{ CAROLYN PJS } with a shot of neon…

Dear Readers, its been a frikkin lifetime since I last posted anything here….

Gosh, life has been crazy. My little boy is 18 months { WHAAAAT } & since around November has been going 3 mornings a week to a day mother just to give this mommy a little me-time. I needed it so bad! I dont have grandparents or friends etc to help out with taking him a few hours to give us time so Ive kinda just used the few hours on the weekends that hubby would give me but it just wasn’t enough. Putting him a few mornings with a day mommy has allowed me to clean my house, prepare meals & SEW.

I hit those machines with a force let me tell ya. Those of you that follow me on Instagram will know this but Ive been sewing like such a crazy woman that Ive forgotten to blog any of these makes & share. That ends now!

So I decided to jump onto the Carolyn Pj’s bandwagon. This is my first Closet Case Files pattern & let me say, Im a fan!

At first I couldn’t find appropriate fabric. Then IKEA happened. Yes friends, I found fabric for my Carolyn Pjs at IKEA. This black & white cotton just screamed pj’s & at first, I was all revved to do black piping (which I still think woulda looked pretty hot) but then I had a brain wave which involved neon & the rest is history.

I purchased my neon piping via Etsy, from On Trend Fabrics. Their service was great & the piping is good quality. I went ahead & purchased neon pink & orange as well because you know…

After measuring myself, I settled on my size & then decided to cut & sew a size bigger. I hate hate hate tight pjs more than alot of things. Also, it was my full intention to make the long pants but once I set that pattern out for cutting, I changed my mind & made the shorts. Im really glad I did. I think I’ll get more use out of the shorts.

I made no major alterations but I did add in some piping on the edge of the short pockets & used neon yellow snaps instead of buttons. First time installing these kinds of snaps & they went in really really easy. I purchased the snaps via Etsy as well. There are quite a few sellers so take your pick. 

Line matching was interestingly annoying! I tried as much as I could, in the places that I thought it would matter the most & then didn’t give a shit where it didn’t work coz quite honestly, they’re pj’s for goodness sake. I did however take the time to utilize the cinched part of the pattern right in the centre of my back & front so it gives a good visual pear shape which I think worked kinda nice, no?

Such a lovely pattern & such a fun sew. There were some tricky parts to the pattern, namely the front facings & where they attach at the collar. Whew. Fuck. I might have popped a sweat at this stage but it worked out in the end! 

There are more Carolyn Pjs in my future, of this I am sure. Id like Kelly green next… x

 

{ DECOR } Sunshine roman blinds…

One would think being in the interior industry, self-made decor would come naturally to me.

Yip, ONE. WOULD. THINK!

The opposite is true for me in fact. I previously loathed doing my own home decor sewing. Curtains, blinds, cushions, the lot…. { LOATHE IT }. It most probably has much to do with the fact that Ive always had professional curtain workshops make my clients curtains, bedspreads, blinds etc & it may have become a luxury to have the same workshops whip up things for me in the past too. Decor sewing always reminded me too much of work & I prefer sewing garments anyway.

Since moving to Austria, I have found it incredibly difficult to find such workshops in & ’round my ‘hood. They probably exist in the big cities but since I live in the sticks, it really has forced me to make things myself.

I really needed to get some window dressings for the baby room so I decided to do simple roman blinds complicated with the need to line these with a good block out lining because the morning sun streams in through the one window & the other window is flooded with an annoying 10,000,000 watt halogen flood light from a neighbour that Im pretty convinced is signaling aliens “Land Here”! Cant have either!!

As you know, we are not aware of whether we’re expecting a boy or girl so we needed to go with something kinda neutral. Yellow is neutral. Non?

I had purchased this happy Ikea fabric a year or two ago just coz I loved it & had cushions planned in but never got to it. Unfortunately 2m was only sufficient for one window so off I darted to Ikea to pick up a further 2m. Thank goodness Ikea still had & might I add, still at the same price! I love the ‘watercolour-type’ effect of the yellow especially. 

Since I had never made roman blinds before, I went into this project…well…blind. I hit YouTube for a tut & came across this Debbie Shore video. She explains things so well, I actually felt like I had the confidence to give it a go.  Here are the results : 

We have aluminium venetian blinds integrated to the windows already which when closed give good results but the blinds just add something extra to the room & the blockout does its job extremely well. No more halogen flood lights, thanks neighbours! Instead of installing cleats to the wall to wind the cords, I use the integrated venetian blind fixings because I hardly ever lift the venetians so there was no point in adding extra cleats for the romans. By the way, WTF is up with blinds being named after the Italians???

My experience with decor in general is vast even though I haven’t actually made things myself. Working with professionals in the industry though, I have learned a thing or 10 about the do’s and don’ts so I’ll share some essential tips.

– Always use the best quality supplies you can afford. Don’t be tempted to use cheap alternatives because especially with blinds & curtains, the sun does damage & cheap supplies will just fall apart in no time.  Good quality lining is paramount.

– Check your measurements again…..& again before cutting anything!!

– Work systematically – it really does help to keep things clear especially when you’re dealing with various sized windows. Lengths & widths can vary ever so slightly so deal with one window before moving onto another.

– Make worksheets. Simple diagrams with measurements will help. { PROMISE }.

– Take your time.

Ive also included a list with links to the various places I purchased my supplies if your’e interested. Im supplying these links because Im thoughtful, not because Im affiliated in any way. Clear!

