January 29, 2010
It’s almost impossible to believe that Mum’s been gone for 6 years now.
Memories are all we have left to remind us of the beautiful, wonderful woman who was and will always be my Mum.
I love you Mum.
Lx
Of course Mum made the dresses – and look at that sock and sandle combo on Adam!!
January 29, 2010
It was my brother’s birthday earlier this month, and what do you buy for guys in their late 30s???
He has a black leather couch with daggy cushions, so I thought a couple of tram banners from here would do the trick.
Made a late night trip to Ikea (did you know they’re open till 9pm Mon-Fri?!) for some of my fave feather inserts and some basic black for the backs.
They’re just simple button backs, and I know they’re a little overstuffed (yikes!) but the next size down was too small. Really I should have made a border to go around the banner to enlarge the front, but I was trying to keep it simple…
He liked them, and that’s what counts.
Lachlan did too – and the coordination was purely coincidential!
January 26, 2010
why do I always think the night before we go away is the time to just whip up a few things to take with us?
They look much nicer without the t-shirts underneath, but it was cold and they wanted to wear them…
It was Matilda’s 2nd birthday on the first day of our holiday, so this will be her birthday dress. We had cake and candles, of course! but will have an official party for her in early Feb.
The kids and their friends all had a lovely time at the beach. The front beach along the Mornington Peninsula is so great for little ones who can potter around in the shallows for hours.
I’m loving Amelia’s beach hair, but can tell you the knots were near impossible.
I finished this dress a few days before we left. The fabric is a stretch woven that I took full advantage of – the dress has no zip or fastenings.
The pattern was cobbled together from a skirt and shirt pattern and a few rounds of fittings to extend darts and generally fit to my shape. If I was to make it again I’d do a little pattern making to pinch out some of the excess at the midpoint of the front armhole, but now I’m getting picky!
The frill around the neck and right down the centre front was made using the gathering function on my overlocker, and I passed it through 3 times. Then used the rolled hem (3 thread). Played quite a bit with colour of thread before coming up with this. It looks like an obvious choice now, but I first tried pink, and white before settling on this stone. I’m especially happy as I have a stone puffy sleeve cardigan that looks lovely over the top. (same as the red one I’m wearing above)
And I promise not to EVER do the mother and daughter dress thing. I just loved the fabric!
I’ve got a number of things cut and ready to sew, and have just remembered that Amelia needs a blanket to take for kinder sleeps on her long day! oops!
I’ve also been very busy on the diy front. Lots of painting – 2nd coat in the bathroom, lots of touch ups and today I’ll be out painting posts for our new deck!! I’ve also prepped exterior windows onto the deck to take a fresh coat of my favourtie White Watsonia, as I begin to banish forever the multitude of greens from outside our home.
Happy Australia Day!
Lx
January 9, 2010
This was the corner of my dining room this morning. The previous owner said there was a gas heater built into this space, and the cardboard you can see at the back covers I don’t know what! I’ve always had plans for this space, maybe some custom doors….
Most of the front of our house is timber lined. We had a LOT of timber furniture from our old house, and I feel like I’m suffering a slow death by timber poisoning. If I had my way, I’d paint everything white, but my husband has stated that’s grounds for divorce, so now I’m looking for other ways to introduce pattern and colour into all of the rooms.
After deciding to make Nana curtains for this corner (simple panels threaded onto rubber coated stretch wire) I found some fabric online, and just haven’t got around to ordering. (same place as fabric for my pool cushions in earlier post) but I was shopping this morning and found a fabric I couldn’t refuse! I love the whole French Provincial look, and interior design purists, please look away, crossed with a little Hamptons and maybe a bit of Pimlico. Minimal colour palette, traditional prints, heavy curtains and lots of timber.
For such a small amount of effort I’m really pleased with the result! It will stop the dust, hide the ugliness, and introduces new pattern to the room. I’ll now just have to do a bit of cleaning. The vase is actually silver!! And I’ll get a taller branchy/twiggy assortment for the newly cleaned vase. Let’s see how long that takes!
I only gathered 1.5 times to allow the print to show. Make sure if you do anything like this you allow for pattern repeat. It was easily marked on the side of this fabric.
oh dear, forgot to take a photo with the Nana curtains OPEN! I made two panels and you just slide open from the centre.
Distracted today. I was supposed to be sewing a top for myself. Maybe tonight!
Lx
January 7, 2010
Here is the second top for my friend. I must say that this one was hard to give away. Might have to make one of these for myself.
