Summer Fun

Having finished the summer break and the girls have been back at school for 3weeks. So what have I been upto? Firstly I must share my excitement about some house renovations ☺️. I am very blessed to have a large "play room" at the end of my house. It has always been used for playing; barbies, lego, dressups and the like. As the kids have grown older, my craft stash has also grown. It was all over the floor amongst the tressle tables. Over the break Mr C built some cupboards along the side wall. Then my brother came and hung the doors. It looks awesome. I have one section for scrapbooking, another bigger section for sewing and a third section for off the page. The playroom / creative space looks awesome. Thank you boys. 

Once my space was sorted I decided to make a bear. This is Jester the bear. I made him at Bear Essence in Tooradin. The tutor was Marnie, she specializes in sculpting and painting of bears. I learnt so much!! I thought I had stuffed him good but No, he needed so much more. The more I poked in, the more stuffing that went in! It seemed endless. I plucked his nose so it could be painted and then dyed with Persian  essence. His nose was made with sculpty that was moulded on over a bead I had stitched in place. Once cooked I painted it with nail polish. We also used paint to shade the eyes and ears. He has turned out amazing. I love him. And how good does he look sitting next to the old music box. 

Take care everyone. Ta Meagan 

Crazy December

Last weekend my girlfriend Cassie had her dance showcase. She has only had the dance school since October so it has been a mad craze to get everything ready. Finally the day came and the performance was spectacular. 

This is the vulcher costume. I loved playing with the feathers. Something a bit different to normal! 

My second favorite costume was a snake ballet leotard. In all the madness I forgot to take a photo!

As a treat to myself amongst the christmas madness, I attended a bear workshop at Bear Essence. I love making Josie's bears. I try to make one every Christmas. This is "wanna be a reindeer". When making this cute little fella, I used a nose made of modeling clay. This was so much easier than stitching a nose. And look how cute it is. 

I hope everyone has a lovely Christmas and safe New Year. Love Meagan 

Leather Leggings

I made some leather pants/leggings but I have to say, they are not real leather. I am really big on animal cruelty free. I see people walking the street in leather and I think, "if they can do it why can't I". So I headed into Cleggs in Melbourne and found myself some good look faux leather! The girls are so helpful, they helped me find a beautiful fabric called Rebel Leather Look Vinyl. Oh if only you could see the texture and feel it. It's 57% polyester and 43% polyurethane. The right side looks like soft animal hide leather but the inside feels soft and gentle. It does not have a plastic look or feel and it has a small amount of give in it (bonus).

I used McCalls pattern 4444. There was a write up on it in threads over 12 months ago.They claimed it was the best leggings pattern ever. So I had to buy it back then and it has sat in my pattern basket ever since! 

There are 4 different styles of leggings which gives great variety, and I chose to make view D as I had seen leggings like this with the leather sides at numerous retail outlets. 

They where extremely easy to make and only took about 4 hours including the alterations for my large hips. I am wrapped with the finished product and am looking forward to making a few other things with my left over faux leather. 

What did I learn? Heaps!!

Needle; always use a leather/denim needle, size 100/16 or 90/14.

Foot; use a walking foot, roller foot or teflon foot. You need to change the foot so it feeds smoothly. Some research suggest that the leather can stick to the feet or plate. I didn't find this at all, perhaps because it had a soft wrong side. I played with some scraps for a while and then decided to cheat! I used my 4thread overlocker for everything except the top stitching. I think it worked ok. If the foot is sticking to the fabric some suggestions are baby powder on the fabric, tissue paper between the fabric and metal or sticking scotch tape onto the sticking side of the fabric. Hmm I'm not sure about the sticky residue on the fabric or on the needle! 

Machine setting; I had the stitch length at just under 3, and also had to reduce the tension until it ran smooth. 

No PINs; If you pin the leather it leaves pin holes. So I used clips. In some of the tricky spots I did pin, but I kept within my seam allowance. You could also use paper clips if desperate. 

No BooBoos; for the same reason as no pins. If you make a mistake and unpick, you will be left with perforated holes and an ugly mess. 

Stay tuned for my next faux leather attempt. Special thanks to Christeen at Sew n Sew sewing school for a lovely sewing day and assistance with the alterations. 

Ta Meagan 

Almost done

I feel like I've been saying almost done for months! Both girls have had their first competitions and at the next they add 2 new items. So yes more costumes and headgear. 

Today I am going to share with you my favorite product. It does change from time to time, but for now this one has made my life so much easier. When sewing sequins on, you do a single or double line, or you may be required to stitch them over a motif to create an item, like flowers. Miss Ms club costume required the later. 

We had to cut the motif into little pieces and pin down while embellishing with sequins. The difficult part is your thread getting tangled and knotted on your pins. I find this extremely frustrating and it slows me down heaps. 

I quickly thought, I need glue. Some glues leave a residue, some change the fabric colour and others just don't work on Lycra. My brainwave was to use my appliqué stick. This glue pen is made by SewLine, and I love it. 

A little dab on the back of the motif and it stuck to the Lycra beautifully. Even when I stretched the leotard over the body board they remained glued. 

This ment I could stitch the sequins on without the pins. Awesome. No tangled cotton and quick completion. 

