Sew addictive

This time last week I was bemoaning the fact that with the photo challenge over and me being on a summer break from my Danish language classes, life as a stay at home mum was becoming a bit intense. Looking after children over the summer holidays is definitely fun and there's lots of opportunity for creativity but I do like to have my own little project going on on the side - something I do just for me. Then I read a couple of blogs by talented mums who make children's clothes and suddenly I was inspired and off to the shops I went to buy a sewing machine...

Last week I was feeling an absence of sublimity, this week my children are wearing pants that I made for them!! Inspired by a blog called MADE and the cute 'pants' (or trousers if you're reading this in England!) pattern that I was assured would be an ideal beginner project, I picked up some fabrics (cherries on blue for my daughter and stripey denim for my son) and set to work.

I'm not a complete novice at handling a sewing machine as my mother made all of our clothes when we were growing up; I know how to make up a spool and thread a machine and I also have some experience of using the foot pedal. However, prior to this week I had never tried to do any of these things with an excited 3 (nearly 4) year old sitting on my knee and keen to be my 'assistant'.

However, it turns out that he was indeed a very helpful assistant and he patiently watched and waited for his turn in the star role as 'pusher of the reverse sewing button'!! We worked together to make his little sister's cherry pants and I had to try hard to suppress my proud smile as she tried them on.

When the novelty had worn off and both children were sleeping, I spent more time getting to know the nuances of my new machine and took the plunge and made some pants for my son with the added feature of...... pockets!!

It was great fun to see the pants taking shape as I sewed and very satisfying to try on the finished article this morning. The patterns from MADE worked perfectly and her tutorials were very clear and easy to follow. How my week turned around and now I'm thinking about what to make next and scouring the internet for more funky patterns.