Cargo shorts

As mentioned in my previous post I made several Christmas gifts this year including a pair of shorts for my lovely boyfriend. He was very surprised and happy - he keeps telling everyone that I made them and he likes the bright lining I used;)

The pattern came from The Great British Sewing Bee Fashion with Fabric book and it's really good. Everything matched perfectly and I absolutely loved fly-zip instructions. It took couple of minutes to have the zip installed! The only thing I changed in the pattern was cutting one pocket piece from main fabric - the pattern says to cut two out of lining fabric and topstitch a panel made of main fabric at the pocket opening (not sure if it makes sense lol) I also made the cargo pocket smaller but this was an accident. I got the folds wrong and I only realized that when I was about to stitch the pocket flaps. So instead of unpicking and fixing pockets, I just made the flaps smaller. Oh, and I used snap fasteners instead buttons because lazy!

The fabric came from Spotlight - it has unusual greyish purple cotton dill. Unfortunately it is not the best quality and I don't expect the shorts to be very durable. I treat them as a prototype since I couldn't do any fitting during sewing. At Sam's request next versions will have deeper pockets and I'm also considering adding welt pockets on the back. Apparently the shorts have nice cut and are comfortable to wear and that makes me very happy!

Ooops, wonky top-stitching! 

And a proof that the shorts actually fit :)

My first quilt!!!

I made a quilt! And it's not just a quilt but also a wedding gift for my close friend Ola. I've known her for several years now, we met at work and quickly became friends. She and her boyfriend got married in June but unfortunately I couldn't make it to their wedding. Therefore I wanted to make something special for them. A quilt seemed like a good idea.

In search of inspiration I got Australian Patchwork and Quilting magazine (Vol 24 No 4). I really liked simple and modern design called Meadow Tracks by Emma Jean Jensen (and I'd recommend you checking her Instagram account out!) Once I decided that was the one I wanted to make I went shopping :)

Then it was whole lot of cutting, sewing, ironing and trimming... It actually went very smoothly! I'm not going to lie - it's not all even and not all the seams line up but I think I did reasonably well. I used nice and soft flannel for the backing and I used wool batting - it should be nice and warm!

I quilted it alongside the seams. It is really really hard to pull and push all that fabric! It also took a while to bind the quilt - half of it was done by the sewing machine but I sewn half of it by hand. I don't really like hand sewing but I wanted the quilt to have a nice finish.

When I was done I wanted to take lovely photos...  That never happened! It rained constantly for days and I was running out of time as it had to be sent. I took photos inside so the light is terrible and I didn't even have enough room to take a photo of the whole quilt!

Ola received her package and she was really happy with its content. Here is the photo that she sent me and I hope that the quilt will keep them nice and warm in winter!

Dia de los Muertos meets Hello Kitty

A few months ago I took part in a gift exchange with some WSBN ladies. The theme was everything Autumn including celebrations traditionally associated with that season - Halloween and Dia de los Muertos. There were two conditions - the gifts had to be handmade and the cost of materials shouldn't exceed more than $10.

I got to make a gift for Trees and she loves Hello Kitty and everything creepy so it was very easy to decide what I want to make. When looking through my stash of crafty things I found  forgotten soutache braids. I don't think this technique is widely known here in NZ - at least I never came across any soutache jewellery here. Below are examples of my makes. It might seem complicated but it's not. The braids are sewn together and beads and stones added to create beautiful pieces.

I had a "hate phase" creating my Hello Kitty. After I finished the white base I really disliked it and I was even considering to quit. But since I didn't have any other ideas I had no other choice but finish it. After adding the flowers and the bow it finally started looking right and I kept adding beads and embroidery elements. I added a brooch fastening and backed it up with a piece of suede. It's also been sprayed with "weather guard" to protect it from stains and water.

In the end I am happy with the results. And as far as I know Trees liked it and that's the most important thing :)

Christmas gifts

New Year's is probably a good time to show cushion covers I made for my boyfriend's mum and my friend. First set is made using jelly roll in purple and teal.  First one was easy because I just joined stripes together. Second one was more complicated as I wanted squares but it worked out quite well taking into consideration that it was my second ever attempt on patchwork and quilting. I backed it up with grey fabric and added a few buttons. My partner's mum was really happy with them and she keeps showing the off to everyone!

The second set was made for my good friend whom I met during my move to New Zealand. We met at Hong Kong airport and she became part of our family. She is Dutch with Chinese origin which explains the colors I used - orange for the Netherlands and red for good luck according to Chinese culture. And in the middle there are panels of fabric with tui birds on them. I'm quite happy with how they turn out! My friend was happy too and that's what matters the most!
The photos are not the greatest but I took them the last possible minute - I actually finished pulling threads and sewing buttons at work on Christmas Eve! I got all the other gifts sored months before Christmas though so I'm not completely terrible with time management ;)