So Sue You Can Sew!: Secret Swap

Well I very embarrassedly put my late NC secret swap into express post today, I really hope it gets there by the end of the week, my poor swappee must be feeling very sad that she is one of the last to get a swap. Hopefully she will like it and that will overtake the sad feelings of it being late :)

I had so much fun with this, I decided not to do nappies cos that is what I always do and did something different instead. Only prob was that I totally underestimated how long it would take to make these things lol. I made a dress, some shorts and a soaker, plus bought some stitch markers and a row counting bracelet for mum.

The dress:

I was so excited to do this dress, I found the fabric at spotlight and fell in love with it - bright and fun :) I did a test run on shirring with a dress for Maia, so I was set to go. Only prob was determining the size.... I tried to use Patrick as a guide, but because he is so skinny, I measured him then added a bit for luck, perhaps a bit too much, because I think it will be huge - it will certainly last for a long time anyway ;) This dress was kind of jinxed though, everything that could go wrong did from the moment I started lol. My overlocker played up and wouldn't do a rolled hem when I asked it to grrr. I sewed the ruffle on backwards, so had to unpick and do it again, I don't think I had the stitch length long enough for the shirring, so I am worried it will be extra too big and the worst thing of all was a little rotary cutter accident :( I must have dropped the rotary cutter on it at some stage, cos I found two little nicks in the fabric. I was so upset cos I put so much time into the dress. I ended up zig zagging over the holes, then appliqueing a pink spot over the zig zag in an attempt to hide it - hopefully it will work!

I cut it as one piece and did a narrow overlocked hem for the top of the dress, then attached the ruffle which also had a hot pink overlocked hem at the bottom, did the shirring (I did 10 rows, but I reckon I could have gone 2 or 3 more because the dress is so long), then overlocked up the side, catching all the shirring threads - easy peasy!

I just hope that it fits and she likes it - fingers crossed :)

The Shorts:

I decided to make some baggy style denim shorts (lots of room for a cloth bum - hopefully not too much room lol) featuring one of his favourites - Dora. I so thrilled with how these turned out, it was my first try at applique and it was a tiny bit messy, but I think pretty good for a beginner. I didn't know his waist measurement, so just guessed and put a few snaps on the elastic to make it adjustable - hopefully they will fit OK.

The soaker:

For a tiny bubba on the way, I decided to knit a soaker. It's the first time I have knitted a soaker, so I decided to try the PK knitters pattern as that gets raved about. It is awesome, but the first one I knitted looked tiny, so that one will be going to the Russia appeal. I did this one as a medium size, as I was guessing my guage was totally out as my knitting is quite tight. The rise is a bit long for my liking, but at least the ribbing can always be folded down if necessary. It was also my first time doing stripes in the round, a little challenging (and a major mission tying all the ends in!), but I was pretty happy with how it turned out.