Pull Apart Bed

On Jon and my way home from Church the other day, we saw this bed frame, and had to go back for it, and get it. Lets say we have grand plans. Deck chairs, Screen printing frames. Drawers for our tv unit. It will all get used eventually. I guess we just need to make time to make those things now!

~Liz

attempting sales

It is after all coming up to Christmas, and seeing as I had designed and printed some nice Christmas cards, I thought I should let my street know I had done that too. So I made a quick display in my window. Haven't sold any yet. But who knows!

Don't forget you can buy them too!

~Liz

They're growing!

A month or so ago I took a photo of our garden. I took another yesterday, and look at the difference!

We even have tomatoes set, and the zucchinis are flowering.

~ Liz

Bathers: Alison pattern part 2

PART TWO!

And so the sewing continued, long into the night. Not really. I never sew at night. It does my eyes in. It did indeed take a while to finish sewing my bathers, as it involved learning to thread an overlocker, borrowing overlocker, a holiday, and who knows what else. BUT they are done! YAYAYAYAYAYYA. And they even fit (sorry spoiler alert right there).

So the rest of the instruction are:

4. Sew gathering threads up the sides of the bust piece. ( as shown in picture below) I did seperate ones on the back half (facing), and front. And from the fold, to the curve. This seemed to work ok.

5. Tack bust piece into bathers, right sides together, with centre tab. (I shortened mine about 3cm). Overlock together. (I tried on my bathers before i overlocked, and established the width at the top of the body of my bathers was too wide, so i sewed in a bit closer. This is a good stage to try on, because changes can still be made.)

6. Overlock around the edges of the leg holes, and the main body, attaching the lining to the outside fabric.
7. Try on again, and attach the staps in the desired spots (use safty pins). My staps were barely long enough, but due to lack of fabric, I made do, and it just fits. And just is good enough when it comes to bathers. (The main body fabric ended up quite gathered, and the band looked normal, but when on, the main body fabric stretched to normal, and the band stretched, so that you get no gaps)
8. Fold over leg holes (like you are doing a hem) and zig zag around the edge. You can overlock elastic into your leg holes, but mine were tight enough, that hopefully they won't cause me any trouble.

9. Stretch band and sew (zig zag) with right side together around the top of the body. This means that the lining is now fully attached, and no longer can be seen from the outside of the bathers.

 10. Try them on again. and hope that they still fit.

I hope this doesn't look too daunting, I think it feels it, but it is fun, and in the end, only a couple of dollars of fabric wasted if it doesn't turn out! It doesn't hurt to try in the end! :D

~Liz

Bathers: Alison pattern

I know. I'm mad. My mum told me this when I mentioned I was planning on sewing my own bathers. But hey, I'm adventurous, and am know to pull things off, as well as ruin things completely sometimes.... So I guess we'll just see how I go.

I found the bathers I wanted. Of course I chose the pair with the least amount of instructions ever. There are some written instructions, but I'm a visual person through and through.

So I went for it. I read a lot of blogs on how to sew bathers. On what was wrong with the pattern I chose... and many more as well. I daftly cut out my pattern (which was an adventure in itself, as I'd never had to pay attention to pattern before, and this one had a symmetrical pattern on it, that would look best if centered!) So place and cut I did. I even managed to buy enough fabric. I was so pleased with myself. I then decided I didn't have enough to line it with the same fabric. I then inspected my other bathers, and the lining is actually quite different to lycra. Sort of a mesh type thing. So to Spotlight goes Liz. "Do you stock swimwear lining?" was my question. "No" was there answer. They kindly showed me the lycra section..... I went searching and found the dance wear lining section. It was what I wanted. (and I'd read earlier that day that swimwear fabric consists of 80-90% nylon, and 10-20% spandex). This was 90% nylon, and 10% spandex, so it suited me perfectly! YAY. (see big weave)

I was so happy I forgot to look at bra cups, and stretch needles. But I'll go back one day and get them. In the meantime it is deciphering patterns, and tacking things in place!

Oh, This is the pattern I decided to use: Alison, by Burdastyle. You can download it online. (only $3, but not really worth $3, when you have to do so much researching into how to actually sew it!) (apparently it used to be free)

So this is what I have done so far!

(Day 1 and 2)

Cut out pattern pieces.
Front: 1 fabric, 1 lining
Back: 1 fabric, 1 lining
Crotch: 1 fabric, 1 lining (yes this is the weirdest shape ever, and i'll let you know how it works, and what I'll change)
Center Fold Insert: 1 fabric
Strap (long): 2 fabric.
Back strap: none (I intend on doing cross over straps)
Un-named piece: 1 fabric (this piece is actually the tab that goes around the bust piece I think)

1. Pin side seams of front and back together, right sides together, of both fabric and lining separately. Tack.
2. Pin crotch piece to back, then front, with right sides together. You'll have to ease them onto each other, as  you'll be attaching a concave curve onto a convex one. Do this for the fabric, and the lining. Tack.
3. Overlock all tacked seams, so far. (overlocking will create a more secure seam, and leave less bulk than sewing with a regular zig-zag or similar, and then trimming)

Here are some photos of my fabric and what it looks like so far. (minus overlocking)

Wow... that was a lot of writing, for so little information! 

And tomorrow I'll give you the rest of what I did. And the finished product! :D

What we cooked:

Potato Frittata:

We cooked a potato frittata for lunch on Saturday. It was yummy, although I think I would change a few ingredients next time.

Ingredients: Potato, garlic, rosemary, green capsicum, mushroom, eggs, milk, pepper, and feta cheese
Method: Fry the potato (sliced), garlic, and rosemary, until the potatoes start to brown. Add the mushroom, and the capsicum. Fry for a bit. Add the egg and milk and pepper mixture. Crumble the feta cheese on top. Put in hot oven (our thermostat doesn't work, so it was hot), and cook until it is cooked, and a bit golden on top. Remove from frying pan, slice it like a pizza and eat.

Note: Make sure you use a frying pan that can go into the oven.

~Liz

Packing cards

I have been busy recently packaging, and taking cards around to shops. This is what it looks like... Boxes and more boxes!

~Liz