Now You're Just Somebody That Used to Sew

This week I finally got back on the machines for the first time post-surgery.  I'm not supposed to lift heavy things for as long as it suits me as an excuse an undetermined length of time; although I can't fault the surgery itself or the hospital stay, the post-surgery information about what I'm supposed to do or not do has been non-existent.  So to err on the side of caution, I was worried about lifting my behemoth Janome 1100D (it weighs at least 10 kilos) lest my nose collapse into my face or explode like a over-blown balloon.

What an anti-climax, nothing happened.

But also, yay.

In other anti-climatic and good news, I'm finishing up my Skater Dress pattern with the intention of having it ready for testing next weekend.  Those of you who've known me for awhile won't believe me (I'm looking specifically at Emily here) but it's true.  Probably.

There will be options for long, short and sleeveless versions and it will cover sizes 18m/2T, 3T/4T, 5Y/6Y, 7Y/8Y.  If you have access to a child that size, are interested in testing and can sew and give feedback in a speedy fashion please leave a comment with the size and sleeve option.  Long or short sleeves probably apply to most of us but I would definitely like a couple of those lucky ducks who live somewhere that's not currently freezing to test the sleeveless option.  Please, please, pretty please can you sew the size that fits your child's age rather than individual physique so none of that 'my child is 2 but I normally make her an age 8'.  I hope that doesn't sound mean or snotty but doing it that way gives me more meaningful feedback on general sizing; after testing you can make any size you like repeatedly and with impunity :) 

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Re-writing the classics

I haven't sewn a thing for more than a week now and I'm missing it. But in my attempt to actually finish things that are outstanding rather than just moving onto to more interesting new things, I've banned sewing until I can get my hoodie pattern with my lovely testers. And as of thirty minutes ago, I've finished:

Sheesh. This is by far the most difficult tute I've written (don't worry, I'm not saying it'll be the most difficult to sew!) because of the added complication of cuffs, pockets, hood, and zipper. And trying to fit 62 resized, annotated images into a tute that won't be £25 a pop to print. Which has lead me to further masochism... I'm going to go PDF with this one to begin with. Which means I can finally use some folks from outside my usual testing pool. Lovely volunteer testers expect the tute this afternoon! After I pop some painkillers / anti-depressants / beta-blockers for my carpal tunnel syndrome / hunchback / pressure sores / cross eyes from sitting at this computer for 120 hours straight, I'll get down to some hardcore tracing / cutting / scanning / crying and I'll email the actual pattern pieces as soon as I can. Good luck everybody and look forward to seeing what you make!

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With The Cassette Hoodie comes good tidings

I may have to abdicate my (self-appointed) title of Queen of The Cool Fabric Findings. As well as the sneaker print, this amazing cassette fabric slipped under my radar. Many thanks to Soph4Soph for sending it on so I could make a hoodie for her daughter!

Of course, I'm now forced to buy my own haul of this fabric -- good for me emotionally but not good for me fiscally. It's called Priorities.

Hello again, sneaker fabric.

Notice my new coloured reversible zippers? They cost £2,000,000 but I now have fuschia, royal, red, turquoise and jade. They're so lovely I'm not sure I can be parted from them.

Good news all round: new fabric to love, new zippers to use sparingly. And (drum roll).... the hoodie pattern is complete! It only took 14 months or so. But I have sizes 18m, 2T, 3T, 4T, 5Y, 6Y, 7Y and 8Y ready for testing. So who has the time / inclination / fabric / zippers / coffee / barbituates to test for me in about a week (after I type up the tute)? Leave a comment with size, gender and an email to contact you through.

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New underpants linked to hysteria

I made another two pairs and the kids literally went nuts for them.

Thank you all for your enthusiasm about the pattern and the pants themselves. To answer some of your questions:

• Emmy: I bought the bamboo from The Fabric Fairy in the US. Sadly, I can't find it here either.
• Little Birds Fly: I finished the tute today! See below....
• Sister: To my knowledge, there is no universal Scottish slang for boys' bits. We use 'wee man' in this house.
• Pickled Weasal: Yes, 'bahookies' is an ace word and yes, the singular is 'bahookie'.
• Mimesy: I am assured by the husband and the internet that breeks is acceptable for both trousers and underpants. Phew :)
• Louiz: We have trouble with builder's bum too, I'm baffled by the short rise they use for little girl trousers here. There's not too much you can do about it if they're store-bought ones (other than not buy them and send the company hate mail), but if you're making the trousers yourself increasing the back rise is a fix.
  

