Making it up as I go
Thoughts on faith, life and a fair amount of sewing. Soli Deo Gloria.
Saturday, March 29, 2025
Getting There and Settling In
Sunday, March 16, 2025
Sashiko Prep
After falling in love with sashiko and making a couple of little cloths that ended up as whiteboard cleaners in my classroom last year, I wondered how I could continue to include sashiko in my sewing life. I wanted to try lots of different patterns but I also wanted them to be part of something practical. Luckily, inspiration hit.
I had unintentionally made whiteboard cleaners with my last round, so why not make more? My classes often use mini whiteboards at their desks or on the floor, but I have no class set of erasers or cloths for them. At the moment, I just have the kids flip their boards and give them a quick rub on the carpet to clean them off. Unconventional, I'll admit, but it does the job.
Anyway, back to sashiko. If I had a class set of say, 25 or so small cloths, these could easily be used for whiteboard cleaning. And I could use them to spark the students interest in Japan with Japanese patterns! It's a lesson in and of itself. Or run a lunchtime club with the older students to teach them sashiko too! Everything is learning.
So I went through my scrap fabrics looking for anything plain and robust in reds and blues. I ended up throwing in a piece of purple too, since the scrap that I had (probably from Aunty Sue) cut into six double sided little squares quite easily. Some of the scraps I recognise and know exactly where they are from (Blue lining fabric from my Mary Poppins Skirt, and two blue squares from the actual skirt material, one blue square from a pillowcase (just like the last sashiko), some from Sophie's Lana costume, red denim from my mum that's been in various things is the only red I recognise though!)
I took a bunch of the red ones first and drew up the grids and patterns I wanted to try. I was sewing these at church, but also in our staff meetings and the three days of professional development we did at the start of the year. I don't know if it was that the pens are old and I was pushing hard, that the ink stayed on a long time before I ironed it off, or some other reason, but the fabric pen ink didn't disappear as magically as it usually does. I am not offended by it, since they are just going to be used as whiteboard cleaners by a bunch of primary school students, but it does make me cautious about using them on future projects.
Part of me thinks I'm getting better at sashiko, while another part of me disagrees quite strongly. I like the sake bottle design one more than I thought I would. Designs with two colours also appeal to me, and the circle one is also a fav. I am beginning to realise thread colour choice is very important.
That red one with the orange thread is very poor indeed (pictured at the start of the post). Which is why I stopped doing it. I think I need to unpick all that work and try again, with much more focus on my stitch length and how many I have on each line.
In the mean time, I took a foray into the purple fabrics (which look rather grey in these photos, but are actually a nice mauve in real life), but I don't know if it's the thread colour I chose, fabric or the designs, but I don't love them either. One of the purple ones has some of the best intentionally small stitches ever, but something seems off.
My guess is the thread colour. The designs just don't pop because there isn't enough contrast. Will have to choose something darker for the next one.
In the mean time, I'm eight designs in, with two WIP, and four marked up waiting to have thread added. 21 squares of prepped fabric in various shades of blue and red still hold in stasis until I can get the book from the library with the patterns again. I don't know if it will come before we leave for Japan. In that case I'll either have to find a Japanese book in Japan, or try my luck with the internet. Both of these options are pretty workable.
This project is so perfect for travel too, since they are small and portable. Looking forward to having a class set of these for my classes. Hopefully the students appreciate it, though I doubt it. Not because they are malicious (well, most of them aren't), but the rest just won't because they are kids.
Tuesday, March 11, 2025
Timing and Schools
Thursday, March 06, 2025
Waiting for a Cyclone
It is a beautiful day here in Brisbane and it is almost incomprehensible that schools are closed, local services like public transport and rubbish collection are suspended and shops are shutting their doors. While the rain and wind over the last few days have been intermittent, preparations were made around our yards and houses; everything is tied down and put away. Now, the day is beautiful and we wait for a cyclone to come.
I'm sure I'm not the only one who is getting flash backs to March 2020, when Covid hit and we were all "sheltering in place" which was the nice way to say "lockdown". The shelves in the supermarket were looking pretty bare the last three days as people rushed out to get supplies. There is lots of unknown and trying to do all we can to make the most of the time we have before the storm comes.
The girls are across from me as I type this, each working on their own school work and Steve is in the office on a Teams call. It shows the five years that have passed though, since they are both on electronic devices, rather than using colouring pencils, glue and scissors to complete their work.
We've been unable to get bread, so last night I started a focaccia dough, and this morning, I have a put together the beginnings of some cinnamon scrolls. Lockdowns are the perfect time for carbs right? While we wait, now is the perfect time to catch up on some blogging that I've not been able to get to. And the bonus on the cyclone delay is that now I'll have time to recharge the laptop after as well. Silver lining!
As we have been busy thinking through the logistics of our Japan plans for 2025, one of the things I was considering was shoes. Obviously I'd want to take my ultra-comfy sports shoes, but since I wear them for pretty much any outdoor job, including painting, oiling the deck and mowing the lawn, they were pretty grubby. That doesn't matter so much in Australia (well, to me anyway), but Japan are a bit more conscious about outward appearance. I figured if I want to take them to Japan, I would need to clean them up or I'd be so aware of how dirty they are every time I went for a walk.
