Sewing for Squirm: Why Sew Clothes?

July 4, 2013Craftpatterns, Sewing, sewing for boys, why sew?subversivereader View all 2 comments

Although I’ve been interested in sewing blogs for a long time (especially those with kids clothing), I never really thought about making day to day clothing for Squirm. Crocheting jumpers and adding embellishments seemed like enough, especially when baby clothes were so cheap to buy.

Alas, those clothes are cheap for a reason. I’ve noticed that seams unravel really quickly, that fabrics wear thin – especially if they’re being washed a lot. Plus someone’s being short changed to produce clothing that cheap and I’m pretty sure it’s not the big shops here in Australia.

The other problem with cheap clothes is that everyone had them. I bought Squirm a collection of leggings to wear over the winter. Two of my friends babies have exactly the same leggings as well as the other boy in his swimming class. My friend works at a child care centre and said that she sees the same clothes all the time – that there’s not a lot of originality in the clothing!

Of course, I could buy more expensive and ethical clothing – which would also be less likely to be the same as everyone elses. but I’ve noticed that clothing for small kids and babies tends to jump from extremely cheap ($4 – $10) to extremely expensive ($50-$60) – where’s the middle ground?! And clothing for boys tends to get very bland every quickly – not to mention all the truck and robot prints!

In the end, sewing becomes a really simple and easy solution. Material can be sourced at many places, from fabric shops, to my own wardrobe to op shops. I have a good sewing machine which is loving the work out. Wonderful bloggers post brilliant, detailed tutorials (they are amazing!) and there are even pattern makers who are selling good quality patterns for boys – something which you can’t find in the shop patterns (and you can print them again and again!)

So far I’ve made Squirm half a dozen t-shirts, some shorts (I’ve had to play with patterns to get over his cloth nappy bottom!) and several pairs of pajama pants. I’m having so much fun making things, learning so much about sewing and getting the satisfaction that Squirm is wearing truly original clothing.

Why sew clothes? - Adventures of a Subversive Reader

A Little Bit of Sewing for a Little Boy

June 27, 2013Craftboys clothes, Clothes, Sewing, sewing for boys, thriftysubversivereader Leave a comment

It’s been a while since I updated. There’s a few reasons for that, but one reason is I’ve been rather busy with my sewing machine. I’ve been making clothes for Squirm!

It all started with pajama bottoms, the realisation that every little boy around here seems to be wearing the same clothes and a vague feeling that I could do better than the ridiculously cheap clothes available at major shopping chains (they’re cheap for a reason and it’s not a particularly good one). While I’m not a great seamstress, I knew I could sew enough to make new pajama pants. Then after immersing myself in some amazing sewing blogs, I even got the confidence up to sew with knit materials.

So, I thought I’d share some photos of my creations – hopefully I’ll step away from the sewing machine for long enough to blog in depth about some of the clothes!

A nearly finished t-shirt, with a bee on it!

Pajama pants

More pajama pants

A T-shirt (layered over another) with fake button front

Have you ever sewn clothes for your children? Made anything awesome for a little boy?

The Great Library Tour: Mitchelton Library Refurbishment

June 17, 2013Libraries, Library Tourbooks, Exploring South East Queensland, libraries, library toursubversivereader View all 9 comments

Earlier this year I visited the Mitchelton Library. It was a warm and friendly library, but it was a little bit boring. What I didn’t know was that they were about to undergo a massive refurbishment, the first of a series planned for Brisbane City Libraries.

So I was delighted to be invited to the official opening of the refurbished library. It was a stunning day for it, though cold, and Mr Pilot, Squirm and I were looking forward to seeing the changes. I have to say, however, I didn’t expect the changes to be as big as they were!

The first big change is a gorgeous, wheel chair accessible (accessibility was built in throughout the library) organic garden at the front of the library. This garden, which will be maintained by a local gardening group, is big on the citrus, and this created the theme which was repeated throughout the library.

