Strikeoff Sewing

Fabric From Utopia in the Week From Hell

This picture really sums up our week! I received a package of really beautiful fabrics from Utopian Threads to create to my hearts content, and then a few things didn’t quite go to plan…

The short version is that my girls got sick, I sewed through my finger making this dress (snapped the needle off straight through the nail and out the other side), we had a car accident on our way to take some pics and then when we finally got to take pictures, this kid (who still had a temperature), stepped straight in a mud puddle!!! I’m not kidding! BUT like I said, I had these really beautiful fabrics to play with, so it wasn’t all bad 😉

The first fabric I have to share is a gorgeous pastel Mermaid Scales in Swim 220gsm SPF50+. I first thought I’d make some swimmers, but little Miss decided it needed to be activewear. We met in the middle and I made this cute Kyra crop hack by Simple Life Pattern Company, some Boo Pins and some Boo Swimmer Bottoms. 2 in 1! That made us both happy! I am the master of fabric tetris (takes a curtsy)…

We found a beautiful wall for pictures right near where my kids play basketball! It was a fantastic match for this print, I couldn’t believe it! It was a PCYC and it had lots of figures painted on it, but with some creative cropping and framing when photographing, it looks pretty amazing.

Next up was a gorgeous Whitewash Roses in Lime printed on cotton lycra 220gsm. My girls were scrolling through my instagram page and decided it had to be a Tadah Vetur Dress! They love the cowl neckline and thumb cuffs! It’s such a comfortable and cosy dress, but so cute too.

My third project was made in a Cotton Sateen 150gsm in a Mod Floral Print. It would have made a beautiful skirt or a stunning dress with pleats! My big girl could see it as overalls, so I suggested the new Tadah Mykonos Romper! I tested this pattern recently, but I haven’t shared any photos yet. Mostly because I spilled a full cup of coffee on it before I could sew the button holes and hem… What is going on with me lately?

I made this version in a generous size, as I do with a lot of my sewing, because I don’t like my kids growing out of my handmade too quickly! It will work well in winter with a long sleeve tee, long socks and boots, then hopefully when spring and summer roll around again it might still fit! I love a matching headwrap, it’s an awesome finishing touch to an outfit.

Finally I decided on the Simple Life Pattern Company Norah Dress for this Funky Cotton Poplin 140gsm in Neon Sorbet! I wanted a fun design to go with this fabric. My girls don’t really like pretty dresses, but give it a bit of edge and you’ll win them over.

SLPCo Norah has a round or square neck option, integrated cap sleeves and various back strap configurations. I chose to use black grossgrain ribbon instead of making straps and ties. It was a great shortcut. It wasn’t enough to save me from sewing right through my finger though! That’s the first time I’ve done that and it’s quite a shock when it happens lol! I’ll spare you the details but I was lucky to avoid getting any blood on the dress, only for my girl to cover it in mud right when we were taking pics haha!

Preorders are open now for all these gorgeous prints and more! All designs are offered on the following bases … Cotton Poplin 140gsm, Cotton Sateen 130gsm, Cotton Sateen 150gsm, Cotton Lycra 220gsm, Bamboo Lycra 200gsm, Swim Lycra 220gsm, SPF50+ Rating.

Pre-Orders close on the 5th April. Afterpay, Zip, Paypal, Bank Deposit, and Layby are all avialable! PRE-ORDER LINK

I hope you like what I came up with for these fabrics! It’s so fun to decide what you can make when a fun fabric suprise arrives. I love to make something to show off the awesomeness of the fabric, while making sure it is something my girls will love to wear ❤

Warmest wishes,

Brooke x

Some of the links in the post above are “affiliate links.” This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I believe will add value to my readers.

March 29, 2019 2

Winter Sewing with The Material Girl Australia!

I love sewing fabric strike-offs for fabric goddesses! A suprise parcel arrives in the mail and I get to choose what I make with the pretty contents inside! I always have a huge list of makes on my to-sew list so I usually get to tick a couple of them off in the process!

