Scrap Sunday gone even further

A while ago, I have shown you one or two hats that I have donated to the Vienna based charity Kinderkrebshilfe for their christmas market. Since I did not find that very efficient and in deed rather boring, I decided to force neighbours and friends into donating and accepting a little something made by me to thank them.

This has been so much more fun.

Knickers…

DSC_1204Pattern: Frau Marla by Schnittreif. Fabric: various left overs

Ok, I’ll admit. Half of them were for myself…. Ok, more than half of them.

Hairbands….

DSC_1209Pattern: my own. Fabric: left overs.

A couple of tiny tops…

Pattern: Knopftunika and Knopfshirt from “Babyleicht” by Pauline Dohmen, klimperklein. Fabric: left overs (winter scenery  by Lillestoff)

Slightly bigger tops…

Pattern: Leo by pattydoo. Fabrics: main fabrics all by Lillestoff.

More tops…

Pattern: Paul by pattydoo. Fabrics: Manga girl and boy with seal by Lillestoff, little trucks by Stoffonkel.

Tops for young ladies…

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Pattern: Raglankleid by Klimperklein, Pauline Dohmen. Fabric: accidentally bought elephants…

DSC_1219Pattern: Traegerkleid by klimperklein, Pauline Dohmen.

Pyjama bottoms…

DSC_1223Pattern: Kinderhose from Kinderleicht by Pauline Dohmen. Fabric: Lillestoff.

… to go with this top (I know, I have shown it already, but thanks for pointing it out)….

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A little romper for next summer…

DSC_1212Pattern: Babyanzug from Kinderleicht by Pauline Dohmen.

A cool hoody…

DSC_1218Pattern: Toni by Schnittreif. Fabric: left overs.

I have made another very cool hoody and a totally new project perfect for left overs and cold hands. I know that I took pictures but they have disappeared.

So, has this project (or both) been a success?

Moneywise? Probably. But has it been worth it? I guess, spending no time and donating my own money would have been more efficient.

Storage-space-wise? Definitely. I have used up a lot. In fact so much that I had to go and buy more. And what can I say, just when I had finished the whole project, biostoffe.at started a big sale of remnants and pieces with little mistakes. Perfect to fill the hole that the charity project had left in my fabric cupboard. Well almost. I have noticed that there is still a bit of room left. Just when lillestoff announced a new round of mixed Glueckspakete…

 

 

 

 

 

And the winner is…

Here it is. Finally. The one and only. Real and official come back post after months of absence. What could be worth it? Let me tell you, it is not a big thing. It is tiny. Well I guess, being big or small actually depends… But anyway, it is a classic left over project. And remember? Actually, one of the most important aims of this blog used to be sharing ideas for left over fabric and yarn. But I am afraid, this can’t wait until next Sunday. It is too amazing.

If you are following other sewing blogs or forums, then you might be well aware of the trend to sew knickers. Or underwear in general. I always found that a bit silly. Don’t get me wrong, I totally love colourful and fun underwear. I just think that underwear needs to be washed at 60 degree  and the precious material I am normally using is not made for such high temperatures. At least not according to the manufacturers. And anyway, I always thought self made underwear would be one step too far. Until the day, when I was looking for my next sewing project and couldn’t be bothered to make the 500st T-Shirt for my children…..  However, I was very bothered by the amount of smallish pieces of left over fabric and so I decided to give handmade knickers a chance and what can I say! I got totally hooked. I have not taken any pictures of the very first ones and getting them out of my wardrobe and photograph them now, really seems to be a step too far. So let’s just enjoy the few that I have made since.

 

pattern: Frau Marla by Fritzi und Schnittreif, fabric: various

After a first attempt where I followed the pattern correctly, I decided to lower the waist by just leaving out the added waistband. I quite like this panty style, plus if you want to show off beautiful material, you need some space anyway.

Note: These are all in grown up sizes, not children. Because I will certainly not make knickers or underpants for my children.  Just imagine! Bad enough if your mum buys your underwear but if she was sewing it for you!!! I would have to start saving up for that very much needed therapy immediately. Just imagine the embarrasment for them wearing mum-made underpants! They already find it sufficiently embarrassing to see their mum jumping around the house in blue pony knickers.

I am also not making any for my husband by the way. Not only because he wouldn’t be wearing them anyway but as I would never buy his underwear I feel that it is just appropriate to also not make any.

It was a really amazing journey. The first time doing it, it just feels wrong, my husband looked at me and simply asked: “Seriously?”

But then, you put it on and it feels so soft and it is such a beautiful fabric, maybe one that you rather shouldn’t be wearing as a top or dress…. and you just want to try it again. Maybe this time with pink unicorns or little monsters….

And let me tell you, once you open that door and go through it there is no turning back and you get torn into it deeper and deeper.  Whilst i still believe in the very strict rule of not making any for my children, I have since made some for my sister (who has already asked for more) and some friends.

 

DSC_0794fabric: Lillestoff

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Remember, when I had made some cute outfits for the babies of two of my friends with laboratory connections? I have realised that the babies have probably already outgrown their outfits and I should have made something for the friends themselves anyway. Sure, beanies would have been an option. But not really – compared to that:

 

fabric: Experimente by Lillestoff, design Susalabim

And remember, when my son admired my leggings made from this particular fabric and asked me why I had explosions at my bottom? Well, I still quite like that idea…

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Remember, I was speaking of two friends. One is actually a male friend….

