Fledermaus

Hier im Rheinland gibt es ja bekanntlich eine 5. Jahreszeit und auch unser Kindergarten feiert natürlich kräftig mit! "Brauchtumspflege" nennt man das ;)

Here in the Rheinland (along the River Rhine for all those outside Germany) we have a fifth season. Karneval! And of course our pre-school celebrates as much as everyone else. We call it keeping up the traditions ;)

Wer wie wir in einer der Karnevalshochburgen lebt, kommt aus der Nummer auch nur schwer raus.
Für Nichtrheinländer oder Zugezogene (wie eine Freundin, die vor 3 Jahren aus den USA hierher kam) ist das bunte Treiben vielleicht auch zugegebenermassen etwas befremdlich.
Egal ob Jeck oder nicht - Kostüme für die Kinder müssen her! Unser Kindergarten gibt jedes Jahr ein Motto vor, an dem man sich  dann orientieren kann. Dieses Jahr heisst es "Manege frei für den Karneval der Tiere!"

If you live in traditional Karneval areas, there is no way you can get out of it. For people from other places (like a friend who moved here from the US three years ago) it is often incomprehensible. It doesn't matter if you are into it as a grown-up, kids have to have costumes. Our pre-school celebrates every year under a different motto. This year it is "Carneval of Animals"!

Tief in mir drin hoffte ich ja, dass die Kinder sich aus ihrer eigenen Verkleideecke ein Kostüm wählen würden. (Die werde ich bei Gelegenheit mal vorstellen!). Leider nein...


Deep down I hoped that the kids would take a costume from their dressing-up box (I will let you peep in there one day). Sadly not.

Der Große entschied sich vor 2 Wochen dann mal, dass er sich als eine Fledermaus verkleiden möchte. In den Kaufhäusern bin ich leider nicht nicht fündig geworden. Nur Batmankostüme...
Das wäre zwar auch auch nach seinem Geschmack, zieht er sein Spiderman Kostüm vom Klamottenschweden momentan nur zum Schlafen aus, aber ist ja mal voll am Thema vorbei.

The big kid decided two weeks ago he was going to be a bat. I admit to looking in the local shops. They only had Batman costumes. That would have been right up his street as he only takes his Spiderman costume off to sleep at the moment. But that would not have been in keeping with the theme.

Da ich momentan nicht soooo wahnsinnig viel freie Nähzeit habe, musste also eine einigermassen schnelle Lösung her. Ich entschied mich daher für einen gepimpten Kapuzenpulli. Um das Ganze fledermausiger zu gestalten, habe ich die Kapuze einfach pi mal Daumen vorne geteilt und aus Jersey Ohren eingenäht. Damit diese etwas mehr Stand bekommen, habe ich von innen eine Lage Volumenvlies aufgebügelt. In einer alten Ottobre fand ich dann per Zufall eine Sweatshirtjacke mit Fledermausdetails. Sie diente als Inspiration für die Stickerei auf dem Rückenteil des Pullis.
Zuerst wollte ich in die Seiten- und Ärmelnaht noch Flügel einnähen. Die habe ich dann aber doch wieder rausgetrennt, weil es einfach nach "zuviel" aussah.

As I don't have very much free sewing time right now, I had to come up with a fast solution. I decided to pimp a hoodie. To add a little more "bat" to the whole thing, I  split the hood at the front and added ears. To make them more stabile, I added volume fleece: In an old Ottobre I found a sweatshirt with bat details. It inspired me to add the embrodiery on the back. To start with I sewed in wings between the arms and the sides, but took them out again. It was just too much

Damit das Kostüm noch etwas cooler für mein angehendes Schulkind aussieht, habe ich das Freebook "helden.KAPUZE" von Yvonne alias leni pepunkt eingebaut. Ihr findet das es auf ihrer homepage (das gab es in ihrem Adventskalender).

To make the whole thing a little cooler for my almost school child, I used the Hero Hood from Yvonne alias leni pepunkt. You can find it on her website (and it was in her advent calendar). 

