Not a patch on her

We had our two month follow-up at the Orthoptist yesterday and the girl is now patchless! At least til our next appointment in February, anyway, and if the vision in her bad eye remains stable we can remain so :)

The Clean Line Tunic

One of my best customers asked for a tunic for her daughter for Christmas day, and despite being crazy busy with orders, I managed to squeeze it in today.

As her daughter is a bit older, she preferred a non-elasticated neckline so I kept it simple and clean with a bound edge with polkadot binding. The binding has a lovely crochet edge. I did the same for the sleeve edges.

The back has a single button and loop closure with a coordinating green button.

Christmas orders have been oh-so-busy but I'm probably closing up shop tonight to give me time to make things for my family. Today was hopefully my last trip to the post office! Which is just as well as the post office this week has given me Hulk Rage.

The Festive Frock

It was the annual Kitschy Coo Christmas party on Saturday (this basically just means me and Friend Sarah hit the town), and I rustled up a festive frock shortly before / during / after I was supposed to meet her. It took me less than an hour, but I was still late. It's a red ponte knit using my cowl neck pattern but with a normal neckline. It has super-long sleeves in my futile effort to keep my wrists and hands warm.

I had every intention of being a proper blogger and getting pictures early on at the picturesque Christmas market, but it was crowded and freezing so I pulled my typical headless bathroom shots near the end of the night. I am nothing if not classy.

Crafter's Ceilidh

In the off-chance that there isn't a single soul who doesn't already read Debi's very inspirational blog, she's organised a Crafty Meet-up in Edinburgh on the 21st of January. It's not just for sewists, but plans are to accommodate a cornucopia of crafty types.

If I can conquer my social anxiety, I'll be there. Anyone else?

The Dread Lego Lord

There's nothing actually dreadful about this hoodie (I hope), but I think the angle of this shot quite foreboding. Or maybe I'm just reading too much George RR Martin*. Probably both.

I must be full of the Christmas spirit, however, as I'm letting people freely order things with the last of my precious hoarded fabrics.

Such small pieces require a bit of ingenuity, however, and I pieced this side with horizontal strips of blue twill, red twill and lego fabric.

And for the other side horizontal stripes on black twill.

With an accent to the hood. The tiniest bit of the lego fabric remains in the stash and the world collectively weeps.

**All right, who has read the George RR Martin books and would like to enter therapy with me in the hope of getting a group discount? I am almost finished part two of book three and I AM HARROWED.

The Geek Exchange Programme

My web guru (hired through this very blog!) did a stellar job pimping my shop up, and even had the kindness to except partial payment for his services in textile form. To his son, a lego t-shirt; but to the guru the spoils: a space invader iPad cover. Aren't we ironic trendy hipsters putting Androids on our Apples? Yes.

For illustrative purposes, this photo shows it with my rather lacklustre and forlorn iPad 1. His iPad is an ipad 2. I was determined not to be impressed by it (as any iPad is a joy and a blessing), but I was consumed with jealousy for the magic magnetic be-coloured screen protector in apple green.

As punishment for having nicer things than me befits an iPad with integrated screen protection, I omitted the neoprene inner lining I usually use for my covers but in my infinite magnanimity still bequeathed a handy back zippered pocket.

The Sentimental Pajama-ist

You might think that making new pajama bottoms for the kids is not necessarily blog-worthy, but you'd be wrong. These pjs have history.

Rather than use brand-new fabric from my stash, I repurposed some of my old sleepwear that I didn't wear anymore but was too soppy to bin. The penguin flannel for the girl's bottoms came courtesy of my fifteen year old self. When I was a pre-teen and teenager, I was obsessed with novelty pajamas. I may or may not have wore a flying squirrel suit (which for the unfamiliar is the pre-curser to a slanket).

These stripey jersey ones for the boy were made out of a nightgown. Now, let me state for the record: I do not normally wear nightgowns. In fact, since I was old enough to choose my own sleeping attire, I have worn precisely one nightgown: this one. And I wore it for the express purpose of expelling this very child out of my body. Nightgowns are infinitely more practical when giving birth than flying squirrel suits, bum-flap or no.

If you were ever wondering how much my kids look alike when their faces are identically daft, here's your answer.

