Month: September 2009

adult's clothing, crochet, sewing

Embellished tanks

After the almost instant satisfaction of embellishing t-shirts for Clare and Stella I got with the program and did a couple of tank tops for me.

Embellished tanks by you.

Tank tops from K-mart, applique from Aunty Cookie, and crocheted motifs from a pattern by Sarah London.  Both tops good for wearing as they are in summer or for layering in winter.

Aunty Cookie appliqued tank by you.

As soon as Stella saw this one she ran to get her Aunty Cookie t-shirt and Clare’s.  So Jodie, should all three of us wear them at once?

Motif embellished tank by you.

I had a little trouble at first arranging the crocheted motifs so that they wouldn’t accentuate the boobage too much, and I think that this will work.  I love the colour combination!  Now I’m off to write a list of all the sewing projects I need to complete before Christmas – yikes!

by thornberry
craft, crochet, miscellaneous

Icing sugar is way better than playdough

You’ll be pleased to know that while driving to, around, and from Adelaide over the past four days, I managed to do plenty of crochet.  I finished a top for myself!  Here’s a sneak peak, because I haven’t blocked it yet and I think it really needs it.

Galena detail before blocking by you.

I’m also halfway through a tunic top for Clare.  Have hook, will travel!  HUGE thankyou to Mr Thornberry for doing almost all of the driving and allowing me to crochet away happily.

Our trip to visit my in-laws went well.  The kids travelled brilliantly, mostly just chatting, reading, colouring, and mainly looking out the window.  Did I forget to say eating treats?  We tried to stop fairly often for them to have a quick run around.  The Melbourne-Adelaide trip took us ten hours including breaks (and all without a portable DVD player).  Phew!  While in Adelaide we spent all our time with family.  Oma and Opa really enjoyed watching the girls play, and Clare had a brilliant time with my sister-in-law making tiny sculptures from icing sugar.  A bird in a nest on top of a tree:

tree with bird's nest by you.

Some teeny-weeny vegemite sandwiches and ham/cheese/tomato sandwiches:

Icing sugar sandwiches by you.

And Clare’s favourites, Pinky the snail and Orangey the snake.  Both complete with plaited hair, and platters of food for their lunch.

Pinky the snail and Orangey the snake eat lunch by you.

My sister-in-law is an award winning pastry chef and cake decorator, and it was so nice of her to spend so much time with Clare making things!  Stella had a go too – she called it play-dough, but I reckon that icing is way better!  It was a very memorable trip in many, many ways.

by thornberry
fabric stash, Sunday Stash

Sunday Stash #44

Some more fabric from GJs, chosen by Clare for a summer skirt.  Hopefully it won’t stay in the stash for long!

Fairy fabric for Clare - from GJs by you.

I’m going to use the Little Hip Skirts pleated skirt pattern by Favourite Things and alternate the two fabrics around the gores of the skirt.  It’s a great pattern – I reviewed it for Sew, Mama, Sew! a little while back – and should be effective with this pinkness.

Thanks to Tamara for hosting Sunday Stash!

by thornberry
children's clothing, kids clothing, sewing

Ruffle pants

All of a sudden Clare has decided that she wants to wear pants, and that the reason she hadn’t been wearing them was that she didn’t have any that fitted.  For the last three years she has been rejecting pants outright and insisting on skirts and dresses, but all of a sudden it’s MY fault for not providing pants in the right size…hmmm….

Ruffle pants by you.

Luckily for me Clare prefers pants with a simple elasticised waistband.  She finds them more comfortable than a waistband and zip – possibly because she wears them pulled down low under her belly. 

Ruffle pants - back by you.

These were very simple to run up.  The pattern is Portabello Pixie’s Ruffle Pants, and these are the version with the double ruffle.  Clare chose the fabrics from my stash – a Spotlight cotton for the main pants and Amy Butler fabric for the ruffles.  I learned how to use the rolled hem feature on my overlocker for the first time and finished the edges of the ruffles with it.

Ruffle pants in action by you.