I've graded the pants for sizes 2-3yr, 3-4yr and 4-5yr, and the tutorial has been written. It'll be a pdf pattern because the pattern pieces are small, and the only thing I have left to do is scan them in. So, lovely testers o' mine, leave a comment here if you're interested, with the size you'd like to test. I will absolutely adore you if you could do it this week, all you need is some knit fabric (bonus points for fabric with lycra) and some stretch needles. Anywhere in the world because it's emailable! Speaking of which, please leave your email address :)

As an aside, if I was to sell the pants themselves, how much would you pay for a three pack?

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Life goes on (for some more than others)

I'm pleased to announce I am no longer dying. At least not of of tonsilitis. I still have six (or more) secretive but possibly fatal diseases that have been ongoing for some time now. As far as the tonsilitis goes, though, I am now merely languishing. Something like a pre-Raphaelite Sleeping Beauty:


Now, what's the most important message from Sleeping Beauty? To wait around for our prince to save us? That step-moms are evil? No. That when she goes into her pretty slumber, her elves still work. Me too. While I've been going into my pretty slumber (20 hours each day on Monday and Tuesday), my elves have been working too, testing patterns.


Eileen from Food of Love tested my leggings pattern for her little girl and I got a feedback grandslam: a super cute video of her daughter running and bouncing around in her new leggings. I am not lying. But I just can't show you, Blogger hates me for being a Cool Girl and has said it will no longer be my b*tch and let me upload pictures and stuff. Just imagine the squee of a fourteen month old running around wearing those polka dots. And we should all applaud Eileen in a completely non-patronising way because this was the first project she has ever completed by herself.

Technically speaking, Emily tested the cowl neck top before I was seriously ill, but I was still most likely secretly ill so I'm counting it. Don't get pedantic on me, I'm not well.


I think it came out really lovely and honestly, the feedback I got from Emily should be sealed in the Vatican archives and Dan Brown should write a revised Angels and Demons where Tom Hanks has to find Emily's feedback to save the world and stop priests dying. It was that good. You should probably go read her blog post about testing this pattern and Creme Eggs.

I'm feeling pretty blessed that all these other people are doing work for me while I languish and wait for kisses.

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Retro guitar hoodie

I haven't made anything for Jamie for about a year and now that he's not treating my wares a kryptonite, I thought it was high time I did. He was so grateful and excited about it I really need to work on more boy stuff!


This is like version twelve of my hoodie pattern and I'm finally happy with it.


And seeing as I've finally managed to track down some reversible zippers that don't cost more than the fabric required, I made it reversible. The other side is soft flannel with big guitar pockets. I'm liking how it ties in the interior of the hood.


Today's task is to scale the final 3T / 4T pattern down to the 18m/2T size and write the tute up. So... anyone with a bit of spare time and a fabric stash want to test this? Maybe someone with a boy for a change? I can throw in a reversible zip!

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Stop staring at me

To give you a break from my relentless posting of pictures of me, how about you check out these pictures of other people:


This is Maxine modelling her asymmetrical jacket. She doesn't like showing pictures of her face because she looks about twenty years younger than her actual age and she doesn't want us all to hate her for it. At least that's what I think.


I love these big buttons.


And this is Rachel's asymmetrical jacket.


Being a very clever lady indeed, it has an inner-lining of fleece for warmth.


A lot of you will recognise this little girl, and indeed, probably these very same pictures as I stole them from Vonnie's blog. This is the dress I made for her to wear to her baby sister's christening.


And the polkadot reverse side.


Isn't this picture beautiful?!


Hands up if you're awesome!

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Chalk and cheese

I should probably open with the fact: I really like cheese. Okay. Now, after the lovely tunics I made yesterday for Erica, I decided to try and make myself one today. First effort, no separate channel to save time and jersey in case I didn't give myself enough room for the chest. As if...


Body dysmorphia strikes again. So I took it in about 45 inches:


These dismal efforts make me 'chalk'. So who's cheese? My testers, that's who. They're totally rocking their asymmetrical coats:


This is Kym from Sugarmouse. Let's stop for a minute to admire her handiwork. I really love this purple colour and the coat looks fabulous on her. And look, an innovation!


She belted it up too and I totally think it really suits a bit more structure than the loose swing fit. If you like reading nice things about me *waves at parents*, you should read her post about testing this pattern. And then follow her blog too, she makes lovely things and her daughter is a cutie!


And this beautiful coat is from Maxine from Tiny White Daisies. I've been checking my email literally every five minutes waiting for her modelling debut but she's tormenting me. Or busy with her four children, I'm not sure. And look at the reverse!