The Alternative Christmas Gift Guide

It's that time of the year when the air is filled with the dulcet tones of my progeny chanting 'I want that, I want that, I want that' at every commercial and catalogue they see. Lengthy and precise letters to Santa have been written, and every adult within a ten mile radius (whether we know them or not) has been instructed what to buy.

Gifts for the girl
Steven and I have been arguing about to what extent to give into Maia's wish fulfilment. Never has a more gender-stereotyped child walked this Earth. The feminist in me objects to at least 80% of her list; she does not need anything in her life that solidifies her notion that girls are vapid and superficial.

The girl wants a Barbie head, ergo I will get her this one. I win.


The girl wants a My Little Pony, ergo I will get this one. Two- nil.


Gifts for the boy
Not as contentious as his sister's. Batman-centric.

I've mentioned before about Jamie's deep-seated fear of bears. Will a poster of Batman Bear change his mind?


Nah, probably not. This ursaphobia is seriously disruptive to our lives: the hall light needs to be on overnight with their bedroom door open, he requires a chaperone in every room in our own flipping house for fear of The Bear. Bat-Bear is cool, no doubt. But this level of fear calls for some aversion therapy:


Worried about finding youself inside a bear's stomach? No need. So plush and cosy.

Venturing into ridiculous territory. Or just Scandinavia.

What to you get when you cross a nun and a knight?

Elefanthue. That is, apparently, the technical name for this hat / hood / scarf lovechild. Google Translate kept telling me it meant 'elephant' in English and I was mighty confused by the relevancy but then I spelled it correctly and out spat 'balaclava'. Linguists, how can 'elefanter' mean 'elephants' and 'elefantheur' mean 'balaclavas'? That's some pretty weird stuff.

Needless to say, this balaclava was very popular with the under-four-feet-tall set and was modelled by Maia, Maia's friend, Jamie, and Jamie's friend. And me. Eighty percent of testers wanted their own out of snazzier fabrics, twenty percent wished she they hadn't looked in the mirror.

What say you, hive-mind, snazzy fabric at the ready or snazzy fabric under lock and key?

Kindle Covers for Generation Awesome

Whenever I get an email asking if I can make something bespoke for someone, I always ask to hear a bit more about the recipient... what colours they like, what styles or themes they're keen on, if there's anything they're passionate about. This Kindle case was for the customer's mum.

I was not expecting to hear that she was into 'shoes, tattoos and skulls'. Coolest grandma ever.*

*Excluding any grandma whose uterus I have gestated within of course. Automatically cooler.

Dental reviews: Now 100 % more thorough

Long-term readers might remember the review I did of my dentist earlier this year via the medium of True Blood. Reviews are great, of course, but better when they are not stand-alone pieces. Everyone is left wondering, 'How is this dentist now?', 'What was her six month check-up like?', and 'Did the dynamics of their relationship change now they are more familiar with each other and have gotten over their initial-appointment jitters?' Courtesy of my first cavity in 15 years, I bring you a follow-up review....

Dentist: Hello there. How are you today?
Me: Fine, thank you. How are you?
Dentist (harassed face): Meh.
Me: Bad day, was it?
Dentist: You could say that.
Me: (thinks) I hope it wasn't a malpractice suit.
Dentist: So. You're here because you have a cavity.
Me: Yes.
Dentist: And would you like to have pain relief?
Me: (thinks) Is this a trick question?
Dentist: If you don't it will be sore when I drill.
Me: I would like pain relief.

Pictured: Needle to scale.

Dentist: I have given you two injections.
Me: Okay.
Dentist: Just about to drill. It might still be sore, the injections were only small. Let me know if you can't take it.
Me: (thinking) What does this guy have against pain relief?
Dentist: Here we go....

Pictured: My actual response.

Dentist: Would you like another injection?
Me: Yes please.
Dentist: Okay, done. We might as well clean your teeth while we wait for it to kick in.

Pictured: Routine teeth cleaning

Dentist: Nurse, can I have the suction?

Pictured: Dental nurse

Dentist: Is it fully numb now?

Pictured: All of the paralysed nerves and muscles in my face.

Me: Yes.
Dentist: I am going to put this thing in your mouth.

Pictured: approximation of apparatus

Dentist: Let's get drilling.