I made these in a size 5 for Clare, since she is short like me.  I think the 6 may have been a little better around her bottom, but she says these are comfy as they are.  They took less than two hours to make, include cutting out.  We both love them!  There will be more to come…

by thornberry
craft, sewing

A flag for Opa

In a couple of days time we’ll be heading over to Adelaide to visit my in-laws.  We last saw them at Christmas, and this visit will be a particularly poignant one because my father-in-law has malignant mesothelioma.  My brother-in-law and sister-in-law have been doing a sterling job of looking after Opa and Oma, and suggested that Opa would appreciate a Dutch flag to go on his gofer.

Dutch flag for Opa by you.

Now, you’d reckon that with a fabric stash like mine it wouldn’t be too difficult to make a simple tricoloured flag?  Wrong!  Almost every fabric in my stash is a print.  Lucky for me I had some small solid remnants that Nikki had given me a little while ago that were the perfect colours.  I haven’t got the proportions of the flag quite right – it should be a 2:3 ratio and it’s more like a 2:2.5, but I’ve done it as well as I could.  We hope that it does bring a smile to his face. 

by thornberry
crochet, quilting

A stitch just in time

Talk about leaving things until the last minute!  I completed my offering for Kirsty’s redwork quilt project at a BBQ lunch with friends yesterday, then popped it under her front door on my way home.  Since it was due in today (that makes it sound like a school assignment, doesn’t it) I really did get that last stitch done just in time.

The Quilt Project - Lara by you.

The central motif and the four little ones were completed weeks ago, but I had trouble deciding how to attach them and whether to add anything else to my square.  In the end I kept things simple, and some lazy daisies and french knots later all was finished.

The Quilt Project - Lara by you.

I am thrilled to have been part of The Quilt Project.  Kirsty really is all about community – her local community, her school community, community of friends and family, and her crafty community both “in real life” and online.  This has been a wonderful collaborative project and I’m really looking forward to seeing the rest of the squares.  Mine is very simple and basic compared to much of the beautiful work that is already in the flickr pool but I figure that it might set some of them off even more.

The Quilt Project - Lara by you.

And if you’ve been playing Kirsty’s little clickaround journey over the past week, you already know that the answer is COMMUNITY!

by thornberry
fabric stash, Sunday Stash

Sunday Stash #43

The fabric diet has been broken.  I went to GJ’s with Clare on Friday to get some shiny and sparkly material to make her a dress to wear to a disco party.  The remnant tables were full – and I love a remnant table!  Some more stretch fabrics to become clothes for me (with scissors included in the photos for scale):

IMG_0329 by you.

IMG_0331 by you.

IMG_0330 by you.

and this amazing broadcloth that I have no idea what to do with but I loved it.  The pattern is huge and goes right across the fabric width.  Pity I didn’t iron it before taking the photo.

IMG_0332 by you.

Thanks to Tamara for hosting Sunday Stash. 

by thornberry
craft, crochet, knitting, miscellaneous

Tree jumper

During the last term a number of the kids at Clare’s primary school learned to knit.  The library staff hit upon the idea of making a jumper for a tree as great way for interested students to learn a new skill and to create a collaborative art installation.  A number of parents helped out with teaching the kids, donating yarn and knitting needles, and donating strips of knitting to add to the tree’s jumper.  Of course, I contributed some crochet.

Tree jumper by you.

The tree is proudly wearing its jumper in the front yard, and the students love it.  Participants were awarded knitting certificates for learning the basic stitch.  They did so well!

by thornberry
crochet, vintage crochet

Vintage crochet Friday #36

You’ve all seen the crocheted dress that Cate Blanchett wore recently, haven’t you?  My initial reaction was “wow, crochet on the red carpet – that’s cool”.  And I still think crochet on the red carpet is extremely cool – but maybe not that particular dress.  As you know, I love crochet, I love the granny square, I love vintage crochet, and I also love Cate.  Part of me loves this dress – part of me loathes it.  Is it doing crocheted clothing a disservice or celebrating it?  Your thoughts?

And that leads me to today’s Vintage crochet Friday photo.

IMG_0313 by you.

Made from square motifs, and appropriately worn as a beach cover-up.  Don’t you think that they look like me and Clare?  What do you reckon – should we?  And maybe a mini version for Stella?

by thornberry
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