Spooky Cupcake baking achievement unlocked

 Happy 8th birthday to my son!

You love spooky stuff, home made shirts by Mum, crystals, crafts, cooking, cats, creepy Scooby Doo shows, (spooky and mysterious, right?), drumming and music, rolling on your heelies, handball, skipping with a rope, Loom bands, gardening, eating fresh foods you've made and grown.

You're kind, compassionate, empathetic, assertive and creative.

Your favourite TV show is "Just Add Magic".

You revel in your uniqueness, showing others another way to be. You love soft tactile cushions and creating cubbies to sleep in.

You are loved, loving and loveable.

Love from Mum xxx

New Spooky Shirt

 Another new spooky shirt for the kiddo.

He's been wearing last year's Halloween ones the most, for all this year!

I think I can make a couple more before the next Halloween.

I love to make him unique clothes that nobody else has, that are to his tastes only.

Curiousity...

Oh Tula Pink! I am so happy I scored some of your Alice in Wonderland fabric at a deal - and here is a curious cat zoot suit for the kiddo, ready for his drum concert.

His first performance, he is playing Stevie Wonder's "Superstition", and I want him to feel bold and confident when he walks on the stage.

I feel like that's the power of new clothes.

He chose different coloured snap closures, because he likes to be able to button them up fast, and that requires matching colours on each side of the shirt!

He also has yellow shoes - crocs are his thing!

And we have a yellow car, so it's all happening this year!

 

Two hats and a shirt

What's this? A matching hat?

Yes. It's true, it's maybe a bit cray cray, but what am I going to do with this leftover fabric otherwise. I'm almost 50, and maybe starting to think that I don't need to save fabric anymore, but I need to use it, so that I can keep  buying more!

Another woven badge/sticker on the front, and voila!

Here's another hat I made for the kiddo (Tula Pink fabric), and he's also wearing a Halloween shirt I made with glow in the dark print from Spotlight.

This kid doesn't have school uniform. So he can wear whatever he wants. Now that I've put the pretty plastic snaps on his shirts, this is what he wants to wear. 

And he has a number of hats. I don't think Toy Story is his favourite, but that's not matter. There has to be one for a kid not to worry about getting muddy!

 

The Bunny Elvis shirt and some Australian animals

I went with the kiddo's school class to the Billaboong animal sanctuary. It was my first time going, even though I've lived here in Townsville for 9 years now.

The kiddo is wearing the Bunny Elvis shirt, Fabric by Missy Rose.

Wombat points its bum at us.

Cassowary is behind a tall barrier, they are dangerous!

Koala is awake for a change.

The kiddo sits with the turtles.

A very hot, but successful day. The children fed the kangaroos, and watched an enormous croc jumping out of the water to eat meat.

 

The Full Woody suit

 I'm not sure if the title of this post is very PC for kids clothing. "The Full Woody" suit. Eep.

We went out to the bush for a family bbq/picnic. The kiddo wanted to wear his new suit, even though it was dusty AF. This is why all his clothes need to be so washable and wearable!

They look amazing! Not at all like pyjamas. Right?        Right.

I love the kiddo's crocs. He doesn't have a uniform at his school, these are the best shoes for him at this time. They scrub in the shower. Doesn't matter if he gets them wet, or muddy or wears socks.

Multi generational learning here

Flavoured with a little bit of thoughtfulness from the kiddo. He loves to give me flowers.

Toy Story boy shirt

One of our supermarkets was giving away incentives to make people shop there. This year, the prizes were stickers that are woven/embroidered in nature. 

For this Woody shirt, I stuck on the Pizza Planet motif, then stitched it down, so that it would last through the beating kids clothes get in dirt, and subsequent washings.

There are the silver buttons from spotlight. They have none left in silver, I had to buy bronze next.

I have fabric for shorts as well. Bring on the zoot suit!

 

Tiger shirt

Here we go! Just needs buttons. The kiddo likes snap buttons, I need to buy some more from spotlight, and maybe even see if I can get them at a better price. 

The big metal snaps don't always hammer in well, can dent, and can be tricky for little fingers.

Does it look like pyjamas because it's a light colour?

Hmm.

The next outfit will be this yellow cat suit. I've decided to make it as his special performance outfit for his first drums concert.

Yes, I bought it on sale, I have 2 metres of Tula Pink cat fabric from the Curiouser range. Just love it!

I'm going to make a kids shirt wardrobe!

 

The story of how I started sewing a lot

I love to sew. There was a time I didn't have many clothes, but Mum had fabric in her cupboard and a sewing machine, so I sewed my own.

Of course Mum used to make our clothes when we were very little. Back in those days it was much cheaper to do that. And I guess over time she collected large "remnants", end of bolts and such and popped them into the cupboard.

