Arizona green tea dress

What do you do six hours before the airport shuttle picks you up?

You make yourself a new dress.

Of course.

A lovely soft jersey. Lovely, but difficult to sew.

And since the fabrics reminds me so much of the Arizona green tea packaging, I'm calling the dress the Arizona dress :-)

Monkey leggings

One of the Christmas presents I made this year were leggings for my ne(w)phew.

I've had this monkey fabrics at home for a while and it was just perfect for the occasion.

Sorry for the poor quality of the photos, I was really in a hurry.

A simple skirt

Although summer seems to be over, it's still time to write about a skirt I recently made and happily wore in the second half of the summer. A very simple simple Jersey skirt, just the side seams and an elastic band, but it's the pattern that makes the skirt one of my favourites.

I've been wearing it with a blue T-shirt and a Maori necklace :-)

Green Ninjago T-shirt

Just in time for MiniMojcek Nr.1's sixth birthday I finally managed to finish the green Ninjago T-shirt!

Starting with two identical white long-sleeved T-shirts, I dyed one green. I just couldn't find a suiting plain green T-shirt in the shops.

Then I cut a "bib" out of the white T-shirt and sewed it on the inside of the front of the green one, creating the V neckline.

 Carefully cut the front...

And stitched it again.

Then it was time to start painting: first the additionall collar, then the silver pattern with black crosses, finally the belt.

But one should not forget the golden snake on the back!

Now he has a Kai sweater, a Zane T-shirt and the new Lloyd T-shirt.
He's happy.
For now.

Four Arms costume

It's this time of year again - when all the sewing moms in this part of the world are extremely busy. It caught me a bit by surprise that MiniMojcek Nr. 1 had to wear the costume on Friday (and not on Tuesday as I expected it) so it was a bit rushed... but nevertheless, a success!

He already has the casual Ben 10 T-shirt and Ben 10 jacket, but now it was time to transform into Four Arms:


I started with two red and one white long-sleeved T-shirts, a pillow, a pair of gloves and a large grayish button.


I was hoping to use the original Ben 10 T-shirt but I realised that Four Arms wears a slightly different one. Oh, well..

I cut several tapes of black fabric (yes, I always have a bit of black Jersey at home) and sewed them onto the T-shirt. A large button was used as Omnitrix and painted accordingly (and yes, I always have a bit of black paint for ceramics, glass, plastic ... at home).


The additional arms were made from sleeves and the gloves, stuffed with the pillow filling, and attached to the white T-shirt.


But the arms just hung there, so I connected them to the primary arms :-)


In order to be able to wear a parka over the four arms, the connection had to be removable, so I used a pair of tiny plastic carabiners. Here I was just adjusting the length.


The hood was made in a rush, just two pieces sewn together approximately in the shape of the head with a black ribbon and four yellow eyes.


And a pair of black joggers and MiniMojcek Nr.1 was happy. So was I.


If I had more time, I'd also make the proper shoes and gloves.
But I didn't.
Oh, well.

Girl's leggings

No, I don't have a girl, these are a present for MiniMojcek Nr.2's friend. Basically the same as the ones I made for him, even the same size, just in a different colour.


I always thought that finding fabrics for girls would be so much easier than for the the boys. But I was wrong. It's just as difficult :-)


I hope she likes them!

Boy's trousers

MiniMojcek Nr. 2 gets almost all of the clothes from MiniMojcek Nr. 1. However, at this age all his trousers had either small or large holes on the knees - so MiniMojcek Nr. 2 needed some new ones. I made a pair about a month ago, and another pair today. That was quite a challenge: cutting the fabrics with one hand while holding MM2 in the other; sewing with MM2 repeatedly switching the sewing machine on and off; and MM1 occasionally stepping on the foot control ...


Funnily enough, once I made the trousers, I realised they were exactly the same colour as one of his favourite books. Here they are together:

Brown, brown, brown & brown

Brown is not my favourite colour. That's why it's quite surprising that currently four different brown fabrics are on my to-sew pile. They are as different as they can be.
Linen:

Jersey:


Cotton:


Viscose:



Expect more brown posts in the near future!

A simple dress

What happens when your favourite daytime-nighttime-anytime-allthetime dress literally falls apart because you have worn it so much?

Well, you make a new one!

You get some striped jersey and just cut the fabric. You don't even need a pattern because it is so simple to make - just the side seams (slightly A-shaped) and straps.


Add some shape at the top but do not exaggerate:


While you're at it, you make another one :-)


Yes, I am obsessed with matching stripes.


Does this fabric seem familiar?

Cowboy costume

To continue the costume saga of MiniMojcek Nr.1: I told you already that when he saw MrMojcek dressed as Lucky Luke, he wanted to be one as well. We settled for a generic cowboy costume.

He borrowed MrMojcek's hat that we bought so many years ago in Sydney, I cut a piece of red fabric to make the bandana and I cut an old H&M T-shirt to make the vest. Of course he needed "pockets" for his pistols (to make a long story short: I am NOT buying him pistols so he makes his own from Duplo bricks. Oh, well. Boys will be boys.). I made a very simple fleece belt with holsters and spurs.




He adored the costume and almost ran to the kindergarden to show it to the others. But when he got home, he greeted me on the door with the words:" We will make a pirate hat and sword like MiniMojcekNr.2's-best-friend has."

Notice that
a) he used the word "we" and not "you" and
b) he said "make" and not "buy".
That's my boy!

But this does not change the fact that the costume saga is not over yet.

More boy's trousers

I was so busy sewing this weekend that I forgot to take pictures while sewing so I only have photos of finished boy's trousers. If you remember, a while ago I posted a photo of Jersey fabrics: four different fabrics and a long way to go. Well, now I finished two pairs of trousers and plan to do four more. But first the photos of the ones already made.


Almost happy with these seams:


Crazy shadows:


Of course, my son should not forget that these were made just for him!

Boy's trousers

My little one enjoys running around and therefore needs comfortable trousers. These were made without a pattern, just approximate cut - and turned out superb! Made of striped cotton Jersey and a broad elastic in the waist.



Even the lines match perfectly!


The finished trousers.