Hier das fertige Kostüm am Kind:

So here it is:

So. Das große Kind ist glücklich.
So. The big kid is happy

Das kleine überlegt noch. (Bis Donnerstag hab ich ja noch ein bisschen Zeit.).
The little one is still considering (still got some time til Thursday)

Schnitt: leni pepunkt
Stoff: Baumwolljersey in schwarz und grau
Model: selbstgemacht





Pattern: leni pepunkt
Fabric: Jersery in black and grey
Model: homemade


Euch allen einen schönen Tag!
Have a great day!

...und zum 1.Mal ab damit zu made4boys....
....and now I can post on made4boys for the first time

\m/
B.

Oliver+S Sunny Day Shorts

There is a lot of respect for Oliver and S patterns out there. I have a book of theirs and have so far only made one pattern (see their bib). I seriously complicated the pattern and so couldn’t really judge whether it was the pattern or what I did to it, that made it a little difficult to sew. 

Viele von Euch schwärmen bestimmt auch für die Schnitte von Oliver and S. Ich habe das Nähbuch, aber bis jetzt lediglich einen Schnitt nachgenäht (das Lätzchen). Ich habe es ernsthaft total verkomplizert, sodass ich hinterher nicht mehr nachvollziehen konnte ob es an dem Schnitt lag oder mir, warum es so schwierig war zu nähen...

(I hear you ask….didn’t this woman pledge to finish all her projects before starting anything new? Well, every pledge is made to be broken every once in a while, isn’t it? My box of UFOs is reducing slowly and I needed to do something fresh, if only to keep my mojo going).

(Ich höre Euch förmlich fragen...Hat diese Frau nicht versprochen erst alle Projekte zu beenden, bevor sie etwas Neues beginnt?)
Nun ja, jedes Versprechen ist doch dazu da, gebrochen zu werden, oder?! Meine UFO Kiste wird langsam leerer und ich brauchte was Neues ;)

When Britta told me they had a free shorts pattern out, I dashed over their website and downloaded both sizes. I can use both as Thing One wears the larger size and Thing Two the smaller. Well, Thing One doesn’t really need any new shorts, but Thing Two really could do with several more. 

Als Britta mir erzählte, dass es dieses Shorts Freebook gibt, habe ich direkt beide Größen heruntergeladen. Thing One braucht zwar eigentlich keine neuen Shorts, Thing Two dafür aber direkt mehrere!

Whilst we were visiting my parents over Easter, my Mum gave me some lovely linen-weave cotton with fish on it. Washed and ironed there, it has been tempting me since. I was going to sew up some sunhats out of it, but somehow they do get lost easily and I thought that would be a shame. 

Bei unserem Osterbesuch bei meinen Eltern bekam ich von meiner Mutter dieses schöne Baumwoll-Leinengewebe mit Fischen geschenkt. Gewaschen und gebügelt, wollte ich setdem immer etwas draus nähen. Ich dachte zuerst an Sonnehüte, aber die gehen irgendwie immer so schnell verloren. Viel zu schade!

Armed with cutout pattern, prepped fabric and a serious mission, I set out to get them done in nap time. Well let me tell you, if you let your child sleep all afternoon, then you can do it! They are very simple with only five pieces. The instructions are easy to follow. I really really like the way the elasticated waistband turned out. Not sure why it looks so much better than just turned over and sewn down, but it does.

Bewaffnet mit fertigem Schnittmuster, vorbereitetem Stoff und dem Vorhaben, sie während der Mittagsschlafzeit fertig zu bekommen, legte ich los.
...wenn die Kinder den ganzen Nachmittag schlafen, ist es zu schaffen!Die Shorts bestehen nur aus 5 Schnittteilen und die Anleitung ist leicht verständlich. Besonders mag ich die Bundverarbeitung. Keine Ahnung, warum es so viel besser aussieht als Umschlagen und Steppen, aber das tut es!

Oh and I added a pocket. Gotta have a pocket for some beach shorts. Otherwise where would you hide sand?

Oh...und ich habe noch eine Tasche aufgenäht. Eine Strandhose braucht eine Tasche. Wo sonst soll man den ganzen Sand verstecken?

 

So Thing Two is ready to hit the beach! A little while yet, but I think they are going to look pretty cute in the sand.