Mitchelton Library Refurbished: Adventures of a Subversive Reader

The inside was as impressive as the outside, with new seating areas, an updated meeting area and new flourishes throughout. The citrus tree theme was repeated throughout – in wall decorations, in the signs at the ends of shelves, even in the addition of green stripes to the glass doors.

A large deck is also a new addition, opening the library out to the park. There are work areas, chairs and tables and deck chairs – perfect for snuggling up with a book. I really love that this is becoming a feature of the ‘park libraries’ integrating them better with their environments. The aim is to get a coffee van style cafe set up there, which will be brilliant.

Then there was the kids and young adult areas . . .

The kids area is quite simply amazing. It has adopted a cafe theme while continuing the citrus theme through the colours used and the wooden tree shapes around the edges. The area draws you in with plenty of comfy couches, and the books set up in low and wall shelves. I loved how a window shaped shelf was used to hold some of the series! There was a small pretend play area for cafe, an awesome Duplo board (which Squirm and Mr Pilot both adored) and one of those downward projectors which we’ve loved at some of the bigger libraries. There’s a chalk board for drawing, and a curtain which can be pulled across to separate the kids area from the young adults.

Squirm had a great time chasing things around the projection!

The young adults area continues the cafe theme, with cafe booth style tables (perfect for studying). But the biggest draw there is sure to be the interactive table – it was great to see people of all ages checking it out while we were there.

While the actual library is amazing, so was the event which was put on to open it. The local radio station was broadcasting, there were activities for the kids, music being played and displays from a few community groups. We were fortunate enough to enjoy one of the story times, though Squirm did go unusually shy throughout! The theme was even replicated here, with the whole story time based around trees! (I also noted that the tea provided fit the theme – peppermint, orange pekoe and lemon scented – those are the kind of details which really please me!)

Not so sure about this story time . . .

Hmm, ok. Maybe I’ll take a peek

The Lord Mayor of Brisbane came to officially open the library and I was very impressed by his speech. Along with talking about other refurbishments, he spoke about how libraries should be accessible to the community, and that they need to be places where the community comes together. This was evident in the refurbishment of the Mitchelton Library, which I think will be embraced by the local community and those who travel to it. I know I’m looking forward to taking Squirm again.

If you get a chance, go and check this library out. I’m sure you’ll be as impressed as we were!

Checking out the seating 🙂

Important Information about Mitchelton Library

37 Heliopolis Parade, Mitchelton

Website

Open Tuesday to Saturday

Parking is available at the side of the library and on the street.

A More Uncluttered Life: Project 333 – A Week In

June 12, 2013Home and Organisation, OrganisationCleaning, Clothes, declutter, Project 333, Wardrobesubversivereader View all 4 comments

A More Uncluttered Life: Adventures of a Subversive Reader

So, I’ve been doing Project 333 for a week now, which really isn’t long at all. I didn’t think I’d have any great insights after such a short amount of time, but it turns out that simplifying my wardrobe has had some immediate effects.

I’m taking more care with my clothes

This is all I have for three months, I’d better look after them. Not that I am particularly hard on clothes, but I’m making sure that I wash regularly (I throw them in with some of Squirm’s clothes to make a full load) and hang my clothes up. This has another bonus because I always know where to find my clothes now!

I actually enjoy getting dressed

I feel kind of excited when it’s time to get dressed for the day. All of the clothes hanging in my wardrobe are favourites and I don’t feel any kind of guilt or regret looking at them. Instead I get the excitement of seeing how I can put enjoyable pieces of clothing together to make a nice ensemble.

I need to shop smarter

When I put together the next three months in September it will be worth spending a little more money and buying some good quality clothes. One of my new long sleeve shirts has a small hole in it, while older (more expensive) shirts are still in fabulous condition after years. Spending that little extra is worth it.

It’s worth considering a reduced wardrobe for Squirm

We’re on the edge of another size up and I’m dreading collecting new clothes in Squirm’s next size. Instead of buying lots and lots of stuff, I think I’ll step back and really think about what he needs. We probably won’t be able to get away with 33 items – we still need to do too many changes when he gets ridiculously dirty – but we could definitely have a less crowded drawer than he has now.

