10 things

• Graham and I celebrated our third wedding anniversary.  We went camping again - and Olivia insisted on doing a photo shoot of us snuggling up on a bench together.  She took close to 400 photos, just by holding the button down on my phone camera and telling us to smile.  There was just one I liked.  We took an anniversary selfie instead, which I am much happier with.  Sorry, Olivia!

 

• The children and I went to Brick Lane, ate pakoras in the sunshine as we wandered around, and came home with a huge bag of bagels for the weekend.

 

• Cam likes his bagels with kippers for breakfast.  I like mine with avocado.

 

• I did my first parkrun in my new running club t-shirt this morning.  Rumours that I chose this club because I find the shade of blue on their shirt particularly pleasing, are entirely false.

• We have a new dishwasher.  It is so quiet, it purrs.
• Olivia sewed herself a top.  This is the first time she has done any dressmaking, and I was so impressed with the results.  She did everything herself, and all I did was explain some unfamiliar terms on the pattern.  The pattern is the Oliver + S Ice Cream Dress/Top, in the age 12 size.  It comes out quite short on her - she is a couple of months shy of turning 12, but is very tall.  She is keen to make another, and add a few centimetres onto the length.

 

• I did some dressmaking too, and made myself a new dress - another Lisette Portfolio dress.  It has a seagull ribbon trim on the hem, which I bought in Whitby, and contrast fabric inside the pockets.  It may be my most favourite dress I've ever made for myself - or it may just be that whatever I've made most recently is my favourite.

 

• I am keen to make more clothes while I am still on my long summer holiday.  Perhaps the Lisette Diplomat Dress, which I have the pattern for, but have not yet made.  Or maybe this Everyday Skirt?
• My sister and her two small girls came for a visit.  The littlest cousin was completely unfazed by the two big teenagers thrusting their cameras at her every time she smiled, did something cute, or moved.

 

• I made 22 raspberry madeleines yesterday afternoon.  There are only five left this afternoon.

    

10 things

•        Olivia lost her Oyster card, which she needs to travel home from school by herself on the tube.  It is the third time she's lost it since the beginning of term.

•        I lost my patience.  "Just. Stop. Losing. Stuff!" I yelled.

•         How do you teach a child to be less scatty and forgetful?  I'm not sure you can.

•         When her replacement card came through I really just wanted to staple it onto her in some way so she won't ever lose it again.  What I actually did was make a long ribbon lanyard to attach it to her school bag instead.  While not completely Olivia-proof, I am hoping it will make it harder to lose again.  Her house keys are already attached to a long ribbon lanyard in her bag.  If she carries on losing things, then eventually everything that is important will be attached to her with ribbons.

•         We are friends again now.  She raided my button jar the other night and made this delicious bracelet.  Her mind is more often on aesthetic pleasures such as ballet, drawing, making and reading, rather than on practical things like Not. Losing. Stuff.

•         I bought a Nike running skirt, after months of the wanties.  I ran for the first time in it yesterday, and loved it.  I hate getting hot when I run, and the knee length running tights I was wearing before were far too hot.  The skirt looks cute, and I feel much faster and more free when I'm wearing it.

•         I made a white chocolate and orange loaf cake from a recipe I found on this blog by Ruby, one of the contestants in this year's Great British Bake Off.  It is utterly divine.

 

•      I am essay writing again.  Paper everywhere, and my head full of statistics and policies and care plans. I am distracting myself by thinking up cakes to bake.

•         When I am not reading NICE Clinical Guidelines, I am reading Bring Up The Bodies by Hilary Mantel, which is amazing but harrowing.  She gave a fascinating interview on Radio 4's Book Club this week.

•         I went to Sweatshop, they measured my feet, analysed my gait and I chose my free pair of running shoes.  They are bright blue.  I love them.

Little wee things

I am beginning the new year by sewing some very tiny little garments for a new baby who is due within the next month. My family are very excited about her impending arrival. I've already made this baby a cosy red kicking bag, and a flower fairy quilt, but I think she still needs more. 

She now has some little bibs - made from my last remaining scraps of Very Hungry Caterpillar fabric, and a favourite Cath Kidston print.

I've been making bibs like this for years.  The pattern comes from the first sewing book I ever bought: Bend the Rules Sewing by Amy Karol.  The bibs are very satisfying to make because you can sew a whole batch of them easily in an evening, and they look so organised and useful stacked up together.  They are backed with soft brushed cotton and have little snaps at the neck to get them on and off easily.

