New cushions on Made It

I've finally, finally added all my new W Class Cushion styles to my Made It shop.

Hubby took the kids out for a couple hours so I could take photos and update my shop. Of course, five minutes after they left the battery in my DSLR died! I had to use the little old point & shoot instead. The photos are good enough for now, but I'll have to give in and reshoot them some day. Anywho, if you haven't seen my cushions before do click through and have a look. I'm very proud of them and think they're quite the thing.

By the way - if you're Australian based and thinking of opening an online shop I highly recommend Made It. They do heaps to promote their sellers (that's a link to the Designer Spotlight feature they did for Mrs Beckinsale), and they now offer lots of options for offering specials and discounts. For me, the chance to stand out in a comparatively smaller pool of sellers* and reach a local market is what makes my business a success. When I can bothered sewing, photographing and uploading stuff anyway - if only Made It would send someone around to do all that for me!

* Compared to overseas behemoth handmade sales sites

Happy Wall

Finally decided where and how to hang these things that make me happy.


I need a bigger desk, but that's fairly far down the priority list, well after lamps, filing cabinet, rug, mortgage repayments... All this stuff is normally on my desk. I tidied it up before taking a pic, and I admit that paint chip is usually the other way up with useful information written on it. So I'll class this as 'edited reality' rather than styling. And looking at this photo I got out the spirit level and straightened those frames! Missing from this picture: my DSLR is usually in that blank spot, but of course I'm using it to take this photo.

Love! Vintage lino flying ducks by Betty Jo, bought from my very favourite shop Gleaners Inc. Made to order. I described to Liz what colours I was planning for my loungeroom, and she captured it perfectly. Get your own. I'm now pining after her amazing vintage lino galah. Amy is pointing at the ducks and saying "Quack quack!"

Pressed flowers from Auslyn Enterprises at the Arts Centre Sunday Market. My mother in law bought this as my Christmas present when she visited last March.


Another present from my MIL - a watercolour (print) of the village of Chilham in Kent, near where she lives. One of the buildings is a tea shop where we had morning tea one day. The most recent BBC adaptation of Emma was filmed in this village. It takes an effort for me not to think of buildings like these as 'mock Tudor' - they're the real thing.

Textile art greeting cards from RR Artwear which I bought at Craft in the Bay, Cardiff. The maker's website is no longer active but you can see closeups of these pieces here.

Beky, hope this shot makes you smile! To Do list and notebook by Pivotal Expressons; exhibition postcard book of 'A key to help make your own world visible' by Gracia Haby. Sewing kit from a posh Christmas cracker; pen from Nanna & Poppa for my 21st birthday.

It was all Yellow

Something strange is happening in my new sewing studio. One, I've sewn four things in a row for myself. Two...


Yellow has never popped up in my OFMS sewing before, yet it's obviously my colour of the season.


(I'm not sure if it's the cameraman or my hips that are crooked. Probably my hips, as I'm barefoot rather than orthoticated!)

I revisited Nikki's You SEW Girl a-line skirt pattern*, because the finish is so superior to any pattern I've made for myself. I wouldn't have thought I could learn a thing from an easy skirt pattern, but Nikki's invisible zip method has to be tried to be believed!

I was working on the skirt and the cushion cover simultaneously and happened to find a cushion zipper before I found black braid to finish the hem, which dictated the order in which they were finished. I decided to do the black braid to liven up what is otherwise a pretty dowdy skirt. The braid ended up a bit closer to the hem than I wanted, as the stitching had to hold up the hem. I might get a narrower grosgrain ribbon and stitch that a few cm above.


The fabric is a drill from Spotlight's Vintage collection. In the shop I thought the yellow might brighten up my work wardrobe, but now I think it looks like an old sofa. I went to a lot of effort to match the pattern at the centre yoke/skirt, but the print is so large you can't really tell.

The skirt will definitely get worn, as it's really comfy and I'm desperate enough for work clothes that I'll wear stuff I don't really like (as long as it fits). But I've got my sights set on reproducing Nikki's yoyo embellishment efforts next - that's something I'd wear!

* Stocked at GJ's, Duckcloth and Addicted to Fabric, I believe.

Retro Age Vintage Fabrics piped cushion

In October I bought an amazing last-of-its-kind upholstery remnant from Retro Age Vintage Fabrics. Over the past week I've snatched a minute here and there and followed this Sew Mama Sew tutorial and transformed it into a piped cushion.

I only had 50cm of fabric, 140cm wide to make a 45cm cushion cover. The directional inclination of the pattern meant the back is mismatched. At least I had the sense to put the slightly faded end of the remnant on the back.

I also didn't have enough fabric to cut bias strips for the piping, but I think I got away with it.

Here it is in situ.

Cushions by Mrs Beckinsale, Retro Age Vintage Fabrics and Lola Nova. The ship in a bottle cushion glimpsed in the previous photo is by Villa Hunter.

I wish to blame Blogger for the wonky alignment of this post. Grr.

Pretty Ditty Apron for myself!

Apron #10 for 2011 was actually sewn in 2012. I don't care, I'm including it in my tally. Finally I found time to make my own apron - mostly motivated by that massive Spotlight sale last week. I feel selfish that after sewing all those aprons as gifts, I got the best one!

This fabric is a lightweight canvas called 'Months To Go' (I think). It's amazing. It looks like a vintage teatowel print. I wanted to have a row of rectangles centred, but the large repeat on the fabric meant I had to have a space down the centre front in order to have my favourite months featured. I didn't put pockets on this side because I didn't want to obscure the wonderful print.

