Elephant Impressions and Buttonhole Trauma

Back in March I won a pattern for a lovely asymmetrical jacket in a giveaway on Kitschy Coo's blog. It came in size 18m - 2T and 3T - 4T, and as at the time Munchkin was 8 months old, I thought I had plenty of time to do it. A couple of months ago I bought the fabric for it - some elephant print cotton and some brown denim, and mentally made a note to start it soon.

And then last week Munchkin was officially 18 months old! And I had not sewn a single seam :( So I started it the very next day, and it didn't take long to do - one child-free afternoon and a couple of evenings and it was complete apart from the button holes. I am frightened of buttonholes. They appear to require a level of sewing skill that is beyond me (and we STILL haven't done them at college). So grandma pickledweasel volunteered her fancy computerised shiny new sewing machine and its automatic buttonhole maker. This was the result:

For some reason it got stuck twice when it was sewing, and the thread bunched up. Which meant when it came to cutting the hole it was nigh on impossible to avoid cutting some thread as well, and it all came unravelled. And then to add insult to injury the hole wasn't big enough for the bloody button in the first place, despite me and grandma pickledweasel having taken measurements twice.

I nearly cried. I swore a lot. The whole experience up til then had been such a pleasure (I find 'home grown' patterns so much easier than commercially produced ones. They make sense!). Grandma pickledweasel suggested smaller buttons, but that still wouldn't solve the problem of the rapidly unravelling buttonhole. I eventually decided to stitch the buttonhole together and leave a small gap in the middle, push the shank of the button through the gap and sew it on the other side. So it looks like the coat has buttons and button holes. Then I sewed press studs on the other side so the coat will fasten.

It means the coat isn't reversible, which I am gutted about, but it does make it wearable. Massive lesson learnt - never ever ever make anything that requires button holes ever again ;) Munchkin likes the coat, and whenever 'elephant coat' is mentioned she does her elephant impression, which involves a sort of trumpety noise accompanied by a flailing arm, which is meant to be a trunk. The arm action is very similar to that of her washing machine impression. I may put her in for Britain's Got Talent next year. Obviously she will wear the coat to her audition :D

Is it winter yet?

It bloomin feels like it in Lancashire, with the amount of rain we've had in the last week. I picked up this hat for Munchkin in the sales at Next. It was nice and stripy, but I thought it could do with a bit of embellishment. One suffolk puff and a heart shaped button later, and ta daaaa!

Munchkin let me take one photo before she pulled it off her head, but then when I laid it flat to take another photo she decided she wanted it back :) I'm hoping she's a bit more tolerant of hats when it gets colder...

P.s. She's wearing a lovely new tunic from Kitschy Coo, but it's so nice it deserves a whole post of its own, so I'll blog about it with some pics this weekend :)

Beautiful button and blogging in bed.

My sewing machine is better - turns out it was the evil self-adhesive velcro I was using for my bib fastenings. I was sewing it on as well as sticking it, and the adhesive from the back was getting all over the needle, and the thread was sticking to the needle and not making stitches. So now I'm back to using plain sew-on velcro, and all is well.

Apart from me :( I'm in bed with a stinking cold, and Munchkin has been dispatched off to the seaside for the day with Grandma Pickledweasel. I miss her. And I wanted to go to the seaside too. I am feeling very sorry for myself. But this lovely button is cheering me up - Munchkin and Grandma Pickledweasel bought it for me as a present on one of their recent expeditions. I am going to while away the day in bed dozing and dreaming of the perfect project to use it on....

A happier bib experience

I've made another bib for lovely baby Rebecca, this time without cheap melty ribbon. I'm very pleased with it, mainly because the little bird works really well, but also because it is considerably less wonky than my last attempt.

I bought a nice soft denim shirt from a charity shop today, so I'll be whipping up some more soon, probably to sell. A question for you all*, if I may: Would you buy a bib with a button on it? Not a button as a fixing, a button as embellishment. I nearly put one on the little bird, but then thought some moms might be a bit worried about baby chewing it off and swallowing it.

I'm not one of those moms, (when gardening the other day I was very pleased that Munchkin only managed to eat soil twice) but I'd appreciate some other opinions. Thanks!

* by 'all', I mean Kitschy Coo, Nifty, and the other couple of people who read my blog :D

Button Booty Call

I've never been a button freak, although I can see why people are. But today when I went to the market to get some elastic and safety pins and other haberdashery type bits and bobs, I saw a bag of buttons for £1, and couldn't resist.

And what gems were hidden inside!

Now, I just need to find projects so I can use them all.....