These pretty fabrics arrived recently in a parcel from The Material Girl Australia! They are available as a Pre-order – open now until July 14th, 2018. They are both cotton lycra 220 weight, but are available to order in a great range of bases including cotton lycra 180, cotton lycra 260, woven, minky, swim lycra, peach skin, french terry, double brushed poly, sports performance and rayon.

I put my hand up for a couple of prints, but I didn’t really know what was coming until it arrived. I really hoped I would snag this gorgeous Design 14 – Birds print and I was lucky enough to get 2 metres to play with!

I immediately had this combination in mind for a Ainslee Fox Bonfire Jacket, which was released in One Thimble Sewing E-zine Issue 5, and it turned out just as amazing as I imagined! I have had the Bonfire Jacket on my list to sew f-o-r-e-v-e-r! It feels good to tick one off and I can assure you it won’t be my last.

I lined the body with a thin polar fleece for warmth, because where we live we need more than a light jacket in winter sadly. The ribbing is actually a double knit from my stash, which is fairly stable but it works well and looks amazing with the birds!

When I cut out the jacket I knew that I was also going to be left with enough fabric to make a beautiful twirly dress. It was the other design that popped straight into my head when I saw this print.

I used the Simple Life Patterns Skyler dress pattern which we tested recently and introduced on their blog! If you know me at all, you’ll know that I can’t leave a good pattern alone! I hacked the Skyler dress by slightly curving the corners of the low square back to create a low scoop ballet back. Isn’t it gorgeous? ❤

I used the circle skirt for maximum twirl and it makes such a fast sew. The Birds print is a directional print and so I could not cut the circle as a whole piece (unless I wanted upside down birds on the back), so I cut two semi-circles adding seam allowance for the side seams.

This dress is what little girls dreams are made of! Stunningly beautiful, yet comfortable as your pyjamas at the same time!

Print number two is Design 39 – Floral Deer. This is a sweet pastel print suitable for all ages! I can picture even a baby romper in this!

My brain went straight away to a pretty dress for this print, but I didn’t want to pigeon hole it. I knew it was more versatile than that, so I challenged myself to make something my big girl would wear.

This is a Little Kiwis Closet Cuffed Dolman. This pattern is my most often made pattern for myself and my girls closets are catching up! I used the long sleeve version as it’s for winter and I hacked the cutout back!

I used the scoop back from the Skyler dress I made above as a guide for the depth, and cut the scoop from the back piece of the dolman. I measured the neck opening front and back, minus the seam allowances and calculated the binding at 90% of the opening. After I completed the top, I created a strap for the back by sewing a long strip right sides together into a tube. I turned it right way out and pinned it across the opening a couple of inches below the shoulder seams. I adjusted the length of the strap until I was happy it held the cutout shape nicely and top stitched it behind the binding.

What’s your favourite winter pattern for knits? These are just a few I thought of to showcase this fabric. I hope you like them as much as these cheeky girls do!

Warmest wishes,

Brooke x

Some of the links in the post above are “affiliate links.” This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, we will receive an affiliate commission. Regardless, we only recommend products or services we believe will add value to our readers.

July 2, 2018 0

My Favourite Things

So the theme this month on the Sewing With Ti Blog Tour is “My Favourite Things”! This category is so hard for someone like me that just loves EVERYTHING! So I decided to make myself one of my favourite patterns and get my bum moving on my kids favourites, for their summer sewing too!

This is the Little Kiwis Closet Women’s Cuffed Dolman! It is a great relaxed dolman tee in a longer tunic length with a curved hem. It also comes in a dress length option which I chose to make here. I was sent this gorgeous Pink Aztec Rayon Spandex by Orinoco Designs to showcase for a current fabric pre-order and I knew it would be a perfect match!

The drape is perfect for this pattern and it is a great print for young and old. My girls loved it, but I had to (very unselfishly) show you all how great it was made up as a grown up piece!