My initial plan was just to dye them, but Maria said that that wouldn't hide the oil stains like I wanted them to. Instead, I opted for fabric markers and did some colouring. Trying to make the stains and paint part of the design. My other idea to hide the stains, or at least make them less of a feature, was to sew some new fabric shoelaces, thinking that if people were distracted by beautiful unique fabric, they'd be less likely to notice the other, less delightful parts of the shoes.
Shoelaces are pretty easy to make - just need to cut strips of fabric, do some folding and sew down one side. I did these without any fuss Sunday morning before Church.
I was sitting I my little sewing nook enjoying the calm quiet morning and the wonderful way that this little part of our house makes me so happy. Incidentally I picked up that little iron off our community grapevine for free from someone who was moving and didn't need it. It is so super cute (even though it's pink :P) and I made a little ironing board to use with it from a bamboo cutting board covered in leftover quilting batting and some more of the flannelette cot sheet I had from the girls (used before to make a bunny or two).
So happy with the shoes with their new laces (although don't love how the blue hearts-that-hide-the-oil-stains look), ready to go to all the cool places in Japan. Hopefully if you are also are sheltering in place waiting for a cyclone, you are also enjoying some small things to help pass the time.
Friday, February 28, 2025
Spontaneous Sewing Makes
Post Christmas, I did a couple of spontaneous sewing makes. I honestly thought I wouldn't want to touch a machine in ages since I had actually had a hugely productive sewing December (two Christmas Shirts (Dad & Luke), Mum's Shirt, shorts and dresses for babies and toddlers (all found here), as well as all the tedama that I churned out). But for some reason, it was totally fine for me to do these littlish things.
Tuesday, February 25, 2025
Christmas Sewing: Mum's Top
Back to catching up on my Christmas Sewing from 2024 (yes, I know we are in Feburary :P). Here is something pretty darn beautiful that I made for my Mum! My biggest regret is not getting proper photos. Hopefully these will give a hint of what it looked like, even if you can't see the full top.
I saw the pattern for this as I followed Liz Haywood's work on her blog and thought it was just lovely. You can get it in her book, A Year of Zero Waste, or as a smaller instalment via her Esty page. The way the pleats were done like origami was such a drawcard for me! As far as patterns go - experienced sewer is right, but the instructions are good and the sew along video is also very detailed and handy, so well worth the purchase.![]() |
Funny bubbly pleats waiting to be pushed out and pressed. |
I did make a draft version in an old doona cover to check how the pleats would come together and the general size. I'm glad I did because it really taught me just how precise I would need to be with the pleats. Of all the Christmas makes, this was the one I started first, but after the draft I some how stalled for a while and needed to sew Dad's shirt before I was ready to go for it.
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It's like origami and sewing all in one! |
The blue linen from Spotlight was fine to sew with, if a little irritating since it crushed so easily. I did have a moment when I needed to get a spool of new thread. I took the old spool to Spotlight thinking I'd just walk in, match the code (967) and then out I'd go. Little did I know that on the huge wall of thread available, the one I needed was no where to be found.
I had a small break down, sent Steve a variety of strongly worded texts and then pulled myself together. Found the linen that I was using for the shirt on the shelf again and took it over to the threads to colour match a new thread. Crisis averted.
The rest of the shirt came together pretty easily, but I did hesitate before I sewed the sides, wanting to do a fit check before I bound the armholes. Mum was quite accomodating and tried it on with her eyes closed so I could check. Glad I did, because I did need to lower the arm holes a bit. Thinking I was done, I sewed it all up, gave it one more press and wrapped it for Christmas.
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The back is the same as the front. So pretty! |
Mum loved it, but when she went to wear it, it turned out a little too big after all. Oh well! As always, unpicking never takes as long as you fear, and it was straight forward to undo it all, sew the sides in further and then re finish it. Success all round.
Monday, February 10, 2025
Last Min Small Makes for 2024
As school was wrapping up at the end of last year, it came to my attention that Rachel's teacher was pregnant. Sophie actually had this teacher two years ago, and I'd already sewn for her a little something for her first bub then. It was a (un-blogged) Rachel Bunny, which Sophie requested we sew.
Since I've an affinity for sewing things for pregnant people, I thought I would get to it, though I figured I'd make something slightly more practical this time. So I dug through the stash, found just enough leftover monster material and these great humming birds from Steve's first shirt to make a couple of pairs of shorts.
And then, while I was doing that, and also wrapping Christmas presents, I realised I wanted to add a little something special to my nephew Archie's present, so I used the very last of the humming birds with a couple of blue scraps down the sides for stripes to make the fabric actually fit the patter, I whipped out one last pair of Sycamore Shorts for the year.
That takes my total of Sycamore Shorts for 2024 to 11. Not bad.