Again, very time consuming. Pellon (to make the fabrics iron-on), design positioning, stitching…. and then making the top. I hope she likes it!
I’ve cut a third for my friend Jo (very cool food blog, currently on hiatus thanks to internet provider and moving house). It’s black and uses more of the green flowers from the same Liberty print. It’s already ironed on and waiting for the machines.
Had another great shop at Super Cheap Fabrics in Carnegie. Lots of holiday clothes for me and the girls:)
January 6, 2010
Oh I do love Lonny. Issue 2 is every bit as good as the launch, and after several days of pouring over the whole 175 pages, I’m hanging out for Issue 3.
Awesome Lonny!
January 5, 2010
I was asked to make two tops for a school mum. After agreeing on colours and choosing the Liberty print, she gave me free reign design wise. I much prefer to work this way, but it does come with it’s share of anxiety as I sit at the machine wondering if she’ll like it.
I always like to try things on to check fit and drape, even if it’s not my size. This is a medium with extra length.
Making and attaching the frills was far more time consuming than making the entire top. I also did a few hours of patternmaking (becuase I’m sooooo slow and didn’t pay enough attention in my pattermaking classes 15 years ago!)
This is the 2 thread rolled hem on my new overlocker. I’m really pleased with how easy it is to set up the machine for rolled hems, but am becoming more frustrated each time I use the overlocker for general use as the stitch just doesn’t look right. It always needs adjustment, and the instruction book is HOPELESS!!!!!! (I’ve censored for profanity) I’ve noticed other overlockers come with a DVD, in this not even the 4 threads are colour coded! I’ve spent plenty of time online but haven’t found anything useful. Actually considering paying for instruction!! Yikes!
I’ve got another top for this friend, more of an applique version that’s become a bit of a trademark for me. Should be finished tonight.
If I calculated an hourly rate, I’d never do this again, but we all know that’s not why we sew!
Lx
December 23, 2009
December 17, 2009
Have I mentioned before that I’m the handyperson at our place?
Our toolkit leaves a bit to be desired. I have a cordless drill I’m pretty happy with and was very disappointed when I missed out on the Aldi saw and mitre box set. I’d love to have a wander around Bunnings and buy some more gadgets. (a stud finder and laser guide. hmmmm)
So sometimes flatpack can be a challenge. We can do Ikea, but when the instructions come from China, label all of the parts A-N, and then don’t refer to several of them in the diagrams, you have to start making it up as you go. OK, so it didn’t take us all night, but I would’ve thought someone at the place we bought them from might have tried to put one together and then updated the instructions. That said, they were cheap, and I’m happy! (sorry, I went to attach link and it would appear they’ve sold out)
Now the chairs need a few finishing touches. 2 cushions, 1 husband or girlfriend and kids in the pool. I’ve found my summer seat.
These are the fabrics I’ve chosen for front/back, from here. It’s hard to find good outdoor fabrics, and lets face it, a fabric that’s water/stain resistant and can stand up to outdoor use is good in pretty much any room I have!
I LOVE these Lotus pods. To put them out I had to clear the top of this dresser that had months of accumulated painting rigmarole, and all of these frames along with nails, command strips and a hammer. They say flowers can do a lot of things for you. My husband didn’t realise they could clean!
No sewing today. Still have more days than gifts, so we’re not at panic stations yet….
Mary, stop lurking and post a comment 
December 15, 2009
Here at Dear Molly we (well, I) firmly believe the only place for ice-cream is in a bowl.
The vanilla ice-cream colour my house was painted in top-to-toe and inside out has me thinking more magnolia than cream, and as such, it’s being painted over room by room.
We’re having a mini-reno done in January, involving a new deck, pool fencing and some windows replaced with a set of bi-fold doors. This has been a major project of mine for several months now, as I’ve organised the plans, permits, quotes and large items like the doors and fencing. The doors will be white. I’d love to paint the whole back family/dining room, but I don’t want to over commit and have a half-finished job over summer. My compromise (that I secretly think might be palatable for a length of time) is to paint all of the woodwork first.
So, I thought I’d start in the powder room. Above the trims are in vanilla ice-cream gloss, walls in vanilla ice-cream matt.
Here is the window after one coat. I might even grow to like the contrast.
Ceiling will be painted white too (but after I finish my dresses for xmas)
This shows the contrast better.
We are assembling my Cape Cod chairs tonight. I opened boxes to do this at nap time today, but when the instructions recommended in bold caps that 2 people assemble the chairs, I closed the boxes and decided to wait. Instead I made my little Lack table to match.
Pics tomorrow!
