All about me!

In the Riches and Roses sewing room it is rarely about me. It is usually all about sewing for my children and making kids' items for my etsy store. But a month or so ago I went through my fabric stash and found some fabrics that I wanted to put to use for myself.

Peppermint is an excellent magazine that I love to read when I can find or make the time. Their website has some really great free sewing patterns available with comprehensive instructions. This top that I made is called the Harvest Top (http://peppermintmag.com/other/sewing-school/) and it was easy to make. Just be aware that the size estimate is quite generous and the shoulders can end up quite loose. Mine has needed some adjustment.

This little A-line skirt is still in need of a hook and eye at the waist, but it's as good as done. I based it on one of the many free tutorials that are available online. I love a pattern that is based on measurements and a formula, rather than cutting out a million paper pieces to stick together, so this was perfect. I chose to use bias binding for the waist, but you could use facing instead. I had a new little bias binding tool to try out :)

This little top was super simple and just based on a picture I saw on Pinterest. I'm still a bit nervous about cutting into stretch fabric without a pattern, so I used an old T-shirt as a model and cut a paper pattern off it. It turned out a great fit.

I made a great top (or 2) from a free pattern I found online ages ago at https://blog.colettehq.com/news/free-pattern-to-download-the-sorbetto-top. I decided to play around a bit with the pattern to make a dress out of some red linen fabric I had in my stash and trim it with a Japanese style cotton. I love the result. It was a bit lumpy in the front, so I also made a belt to go with it.

The picture doesn't look like much with the top laying flat, but this top is very sweet and so comfy. I followed the tutorial at http://morningbymorningproductions.blogspot.co.nz/2012/09/gathered-dolman-sleeve-top-tutorial.html and was really happy with the result. The drape is really flattering.

After all of that selfish sewing, it's time to get ready for the upcoming warm weather and make some shorts and skirts for my kids.

Sewing Tutorial: Reversible Chalk Cloth Bunting

We recently had a friends wedding that we weren't able to attend. I still really wanted to send a gift and so we bought them a cute chalkboard that we could personalise with a message, and then they could erase it and use it in their house. Practical, original and fun.

And then I bought this chalk cloth fabric. I've made some portable chalkboard mats for the kids and then I thought that this was a fun idea. Bunting looks so effective and lining it with chalk cloth means that we can reuse it for lots of different occasions.

I started by cutting out triangles of chalk cloth and fabric of the same size, a little larger than how I wanted them to be in the finished product. I also decided to make my own bias binding to string them together, so I had to cut out several long strips of fabric along the bias and feed it through my bias binding maker.

Place cotton and chalk cloth together with wrong sides together. Sew around the perimeter, about 5mm in from the edges. Use pinking shears to cut along the side edges and trim the top edge with normal scissors.

Pin and string together using the bias binding, closing the ends.

Sewing tutorial: Quiet book pages - Bead counter

This is one page I really like to include in my books. Both of my kids love counting and one of their favourite pages in their quiet book is the bead counter. They enjoy moving the beads across, and they also learn their colours by practicing with the beads. It is an easy and effective page.

The starting point for making the page is deciding how wide to make the counter (then cut your thin ribbon in appropriate lengths), to what number to count to (in my larger books, I have include counters that go up to ten), and finally what colours to choose. 

The ribbon I use is very narrow and I do not like to take any chances with safety with beads coming loose, so my first step is to space the ribbons on the page and sew them to the page background. My green felt is about 1.5cm wide, so I sew along the ribbons for about a length of 1cm on one side first. Then I thread my beads on and sew down on the other side to secure the ribbons down and lock the beads in. 

Place the felt lengths over the ribbon ends where you have sewn and pin down. Sew a stitch around the edges. Finally trim off the threads and ribbon ends and your bead counter is done!

Sewing Tutorial: The easiest 10-minute stretch pants for kids

It is March here in Brisbane and the weather should soon be cooling down again after a long and very hot summer. Being such a temperate climate though, it never really gets "cold" here, especially during the day, so some light long pants are perfect for little kids who are always on the move.

Last year I made two pairs of these simple and cute little pantsfor my son and he has worn them more than any other item of clothing he owns! Perfect for active play at the park or at childcare and so comfy for daytime nap time. Best thing is that they are so easy to make.

STEP ONE

If you have used any of my other sewing tutorials, you will know that I like to keep them as simple as possible. For pants, that means they are made out of two pieces of fabric - one for each leg. So take a pair of existing pants/shorts, and your stretch fabric folded in half. Place the side of the pants along the folded edge and cut out one leg, remembering to add in seam allowances for the inner leg, centre and waistband - 1.5cm should be plenty, although for the waistband you will want to leave about 2cm depending on the width of your waist elastic.

You can see pictures on my other pants tutorials that show how this one leg is cut out. There is also a printable pattern on that page for the dinosaur pants, which will work for you if you do not have any good fitting pants to use as a guide.