I wasn’t a complete monster though… I saved the girls a few scraps and I used some straight away to run up this cute top! It’s the Little Kiwis Closet Choose Your Adventure Tee & Dress. I created this cute cap sleeve and pocket and added it to this royal blue cotton lycra I had in my stash. I think this is perfect for the theme – as one of my favourite things to do is mash and tweak patterns!

I used the flutter sleeve pattern piece from the Poppet Peplum pattern and added an inch or 2 to the centre so that it would fit the armscye perfectly. I lined the “flutter/cap” with some white cotton lycra to give it some body before attaching it. I absolutely love how this turned out and it just covers the shoulders nicely to protect them from our harsh summer sun!

Then we of course had to have some pics together, because – matching!

It was so cold! You have to remember it’s winter here at the moment and it was 7:30am before school! We are so lucky to have such mild winters, but boy was it fresh and frosty this morning!

I have a few more scraps left, so I used a tiny bit to jazz up this plain tank as well, but I will not waste a bit – it’s too cute!

Next up I want to show you a sneak peek of the girls version of the Cuffed Dolman! It’s in testing right now and is looking just as awesome as the women’s version!!!

This one I upcycled from a women’s large tshirt we found (stripes are her favourite) and I made the regular cuffed sleeves.

There is a long sleeve version too that I’ll share with you soon and you can also opt to leave the cuffs off altogether and just hem!

You can see from my upcycle that the back of the shirt has a centre seam. I hope this means that the manufacturer is being frugal with fabric! I love to upcycle as a way to reduce landfill and to get awesome cheap fabric.

This length is perfect with tights and I will make her some dolman dresses for summer as well. I know I live in them, so I am betting my girls will too!

Here’s an essential shot of my stripe matching – I’m sorry but if you are sewing stripes, they just have to match 😉 ! It also shows the cool curved hem.

Next up are some more great basics! I love to make pretty dresses, but my girls just want to wear shorts and tees! So while I never thought I’d make basics when you can get them cheap from Kmart, I love that they get something amazing and unique from me, with great quality fabrics and no exploited labour. Except for me of course… They fully exploit me!

This is the Pearlie Peplum and Scuttle Shorts from One Thimble Issue 16! This issue has only recently released and I am sewing my way through it! These patterns will be on high rotation! I used another Orinoco Designs print from a previous round for the bodice and the front panel of a tshirt I upcycled did the peplum skirt front and back.

The Pearlie Dress & Peplum is by Peach Patterns and I have lengthened the bodice here by 2 inches to bring the peplum down closer to her natural waist. This is just a personal preference. When I made the dress previously I used the size 7 length skirt, but because I added length to the bodice here, I used the size 5 peplum skirt length.

I teamed it with the Scuttle Shorts by Ainslee Fox Boutique Patterns. I made the basic version here without any pockets or colour blocking and they were soooo fast! This girl looooves her knit shorts so I am going to make a full rainbow of these! This was a knit my Mum grabbed from Spotlight for me. As a bonus, they don’t take very much fabric at all!

Check ’em out – they’re adorable!

Ok so let’s recap a few of my favourite things…

The LKC Cuffed Dolman
Awesome custom print fabric
Pattern hacking
Matching my minis
Upcycling
Stripe matching
Little Kiwis Closet
One Thimble
Sewing things my kids will actually wear

Did I miss anything? I’m sure my girls have their own list to add!

If you’d like to see what everyone else on board has chosen to share this month, you can view their posts here! Each post will go live on it’s date in August.

Tuesday, August 1st: Intro ***You are here. 😀, Tenille’s Thread

2nd: Stitching At Night

3rd: Sewing By Ti

4th: Needles To Say

5th: Very Blissful

Sunday, August 6th: The Fairy Dust Bin

7th: Anne-Mari Sews

8th: Sewing With Sarah

9th: Thats Sew Lily

10th: Stitching at Night

11th: EYMM

12th: Sew Sew Ilse