floor, even in a big, fat cloth nappy!). The first one turned out rather too big - as you can see, it takes up nearly the whole play mat - so I made a smaller one...

Sorry, not the best of photos...

The big stripey one is 75cm square (which for some reason my imagination saw as about half the size, sigh) and is made from an Ikea cotton that (looking at their website now) seems to have been discontinued. I shall see if I still have the label. The smaller round one is another Ikea fabric, Fredrika. I used the width of the fabric to determine the circumference of the cushion so it's just under 150cm around and 40-something cms in diameter. 

These are both covers, with the actual polystyrene beads in a calico bag. And it's just as well, because the smaller one is already covered in biro and snacky smears!

I'm tempted to put some more beads in both of them, but they were such a pain to fill, that it's not a high priority. You have to do a Kirsty Allsopp and be prepared to get covered in them; they stick to everything, especially when an excited Stashlet jumps on the cushion halfway through filling...

The other thing I did was make an extension to the pushchair hood. It was only when we went looking for a more portable stroller in the spring that I discovered that some pushchairs/buggys/whatever! come with additional segments of hood that you can pull out as a sunshade. Wish I'd known that this time last year!

Anyway, this one is made from a stiff vilene-type interfacing sandwiched between two cottons. I strengthened the outer edge with a double strip of boning, and hand stitched it to the existing hood using a cotton tape to act as a kind of hinge.

 

There. That's a better photo of the fabric.

I was going to ask Mr G to help me sew it on by machine - him supporting it as I went round using a zip foot - but in the end the hand stitching worked out fine.

I can't say it's 100% successful, because it doesn't fold back under the existing hood very neatly, but it does the trick.

 

 

The return of the tunic

Way, way back in the pre-Stashlet days, I had a tunic frenzy. I made several tunics and they never managed to fit properly, which was really disappointing.

But, after more than a year off, I seem to have got my tunic mojo back. Hurrah! because I really like the idea of simple pull-over tops that are not blouses or t-shirts.

One of the many tunic patterns I have lounging around in my pattern box is a version from the May 2009 Prima magazine, and I thought I might give that a go with some trusty Ikea Bomull. By the way, have you noticed that the quality of Bomull has gone down? Ikea, what are you thinking?

My perennial problem with all the previous tunics was fit across the back. Prima's tunic comes in two versions, one with sleeves and one without, so naturally I made the one without. Now there's logic for you (er...). I also decided to make it dress length having been inspired by the lovely, simple A-line dresses that Harmony and Rosie keep coming up with.

Unhemmed, but what the hell. Let's live dangerously once in a while.

Having still not got rid of my pregnancy flab, I made the size 18 (oh, how I cringe to type that) and it is a perfect fit. Except.....

The bust darts. At least it's not the fit across the back. Do I have serious boob droop or is the pattern being a little over ambitious in the pert department?

Those little safety pins mark my point of bust. That's 4.5cm lower than Prima's. Which is quite a lot, even in a new M&S bra.

So.

Well, I like this dress despite the dart issue so I unpicked the dart and moved the pointed end down to my point of bust.

Clearly this is not ideal, and I plan to make a second trial and add 4.5cm in directly below the armhole across the complete width of the dress, but I plan to dye this a very dark blue or purple so I am sort of hoping that the rather strange dart won't be too obvious. If you're reading this and going Noooooooo!, please let me know, I woudl prefer not to look a complete idiot if you think it is going to be that bad.

I'll get back to you on this, a. when I've dyed this version, and b. when I've made the second, lengthened-under-the-armhole version.

 

 

 

Towelling post-swimming robe-tunic-thingy

Now there's a title that just rolls of the tongue.

We're going to go swimming.

I've been holding off on this on principle because I think the idea of having to wear a hat so that my hair doesn't clog the pool drain is absolutely ridiculous (one of those only-in-Ireland type things...), but Stashlet's love of water has finally won through so we're going to a parent and baby session tomorrow.

Babies get cold easily once they're out of the water, so inspired by Dana,  I thought I'd make a little towelling robe to cosy him up in once he's out of the pool. The original idea was to made an open fronted dressing gown type robe with a tie belt, but this metamorphosed into a tunic as Stashlet is not walking by himself yet and I felt that something with a closed front would work better.

