.Waterfall Blouse pattern winner.

Congratulations to the commenter below who has won a copy of my new Waterfall Blouse pattern! I've sent you an email for more information :)

Thanks so much to everyone else who entered and for your kind comments!

.The Waterfall Blouse - if you're NOT pregnant.

Thanks for your Waterfall Blouse-love...I'm excited there are so many people out there who want to sew themselves one. And especially excited that there are so many of you pregnant (or soon to be pregnant) who are looking forward to having an easy and flattering maternity top for them to sew.

But, what about those of you who aren't pregnant? I told you that I would share some pics of my gorgeous sister-in-law modelling the exact same top that I am wearing in the previous post. She is (obviously) not pregnant, I was 28 weeks in the photos so I think it gives you a good comparison of how versatile the top really is.

The fit is equally flattering for those with a baby bump and those without (and those with some left-over!) and I love that adding a belt to the midriff or under the bust gives the top a completely different look!
 
And for another non-pregnant look at the Waterfall Blouse, check out Rachels. I love her all-black version, it looks extremely classy and stylish!

.Waterfall Blouse.

 The Waterfall Blouse - a brand new maternity-friendly pattern from Make It Perfect!

 

The Waterfall Blouse is a flattering and comfortable top to satisfy all body shapes.

 

This versatile top is suitable for all women - including those who are pregnant! The Waterfall Blouse is a maternity-friendly, loose-fitting top that leaves ample room for your expanding baby bump.

 

And with soft gathers above the bust, the Waterfall Blouse promises a flattering fit whether you are pregnant or not!

Wear the blouse loose fitted for a more relaxed look or add your favourite belt to give your body more definition.

 

You can choose to sew this top in a single fabric or two contrasting farbics and with options to include fold-up sleeve cuffs and elastic casing at the hemline, you can easily fill your wardrobe with many different versions of the Waterfall Blouse!    

I've been getting requests for maternity patterns for years! And I've had good intentions to produce one, but I guess it took me being pregnant to give me the motivation to get to work. This top started out totally different in sketch-form and it was a lot trickier than I anticipated to come up with a pattern for a top that would easily suit both pregnant and non-pregnant women. My biggest priority was to make sure that the pattern could be used for all women, not just those who are pregnant, whilst still achieving a flattering maternity-style.

The Waterfall Blouse ticks all those boxes and more! I'll share some pics in a few days of my (not pregnant) sister-in-law wearing the same top as I'm wearing above to show you how the top can easily fit us both. I'm especially excited about having some tops that I can comfortably wear after I've had the baby - ones that look pretty but help to cover the post-baby bulges and are easy to breastfeed in.

You'll find more information about the Waterfall Blouse on the Make It Perfect website. If you are looking for a place to purchase a copy of the pattern for yourself, take a look at our stockist or ask your favourite store to order one in for you.

If you would like to win a copy of the Waterfall Blouse pattern, simply leave a comment on this blog post! (Please make sure you leave an email address with your comment. Giveaway will close Sunday 31st March and winner will be drawn at random).  

SUPPLIES:
Make It Perfect,Waterfall Blouse pattern
Nani Iro, Little Letter Cotton Compass in Blue
Kaffe Fassett, Shot Cotton in lichen
Kaffe Fassett, Shot Cotton in navy
Kaffe Fassett, Shot Cotton in black (hand-dyed)
Liberty of London, Classic Tana Lawn, Ceaser in black
Liberty of London, Classic Tana Lawn, Mitsi in green
Liberty of London, Classic Tana Lawn, Elysian in light green 

.Nani Iro from Miss Matatabi.

Just wanted to share with you some beautiful Nani Iro prints I received from Miss Matatabi during the week.

They are so dreamy that I couldn't keep them all to myself. These are all double gauze - except the coral floral on beige background...that one's a brushed cotton. You can't really tell in the pictures, but it's got little metallic bits through it. So pretty.