The Great Library Tour: Zillmere Library

June 11, 2013Library Tourbooks, Exploring South East Queensland, libraries, moreton bay region librariessubversivereader Leave a comment

Zillmere Library: Adventures of a Subversive Reader

The Great Library Tour

We had a few things to see to last Friday, so it seemed like the perfect chance to fit in a quick trip to Zillmere Library. Like so many other libraries, this one is only a short trip away. From the outside it seems pretty ordinary, a little 70s and a little bit dreary. But then you walk in the doors . . .

What stood out the most here was the fabulous use of light. The library felt bigger than it was, with a really good use of white to open it up. It was also uncluttered, something which isn’t always easy when you’ve got a limited amount of space and a lot to fit into it.

The kids section was to the left as you walked in and two things immediately stood out – the huge pile of floor cushions in the middle of the floor and the gorgeous play verandah to one side. Like Bulimba with their ferry terminal and Carina with their castle, the verandah (which was accompanied by a mural which set the verandah in a bush setting) added a lovely touch of whimsy and imagination to the area, as well as a cosy place to curl up with a book (or in Squirm’s case, practice climbing up and down the steps.)

Two other things really impressed me in the children’s section – the cosy grown up chairs that were set in different places through the area, and the gorgeous tiles which were created at the local multicultural festival a few years ago – this library is in a very multicultural area, and the tiles made it clear that the library was a space for everyone.

There weren’t a huge selection of books (not compared to some of the other libraries) but the books looked both well chosen and well looked after. The kids area is directly next to the young adult area, which also uses space beautifully, but my favourite part of that space was the big table which would be perfect for the homework help time or for holding classes.

This felt like a really friendly library – the staff were wonderful and welcoming, the chairs and cushions made it clear that this was a place to enjoy, and it felt like it was a wonderful place to read, to learn and to share. I was really happy to find this library and I look forward to visiting it again.

Important Information about Zillmere Library

Corner of Jennings Street and Zillmere Road, Zillmere

Website

Open Tuesday to Saturday

I don’t believe there is a car park for the library, but Jennings Street had plenty of room for parking.

Making Books Accessible to Mouthing Babies

June 6, 2013Books and Reading, Educationbooks, children, Readingsubversivereader View all 5 comments

When you’re talking about books and babies, one of the things you often hear about is making books accessible to babies – putting them in places where babies can pick them up, play with them and enjoy them.

I can totally understand why this is important – it normalises books, makes them part of the everyday. It teaches important book skills, like turning pages and looking at pictures. And it makes for some pretty cute photo opportunities.

However, I have a Mouther. One of those babies who cannot pass something without trying to put it in his mouth. Recently he’s extended this to trying to lick things. To top it off, he started sprouting teeth really early – so he wasn’t just sucking on and licking things, he was gnawing, chewing and attempting to swallow things (his first official solid food? Wrapping paper)

Now, obviously this doesn’t work so well with traditional books. And while we know things could be replaced, we really wanted some books to make it through these early stages of baby-hood, so that he can enjoy them properly later. However, we still wanted to make books accessible to Squirm. So how did we do that?

Making Books Accessible for Mouthy Babies: Adventures of a Subversive Reader

1. Soft books are your best friend

We’ve got quite a nice collection of fabric books, mostly given to us as gifts. There’s a couple of Lamaze ones, a couple with squeaking things in them, a lift the flaps style one and a gorgeous fabric filled one which my mum made for Squirm for Christmas. (It’s filled with different types of fabric, letters of his name, counting and colours – she’s the best Nana!) These books are well loved, but being fabric, they’ve totally stood up to the Squirm Mouth Treatment. We complement this with a bath book which is also well loved.

The lovely soft book that Nana made

2. A Few Cheap Board Books

We’re talking those itty, bitty board books which they sell in packs and which only have a picture and a word a page. These have been wonderful because their small size makes them easy to manipulate, and Squirm has spent a lot of time picking them up and playing with them. We’ve lost a few to epic chewing, but since they didn’t cost much and they don’t have much emotional weight (since they weren’t gifts or ‘favourites’) made it easy to toss them and move on.