Supplies :

{ Fabric } : Ikea Stockholm

{ Lining } : Black out “Natur”

{ Blind fittings } : Toggles, tapes, cords etc

{ Batons } : Husband supplied

{ Rods } : Bauhaus

We’re almost finished with setting up the baby room so I’ll be sure to update pics as soon as its all done.

Hope you’re all well

x Ange

{ STORAGE } Genius solutions…

Lately I found my sewing table looking like a bit of a jumble sale – rulers, patterns, chalk, pins..you know, all the necessary sewing crappola one needs at hand. I just couldn’t function any longer with the clutter around my machine so I knew I needed to find a solution….& { FAST }.

May I introduce the latest member to my sewing family – the Raskog trolley courtesy of Ikea! { YES PLEASE }.

Ive had her around a week & Im already in love – cant get enough infatuation & I havent even made use of all of her yet.

I swiftly moved all the crap off my sewing table & into the trolley & instantly my head felt lighter. Now she goes where I go & all my crap goes with her. { GENIUS HUH }

 

{ STASH SORTING }

Happy Friday to you all –

A few days ago I was sorting some of my fabric stash because since we moved into our new house, I pretty much transferred fabrics straight from boxes to their storage without giving it much thought – in other words – I simply needed to have the boxes out of the way so I could think.

I use the Ikea 4-drawer Malm chests for my fabric storage.

{ source : Ikea }

I line the drawers with craft paper first and each drawer is dedicated to a specific type of fabric ie. on the bottom I have heavy winter fabrics (wools etc), next drawer up I store my cottons, then my lightweights ie chiffons, lace etc.  I do this because its easier for me to keep track  & I dont have to wade between heavy fabrics when Im looking for a silk…you get the idea right?! In the top drawers I keep my bits ‘n bobs for instance, buttons, ribbons, bindings, notions etc. As I mentioned in my NY resos post, I do plan on doing some shelves in the sewing room for books & I had thought of using the underside of the shelves for bottles of notions etc – we shall see.

Anyway, while I was sorting I realised that I have so much fabric that Ive bought on my travels and there are a few pieces I simply {CANNOT} even think of cutting. Its like Ive grown some attachment to them & its gotten all emotional & stuff…. {SERIOUSLY?} yes, seriously. Ive posted a few pics below so you can see which ones Im referring to :

I’ll admit, the majority of these fabrics are found on my travels to Canada, South Africa, Holland & UK so they all kinda hold sentimental memories of these travels. I guess cutting into them would still mean I have memories albeit in the form of a garment…Im pathetic with this {CANT CUT} thing but I feel like they are all too sentimental…..what can I do ?? Ive thought of going shopping for new pieces which might help to cure me because as soon as you have a new favourite, the old favourites seem to be demoted {HOWEVER} looking at how old some of these favourites are – it would appear Im not demoting anything. ever!!

Do any of you suffer from the same syndrome ? & if so, how have you overcome it?

Thanks for stopping by x

{ related posts }

• NY Resos and other things on my list of things to do in 2013

{ironing station}

Our current laundry area is divided into 3 areas of the house. At the moment we have the washing machine in the upstairs bathroom (because thats currently where the water inlet is), I have ironing and dry hanging space temporarily in the guest bedroom next door to the bathroom & the dryer is down in the basement. Now hopefully during the course of early 2013, all of this will be consolidated into a sparkly new {DEDICATED} laundry area down in the basement only.

I started thinking what this means for me & my sewing & the fact that I cannot sew without pressing!! hmm..lugging the ironing board & big iron upstairs every time I need to sew & back down when Im finished …or walking up & down 2 levels to press every 5 minutes….No, that wont work because I have to pass the kitchen which means stopping for a tea & a chat & a quick look at the news and, and, and oh look…10pm!!

So instead, I decided to purchase the mini table top ironing board available from Ikea for €3,99 and paired it with the lovely Prym Mini Steam Iron.

The mini ironing board stands 12cm off whatever surface you place it on with dimensions of 73cm long x 32cm wide (29in x13in). The cover is 100% cotton & easily removable for washing..Bonus! The legs fold under the board & it has a hook on the broader end for easy storage/hanging inside a wardrobe or behind a door. Magic!

The mini steam iron is by Prym and I purchased mine here. It was delivered within a few days and I started using it immediately. The iron is mini and it does not pack as much of a punch as my big regular sized iron does but it works for the sewing room & until I find an alternative solution, this one will be fine. This iron is also the perfect size for travel and comes with its own little water-filler marked with the exact amount of water you require to fill.

The base plate has 4 steam holes towards the top of the plate (see image below) and 3 guidance settings for low / medium / high heat of which you are able to set in-between these settings as well.

Both the iron & the water-filler fit into a simple square drawstring bag for easy storage & travel.

The only aspect of the iron I dislike is the placement of the power cable…annoying does not even begin to describe it. Firstly, the cable is placed to low down on the base of the unit & therefore drags on the ironing board (for lack of a better way to describe it). I use a simple elastic band over the cord & around the handle to keep the cord UP and out of the way. Secondly, why oh why would they design a mini iron with a great big, regular sized, heavy plug???!

So, now that I have my mini ironing station sorted, I have no excuses for not finishing the Vogue 8601 that I have been procrastinating on for weeks! Review to follow soon…i hope :-0

Shout if you have any questions & thanks for stopping by x