Finally sewing for MY kids .

My kids have been long neglected with mummy made clothes while I was running my Kooka's Clothing business . It was my first day back from holidays today and I thought It was the perfect time to start the never ending list of things I have waiting to make for them .

 First up , a sleep shirt for Kaitlin . I was going to make a night dress but didn't have a pattern traced and was feeling inpatient today  . I had an Imke shirt traced ( from the "sewing Clothes Kids Love" book ) in her size so went with that . I used the size 86 and added 3 cm to the hem as I remember the pattern being a bit short last time I made it .

 I wanted to use a soft rib knit I bought from another Crafty Mama a while back but have never sewn with a rib knit before . I could tell I was going to have to be careful about it stretching through my machine . The first thing you do with a T-shirt is sew up one shoulder , I knew from a few shirts I own that the shoulder seams can be strengthened with a woven tape . Of course I don't have any of that so used a selvage strip from some woven fabric instead .  This was an essential step with this knit fabric , it would stretch out of shape after a few wears if you dont do it . I have never bothered with it using a cotton/spandex or lycra blend knit as the tend to bounce back in shape no worries . You can see the selvage overlocked in to the seam ,  I will trim this back to the stitching later .

 This Imke was done using the girls body pattern pieces and the short puffed sleeves . The sleeves are made by gathering the curved edge before sewing them to the armholes and sewing a small casing along the straight edges and threading elastic through .

 As you can see its not yet hemmed , I think I will do a overlocked lettuce hem on this one . I will also make a quick pair of PJ shorts to match .... just need another nap time to get it done .

 I do find this pattern a tad wide for my liking , still on the look out for a slimmer fit T-Shirt pattern . If you can recommend one please let me know . But it is such a versatile pattern with three sleeve options and options for two different hoods if you want them AND two body shapes , one for boys and girls . I suppose I really should just modify the width of the pattern pieces and same myself from buying yet another pattern .

It's my birthday and i'll blog if I want to

Ok so here goes , my first blog ever .

 Today its my birthday , 33 years old today , even though my darling husband seems to think i'm 34 . It makes him feel younger to believe that I think .
 Last night a though I would make some brownies to have today . I have an awesome recipe that was posted by I lovely lady called Jenn on a forum I use to frequent and decided I would add a couple of Mars Caramel bars seeing I accidently bought a whole box of them in a recent online sale - opps .
 Here is the finished product , rich fudgy brownies filled with chewy caramel chunks .

Here is the recipe for those who want a failproof Brownie recipe

• 250grams butter , melted
• 2 cups sugar
• 2 tsps vanilla
• 4 eggs
• 3/4 cup cocoa powder
• 1 cup plain flour
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• chopped candy bars , mars , snickers , rolo ( optional )

1. preheat oven to 180C or 170C fan forced
2. grease or line a 13x9" pan ( ive used a square one to no problems )
3. combine melted butter with sugar and vanilla
4. beat in the eggs , one at a time
5. add cocoa , mix thoroughly , then add in flour , baking powder and salt ; beat until well blended.
6. pour batter into pan adding in chopped mars/snickers/rolos etc if desired
7. Bake 30-35 or until Brownies begin to pull away from sides.
8. cool before cutting , if you can wait ....

After snacking on this with coffee for breakfast we headed off to the daycare family day , were the kids had a ball and got their faces painted .

 

well thats it first blog done , oh and if anyone knows how to insert photos from flickr in here please let me know , its not working for me :(