I wanna make this....

Has anyone else gotten lost in the wonderful blogland of the Nordic countries? Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Finland, et al, they have the most fabulous crafty blogs ever.

I just found Pickles today.

I have to make this wreath. Good thing I have a year before Christmas. Crap. I have nine months, I better get crackin.

If you knit or crochet, you must go check out all the patterns they have posted (this is one of my favorites). They're so sweet, they post everything in English, too.

It's a marvelous night for a Moondance

You all remember the Nani Iro side pocket bag I made from a translated pattern and gave away on my last giveaway, right? Well, I printed a Nani Iro gusseted pants pattern last night (it only came in 110 cm so that's what I made, kind of) and decided to try making them for my oldest son out of a pair of my husband's jeans that were torn at the knees.

Uhhh, the idea for these pants is awesome. The concept is great. For me? The finished product leaves a lot to be desired. That being said, it's highly possible I didn't exactly get the pattern right because there are no pieces, I simply drafted the legs from measurements on the translated directions.

Honestly, they do look a lot like the pants in the pattern as a finished product. And I think maybe I just don't like it?

I'm going to make them again, except this time I'm going to reverse the sizing strategy and make them much slimmer around the hips and bum with a much wider, shorter leg.

They should end up being something like gusseted drawstring skater pants. Jams. Board shorts (longer than the knee). Capris for he's! I hope to find the time to make a new prototype in the next week or so, and if I do I'll post up the pattern and tute.

Believe me, you don't want to see a picture of these on my son. It's kinda hideous.

But you know what isn't hideous? This awesome rock star shirt I'm making for my little guy! His name is Griffin. I knew I wanted to make a slim-cut collared rock star shirt that snaps up the front. And I wanted to work on my free-hand machine stitching. So I decided to trace a griffin and stitch over it, outlining the wings and feathers so you can see what it is.

I stopped by one of my local quilt/fabric shops that's closing and their fabrics were 50% off. I picked up six or seven prints that would be good for boy's clothes (a rarity for me), including this Moondance print by Free Spirit. I used an old camo poplin for the griffin.

What do you think? Can you tell it's a griffin? I can tell but I made it so I'm not impartial.

I can't wait to work on his brother's shirt. It's going to have an applique in the same technique of the back of a 56 Caddy. Winged fender, taillights, wheels. I have a clip-art picture that's perfect for this kind of project. By the way, the model in this last picture is the older brother, not the younger one.

While I'm talking about sewing for my sons, check it out - Cooper's Halloween costume (he's the ninja in the second set, top row) made it to Rae's front page! I feel so honored.

Thanks for letting me share ~

Don't forget to go to this post and enter the giveaway to win either Weekend Sewing by Heather Ross or the March/Spring issue of Knipmode magazine!

The weekend sewing giveaway...

I promised a giveaway this lovely Monday, and I am going to deliver (it's gonna be a two-fer)! But I feel a little sheepish because the first book I'm giving away - Weekend Sewing by Heather Ross? It's maybe not-so-great on the technical side of things. I just looked on Amazon and the reviews were...ummm...nasty?




I love Heather Ross. I love her artwork and I love her fabrics. So when I had a coupon for half off one book somewhere, I snatched up Weekend Sewing. I loved reading through it, more for the stories of Heather's history and interest in sewing than for the patterns themselves.

I read the book and placed it lovingly on my bookshelf. And I have never picked it up again! What a waste.

It's a lovely book and deserves to go to a new home where it might inspire new sewing, new projects, or a new vintage sewing machine purchase?

Don't fear, if you have no interest in Heather's book or you already own it, I have a back-up prize. I recently subscribed to KnipMode, a Dutch women's garment sewing magazine. It compares to Burda WOF but with pattern pieces that are much easier to see and trace! I got an extra copy of the March edition for some reason, so I'm also giving away the March 2010 KnipMode magazine. It's in Dutch, but with Yahoo's Babel Fish I was easily able to have the pages translated and the patterns were fairly easy to understand.



For today's giveaway, all you need to do is leave a comment here. Since there are two prizes, I need you to tell me which one you'd want, and then tell me what is your favorite Heather Ross fabric (if you have one), or what project is up next on your cutting table?

I'm heading out to Florida with my family so I'm going to leave this giveaway up until Friday, March 5 at 5:00 p.m. CST. I'll post the winner on Saturday morning.

Thanks so much for playing along, everyone!