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Yes, I went to Portland; I even stayed overnight, two overnights! But I've got a finished project to show and that's even more exciting.
Last week, I finished the little halter top from Koharu no Fuku, made from my beloved tea towel. Here is my favourite bird - the blue wren - just next to the underarm, nicely bound with some fabric that I had in the stash. I think that it would have been hard to find a closer match for the green.
The top was of very simple construction - just front and back with some bound edges and a casing for elastic at the back. It was the perfect pattern for my limited yardage as the ties are made from the bias tape and there were no sleeves to cut out. I made the 120cm size (that is, the size for a child of height 120cms) as it was the largest that I could achieve out of the available fabric. Even so I did have to make the bottom hem a little narrower than was called for, by only a centimetre or so. Then two seams and a lot of bias tape, which was actually very easy going using my trusty Clover tape maker.
The pattern called for elastic across the back, which I included. I have, however, left one end of the casing open. Given that I made such a large side (I think that baby bear is only around 105cm tall) I wanted the elastic to be as adjustable as possible. 
You see this trick sometimes in children's trousers - the elastic in the back waist can be adjusted by buttoning it at either end of the casing. That is of course special elastic with buttonholes running down the centre, which I haven't used. At the moment the elastic is secured with a safety pin but this is not a long-term solution, as in, baby bear can't wear the top until I find an alternative. It might just have to be a few rough stitches to secure it, and a few more in six months when she's grown a bit more. I also love how you can see the details of the linen and the tea towel brand still there on the back.
I'm really delighted to have this project finished. I haven't done nearly as much sewing for baby bear as I would like to, and it was such a shame to have this tea towel tucked out of sight. The weather here in Seattle has, of course, cooled down dramatically this past week. I'm sure that the top will still look cute over a long sleeve white t-shirt but I am glad that I made a larger size as there will definitely be use out of it next year as well.
Slow food, slow day, slow sewing - we are having a take-it-easy Sunday in Seattle.
I said that I would show some of the craft-related stuff that I brought back with me from Australia. One of them was a lovely piece of polished cotton with a floral print that has been floating around my life for goodness knows how long. I actually do not know how long I have had it for or where it came from.
Seattle has a wonderful recycling programme, including a weekly yard waste collection into which we put all of our food waste, including meat and fish scraps (they heat treat it apparently). After recycling the tins, glass and paper, we end up with only a couple of supermarket plastic bags of rubbish each week. These click-clack style containers are great for keeping your kitchen scraps in - airtight, a range of sizes, easy to clean. Only drawback compost-wise is that they are see through and all those layers of food scraps - ick.
Lo and behold, the advent of the compost cosy. The fabric is is just the right colour scheme to go in our kitchen, so 
I used some cotton twill that I had lying around to give it some stability, quilting the layers together roughly around the outline of the floral print. Then I made a cylinder from the double layer and applied some binding at both top and bottom. The fabric I used for the binding was leftover from the roses quilt - yes, the one that I did use.
And what is slow sewing about this? Well, I sewed it all by hand. I just felt like it. We were just back from Melbourne, I was too tired to get the sewing machine out, it was too hot to knit at knit night so I took along some hand sewing and it just continued from there. I really enjoyed making it.
Currently in there are the stalks from these beautiful tomatoes, grown here in our very own garden (although I do not hesitate to admit not by us). We have tenant farmers, also known as lovely friends who live in a flat and wanted a veggie patch so they use our garden and share the bounty with us.
I have also finished the koharu top and it has had a test wear. Hence it is in the wash after being covered in dust and cherry dribble. Next time.
I have heard it said by many that with the Japanese craft books you don't need to be able to read the Japanese because the pictures are clear enough and easy to follow. I concur but strongly recommend actually looking at the pictures. 
I just looked at the paper pattern, rued that it was unclear whether the seam allowance was included or not, sewed two very tight narrow seams (in white thread on white linen) and then looked at the pictures. Seam allowance of 15mm was included. Quick-unpick!
I had a search through the fabric stash last night to make the bias tape. I actually had a good idea of what I was searching for, there's only a sliver shown here because the rest is in the wash. Originally purchased to be the binding on my roses quilt I got the fabric home and realised that it was the wrong colour (or rather, not the colour I had intended to purchase). I did subsequently buy the intended colourway online and have had this slightly darker green ever since waiting for a purpose. It's just about the same green as the leaves in the screenprint - excellent. 
And fabulous thing about making bias tape with fabric that has a grid of small spots is that you have ready-made markers for where to cut on the diagonal. I was a little disappointed that I didn't get to go shopping for a matching blue fabric to make the bias tape but it is better to use from the stash. And I did get to buy a new spool of matching sewing thread - hooray!
This little top is a bit of a leap of faith (like most of my sewing!). As I have limited fabric I narrowed the hem width by a couple of centimetres and have no hem allowance (so that will need to be bound with bias tape as well). The front neckline is conveniently the selvedge of the fabric but I'm going to need to dream something up for the back neckline (where I also have no seam allowance). The pattern calls for putting in elastic but I'm wondering if a casing with ties would be sweeter?
Yes, I went to Portland; I even stayed overnight, two overnights! But I've got a finished project to show and that's even more exciting.
The top was of very simple construction - just front and back with some bound edges and a casing for elastic at the back. It was the perfect pattern for my limited yardage as the ties are made from the bias tape and there were no sleeves to cut out. I made the 120cm size (that is, the size for a child of height 120cms) as it was the largest that I could achieve out of the available fabric. Even so I did have to make the bottom hem a little narrower than was called for, by only a centimetre or so. Then two seams and a lot of bias tape, which was actually very easy going using my trusty Clover tape maker.
You see this trick sometimes in children's trousers - the elastic in the back waist can be adjusted by buttoning it at either end of the casing. That is of course special elastic with buttonholes running down the centre, which I haven't used. At the moment the elastic is secured with a safety pin but this is not a long-term solution, as in, baby bear can't wear the top until I find an alternative. It might just have to be a few rough stitches to secure it, and a few more in six months when she's grown a bit more. I also love how you can see the details of the linen and the tea towel brand still there on the back.