Pictured: Dentists everywhere.

Dentist: Okay, all done. You should rinse now.

Pictured: Pre-rinsed.

Me: Thank you.
Dentist: You're welcome. See you in six months.

The end.

Hoodies for Heroes

I got chatting to a customer recently about making a custom hoodie for her son, and it turned out she's a real life hero. Not a fire-woman, or a serial blood-donator, or a kitten-rescue-sanctuary-owner... an unsung hero. This lady is a fabric designer, bringing lovely fabrics into the world for you and I to admire and stroke. Once I got over my awestruckness, I agreed.

If you harboured any doubt about her fabric credentials, just stand back and appreciate the two fabrics she picked from my entire stash.



I never would have thought to pair Willow Shroom with On a Whim. This is why I'm not a fabric designer. It's a tone-on-tone perfect match.

The Weekender Sale

Do you know how long it's been since I've actually had a fully-stocked webshop? Far too long. But it's all there now. After partaking in a couple Black Friday Sales myself, I decided to jump on the bandwagon and offer a sale through my shop. Through Sunday night at midnight, enter 'WEEKENDER' at checkout and receive 20% off your order.

There are two pages of clothes that are ready to ship, from appliqued rompers and organic t-shirts to baby shoes, dresses, and tunics. I'm planning on changing suppliers for my organic t-shirts and rompers so supplies are very limited and once they're gone they're gone! Have a good root around and snap them up quickly.


And four new Kindle cases in the accessories section. Patterns are where they always are, and a range of scraps packs are back in stock.

As always, the automatic postage rules are a bit screwy so overcharges on postage that are greater than one pound will be refunded through Paypal after I've posted them. Depending on how busy this sale is, shipping might not be until Tuesday.

Happy Thanksgiving

Hope all our friends and family are enjoying Thanksgiving today, we wish we were there celebrating with you. Here are some (very specific) things the kids are thankful for:



Disclaimer: Being outside the American school system, the concept of 'being thankful' was introduced to the kids today, with only moderate success. Jamie should have said that he'd be thankful if she stopped pinching his face.

The Leaning Tower of Booties

It's High School Flashback Pop Quiz time.

Guess who found more than forty pairs of baby shoes in a bag in their old craft closet?

Clue: It is not Imelda Marcos.

Kindles Go Organic

It appears to be The Age of The Kindle. After the leather lovelies of last week, I returned to the book-style covers of yore with a commission for two organic cotton ones. As always, they have super thick board on both sides and a spine so the Kindle is protected from stabbing from almost all sides.

Unfortunately, I couldn't find my pattern so I had to re-draft the whole thing. While I was there, I added a pocket on the other size for sundries.

Pictured: sundries

The recipient of this case hs an old-style keyboard model like me, so the cut out is to the right where the on/off switch and the charger port are.

The recipient of the Monaluna Double Dots has a new-style Kindle so her pocket is to the centre where that version's charger port is. As this model is sans keypad, and has less height overall, I also shortened the pocket so it doesn't interfere with the screen.

Amazon, stop changing all the specs unless you're going to send me one of each.

The Rainbow Party Frock

I was asked recently to make a dress for a little girl's rainbow themed birthday party. A bunch of Kona solids and some tinkering with my party frock pattern and voila!

From the bottom up the skirt has violet, blue, green and yellow strips....

An orange sash, and red bodice. I hardly ever work with solids (in fact I had to order then especially), but it made a nice change from sewing prints. In my typical 'more is more' fashion I thought about adding an additional rainbow applique or some other embellishment but, actually, I'm really happy with the simplicity of this dress just as it is.

Red and white and blue all over

Another knit bites the dust, sacrificed in the pursuit of an easy winter dress. I've had these pink, red and black polkadot interlocks for years, I think they might have been the first knits I ever bought (on Ebay, Nic-who-was-asking).

To break up the pattern, I added some blue trim to the sleeve ends, neckline, and into the waist seams. The skirt is quite full, with a curved waist so it drapes nicely.

I have no idea what is going on with my (new-ish) camera, it's behaving very badly. On one side of the garden it over-exposed all the pictures, and on the other side it under-exposed them. It's entirely possible, of course, that it's just me. Any ideas?