Nani Iro fabrics are by far my favourites. I'm sucked in every time they bring out a new season. And the double gauze is perfect for apparel sewing and really lovely to wear.
These fabrics were purchased from the gorgeous Miss Matatabi Etsy store. Frances gets the entire range in each season, it's rare to find another store that stocks the entire range but makes the decision of choosing just a few prints very difficult! If only I were a quilter, than I could stick to fat quarters and get a bit of everything. My usual minimum cut is 1.5 metres though if I'm not sure what I'm going to do with the fabric - that way I can be mostly guaranteed that I have enough fabric to sew something for myself.
Happy Sewing! I'm off to cut into some fabric now :)

.What you doing Mum?

All day long, about every 5 minutes, I hear a little boy asking "what you doing Mum?" Constantly. He uses the sweetest little voice though, so I can't get annoyed. This question mark t-shirt was inspired by a Mini Boden applique. Perfect for a constant question-asking little boy!

Once again, I used the same Ottobre pattern from Summer 3/2009. #24 "Jungle Tshirt". I figured I was tracing and cutting the pattern pieces out once, so I should do a bit of batch sewing and cut and sew another at the same time.

And another question mark applique for a birthday present. This time I did a long-sleeved version of my Basic Tees top. I think this will keep the boy going for a little longer - until the winter sewing begins anyway!

SUPPLIES:
Blue/Grey Top - 
Stella knit in Charcoal Marle
Stella knit in Ocean
Swafing Gitte knit in Kiwi
Striped Top -
Make It Perfect, Basic Tees pattern
Stella knit in Grey
Grey/navy striped store-bought adults tee (bargain price!) 

.Wiksten Tank: Maternity.

After seeing a whole heap of happy sewers with their Wiksten Tanks, I thought I'd give the pattern a go too. It looked as though it could be suited to maternity style as the top is fairly loose and unfitted.

I sewed a muslin size small first and it was a bit snug and didn't offer much tummy-growing room, so went up to a size medium. After reading a few reviews, I also raised the neckline a little as it is pretty low usually. I wish I had brought it more on the sides because it is gaping a bit on me still. I also cut length off the back of the top, it looked funny hanging so low, but I kept the curved front to give my more tummy coverage. And I opted to add sleeves too after seeing a few cute sleeved versions around.
I'm 30 weeks pregnant now, and think that the top should fit me for most of the rest of my pregnancy. I'm hoping that after I have the baby, I'll be able to take the sides in a bit and still get good wear out of it post-baby. The fabric is something I picked up at Spotlight last week. Not sure what it is but it feels really silky and smooth and is super comfortable and light to wear. There was a 30% off sale happening so it only cost me $9 to get enough to make the top with a bit left over for another project so I'm not too worried if it doesn't work out post-baby, a $9 maternity top suits me fine!

.Weekly Portraits #4.

Scenes from a student-free day spent at home.

Lil: busy with a fresh batch a playdough. 

Tommy: reading a few of his favourite books.

Oscar: always constructing...a cubby house on the deck.    

.For my little Superhero.

The littlest boy was in need of some new tshirts.  Great! I love sewing tops for the kids, especially when my collection of knit fabrics is growing rapidly, it helps me to justify my fabric stash when I don't end up buying any clothes for them at the shops.

I bought this superhero fabric in organic cotton knit from Spoonflower last year. I love the design for bigger boys as it can be hard to find a printed fabric that doesn't look too young once they start to get older. 

                     

I used my Basic Tees pattern, but I was worried about it looking like a pyjama top though so opted to go with the patterned fabric only on the front and used plain black for the back, sleeves and neckline binding. I think I've got a winner and will be using this same design in the future...plus, it means that I am left with more fabric for other projects!

And of course superhero fabric requires some muscle poses.

