A birthday washbag

I saw this fabric a while ago and it has been patiently waiting in a drawer until Linda's birthday, when flicking through some books I decided that Linda needed a birthday washbag


Linda is a most talented photographer... in fact, any time you see a photograph here that is in focus and just looking fantastic, it will be the work of Linda.

The pattern is for the weekend-away travel bag from Heather Ross' Weekend Sewing. A canvas weight fabric is recommended in the pattern, so I interfaced this much lighter weight fabric with some heavy duty stuff, and the contrast bits and lining are made from upholstery type fabric from the pile purchased an age ago to make some bunting for Reuben and Casper when they were still small. I didn't include the optional lining pockets as I could only imagine with some dread the groaning that would result from my poor sewing machine as it tried to sew through the already fairly chunky layers, but other than that the pattern was fine. I do wish I had thought to include some little zip tab thingies at each end though...

It was nice to be reminded of this book as I've only so far made Kai's shirt and Lucy's kimono. Hmmm, some more makes to add to the I-will-find-time-for-these list.

Makes have been a bit slow recently... there are a few to show but the weather has been so gloomy that all attempts at taking photographs of them are rather gloomy too. And in between the glum weather I have been trying oh so hard to tame the field that is our garden








The plants in the front garden have been there for about two years and are looking rather settled. Now the bleeding hearts, lungwort, spiraea, forget-me-nots and geums have stopped flowering it is all looking a bit green but hopefully in the next few weeks the colour will return!

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Quick change trousers for Jude

Oh my Jude, one year already! I could - hmmm, do - spend rather a lot of time looking at dreamy fabrics in lovely online shops, planning numerous makes. And it was during one of these times that I came across a couple of fabrics that just had to be made into a pair of trousers, and I knew just the pattern - Anna Maria Horner's quick change trousers from Handmade Beginnings


A sweet, simple pattern that really does let you have oh so much fun with choosing fabrics as they are reversible...


I love how the cuffs fold over to reveal yet more cheeriness, and that back yoke! The front panels are in the main fabric... But I did make this pattern more complicated than needed. The idea is that the cuffs are simply the fabric turned over from the other side but if I had used the mini car fabric (the oh I must buy beginning of this make) it would have been upside down as it has a clear directional print. So that simply couldn't be used for the lining. And nor did I want the cuffs on the right side to be of the lining either, I wanted them to be the mini cars. So I made the cuffs from separate bands of fabric, sewn to the bottom of each leg. This does mean that the cuffs can't be turned down as the trousers get too short but I have made my peace with that...

The orange starburst type fabric was from the fabric pile, and I think is left over from a bathmat lovingly made for Linda one birthday. The yellow gingham was from the pile too, not sure which make initially purchased for, but surely all fabric piles are made up of a considerable amount of gingham. Anyway, I sort of planned that these probably would be the lining side but just in case Sarah is feeling particularly colourful one day... I oh so certainly would have dressed P in these!


Just look at that back view! And just in case you need a closer look at those cars...


The dreamy car print can be found at Ditto fabrics here and the grey crosshatch from the lovely m is for make here . Oh, have just seen that it is out of stock... I can see why, it is a lovely fabric to use. See that row of bright yellow topstitching in the photo above? Made me even more cheery!

Happy, happy first birthday, Jude!

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