So, Thing Two kann jetzt den Strand erobern! Es dauert zwar noch etwas, aber ich bin sicher, sie wird süß aussehen im Sand. 

(These are experimental photos. My big girl camera took a beating last week. A sand shower and being dropped have made it feel very poorly. I think it is off to the doctor's next week.... :-()

( Meine Großemädchenkamera bekam letzte Woche Prügel. Eine Sanddusche und ein Sturz sind ihr nicht gut bekommen. Ich glaube nächste Woche ist sie vom Arzt zurück.... :-()

UFO Stashbusting

I have a big fabric stash. Lots of us do. I have committed to not buying any new fabric until a substantial amount of my stash has been reduced. I joined a Facebook Group to help keep my promise. It's not so easy with all those tempting fabrics out there. Enough said about that. I'll come back to my stash again another day.

Right now I am trying to reduce my U(n)F(inished) Objects stash. Inspired by Prolific Project Starter's dress, I have decided to reduce those two boxes of projects to zero by mid-June. This is the reason why I have been so quiet. I have been sewing like a mad thing. Some of them only need a little bit of work and they are done, some need bits taking apart and redoing, some are just cut out and some have irreparable mistakes (at least from my point of view now). In the past week I have finished 5 pairs of PJ trousers (will be posted about later), three Christmas stockings, a bread basket, two bibs and a summer top. Yipee! More pictures to follow....

German translations will follow too for the next posts. Promise!

Another Bib.... Oliver+S

This cute little thing is a finished, useful, stash bust. Say those words slowly and if you are anything like me, you'll get my amazement.

I used all stash fabric. Sadly, you can see it on the thick denim on the main part, but then again, it will have food splattered all over it as soon as it hits the table. The bias was my first attempt at home-made bias and I am pretty chuffed about it. In it's previous life, it had been a shirt. The pocket is double lined and made from some remnants from a friend's dress. I love the fabric, but don't even know where she bought it, nevermind who made it or designed the print.

I sewed them from the Oliver+S Book, Little Things to Sew. It is the first pattern I have sewn out of it and I seriously changed it. I added the pocket, lined and backed it in toweling. The finished product feels lovely, even if it is very thick. It certainly doesn't need to be this thick. The green quick and dirty bibs do the job just fine. Next time I am sewing something like this for a gift, I would definitely come back to the pattern.

Boys' Bibs

My last post being about another project started and none of the previous ones yet finished, I thought I would share my quick and dirty response to quilt piecing. Boys' bibs. Thing Two is one mucky pup who loves his food and is still learning to get most of the food in. Fair does, it is tricky when your mum gives you soup or musli. Here is this mum's answer:

I cut them a while ago from laminated cotton from my stash. I carefully pinned one and then tried to sew it. It is a long while since I sewed anything vaguely laminated. To give me my dues, even then it was on a different machine. After the machine had chomped its way through a bit,  I decided this was not the way to come out with something that satisfied even a quick and dirty sew. Well, I thought to myself, laminated fabric doesn't fray..... what about zigzagging it? For some strange reason my machine happily zigzagged it's way around these. I just carefully trimmed them around the stitching, added some cam snaps and they were ready to go. They have been tried and tested and the verdict was.... why did I wait so long?

Kids Clothes Week - Prepster Pullover

Thing One seriously needs things with long arms in his wardrobe. It isn't that warm here yet (in sunny Southern Germany) and he seems to have lots of short sleeved tops but not much to keep him any warmer.

This is where a couple of long sleeved shirts come into play. I picked up this lovely blue and white checked cotton about a zillion years ago. For anyone from Düsseldorf, it came from the Pfaff shop on Wehrhahn. That place has been gone a long time. Well I digress a little.

Not much to show yet apart from the material and my little helper here

It is really soft and I am hoping that the lack of proper collar and large amount of buttons will reconcile Thing One to it. If it is an easyish sew,  then there will be several more and Melly Sews made it as it is a nice multisize pattern, then there can be some for Thing Two too. Sounds like a deal to me. I shall keep you posted.

Anyone else have little ones that just love to push pins into fabric?