While I had the sewing machine out, I thought I'd use up another precious but tiny piece of leftover fabric by making a wee little skirt - desgined to fit a newborn baby in those very first few weeks.  Because tiny, newborn babies really need pretty skirts.  They do.

I had to rummage around the internet quite a bit to find waist and skirt length measurements for newborns.  In the end two outrageously cute designs which people had put up on their blogs helped me out - this petal skirt, and this jersey ruffle skirt.  I want to make both of these skirts too now, but I only had the very smallest bit of fabric to work with, so I made a simple ribbon-hem A-line skirt with an elastic waist.

It is hard to tell from the photo just how tiny and adorable this little elephant skirt really is.  But the final skirt length is just 18cm - go and look at how small that is on a ruler!

Having been so impatient to meet this new baby for what feels like the longest time, I am now thinking she can stay where she is for a few more weeks so that her auntie can make her some more of these little skirts.  I have just the right amount of red polka-dot cotton for a baby skirt, neatly folded at the side of my desk.  I have a feeling she might also appreciate some cotton skirts in bright, cheerful Kaffe Fassett prints.

In the middle of things

The longer days and brighter sunshine of spring don't translate themselves into an urge to spring clean - they just fill me with enormous energy for making things.  I don't normally like to have multiple projects on the go, because I can end up feeling overwhelmed, but at the moment that doesn't seeem to be a problem.

One legwarmer for O is finished, and the second one is coming along nicely.

These are a fast knit, and I like the colours she has chosen - they remind me of ice cream for some reason.  The combo with the red tights is an adventurous, but typical choice for O, who has no concept of colours clashing or matching - anything goes.  I rather admire that.

My colour preferences are more muted at the moment though.  Yesterday I finished the first of these armwarmers in some delicious Malabrigo yarn which I bought on a trip to Loop at the weekend.

The pattern is the wonderful Toast, found here on Ravelry, with a few small changes of my own.  The second armwarmer is also on the needles, and I am racing to get it finished before this week's walk, which is pencilled in for Friday.  I will end up with almost a whole skein of the yellow left over, and think I may make another calorimetry headband from it.

The third bit of knitting on the go right now (I know - three! very silly) is this facecloth in Debbie Bliss Eco Baby cotton.

I love the cotton (in yet another pastel spring shade), I love the pattern, which is from a library copy of Debbie Bliss's new book The Knitter's Year, and I love the idea of washing my face with a knitted washcloth rather than a tired old flannel.  However, knitting moss stitch is so incredibly slow.  It will be weeks before it is finished.  This trade off means that it will be a while before I replace all the worn-out flannels in my drawer with lovely cotton washcloths - I find moss stitch so beautiful but incredibly frustrating.

There's sewing happening as well as knitting!  Maybe I'm drinking too much coffee at the moment.

Last night I finished these pyjamas for C.

The top is a long sleeved t-shirt from Uniqlo.  Uniqlo don't seem to sell children's clothes here in the UK, but the men's XS size fits 11 year-old C very well.  The bottoms I made myself from a georgously soft checked flannel which I bought at Fabrics Galore last year for a bargain £4 a metre.  I used my favourite Simplicity 3669 pattern, which I've been sewing from for years - they are so simple I can make a pair in about an hour from start to finish.  Even better, the children love to wear them because they fit so nicely and are very comfy.

And then yesterday I received two new Lisette sewing patterns all the way from New York, which had escaped the sting of extra customs charges (very satisfying).  In the same delivery was the new Oliver + S book too.  So today I am cutting out fabric for a top for me, and planning some nephew and niece birthday presents for later in the year as well.  This is a photo of my ironing board, submerged under patterns and fabric, this morning.

The Oliver + S book is a thing of great beauty.  As I suspected, most of the projects are for children younger than mine (really for babies and pre-schoolers, with a few projects also good for children in the first year or two of school), but that's fine by me as I have plenty of small relatives to sew for.  I love the book for having so many good projects for little boys, who often get a raw deal when it comes to handmade love.

The Lisette patterns are lovely - and I think they are good value, even when ordered from America, because each packet has four patterns inside.  I bought these two patterns for the tunic tops, but now I have the patterns I also think I might make this skirt too.  I really like the skirt length and the button tabs at the front.

I am now off to make myself another pot of coffee.  There is spring making to be done - so much more fun than spring cleaning!

Two Clothkits skirts

I finished my week of wardrobe improvements by making two Clothkits skirts, which have been sitting on my shelves ready to make for an embarrasingly long time.

