Daycare Wetbag

I use cloth nappies on my little one. Partly for environmental reasons, mostly for financial reasons. But I only had one wetbag. It's a great wet bag, it's the same as these itti bitti ones, except the print is red with white polka dots. Downside, it's no good for daycare. At daycare there are hooks on the wall, wet clothing, and in my case, wet nappies, get put into a plastic supermarket bag and picked up at the end of the day. I don't know about at your place, but here, I swear the plastic bags multiply when I look away from them.....

In a box of fabric I got given sometime last year, there were two partial shower curtains. I figured I'd make a bag for use at daycare. Plus it'd be good for swimming, wet gym gear, etc. I cut up a supermarket bag and patterned off that. I figured it was easier than the staff at daycare having to fuss with a drawstring. Turns out I had enough shower curtain to get 4 bags. I've cut two of them, and tonight I finished one. I know it was a pretty basic pattern, but I wanted to make sure it worked before cutting into the second shower curtain.

Shower curtain wet bag

So here it is, really simple. But another finished project. I'm debating putting a channel near the top, that I can put a drawstring through so that it closes better for transporting it home. But I'll see how it goes like this first. I'm pretty sure I've still got some scraps I can use for that. But I'll have to check under the mountain of stuff that my worktable has become.

Hmmm, clearing it might be tomorrow's mission.

St Patrick's Day Meet Up.

Sometime in the past few months, I can't remember when exactly, Kat told me about and invited me to join a bunch of other ladies who live in the Wellington area and blog, often about sewing. I didn't make the last meet up, but I made the one on St Patrick's Day. Originally planned as a picnic, given Wellington's weather (plus the weatherman was predicting rain) we had a wet weather alternative, yum cha. Personally, I was hoping it would rain. Not just because we so desperately needed the rain, but because I love mango pudding, and yum cha in general. 

As I was wandering down to Majestic, I was waiting at the lights to cross. The person in front of me looked vaguely familiar, but I didn't want to say anything, in case I was wrong. She turned around, then stated "I recognise that dress." I was wearing this dress. So I managed to meet Joy before even making it to lunch. 

Following tasty tasty food at Majestic, we wandered down to Made on Marion, to swap fabric, chat, work on projects and be social but out of the rain. It's a great place to catch up. There are comfy couches, tables and Mrs C has awesome sewing advice - Thank you for the advice on how I could sort the waistline on my infinity dress.  Plus it's always good being able to grab the bits and bobs you need for your projects. I also got my teal matchy-matchy fabric from Kat, but forgot to take a photo of it today. I still don't know what I'm going to make with it. I've got 2.5m, which gives me lots of options. I did buy the matching thread, so that I don't have to do that when I find what I want to make. Nothing worse than finding the perfect thing to make, and be missing an essential ingredient. 

We had a fabric swap, I managed to de-stash a bunch of fabrics and some cross stitch supplies, some of which even have new homes with possible projects. I love knowing that other people can use what I'm not going to. I was very restrained, only two pieces of fabric went home with me.... and some buttons.... and some fabric paint. But they're not fabric, so don't count as stash acquisition, right? 

Orange fabric from swap. 

 I got this orange fabric, my daughter loves orange, so I'm going to make her something. Not quite sure what yet. I am thinking a skirt and using the rest to line a vividly yellow/green fur cloak I'm making her.  She's hiding under the table in the photo. I had to use two layers of fabric, as if she could see out, she kept tugging the fabric down to cover the gap, and pulling it off the table.

Black floral fabric and buttons. Will also be turned into something for my daughter

The group (most of us, photo courtesy of Nikki)

From the left we have Wendy, Nikki, Sandra, Melissa, Teresa, Nicola (holding Ash), Juliet, Leimomi, Me. 

With Kat (holding Drake) and Joy in the front 

(I'm hoping I got all the links correct, let me know if I haven't)

Was a really good day, catching up with people who I felt I kinda knew, even if I'd never met them before. 

Finished the owl apron

I finished it, the owl apron, the first project that I used my Singer to sew. Not today, it was actually a couple of weeks ago, I just haven't gotten around to writing about it. I'd even enlisted a friend to take photos of me wearing it, while she was over and I was cooking dinner for us. 

Finished Owl Apron

I was working on another project today. I cut it out last week while the small one was at daycare. Today I sewed it, again while she was at daycare.
I've always wanted to make myself an infinity dress, like this one by Melissa over at Sew like my mom. I've not worn dresses much, in fact, I almost never wear them, preferring jean or a skirt, but I want to wear them more. I just need to get over feeling self conscious in them. What that meant for this project was I didn't want to spend much on the knit fabric to make it. Before I found fabric I came across this tutorial, an updated version of the infinity dress, adding a bandeau, which looked a much better idea. Two weeks ago, I found some clearance knit fabric for $4pm. Not a colour I would usually have chosen, but it's actually looks better on me than I thought it would.

Here is what I've got so far.

Little one wanted snuggles before I was allowed to take photos

Here's the front

Trying to pose for the camera while telling the small one not to tip her water on the floor leads to funny faces. 

And the back

Asides from needing to work more on how to wrap it, there is one minor-ish change I need to make. I found that the knit fabric in the bandeau stretched, a lot. Meaning it sagged below the bra strap at the back, you might be able to tell it's tucked into the bra at the back. So I've pinned a casing for the top of it, I'll put some elastic through, and hopefully that'll hold it up and look okay.

I'm liking how it feels while wearing it, the skirt is all floaty and swishy (such technical terms I know), which I like.Given this is my first time using knits, I actually think it's working out okay. I'll play with it a bit more, and hopefully wear it on Sunday to the Wellington Sewing Bloggers Meetup (more info over on Melissa's blog) And it's kinda green, which is good for St Patrick's day.