3. Wooden Books

I was so surprised when I saw these! I found them in Toy World and they’re simply a few wooden ‘pages’ which are held together with a cord. They’re similar to the board books in content, but very sturdy

4. Putting these books in accessible places

We’ve got a big fabric box where we keep all the books which Squirm has complete access to. These go in the bottom of our book case where Squirm can get to them. This has helped in two ways – he knows he can always play with them, and often goes and pulls them out. Meanwhile, he tends to leave our books alone!

5. Sharing books often

We do a lot of reading to Squirm, but we also read with him. Recently he’s been spending a lot of time ‘reading’ other board books with Mr Pilot. Squirm holds the books and flips through them, and Mr Pilot reads whatever is on the page he stops on (or as much as possible until Squirm starts flipping again). Squirm has control over the book, but it’s supervised, so if the book goes near the mouth one of us is there to distract him and move on to other things.

6. Reassessing his ability as he grows

Recently we noticed that Squirm is spending less time chewing and mouthing the books we’ve provided him. Since then we’ve put a few new board books (bigger, different sizes and pictures, different text) into his book box. We’ve also had great success reading the ‘That’s Not My . . . ‘ series with him (a dear friend sent me three as a baby present and I’ve since bought some more – they’re brilliant!) This week, I put three of the books into a basket near his toys (in a different area to his other books). These have been an absolute hit – bigger than his other toys. Every single day he’s had them opened up, flipping through them, searching the page for the different textures – and they rarely go in his mouth. It was a good reminder that Squirm’s abilities will change as he gets older, and that means reassessing how we provide materials for him too.

Do you have a book-unfriendly child? What are your best tips for keeping books in their lives?

A More Uncluttered Life: Project 333 – The Clothes

June 5, 2013Home and Organisation, Opinion and Other Random Things, OrganisationClothing, declutter, Organisation, Project 333, Simple Life, Unclutter, Wardrobesubversivereader View all 2 comments

Yesterday I talked about Project 333 in which I’ll be wearing just 33 pieces of clothing for all of the Australian winter. Although I had some clothes to show you, I hadn’t put my list together to share, mostly since most the clothes were in the wash! Today, the majority of the clothes are hanging in my cupboard and I’m pleased to share them with you.

Refresher: How am I approaching Project 333?

For the project I am only counting clothes – not shoes, jewellery (which I rarely wear anyway) or scarves. I’m also not counting underwear, sleep wear, my swimmers which I wear to Squirm’s swimming lessons or ‘lounging around the house’ pieces. I am counting my ‘house jeans’ though, which are too big to wear out of the house, but so comfortable that I wear them a lot at home.

The biggest thing for me to think about is that I need to have a baby friendly wardrobe – easy to clean, easy to move in, enough pieces to change if I get really dirty and breastfeeding friendly. In the end, there actually seems like quite a lot of clothing here. I’m keeping a tally of what I wear over the month and it will be very interesting to see which are the most worn things!

I didn’t have to worry too much about matching. All my ‘bottoms’ are neutrals, so the tops pretty much go with them in any combination. I tend to keep to blues, greens and pinks – though there’s a bit of orange, red and purple in here too 🙂

What have I included?

Project 333 Clothes : Adventures of a Subversive Reader

1-5: Cardigans (not pictured: the grey cardigan I’m wearing)

Winter in Queensland doesn’t get all that cold. Most of the time I’m warm enough with just a light cardigan over my clothes. I love these colours, which also make up most of my wardrobe. The photo doesn’t do them justice, but there’s blue, green, light pink and dark pink. Five cardigans is probably an overkill, but I do wear them almost everyday all day in winter. The different colours also make up for last year when I was pregnant and only had a daggy grey and a black cardigan which fit!

