katybag pattern and bags in shop!

Ah, finally - I've finished the pattern for the katybags!

Please either click the "Add to Cart" button below, or in

the blog sidebar. The pattern has instructions for BOTH

the one-strap and two-strap versions, and has full-color

photos with the instructions, so I think it's a great value

for $6! As promised, the instructions are very detailed to

help those who have not worked with piping before, so

it's also sort of a piping tutorial-and-pattern in one.

Also, the five ready-made bags are finally Scotch-Garded

and listed in the shop so please stop by!

I've also made the bigger version of the katybag:


Here it is with the original katybag,

looking all mother-and-child-like.

It has the same curvy bottomed shape

and the same overdose of piping.

How is it different?

Apart from being about three times bigger, it's also

a shoulder bag i.e. a tote rather than a clutch.

The strap is also a little curvier

so it blends better with the rest of the bag.

I also put a hidden zippered pocket inside,

purse feet on the outside

and an invisible magnetic snap clasp (love those!)

- see? (Or don't see?)

I like to think of it as the katybag all grown up!

Find it in the shop, too.

I was going to make one in Orla, but I ran out of Orla!

Phooey. This bag takes a lot more fabric than the little one.

Thank you everyone for your patience while waiting for

the pattern to be ready. I hope you enjoy using it!

The Little Blue House

Two weeks ago, I finished Jenna's birthday present and
stashed it in a closet to wait for today when we celebrated
her birthday. It has been in my head even longer than the
Princess Pavilion Tent - and it originally was supposed to
be a regular flat-topped table tent. But late in the summer
I found, for less than $5, this gem at a garage sale-

and I thought it would be much, much cuter than a
table tent. Plus, I have a thing for roofs.

Here is Jenna's Little Blue House

with its striped roof,

little white gate, doorbell

and awning (has dowels in it - I love dowels).

The little white gate opens into a welcome mat

which is brown flannel with felt applique.

The back of the house has a little round window.

One one side are two windows with gingham valences
and old-fashioned lace curtains with velcro tie-backs.

There are window boxes with hidden slots for planting flowers.
On the other side is a much bigger window with
another little awning to keep the rain out.
And a little mailbox.

The shades are down now because it is closed.

But when the shades are up, and the sign is switched

it's a family-run home business
and you can come buy their wares -

all manner of colorful, sticky, sweet treats -
donuts, jam tarts, gingerbread people

and candy. Lots of candy.

We tried it outdoors and it worked as long as there wasn't
a whole lot of wind. But this is really a playhouse for
indoors, which is just as well, seeing that
that's where we'll be a lot this winter.

I like that the roof is real this time, unlike the Princess
Pavilion Tent's - so Jenna and Kate can actually stand up
inside it. This house is exactly as tall as Emily so she
sits in it. I had a lot of fun making this house but there
was a moment of panic when I realized that the double-
layered fabric walls and roof might be too heavy for the
frame. So I slashed away the inner layer and all was well.
The fabric for this house was mostly thrifted bedsheets.
The stripes of the roof were strips of blue sewn on white
fabric and scalloped at the edges. I love the versatility
of plain solid fabric - perhaps this is why the designer
print stuff doesn't grab me so much.

An important feature of many of the toys in
our house: it can be folded up tiny and put away!
The IKEA lamp box was what the PVC frame was packed
in at the garage sale so no, unfortunately,
it cannot be bought at IKEA.

Jenna quite liked her little blue house,
but her favorite thing was really the lollipops


which she carried around all day.

Scroll to the next post for the lollipops tutorial, people,
if you're interested in your own candy store for Christmas.
And with that, I can honestly say I am done with tents.
Unless a really fascinating new shape comes along, that is.

How To Make Lollipops

Given that it is just after Halloween, my timing is a bit off
to be introducing more candy now, but these are calorie-free
and remind me more of Christmas than any other season.

Here's a tutorial on how to make those fleece lollipops
from the Little Blue Candy Store:

What you need:

• Scrap fleece
• Scissors or rotary cutter
• Needle and thread
• Pair of small pointy scissors or cutter
• Craft glue
• Short dowels (mine were about 1/4" and 7" long)

Step 1

Cut strips of fleece. I considered using felt but it might get hard to curl into a spiral. The actual length or width does not matter - they will just give a different pattern and/or different size lollipop. Mine were about 1.5" x 13".

Step 2

Sew them together along their long edges to make a piece of striped fabric as in the picture above. Again, the actual size of the piece of fabric does not matter.

Step 3

Cut fabric at a slant into strips of about 2"-2.5" wide. It does not have to be a perfect diagonal.