The elderly lady next door also sewed. She made everything. She was always making aprons. She made her own undies. Even bras I think.

I remember the power of creating my own clothes I loved in 1988 (year 9), and I was hooked. It started with pleated shorts, made from black and white stripe fabric, that fastened on the side with a hook and loop type closure.

After that I made myself another two pairs of shorts, from scraps in the cupboard, and in 1989 (year 10) my Christmas and birthday gift from Mum was a sewing course in knitwear. Maybe you heard of it? KnitWit. I absolutely loved it. At age 15 I was the youngest in the class. I made my own collection of clothes as we progressed through the 8 weeks of the course. Mostly in navy, white and a touch of red. And I made a cropped swing jacket in mustard yellow. Oops. (I now know to use earrings and hair accessories in those funky fashion colours, and make my jackets classic navy).

So that was when my sewing journey really started... but also kind of ended... at the end of year 10, Mum said it's time to get serious now and which maths and science was I going to do. Sigh.

I bought half a metre of this tiger fabric from Fabric by Missy Rose. It's a beautiful quality cotton fabric for clothing that holds its colour, doesn't pill, feels soft, 

There wasn't quite enough fabric to make the shirt, so I used a bit of leftover cotton doona cover from the bushfire charity quilts of 2020, and cut as pocket and collars. 

I've also appliqued a tiger onto the pocket to give some congruency.

My old Dad used to call his shirt pocket his front office. And now my son, who never got to meet my dad, loves a front office too.

 

 

Christmas Cat boy shirt

I think these might be Louis Wain cats as well! Another bargain buy after Christmas last year....

Guess what? This will be another boy shirt of course.

He loves cats and Christmas... so why not?

I need to buy more interfacing. The woven one is best.

And some press studs too. Spotlight have none left in the same colour. I'm getting a collection, it might be time to look on ebay for some of the press studs. I think more shirts are coming.

My boy has found his style.

 

Christmas Bubble O Bill shirt

I loved this Christmas Bubble o Bill ice cream fabric from Missy Rose so much, but I didn't know what to make with it.

I only had half a metre, but it's 150cm wide. Not quite enough for a pocket, the facings or the collar. So I used this stripey fabric for the collar.

And he absolutely loves it.

I know that Christmas has past, but he doesn't care. He is wearing his Grinch suit any day.

Boy shirt #3. This could be an addiction.

 

Blue boys zoot suit

Check out the brass style press studs on this kids zoot suit.

A little bit roomy, with space to grow, but super comfy.

The boy is rapt, and everywhere he goes, people exclaim about his suit. They all love it!

I've made a few more tissue packs, creating the seams as leaders and enders.

It's amazing what one can do with a few scraps. 

I really find the purple and black together so striking.

I have cut out another boys shirt, time to go stitch it up.

 

Boy's blue shirt

This is such a pretty colour to play with.

I love the purpley blue. It's so calming. I think the indigenous fabric print is showing women, food sources and waterholes. It's like a map.

This one just needs the metal press studs hammered on.

And now it's time to make the shorts.

 

New year, new plan

New year, a new project.... 

Little boy loved his Christmas zoot suit so much. He needs another suit! He is at that age where he loves matching.

I bought this fabric half price at Spotlight. Let's see how this little boy likes it.
 

Grinch Zoot Suit

6yo has been drumming for a year now, so it seems only right to call his Grinch suit a Zoot Suit. Heh heh.

Ready to hammer on. How does this work anyway?

Got the gold buttons on.

Kind of stuffed one or two up, but they will be ok for a 6yo. It's great to practise on kids clothes. They don't notice any imperfections.

The back left leg is also that green colour in a harlequin type arrangement. 

I prophesise this kiddo wearing his zoot suit a heckuvva lot!

 

Grinch Shirt

I dream of owning an overlocker. I would absolutely adore one! Even if I didn't make a lot of clothes, to have my own would be amazing. 

I don't trust second hand overlockers. I just want a new one that hasn't been used to death.

So I use my quilting machine to zigzag edges, and because I don't have a free arm, I turn up the hems before I turn the sleeves and legs into tubes.

There's my label.

The shirt needs press studs. I will go to spotlight to get some gold ones to hammer on.

 

Grinch suit

Have you ever seen those crazy mens suits made from Christmas fabrics? I love them, and so does 6yo.

I bought a metre of this Grinch fabric from Spotlight for my Grinch loving little boy. There should be enough to make a shirt, and then I will look at the shorts.

Well, not quite enough for the entire shorts, but I have some other fabric I decided to mix in Harlequin style.

Shorts complete with label.

I feel a happy kid coming on.