Sewing World Spread (and giveaway!)

I've had to keep this quiet for what seems like forever but now that it's been published  I can tell you that I have a full pattern in the June issue of Sewing World... And a cover mention no less!  Arrow and POW bubble (obviously) added by myself.

Here's the skirt I made and the pattern that's included: it's a drop waisted bubble skirt with a full lining for neatness, an elasticated waist for ease of dressing and in sizes 3 years to 12 years.

There are paper pieces to cut out (as opposed to measurements to draft your own) and a three page step-by-step tutorial.

This picture of the orange linen interior shows how neat the inside finish is.

And this picture shows what happens when a magazine lets a contributor write their own 'About Me'.

There are lots of other projects in the issue and even a bonus House of Pinheiro doppelganger.  Every magazine should have a House of Pinheiro doppelganger if they don't have the real thing.

I had to provide the skirt for the photos, but it's back with me now and I'd like to give it away!  The size is 3y/4y with a 20" waist (stretching to about 24") and length of just under 11".  If you have a three to four year old, a child that will eventually be a three to four year old, you know a child that is or will be a three to four year old, or even if you have one of those creepy kid-in-the-corner dolls that fits the bill, leave a comment for a chance to win.  The giveaway is open internationally and I'll pick a random winner on Sunday; make sure that if you're a no-reply commentor that I can get a hold of you!

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Made it in MADE

Waaaaaay back in January I was contacted by the editor of a new magazine for parents in Edinburgh about being included in their children's clothing feature. And thanks to my eagle-eyed childminder who managed to find a copy, now I've seen the finished article:

Unfortunately the feature was written right as I was putting the finishing touches on the new shop launch so I didn't have the shiny new website (and a current 'About Me' page) to direct her to. Slightly out of date information was taken from my Etsy profile, but I'm not complaining!*

*Much. Only here. And very graciously.

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Move on, move on. Nothing to see here.*

*Blog title is not strictly true. There are a couple of things to see here, and even an opportunity to assert your influence over my life.


Firstly, my hoodie pattern has been given a very nice review by Living With Punks. She let her twin boys pick their own fabrics and I LOLOLOLOL'ed that one of them picked trout fabric. Head on over to read the review, admire her handiwork, marvel at her good genes, shed a tear that her son told his friends his hoodie was purchased from a shop, and also pick up a discount code for my Etsy shop.


In a strange episode of synchronicity, my boy brief pattern was also reviewed in Blog-land yesterday and a very nice review it was. Told you so.


Finally, I am being uncharacteristically forward-thinking. Steven's brother is getting married in seven weeks and I want to find a Very Special Fabric for a dress for Maia. It will have to out-snazzy the dress I made her for our last family wedding due to my innate fears of not living up to expectations. I am thinking about the flocked taffeta above but I am unsure if it is evil. So, readers, is this fabric evil? And also, what other fancy-pants fabrics should I be looking at?

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I'm going to cease Christmas Crafting with immediate effect and just give you my autograph. You're welcome.

Last night I was asked to participate in the BBC's Good Morning Scotland radio programme and despite my extreme nerves (and after much cajoling by my friends on Twitter), I agreed. Get me and my big britches. I was picked up early this morning, whisked to the studio and they even let me in. I wasn't sure that last bit was actually going to happen.

That is 'my' studio to the right. In the lefthand studio was non other than Alistair Darling. I can't be entirely sure (as I was on-air at the time) if he was also being interview about Christmas Crafting, but probably.

It was very kind of the gentleman in reception to endulge my dorkiness and take my picture but he's probably used to it (no doubt Alistair Darling asked him too). He also turned a blind eye to me spilling coffee and gave me a last minute pep talk to calm my nerves before prepping me on the booth and how it worked. Unfortunately he assumed people being asked to speak on the radio would have a basic level of intelligence and failed to tell me I'd need to put the head phones on. Good thing I popped my head out with seconds to spare to confirm, or this interview never would have happened.


So here we go then. People in the UK who want to listen, the show can be found here. Obviously I'd recommend listening to the entire three hour programme because it's very reputable with a high caliber of guests but if you just want to listen to just me it starts at the 1:46.40 mark.

Poor, sad non-UK folk won't be able to listen to the iPlayer* but if you want a transcript it's something like this:

Them: (Question?)
Me: Ehhhh.
Them: (Question?)
Me: Hmmm.
Them: (Question?)
Me: Emmm.

*EDITED TO ADD: Lyn in America has said she did manage to listen! And here's how:
"I started the regular player and when I tried to go to the play position you listed it said "not enough bandwidth." I switched to the low bandwidth version (lower left of the player) and it played fine."

