The Sunshine dress.

We have no idea when this yellow fabric was made, nor where it came from. But we do know that for the past 20 years it has hung as curtains in an apartment in Melbourne city and for the past four years that apartment has belonged to my sister Emily.

Until two weeks ago when the curtains came down and we inherited them.

I thought we might use them on our bare bedroom windows but the farmer boy said they wouldn't fit. So they've sat in a heap in the corner of our room ever since. And I've worried about what to do with them. And I didn't let the photographer into our bedroom on her shoot because they embarrassed me. But still they sat in their heap.

And finally this morning I was all geared up to take them to the community op shop, when Miss Pepper decided she needed a yellow, sunshiney dress. I guess it makes sense with all the spring-time wattles and daffodils about.

So I tore a bit off. And I cut out the pieces. And I sewed it all back together again. So very Sound of Music don't you think? Head scarves next?

I know the back needs a press and that she does look a bit brides-maidy, but we are thinking a pocket or two will make all the difference. She wants to choose the fabric.

She lights up my life that one.

And I've only got about ten metres of yellow fabric left in the pile.

Any ideas?

Happy, sunny days peeps. 

Happy making.

xx

3 dresses I sewed..

So the girls went back to school and I finally pulled most of my clothes out of the caravan. The holidays are over.

And with that realisation came the realisation that I can no longer wear the clothes I wore on the road trip. Strange but true. I guess when you wear the same few things over and over and over and over, there comes a time when you cannot wear them anymore. A bit like the end of pregnancy.

So I decided to get busy and create a few dresses.

I love wearing dresses. They are easy. If it is warm, I wear them as is with sandals. If it is cool, I wear them with a little cardi over the top and leggings underneath. And if it is cold, I wear them with a cardi, a scarf and some boots. Easy peasy.

The old sheet dress.

This one is the prototype.
I'm not mad on that sheet design so I wasn't all that precious about getting it right straight away.
I found a picture I liked in a Japanese sewing book. (I'll fill in the details when I can find it).
I found a dress of mine that fits me well.
And I made a pattern.
And I made the dress.
And my farmer boy thinks it makes me look preggers.
But it is super comfy and great for wearing around the farm.

The old curtain dress.

This dress was made from an old hydrangea printed curtain. The fabric is quite stiff and holds it's shape well.
This front of this dress was made from the same pattern piece as The old sheet dress (above), but with the addition of darts for shaping and a longer seam down the front.
The back of the dress was cut taking about an inch off both sides.
All the shaping means that my farmer boy thinks it does not make me look preggers. Yay!
When I finished this dress and tried it on, I wrote on the twitter that I was thrilled that I had nailed my dress pattern.
I love it.

The old table cloth dress.

I made this dress out of an table cloth I'd been saving for a special occasion.
I really love that print.
This time I experimented with sewing the pockets on straight after cutting it out. After the shaping they became a bit crooked. Lesson learnt.
This time the neckline didn't really work. It's too high and the bias binding puckered. Facing?
But it's a great around the farm dress and a scarf hides all the problems perfectly.

And I like the red pockets. I think they're fun.

So now I have three new dresses. Hooray!!!!
Combined, they cost me about five or six dollars, that's including the binding.
And the best part is that I had everything here already. So that kinda justifies my floral fabric collecting addiction.

I think I'm ready for a new pattern now.
Hemming those three dresses can wait.
I'm thinking wrap around, maybe some crochet lace details.....

So that's me.
How about you?
Are you tired of your wardrobe?
Are you making something new to wear?
Are you making anything?
Do you love pockets as much as I do?

Happy weekend. xx

When??

So how do you know when its all finished and its actually time to go? Is there a magic sign?

Is it....

When the cushions are plumped up and inviting you to stop, to plop down and have a cuppa and crochet a few rows?

(Please note the coolest organic WA vintage map cushion a la My Bearded Pigeon that we will be stitching our route on as we go. Thanks Cath!! LOVE!! XX)

When the craft supplies are sorted and packed?

(Divine The Textured Leaf pin cushion. Thanks Wendy! xx)

When you would be happy if you never saw a muddy puddle or wet chooken again for the rest of your life.

When the business looks like it will run beautifully and is ready to be handed over?

When there is only a small pile of fire wood left?

When the favourite crockery is stacked neatly waiting?

(Most georgeous doily tea towel by FlowerPress. Thanks Susie. x)

When you have farwelled nearly everyone you know? And some more than once.

When you have nothing left to wear because you have packed all your bestie clothes already?

When the coffee machine is in the caravan and it is too cold to hang out in there to make one?

When the bikes are on the back?

When this year's tax is done? Seriously! Eight days into the new financial year!

When Kate dolly is looking oh so lonely and desperate for company. (Dolly from A Little Vintage. Thanks Jennie! x)

**Jennie is having a 25% off sale in her etsy shop here, pop the code JULYSALE4U in the checkout to claim your discount.

When four bed sheets, four doona covers and 13 caravan sized curtains have been sewn.

