The 'Less is More' Birthday

I'm struggling against 'stuff' right now. I need space, not 'stuff', in my world. Space in my head and in my house. 

 I think I'm not the only one. Cherie over at You and Mie summed up much of what I feel with her 'Year of Less', post. 

 And I've noticed that I'm not alone among my online friends in slowing down with blogging. My motivation to create more dresses for Missy has waned. The world, and this little girl, do not need more dresses.

But  my 'Less is More' outlook faced a Big Challenge; Missy's birthday.

If there's one thing designed to bring an avalanche of 'stuff' into the home it's a little girl's fifth birthday. 

 "Please!"begged Mr As it Seams. "Don't do a party for Missy that brings loads of pink, sparkly plastic into our house!"

And, I was really hearing him. How many new toys create a thrill for half an hour, before spending the rest of their life beneath another heap of toys in a cupboard, or just become 'another thing to pick up.'  

It then it struck me, with simple logic. If I want to de-clutter, then I should start by not allowing all this junk into my home in the first place. 

But it's not easy to put a wall up against the 21st century onslaught of 'stuff', especially when I do also want to make Missy's birthday special.

She is quite simply an utter delight. She makes me laugh all the time.  Here's her description of a promise:

Me; Do you promise to leave the park nicely when I say it's time to go?
Missy; Yes
Me; Do you know what a promise is?
Missy; Yes, but sometimes I don't hold on to my promises very tightly and they fly away.
Later...
Me; You left the park very nicely
Missy; Yes, the arms in my brain held on to the promise really well.

 So how did this birthday pan out...?

In a couple of hours I made her this little nurses costume. It's an old sheet cut up, self drafted pattern, to make a little apron with pocket. It's trimmed with blue gingham flat piping, and the yoke of the apron is fully lined and interfaced to make it a little 'stiff and starchy' and nurse like.

This isn't perfectionist sewing, there are lots of loose threads and quick improvised top stitching. But hey, this is a five-year-old dress-up box addition., not perfection! And my 'space' thing is about my time too... I need to de-clutter my week. And she loved it, of course.

 I cut up the rest of the sheet to make bandages, and she loved bandaging up teddies. Sadly no pix - but again..... I'm keeping things simple. Just this sweet pic, of my Little Missy doing her funny dancing, encouraged by her brother, making us all smile. Wouldn't this little nurse brighten your day??

Of course, it felt like a rather simple (and cheap present) so we also gave her a bird feeder and some bird seed  - because then it can be outside our house. And hopefully we'll enjoy watching the birds all spring.

We had a little tea party and played games with her friends. Missy dressed as a flower fairy (hurrah - she wore last year's birthday outfit, having rejected it a year ago).

It was Mother's Day here in the UK, so we made little pansy baskets with Missy and all her friends. Here's Missy's one for me. 

We gave all of the children a packet of sunflower seeds to take home as their party gift.

Afterwards Missy and I planted up our sunflowers in the birthday party cups! How's that for keeping things green and sustainable! Here they are complete with Missy's 'sunflower' labels. 

We're so ready for spring here! It's still cold and windy, but when those sunflowers turn into 6ft golden glories I'll be sharing pictures here. And so there we have it. The Birthday of Less. Lots of fun and magic, and proving that we can have a party without lots of 'stuff.'

Snip, snip! Some Nani Iro for me!

Ooops! 

It was my scissors, not me...honest. 

I've cut up some beautiful Nani Iro flannel.

This lovely fabric was supposed to be for a dress for Missy, but, that girl has plenty of dresses, while her mother on the other hand...

 

This is Nani Iro brushed cotton, Sen Ritsu Mezzo Piano, bought from Miss Matatabi, and really it's the winter version of this double gauze Nani Iro top.

A lot of my sewing projects for Missy have been quite challenging, but every now and again, I just want to; "Cut. Sew. Wear."

And this pattern ticked that box. This is the easy-peasy Melly Sews Hi Lo top, a free pattern which I can sew up in an evening.

Melly suggests using fabrics with plenty of drape for this pattern. And that is NOT this flannel.

It's super soft, with a flash of gold to lift the floral print. 

But it's a cosy brushed flannel, and not at all drapy and it looked a little odd, at first, as the Melly Sews top. So I added a couple of darts down the bodice, in addition to the side bust darts, to slim and streamline the shape. I also lengthened the sleeves, and narrowed them, in an attempt to create something long and elegant. And it all, kind of works, as a rather strange hybrid top.

The pattern also suggest finishing the neckline with bias binding made from the fabric. There was NO WAY I was going to attempt to make bias binding in this flannel, it would be way too bulky, so I finished the neckline with hidden bias behind the neckline, which also meant remembering to  add a seam allowance to the neckline.

Sometimes I feel a little guilty about being so reckless and experimental with such wonderful fabric, and I have moments of being a bit 'slap dash' with sewing, but you know, that's ok.

I  think it's better to get on with sewing and wearing lovely fabric, rather than letting it gather dust on my fabric stash shelves...

Right then... what lovely fabric is next? Snip snip....!

Just a little red skirt - and learning simplicity

 

And breathe...

Life is so full, isn't it? I often feel like a rabbit dazzled in headlights trying to decide what to do first.
Clean the house, or sew? Catch up on work, or sew? Spend some time playing with Missy, or sew? 

So I'm trying to teach myself to slow down, and be gentle on myself.

And make my sewing a little simpler and a little less experimental.

Quite simply, I don't have time, or head space, to rescue projects that go wrong.

Which is why this little red skirt is the right kind of sewing for 'right now'.

This skirt has ticked a lot of boxes for me. About thrift, both with time and with fabric.

It's made from a remnant of red needlecord and a floral needlecord, both a gift from my mother, who is trying to de-stash her fabric stash.

