McCall's 5861 Bikini.

For my second item I made the McCall's bikini pattern I bought in December.

I used the 4-way stretch fabric I purchased from eBay for US$8 per yard. I bought 1 yard of this fabric and have enough left over to make at least another bikini - maybe in a different style.

My review:

Pluses:

- The 4 way stretch fabric was perfect for this project. It was surprisingly easy to sew with and didn't slip at all. It wasn't slippery against the elastic either.

- I used lingerie cups (swimwear approved) for the bikini top which I would recommend to all small chested ladies, as it creates a nice shape for the bandeau top.

- I altered the back of the bandeau top. The instructions told me to sew the back together, the result being a bikini top you had to slip over your head. Not for me. Instead I took inspiration from Seafolly swimwear and cut the back band so it became a narrow point and sewed in some plastic clips so it clips together at the back. This worked brilliantly.

- The bottoms were cut quite well. The back piece definitely has enough coverage (which I was a tad concerned about because I am pear shaped after all) everything stays in place back there!

- The biggest plus - it fits perfectly and when worn, does not look handmade at all! Saved myself $140 making these!

Minuses:

- The elastic was tricky to work with. What I found hard was stretching the elastic evenly as I sewed it on. This resulted in the elastic appearing to bunch at different spots. When worn however, this is not evident at all and the elastic and fabric is stretched evenly across the body and looks really smooth.

- I tried to be clever and sew the bottoms together in a different order than the instructions, and this resulted in side seams that are not quite perfect.

My verdict - A seriously awesome pattern for anyone wanting to make a bikini. I had this made within half a day, and it looks really cute on! Next time I am at the beach I might even take a picture for you all.

Sam xox

Sewing triathlon.

On Sunday morning Mill and I met to begin our sewing triathlon. I made the trip down the highway to the town where she lives, with two sewing machines, five bags, a camera and my cat Prada in tow.

Once we were together, our combined pile of sewing paraphernalia momentarily overwhelmed us, as we asked each other "Can we really spend three entire days sewing?"...

Oh yes we could!

We sewed, we talked, we ate, we slept (a little) and after all of it, I arrived home this evening with two sewing machines, five bags, a camera, my cat, and a bunch of finished projects!

I will post what I made this week!

Sam xox

The 19th hole.

Craft day was last Saturday and Mill arrived with something completely unexpected!

In a thousand years I would never have guessed she would arrive with this for craft day...

Ok, enough lead up! I'll tell you what it was...

A printed panel apron with a golf course pattern on it! Seeing that I was a little confused, she explained it was a gift for her partners mother for Christmas and that she loves golf - of course!

I was so impressed with the idea of a printed panel. I have seen panels sold in quilt shops, but never something like this. The apron was simply to cut out, the instructions were printed on the fabric, and the end result looked like something you could sell in a shop! Mill is becoming an awesome sewer and even showed me how to do nice looking seams without even having to use the over locker - you go girl!

Mill, she is going to love it! Great job!

In the photo above the apron even has a pocket on the bottom left green - the stitching is so neat you can't even tell!

The bonus? I even managed to trace the apron pattern off the panel before it was cut out.

Sam xox

Craft day.

This year I decided not to celebrate my birthday with dinner or drinks. Instead, today I celebrated by having a craft day with my crafty girlfriends at my home. We ate, we stitched, and we enjoyed each others company.

I already count myself lucky to have these girls in my life, but the cherry on the top really is that they are just as crafty as me!

Mill worked on her trademark Christmas stars. This year she is planning on making many to give as gifts, and has given herself the deadline of November 25 to have 20 complete. Every star she makes is a different combination of colours for the felt, thread and beads. They look really beautiful hanging on the Christmas tree as the lights reflect on the tiny beads.

Renae has been working on this cross stitch for a while now, remember I blogged about it here? Well, today we got to watch her complete the final stitches! I am really looking forward to what it will look like framed and hanging on her wall. Her next project is a similar theme but with an adult and baby giraffe.

Mel's blanket continues to grow and grow. I absolutely love the colour combination she has chosen!

I wanted some light craft today. I had seen a red and white Christmas decoration on a tree in the October issue of Country Living Magazine (British) and had a try at copying it. My heart turned out quite a different shape but I am happy with the end result. This will be my handmade Christmas decoration for 2010!

Beautiful books given to me by Mel - thank you!!!

Sam xox

Knitted lady beetle.

If you are a friend of Mill's, and you have a baby, you know you are in for a treat! I know this from observation, not experience, by the way. With the arrival of a bouncing baby boy on the Friday just past, Mill came over today for some craft and whipped him up a cute lady beetle.

I am constantly in awe of Mills knitting - such perfect tension and fast results! Another beautiful creation my dear friend. Oh, and did you see the just-too-cute-for-words labels Mill now sews onto her gifts?!?

Sam xox

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

Granny squares.

Thank you so much for your kind wishes about my job. As some of you know I have had a lot going on in my personal life these past 12 months, which I will leave private. This job really does mark a new and positive chapter of my life beginning, and I am over the moon!

