This shirt has been sitting, half sewn in my 'to do' bag for the past six weeks and I thought I better get it finished before it gets too cool to wear it.  It is a washi tunic from Made By Rae's pattern.  The fabric has been in my fabric stash for ten years.... yes, ten years!  I bought it when I was visiting a friend in Bali just because I liked it.  It has moved from Bali to Warrnambool to North Fitzroy, Abbotsford, North Fitzroy and Box Hill!  It is soft and feminine and I'm glad I finally found a use for it!

The back has pretty shirring across the centre.  I like it. 

 This first piece is a dot painting using the end of a paint brush on white cotton base cloth.

The second piece is a rabbit playdough cutter potato print on cotton sand coloured basecloth.  Blogged here.

The third piece is a dot print using a 'magnadoodle' magnet.  I brushed the paint onto the magnet - you can see the strokes.

My last piece is a peg painting.  It reminds me a bit of Rashida Coleman Hale's washi fabric.

I was excited to try the textile medium pictured above.  I found it at Spotlight and combined it with acrylic paint to create fabric paint.  All my handprinted pieces have been washed since printing and the paints have come up really well.  The textile medium means you can make up any colour you wish.  You mix it a ratio of two parts paint to one part medium, so it goes a long way.  It was $13 per bottle which is a lot more economical than buying a small pot of fabric paint at $9 a pot.

My next installment of the Hanprinted fabric swap will be showing you what I received...I will be eagerly checking the mail box over the next couple of weeks!

For those who have followed my blog in the past couple of weeks, you will have known that my sister Jules and I have been busy making these lovely little flowergirl outfits. My older sister, Jacinta wanted to help too and she made the gorgeous head wreaths from fabric roses, leaves and ribbons.  The ouftits came together so well and all the kids looked so cute. 

Little Juliette overcame her self consciousness and walked down the aisle with Lil.  So sweet.  Lil wore a different dress than was originally planned as she is now expecting.  The other two lovely bridesmaids, Josie and Alicia wore beautiful mint green dresses that matched the flowergirl sashes.

Love.

 

 

I am excited to be included among An's list of guests for her series called Kids' Clothes Belgian Style.  I discovered An's blog, Straightgrain last year while participating in KCWC at Elsie Marley.  I love her creations and have been enjoying her guest series so far.  From what I can glean, Belgian style clothing for kids is colourful, eclectic with a retro/70's vibe.  I am super excited to be part of the series. 

I am also currently collaborating with SewMamaSew on a variation of my Perennial Dress pattern to share in a few weeks time.  If you have used my pattern I would love to hear from you! You can also add any pics to my flickr pool - button is on my sidebar.

 I am taking part in Leslie Keating's handprinted fabric swap for the first time.  Leslie prints beautiful fabrics which she sells.  I have admired her work for a while and have followed her blog since I started mine.  When I saw her post about her annual handprinted fabric swap I excitedly signed up.

It is a three tiered gathered skirt.  I made the pattern up, although there are many around - including one in the Japanese pattern book - Happy Handmade Volume II.  I didn't have access to the book so did some maths and measured up three long rectangles, then gathered and pieced them together.

 

No skirt here, just a this beautiful face.

I took photos along the way while I made this skirt and have worked out the ratio to make this style skirt for any size child or adult.  Would anyone be interested in a little tutorial and the dimensions to make your own?

By the way, I am super excited as we ordered our first digital SLR camera last night on the net and it will be shipped super fast so will be here for my sister's wedding next weekend!! Yay.

Here is her birthday dress washed and ironed today.  I used my pattern again - using size 1 for Emily.  The pockets and sleeves I printed myself with cut up apple and fabric paint on calico.  In training for Leslie Keating's handprinted fabric swap!

Happy Birthday sweet darling!! Emily is on track for walking at my sister's wedding - took her first steps yesterday!

I have been quite prolific this summer and thought since today is the first day of autumn, I should report on my summer 2013 sewing/making list.  I wrote this list at the beginning of January this year and it has been sitting for all to see on my sidebar.

Issie started ballet three weeks ago and I decided to have a go at making her uniform to save some cash.  The shade of lilac I found is not quite the same as the recommended uniform, but Issie's teacher said it doesn't matter, so I should just let it go too and be happy with my creation (I have considered trying to source new fabric and have visited a couple of shops with no luck).  Anyway, the colour of her's is nicer than the muted mauve, so there.

I drafted the leotard shape from a pair of Issie's bathers.  I added the chiffon sleeves.  I saved about $25 by making this leotard myself.  Isabella looks so sweet in this little outfit.  Here are a few pics from her first lesson (the other girls are not yet in uniform). 

Image from here.

My gorgeous sister Buffy (otherwise known as Elizabeth) is getting married in 15 days and my sister Jules and I have volunteered to make seven flowergirl outfits.  Buffy was very easy to please in planning what her seven neices would wear.  I showed her this photo I found on pinterest and she loved it and decided that she would like the girls to wear something very similar.

A sneak peek of the tutus with contrast sashing. 

Until yesterday morning, I was going to make an outfit for myself to wear to Buffy's wedding.  I was lucky enough to be given a sewing mannequin and a bag of fabric from a friend's Mum who was moving house a couple of weeks ago.  Inside the bag of fabric was a piece of silk chantung - torqouise and jade (double sided).  There was just enough to make a strapless, knee length dress.  I had the pattern and washed the fabric to try to remove the lovely napthalene scent (moth balls).  Even after washing and drying all day in the summer sun, the smell was still strong.  Mum doubted whether we would get the smell out, then also realised the colour was almost identical to the dress colour my older sister will be wearing.  So, two good reasons not to go with that idea.  We headed to the shops and I picked up a dress that was massively reduced and is really nice.  Will post some pics of the wedding in a few weeks. 

Image from here.