Craft day.

Craft day is a new concept for Mill and I. For years we have had Craft Nights; a weekly routine during which we would do craft, share a meal, and debrief about what had happened during the week. As our lives changed, our weekly routines began to become tricky to craft around, and we were finding that weeks were going past with no craft nights happening.

Mill and I are similar souls, in that we enjoy the stress relief doing craft gives us as well as having an end product. We call craft our 'therapy'. I am sure most people who do some form of craft would agree with us!

On Saturday Mill and I got together for our second craft day. An eight hour session of crafty goodness.

Mill's craft this month was to make an apron based on one that she gave me last year for my birthday. Mill had been looking at similar aprons at some Sydney markets but the store holders were charging $50 for them. Mill was convinced she could make the same thing for much less money, and she was right!

Below is the apron Mill gave me, a simple apron involving two different fabrics, a pocket, some gathering and a waistband.

Mill purchased some cute strawberry print fabric and a complimentary red and white spotted print. The grand total for Mills apron was less than $12! After a few hours spent at the sewing machine, this is what she made...

How clever is she?!? I will type up some instructions for how to make this apron sometime this week. I am so inspired by this creation, I can't help but want to make one for myself!

I worked on making a dress out of the Liberty fabric that arrived last week. I was well on my way to finishing it on Saturday, but after sewing in the zipper I realised that I had chosen a colour of zipper that was not quite right. After a bit of hesitation and consultation with Mill and Michelle, I decided to unpick the zipper and end my sewing for the day.

Today I went and purchased a nicer coloured zipper and spent an hour this evening working on the dress. It is not completely finished, and it is now dark so any pictures I tried to take of it looked terrible, but it wouldn't be fair if I left you with nothing, so here is a (terrible quality) sneak peak.

Mill and I are now committed to having Craft Day every month. It is so much better sewing in the daytime; sunlight is so much better to work in and we are not as tired as we are during the week. Plus we get in a good eight hours of craft in one session, which means we get more done as it cuts down the set up/pack up time.

Sam xox

Liberty arrival.

The fabric I ordered from Shaukat arrived this week. It is the first time I have every purchased 8 meters of fabric in one hit, and I have to admit that it did feel particularly decadent to have it shipped to me from the United Kingdom! They are all Tana Lawn fabrics and feel and look so beautiful.

I was thrilled to open the parcel and unwrap my bundles of joy, however something wasn't quite right. I had been most excited about purchasing the navy Mauverina fabric. I had fallen in love with it months ago and knew that I had to - needed to - buy some. However, I could not understand why, looking at it in my hands, I was not excited by it at all...

Take a close look. You might notice that the Mauverina isn't the colourway I had originally ordered. The Mauverina fabric of my dreams was a navy print with popping yellow flowers, and in my hands I held a dark and dull purple mess (a tad dramatic I know). Disappointed and not expecting much help, I emailed the address listed on the website and was surprised to get an almost instant response! Leila was very apologetic and more than helpful, giving me many options that were all very reasonable. I decided to exchange the purple fabric for the navy (as I did not want to keep the 'dull mess').

I am thrilled with how easy this error was to resolve with Shaukat. I am now a very happy customer and would highly recommend Shaukat not only for their immaculate fabrics and swift delivery, but for their superior customer service too!

I cannot wait for craft day this Saturday! What do I make first?!?

Sam xox

Dante shorts.

I caved...

The baby shorts I made (as a gift) were just too cute, I couldn't resist making a pair of my very own!

I used a Kwik Sew pattern (number 2388) I purchased a while ago with the intention of making some pajama's for Jamie.

I made a few alterations to the boxer shorts pattern, and with the help of my sewing machine and overlocker (serger) came up with these.

Made from 'Dante' by Liberty of London. Fabric purchased on eBay UK.

Sam xox

Liberty-mixed scarf.

My hands were itching to make something this morning, but after a 6 day work week my brain could not handle complicated patterns. The solution? I created my own interpretation of ajtak7171's Multi-fabric Scarf.

Remember this Liberty bundle I purchased from UK eBay months ago?

I finally decided on what to do with them! Luckily they all were similar in width which meant that a scarf could be made from them. I spent almost half an hour playing around with the fabric combinations until I came across a combo that worked. I then cut all the strips to size, sewed then overlocked each piece to the next, and with a few final touches a scarf was made. The light weight nature of the Tana Lawn Liberty fabrics means that this is a perfect accessory for Spring!

My Liberty-mixed Scarf measures 15.5cm/6" in width and 142cm/56" in length finished, and has top stitching detail 1/4" in from the edge around the whole scarf.

Sam xox