October 2013 – The Craft Room

Red and Green Colourblock Tee

This is the second t-shirt I started last week for Kid’s Clothes Week, but only finished the final seams today.

This one too is made from the Charlie Tee Pattern by Fishsticks Designs, and I colourblocked this one as well, but this time horizontally using red and green cotton jersey. I think I like the look of the horizontal blocks of colour better than the vertical split on the last t-shirt.

From the back the t-shirt is plain red. I went with black for the neckband as red and green ribbing sold in my local fabric shop doesn’t match the red and green on the cotton jersey. The sleeves and side seams were all I had left to do today, and they caused me more trouble than usual. Despite checking twice before pinning and sewing, I still managed to sew one sleeve on the wrong way round! You can’t tell now that it’s unpicked and sewn on the right way now though. I had to bribe this little man with getting the paints out to try it on and let me take a photo! But he says this one is better than the last, so I guess that means it will most likely be chosen to wear all day tomorrow 🙂

Easy As ABC QAL: Catch-Up

It’s been a big catch-up month for me this month. Instead of five letters for the Easy As ABC QAL, I’ve done twelve! But it means that I’ve now caught up and have completed all the letters from A to T 🙂

You can see the other blocks that people have made this month over on Blossom Heart Quilts.

There’s only two more months of letters to go!

Pink and Green Colourblock Tee

This happy little fellow has been asking for this t-shirt for weeks!

I finally relented and made it for him during Kids Clothes Week last week!

I used the Fishsticks Designs Charlie Tee pattern, and colourblocked the pink cotton jersey with green for the front … … while the back is plain green. The neckband is grey ribbing. The topstitching around the neck is green and matched to the fabric underneath everywhere else. W looks every happy with the finished product 🙂

Modern QAL – October Block

It’s now six months into the Modern Blocks Quilt Along – halfway! Only six more blocks to go!

Here are all my blocks so far:

May – Follow the Leader:

June – Spool:

July – Megan’s Star:

August – Quatrefoil:

September – Escalator:

October – Best Friends:The October block is the one I have just finished. It was a nice quick one to put together.

I’ve been looking forward in the book to see what other blocks are coming up.

I’ve been thinking about which colours to keep for which blocks – they’re going to look pretty 🙂

Here are all the blocks so far together. You can see everyone else’s and vote for your favourites over on And Sew We Craft.

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Modern QAL – August Block

I’m catching up this month with the August quilt blocks I missed.

First up is this block for the Modern Blocks Quilt Along from And Sew We Craft, a twelve month quilt along of blocks taken from this book:

The August block was called Quatrefoil.

I looked through the different colours I had in the spotty fabric and picked out the ones I had used least often in the previous blocks, so that when all twelve are complete they’ll be evenly spread across the quilt.

Here is my finished block:

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Stars and Stripes V-Neck

I have been doing some more sewing this week from the Sew Fab Pattern Bundle.

After the success of my first t-shirt I was tempted by the Vintage V-Neck by Blank Slate Patterns.I used the tips from the last t-shirt, of hemming before sewing, so you’re sewing a flat piece of material rather than a circle, which is definitely much easier.

The v-neck was the trickiest part as it took me several attempts to figure out how to position the ribbing so it would sit right. But after reading the instructions for about the ten millionth time and comparing what I had with the photos in the tutorial I finally got it right!

W chose the stars and stripes knit and has been patiently awaiting his completed t-shirt! He says it’s ‘very soft’ so I guess it must be comfy!

If you’re quick you have a little over 10 hours to get this pattern along with 25 others as part of the Sew Fab Sale. (sale finishes Tuesday 8am US EST/ 12pm UK/ 11pm AEDT)

The pattern can also be found on the Blank Slate Patterns website, where for this next week they are donating 50% of profits to the Komen Foundation for breast cancer research and services.

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Fancy Pants Leggings

I have been trying out some of the patterns from the Sew Fab Sale.

First on the list were two pairs of Fancy Pants Leggings by Titchy Threads. I did one pair in blue, and the other in purple, both with black ribbing for the waistband and sewn completely on my sewing machine using my twin needle. They are both in the size 6-12 months, which at Christmas will be just the right size to fit my niece! They are ‘fancy pants’ as they have a separate bum panel pattern piece so the bottom on your leggings can be a different colour or have a fancy pattern on it. For these leggings I switched the colours for the bottom pieces. The pattern has been updated and now goes all the way from newborn up to size 10, and has instructions for making shorts as well as leggings.

I think I shall try some shorts next 🙂

It is one of the 26 patterns for sale as part of the Sew Fab pattern bundle, which means that it costs just $1.15 when bought as part of the bundle!