Summer PJs

A few posts back I mentioned that I had received a shipment of fabrics from David Walker's Oh Boy! collection. It's full of really cute prints for boys featuring dinosaurs, vehicles, stripes, circles and great colours. I also mentioned that I wanted to make Thomas some pjs out of one of the fabrics.

Well, my list of sewing projects is about as long as my arm at the moment, and it seems to be growing each day, so my lovely Mum took one thing off my list and made Thomas these very cute summer pjs, using Animals Allover in White. All I had to do was make the button holes and sew on the buttons. I'd never used the buttonhole function on my sewing machine before, but since it was all automatic it was really quite fun. Must try it again sometime, or maybe I should get Thomas to do it since he seems magnetically attracted to the dials on my sewing machine...

Anyway, these pjs took just over 1m of fabric to make, and are a large size 2 I would have said. I think Mum used a pattern, but I'm not sure of its details. Still, I'm sure any of the major pattern brands would have something similar.

A tee pee for Thomas

We live in a very small house that is in need of a lot of work. Ever since we moved in last March I have been dying to do up Thomas's room so that he has somewhere lovely to sleep and hang out doing boy stuff. Unfortunately other things, like rotten weatherboards, the fabrication suite and the garden, have taken up any spare time we have for renovating and we haven't gotten to his room yet.

So, to make up for it I wanted to give Thomas a Christmas present that would go some way towards brightening up his room and making his space a bit more toddler friendly. And since his favourite game still seems to be peek-a-boo I decided that a tee pee would be the perfect thing. He could hide in it, read books in it when he gets older, and generally have a wee space of his own.

I had seen a pattern for one ages ago in a Your Home & Garden magazine but of course when I went to look for it in my stack of mags I couldn't find it. Luckily, the lovely Fiona at YH&G was more than happy to email me a copy of the pattern so I set to work.

The tee pee takes quite a bit of fabric (just over 4m in total - I used curtain/upholstery fabric from Fabric House here in Christchurch) and you also need a few other bits and bobs, like dowel rods, some ribbon and a few beads, but it is very easy to make. Basically you just cut out your triange-shaped sides, stitch them together, add your strips for the poles and whack a hem around the top and bottom and you're done.

And, the result is fabulous - a tee pee that fits one small person very easily (at a pinch you can almost fit one small person and his mummy and daddy, or as in the bottom photo, his Gran and Great Aunty), it's portable, easy to erect, and is a great play hut for inside or out. Today we finally had some sun so I moved it outside for him. Unfortunately the wind meant that playtime was quite short lived because it kept blowing over (luckily not while Thomas was in it though!)

The only problem now is keeping hold of our pillows, cushions and visitors - they all seem to be dragged into the tee pee for a lie down and a story!

It's all gibberish to me!

Hi friends of the fabrication blog, I'm back! It feels like an eternity since I last sat at my computer tippy-tapping away on the keys writing a post, but actually it's only been a month. Still, far too long. I have blog post ideas coming out my ears, but finding the time to post them is the trouble at the moment. What with Christmas, New Year, family arriving home from overseas for a very much anticipated wedding, painting our shed, and doing all those other bits and bobs that you do on holiday I just haven't found the time. But, since I'm back at work tomorrow after a lovely break I thought it about time that I put an end to my absence and let you all know that I'm still here.

So, tonight I just wanted to let you know about my friend Lauren who has started up a wee enterprise called "Gibberish". She makes fabulous hand screen printed tea towels and cushion covers with quirky sayings on them like the ones in the pic above. She's very talented and lovely to boot, so I just wanted to spread the word on her products. They are very reasonably priced (only $10 for a huge tea towel) so if you're interested then please flick Lauren an email at gibberishgifts@yahoo.co.nz, I'm sure she'd love to hear from you.

A x

p.s. Just arrived in stock are some gorgeous japanese fabrics by Hokkoh from their Wa Nouveau collection. Check them out at the fabrication.co.nz shop now.