Christmas is coming, the pickledweasel's getting fat...

I need to stop eating honeyed salted cashew nuts, or I'll not fit into my nice new Christmas skirt tomorrow :( Things are Christmas a-go-go here in the pickledweasel household, despite me having a throat infection and munchkin getting over a stinking cold. We've been making Christmas decorations:

And cards:

And hair slides for Christmas parties:

And the icing on the cake, a man-bag for mr pickledweasel:

We decided to just spend £10 on each other this year (excluding presents for munchkin), as we're a bit short after the loft conversion. The bag came in at about £7.50, although that's kind of cheating because I calculated the cost based on the material used, so the whole yard of the amaaaaaaazing coffee cup fabric cost £6.60, but I've calculated it as £3.30 because I used half a yard. And I'm not including the £8.00 postage because it came from America :D Any ideas what I can make from the leftover half yard?

The denim was an offcut from Abakhan. The slider and the d-ring were actually a bargain - I've yet to find reasonably priced ones online, especially sliders, does anyone have a secret magic website that does bag making haberdashery at sensible prices? Anyway, I found this bag for £1.25 from our local Winners:

And cannibalised it. I'll use the zips and the canvas for a pouch I'm making for my sister-in-law, so it won't have died in vain :) I've not done much more Christmas making, just a hat and snood set for my neice - photos of her modelling it to follow - and I've made a mountain of gingerbread to give to friends and family using this recipe.

So here's wishing you all a very happy Christmas, and hoping you have a lovely day with family and friends. I'll just be on this big comfy chair over here, with a scarf round my neck, a hot toddy and this family sized bag of cashews :) x x x

Trousers of ginormous warmth.

It's bloomin cold here. It's barely getting above freezing most days, and yesterday morning I opened the curtains to be greeted with the sight of another good few inches of snow. The novelty of winter has definitely worn off, and I'm wishing for rain, which is most unlike me.

Whilst trying to cope with the icicles and the snow flurries, I've realised how few warm 'bottom half' clothes Munchkin has. She has jumpers and tunics a-plenty, all of which can be layered, but all of her trousers and skirts seem alarmingly thin. With this in mind, a few weeks ago I set about making some lined trousers with the brushed cotton I used for her latest tunic.

I bought this pattern last month, with the intention of using it as a stash-buster. I am still a bit scared of commercial patterns, but when I was looking at the back of the envelope I could see that there wouldn't be any techniques involved that I haven't already mastered, and it would just be a case of reading the instructions carefully. I just seem to get my head in a bit of a tizz whenever I sit down with that big piece of paper and read all those technical sewing terms. And then I fold it all back up again and put it back in the packet :)

But this pattern was fine. I made the trousers up with a few alterations - I essentially made two pairs of trousers, one from denim and one from brushed cotton, and then attached them right sides together at the waistband, flipped them wrong sides together, and then topstitched. They came up quite big, but that means they'll probably last until she's about 5 :) I did a pattern review here, so you can read more about it if you want to.

They look a little bit mid-90's, but they're warm and they match lots of nice red tops that Munchkin already has in her wardrobe. I suppose in theory they're reversible, but I imagine someone would report me to social services if I made her wear them with the brushed cotton on the outside :)

Best laid plans...

This morning I am learning all sorts of interesting things. Like, I didn't know that Squiglet is actually a boy (I thought he was a girl). And Mr Tumble has a hamster called Harry.



I am sat in front of CBeebies because Munchkin is poorly. She was sick (all over our new carpet) earlier this morning, and is currently sat on the sofa looking peaky, although she is managing to eat a cracker (update: during the writing of those post the cracker has re-emerged, all over the sofa). Despite her insistence that she is not going to be sick again, and can we go to Run Amok now, I'm not so sure.



Which is a shame, because tonight was possibly going to be the poshest and most exciting night of the last three years. Maybe even the poshest and most exciting night of my life. Mr Pickledweasel and I were due to go to Gibbon Bridge, for a champagne reception, dinner in a private dining room*, and bed and breakfast. In a suite. All for free, courtesy of Mr Pickledweasel's work.



Grandma pickledweasel was due to babysit, but I can't leave her with a poorly child who'll ask for me all night. So instead of amuse bouches, Moet and a uninterrupted nights sleep with a lie-in guaranteed, I'm facing a night on my own with a vomiting child. The cheery pictures that accompany this post are Munchkin modelling her new snowman snood made using Kitschy Coo's tutorial, just to try and lift the mood a bit. No, those aren't tears in my eyes. They're just bits of melting snow.


* I'm imagining it'd be like that scene at the end of Layer Cake, where they all have cigars. Only without the guns and shooting.

A little winter warmer

Tis frosty cold out there, and although we've escaped most of the snow, we've just come back from a weekend at my sister-in-laws where there was plenty of it. It was almost touch and go as to whether we'd make it back, but it was fine once we got west of Leeds.

