Not a shared love

Today I bought the most cutest fabric in a little shop in my nearest town.  I had actually seen it online a little while ago and had fallen in love with it, but resisted.  Of course when I saw it in real life I just couldn't resist.  I'm not sure what it'll become, probably yet another dress for the tiny one!

I was pretty excited about this,  so when I got home I showed it to my eldest daughter (10).  She just shrugged.  "Isn't it cute?!" I exclaimed, hoping for some sort of positive reaction.  Another shrug; accompanied by a mumble: "I don't see the cuteness in such things."  I showed her the fabrics of the dress I'm working on at the moment and the chicken fabric from the finished dress.  "Surely, these are cute!", I insisted.  A shake of the head and a mumbled "No." And that was that.

And this is why I blog!  I can bore others, or nobody to death with my excitement of cute fabrics and pretty dresses and squishy yarns.

An owly skirt part 1

In January,  when my sewing machine arrived,  I went Pinterest crazy and pinned a whole load easy sewing projects.  Then when my first lot of fabric arrived,  there was this gorgeous owly fabric that I bookmarked for the reversible pinafore I made,  only to discover there was nowhere near enough fabric,  I could, however,  make the easy "Dana made it" skirt that I had pinned and even had enough to push the boat out and go double layered!

Look at these cute owls!

So last night I got the instructions up on my computer screen and started.  As I only needed 2 big rectangles,  I thought I'd mark the pattern straight onto the fabric.   This didn't actually work though, as the pattern doesn't run straight and I just couldn't make sure the fabric was a perfect square.   So I had to get my tissue paper out and cut around that.   I did a dreadful job, to be honest.  I still haven't found the best way to transfer my pattern from paper to fabric.  I would love to play with a rotary marker of some sort.  I just know that I'm better at cutting on lines, rather than around paper.

Anyway, back to the skirt.  Once the 2 squares were cut it was easy to sew them into 2 seperate, hemmed skirts.  Once that was I ran into a little trouble, as I haven't got an overlocker and although I did the waistband as per the instructions (use elastic band as guide for size and just fold over, pin and stitch), I'm just not happy with it.  The seam just looks messy and I think I will undo it at some point and join the 2 skirts differently,  so it looks tidier.  

The finished skirt does look cute, but I think I might add some contrast bias binding to the hem at some point to make the layers stand out a little better.  Not a bad first go though and it seems nice and comfy for my tiny one to play in.

Oh and I'm an idiot.  I went online to buy an invisible zipper foot for my machine this weekend.  I got distracted by the half price sale of New Look patterns, so bought a few of those, some bobbins (why?!) and no zipper foot!  So I will have to go back and place another order, no doubt adding more bargain type stuff onto my order that I don't really need.  But on the plus side, I will have plenty of sewing projects to sink my teeth into!

Love

B

All for me!

Today  has been an exciting day in the Belgina household and it's mainly been because of things for myself!

First my wall tree is up.  I have dreamt of having a giant tree on the wall with branches that sweep over the piano for over a year.  I finally found a decal I like, because I miss the skills to actually paint one, not too long ago.  It arrived 4 days ago and I have finally got round to putting it on the wall.  It looks great and the children absolutely adore it!  All we need now is some picture to fill up the blank white squares.

Then I finished my Paiyton Cloche Hat .   I love it.  It's a gorgeous shade of yellow and made of Debbie Bliss Cashmerino aran weight yarn.  Most importantly: it fits over my ears.  I hate hats that don't cover my ears and this one certainly does.  I'm not too sure the yellow is me, but I have been assured it does look good.

The next thing that happened was the arrival of some more fabric that will become another reversible pinafore for the tiny one.

And finally there was the triumphant cackling of one of our hens that announced that another one of them had started laying again after a break over winter.  We have barely had any eggs from them since we bought them in June,  so I hope they continue or they may be sent to off to pastures new.

All in all not a bad day, for a day that actually felt a little like a lazy day!

ETA: I wrote AND posted this 5 days ago and found it didn't post and reverted to the original draft.  Very infuriating.  I hope it works now!

My first "tadaaaah" post!

So last night I finished of the tiny one's dress.  I only had to do the buttonholes, buttons and close the gap that was left by reversing the dress, so I thought that would be a quick job.... HA! Was I wrong!!