First was this kit for a skirt for me, which my sister gave me last year.  Shame on me.  I wish I hadn't waited so long to make it because it is beautiful, and I know I will wear it constantly this winter.

Yes, more grainy photos - because the light is not good this morning and I am teetering on a chair again.

The skirt is made from a very good quality babycord, in a rich shade of deep purple.  The babycord is lovely to sew with - and behaves so well after the slinkiness of jersey.  The skirt has babycord facings and a beautiful Liberty cotton poplin lining, and it fastens with a zip at the back. 

The best bit about it though is the fit.  I made my usual dress size without spending any time closely checking the exact measurements as I normally would when dressmaking.  And happily my casual enthusiasm did not backfire. 

It fits perfectly on the waist and hips and is exactly the right length.  I wanted it to come just above my knees and because I am very tall I was a little concerned that it may have come out too short.  Although they are easily shortened, there is no way with Clothkits skirts to make them longer, because the cutting lines are pre-printed on them and will show up if you make them longer than they are meant to be.  However, it was not a problem as I made it with the minimum hem possible and it came out exactly right.

Liberty poplin lining with the deep purple babycord - gorgeous

Next up was a skirt for O, who I think has inherited my height and is growing like a weed at the moment.  She loves skirts and is wearing them shorter and shorter as she grows out of everything in her cupboard.  Things were getting indecent, so rather than have any more conversations about what skirt length we agreed was suitable, I thought I should just make her something longer.

Crumpled after being stuffed higgledy-piggledy into her drawer

I made her this doves and cherries skirt, cutting out the age 10 size and adjusting the elastic at the waist to be a bit tighter and fit her properly - she's only just turned 8 and has a 10 year old's height with an 8 year old's waist.  It comes to just below her knees so looks fine now and will still look good (and not too indecent) for another year or two I hope.

The doves and cherries print is charming without being too girly, and again it is made from a very good quality babycord.  Since I bought the kit (last year again - ahem), Clothkits have brought out a purple version which I think I prefer to this blue-green one.  But no matter, because O approves, and it has just the right amount of twirliness to keep an 8 year old happy.

Waistband detail - "very well made in England"

We have a delightfully blank weekend stretching out in front of us, so I am continuing with the sewing (in between cooking up a feast from this fabulous book which O was given for her birthday). 

I have a custom order to make for the shop (very exciting - my first custom order, all the way from Florida!) and more jersey t-shirts to go with both these skirts.  Stay tuned for more outfits next week!

The world's quickest skirt

Normal life got in the way of sewing yesterday, and I didn't get to sit down at my desk until just before 9pm.  The beautiful Clothkits needlecord skirt was still sitting in pieces on my ironing board and I didn't have the energy to deal with zips and facings at that time in the evening.  So completely on the spur of the moment, and with that pile of jersey fabrics from Fabrics Galore still sitting enticingly in a soft pile by my sewing machine I decided I could still make myself a skirt - but a simple jersey one instead.

It is based very loosely on one in the Ottobre Women edition for spring 2010, but in the end heavily modified.  Here's what I did:

• I measured from my waist down to where I wanted the skirt to fall (just fractionally above my knees), and added on 6cm for waistband and hem.  That came to 66cm.
• I cut a piece of jersey 66cm long, across the full width of the fabric, from selvedge to selvedge.
• I stitched the two selvedges of the fabric, right sides together, to create a tube.
• I pressed down 1.5cm towards the wrong side of the fabric at the top of the skirt, and then folded down a further 2.5cm. 
• I stitched down the bottom of this fold (leaving a small gap of about 4cm) to create a channel at the top of the skirt and then threaded through some wide elastic (1.5cm wide), before stitching the elastic together and closing the gap in the channel.
• I pressed under 2cm at the bottom of the skirt and gave it a lettuce hem (again using the Oliver + S tutorial you can find here as I did with my t-shirt the day before).

I remembered to turn off the iron and then went to bed.  The time was about 10:30, so the whole thing had taken barely an hour and a half including measuring, cutting, sewing and finishing.

This morning I took some photos, and was reminded again - as I balanced precariously on a chair in front of the mantelpiece - that I really need to get a full-length mirror.

This sort of simple, elasticated skirt usually only looks good on young girls, and is unflattering for adults with hips and waists because it bunches up and gives a plump, rather frumpy, matronly look.  And that's not a look that I would seek out.  However, the drape in jersey means that it falls beautifully and will skim the waist and hips rather than add (more) bulk where you don't want it.  I hope these photos show that quick, simple skirts are entirely possible for adults - as long as you sew them from jersey.