Step 4

Join up the ends as if you were making bias tape, to make a long strip about 2 feet (24" long). Again, this is approximate. In the picture below, the top strip is flipped so you can see the seams at the back. Each strip makes one lollipop.

Or you can find printed fleece that looks like this and just cut a strip of that.

Step 5

Thread a needle (I used a single strand of thread), knot the thread and begin tightly rolling the strip along its length to make a roll like a snake. Starting at one end, sew down the overlapping edge with a simple whip stitch or any stitch, really.

These stitches will be hidden later so don't try too hard to make them beautiful. Continue rolling and stitching. When you reach the other end, knot off and cut the thread off.

Step 6

Thread the needle (I used a double strand this time for strength), knot the thread, and start making the spiral. Curl one end tightly on itself and stitch through the curl to secure it. Keeping the seam underneath so it is hidden, continue curling and stitching through the spiral as long as it is small enough for your needle to go all the way through.

As the spiral grows too large for the needle to go all the way through, start stitching only through the layers just underneath.

Step 7

When you come to the end of the spiral, fold the raw edge of the end and stitch it down. Knot and cut off the thread.

If your spiral is very large and wobbly, you can push the needle through a few layers at various points to further reinforce your earlier stitching.


Step 8

Make a cut next to the end of the spiral and gently cut through as many layers as you can, keeping the hole/cut just large enough to insert the dowel. A hole about an inch deep will give stability to the dowel.

Step 9

Push the dowel into the hole, twisting to insert it as far as possible to enlarge the hole. Remove the dowel, apply glue to the tip and re-insert it.

All done!

Note: No tutorial for the candy cane, sorry. I just cut 2 candy cane shapes out of white felt, sewed them together, leaving an opening for turning out. Then I turned it right side out, stuffed it, sewed up the opening and glued red ribbon around it.

Responding to Sloper Questions

Hi everyone - thank you for the nice comments on the girls' halloween dresses and for all the interest in slopers/blocks. I started writing a response to a couple of questions in the comments but it got too long. So am just doing a quick post to answer them here.

Q: What is a sloper?
A sloper (US) or basic block (non-US) is a body-fitting paper pattern that is made for an individual. It has no styling features. It is a template from which other patterns may be drawn to form different garments. A sloper is made from a person's individual body measurements (waist, bust, shoulders etc) and, if sewn into a garment, will look and fit like a comfortable bodysuit. I explained it in more detail in an earlier post here.

Q: Do I make muslins (US) or mock-ups (non-US) of garments from my slopers?
Never for the children's garments because their body forms are simple enough (no darts, for instance) to fit into even store-bought general size garments.
For myself (or other adults), it is a good idea to draft a new sloper every few years or so, or after every major body change, to take into account weight gain or loss or age. After drafting a new sloper, I usually make a muslin of the sloper (or the first garment made from that sloper), to check fit in various important places: the fit of the shoulders, the fit of the armhole (to prevent immodest gaping or pulling, for instance) and the position of the darts. I will not bother with how loosely a garment hangs, or how long the sleeves are, which are not fundamental to the fit of a sloper. Once all the adjustments have been made, that sloper is good for all subsequent garments because the fit will be perfect. So from that sloper, I could draw a sleeveless blouse (and make it as snug or as loose as I want) pattern, and add sleeves which could be as long or as puffed or as flared as I want. A loose blouse and a snug blouse made from the same sloper will both fit perfectly at the bust, shoulders and armholes, for instance because the darts and the slope of the shoulders will be the same for a snug or a loose blouse. Those are what gives a garment a great fit. A dress with no sleeves, a dress with long fitted sleeves and a dress with three-quarter length flared sleeves will all fit comfortably and well because the armscye (the armhole) of the sloper that all three were made from, fits right.

I hope this makes sense. I know it is a funny way to look at patterns if you've sewn from commercial patterns. Drafting slopers and making garments from them are, in a sense, almost like working from the other direction. Or working from scratch.

I wish I could explain this via the blog (wouldn't it be fun to do a tutorial on How To Draft A Sloper?) but it is close to impossible because sloper drafting is such a subjective thing, at least the way we did it at home. So much is done "by feel" and "by look" and not by Math or a formula. I can't teach it. I can barely even explain it to myself when I am doing it. And there is so much I don't know. Just the other day while telling mum on the phone about Jenna's puff sleeves, Mum asked, "did you remember to curve the bottom of the puff?"

Eh?

