What's been going on at I Heart To Sew

Well this week celebrates our littlest mans 3 month milestone yep I am now a mum to three our third cutie is Jasper Terrence he has his pop's name as his middle name and he cirtainly looks like his name sake I don't have a photo of them together yet as Pop won't hold a baby till they are 6 months old (So we are half way there).

Here he is in a onesie that I made for his big brother 

This is his big brother in the cute outfit 

With three kids it has been a little hard to focus on patterns and blogging but I have now found that organising time to do both those things and not "research" on Pinterest (any one with a Pinterest account knows the time vampire that can be..... ) But back to things, I've started to rebranding things and updating my first couple of patterns. I'm excited to get it all finished then release a few patterns that I've been working on for the last 2 years! Plus while I have a bub there are a few baby patterns in the works :)

I'm excited for what's to come for the rest of this year and my 5 almost 6 year old is getting in on the design process - She is a fashionista at heart!

Our Pearl with Optimus Prime 

Next week my finds at Dasio - My new favourite store!

Home Made Laundry Powder

I ♥ my homemade laundry powder, I find it cleans better than store bought and it's easy to make!

Supplies:

1 Bar of pure soap (I just buy the cheapest one there is 4 in a pack for about $2)
1/2 Cup of Borax
1 Cup of Washing Soda
1/2 Cup of Booster

Your handy dandy food processor (This is the one I use for food as well) with a grating attachment

I make double this quantity when I make it.

Start with your grating attachment.

 

Grab your pure soap mine is yellow!

Now grate!

This is what it will look like.

Looks like grated cheese right!

 

Then I put my chopping attachment in.

This is just siting on top of the grated soap as I push it down I turn so that it goes through the soap instead of squishing the soap.

Add the washing soda.

 

Next add borax.

In goes your laundry booster.

Mine is lemon scented smells so good!

 

Process till it's a fine powder this only takes a few seconds.

 

This is what it looks like.

 

No fancy lovely looking laundry container for me.... I really need to pretty my old 2kg yogurt bucket!

 

It's about 3/4 full.

 

I use about 1tbs per load.

(That's about 1/2 a scoop full)

 

It's really great to wash your Love My Lady Cloth !

 

 

So what have I been up to lately?  Well in case you missed it I released my Love My Little Skorts and Love My Little Tank Patterns, The skorts are just as cute as functional and the tank is great for both Boys and Girls!

 

 

 

 I hope you like the new patterns, My 3 year old fashionister loved her sports this past summer they were great for play or a day out. 

 

 

I ♥ My Sewing Room

One of the lovely ladies over on DSD asked to see the things we love in our sewing area, Well I LOVE my peg board I have all my threads on it, all my tools have a place out of the reach of little hands, my fabric markers have a home, you get the point, But this idea was not my solution to my ever growing collection of sewing stuff it was my dear Husbands who suggested it and originally it started of small and as we talked about what would go on the board we said may as well make it the length of the table! I highly recommend it I can see all my threads at a glance and I was shocked at how many that I had! Plus he cut down a huge and I mean huge desk that I got off eBay for $50, which was grey and ugly so he was going to paint it but he's good at many handyman things painting is just not one of them, so we covered it with contact/book adhesive and now I love it! I still have to recover my chair but I have to be in the mood for that. I also have a 2 seater couch that has a pull out bed in it for guest (My Mum) and so that makes me keep my room tidy anyhow on to the pictures.....

I Heart To Sew garland on the door

The view from the door

The couch that my kids use to colour on ;)

I have been busy this week working on a new patterns and my testers are loving it!

Love My Lady Cloth

Yay it's finally Finished!

Love My Lady Cloth Has 5 Sizes!

Mini Liner, Liner, Regular, Heavy And Overnight or Postpartum

The postpartum pad is a bit special it has an optional pocket

~ Great for holding an ice pack for those 1st few days postpartum~

A pretty stack of Regulars

Here are the mini liners

If you have never used lady cloth - I strongly suggest you try it!

Many women who use lady cloth say that they experience short cycles (Yay!) and Less cramping (Double Yay!) I personally have experienced this! When I first started I eased myself into it... I used one pad once in one cycle and slowly got up to using them full time per cycle.

But how to I wash them? You ask....
What I do is I have a zipper pouch that is my bathroom and I just pop them in there and when my cycle is finished I soak them for a day in some oxy nappy stuff, then rince them in cold water pop them in the washing machine on a normal cycle and then either hang them on the clothes horse or in to the dryer they go.

What to make them out of...
I used flannel for next to skin fabric for the first ones I made and I have just discovered velour - Now that’s bliss for the Lady Parts ;)

I use one layer Zorb2 or 2 layers of Zorb or Microfiber for the absorbent layer, For Liners I use two layers of flannel.

Then to back them I either use PUL or Anti-Pill Polar Fleece.

And resin snaps for closures.

If you read my last post you may now laugh......

Why is that when I have the best of intentions for my blogging to be more I fall into a blogging hole????

Well this weeks to do list.....

I'm re-doing the pictures for the Summer T-Shirt Pattern in preparation for the release of the Infant sizes in that pattern! Yay!

I'm going to start doing the digitizing of the larger sizes of the Little Day Out Dress!

I HAVE to finish of the instructions for the Jacket Pattern that I have in the works and get it out to my testers for the 2nd round of testing! It's looking really cute :)

And I'm going to be starting a sewing book .... I've had this in my head for a while now and after almost 2 years of broken sleep (My dear son has just started sleeping through the night) I am now getting a good night sleep and feel up to writing! Plus I would love to do a feature in a sewing mag... Now it's on my to do list! Any thought on what mag?

Ok so I love to look at pics on Blogs and here are some for your viewing pleasure ;)

These are PJ's for DS they are The Summer T-Shirt with long sleeves and the yet to be released Love My Little Leggings featuring a Monkey Tag from the tag Co-op on DSD! I think I'm addicted to tags :)

These sandwiches were for the last Play Food swap that I did on DSD! They are all done in the hoop on my embroidery machine and I digitized them! I'm thinking of adding these to my store ;)






These cute overalls I have been in the works for over a year, I thought that I only cut them out slightly bigger, but when I sewed them up they fit my DD who is a year older than my son but they fit him perfect now, they hug the hips so there is a 70's vibe to them that is sooo cute!

And this would have to be my favourite thing that I have made in ages, It's a 3 layer Twirly Whirly Dress out of Patty Young Interlock, I'm usually not into these sort of prints but I had seen it made up and thought I should give it a go... At $23 a meter I was a hesitant to cut into the fabric to start with but I am sooooo happy with it but what is even better My Daughter always wants to wear it she loves it!





Matching Leggings



I'm hoping to do a post once a week - Now don't laugh ;) So if you have a sewing topic that you would like me to cover let me know!

Happy Sewing
Alisha

OK it's time to be more committed to this blog!

I've been away with my family for the week and it was a great week away we were down at the beach - But it rained all week, but we still had a great time! When I find the camera lead I post some pics.

I've been working on some new boys patterns which I should have some previews in the next couple of days! (I'm a little excited about this!)

Plus I'm thinking I might do a technique Tuesday? Thoughts, ideas?

Happy Sewing
Alisha