I picked up some snuggly brushed cotton at Abakhan last week, and I loved the colours so much I bought 2m so I could make Munchkin a few things from it - the first being a Kitschy Coo tunic. I was a bit concerned the neckline wouldn't sit right as the fabric's a bit heavier weight than I would normally use, but it turned out fine. I used a scrap to make a matching hair clip, which both I and Munchkin love. It's a little bit of a girly touch, but I like it :)

Munchkin was very warm in it, and needed to be with the snowy exploits her and her cousin Juliet got up to. She's still making good use of her snowman hat, and Juliet was very admiring of it*, so I'll make her one for Christmas. Next May there'll be a terrible trio of cousins, as my other sister-in-law is 16 weeks pregnant :) I don't know if the world is ready for such levels of cuteness...

*stole it repeatedly from Munchkin's head :)

I'm moving to Japan.

It must be the best place to live in the world, if their standard of sewing books is anything to go by :)

Buoyed by the success of the mushroom skirt (I'm still sorting the bow out, pictures when it's done), I started on the little bloomer / pantaloons, which looked equally as simple.


And they were! I remembered the seam allowance this time, so no hiccups. The fit on Munchkin is perfect. They're made from a bog-standard denim from the magic fabric shop, and they'd suit any other medium to heavy weight fabric. I have some nice red cord that I think I'll use for another pair.

Me and Munchkin had an outing to Skipton last week with Grandma pickledweasel, and we went to The Fent Shop to have a browse. I picked up a few bargains, including a lovely piece of babycord that was just crying out to be made into a top to go with the new pantaloons :)

I couldn't quite get munchkin to replicate the poses in the book :)

There were faults on the fabric, so I had to cut the pattern pieces carefully, but it looks pretty good. This pattern was slightly more advanced, and I did spend a long time staring at the diagrams for the sleeves before my little brain was able to make sense of how they go together. I made a size larger, as I wanted it to last til next summer, but the fit is still pretty good. It would maybe be better sewn in a fabric with a bit more stretch, as the chest is a bit tight when munchkin pulls it on over her arms / shoulders.


Three garments in two weeks is pretty good going for me, so you can tell how easy the patterns are :) I'm going to give it a rest for a while now and start on my quilt, but I'll definitely be making more from it. It goes up to 130cm (roughly age 8), so Munchkin can have a new pair of pantaloons each year for the next six years :) I bet Japan is so cool that pantaloons are standard issue school uniform.

All Things Bright and Quiltiful

I've been wanting to make this quilt from Two Little Banshees for a while, and have spent many an hour trawling through Etsy to find the perfect fat quarter combination at the perfect price (I swear I could sew munchkin a wardrobe a week if I didn't use the internet. My ridiculous pledge went out the window months ago). But a couple of fabrics in my stash caught my eye, and I've ended up only buying 3 fat quarters, which has saved me a lot of money.

I have never made a quilt before, but I think this will be a good one to start with as it seems really simple and the instructions are well written. I will have grandma pickledweasel on hand to help as she has made several, so I'm hoping she'll show me the best binding techniques.

I'm not sure about my fabric combos though. Three of the FQs are quite subdued and muted:

and three are a bit louder:

It'll be bound and backed with this leafy print, which has been in my stash for a while.

The finished item will be a nap quilt for Munchkin, and the woodlandy / brown theme is to fit with her treehouse wallpaper. Do you think it will work? Or should I make two quilts, one quiet one and one loud one?

The tale of the bow and the big belly

A very lovely friend went to Japan earlier this year, and was nice enough to do a bit of shopping on my behalf. I was quite sensible as a) I didn't want to spend squillions of pounds and b) I didn't want her to have to leave half her clothes in Japan so she could fit all my goodies in her suitcase, so I asked for 2 sewing books and 2m of a girlish print and 2m of a boyish print. She doesn't sew at all, so I sent her some links to Japanese fabric and sewing books that I liked on Etsy.

Needless to say, she did a sterling job :) And here is the first thing I've made with the things she bought. It comes from this book, which according to Babelfish is called 'Foppish Clothes of Girl', although I'm sure the title's much snappier in Japanese.

The mushroom fabric is Alexander Henry, so not Japanese at all, although it cost about £5.00 a metre in Tokyo. How I wish I lived in Tokyo.

The brown contrasting fabric was from the magic fabric shop, and has a lovely nap to it.

Despite the entire book being in Japanese, the diagrams were brilliant and I managed to sew it up quite easily. Admittedly it is one of the easier patterns, but it was a good one to start with and it's given me the confidence to try some of the others, like these little short bloomers which are next on my list.

I did mess up on the seam allowance (I forgot to include any when I was cutting my pieces out), hence the extra band of fabric where the brown ties are, but that was my fault for not looking carefully enough at the instructions, as it was clearly marked.

