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Sunday 30 April 2017

Finished Chick

I had a bit of an issue with finishing this project as I ran out of the yellow for the face but thankfully my mother had some more yellow yarn of the same colour and brand. You can't even see the point of change!


I'm really excited now to turn this into a pillow case and then make a blanket with the rest of the patterns. It will be looking absolutely awesome on the couch!

Happy Stitching,
Caitlin

Friday 21 April 2017

Watercolour Sketches

I had the opportunity to get away over the Easter long weekend which was a much needed break for my family. We're coming into tax time so I'm getting less and less time available. Also uni is starting to really ramp up and I'm feeling the stress.

We visited a friend of my family's property in central NSW.

The views on their property were just stunning! This wasn't even quite at the top of where we were going. They run a working sheep farm so they have a decent amount of land.


While there I had time to just stop and paint a couple of times. I remembered to take my watercolours and a couple of small sketch books. I could have taken more time to sketch but we did spend a lot of time doing not much. 
 I used pencil to make a rough sketch n the paper and then I added the watercolours. I'm just using a set of kids watercolours I bought at riot at the end of the back to school sales. They're nothing fancy but do mix to make so useful colours. I then drew over them with my pitt artist black pen as I can paint over that if I needed to without it running.


I'm really proud of how these pictures turned out. I was trying to learn how to work with watercolours and all of it was new. I did definitely learn to let a wash dry BEFORE painting over it. Other than that I just love them.

Hope you had a wonderful Easter yourselves.

Happy Stitching,
Caitlin

Friday 14 April 2017

Lekala blouse 4109

This top was finished around  the beginning of January. I even just realised that I never shared a finished photo for this top on any social media. I have had this post started since then and was intending to share it all together then work started up again.

Without Further ado, here is my Lekala blouse 4109. 




I'm flying along with sewing projects. This top has been on my mind since I finished my skirt and I knew I had so much excess fabric.  I had been drawing ideas of a top I was thinking about drafting and then I was browsing and found this blouse by lekala 4109. I knew it was perfect. I could use both the orange and blue fabric on the main top and with the princess seams I was hoping it would sit nicely on my body and suit my waist. If I am to be honest the blouse does pull a bit around the yoke but not badly so. I don't know enough about sewing to know what adjustments to make to ease that across the front. The back is definitely not pulling. It isn't pulling enough for me to be concerned either and it is still very comfortable.

The orange lawn is see through so I knew I wanted to make the top bodice fully lined and when I downloaded the pattern and saw it had facings I knew I wouldn't need them.  I read the instructions a couple of times and was confused from the start so I decided to make it the way I thought it should be made. If you are a beginner sewer I really really really don't recommend lekala patterns. They are suited to your measurements but the instructions leave a lot to be desired. If you know what you're looking at you can make some beautiful outfits. 

I had to be careful when laying out the pieces that they were all lined up the right way. I didn't want them to be the opposite to the skirt.  I wanted to be able to wear this whole outfit as a dress when I want.

I started with my yoke bodice and sewed it together and then sewed the lining to the bodice at the neck and armholes.... at this point when I tried to turn it I realised I should have left the side seams unpicked as well and so in I got and unpicked them.  Then I could turn the bodice and sew the side seams. I then carefully ironed the bodice so it sat neatly.


 I then sewed all the blue panels together.and then sewed it onto the bodice. I did have to do a light gathering at the front of the top but I expected that from the technical drawing.

 I made sure I finished all the seams neatly with my overlocker. Even this one hiding under the lining got finished after this photo.

I will leave you with one more photo of this top. I have styled it with the skirt here. Forgive the squinting look as the light was really bright outside I could barely see. I think it makes an awesome dress but also looks really nice paired with a pair of slacks or jeans.


Now since this was made in January I can safely say that it has been in rotation with and without the skirt at least once every 2 weeks. it just makes me happy to wear it. I need lots of outfits like this that are very versatile and I can wear a variety of ways.

Happy Stitching,
Caitlin

Tuesday 11 April 2017

Pattern updates

With Easter coming up I get a bit of a breath and a chance to lift my head from the books. Though if you follow my instagram I do craft a little at the moment but it's generally something I can grab and go with.Often just some colouring or a little knitting or crochet project. I still have a test coming up tomorrow and an assignment due in 2 weeks.

Anyway the point of this post is actually to talk about my new patterns. One of the things I started doing again is designing. I can carry a little grid pad around with me and have fun making up new characters. I have FOUR new animal characters available on my etsy store. Bringing it to a total of 9 animals available. So without further ado... meet my new characters.

Cow and Pig



They're available in the pairs as shown. You may also notice a big difference with the backgrounds. They actually have them. The reason for this is simple. I worked out you can use a simple cross stitch pattern as a  crochet graph for c2c. So I added the backgrounds and all the animal backgrounds are the same size so that you can piece all the animals together into a quilt. (This is my plan anyway!)

Dog and Cat 



I have also simplified and straightened my patterns in this series. I have already updated the bunny and chick pattern (if you have bought this from me at any point please get in contact with me and I'll send you the updated version) and I will get the kangaroo, koala and bear updated in the next day.

All patterns will now come with a background, but you can choose not to stitch that on your cross stitch. I just wanted to make it easier to use these pattern in other ways.

As you can see below in my not quite finished Chick they really do look awesome in c2c crochet. I think I'm going to turn this one into a pillow as it was a bit of a tester and it's not wide enough to match with all the patterns.


So please if you've bought any of the characters from my animal series get in contact with me and I'll send you the updated patterns if you aren't able to download a new version from etsy.

Happy Stitching,
Caitlin

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