Further blogging around

I'm aware that I have been blogging a lot this week, I hope you are not sick of all my ramblings. Incase you are not, I have been rambling on in a couple of other places this week.

Firstly I wrote a review of the lovely Proper Attire Skirt pattern for Sew Hip this month. Look - they actually published it. I felt a strange combination of fear and pride when my copy arrived, I'm really pleased with how it turned out. I made the skirt using Innocent Crush velveteen (really sorry but still no word on when I will be able to stock it) it's lovely stuff but I won't go on about it.

I tried really hard on this skirt. It is a beautiful pattern and I was using equally beautiful fabric to make it. But part way through this pattern I have managed to incorporate a number of interesting adaptations (read: careless mistakes) that I realised really quite late on. AND I was trying so hard to concentrate. At one point when I was trying to figure out how to put the pockets in the kids appeared and started to swarm around me giving the illusion of many more kids than I actually have. I just put my sewing down and admitted that it just wasn't going to happen.

Right towards the end (and I made a toile the same too) I realised that I had sewn the front pleat the wrong way round, it was meant to be inverted. I quite like the way it looks but it annoyed me that I had managed to get it totally wrong. 

I think I also made a size too big and spent a while taking bits of the side seams, it was worth it though for a great fit.

It's a really versatile skirt, just above the knee, but has a lengthen line, if like me, you don't want your knobbly knees on show in the summer. It has pockets, perfect for storing tissues, shells and children's hair bands. This is what I usually have in my pockets.

The second place you can find me this week is on my latest blog post for Boden. I recommend that you read this, not because I think I am terribly interesting, but to enjoy the frank honesty of some of the comments, one of which made me laugh out loud late yestersday, see if you can spot it. It appears that outside the cozy world of my blog where everyone is lovely and kind, different rules apply.

 Boden denim bunting photo from no more disco

I was asked to write something on the theme of recycling and having just made some bunting at home and thinking about the cool bunting that Amy and I saw at the Boden preview made of old jeans, well I wrote about bunting.

I asked Boden to send me some scraps of fabric to make it with and was very excited when a Boden bag arrived with all sorts of different bits of half garments, I particularly liked the mustard apple print.

Together with my recent bunting making for this blog I know have loads of the stuff and am considering starting a party decoration service. I'll let you know when I am taking bookings.

He said he wanted flags...

... so flags it what he got. It's so easy to make, and I had fun choosing the fabrics. I even broke into my cherished stash of fabrics for this one. I'm not sure if you have the same thing, but in my stash of fabrics I have a number of fat quarters that are almost too precious to use.

Almost without exception they are out of print Kokka fabrics and the longer I leave them untouched, the more precious they seem to become. So, I thought that bunting, which we would see everyday, would be perfect for this beloved bird print (I used the green colour way to make this door stop).

Doorstop from Lotta Jansdotter's Simple Sewing

I am fairly sure the instructions didn't include stuffing it quite so zealously

I'm increasingly realising that a print is only as good as it's supporting fabric, be it spots or stripes, so I chose Kiyohara stripes and honeycomb spots to coordinate. I then went and found some really pretty new Michael Miller fabrics for the shop with this in mind (coming soon).

Here they are finished, (like his sister) they only adorn one side of his room, I don't trust my DIY skills sufficiently to not worry about them falling down on him in the night.

These glasses were in his stocking at Christmas and have lost their googly eyes. I have taken to putting them on members of his extensive cuddly toy collective when he is not in the room. My husband caught him with his hands on his hips bent over guffawing at the sight of his lion in spectacles. Proving to me that despite his many experiments to test the limits of my (not very well honed) mothering skills he is actually quite lovely sometimes.