Comfort sewing

This week we have all been afflicted with colds, flus, and for poor Little C, pneumonia. So needless to say, it’s been pretty quiet around the house.

Today I took some leave from my day job and spent the day relaxing at home. While relaxing and sniffling, my creative fingers got a bit itchy and I found myself trying out one of the Mani Mina patterns I treated myself to from Etsy a few weeks ago.

The first dress off the machine was this red linen beauty, as modelled by an unusually enthusiastic toddler. She actually WANTED to wear the dress as soon as I showed it to her – almost unheard of. There’s usually substantial coaxing required for her to put on any on my dresses, but some reason this one took her fancy. So much so, I can’t get it off her to sew the final embellishment, a cute cat button from Buttons by Lou Lou. Oh well, tomorrow night’s task!

The dress is from the Summer Everyday pattern, though I lengthened the sleeves and cropped the length of the dress to make it suitable for Lil C to wear with layers in winter. The pattern is really easy to make – I was done in less than two hours (except the button, of course). I am planning to add a bit of Bloombub flair to it, and will be crocheting some cream coloured cotton lace to trim the sleeves and hemline.

When a pattern is so easy, and the finished product so well received, why stop at one?!

This beautiful Cosmo fabric has been sitting in my stash for some time now – I believe it came from my first purchase at Retro Mummy (these groovy pants were also from that parcel).

Miss G admired the fabric, but I was unable to entice Lil C to remove the red dress to try this one on. I took a few extra artistic licenses with this version. Only the back is elasticated, so as not to gather the beautiful print at the front, and the sleeves got even longer and we made a little ‘bell-style’ elastic feature as well to keep the cuffs from flapping about in the breeze (or getting dipped in food, which is far more likely).

I’m contemplating whether to add some black ribbon or white broderie to the edges to cover the overlocking. Maybe I’m just a bit lazy this week and won’t bother.We’ll have to see which dress Lil C chooses to wear to Daddy’s birthday celebrations on Saturday.

If you like the look of the Summer Everyday dress, but are not of the sewing type (or just too lazy), you might like to take a look at these local designers:

MyOneBrownMouse’s Kinder Dress, or

MonPetitPoppet’s Smock Dresses and A-Line blouses. MonPetitPoppet is a local Brisbane mum too, and has just been featured on the Matilda’s Market blog.

Now that I’ve had such success with the Summer Everyday pattern,  I might give the other two Mani Mina patterns a try – the Reversible Kimono Dress (I am repurposing some beautiful purple wool for that one, just need to find a nice print for the lining); and the Round Collar Dress (but maybe that will wait for some spring inspiration…). I also covet the French Ruffle dress… but I think that’s for a slightly older child to appreciate.

Mani Mina e-patterns. Available from Etsy.com

Happy dressmaking!

new fat quarter mini-pinny available in these fabrics

$12.50 – introductory price for April

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!

What have I been up to?

Where has the year gone? Three months since my last post.

While I feel like I’ve done quite a bit of sewing, when I went to photograph my handiwork, there wasn’t much to show… maybe I have lots of half finished projects somewhere? (there’s certainly a dress half done next to the machine.. but I’m waiting to crack open my NEW overlocker before finishing that one).

So here’s the top half of Miss C’s Christmas Fairy outfit… the bottom half has a mesh skirt over festive stripey bloomers, but she messes up the skirt on the first wear and it’s been deemed to ratty to photograph.

And here’s the lovely frock we wore to our Playgroup Melbourne Cup festivities… matching fascinator was worn for about…mm.. 3 seconds before being thrown on the floor. (Mummy wore her French kisses dress too!)

Soon : my experiments with the Oliver + S sailor pants/skirt pattern… an exercise in flexible sizing!

French Kisses

Here’s a twin set of a different kind – coordinating Mummy and Baby dresses (although I think it would be too much for us both to wear them out at the same time).

I love the cute little print, scored from the remnant bin at Gardams. Little kisses are so sweet!

I think a pair of bloomers may be required in a coordinating fabric, perhaps with Kissy cuffs or ruffles… watch this space.

Mum's dress

Baby's pinafore

Summer party time!

The latest addition to the Bloombub back-catalogue, an aqua pool party dress for baby Summer

Aqua Garden Party Dress