On the weekend I visited my crafty friend Mel. She is the kind of friend I believe every girl should have. Mel always has time to listen to my worries, takes time to consider them and gently gives me advice. I always leave her place feeling like a better person than what I had arrived as.

The bonus? She is a total crafty inspiration! Her taste is seriously cool, and she always has a quirky idea to try. We never 'plan' to craft, but needless to say, within 15 minutes of my arrival we are plotting our next creative adventure.

Last weekend was no different. On Sunday morning I arrived at her place, and she explained that the night before she had taught herself to crochet via YouTube! Oh boy was I excited! One of my pledges was to crochet a dishcloth and this would be my first step towards this goal. Little did I know however, what Mel had in mind. She whipped out her crocheting project, which was a granny square.

It took precisely 2.3 seconds for me to decide that I wanted to make Granny Squares and for her to teach me (I admit I am a tad impulsive) and another 4.6 seconds for us to realise we HAD to make a trip Spotlight to buy some wool.

Here is what I have achieved thus far:

Sam xox

Sewing day.

Last Saturday my friend Mel and I got together at her house for some sewing and craft. She was keen to make a foot cushion that she had seen my pattern for a while back. I arrived bright (but not so early) to her home. We decided a trip to our local fabric store was in order, so we jumped in the car and went.

We spent the afternoon sewing and chatting, and managed to come up with a few nice things...

Mel made this foot cushion...

I love her fabric choice.

I spent a few hours playing with buttons: Check out Buckingham Road to see what I came up with!

These are some amazing water colour paintings Mel has done over the past few weeks. I told her that our next craft day would involve her teaching me how to paint like this! I think they are beautiful!

Sam xox

Blue ruby doll.

Here is a doll I made for me niece for her 1st birthday.

I enlarged the original pattern to make it a better size for a one-year-old (but I still worry the arms are too petite!).

It is using the same pattern as the Ruby Doll I made last year. Remember this doll?

I like the bigger pattern, and I think it is a great present for any little girl.

I like her in blue too!

Sam xox

Fair isle knitting.

I hope Mill does not mind me posting this picture - but I couldn't help myself - it is just too cute!

This is Olive Owl. Mill knitted him (her?) for her mum as a birthday present. Yes Mill is still living in the US (I miss her so much and it feels like forever she has been gone, when really it has only been 7 months [only?!?]!).

This was her first attempt at Fair Isle knitting - and I think she did an amazing job!

Oh if only I could knit half as well as this! Great job Mill!

Sam xox

Check out my new love.

Isn't she beautiful?!?

I am going to start making some clothes.

Near the end of January, Jamie and I celebrated our first wedding anniversary. It did feel kinda funny to have a 'first anniversary' considering we have been together since we were 14 (11 years and counting!). He suprised me with THE most amazing gift! A chair that I can sit in and quilt in the loungeroom!!! Isn't he amazing?!?

We went to the Imax for our anniversary and saw Avatar in 3D. I cried the whole way through the second half! It was the most amazing movie I have ever seen.

I totally agree with Lane - you MUST see it! James Cameron is sssoooo clever!!!

Sam xox

Cross stitch.

I have been working on a sampler cross stitch these last few weeks, as it is so much easier to just pick it up and do a few stitches, then having to pull out all my sewing so I can sew or quilt.

I found this book at Boarders a fornight ago and fell in love with it.

It literally has 2001 diffrent cross stitch designs inside. It is really cool because you can pretty much design any cross stitch you want from this book. It has different themes, a section on boarders, and a variety of sampler patterns.

I chose this pattern because it only requires two different coloured threads. I have to admit, this thing I dont enjoy with cross stitching is when you have to keep changing your thread colour. I appreciate it is important to a design to have a variety of colours, as it looks so much better, especially in things like flowers. But this is a simple sampler, and I think only having the two colours makes it very striking.

So far I have finished the 'M' pannel and I am beginning the 'N' panel.

Sam xox

Dedicated to Mill.

As some of you know my dearest friend Mill is heading off to America in exactly one month.

She is going to be over there for one year to continue her studies.

I am going to miss her terribly. She is a beautiful friend who always makes time to see me. I was lucky enough to share a home with her for two years back in 2005-2007. Since I moved out we still manage to see each other weekly for our 'Craft Nights', where we share a meal, a nice chat, and encourage each other through our latest projects. Mill was also beside me at my wedding in January of this year as one of my bridesmaids.

I am throwing her a 'good-bye' party. It will be an afternoon high tea with her closest girlfriends, sister and mum.

I made her invitation using my favorite china and fabric. My dear friend Michelle helped me photo shop it and add the text. Do you like it? (Those pink rectangles are not really there. I have just covered some information up that was on the invite).

I have great plans for decorating Mill's apartment for the party!

First I am going to make some bunting. I have seen it in many peoples blogs where it has been used for decoration. I believe it is an American style of decorating, as I have not seen it used in Australia. But it looks great so I thought I would give it a go.

So far I have made 8 triangles. I am going to join them with some sort of ribbed tape or something similar from the local sewing shop.

This is what they look liked pinned together as a practice - I am happy with the result!

Sam xox