6 – 10: Woollen shirts, vests, boleros

I love winter because it’s actually cold enough to wear some of these. There’s a blue and a purple bolero, a grey vest top, a green shirt and a pink and white striped short sleeve cardigan which is great on its own

11 – 17: Long Sleeved Shirts (not shown, a red and white striped one I’m wearing)

The more I look at these pictures, the more I feel like I’ve gone overboard with tops. But then they’re the most likely to get dirty, the most likely to need washing and – to be honest – where most of the colour and personality is! I can also layer a lot of these for ‘new looks’. It’s hard to see, but there are actually 4 striped shirts in the picture, plus the one I’m wearing. I really like stripes . . .

18 – 26: T-Shirts (not pictured: a black t-shirt which is on the line. It’s the black version of the plain white one in this picture)

I really like funky and nice coloured t-shirts. I have three Threadless shirts in here which I just bought recently, plus one I bought in Melbourne a few years ago. Also a couple of nice neutral shirts. These all have elasticised, buttoned or low and stretchy necklines for feeding

27: Dress

This was actually my one maternity dress, but it’s well cut for non maternity use and perfect for feeding. I really like this dress, but I’m not sure how much I’ll wear it. It’s more of a ‘back up dress’ I think.

28: Jacket

Another piece which I might not get much use out of, but which I’ll need if we get one of our cold snaps or if the winter winds get really harsh. It’s a bit tatty on the inside, but a really nice looking jacket on the outside

29: Red Tunic Top

My ‘good’ shirt. This is so comfortable and looks great with jeans. Since I wear nursing singlets, I won’t need separate tops to go under it

30: White Patterned Skirt

Another piece which I might not need, but which gets me through anything. This is a gorgeous skirt from Colorado. It is strong, sits beautifully and looks marvellous for how old it is! This one has survived years of teaching, so I know it’s good for many occasions.

31 – 33: Jeans (not pictured: black skinny jeans on the line, blue relaxed jeans which I’m wearing)

My mainstay! I love jeans and the way they can be dressed up and down so easily. I recently bought two pairs of nice, well fitting jeans and even got the length on one pair properly tailored. The home jeans don’t fit at all well, but nothing beats them for comfort right now (which is good when you’re rolling around with a baby)

What would be on your ‘must wear’ list if you only had a limited number of clothes?

A More Uncluttered Life: Project 333 – an introduction

June 4, 2013Home and Organisation, OrganisationCleaning, Clothing, declutter, family, Home, Project 333, Unclutter, Wardrobesubversivereader View all 17 comments

One of my biggest clutter traps is my wardrobe. I have a tendency to throw my hands up in the air when it comes to fashion, bemoaning the fact that I’m always frumpy, never fashionable, and I never know what to buy! So I end up buying half a dozen trendy things, most of which don’t fit very well, and I find myself reverting back to my ‘frumpy clothes’ before I know it.

Recently I came to a bit of a realisation about my wardrobe – I don’t need to be trendy. I need to be comfortable. I need to be able to keep up with Squirm and dress appropriately for the occasion. But I don’t need to emulate my friends, other bloggers or people I see on TV – I just need to be myself!

Turns out myself is actually pretty comfortable in jeans most the times, particularly in autumn and winter. Myself also loves nice t-shirts, cardigans, scarves and funky shoes. And once I’d bought some well fitting post-pregnancy jeans (my pre-pregnancy ones were falling off me) I realised I liked the way I looked when I left the house – and I was comfortable.

Which is where Project 333 comes in. I’d seen this around before – a friend of mine talked about it recently, and it’s similar to some other clothing organisation challenges I’ve seen before. The idea is simple – wear 33 items or less for 3 months.

At first that seems too limiting – but then you realise that 33 items doesn’t include underwear, sleepwear, exercise clothes or in-home lounge wear. Suddenly the project looks much more accessible and doable. In fact, it almost starts to look exciting.

So today I started looking through my clothes and I started counting. I realised that I mostly wore three pairs of jeans – my two new pairs and an old pair (which I don’t wear out of home, but I wear to ‘work’ at home, therefore should be counted. I pulled some cardigans aside, as well as a black dress, a skirt and my jacket. A handful of t-shirts and I still hadn’t made 33 items.

