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Yesterday was an eventful day! I had my last session ever of my Tuesday group before starting back at work (it’s been 8 years!) next week. It was a fun session and I received cake and cards and lovely hugs and good wishes. Then I had a phone call which sent me into a mild panic and meant that I had to rush out of there in a big hurry. My niece Rachel rang to say that she had just had a little car accident and could I please come and help her! She is fine (and so are the people in the other car) but unfortunately the car is a writeoff. Of course, this is the car that my sister was planning to sell to Rachel in a few months so not only does Rachel have to spend all the money she just earnt working through her uni break on the excess ($1750!) but now she doesn’t get the car either! We are all glad it wasn’t a lot worse though. A car is just a car.

The same day - I cut my finger open and it poured blood for about an hour before finally stopping (lots of pressure needed) and my mum locked herself out of the house. SO I think we were all distracted. Of course, regular readers might know why… my sister (Rachel’s mum) was having a baby that day too! All went well and baby Matilda and my sister Carolyn are doing well. Sorry, no photos of the gorgeous baby as they don’t want her photo up on the internet.

I’m still madly trying to get things done before I start my new job on Monday and today I finished sewing this shirt.  The pattern is New Look 6407.   Tick!  Another thing done.  I’m off to the hospital to visit the baby (and my sister) again now!

Pants.  What a funny word.  Pants, panties, underpants.  In England, pants are men’s undergarments (women’s are called knickers) but in Australia we say undies instead, and pants is an interchangeable word for trousers/slacks.  In Britain “pants” is used as a slang word  as well:  Noun/Adj. Nonsense, rubbish, bad.  My sister says things like “Oh!  I can see you’ve got your Cranky Pants on today” but I have to say, in her defence, she is a primary school teacher. 

Which is all a roundabout way of saying that I have been sewing lots of pants these last couple of days.  Nine pairs of pants to be exact.  And no, that doesn’t mean 18 - how silly to say “pair of pants” anyway! 

First off the production line were four Winter school pants for Jack made from navy sweatshirt fleece.  My husband helpfully suggested I add the padded knee bits to stave off the inevitable worn and holey knees.   All I can say is this - don’t waste time testing the fit.  Just dive in and cut out four pairs all at once.  They’ll be sure to fit - NOT!  What a drama it all was.   I don’t know where my brain was but it was only after cutting out four pairs and sewing two patch pockets on the back of each of four pairs that I realised two very important things:  

The pants did fit okay but the leg was drafted so skinny that they almost looked like girls’ leggings.   I didn’t want to waste all that cut out fabric (there was much swearing and forehead slapping at this point) so I ended up cutting a triangle piece to insert between the back and front at the inside leg, which had the effect of a straighter leg.  

I also needed to chop about 6cm off the top of each piece (due to the way I attach the waistband - see more about this below).   Remember I said earlier that I sewed a total of eight patch pockets onto the back of these pants?  Yep, I had to rip out each and every one as cutting the 6cm off the top meant the pockets were placed way too high now.  SO annoying!  I got the pants done in the end and they fit fine now but it could have gone a lot smoother if only I had taken the time to check the fit first.  I was thankful that I knew how to salvage the whole thing, so it could have been worse.

I also sewed up two PJ pants for Jack and three for Emma.  The x factor with these pants was that I didn’t cut them out at all.  A few weeks back I was at one of my favourite op shops (thrift stores) and found a bundle of flannelette (flannel) all tied up neatly.  When I had a good look, I found that someone had gone to all the trouble of neatly cutting out five pairs of PJ pants and had then donated them to charity.  I would love to know the story behind this!  Maybe someone took the wrong bag to the charity bin?  Anyway I held them up to the kids and figured that they looked close enough and that I would risk it.  For only $3.50 for the lot, it was worth a try.

The thing about loose fitting, elastic waisted pants for kids is that very often it’s only the pant length that changes - any change in waist sizes can be dealt with by a snugger or larger elastic.  All five pairs were cut out at the same size but I managed to get two pairs for Jack (7) and three pairs for Emma (nearly 5).   I always use the “turn and topstitch” method of applying elastic, and this meant that I needed to chop 6cm off the top of each piece again.  For Jack’s PJ pants, I simply sewed this bit onto the bottom of each pant leg.  As long as he doesn’t grow too much over Winter they will be fine. 

I mentioned the “turn and topstitch” method of applying elastic - do you know what this is?  It’s just the easiest way of doing elastic waisted pants.  Forget shoving (sorry, threading) the elastic through a too small channel with the aid of a safety pin!  That is much too hard.  All you need to do is join the ends of the elastic, mark the quarters (I use a pen for this) and attach the elastic to the top of the waist, ideally with an overlocker (serger) but a sewing machine will do - use the zigzag stitch though.  You need to stretch the elastic (quarter by quarter, matching the pen marks you made with the Centre Front, Centre Back and Side Seams) as you go and then take it over to your sewing machine.  The next step is also the name - just turn and topstitch.  You fold the elastic to the inside and stretching again as you go, use a straight stitch to attach the elastic.  You need to have the elastic facing up so that you can see where the edge is and just sew inside of that line. 