STEP TWO

Take one of the legs and fold the fabric so that the right sides are together. Sew up along the inner leg to the groin and stop. Then do the same for the other leg.

STEP THREE

Keep your two legs right sides together and join the centres together - front centre and back centre - from the waist down to the groin.

STEP FOUR

The beauty of knit fabric is that it doesn't fray. This means that you're already almost finished! Unless you want a more finished look, you will not need to hem the ankle edges, and the waist band will only need to be folded over once.

So fold the waist band over about 2cm and pin along the seam edge. Sew, leaving a gap of about 2cm. 

STEP FIVE

Measure your child's waist with the elastic you plan to use, pulling it as tight as you would like it to be with the pants on. Cut it off, allowing an extra 2cm for seams and thread it through the waistband. Attach a safety pin to one end and use that to thread it through the band. Sew the two ends of the elastic together until secure, then close off the waistband by sewing the gap closed.

You are now finished! You could vary these by adding pockets or using a tie waist if you like. See my tutorial for adding pockets here.

Too busy sewing to blog...

Life has been busy again and trying to squeeze in some winter sewing to my spare time has left little time for blogging.

I previously made a short sleeved version of this shirt from a cute dinosaur fabric using the pattern found here 

http://www.smalldreamfactory.blogspot.com.au/2011/07/free-pattern-short-sleeve-shirt-size-12.html. This long sleeved version has turned out well, although I found I needed to add to the length of the pattern for it to fit my son.

I made my son a pair of pants out of this fabric last winter and decided to make another this year as they were just so cute. I really get tired of shopping for winter clothing for boys and only having the choice of grey, black and navy blue. We need the bright colours more in winter!

This little dress is made from my toddler pinafore dress pattern, found here in my blog. Adjusted of course to fit my growing girl. I bought this cute bright green and turquoise bird fabric ages ago with such a dress in mind. She loves it, especially the pockets (where her hands now live ;)).

These little pants turned out great. Just a simple pattern cut from an existing pair of pants, but simplified by making the front and back pieces the same (just like in my baby pants pattern on the blog). Trimming with the robot fabric really brightened them up. So cute and so comfy.

I love how being able to sew clothes for my kids really brightens up their wardrobes with unique pieces.  As basic clothes are now so cheap to buy, it's lovely to be able to hand make the more special pieces and you really can save money by doing that yourself.

Works in progress: baby boy shirt, a pretty top for me, birthday party favours...

How cute is this new top of mine?

I used the pattern from here: http://www.coletterie.com/colette-patterns-news/free-pattern-to-download-the-sorbetto-top and was so happy with how it turned out. It's such a lovely flattering fit! If I make another (which I no doubt will), I'll add a little to the length though as it's a little short for me.

And how cute is the birthday boy's new shirt?

I used the pattern and super easy to follow instructions from here: http://www.smalldreamfactory.blogspot.com.au/2011/07/free-pattern-short-sleeve-shirt-size-12.html. He looks SO grown up in it, that it almost makes me a little sad to see him wearing it ;) If you use the same patterns just note that they're a smaller fit than I expected, and if you've got a tall little boy you might like to add some extra inches in the length.

Miss 3 had a lovely birthday last week and loved her birthday bunting so much that it's still hanging in the living room. We had a great little party at the weekend with her other friends who turn 3 this month, and this weekend we have a joint birthday party for her and Mr 1 at home with other friends, where this cute little shirt will be worn (perhaps my new top too) and the bunting will hang as decoration. I'm also working on some crayon roll party favours which I'll share on here next week, a dress for myself and some little pre-walker sandals for Mr 1.

Lesley

Sewing tutorial: Boys Romper (6-12 months/Size 0)

1. Print and cut out the paper pattern pieces, joining symbols and taping pieces together.

2. Place along the fold and cut out two romper pieces and two neck facing pieces.


3. With right sides together, sew the two sides of the romper together down the middle front and middle back. Iron the seams open.








4. Prepare the neck facing. If using a light fabric, you may want to use a light iron on interfacing to make the fabric heavier. With right sides together, sew the top facing pieces together down the middle front and middle back. Overlock or do a zig zag stitch along the bottom edge.

5. Attach the neck facing. Pin onto the romper with right sides together, matching seams. Sew around the top edge to attach the facing to the romper. Trim seams and corners. Turn out the right way and iron flat.

6. Hem the legs. Fold over 0.5cm and iron flat. Fold again another 1 cm and iron flat again. Sew along the top fold to hem.

6. Prepare the inner legs for attaching the snap fasteners. Fold over 0.5cm and iron flat. Pin cotton herringbone tape along insides of the leg openings. Sew close to both edges to fasten the tape to the romper.

 
 7. Attach snap fasteners evenly along the leg openings. For a romper of this size attach up to 8 snap fasteners.

 7. Sew button holes on the back shoulder flaps where marked on the pattern and sew buttons on the front flaps where marked on the pattern.