Yet again, it's an Ikea repurposing. Three Nackten guest towels (30x50cm, and ridiculously cheap which probably means I'm supporting Taiwanese child labour or something); one for the back, one for the front, one cut in half and tapered a bit for the sleeves, and a bit of Kaffe Fassett bias binding that I made back in the days when I had time for such luxuries.

It looks quite a slim fit but with no nappy on, Stashlet is  a bit of a bean pole so I think it will fit him for a while (by which I mean at least this summer, fingers crossed).

You could easily make it with thicker towelling (the Nackten towelling is quite thin) or with bigger towels for larger kids. Bearing in mind the neck opening size experience I had with the Charlie tunic, I made this one a good couple of inches longer so there is plenty of roomto get in and out easily, and no need to fight with a wet and wriggling baby.

More posts on the way, I've been having a productive week...

Charlie Tunic #1

Finally! Here's a photo of the Charlie Tunic that I made so long ago that I can't remember when it was (Christmas?).

I think I have bored you on several occasions about how much I love this tunic, and Stashlet is finally able to wear his very own. And because I decided a while ago not to post anymore photos of the Wee Wriggle Monster himself*, you'll have to take my word for it but my god, does he look CUTE.

It's made from Bomull of course, and the facing is a bit of Timeless Treasures that I got a fat quarter of at one of the Dublin Knitting and Stitch Shows. There will definitely be more in the pipeline, subject to the following sewing notes...

• I made the 18mo-2yr size and it only just fits him. So much for saving this top till the summer
• The neck opening is barely able to go over Stashlet's head so I will add an inch more to the slit in future versions
• The pattern instructions have you put the sleeves on before attaching the yoke. I found this made things rather akward and will put the yoke on first next time
• There is a very narrow seam allowance on the facing (¼") which was a real fiddle to turn under neatly especially on the inside curves so I might try a wider seam allowance or a bit of Bondaweb next time
• I might try one in cotton jersey if I can find the new twin machine needles that I put somewhere so safe that I now can't find them (grumble)

space

*I hummed and haa-ed about this for quite a while and the more I thought about it, the more I felt that Stashlet has as much right to his privacy as any bigger person, and that posting personal photos can become a slippery slope into revealing everything about one's family life. I know of one blog (and there are probably countless others) where the blogger practially posts her address and phone number, and yes, that's extreme but it's not something I'd do in real life so why think the internet is any safer or respectful.

A trio of trousers

Well, I finally got my act together and finished the knitted trousers I started all the way back in October.

At first they seemed to take ages to show any progress and then suddenly it was a case of oh blimey, I'd better cast off! I tried knitting them in the round (as the original pattern intends) but three colours of yarn on 5 dpns was just too much fiddle - needles falling out, yarns all tangled... So I knitted the whole thing flat and sewed it together afterwards with no regrets.

The yarn is Sidar Recycled which is a lovely soft cotton DK. I used Clay, Demin Wash and Canvas, and all the colours are slightly muted and washed out looking which really goes with the softness of the yarn.

Had I realised however, I would have used something more mercerised because I don't know how much crawling on one knee they will take before they wear thin (the green ones my mother  has knitted seem to be much more robust). It is a lovely yarn though- although it tends to split a bit - and I will definitely be using it for other projects, just not ones that involve knees sliding on the floor.

These were made just after Christmas and are from Butterick 5092 (which looks like it's been discontinued). They're a pretty baggy fit even with a cloth nappy but I suppose that's better than being too tight to wriggle in. The beige outer fabric is from Ikea and the same stuff I used to make these trousers, and the lining (which doesn't come as part of the pattern) is a white flannelette which I dyed with Dylon Tulip Red. Unfortunately it came out more of a dark pink than the red I was after, but as will only show on the turn-up I can live with it.

I did a bit of zigzag embroidery on a back pocket for bottom interest.

And finally another pair of overalls from the Jackie Clarke pattern, made with a lining for the first time.