I hope that made sense.  I can do a photo tutorial if you like - let me know in the comments! 

Right now, I’m half watching Legally Blonde 2 on the telly. It’s so silly but SO watchable. I love Elle Woods! Is that who I should model my work-self on?

Anyway back to reality - I had another job interview on Tuesday and hopefully I will hear back tomorrow. Here I am, dressed for success:

Today, I wanted to sew another work-worthy shirt but I discovered I hadn’t prewashed the fabric I had in mind so I had a small delay while I threw it in the washer and dryer. As I was all set for some sewing, I looked around for what else I had - most of my fabric is washed and dried as soon as I buy it so that I can be ready when the mood strikes. I ended up sewing this tunic style top based on a pattern in one of my Japanese books.

Not a great photo, but here is a close up of the fabric. I bought this a while ago from an op shop (thrift store) and it started life as curtains! There is a dark green leaf motif and the background is a fawn colour honeycomb pattern. I just love it.

Today, Emma called out to me “Mum come and see! I got an email on my computer!” I knew she had been sitting at the table with some craft supplies and so I went out to find this:

See the egg carton keyboard (with letters drawn on) and the notepaper screen (with an animal sticker playing the part of the onscreen email picture). Notice the eraser for a mouse, on it’s notepaper mouse pad. Especially notice how happy she is with herself. Indulge me - here is another shot of the laptop.

Good to know the geekiness is rubbing off on her.

Okay then… I’m gonna get back to some regular crafty posting now I promise. So what’s been happening? Well, after my last post, I have gotten still more used to the idea and I am excited about re-entering the workforce again. I have grieved over the loss of some aspects of my life as it is now (ie. my identity as a stay-at-home mum and my plans for my business) and I have done a lot of thinking about things, yes including these little people.

I spent a lot of time last week at job sites like SEEK, checking their part-time job listings and working on my resume and all of that. I have applied for about six jobs so far. One in particular sounded like a great job with the right (school-friendly) hours and I got a call from the employment agency to go in to see them for a chat and then had to do a bunch of online tests - typing speed/accuracy, Word and Excel proficiency, psychometry tests. Things were looking really positive and I was told that there were only two others being sent for interview with the company and I was a very strong candidate. I went for an interview the next day (Thursday) and waited (nonchalantly) by the phone half the afternoon!

The job was to be filled urgently with the person starting next Tuesday so they would let us know the same afternoon. Unfortunately at the end of the day, I heard back that I had missed out (by THIS much!) and so that was the end of that. Claire at the agency did tell me that I was very employable and they would be sure to place me soon, so I guess it’s back to hanging out at SEEK next week. It was a shame but (using all the cliches here) it was great experience, good practice for an interview, good to get so far, etc and I will just keep trying.

(Slim fit pants from self-drafted pattern, needs some tweaking but not too bad.  Everything else in the outfit has been thrifted/op shopped.)

I have to be honest here - I have been surprised to discover that one reason to be excited about going out to work is the chance to dress up a little every day. I have realised that even though I always try to look respectable and make an effort, dressing for home and looking after kids is a whole different thing to dressing for the office. I have been devoting too much daydreaming (sorry, Visualisation) time thinking about wearing outfits like this every day: black tulip skirt, fitted blouse (maybe with a Peter Pan collar or little cap sleeves) topped with a charcoal grey sweater and (especially) Mary Jane heels. I don’t know where this is coming from! I guess maybe I am sick of jeans and a tshirt. You can have too much of a good thing!

The upshot is that I am going to have to do some career-outfit sewing! YAY! First up are some cute little shirts. I have a bunch of patterns and fabrics in my little (haha) collection and I am hoping to start on one tomorrow. Before I begin sewing anything though I had to do some slimming down of Pinny, my dressform. Yes, I have been very quiet here about the weight loss project, but I have been eating well and going to the gym regularly for a few months now. My weight has been steadily dropping and it has made a big difference. I have lost 5 kilos (10 pounds) so far but more importantly, lots of cms have fallen off everywhere!

(stuffing taken out of Pinny)

Nerd alert! Up until now I have been keeping my track of my measurements (bust, waist and tummy) on a scrappy bit of paper - today I decided to go high tech and put them into Excel. Then I went a little crazy and turned it into a GRAPH. I know, a bit dorky but hey, whatever works right? Here are some stats to impress you:

High Bust (blue) now 9cm or 3 1/2″ smaller (this is a measurement taken under the armpits, above the girls)

Full Bust (pink) now 11cm or 4 1/2″ smaller (I’m sure you know what this one is)

Waist (orange) now 7cm or 2 3/4″ smaller (this is the natural waist)

High Hip (green) now 6cm or 2 1/2″ smaller (a charming name for the full tummy)

It is amazing how much of a difference 5 kgs (10 pounds) can make! I am loving the smaller bust size - DD to D. Off-the-rack clothes fit so much better now, and most of the tops I sewed a few months ago already look too big on me. A good problem to have though and an excuse for more sewing! Going to the gym has been great and I walk Elsie for 20 mins almost every evening too. There’s still lots more room to improve - for my BMI to get into the healthy range I still need to lose another 15 or so kgs (35 pounds). Slowly but steadily, I’ll get there.