Thus began a short discussion on sleeve shapes, which (for puffs, anyway) I always thought were straight lines at the seams and hem and curved only at the shoulder. Apparently not. A slight curve to the bottom prevents drooping of the bottom of the puff. I never knew that. And I found it hard to completely visualize on the phone. Darn it, I wish mum and I were in the same country. She knows so much and I am constantly struck by how absolutely nothing I know about drafting. It's like mum sews dresses and I just sew straight lines and hang rectangles on my children.

But I will revisit this again and again over the next months. I need to sew stuff for myself. I even have a buttery-yellow lineny fabric for a tunic that I must work on sometime soon. So if you are interested, check back again.

Halloween Costumes

Finished the girls' halloween costumes with two days to spare!
What a relief. I always feel that Halloween sewing is more
busy-crazy than Christmas sewing. In the wake of that earlier
drafting post, I thought I'd write a bit about how I sew
costumes/dresses/clothes in general since
it is a somewhat strange process.

Sewing any garment, for me, usually begins with a sketch.
I think that would sound almost arty if it weren't actually
done on some awful scrap paper lying around the house.
Mine also have bulbous lumps that are
sorry excuses for human heads.


Next, I mull over my ideas for a few days, particularly the
unfamiliar parts that I've never actually sewn before,
like layered sleeves.

Then I wait for a sale and go shopping for fleece.
I buy 1 yard for Kate (short) and 2 yards for Emily (tall)
and something in between for Jenna. I also buy one fancy/
pretty/annoying-because-frays-like-crazy fabric for each
of them for fancying-up purposes.

Then, I procrastinate by sewing other things, or getting the flu.

When I finally think I've delayed as long as I dare, I measure
the girls' dimensions. Because this will be for drafting, this is
a long list and looks like this:

• Neck
• Shoulder
• Shoulder-to-waist
• Chest/Bust
• Chest (Front)
• Chest (Back)
• Waist
• Armhole
• Length of sleeve (straight arm)
• Length of sleeve (bent arm)
• Wrist
• Waist-to-ankle
• Hip

and it goes on an on.

Then I get out my brown drafting paper (has narrow lines on it)
and draw the sloper for each of the girls. There are three
different bodies and three different outfits (fairy, princess and
who-knows-what for Kate), but if I sew them the same kind
of dress, it will feel like mass-producing,
which makes me feel saner.

So I decide on a style - it is frigid here in October, so it will
have to be long sleeved and high-necked. They are going to
wear these dresses all throughout the year for dress-up, so
the skirt will be partially-circular for better twirling. That
decided, I modify the sloper, but not much, because
it is already long-sleeved and high-necked.

Emily's has the least variation from the upper-body sloper -
her sleeves are fitted but they are pointed at the wrist,
and have some leaf-shaped applique at the shoulder and
some random embroidery (a simple zig-zag stitch) lower
down. She is a fairy so I draw and cut a collar
that is scalloped to look like petals.

The rest of the bodice is awfully plain so I embroider some
more of that random swirl pattern from the sleeve.

The skirt is semi-circular, but hankerchief-hem-looking

so it flares out without seams but is jagged
enough to pass as fairy-like.

Where the skirt joins the bodice, there is some fancy trim.

For her hat, I measure the circumference of her head at
various positions, divide that by six and cut panels.


She decorates her own wings with glitter and Mod Podge

and off she goes.

Jenna's dress is typical princess.

Her bodice is two layers of fleece- the inner layer is the
boring round-necked sloper pattern itself. The outer layer
has the princess neckline in front


and a regular square neckline in back.


Her long sleeves are also pointed at the wrist and slightly
flared from the elbow. The puff sleeve is an extra layer
sewn onto the main long white sleeve.



Jenna's skirt is, again, semi-circular. I slash the skirt at
six places and insert godets. Again, where the skirt joins
the bodice, there is fancy trim. See a pattern here?

The clean lines are important to me when working with
bulky fleece. I want all the twirl of a full skirt without
the bunchiness of gathers.


When Jenna went trick-or-treating tonight, she borrowed
Emily's old cape from two years ago.

Kate's dress is again a variation on the same style.

I am not sure of what she is, exactly - some sort of
wood sprite maiden is the closest I could come to describing it.

Hers has the same old uninteresting bodice, and flared sleeves.
I line the sleeves with coordinating flannel just for the
fun of it, and use the textured detail of the skirt as applique


which I repeat for the front of the bodice.



Her skirt is two layers of semi-circular fabric. And where
the skirt meets the bodice - you guessed it - there is fancy trim.



And here are the girls - can you now see the similarities in their dresses?