Kids Clothes Week - Cutting and Cutting

So yesterday ended with me taking the moody beast to a very nice man who promised to repair it. The whole incident put a bit of a dampner on my sewing mojo. But I decided that nothing was gained by moping and that if in doubt cutting out the next project is the way to go. So I cut out Toni and bought and bought the Prepster Pullover pattern. Nothing like sticking to your guns.

It was a bit dark in the kitchen where I cut Toni out. And even I have to admit that Husband was right when he pointed out that the whole affair reminded him of the 1970s. Stripes, brown, orange, brushed cotton, slim top.. Well I survived the 70s, (and the 80s!) so he will too. Maybe I'll whack a great big fat star on the front in a tribute to the 10s.

I got the bodice part sewed up before falling into bed to dream about a repaired serger......

Kids Clothes Week.... Boy's Purple Cords... II

So I once I had got all my fabric, trim, ideas and stuff together, I sewed like a fiend. Time flew. I got pockets done,

 

I got trim on, even keeping the stitches on the red part of the ribbon. I was feeling very proud of myself.

I even got the topstitching on the pocket and the hem of the trousers done nicely. 

By then it was past midnight. I got my nice soft, grey waistband cut and pinned. You've guessed it by now. I was half way around the waistband on my overlock and she started to play up. The stitching started to get loopy. But it was almost 1am..... I ignored it. And now I know, as I knew before, don't ignore the moody beast. She is a moody beast. She doesn't like being up after midnight. There was a terrible snap, a needle broke and now the machine is fit for the repair man. The presser foot handle even flipped over?! Not sure how that could happen. 

The groovy purple corduroy trousers still have a quarter of the waistband to be attaached. I had to bite the bullet and finsh them on my regular sewing machine. Grr.....

Having said that, I think they are quite groovy. Let's hope Thing Two does too! 

Kids Clothes Sewing Week... Boy's Purple Cords

My sewing methods are less than fast and efficient. Somehow I can’t really just print out/trace the pattern pieces, decide on my trims and then get on with it. I cut out the main pattern pieces, fiddle around with colours and trims, wonder if there is a better option lurking in my material den. Shall I use yardage or shall I try and bodge it out of some existing clothes. And then once I have decided on the fabric to use, I mentally have to say good bye to all the other things I could have made out of that precise piece of material (in today’s case… good bye groovy purple cords, goodbye cute purple corduroy skirt).

So today I am sewing Thing Two a basic pair of cords. He is little… two to be precise so there is still time to be loud, bright and a little bit playful with his clothes. Thing One would gladly wear those kind of clothes too, but I am a little more reserved as there is nothing worse (well there is really) than being teased about the clothes you wear. He gets funky PJs instead! Back to Thing Two… got the cord, now time to look and see what I can use for the waistband that goes with the purple. I am going to use ribbing as I’d like them to be super fast to sew and very comfy. I am secretly hoping that nappies will become a feature of the past over the next few months and a fly isn’t conducive to that. My purple ribbing is too soft, berry red makes them look kind of girlie. Nothing wrong with girliness, but Thing Two is everything but girlie. I settle on grey. Now time to get cutting. 

 Trousers cut…. I think a pocket would look good and it would be a handy place to put tissues. Those tissues that cover all the clothes in white bits in the washing machine have to come from somewhere, don’t they? Pockets cut…. Oh now here is an opportunity to use some of my boy trim. Out it comes. And hey, well now I could cover the top of the pocket with a different material. Back to the fabric den… I come back with some purple and white striped material that has up to now spent it’s life being a man’s shirt. Fiddle it around the pocket, yay…  I like it. Oh no, do the trousers need turn-ups? They will be too long to start with. Well the striped material will get dirty really quickly and the only grey I have to go with the waistband is light too. So quick decision against turn-ups. I suppose I can always put some material in later, if I change my mind.

Well now it is all collected, I can continue to cut and pin. I now know what the trousers will look like and how I want to go about them. Now it is time though to get on with other stuff. But I suppose this is the creative bit that takes them time. ….. I’m just nipping off to see if red ribbing wouldn’t be better. I do have some bright red…..(YveeB)