girly sewing

 I will be the first to admit that I am not much of a sewer.

My mother was a professional seamstress, and I didn't really learn to sew until she started losing her eyesight.

I was 29, we had just moved back to our hometown and B2 was a tiny baby when a friend of mine told me about a Justknits course that was running at the local Justknits shop.

I was in!

 I would feed B2 and leave him and B1 for two hours once a week with my mum, so I could do the course.

I would come home and play.

With only two small children who had a regular nap I had time to play and I made lots of little outfits for them in those first couple of years.

I think I probably stopped sewing regularly when we moved and I didn't have anywhere decent to sew.

I sewed more, once I had my sewing set up in the dining room, 

but then that became inconvenient, particularly when I had to clean up every time I went to sew.

I also started to find it hard as the light wasn't fantastic and these old eyes don't see quite as well as they used to!

Enter the new sewing room and now I have no excuses, plenty of room, good light and everything at my fingertips.

So between socialising, entertaining and  working on a few other projects I did manage to whip up a couple of winter things for The Girl.

I like quick and easy projects that take less than an hour to complete, 

if I don't get it done in one session I find it hard to get back to it.

 This little t-shirt dress was easy to make.

 I bought the t-shirt at Target for $5,

 I cut the shirt off a little below where I wanted the skirt to go,

 

Made the skirt by overlocking a rectangular piece of fabric top and bottom, joining it together and then gathering it.

Sew the skirt to the top and voila a cute little dress.

 

I decorated the top with a scrap of fabric and a button.

The second outfit was also meant to be a dress, but then The Girl decided she wanted a skirt and top.

 

She ended up with some mix and match, two tops to go with the skirt.

 I made a little butterfly brooch that can be attached to either shirt.

 I simply applied some felt to the back of a cut out of a butterfly with some iron on adhesive, and sewed on a safety pin

I put a little fabric glitter glue on it to seal the edges and it's good to go.

 The skirt was again easy a rectangle joined and some elastic added to the waist.

I did a tutorial here if you don't know how to sew.

 A close up of the fabric.

I would like to make a headband with the scraps.

I have a corduroy pinafore to make and am on the lookout for a simple peasant dress pattern to complete her winter wardrobe.

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