This is rather funny, she clearly has/had the same fabric tendencies as me. And the bits and bobs in her fabric drawer have been there a long time. This floral remnant definitely has a seventies vibe. In fact the whole skirt does. But I kind of like that.

 

So, I didn't spend any money  on fabric (tick one), in fact I helped 'de-stash' and that always feels good.

And I didn't fiddle with a pattern either (or at least not much - because I guess I did add the floral panel which also forms a hem facing).

The pattern is from Akiko Mano's Linen, Wool, Cotton Kids, recently translated into English, and my new 'love.' Expect to see more sewing from this book!

I just love those four shiny red buttons! And the simplicity of the skirt, but the way the deep yoke also makes it look a little sophisticated.

I need this kind of sewing in my 'sewing life' but it's also the kind of thing Missy needs in her winter wardrobe. A practical cosy skirt. 

We took a few photos outside, in front of our trusty fence. But honestly it was freezing!

Thank heavens for Missy's chunky Aran cardigan...Which in a funny way is also part of my mum's de-stashing efforts. She knitted that cardigan, all those chunky cables and fancy stitches...um and it only took her 40 years to finish it! 

It started life in the mid 1970s, as a cardigan for me. And then lay in a bag for four decades, after my mother lost heart and couldn't face knitting the button band. Don't you know that feeling? When something's almost finished, apart from a button  hole or a hem, and you've lost interest and just can't face that final hurdle?
(I do this all the time. In fact I'm even doing it with this blog post. It was my intention to take more pictures, to show you how I faced the waistband with the floral fabric too, and that clever button closure. But I just don't need another 'to do' on my list right now. I'm keeping this simple)

Finally my mum knitted the button band, in 2014, and now her little grand-daughter can be a seventies girl from head to toe, in her cord skirt, Aran cardigan, oh and a granny knitted handmade scarf (and no, that didn't take 40 years to complete...)

So what's next on the Akiko Mano sewing pile? Oh plenty, plenty....come back and see! I'm enjoying this simple Japanese, follow-the-instructions sewing... (for now, anyway..come back soon and see if I can keep it up...) 

Take One Dress 12: As it Seams; a dress for winter

Can I say how much I love this dress?

I LOVE this dress...

When I look at it I can see the tonnes of love, thought and planning, and the year-long series that were all part of the journey to complete this dress.
This is the finale dress in the Take One Dress 2014 series I hosted  last year. There's a full round-up and details here.
In the last Take One Dress post, by Olga at Kid Approved, see here, she set me the challenge of sewing something inspired by this dress. 

My sewing brain headed off in a million directions!
A coat! A matching dress! Some winter shorts! Accessories! The lot. But as usual, I'm big on ideas and short on time.

It was the idea of a winter landscape, that floating figure, and a border print that I loved most, and which formed the basis for my creation. I also decided to sew a dress pattern I've had my eye on for a while, the Franklin dress by Brooklyn Pattern Company- which gently references the 'inspiration' dress with its three-button yoke.

My next idea was to somehow create my own 'border print' with a bit of applique and colour blocking. 

The dress is made in a peacock blue brushed cotton flannel, that is soft, fluffy and fabulous. The fabric is from my local store Herringbone in Nailsworth, which is a treasure trove.  This is perfect winter dress fabric, cosy and the colour is so  intense, it sings. 

The panel is grey linen mix. For the applique I needed something more stable than the flannel, which has a bit of stretch and is bulky.

Now this panel was A LOT trickier than it looks, I drew lots of skyline templates, and decided simplest was best, and then wrestled with drawings of winter trees. How to get fine delicate branches, with my grey linen? I absolutely DID NOT want lots of Christmas trees - just this one. And these winter trees, front and back, were the best I could do. I stopped thinking, started cutting and it kind of worked.

 

The trees are faced with iron-on interfacing with exposed raw edge,  but the panel as a whole is seamed on to the skirt as I wanted a 'cleaner' line across the skirt. That meant a lot of fabric manipulation, which is hard to explain. (I had to pull the house and tree through a gap in the seam, and iron in place). It was no easy feat. Simply getting that little yellow window in place as the one splash of colour, before I applied the whole piece, was tricky.

The grey panel also forms a hem facing - sadly I forgot to take a pic, (and yes I know, there are tonnes of other pictures. Did I mention I love this dress?..). This means I can let the hem down a bit, which I probably will do, it's a little short. That's my fault, I cut it short, thinking I might sew a 'tunic' but then changed my mind.

A

 I've been thinking a lot about why I love this dress.

1. The colour! I am seduced by colour, whenever I try to go 'neutral' it doesn't work. This is a real peacock teal blue. It looks great on Missy.
2. It  appeals to my unashamed nostalgia... 
3. ...and a love of Nordic art and style. My very first post on this blog was about Carl Larsson, secretly I want Missy to look like she's just stepped out of a Swedish wooden cottage. Or perhaps stomping through the woods, on a magical adventure that might include a Gruffalo.

A Gruffalo? Oh look.... guess what happened when wearing this dress...(keep going.. to find out)

This dress had a special outing recently, when our small town was lucky enough to have a visit from  children's book superstar, Julia Donaldson, author of the Gruffalo, Room on the Broom, Snail and the Whale and so much more.

She gave a lovely story-telling session that captivated the children.

And Missy, gamely got on stage to be a 'sheep'. Here she is, on stage with Julia and other 'volunteers' from the audience.

Missy had one line; "Baaa"... It got to her turn, Julia pointed at her to 'bleat', Missy drew breath, paused to remember what her line was, and made everyone giggle when with all her gusto she burst out; "Neigh!"

So there we have it - the end of the Take One Dress 2014 journey. Thank you so much everyone who took part, and thank you Olga for pushing me to think and create!