I loved that the glue dried clear, it left no residue on the leotard or the needle when sewing sequins and it did not change the texture or stretch of the fabric. Marvelous stuff. Now I need one for my appliqué bag and costume bag!! It was also a dream with the headgear. 

All complete and worn. Well done girls for second place in your clubs item. 

Costumes, costumes and more costumes.

Since my last post I have done nothing but dance costumes. I am in desperate need of some long sleeve tops. I have the fabric and the patterns but no spare time as these costumes consume my everything😜 I'm going crazy! 

Miss L had a stage rehearsal at Ballarat. All items got the tick of approval, except Harry Potter. The grey velvet looks drab and the sequins on it are over the top. So the tie and collar are gone but the rest stays. With the collar the girls necks just looked like a mess if sparkle with no direction. Once removed it looked much cleaner. Just goes to show that what looks lovely up close can look gastly from the audience. So Miss L is done and first competition is in 3 weeks. 

Now I'm onto Miss M. Must bigger costumes, definately more intricate and way more time consuming. I am starting with a velvet sailor unitard, sounds interesting!! The Colour us actually beautiful and with all the inters team together it is striking. So it's made and I have started the sequins. Here is a sneak peak. 

I hope you are intrigued. In 5 weeks I can show a little more. Being velvet I thought I would share a few tips and tricks for working with this luxuriously smooth fabric that can be so very frustrating.

1. The biggest thing for me when working with velvet is to clear my workspace (including my head) and slow down. 

2. A bonus with velvet is that you can get 2 different looks. When the pile is up, it is smooth, so it feels soft when I run my hands up the fabric from waist to sholder This makes my velvet look dark. 

If the pile runs down, it is prickly to run my hand up the fabric, then it will look lighter. This can be a great effect and used to your advantage. 

Always check the pile before cutting. Is it running in the correct direction on all pattern pieces! I double check, sometimes even triple check.  I like the pile running up. That's smooth to run my hands up the fabric and prickly to run my hands down the fabric. 

3. I always cut eat pattern piece individually, ie not right sides together. With the pile facing down I use sharp scissors or rotary blade to cut the fabric. And I move my hand around the curves rather than moving the fabric. I am being careful not to move or change the direction of the pile as I cut. 

4. Like I said early, clear your workspace. Velvet is very short hair fibers. So when you cut they go everywhere. The even get stuck in your rotary cutting board if you use one. I always wear old clothes and get changed after I am done (nothing worse than going down the street or to school pickup with light fibers on your dark pants or top. After I am done I also clean my work area with a damp cloth. Even after you've cleaned they can magically appear like fairy dust. 

5. And lastly, when sewing, I thread my machine with a silk thread. I lower the tension and I reduce the foot pressure. 

I hope that helps a little! Bertie also has done great tips to share. Follow her link; www.blogforbettersrwing.com.2014/01/tips-for-sewing-with-velvet.html 

Have fun sewing, love Meagan xx

Ps. I hope the link worked! 

Calisthenics Overload

I spent the weekend up in the hills. Friday night was the Inters/Seniors Cali camp at Yarra Junction and Saturday night was at the Subbie/Junior camp at Mt Evelyn. 

Friday night was so inspiring. After the kids had gone to bed, the coaches and sewers kept working into the night. They have some brilliant ideas for costumes and props. Some ladies started looking at head-gear for the costumes. I was blown away and can't wait to be at a level that I can help with head-gear. Can't show you any photos until competition season starts. Sorry😞 but not long to go. 

Saturday night and Sunday morning I was with Miss L. It was her first camp and she was so excited. Words can't describe her expression and excitement. After working hard all day the little girls finally fell asleep. This allowed us mums to sew into the night, I mostly sequined! Here is a sneak peak of what I worked on. It is for Miss M in her rods routine. It is all back velvet, but notice how the fabric to the left looks different, well it's not it has the nap in the opposite direction. It looks amazing on!!

LOL, you can't see much. Dress rehearsal is this Saturday. I have 2 costumes still to finish. The mums who design these costumes are amazing, wish I could be so creative! 

Here's a final photo of Miss L in her camp hat. She is relaxing at home after a full weekend. 

Ta MeagyLove xx

Cali Costumes

The last few weeks of sewing have been focused on the girls calisthenics costumes. Have 2 incomplete costumes for Miss M, they are a lot more detailed than previous years and are taking a lot more time to complete. Miss L has 2 1/2 that I can tick off my list. 

This is Miss L in her Penguin march. An easy leo to make but very effective. The head dress was a new skill for me and I really enjoyed learning it. I found the mesh difficult to sew at first but once I changed my needle to a crowbar it was much easier.  

The mesh was used for shape and was sewn onto wire, then covered with fabric and finished with some sequins and fluff. Am wrapped in how well it turned out. Must add millinary course to my bucket list. 

This is the Aladdin freearm leotard. I love the colour and braid. My challenge is the sequins, only because they are mixed colours and I think it looks busy. Plus I don't do random!! The neckline is just gorgeous. It is amazing how something so simple can be so effective. 

And the last costume is Miss Lizzy's Harry Potter clubs. I think I need to take off the skirt and reapply. It looks a little tight. This happens when the leotard isn't stretched enough when applying the skirt. I've got a bit if time to fix it as the coach & costume coordinator are still  undecided about how to sequin. 

Take care, Meagan