I hang on to all Will's old business shirts. They usually go in the elbows.
By the time I'm allowed to cut them up they've been washed a hundred times and the fabric is lovely and soft.
This one I put to good use last night and made a little dress with flutter sleeves. There was even enough fabric for a matching pair of bloomers.
... making a shirt for Adelaide in this fabric if I find the time tonight. I've always loved little girls in blue - it's my favourite colour after all.
Right now she has blue eyes so the colour suits her. Max's eyes changed from blue to green at 18 months surprisingly, so Adelaide may not always be a blue-eyed girl.
I just love this provencal print.
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.
I'm rather happy with this little white voile top. It is the top version of an earlier dress.
I used the pleat maker to add the detail to the sleeves.
This white top will be handy to go under cardies and to match with little pants and bloomers.
The number of creche bags made in the Townmouse studio is approaching 1000 this year. These days they are made by my two seamstresses who come to the studio each week. One stitches the applique names on my domestic machine. The other makes up the bags on my industrial machine.
But this was one bag I was happy to make myself. This fabric is from about four years ago. I hung on to the last little bit because I loved it so much. I thought one day I might be able to make it up for a niece or someone really special. I didn't think I'd be lucky enough to make one for my own daughter.
I'm so happy I hung on to the last bit of fabric.
I have been playing around with something I picked up at a craft fair many years ago. It's a pleat maker and is available here.
The website is a little clunky and the photos aren't my cup of tea, but this is a rather handy tool if you want a simple way of creating uniform pleats ready for stitching.
You put your fabric into the pleat maker and then press it with an iron. You can then take the fabric out and go straight to the machine to stitch the pleats in place.
I've used it to make a little top (to go with the shoes of an earlier post). By pressing the pleats in two different directions, you can create a centre front panel. This could also be a cheaper alternative to buying a smocking pleater.
Ever since first spying baby shoe patterns in Japanese craft books I've been eager to try making a pair.
I made these for Adelaide yesterday and she wore them today. The pattern fits quite well and they didn't come off her feet.