As you can see from the photos, the skirt looks lovely on the floor, but doesn't quite work on the Munchkin. The two ties pull the side seams forward so it sags, meaning it doesn't hang properly. This might not happen so much if the ties weren't so skinny because of my lack of seam allowance, but I still think it would be a problem. And then there's the matter of the dysentery style tummy:

Munchkin has always had problems with poohs, and usually only goes every other day, which results in ridiculous amounts of bloating. She's managed toilet training really well and is now dry 99% of the time, but is still really reluctant to go for a pooh until she can't possibly wait any longer. Which means she normally looks like she's 6 months pregnant :O

She doesn't wear very many skirts, and when I asked her to try this one on I realised why. Never mind, she can wear it on days where she's managed to go before breakfast :) So, what to do about the ties? My initial thought is to take them off and then use one of them to make a big bow to sew on the front of the skirt. Anyone else have any thoughts?

And if you're looking at this thinking you can't live another week without getting some Japanese sewing books, try M is For Make. Kate has a really nice selection, some of which are in the sale, and they all come with a sheet of translated sewing terms.

Giveaway extended!!1! (Because I am tired)

...after doing a twelve hour journey from Kent to Lancashire :-S


Plus a pitiful number of people have entered (the people aren't pitiful, just the number of them), either because a) the things I am giving away aren't exciting enough, or b) not many people read my blog. I am thinking it is a sad combination of the two.


So I will draw a winner on Sunday the 17th, which happens to be my birthday, in the hope that my popularity has suddenly risen dramatically :) You can enter by leaving a comment on this post. In the mean time please enjoy these photos of Munchkin making some new Kentish friends.

*pops in*

Helloooo! Still at my mum's, still have no ceilings or bathroom at our house. Never mind, we're making the most of the sunny weather and enjoying grandma pickledweasel's garden.

I have spent a pitiful amount of time crafting since we moved in, even pitifullier considering my mum has a craft room in her attic and a fancy computery sewing machine. However, I have managed to whip up a tunic from Kitschy Coo's tunic pattern, and a yard of fabric that I bought in her 'I'm going to America and need more room in my fabric cupboard so I can bring back yards and yards of textile loveliness with me' sale.

It took hardly any time at all, and I'd have finished it in a couple of evenings, had there not been an elastic shortage in the grandma pickledweasel household. It's a little bit too big for Munchkin, but she seems to be growing at an alarming rate so it should fit nicely in a couple of months.

In other news, the pickledweasels had a lovely time at mr pickledweasel's brother's wedding a couple of weeks ago. Munchkin was a flower girl, and was on her very best behaviour all day. Admittedly she had very few duties, namely a) walk down the aisle holding her aunty Jade's hand and b) look cute for the rest of the day. Mission accomplished :)

I am a bag lady.

I really like making bags, they're so satisfying. They're functional, relatively easy (once you work out how to decifer the pattern, and choose fabric that doesn't run in the rain), and you can put your own stamp on them.



Here's two more I've made in the last couple of weeks. Folklore Bag No. 326 3, a present for a friend.

And a bag from the latest issue of Sew Hip.

My brother got me a subscription to the magazine for my birthday, and although I really love reading it I very rarely make any of the free patterns. I would love to do one of the quilts they've featured in the last few issues, but it just seems a bit of a big scary project. Anyway, this bag is a present for a five year old - what five year old doesn't like ruffles?

I scaled down the pattern by a third, and put pleats in instead of gathering my ruffles, as they're backed with denim and were too stiff to gather. In the magazine they sewed a row of buttons along the top ruffle to hide the seam, but I didn't have enough buttons that matched. I made a flower using this tutorial instead, and mounted it on felt and put a brooch back on so it's detachable.

In other news, Munchkin also has bag lady aspirations. Why else would she have taken off her sleepsuit and her nappy and intentionally wee-ed all over her cot two nights running?

Sitting on top of the world

Today Munchkin is a whole two years old. She doesn't quite understand the concept of it all, but she has got the hang of presents and cards and cake :)

I was all set to make her a squillion presents, but I thought about it for a while, and I figured I was probably doing it for me rather than her and I didn't have the time anyway. So I thought about what she would really like, and made that instead. I bought this fabric about a month ago, not knowing what I was going to do with it but at the same time knowing that it would definitely be used and not just sit in my stash. When I brought it home Munchkin took it out of the carrier bag and lay on it, looking at all the different countries, so the obvious choice was to make a floor cushion out of it.

There is a guy down the road from us who makes cushions and curtains and has a shop where he sells upholstery fabric on the cheap. He made the inner for me for £4.50! I told him he should be charging more, I was expecting to pay at least a tenner :)

Munchkin loves it, and I'm hoping it'll be a favourite lounging spot for years to come.