I am very pleased, and shall now turn off the computer and return to the Clothkits skirt.  Possibly more to show-and-tell tomorrow!

Ten things

• The embroidery hoop is back.  I stitched this lovely little ball of yarn for part of a friend's birthday present.  The pattern is from Sublime Stitching and I just love all her patterns.

• I finished a very good book today.  I started the book yesterday and raced through it in almost one greedy sitting.  The main characters' path to love is close enough to mine and G's to be spooky and slightly confusing.  I was so absorbed in the story that I started to feel that it was our story - just slightly distorted.
• But in the end I realised it wasn't our story at all, and I don't want our ending to be like the book's thank you very much.  So do go and read the book if you haven't already - it is very good.  You must be intrigued enough now!
• I have been revisiting some old, favourite sewing projects and making more of the same.  I've made another bath mat and another letter satchel from Amanda Blake Soule's Handmade Home, and I've made some zip-up pouches from Amy Karol's Bend The Rules Sewing.
• And another project has been revisited.  The beautiful, expensive ribbon that I bought on my trip to Sussex at half-term (and the last time I wrote Ten Things) is now on my denim skirt, and looking very fine indeed.

• It is British Pie Week this week, so go and make yourself a pie!  You know you want to.  I made a very good chicken, celery and leek pie, with a crunchy breadcrumb topping, on Tuesday.
• I've been doing ballet hair again.  I just can't take enough pictures of her like this.

She looks so elegant.

• Helen, over at Angharad Handmade sent me a link to this article about an exhibition of lists which is currently on at The Smithsonian in Washington DC.  I may have to move to Washington DC.  Check out Picasso's list and the wonderful illustrated packing list by Adolf Konrad.
• I made a very chocolately chocolate cake at the weekend.  And I will always love my sister for giving me the recipe.  My sister has many wonderful qualities, but her chocolate-cake-making skills are among some of her finest.

Arctic Mum tagged me for this list.  If you haven't already read her blog, do go and have a look.  I have a cousin who also spends a great deal of time in Norway - working above the arctic circle tracking lynxes - and the photos he emails back, and Arctic Mum's blog, both really make me want to go and explore the country. 

Mind you, not right now.  The temperatures are nicely up here in London, and there are daffs to be admired on the mantelpiece.  It finally feels as though spring has sprung!

Ten things

• All the solo lunch suggestions from the comments on my last post were great.  I am much cheered to learn that I am not the only one who finds lunch at home a bit of a non-event.

• There are some snowdrops in the garden.  Just a few, but enough to make me smile when I squelch through the mud to get the eggs each morning.

• For pancake day I made a batch of little drop pancakes for breakfast.  But remember, just because they're really small, doesn't mean they don't fill you up!
• O has discovered she likes doing embroidery.  Like other parents who love to sew or knit, I have to back off and look nonchalent in order for her to remain enthusiastic. 

•  Tomorrow, C and G are going to hear Jason Bradbury, from the Gadget Show, talk about his Dot Robot books at the Southbank. C is immersed in the first book and loves it - highly recommended for any computer/tech minded pre-teens you know.
• O's quilt is well underway.  I have cut up the 184 four and a half inch squares needed for the sashing around the appliqueed blocks, and started sewing them together.  I wish I got on better with my rotary cutter, but I'm so cack-handed with it that it's quicker for me to use scissors and a plastic template.

• I'm re-reading My Family and Other Animals by Gerald Durrell, for about the four hundredth time.  I dug it out to give it to C to read, and ended up re-reading it myself.  Reading in bed last night I was laughing out loud so much that I woke G up.
• I bought some scarily expensive, but incredibly beautiful, ribbon yesterday.  I am going to re-trim the denim skirt I made at The Make Lounge eighteen months ago.
• This might make me want to make more skirts - I find that the more I sew, the more I want to sew, until my head is bursting with long lists of projects, fabrics, trim, patterns and ideas.  But this is not a bad thing.
• We went to down to Sussex to see friends yesterday.  They took us to the seaside at Birling Gap, and I was exhilarated; filling my lungs with huge breaths of cold sea air.  However, G does not like any weather that I describe as 'bracing' and the toddlers in our party were struggling to stand upright in the wind, so we ended up going for a wander through Seven Sisters Country Park instead, which brought a smile back to G's face.