I think the skirt fabric is called 'Red Letter Day'.

The waistband is an offcut from my sister's apron.

The pockets are cut from the 'Months To Go' print used for the front skirt. I HAD to use this part of the print because of the rosette. It's a complete coincidence that the 'Months To Go' fabric also had a rosette. And this fabric must be Australian-designed, because the November picture is of race horses.

I chose this image for the retro 'flying ducks' vibe. I love the textile collage feel of the print, with the printed lace borders and so on.

So, that's my apron. I win. It's the best apron. I still have to make one for Amy's second birthday in September, but unless I make it in identical fabrics there's no way it'll be as good. Sorry Bubba!

Here's all my aprons on Flickr.

Pretty Ditty Apron pattern by Jamie Christina. See all my aprons here.

Pretty Ditty Apron for a MIL

Apron #9 for 2011 was for my mother-in-law's birthday. I finished the apron on Christmas Eve, the day of her birthday. Unfortunately she lives on the other side of the world so she didn't exactly receive it on time!

For the first time I threw the three prints guideline out the window. This apron uses seven different prints, four from my stash and three purchased especially, and as a result I can't call either side the reverse.


This is the stash side. The skirt fabric is from GJs Fabrics and may look familiar from the You SEW Girl book. The apple waist ties were a last-minute choice as they were the only print in my stash that suited both sides and I had enough of to cut the large pieces.


The waistband fabric is from one of my niece's, MIL's granddaughters', aprons. I like to make intergenerational links between the aprons.


This side is the fabrics bought especially. MIL wears a lot of light blue so I wanted to feature that colour in her apron. The florals are from the clearance table.


I was delighted to find the passport stamp fabric in similar colours to the florals. There's my bold fabric choice I like to include in all the aprons!


I featured the Australia passport stamp on both pockets. MIL likes tokens of her son's new home.

The apron still hasn't arrived with its owner yet... hopefully it'll be there ASAP!

Pretty Ditty Apron pattern by Jamie Christina. See all my aprons here.

Pretty Ditty Apron for a BFF

Apron #8 for 2011 is for my BFF's birthday. My brief for this apron was 'blue floral'.



I adore this royal blue fabric with the yellow flowers. It reminds me of the bridesmaid dresses and bouquets from BFF's wedding. The light geometric print makes it a bit funky.



The pocket gives a hint on what you'll find on the reverse side.



Now here's one time that the reverse is even worse than intended! The stripes were printed vertically but I didn't want to cut them that way, because then the butterflies would be sideways. Even knowing that my BFF hates wearing horizontal stripes, I still cut it this way. Je regrete! I was going to mix this awful print in with the two nice ones to make two semi-decent sides, but I'm glad I put all the ugly on the reverse.



The pretty geometric print and royal blue pockets attempt to save this side, but it's still dire. At least this way it's easy to choose which side to wear when cooking something messy.

Pretty Ditty Apron pattern by Jamie Christina. See all my aprons here.

Pretty Ditty Apron for my mum

Let us travel back in time to June 2011, when I sewed and did not photograph an apron for my mum's birthday. This was apron #5 for 2011.

Sorry for the slightly dodgy photos - I nicked mum's apron for three minutes on Christmas day while she wasn't wearing it and didn't spend any time zhushing.

As with virtually everything I sewed in 2011 all fabrics are from Spotlight. I have two regrets with this one. First, the violet is actually a polycotton, which is not something you should do when sewing for a quilter. Second, I broke my trend of including at least one bold print in my three fabric choices. The result is, this doesn't look like it was made by me. I feel like a Project Runway designer who "lost their voice". I think I referenced mum's old Laura Ashley apron too heavily when making my choices, rather than being brave.

I'll have to make up for it with her 2012 birthday present!

Pretty Ditty Apron pattern by Jamie Christina. See all my aprons here.

Garden Hat - You Make Me Happy When Skies Are Grey

It's always nice to start the year by kicking a goal. Hat pattern by You SEW Girl! and fabric from Spotlight's immense discount sale.






I was very flattered to discover Nikki thinks I have a small head. My last sunhat (purchased) was never quite big enough, yet I've been wearing it for three years anyway. But this one is just right! It's even a little roomy in the crown, although that could be because I stretched the bejeezus out of it on the pressing ham/rolled towel. I had to steam it back down to get the crown to fit the brim. I confess I did consider giving up sewing forever the eighth time I unpicked the crown/brim seam, but once I finally got it to fit I loved it. Nikki promises in the pattern that the assembly gets easier. I'm planning to make this my birthday gift pattern for 2012, so by the end of this year I ought to be an expert on this particular pattern.

The dark grey with yellow flowers makes me think of a stormy sky over sunflowers. Hence, it is my 'You Make Me Happy When Skies Are Grey' hat. And the flowers convince me it's a garden hat rather than a sun hat. I didn't want to confine the contrasting light grey to the lining so I went for a crafty look over a stylish one and let it peep out under the brim. Are you familiar with the Selfish Seamstress's line between handmade garments being chic & unique and being crafty-crazy? Sometimes I want to look crafty. Such as when I'm wearing a massive sunhat.

I prioritised making a hat over making an apron, as it's scorching outside and I burn to a crisp. Hopefully this gorgeous hat will inspire me to be sunsmart every time I step out the door.

Family in 2011