La Mammina

A knitted "curtain"

Tilly's attempts at saying cardigan come out as "curtain". So here she is in her new curtain. She wasn't really interested in wearing it, so the pictures aren't great. My shirt and pants of a few entries back got a much warmer reception, she even said "Awww, pretty" when I put them on her.

Anyway, the curtain isn't finished yet, it still needs buttons and I need to add the blanket stitch around the bottom of the sleeves.

It's a bit loose fitting, but looks very comfortable, just the sort of thing to snuggle into on a coolish autumn afternoon. Now we just need some of those, we've been going to the beach nearly every afternoon this week. Ah, the joys of living in Sydney.

Here are some close ups:

Talking about labels

Amanda over at SouleMama has been showing off her very cute and efficient new labels. So I thought I would display my very labour intensive ones. I basically just embroider "La M" (La Mammina is far to long!) onto a piece of bias binding. I use these labels for items my Mum and Grandma make for my market stall. I long for the day when my projects will be worthy of these labels. But for now my things are all a bit too wobbly.

Speaking of my projects, I stayed up late last night sewing up my very first knitting project (I'm not counting the little practice swatches I've made, nor the horrid square I didn't manage to pull together for my mum).

It's a cotton cardigan for Tilly which I thought would be good for Autumn weather. I started it at the beginning of Summer and we are now a whole month into Autumn so I thought I had better get a wriggle on.

I'm just applying a blanket stitch to the edges to make it a bit more interesting (it's in garter stitch), and hopefully will have a picture to show some time tomorrow.

Oh, and I find sewing the darn thing together very tedious indeed. Almost enough to put me off the whole knitting caper!

Going back to number 1

I'm going a bit back to front here. But here is my first sewing project.

A roll for my knitting needles. (Hah! Like there are going to be so many!).

Looks alright doesn't it? Even fits the needles...

 

Or does it?

The set of 4 wood and bamboo needles I got on Ebay for $6 do not fit!! But I suppose they are nice enough to be seen peeping out of the top of a jar or vase or something.

Oh, and this post has taken me an hour to do as I was trying to do it while watching Love My Way , an excellent Australian TV drama.

Items 3 and 4

Item 3: Long sleeved linen (I think it's linen, I got it from the remnant bin for $1.50) smock style top, with pink satin bias binding. I'm very pleased with this one. This was the first sleeve I have ever "eased", and while it isn't perfect, it looks pretty good to me. I also improved my bias binding method and am not too dissatisfied with the result.

Item 4: Spotted chocolate brown corduroy pants. Now, I think these were supposed to be extremely simple. But I spent a lot of time unpicking. Especially hemming the legs. I tried to do invisible hems about 3 times before giving up and just sewing it straight. You can barely see the stitching, so I have got over my qualms of having it all perfect.

Here are some shots without the top, to better display the pants. I had to bribe Tilly with a glass of "fairy water" (sparkling mineral water), otherwise she wouldn't pose for the photo.

The sitting shot features a Wee Wonderfuls pointy kitty that was made for Tilly by a friend who I introduced to the wonderful world of blogs.

Tilly's new clothes

So, I'm starting a blog.
I've been inspired by the amazing craft blogs out there, and I've got to say. I can't do any of that stuff!

I mean it.

When I was a teenager, my Mum made a blanket of 10cm knitted squares. She asked me to do one piddly little square to contribute, and do you think I could? Of course not, but my 16 year old brother made a perfect one.

I am so bad, that when I was living overseas (Italy) I saved up some mending, like sewing on buttons, until my Mum came to visit, so that she could do it. I think the first visit came after 18 months.

But all that has to change.

I'm a stay at home mother now. We are on a single income, so we need to do things economically. (But more than that, I want to infuse some meaning into things, teach Tilly some values, that sort of thing, but I'm sure I'll delve into that in a later post)

I've been given a hand me down sewing machine, so what better place to start than by whipping up some toddler clothes! (Much easier said than done).

It's Autumn now and Tilly who is nearly two, needs a new winter wardrobe. So I have issued myself a challenge. I'm going to make all her clothes for her! Well, I will resort to buying socks and singlets, and maybe a couple of tracksuit-y type things (sewing with stretchy stuff frightens me).

Things are going well, and I have already completed four items. (I'll feature each of the items in upcoming posts - I'm yet to photograph them all)

The painting smock pictured above is number 2. Not very wintery, but seemed pretty easy for a first attempt at sewing. I must admit I blatantly copied this idea from the Tie One On group, which has been a marvelous source of inspiration. And I really have copied the idea, right down to the embroidery, though mine isn't any where near as involved as Rachel's. Also, my application of the bias binding leads a lot to be desired. Hence, no close ups.

I'm very excited as I finished item number 4 tonight. Might have to get Tilly to model it tomorrow so I can post some photos...