Woohoo, my Jap.anese pattern books have arrived...

...and I'm in love!!!

I will admit right at the outset to being a teensy bit concerned that they took so long to get here.  Afterall, they were sent out on 30 Nov.  But taking into account that little festival called Christmas and the fact that an awful lot of stuff is getting sent out of Hong Kong these days I'm guessing that they got here as quickly as they could.  And bless the cotton socks of my incredibly overworked parcel delivery guy who delivered them this morning (yes thats right, a Saturday morning, isnt he the best!!!).

They are so perfect, gorgeous in their simplicity, just like the patterns inside.  Can you believe they even have sweet little dust jackets.  I cant wait to try out one of the patterns, despite being in Ja.panese, they do look fairly easy to piece together.

Simple yet elegant... *sigh*

Thanks for the reminder Tracy I meant to get photos, but with the holidays and all... well you know how it is.  So here they are: Simple Chic and Girly Style Wardrobe

Baby Nay grows up (I'm a wee bit excited about this one)...

OK its fair to say that I have a bit of a Baby Nay obsession.  I love the designs, kind of traditional but with a modern twist and many have a definite Asian influence.  Anyways, The Fabric Fairy has quite a nice array of Baby Nay and I've recently bought quite a bit of the Petit Fleur Stretch Poplin.  The only thing is when I bought it I only saw the design.  True to form I didnt actually read what it was, just did the usual "that looks nice" and into the shopping cart it goes.  In fact, when I finally received it I gave it a bit of a glance "yes that really is quite nice" and into the stash it goes.  It wasnt until a few weeks later that I actually got it out and really touched it (and this is after I put in an order for a bit more).  At that point I'm thinking "hey cool, this stretches".  Yes I know, sad isnt it.

So here I am with my beautiful stretchy Baby Nay and thinking what am I going to do with this.  Because its a stretch it is quite a bit thicker than the usual poplin I work with and felt it was possibly a little thick for something for Chloe.  And given that there are only two girls in this house guess who gets a new Baby Nay outfit - yes me!!!!  And thats pretty damn exciting let me tell you.

But what to make?  I dont actually have a lot of patterns for me.  I've started getting the Ottobre womens magazines but having only just one winter one didnt help.  Flicking through the kids patterns however I came across a lovely summer top I've been wanting to try for ages.

I've recently got myself a massive Olfa cutting mat and an Olfa rotary cutter with guide arm.  Boy did this make tracing and cutting a breeze.  The material sewed up like a dream, it was so nice to work with.  And I even had some really nice buttons which compliment it perfectly sitting there waiting to be used (I had actually bought the buttons for Chloe's cherub outfit but decided to go with the clear ones instead).

All in all I was thrilled with the pattern, I was thrilled with the fabric and I'm certainly thrilled with the results.  I might even have to make myself some more bits and pieces

Fabric: Petit Fleur by Baby Nay from The Fabric Fairy
Pattern: Pattern 39 from Issue 2/2005 Ottobre Design