A room of my own

This week, while Mr D and the Large Fries were on school holidays, we moved the home office computer upstairs into the (not very) old dining room. This is significant for two reasons:

1. Mr D will no longer be absent for hours at a time formatting websites and writing movie reviews in the depths of the garage (where it’s freezing this time of year).

2. The empty room has now been taken over for my sewing!

Oh! The joys of having your sewing machine and overlocker in the same room! And being able to roll your chair from one sewing desk to the other! Never mind that the moving process has left it looking like a complete bomb site, and I haven’t set up any storage for all my fabric. There will be no photos until I’ve sorted that out I’m afraid – it’s just too embarrassing for public viewing.

The convenience of co-location meant I was able to finish this Etsy custom order for Kylie.

And I fully intend completing two pairs of lounge pants for Susan’s boys later today. I hope Mr K like bright colours….

In other news, the CHA craft swap has been in full swing. This morning, we received this lovely parcel from Lana.

And this is what we sent to her earlier in the week.

I’ve never participated in a craft swap before and it was so much fun! Waiting to see what lovely surprises would arrive for us in the mail. Claire has been getting stuck into her AromaPlay Clay, although she’s not quite sure what to do with it. At the moment she scoops out a bit with her finger and then flicks it on the ground, where it’s cuurently making a lovely pattern against our polished wood floors. Oh well, at least it’s all natural colouring!

Don’t forget to pop over and see what Lou is doing this week too.

Hot off the ‘washing’ and hand-stitching lines

New Garden Party Dress in white (a christening gown perhaps?)

Groovy drill pants with a balloon print for a 1yr old boy and pink flannel bloomers to keep newborn bottoms warm this autumn

Matching singlets – flowers or trees

Lounge Pants Size 6m – 3T

new in the bloombub etsy store:

singlet and bloomer sets – size 000
plus
swing tops size 0-1

Bloomer & singlet sets

Leaping into the deep end

Master R & Lil C tussle over Dora

The time has come for this crafty mumma to Do or Die – we either have a go at this baby clothes shenanigan as a commercial enterprise, or we consign the sewing machine to the hobby pile.

I’ve been making original (and some pattern-based) outfits for Lil C, Master R, and their little baby friends for nearly two years now. My fabric stash is growing larger by the day, and my skills have evolved to a point where I’m ready to show them to the world. While everyone is always appreciative when they receive a Bloombub original as a gift, the ‘commission-based’ word of mouth business I’d been hoping for hasn’t eventuated. So, it’s time to whip up some samples, take some constructive feedback, and setup that Etsy store. If that goes well, I’ll knock on some online retailer doors and perhaps the boutiques in my corner of town. All of this in the hope that I can reduce to two days of ‘office time’ in my day job, and sew fulltime one or two days per week by the middle of the year.

STAGE ONE of my big adventure: Genuine market research.

Clockwise from top left: upcycled singlets, bloomers (boys and girls), swing top with ribbon straps, garden party dress, swing top with halter neck.

If you have a 3 month to 3 year old child, and would like to ‘test drive’ one of my prototype Bloombub outfits:

‘upcycled’ singlet + matching bloomers;
swing top + bloomers;
or Garden Party dress

drop me a line or leave a comment here with your childs’ size (000 to 3) and any colour preference and I’ll whip you up a sample by the end of the month. In return, I’ll ask you to fill in a quick survey about yours and your child’s experiences with the outfit, rough ballpark for how much you’d be willing to pay for this type of item, and any other relevant feedback you have about the Bloombub business ( you can email or post it back to me). If you LOVE your outfit, please tell all your pals about my new venture and where to find me!

Wish me luck!

A most productive week

For some reason this week I’ve been on a roll – three pairs of bloomers and the finishing touches to a new prototype trapeze dress that has been lying around for about two weeks waiting for some buttons and slip stitching to it’s lining. It still needs some satin or grosgrain ribbon around them hem – I’m waiting for my trip to the Gardams sale to stock up.

Pearly buttons on a pink & chocolate prototype

The red and white bloomers are a special order for a Birthday Girl, Miss A. Her wardrobe is strictly colour coordinated, so red, white, black or pink were our only options! Hopefully spots and hearts won’t be too loud.

Spots and hearts with lacy ruffle trimmings

It is third timelucky with these new summery shorts – using more of the fabric leftover from Lil C’s birthday frock. (I don’t think we’ll be wearing them together though)

Spring flowers and red ribbons

They’re still a little big around the leg, but a vast improvement on the blue ladybug test case, and the shiny black pair with pinstripe borders that haven’t even been finished because I botched them so royally. One day I’ll unpick them…..

Next up: more shorts, finishing the tiered skirt, and a photo of Lil C’s party dress for Miss A’s celebrations next weekend.