Silly Santa Cycling Sewing

I felt as if there was a lot of sewing for this year's Cycling Christmas party (in November, how silly) but now that I look at the photographs it is pretty tame really. I was fantasizing about starting my leather jacket, which is rather impractical anyway.
I made some fabric envelopes and drawstring bags as wrapping for most of the gifts.

There is a gift exchange that is very silly. Each person brings a wrapped gift, and picks a number from a cycling helmet.
The recipient of the lowest number picks the first gift, then unwraps it. The holder of the next lowest number selects another gift, then decides whether they will keep the gift, or swap it for a gift someone else has already unwrapped. There is a lot of good natured carrying on about this.

Some of the cyclists have been mentioning every five minutes or so that they would like me to make them an under helmet head scarf like my husband's (modelled here by my daughter, who was making ninjabread men at the time). I have been successfully ignoring these hints, but thought it might generate some interest at the Silly Santa Session.
I was right.
However, I brought home one of my own cycling apron and tea towel sets :).

I think it will be Very Useful. Much better than the Suduko toilet paper roll ;)

Flowery Summer Dress

In the comments on my last post, where I showed a dress intended for my almost-5 year old niece, Uta askeed me

I'd love to know, if it isn't too nosy, how long this takes complete with smocking and embroidery? (Still trying to be more productive here...)

I have been asked this before, and could only say that I didn't know, as to me, sewing is hobby time, and I don't time myself unless it is to allow myself half and hour of sewing before I take on some required task that I don't really fancy. However, I started another little dress on Thursday night, intended for niece A, who turns 3 in a fortnight, so felt this was a good opportunity to document the construction effort to answer the question. This will undoubtedly be too much deadly dull information for most. Read on at your own risk.


Disclaimer - there is only a little bit of smocking and embroidery on this dress.

Thursday evening, just before bed:

1.Find pattern, easily located, which is a bit unusual, due to research in pattern stash for previous dress, already traced due to multiple use, - cut out dress and lining, 15 minutes.
2. Sew and press shoulder seams and skirt seam, 10 minutes

Friday morning
3. Make 3 metres of piping from purchased bias binding. I only had the 40mm binding, so cut it in half lengthways first. 15 minutes.
Leave for work, reluctantly....

Friday evening, whilst dinner is in oven, children engrossed in Pottermore and husband reading computer. (This is when I acutally started timing myself to the nearest 5 minutes, prior to this I am guessing)
4. Sew piping to neck, armscyes, sew bodice and lining together, press, turn, press, sew side seams of bodice, press, sew waist line piping 25 minutes



After dinner
5.Change thread and wind bobbin for Singer, use ruffling foot to pleat skirt.
10 minutes

Saturday - unparalleled sewing opportunities as the weather is dismal, Saturday sport and exercise are cancelled, and my husband is out for the day. Only a few errands and household tasks to do and a mother's taxi service call. I have multiple sewing sessions as follows.

6. Centre back seam of skirt, skirt placket, sew skirt to bodice. Unfortunately this includes some unpicking and repleating of the skirt due to earlier measurement error.
25 minutes
7. Pleat small piece of fabric for smocked pocket. Fortunately the smocking pleater is already threaded, left over from a previous project 10 minutes.

7. Apply bias binding to heem. Trial of rolled hem foot for second pass (this is the other half of the trimmed 40mm tape and only single fold). Trial of rolled hem foot unsuccessful, muttering and 15 minutes of unpicking result. Reapply bias binding to hem rolling by hand. 30 minutes
8. Hand sew bodice lining to waist seam 30 minutes
9. Mark and sew hem tucks, press 25 minutes



10. Find buttons and make machine buttonholes 10 minutes
11.Watch a television programme recording with the children. Hand smock pocket section, sew on buttons, make thread sash keepers.Programme length 100 minutes - inefficient sewing time as I did stop sewing often to watch the show. Allow 60 minutes pure sewing time



12. Cut out pocket and lining, wind bobbin, rethread machine,apply piping and construct pocket, attach pocket, hand stitch down pesky lining that peeped out inappropriately
25 minutes.

13. Press again, 5 minutes.
Total sewing time 280 minutes = 4 hours and 40 minutes



I could buy a very big box of Lego if I worked at my real job for that long. I don't suppose though, that I would get to watch a televison programme in the middle.

Spotty summer dress

To three of my 8 neices, I am an only Auntie. In addition to this particular status, I am the only seamstress in their extended family (my mother-in-law quilts, but doesn't sew garments). I have been happily making them frilly things as presents, but as they pass out of toddlerhood, wondered if they might be feeling these gifts were rather dull, sort of "Oh, no, Auntie Kbenco has made us another dreadful thing we have to pretend to like"

I suggested to my lovely sister in law, that maybe this year a book or some Lego might be better.
She was very quick to tell me that the girls did not think this was a good idea.This is called making a rod for your own back.
Here is the dress for neice C, turning 5 on Monday. She told me she likes red flowers.


The pattern is self drafted to the measurements of my niece, with a loose waist so that it is comfortable to wear during hot weather.
I would also like her to be able to wear it straight away, so chose a limited colour scheme to allow the dress to be worn over a skivvy or t shirt whilst it is still cool.
I am prone to overembellishment, but think I have restrained myself adequately this time. I pleated the skirt using counterchange smocking in a lozenge pattern, only two rows, and used red piping, with a red and white spotted grosgrain ribbon as the sash.

Not being quite able to completely restrain myself, I added some lazy daisy flowers to the bodice and peeping from the smocked pocket.




I gathered the ruffle using the ruffler foot on my hand cranked Singer28. I wish I had owned this machine when my girls were small and I seemed to be enlessly gathering. It was very quick and easy.
The ruffle is bound with purchased bias binding (I also used this to make the minipiping at the neck, armscyes and waist seam), and I used a decorative stitch on my Janome, flowers, to topstitch the ruffle seam.

Unfortunately, I could not find any red flower buttons. I like the strawberries though the middle one is a little different. I am hoping this looks deliberate.