This next top was made using a pattern from Ottobre Summer 3/2009. #24 "Jungle Tshirt" . I like the design with contrast fabric sleeve panels to add a bit of interest. I've sewed this size for Tommy before, but for some reason this pattern seems to run a little on the large size. Which I'm pleased about because it means that he should be wearing it for quite awhile.

My new labels stood out a bit too much to sew them to the exterior of the tops, so I used them as an inside tag instead and added a size label to the side. I'm usually pretty slack at adding size labels even though I've got them sitting in my sewing cupboard, so much better when I remember to sew in though - good for remembering what size I've sewed, and determining the back of the top. I don't know how many times I've had to turn the kids tops around because they've been put on back the front!!

I've got a couple more tops to share, but this post is getting a bit pic-heavy so I'll save them for another day!

SUPPLIES:

Superhero Tshirt -

Make It Perfect, Basic Tees pattern

Cool Comic Book Heroes knit fabric from Spoonflower

Black knit fabric from black tshirts of mine that I don't wear anymore

Striped Tshirt -

Hilco, Campante Orange/Navy knit

Stella knit in Navy

.Easy Chicken and Vegetable Casserole.

If you're looking for a super quick, easy and filling dinner idea then look no further! My Mum used to make this casserole for the troops when we were growing up and we loved it. I had forgotten about it until a couple of weeks ago when I had a BBQ chicken to use and not much time to make dinner - 20 minutes later it was all cooked and on the table and everyone was happy! All of the measurements below are approximates...usually we just chop and add and make it up as we go so play around with the quantities and you can even try different vegetables if you like. We usually serve ours with rice or pasta, or you could use it as the filling for a yummy chicken pie!

Easy Chicken and Vegetable Casserole

50g butter

1 onion, diced

2 carrots, diced

1 cup frozen peas

1 cup frozen corn

3 Tbs plain flour

2 Tbs chicken stock powder

water

1 BBQ chicken, shredded

Melt butter over medium heat in frypan. Add onion and cook until soft.

Add carrots, peas and corn. Cook for a couple of minutes.

Add flour and mix to a thick paste with the butter (you might need to add more butter and/or flour depending on how much sauce you want to make.)

Add chicken stock and about 1/2 cup water. Stir until water is incorporated into butter/flour mixture and everything is simmering. Keep adding water and stirring well to blend together until you have desired quantity of sauce.

Add shredded chicken and simmer for 10 minutes until carrots are soft. 

Serve casserole over rice or pasta.

.Weekly Portraits #3.

Tommy: both of my boys have gone through a puzzle obsession, which lasts for a few years. I feel bad for Tommy being at home on his own all day, every day while the other two are at school. He does want my attention a lot, but he is slowly learning to entertain himself and puzzles have been the hot topic this week.

Oscar: this week, I decided it was time for Oscar to start taking some more responsiblity and learn a few "grown up" skills. So we started with cooking! Cupcakes from a packet mix, I helped him where he needed it, and he loved it. 

Lil: after losing her first tooth last Sunday, her second wobbly one came out two days later! Unfortunately the tooth fairy forgot to "change her tooth into money" the second time but miraculously managed to sneak into her bedroom while she was having breakfast - phew! Lil loves her little girl cousins and I can see her doting on them (and hopefully not teaching them too many bad tricks!) as they get a bit older and more interactive. 

.Knitty gifts.

 Last week, my very talented friend Victoria dropped of an unexpected gift for our little baby. Isn't it perfect? I love everything about it, the colour, cute buttons and teensy tiny size.

Victoria used the After Hours Woodcutter Vest pattern for this cute little number.

If the vest isn't enough, a couple of months ago Victoria also gave me some beautiful stitch markers that she had handmade...so much more inspiring to use than the saftey pins I'd previously been using as stitch markers!

And here they are in action on a little Milo Vest I started the other night.

Thanks Victoria! Make sure you check out all the beautiful things that Victoria knits on her Facebook page...so much talent and inspiration!