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pattern: John by pattydoo, fabric: Experimente by susalabim, Lillestoff.

I would like to point out that I did ask my husband’s and my friend’s wife’s opinion on this one as I really wasn’t sure if I had already left the path of appropriateness or not …

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… bottom explosion here as well.

Since those boxers I have actually lost all the boundaries, I have since made some for random people in my life…

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(There are a few more unicorns on the horizon)

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Remember, we are still talking about grown up sizes here.

Let me tell you, I really do believe now, strongly, that handmade knickers / underpants are the perfect and personalised gift and I fear, I am only one step from making some for the lovely elderly neighbours and my children’s teachers.

Ok, and with these certainly sensational news about my sewing adventure I would like to officially say: Welcome back to my blog. I promise to post more regularly. At least every now and then.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Speaking of cool…

I had totally forgotten to show you the items worn by the one person who I consider to be the coolest (clothwise) in the house.

It is the master of leggings and slim fit trousers.

DSC_0196pattern: Leggings Lilly by pattydoo, fabric: Lillestoff (Glueckspaket)

DSC_0280pattern: Canelita by bienvenido colorido, fabric: freezing penguins by Lillestoff

I so wanted to buy this fabric but decided not to as the little one really did not need anything. And then the 6-year-old chose this particular fabric out of a million fabrics online for his new trousers! What good taste.

 

Not sure, if you can actually recognise it but this time I even made pockets at the back.

The girl has grown, too, so here are her trousers.

DSC_0278pattern: Canelita by bienvenido colorido, fabric: Rebekah by Lillestoff

 

And last but not least, I made another attempt in being cool by upcycling the carneval costume. She was dressed as a witch and we made a black dress for this purpose, already knowing that it would be altered afterwards.

DSC_0201pattern: Raglankleid by klimperklein, fabric: black sweat, purchased at biostoffe.at

I cut the fringe, made an normal hem, pink cuffs and ironed on some stars that I had cut out of plot foil to add some colour to the plain bl.. bl… it is really hard for me to say that…. black dress.

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To be honest, I don’t think it is cool at all but what do I know! (Nothing, in case you were wondering)

That’s if for now, it looks like Me Made May is around the corner, so I quickly need to get ready and jump on board in an other post.

 

How to be cool

First, let me just say how happy and proud I am that you came to me to learn about coolness. Clearly, this means that you are, unlike my daughter, convinced that I am a really cool person. I keep telling her that my lack of coolness is the new cool. Well, not everybody seems to agree on that. So I was a bit stressed out, when I made clothes for my nephew and nieces, as some of them are… lets just say…. in a critical age.

Well, I guess, my oldest nephew is actually rather easy to handle. He is fine with stripes and only stripes. Stars? No thank you? Maybe some abstract pattern? No. So, stripes then. Yehes. So since years he gets a stripy hoody but I went out of the pattern comfort zone and went for a sweat Toni by schnittreif rather than the usual jersey Leo by pattydoo.

DSC_0176pattern: Toni by Schnittreif, fabric: Lillestoff

The 6-year-old nephew who is usually only into really manly stuff, like pirates, vikings,… anything armed really, happened to visit when I was about to make something for him. I naively showed him the few fabrics that I considered to be cool. He dismissed them all and chose two fabrics out of my stash and that’s what I made out of them:

DSC_0177pattern: Leo by pattydoo, fabric: bought for myself, years ago

DSC_0178pattern: Leo by Pattydoo, fabric: Lillestoff (Glueckspaket)

I guess it was a bit silly to make the short-sleeved shirt with hood and the long version without but I had already cut out the hood when I started to look for a suitable fabric for the sleeves and I simply hadn’t had enough of the black and white for long sleeves.

The hardest coolness problem to solve was certainly my 10-year-old niece. That one really made me nervous.

DSC_0181DSC_0182pattern: Pia by Pattydoo, fabric: “Mannequin” by Lillestoff, design Susalabim

This top needed to be made out of two parts as when I had ordered this fabric, the pattern repeat had been cut wrongly with the girls on top and lots of grey at the bottom. So by making a yoke out of the fabric bottom piece, I have been able to move the girls at the bottom of the shirt.

I have also made a Pia for my daughter, out of the left over of a correctly cut repeat, so no need for a yoke:

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but for a different back fabric (it looks like this post actually qualifies for Scrap Sunday, doesn’t it)

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Once finished with those two cool T-shirts, I started doubting again. Will a 10-year old find this cool? Especially if actually an 8-year old finds it cool? (Yes, my daughter did find it cool)

Nevertheless, I made another one. Mainly because I had already cut out the main pieces. And because I so wanted to try out a thing that seems to be called “destroyed negativ applikation”. In German though. It is cool to use English terms, you know.

DSC_0179pattern: Pia by Pattydoo, fabric: Lillestoff (Glueckspaket)

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How cooooool is that?!

My daughter found it silly. I took it as a good sign.

So, when my nice came to visit, I was really nervous. Because up until now she thought I was some kind of super hero thanks to my sewing skills. And I didn’t want to lose this position.

And before the suspense is killing you, I can reveal that she found it coooool!!!!!!