The lining is more of the red/dark pink dyed flannelette, and I used an remnant of Ikea's Berta Ruta fabric that waved at me the last time I was there. I find with trousers you can get away without a popper crotch fastening for nappy changing, but with overalls it is just too much fuss taking them on and off completely so I put in some of the snaps I got last year. The pattern calls for poppers that come ready attached to a tape which you just sew in, but I have only found this stuff with poppers about 6" apart (so useless for baby clothes) and about €15 per metre which is astoundingly expensive.

Oh and remember how I said I would definitely be making a Charlie tunic for KCWC? Well, I finished that last night (talk about catching up) so I'll take some photos of it and try to post them later in the week.

KCWC achievements

Well, it's been a very mixed week as far as the Kids Clothing Week Challenge goes. I was really hoping to have at least one thing finished but things conspired against me, so I am feeling a bit grumpy with the world.

Anyway...

First up is a little fleece jacket.

As with most of the tops I've made for Baby Stash so far, this one is based on Jackie Clark's Cute as a Button Baby Jacket. I'm not a fan of the sleeve-body all in one construction though so I cut a raglan sleeve and turned the rather large neck hole into a funnel neck.

I'm going to put in a chunky zip - this is my holdup because I can't seem to get one here that's short enough. I have one newly discovered habadashery shop in central Dublin to try, but they don't seem to answer the phone so if they're not in tomorrow, I'll be off to eBay. Once that's in I can turn back the navy bindings and finish the hem.

Second is a pair of overalls.

The colour is far too bright in this photo but I was in a bit of a hurry to get this posted. A more accurate colour next time hopefully.

These are based on another Jackie Clark pattern, this time her Baby Overalls. I've made them before (can't remember if I've blogged about them though) and they're nice and simple to make. I don't line them so they need facings, and this time I made leg seam facings too (previously I've put on a placket). They still need hemming  (something somewhere has gone wrong with the leg length so I'll need to fiddle about with them a bit) and the poppers putting on.

The fabric is red Vendela velvet from Ikea and the facing is a navy gingham. I've also got some in brown but I can't decide whether to make another pair of overalls or a pair of trousers with that.

And thirdly, a pair of knitted trousers.

These were my what-if-I-can't-see-to-sew-after-the-op standby. They're based on these Kanoko trousers which Stashlet already has a pair of knitted in green cotton by his grandma (which you can see here). The yarn is Sidar Recycled which is a cotton DK. My guage comes out slightly differently to the one on the ball band so I rejigged the pattern a bit to get the right number of stitches.

I knitted the waistband while I was waiting to go in to surgery, and then realised that I'd forgotten to take a circular needle with me (you knit the waistband 'open' and then the body in the round) so I had to stop there. But when I got home and tried the circular needle it was too long, then I tried double pointed needles but despit using five, the sitiches kept falling off so I was back to normal needles and not knitting it in the round. This will probably work out better because the colour changes will be less obvious than if I was knitting, in effect, in a spiral.

Because I'm knitting in stripes, I'm just working in stocking stitch rather than the moss stitch and garter stitch pattern of the original. I think the pattern would be somewhat lost in the colours. My mother said this took her longer than expected so I'm looking at this as a medium term, in-front-of--the-telly project.

As for the Charlie Tunic that I was dying to make... well, that got as far as tracing the pattern and then I got all engrosed in working out the neck for the fleece jacket and forgot about it!

Anyway, more on all these projects as they get done. Bedtime for me now.

I might end up tearing my hair out but...

... I've signed up for the Kids Clothes Week Challenge over at Elsie Marley, which I found via A life in lists.

The deal is that I/you commit to spending one hour every day for 7 days making kids clothing. It's set for the second week in October (the 10th to the 17th), so plenty of time to mull over what to make. Then you post your creations on the Flickr site and feel the warm glow of achievement, which, believe me, is a bit rare round here these days.

I'm definitely going to make a Charlie tunic (ohmygod! I can't tell you enough how much I love this top!), and if there's time for more, some trousers for next summer (inspired by Ashley's trousers for Max). Knitting and crocheting is also allowed, so there might be some of that going on too, seeing as I've got a bit of a thing going on with my knitting needles at the moment.