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The Good, the Great and the Horrifying

Exciting times here today. Black Friday means lots of sales and bargains and for fabric excitement three of my favourite UK fabric shops are having sales:

• M is for Make is having a 10% off sale through tomorrow night. Kate started tormenting me earlier this week with a 15% sale on Patti Young knits and I totally resisted until today when the additional discount drove me over the edge.
• The Fabric Loft is also having a Black Friday sale through Sunday, with lots of nice fabrics and sewing patterns at a discount.
• Although it's not technically a Black Friday sale (it's a colloboration with Gertie's latest sewalong!), Sewbox is offering 20% of their garment cottons through 6 December. Click on the Gertie link for the code.

*DO NOT EVEN SKIP THIS BIT*
Never one to let a bandwagon pass without jumping right on, if you've been thinking about buying one of my patterns enter BLACKFRIDAY at checkout in Etsy and get 15% off.

So that's the good over with... how about the great? I've only been included in one of Babygadget's Christmas gift guides!


With a bonus picture of the Baby Maia. So little, so little hair.

And now the horrifying. See that X at the top right corner of this window? Go ahead and click it if you're easily squicked.............


This was this morning, and by the afternoon she had so many on her eyelids that they nearly swelled shut. I thought Jamie's pox was bad but she has the same number as he had on his whole body, on her upper back alone. She must have hundreds.

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Yay and Boo

There I was minding my own business yesterday, cutting out dozens of tunics to sew for Treefest. I was on a self-enforced ban from the computer so I could get as much as possible done before the kids were back. On the way to get another coffee I thought, 'I'll just have a little look...' And I saw that my views on Etsy had jumped up by hundreds. 'Front Page, Front Page!' I thought. But it was already gone....

There's my little Fushia and Lime Matryoshka top at the top left of this gorgeous Raspberry treasury by the very talented Jane from TheDoghouse! You can still check it out for the rest of the day to see her other gorgeous picks featuring McEtsy sellers (that's where she found me), Handmade4Hounds and Etsy for Animals.

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Mosey on over...

I'm sure everyone has heard of Cuteable, the inimitable website of all things cute... well, yesterday Lynsey included my orange bird coat in her orange feature for colour week! How exciting!


And what kind words as well... thanks so much, Lynsey!

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I'm very excited...

It's been a long and grueling weekend at the Meadows Festival and I promise I'll blog about it tomorrow but I can't help but share that I'm extremely honoured that today one of my creations has been featured on Etsy Item of the Day run by the lovely Jackie.


Jackie has dedicated her site to a celebration of all the handmade treasures that can be found on Etsy. I've had a lot of fun trawling through her other picks and I'm in really salubrious company, this is one of my recent favourites, just look at these gorgeous fabrics!


So please go visit Etsy Item of the Day and leave some comments of support for her finds! Especially my reversible white bird coat :)

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A pleasant surprise from Down Under

I was checking out my web stats today and there were a huge amount of visitors from Australia and New Zealand. Hmmm, I thought, better check that out! Imagine my shock when I saw that I've been featured by Babyology!

If you can't read that small, here's what it says:

"I'm a sucker for sweet girly clothing featuring fabulously combined fabric prints and Kitschy Coo sure delivers the goods. The undeniable highlights of the collection are the double-breasted coats. My favourite is the orange one with birds. You can still go for the peasant dress and tunics, even though we're heading into cooler weather. Regular readers would have heard me carry on about layering before, so put on some leggings and a long-sleeved comfy top and the peasant dress will snazz up the base perfectly.

For boys I love the Frog print hoodie in black and white and the faboosh Superhero rompers. I fondly remember flying both my babies around in the air like chubby-cheeked cherubic heroes and these rompers in sizes 0-6m or 6-12m would perfectly compliment those moments.

Buy Kitschy Coo at Folksy, and if you don't see the right size coat for your kidlets, email Amanda and chances are she'll be able to meet your requirements."

What a lovely surprise! They used these pictures too (guess they love the frogs as much as me!):

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I've been featured in a proper magazine!

Further to my post about being secretive, I can now reveal which magazine my woodland matinee jacket has appeared in! It's called Sustained, and it's a wonderful eco-magazine with the aim to get the public to consider making small changes to their lifestyle to make them more sustainable and ethically led. It is distributed free at organic food shops, with veg boxes, at farmers markets and libraries. It has a readership of 60,000! My jacket is at the top right corner... click on the photo to visit the magazine (the feature is on pages 28-29):

I'm really overjoyed to make it into a national magazine, and even more pleased to be part of a collection of really wonderful things from independant makers.

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Lookee, lookee!

Remember this lovely jacket that I made for an order last week? Luckily for me, the customer who bought it is the European editor for a website called Babygadget, which showcases new, innovative, fun, sometimes wacky or highly functional and smartly designed products for little ones. Their words, not mine :) But all true, of course!

And she's given me a lovely write up on the website, I've been virtually skipping around with pride and happiness since I saw it!

Click here if you want to see the whole thing (which of course you do). And while you're there, check out all the other stuff on Babygadget too, there are some really amazing things!

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