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In our little pocket of Melbourne Halloween is embraced with enthusiasm. There were gangs of ghouls and witches roaming the streets at dusk.
We managed to attract a few to our house with our Jack-o-lanterns and bats.
The windows beside our front door open on hinges. When there was a knock at the door, 4 year old Henri would dole out treats through the window, barking orders, "One at a time", "Take just one". You have to admire such temerity.
Happy Halloween all.
I'm building up stock of a few Laundry Bags.
I like making up these bag panels as it gives me a chance to play with all my favourite fabric scraps. My seamstress will whip them up into bags on Monday. I get to do the fun part.
After exchanging some emails with Liesl recently, she generously sent me a lovely parcel with a few of her Oliver & S patterns. I loved the look of the Jump Rope Dress at first sight and was keen to play with the pattern.
This is my first attempt at an Oliver & S pattern. It is a lovely pattern to work with. I am so in awe of the precision of the design and the intelligent way the instructions are written. You really can't go wrong if you follow the steps and accompanying diagrams.
There are so many thoughtful little details in the design. The collar sits beautifully (I'm very fussy when it comes to collars), and I love the fabric tie around the waist.
It's safe to say that Adelaide will end up with a few Jump Rope Dresses in her wardrobe. I'd love to see it in a light weight denim, or linen. I even thought it could look cute in a mix of shirting fabrics from Will's old Thomas Pink shirts that I've been collecting for years. Stay tuned for more.
When I bought my new domestic sewing machine 9 years ago, I remember finding the instruction booklet quite a revelation. Prior to that, I had sewn on my mother's machine from the 1970s. After reading the instruction booklet, I was amazed at how much my new machine could do.
My machine is nothing super special. It has a few decorative stitches, one of which I use every day for Townmouse appliques. But with a few different needles or feet, it can do so much. This detail uses a wing needle.
Just the thing to add a bit of interest to a plain white shirt.
So if you've never paid much attention to your instruction booklet, you may be pleasantly surprised like I was.
What clever tricks have you been able to do with your sewing machine?
I look forward to the time when I can buy Adelaide a pair of little Mary Jane Sonnet shoes in red. I love red shoes. I always have a pair in my wardrobe. They lift my mood when I wear them.
And I particularly love this English brand of shoes. All our children have had a first pair of shoes like this. Max and Tom had them in navy. Henri had a divine chocolate pair that I bought in New York. They looked particularly sweet when worn with his chocolate cashmere Townmouse coat. (Yes, I know they are girl's shoes, but if they're good enough for the Princes of Wales...)
This floral fabric will make a sweet dress to accompany the future pair of shoes. Maybe in a style similar to this. Or maybe with a collar - something like this.
There is something so sweet about a frilled Peter Pan collar.
I enjoyed making this shirt for Adelaide the other night (yes, the pleat maker came in handy again). The white fabric has been in my stash for many years. It is a slightly waxed linen. But best of all, the selvedge down one side of the fabric had a very pretty picot edge to it. I used this for the frill around the collar.
In the early days of Townmouse I had a lot of these more traditional garments in the range. Sadly, there is a very small market for this style of clothing in Australia. My customers want easier styles, no collars, no ironing. I do love a collar though. And a little bit of frill every now and then doesn't go astray either.
Today is a sunny and mild spring day - the perfect weather for garden hopping. The women's committee of the National Gallery of Victoria had their annual open garden day today. Some of Melbourne's prettiest private gardens were open to view. Will's cousin, and a friend of mine had their gardens open and they were spectacular in their perfection.
On a much, much larger scale was this garden. The house is currently for sale and the talk amongst real estate speculators is that it could garner Melbourne's highest property price ever. The grounds were park-like in their scale. It was a rare treat to peek beyond the front fence.
I felt it was high time I invested in a new cutting mat.
I had worn such deep grooves in my old mat from cutting out too many creche bag panels. I use the mat and a rotary cutter to cut out all my sample garments and sewing. There were certain measurements on the mat I had to avoid if I wanted a clean cut.
It's not until I compare to a shiny new mat that I realise how dire my equipment was. So with a new blade in my rotary cutter, it was on to cutting out new creche bag panels. As the orders pick up towards Christmas I want to get some of the fabric bolts off the floor and into the drawers in the form of cut pieces.
New Frill Jeans are in the shop.
Four new Liberty fabrics have been added to the selection. This is my favourite. I'm putting this ensemble aside for Adelaide. These will suit her just fine over summer.
Right now I'm enjoying Pink Lady applejuice from Preshafruit.
This beautifully packaged product is so delicious. You've got to try it.
A lovely blog reader in Spain sends me emails from time to time with links to children's wear brands she thinks I might like. Recently I received an email from Spain with a link to this blog. Thanks Rocio.
Some kind person has seen the need to post free cross stitch alphabets and motifs from very old pattern books. You've got to love that!
Along similar themes, another site that has recently captured my interest is Chez Sucre Chez.
There is a lot of lovely embroidery here. It's mainly initials, and some other cute stuff as well. (I'm sorry, I can't recall where I read about this blog.)