When the most hoarded, favourite ever piece of fabric in the stash has been cut up and used as a door curtain.

When Nina Bernina has gone off to sewing machine club med for some well deserved pampering.

When the pile of books on the bedside table is diminishing and the pile on the caravan bookshelf is growing?

When you are so over answering the question when are you going??

When the to-do list is looking scarily finishable?

When keys have been cut and the house minders are packed up and ready to come early next week?

Ahhhhhhhh.....

Side tracked...

Its funny, usually all I want to do in my life is sew but now that I have to sew I don't want to.

I've spent so much time in the caravan over the past few weeks making, deciding, choosing and fixing that now I can't even see the bigger picture any more.

I really have no idea if the curtains I've made so far are a bit too much or if they work.

Before we had kids my farmer boy and I travelled up and down the East coast of Australia looking for land to buy. We drove a cute white combi and before we left I made some blue fluffy curtains with appliqued colourful flowers.

While I was making them they seemed like a great idea, but a few months down the track it was like blue fluff?? really??

This time I want to make curtains for the caravan that will go the distance, that I'll still like in the months to come. Curtains that wont hurt my eyes and make me wish I had brought my sewing machine along to make more.

So what does a sewing obsessed girl do when she needs space from her sewing? She sews something else of course. A dress!

Forget the deadline and the the fact that my house is messier than ever before, forget the fact that I have to sew so we can get outta here, ignore the fact that I found myself hiding the fact that I was sewing a dress when ever anyone walked in and sew one anyway.

Miss Pepper definitely does not need anther mama made dress at the moment but I had to sew one anyway. Some thrifted knit fabric, an already cut out pattern and I was off.

And would you believe, it did the trick.

I sewed the dress, we left the chaos of home and went to a birthday party and then when we got home I saw things for what they are and changed the project completely.

The new curtain plan is plainer and quicker and feels so much more doable. Yay!

It didn't hurt that Farmer Bren had cleaned and vacuumed and I could see the floor for the first time in ages too. #myhero

And this is the little beanie I knitted for the baby birthday boy. Raveled here.

He had the kids in hysterics taking pulling it off every time his mama put it on him.

So that's me. I've kind of calmed down now I have a new plan but I can't promise I'll definitely stick to it.

What should you be doing right now?

Have fun out there. x

time...

Today is the ten year anniversary of the day we moved here. It was the first of July 2001. A brilliant sunny day in the middle of winter.

It's hard to imagine that day now. We were a couple with an eight month old baby. We left everything we knew in the city and moved to the country with a vague idea that we could farm organically.

Its been a crazy, amazing, wonderful and mad adventure. Here we are ten years later. Wow! Our three girls and us, about to take off and leave this farm on a six month caravan trip to celebrate, to remember, to slow down, to reassess, and to redefine.

With just over a week until our hopeful departure date, I am trying to remember to enjoy this part too although it feels overwhelming at times. The laying of the floor, the sewing of the curtains (above), the decisions over what comes and what stays, all part of the journey.

At some stage we will be ready and we will leave.

Ten years ago, it must have felt pretty immense to pack up and leave too.

So for me this a weekend of looking forward and looking back, with a dash of right now.

How about you? What're you up to at this moment in time? Are you planning, are you coasting, are you looking forward to something, are you wishing for something?

I hope your journey is a happy one right now.

Have a fabulous weekend y'all. xx

ps. Pic of Miss Pepper taken in Ballan yesterday on a mad dash for over-locker thread.

Markers.

A while ago I was sitting on a train knitting when the woman across from me leaned over and asked me what the red and green plastic things in my knitting were. I told her they were my stitch markers. The red one told me when I was up to the start of the round and the green ones told me when the patterned bits started and finished.

She was amazed. She told me she was 73 and that she had been knitting socks practically her entire life and had never seen such a thing. She told me she was upset her own Mother, also a sock knitter, had died the year before and had never seen one either, because she would have loved them.

I asked how they knitted socks without stitch markers and she said they used scrap bits of yarn that they dangled in the appropriate spots between the stitches. But scrap bits of yarn are a pain she said because they always fall out and get tangled and you are forever losing your bit in the pattern and guessing and making mistakes and undoing it.

I rummaged through my bag and found a couple of the plastic stitch markers and handed them to her. She was thrilled and so very grateful.

For the next few days I told that story to anyone who listened. I loved the evolution of craft materials, I loved that she was so thrilled with a gift of a little bit of plastic and I loved the thought of her future sock knitting being so much easier.

I was a bit embarrassed though because my stitch markers at that time (pic above) were pretty ugly.

A few months after the train story, I was having a discussion on Ravelry with Jen when she offered to send me some of her gorgeous stitch markers. Yes please!

They arrived today (pics one and three) and as well as making my knitting look and feel a bit special, it also kind of brings this stitch marker story full circle. Nice.

Thanks Jen! x

And today I cut into my vintage marimekko and made some curtains for the caravan bunk beds.

I think this means I am officially not a hoarder any more.

See ya. x