January 2024 Makes and The Great Aussie Sewing Challenge

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Just thought I would post a little recap on the makes of January so far, what I have enjoyed and some of the more challenging parts. Sorry if the sewing posts become a bit boring, actually no, not sorry 😅ðŸĪĢ I love being able to document the creations I have made!!
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The Great Aussie Sewing Challenge 2024
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Week 1 - Sewing Space
"Tidy your sewing space".
Challenge definitely accepted and not rejected. Cleaning the sewing space and having a bit of a reorganising session was definitely on the cards. Darling husband Aaron moved all of my sewing essentials out of the garage (the previous sewing hang out) because summer hit and it was WAY to hot in there to function let alone sew! 
So in came the sewing/cutting table, ironing board + iron, sewing machine and my shelf of miscellaneous things (my favourite patterns, bobbins, threads, tools and of course, candles!). The one item that has remained banished to the garage is the overlocker due to noise but I am so OK with that if it means I can sew in air conditioning ðŸĨ°
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Week 2 - White Party
"Sew something primarily white".
Our holiday to South West Rocks was upcoming and I had this vision of creating a light, breezy shirt for husband that he could wear around the pool and park. So into the stash of patterns I went and pulled out the Men's Breeze Shirt by Twig + Tale. I had made Breeze Shirts previously (one from black linen for my husband and one from light blue cotton for my dad) and love the challenge of the French seams in the shirt. The problem I had with the last Breeze Shirt I made was I used a linen that was WAY to heavy which definitely impacted on its "breeziness" (or lack of ðŸĪŠ should I say). So I was not going to make the same mistake again! I bought this super light cheesecloth (white in colour of course to hit the brief of the sewing challenge) which I thought was going to be a nightmare to sew with but it actually went better than expected. I love the feel of this shirt and it nailed the "breeziness" this time! 
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Week 3 - Summer Time
"Sew something relating to summer".
Once again, with our holiday quickly approaching, South West Rocks pool-side attire was on my mind. And so was a new set of shorts 😎 I had finished up a set of light weight denim shorts (covered in super cute cartoon mushrooms 🍄) in December last year: 
And knew I had to reuse the same pattern - the Coastal Cuff Shorts by Twig + Tale (can you tell I am a bit of a fan of Twig + Tale patterns yet?). 
This time I wanted to push myself a little bit (and keep in my slow-sew theme for 2024) and decided to give embroidery a go for details on the pockets. So whilst watching a horror movie or two, I embroidered this gorgeous humpback whale (pattern also by Twig + Tale) on to the black linen shorts.
The whale reminds me so much of where my family and I have been - Port Stephens. It made me feel so nostalgic and brought up many memories of our time living in Port Stephens and I am glad to have it with me. I have always found French knots a challenge in my cross stitch but decided to pursue with them with the little bubbles. They may not be perfect but I am pretty happy with the end result. Frankie has already put in her order for a narwhal set of shorts after seeing my humpback whale shorts 🐋
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Week 4 - UFO/Freestyle 
"Complete an unfinished object".
*Drum rolllllllllllll* Meet Kauri!!!! The long awaited Cloth Doll for my sweet 5 year old son Rory. Twig + Tale struck again with another beautiful, easy to follow pattern, the problem was, December was not a slow-sew month. It was fast, lots of Christmas projects and poor Kauri kept getting bumped to the end of the sewing table. Kauri needed time, care and love poured into him and I knew I needed to give him time. He was a very important creation not just for me, but for Rory too. 
Rory had chosen Kauri's beautiful chocolate coloured broadcloth skin and while Rory and his sisters were away at their grandparents house over summer, Kauri began to come to life.
Kauri was built under the beaming fluorescent lights of an office at 2am (yes, AM #nurselife) while I sipped on an instant coffee on my "lunch" break. I loved how he looked even before I embroidered his features.
Aaron chose Kauri's hair, a soft wool with flecks of grey and brown through it to give the feel of texture and highlights. I learnt from building Frankie's Cloth Doll 'Titoki' not to under-stuff with filling so I made sure Kauri was firmly stuffed. Here is a picture of Titoki (another super proud achievement of mine ðŸĐ·): 
I made Kauri a little set of clothes from Minecraft (since Rory is obsessed with Minecraft at present) and re-used some of the black linen (from my Coastal Cuff Shorts) for Kauri's pants. I am so pleased with how Kauri turned out, and I definitely have one happy little boy ðŸĐĩ
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Week 5 - Accessorise
"Sew an Accessory"
I actually had an internal conflict happening with this category. I could have just made a scrunchie (which I actually did in preparation for the challenge - insert photo of said scrunchie here): 
However, I really didn't feel like I was actually challenging myself. So back to the drawing board. I kept looking on social media for ideas for accessories that were a bit more quirky. Something I hadn't really made before but gave me satisfaction without being overly complicated. Place mats!!!! But Q - were place mats an accessory?
I clarified it with Admin from the sewing challenge and it was determined place mats were considered a Table Accessory - winning!!
So Kailey was first up - a Mermaid themed place mat for my little Disney loving girly girl. I chose to make it out of duck cotton on one side for durability, line it with a layer of cotton batting then have a layer of pink broadcloth on the back, quilt it all together and then.......... binding. My arch enemy. I SUCK at binding. But practice makes perfect, I guess. And Kailey would love it regardless! 
Thankyou YouTube for all the machine binding tutorials to help this come to life, you really have been a machine-binding lifesaver! 
And Rory even got a Minecraft place mat so I could continue refining my binding skills! 
I used cotton fabric on both sides of Rory's place mat but would probably prefer In the future to do one side of duck cotton. Cotton fabric doesn't fold up to well to husbands spaghetti bolognese without some serious stain remover ðŸĪĢ🍝
Place mats made based off instructions for 'Large Hot Pads for Casserole Dishes' by Pin Cut Sew on YouTube.
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January Completed, all challenges accepted, nil Rejects ðŸĪðŸĪðŸĪ





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