Kate's doesn't fit her as well as the other two girls' dresses do.
It might be me being picky but as long as we're
deconstructing dressmaking here, let's be honest. I drafted
her sloper and then started to second-guess myself because
I forgot she was a round-tummied toddler and I thought her
dimensions weren't quite proportionate. So I changed the
sloper and made her waist a little smaller and the bodice
itself a little longer. Very foolish. Yes, I was drafting with
a woolly brain, thanks to the flu but I should have
remembered: The Sloper Is Supreme; Trust The Sloper.


And that, gentle readers, is how I sew a garment from
a sloper. Everything else is embellishment, which is
something I find myself saying a lot nowadays.
The sad thing is that while these dresses fit the girls now,
Emily's fairy dress will not fit Jenna as well when she
inherits it, nor Kate, Jenna's princess dress. None of
these dresses is quite a 5T,3T or 18m! But at least the
girls will wear them for dress-up all year!

Carville

or, what to do with sick children and an excess of band-aid boxes.


We made little cars that were the perfect size for Little
People, Playmobil, Legomen and others of that ilk.

What we used:

• Band-aid (and other generic brand) boxes
• Scrap cardboard
• Scissors
• Craft glue
• Craft knife and cutting board
• Markers
• Stickers and/or construction paper for details

What we did:

Step 1
Opened up the boxes and cut a hole in one of the biggest sides:


This hole is centrally-located for a sedan-style car, but you
can move the hole to either end for a pick-up truck, truck
cab, train, tractor etc.

Step 2
Sealed up the box again, wrong side (i.e. the white side) out.
We like that this made little white cars for the kids to
decorate with their markers.

Cut a door in one side.
Cut scrap cardboard for the roofs of the passenger
compartments, cut front and back windshields out and glued on.


Step 3
Decorated with markers and stickers.
Stuck on (or drew) tyres, hubcaps, front and tail lights,
air-intake vents, license plates etc.

Here are some different styles our woolly
brains managed to think up:

The classic boxy convertible (minus retractable roof -forgot)

The classic boxy sedan-style car, whose roof got sat
on at least thrice before this photo was taken

The hot-pink boxy precursor to the VW Beetle

The boxy precursor to the Morris Minor

and the boxy pickup truck sans wheels
(too tired to care at this point)

We planned to do a little train engine and carriages
next, along with some trucks, but gave up and
moved on to Carville instead.

Step 4
We used 4 equal-sized pieces of cardboard and taped
them together at the back, leaving the front tape-free
for drawing. We marked out some roads and simple
intersections and then had the kids contribute ideas for
other features. It was so much fun to hear their ideas!

A bridge over a lake with ducks to feed
(too tired to make the ducks)

A pumpkin patch and flowers next to it

An apple orchard

A playground, sidewalks, lots of parks, construction etc.

The smooth surface of the cardboard made for very
nice driving/sliding conditions. Look - driving on the
left side of the road like we do in Singapore (and the UK)!
And on the right side of the road like we do here:

We used the little wooden traffic signs we had at home
but when we are up to a bit more high-energy scenarios,
we'll take out our cardboard traffic signal lights and play accidents.

When the kids were done playing, the playmat/playboard
was folded into quarters and put away. When we get more
cardboard, we might make another playboard with train
tracks and do a short train and a little train station.
Everything goes back into the recycling bin when the girls
get tired of playing of it, or when the cars get sat on
one too many times.

Halloween Lanterns

So we've been sick with the flu this week. Very unpleasant.
Finally we got to a point where we were too well to be
languishing on sofas but still too sick to be dressing
up and having tea parties.
So we did crafts.


Here are some simple paper lanterns we made in
Halloween/fall colors just because.


The photos aren't very exciting and my brain was too
dulled to even think of close-ups. We made two kinds
of lanterns. The first kind were just simple tubes - either
cylindrical or square in cross-section, and layered with a
contrasting color of paper on the outside. The kids cut
fancy edges with my fancy-edge scissors and went
crazy with the hole punchers.


The second kind was made with slits cut into an outer layer
which was then stuck onto an inner tube (black) that was shorter
so the slit part popped out. We used the regular 9" x 12" sheets
of construction paper. We cut the black into three equal strips
3" x 12". We cut the orange into two equal strips 4.5" x 12". On
the orange strips, we marked out a 0.75" band on either edge,
and cut vertical strips about 0.75" apart in the region between
those outer bands. Then we put glue on those outer bands lined
them up with the long edges of a black strip and stuck them on
so the middle region of cut slits popped out.

Here's our materials list:

• Stapler
• Glue
• Hole puncher
• Scissors
• Ruler
• Craft knife
• String
• Construction Paper (black, yellow, orange).