I've gotten some awesome feedback from these lovely ladies and there's two more testers to come so fingers crossed the 10/12 and 12/14 patterns will be available next week! Once they're all set, I'll do the 8/10 and 14/16 next.

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Hands up if you want your own coat

Thanks to everyone who left such positive feedback on my first woman's coat, you gave me the courage to wear my creation out in public when I went out last night! Which gives me the opportunity to talk about the coat while showing gratuitous Girls' Night Out pictures. So this is what it looks like when someone has had a shower:


Please note I have a strange body shape. My shoulders, waist and hips are all narrow but I have a massive bust *waves at male relatives* so using myself as a benchmark for grading isn't a great idea.

Me and Ruth

I'm thinking I will probably offer this in small (UK 10/12), medium (UK 12/14) and large (UK 14/16). Because of the swing rather than tailored fit, the shoulder and bust are the most important measurements. And there's a bit of leeway on button placement so I think it'll be okay to cover two sizes per pattern... What do other people think about this?

Sarah, me and Ruth

So here's where you come in: I'm touting for a bunch of testers in various sizes and shapes to put my grading skillz to the test. I'd like to release this pattern quick-sharp (I can't offer ready made coats until I suss sizing) so I'm gonna have to give first priority to people in the UK . If you're interested in testing and can commit to working fairly quickly on this, please leave a comment with roughly what size coat you normally wear and if you're small, medium or big busted. But first, look how cute Ruth and Sarah are:

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Moving on up

The wonderful Maxine from Tiny White Daisies tested my size 5/6 year and 7/8 year asymmetrical jacket patterns this week:


This is her almost eight year old sporting a red corduroy number. I've never used a wide wale corduroy but I've heard it's tricky so I'm even more impressed with the beautiful finish!


And this is her middle daughter modelling the 5/6 yr size in a luscious green corduroy. As well as having a fabulous gene pool (all of her children are stunning), amazing baking skillz, and some of the best photos around, she gave me incredibly good feedback. So after a couple of small changes to the pattern they'll be off to the printers and then the larger coat patterns should hit my shop next week!

As a reward for all of her testing brilliance, I've been sending her good karma by the bucketload so it's no coincidence that her husband is whisking her away to Paris on Sunday, sans children, for a relaxing break. Although I'm ridiculously jealous, Maxine takes awesome photographs so I'm looking forward to seeing them on her blog!

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Testing, testing, one, two, three...

First off, let me just say that I wanted an appropriate picture to accompany this title, so I Google Image searched 'Testing, testing, one, two, three'. I'm slightly scared and bewildered by what came up but thought I would use the picture above, just to share the deep malaise and regret I now feel.

If you can tear your eyes and thoughts away from that image (if I'm honest, I'm having trouble concentrating enough to write this), I just wanted to say that four more of my patterns are hopefully heading towards completion.

• Boys coat: Completed testing. I need to make a couple of tweaks to the pattern.
• Matinee Jacket: At testing.
• Asymetrical Jacket: At testing.
• Tunic: At testing.

Depending on what feedback I get they'll either go to a second lot of testers after I tweak, or will be good to go! Massive thank you to the people who have kindly agreed to test!

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The symbiotic potential of me and you

"A symbiotic relationship is a relationship between two entities which is mutually beneficial for the participants of the relationship. Thus there is a positive-sum gain from cooperation."

A symbiotic relationship is normally between two species: in this instance you are a human and I am a zombie.

Lately my days have been starting (abruptly and unwillingly) at about 4AM, this morning with a safety gate deposited on my head by a naked toddler as I slept on the floor of said toddler's room. Due to lack of sleep I'm becoming serious disorganised, if not legally insane.

But what does this have to do with a symbiosis between me and you? In my general befuddlement, I've lost track as to who has offered to be testers of the new patterns I have in development. I've had offers on my blog, through Etsy, through Craftster, through my personal email, through my work email... and now I've completely lost track.

So what do we offer each other and how does testing work? I'll send you the pattern pieces and a tutorial. You make it, and then give me feedback. How clear is the tutorial? Is there anything I need to improve or change? How well does it fit? And anything else you might think of. If there are changes to be made based on the feedback, I'll also send you a final draft of the pattern and tutorial. So I get independant information and advice, and you get a free, brand spanking new pattern and tute! Interested?!

In an attempt to bring some order (and comfort) back into my chaotic existance, I was hoping that I could keep a record of all the volunteers within this post. If you're interested in being a tester, please leave a comment on this post with the country you live in, the sizes your children wear, and their genders. You could also tell me if there is any thing you would be more inclined (or disinclined) to test. Thanks!

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