More school stuff

This time it's an art apron.

I had to take pictures in the dark so you can't see the details (made it last night, packed it off to school this morning). In summary: elasticated neck band and velcro-attaching waist strap = L can get it on and off easily by herself. The ideas came from this free pattern which I read through but didn't exactly use.

And it has a great big pocket. Which I added mainly so I could do this:

My own name-tape labels! I love how they look all back-to-school retro.

I should probably get round to ordering some with L's name in too, and stitching them into her clothes and school-related possessions. But that would be a Sewing Chore, and I don't do those.

Sunday night sew-a-thon

So the weekend went a bit like this...

Friday afternoon: L finishes her first week at kindergarten. The nieuwsbrief informs us that for Monday she will need a gym bag and a book bag.

Friday afternoon, a bit later: we head down to the countryside for the weekend. Shopping possibilities: limited. Shopping attractiveness compared to other more countryside-related activities: very limited.

Sunday night: last-minute panic and bag sew-a-thon.

And for once my random stashing of cheap fabric stuff pays off! This is a set of four napkins I bought in the cave of horrors that is Kruidvat, for the knock-down and irresistible bargain price of One Whole Euro:

Now they are this, filled with gym clothes:

And this, for L's trips to the library:

The bags had to be named. So, they are. In the least subtle way possible:

She likes. She went to school this morning enthusiastically loaded up with all of these (it looked like she was sherpa-ing us to the metro):

The other bag is her backpack for snacks and other sundries such as her school diary. It was a present from Grandma and Grandpa. So far there were no books in the book bag, just a giant cuddly snake (bring-and-share letter of the week: S).

Such fun!

Now of course T wants one too. Watch this space...

I'm not really a seamstress

In my head, I mainly sew clothes. Almost all my thinking and planning about sewing is about which garment, with which pattern and what adjustments, in which fabric, and do I have shoes to match? What needs adding to my wardrobe next? What techniques am I confident in and how do I want to experiment? And, not unimportantly, will I find time to carry all this off before the season changes (again! Doesn't time fly.)

Well, the answer to that last question is usually - no. A resounding No, in fact. Because while my head is plotting lists of beautiful homemade garments, my hands have other plans and are just busily getting on with them.

You see, my hands like things like this. Little, cute, fun, projects, easy to both plan and execute successfully (not quite at that stage with my own clothing yet...).

Small lovely things such as, to take one example, snugglers for freshly born babies.

I may have mentioned that my friends are having their very own 2011 baby boom. And frankly, when faced with the choice between pattern tracing, adjusting, cutting, sewing, trying, unpicking, sewing again, all the while sweating and swearing, or choosing some lovely polka dots and fluffy light soft fleece and then whipping up a swaddling blanket. Well!

When it comes down to it, my head agrees with my hands.

While they were at it, they decided it would be a good idea to whip up a pacifier clip too. Because, let's face it, altogether this makes rather a nice little bundle, doesn't it?

Yes, friends, feel free to have as many babies as you like. I love making this stuff.

Plenty of time left to make next summer's wardrobe, after all. (Yeah, like that's actually going to happen).

A crown, a frock and a cake

On her third birthday, L came home from the creche with a paper birthday crown. It was nice and hung around being dressed up in for a bit, and then, as these things do, went in the recycling bin - unnoticed by our busy big three year old girl.

What I didn't realise then though was that some people have a whole tradition of birthday crowns. Soulemama is one of them; polkadotjes is another. Turns out that when G was a kid he got a crown on his birthdays too. And I cottoned on to the whole idea just in time to make this:

The night before the big day I hung it in her room with her matching mummy-made birthday dress, leaving this lot stacked up in the kitchen while the cake cooled overnight:

Up at the crack of dawn the next day, and overdoing the sugar as much as possible...

Those few moments of true peace and quiet before the others wake up are one of my favourite times of day - and  I honestly can't think of many things I'd rather do with them than decorate chocolate cake for my big little L.

And then she got up and screamed with pleasure at her dress and her crown and wore them both, of course, all day:

This is the stillest she would stand with them both on simultaneously. So we did some posing this morning, a couple of weeks later, as well:

As you can see, it's just perfect for twirling!

And I think I've started a birthday tradition of our own. Crowns and party clothes, homemade with lots of love, by me.