This is where it got tricky for me. I’d already decided I wasn’t going to include scarves into my ’33’ – I’ve spent too much time crocheting nice ones not to wear them! But would I include shoes or not? In the end, I decided not to – I really like my shoes, and I do rotate my way through them pretty consistently. I made a deal with myself, instead, that I could only include shoes which fit into my wardrobe shoe organiser – and I had to declutter that first. (I ended up throwing a pile and donating another pile.) I’ll keep an eye on that though to decide whether more of them will go.

So, 33 items. The rest of my clothing was packaged up or put into the washing basket to be tackled this week (I’ll go through them soon to find a few bags to donate, because even packed up they won’t fit in the space I have.) The dirty clothes in my 33 were washed today, the rest hung on the 33 coathangers in my wardrobe.

My shoe organiser – I even managed to fit my slippers in!

Project 333 Introduction: Adventures of a Subversive Reader

33 Coat hangers ready for 33 items. A lot of my chosen clothes needed to be washed, so I got onto that today 🙂

What am I trying to achieve with Project 333?

To see if I can enjoy the clothes I have more
To look for different ways of putting an outfit together
To keep up to date with my washing
To look for more things to declutter
To make life easier when I’m getting dressed

Could you only wear 33 different items for 3 months? Or could you do less?

Living a More Uncluttered Life

June 3, 2013Home and Organisation, Opinion and Other Random Things, OrganisationCleaning, family, Home, Organisation, Reflection, Studysubversivereader View all 2 comments

Last post, I told you about how I’d been uncluttering my study. I’m nearly finished with it, especially since the garbage will be picked up tomorrow, but I’m already noticing a few differences. In fact, one of the first things I did was pick up my crochet hook and begin making some little crocheted characters – something I hadn’t done in ages.

Why did I return to crocheting creatures? Because it was easy. Because everything was right there where I needed it – I could easily lay my hands on the right hook, the right yarn and even the eyes. And then I had space to work.

A little decluttering is a powerful thing.

So, I wondered, what would happen if I consciously chose to unclutter my life in other ways. If I chose to do more with less, chose to spend less time on inconsequential things? If I created a house that makes me truly happy. And how can I go about doing this?

Well, it turns out there are lots of books and websites on being more uncluttered. So I plan to peruse them, to find things that some something to me and to try them out. Then I will, of course, share the results with you. Because if decluttering one room feels so good, what would it me like if more and more of my life was in the same state?

What would you like to declutter in your life?

How I Decluttered My Study

May 29, 2013Home and OrganisationCleaning, declutter, Home, Organisation, studio, Studysubversivereader One comment

Do you remember this?

Last November, I wrote about my study and the problem I was having getting it tidied. Since then, I’ve been able to do very little – the study was just too close to Squirm’s room to get anything done during nap times – and the mess just kept piling up and up and up.

Finally I decided enough was enough. I don’t need a study, so much, but I want a studio to work in. I want a place to keep my crochet things safe and a place which will inspire me. And I want a room which is welcoming for Squirm. As it was, this room was far from welcoming.

So with the help of baby wearing and a pile of empty cardboard boxes to keep Squirm amused, I’ve set out decluttering and cleaning. I started with the books, setting targets and going through my bookshelves again and again, to remove any books I didn’t truly love or need. I gave 6 bags of books to a teacher friend, 3 bags to my cousin, 8 bags to op shops. Slowly I opened up shelf space, not to mention being able to find books I wanted to find!

The next step was organising craft items. Some of them were so old that they really needed to be thrown out. Others I’ve put aside for a friend. Some of the new shelf space was repurposed to hold yarn.

The hardest part – old ‘stuff’ I’d collected over the years and things from my parent’s house – was next. Suddenly I was throwing out invitations to Year 9 speech nights and Year 9 graphics assignments (I sucked at graphics; why on earth did I keep those?) Suddenly I was having to ask myself if I really needed things, if I really loved things, what might happen if I threw things away.

And slowly, I moved past my need to hold on to everything, and started throwing away. And slowly the room started clearing up and seemed bigger. And I felt lighter.

It’s not completely finished yet, but I feel like I’m getting somewhere. I feel like it could be a beautiful room to enjoy.

Just Getting Started Photos