First trying to attach the button foot.  Once I'd finished fiddling with that and after watching a few YouTube videos where the 1 step button hole makes do just that: make a button hole in one go, I thought it'd be a doddle.  First I kept getting half a button hole with the machine stopping at the top.  Turns out there was a silly little lever that I had not quite worked right..  Once I had worked out my mistake I made a few successful button holes on scrap fabric, so moved on to the dress, only to find my thread kept getting jammed after half a button and then snap.  Then finally this happened.

AAAARRRGHHH!  A broken needle.  That does explain all the trouble I had been having and I will now know for the next time when my needle is on its way out!  Once it was replace the button hole did turn out to be a doddle and in no time I had this:

.

A perfectly formed cute little button hole.  In the end it really was a doddle, but all the kerfuffle with the blunt needle wasted me a lot of time. Also ignore the wonky top stitching on the strap.  I still need to work on doing sharp bends!  It's a bit harder than I thought, but it's not really visible when you see the dress as a whole.

Once the button holes were done, I just had to add 4 buttons (2 each side) and then, finally after nearly 3 hours of fiddling I could finally go:  TADAAAAAH!

A finished reversible baby dress.

And of course I cannot leave out the dress being modeled by the cute little baby who it was intended for.

I am really really pleased with the little dress.  It is not perfect, but certainly a brilliant job for someone who until about 3 weeks ago had never touched a sewing machine.

Time to watch the Great British Sewing Bee now, unless Mr B wins and gets to watch football!

Thank you for reading and until next time.

B :)

It's a dress!

Small disclaimer before you start.  I did write this last night, but the tiny one woke up crying so I had to run before I could publish.

This week has been a pretty exciting week on the sewing front.  First I went a tiny bit mad and ordered a lot of cute fabric from Fabric Rehab and eBay.

Here it is.

Yum!

Then I discovered a cute little fabric shop in Ashford and finally I decided on a pattern for a little pinafore for the tiny one.  I chose the reversible pinafore from Tie Dye Diva Patterns.  Gorgeous!

So I started this morning by cutting out the fabric.

Already looks dresslike!

Then this evening once the children were in bed and sound asleep I got myself set up.

I thought the plain polkadot fabric was just a tiny bit toooo polkadotty, so decided to try and add a bit of applique.  So I cut out one of the chickens of the chicken fabric, invented my own fusable webbing from some of that bondaweb that I used to use to turn up trousers and zigzag stitched it to the front.  I think it looks pretty good for a first go.

And before long it was finished.  Well, sort of finished, all that's left is the button holes and a set of buttons, which I forgot to buy.  Typical!  Hopefully I'll have a tadaaaaa moment later this week with the tiny one modelling her new dress.

Main side with chickens.

Reverse side.

And now it's off to bed.  I hope the tiny wont wake too early, because I did stay up a touch past bedtime making this, but I was having fun and didn't want to stop!

Goodnight everyone :)

So my first steps into sewing

For my birthday in January I was given a sewing machine, because I really really would love to be able to sew.  I dream of making cute little dresses for the girls, adapting vintage clothes to make them my own and to make curtains and personalise our caravan.

I decided my first project would be the Miette skirt from the Tilly and the Buttons blog.  It has step by step instructions, so I thought it would be a doddle.  As ever I have been a touch optimistic about the ease of a crafty project, but yesterday I finally got round to marking and cutting out the pattern onto my chosen (cheap) fabric.  This took me over 3 hours thanks to the teeny one who disturbed me.  Anyhow.  Fingers crossed, I may be able to try and make it all fit together later today!

Hello world!

Good morning everyone and welcome to my world!

So who is Belgina and what does my world consist of?

Well, I am a mum of 4 children.  A big boy of 12, a big girl of 10 and not so big girl of 4 and a tiny girl of 1.  I have been together with my wonderful husband since last century.  I work very part time as a hospital midwife.  I live in a beautiful small village in the Kent countryside and love it.

Dawn at the Belgina home

The world I live in is mainly inhabited by babywearing, breastfeeding and crafting.  With this blog I intend to keep a little diary of my crafting journey, but my family will of course featuretoo and slings may well pop up, but parenting discussions I will leave for others :D

 A little sample of my crochetting