Bras and Undies!

Well, I haven’t blogged for ages – February has been a crazy month here – lots of medical things going on to deal with (will write more another day), a written assignment to do, a few social outings that have been unavoidable and of course the start of dancing, tumblefun gymnastics and our occupational therapist appointments for the year!

But March is looking a little quieter here, so hopefully I can phone those friends I’ve been neglecting, write here a bit more, catch up on some cooking and sewing, and just plain old get back into life again.

And on the topic of sewing… The March Challenge on Aussies Living Simply is No Knickers! Now I cannot give up undies forever, but I have decided that from now on, I shall not put any commercially made underwear on my bottom (other than what I currently own, that is).

On ALS, I have been asked about my homemade undies, so here are some pics of my first Hemp Bra & Undies set made in April last year. They were made using Kwik Sew Pattern 3301

Its probably important to note that this is not an underwire bra and as I am rather small busted, I find it great, but I’m not sure what those with larger busts need in the bra compartment...

I made the undies the high waisted version, but afterwards realised that I don’t own any high waisted clothes! So from now on I will only make the low rise ones.

These are obviously boy-leg undies too, but I'm going to be on the lookout for a good regular undies pattern as I'd like to try some regular pants as well.

They were not at all difficult to make and didn't take too long at all. These are made using hemp jersey, but can be made from any stretch fabric. I'm guessing it wouldn't be too difficult to add some lace or ribbon if you wanted to make them pretty... I'm not so into underwear that it bothers me if they are pretty though!

So there you have it - my home made bra and undies. I must admit I haven't made any more since this set, but do have a couple of pairs cut out, so will endeavour to get them done in the coming weeks. I have some spotty pink ones and some beautiful bamboo velour ones cut out.

Slowly reducing our electricity

Well nothing overly exciting this week except my current electricity readings.... down 0.3 kwh's per day - so its still going downward but I suspect this is around where we will sit for a while...

Other news - not much I'm afraid!

I did take advantage of the massive pre stocktake sales that are on at Spotlight at the moment and bought some VERY cheap VERY cute fabrics to make some more lovely little outfits for the girls - but I made sure to pick some prints that will still be suitable in a few years in case I end up not using them straight away.

Actually, I have made my first pair of hemp undies and a matching bra and the elastic I needed to make more sets and the hooks for the back of the bras were more expensive that all the fabric combined! I'm actually really happy with the underwear and will definitely be making some more - very comfy and super easy to make! I can post pics if you demand, but they are available on Nappycino for members to view there....

Oh and I do need to make a little WIP box for my blog - here are the current WIPs....

• Princess Cape for Miss H - only the trim and neck to finish
• Pink Dress for Miss E - only just started but it will be a quick one
• Nappies for the baby of K - just need to snap 2 and apply hook & loop to 1
• 2 pairs of pants to be turned into shorts - hem length marked on them but that's it!
• 1 pair of jeans to turn into a skirt... sitting in box still in 1 piece
• 1 dress to adjust side seams on
• 1 skirt to make less floaty
  
• and a million pieces of fabric sitting with their corresponding patterns that need to be made as well!

But I have been managing to sew every day for the last week or so and it has been excellent so hopefully that list will slowly decrease!

Another week gone..

Gosh time is flying by at the moment...

Firstly I have to say I've done our budget analysis and whilst there were a few categories we were over budget on, they were the ones that a single purchase could easily cover the whole months' budget - for example, household stuff - Emma needed a doona so for us to buy one to suit our allergies it was a lot more than a single months household budget would ever be, but we don't need to buy it again thank goodness!

Emma was in desperate need of some long sleeved tops and a Wanted Ad didn't provide any, but a quick trip to our op shop did - so for $8 I was able to get 4 shirts and a pair of pants for next year as opposed to the fortune I would have spent had I gone to the shops for them - so I'm very happy with that! I just wish our op shops opened on the weekends so I could go shopping whenever the mood strikes me! I'm still on the hunt for a pre-loved Sunbeam or Kenwood mix master though... can't seem to find one of those here at all :(

The not so good part of our budget was of course groceries. Whilst I have accepted that due to our treatment program I will be spending more than I would like on groceries I do need to work out how to shop a little smarter to save as much as I can. Vegies are now being sourced at the local farmers markets which does save money and supports local growers as well as providing a nice little morning outing just for me so that is a huge step forward for us. I now just need to work out a better way of sourcing the meat that we need - its quite difficult to get the butchers here to tell me how old the meat is when they get it and unfortunately that is a major thing for us to consider.... Anyway, meat is my next project as far as groceries go :D

Our electricity usage has also decreased so I'm very excited about that! I am actually looking forward to getting our next bill - well, I'm not, but you know what I mean! LOL

This week we only used 35 kwh's of Offpeak and 102 kwh's of Peak electricity which is around 19.6/day - so a reduction of almost 3 kwh's per day! Very happy!!

My Vegie garden is officially a disaster zone, and we didn't get a chance to replant last weekend, so hopefully that will happen this weekend. We are actually starting to consider not putting ANY ornamental plants in our gardens as we renovate the house, and make the gardens purely productive... but I need to do a bit more research into that before I can go making too many plans.

The sale of our block of land settles next week so once that has all gone ahead we can start to get serious about planning our reno's.... that will be a very interesting time for us...

I'm also feeling a massive urge to get back to my readings about Buddhism - my life needs the peacefulness I gain from this so its imperative that I start again. I have actually requested an mp3 player for Mothers Day so I can download meditations and learn to meditate as I also believe that it will be such an important tool for me to learn. Of course DH and the girls may have other ideas LOL...

Oh and I have been sewing! Here is a pic of a dress I whipped up on Sunday afternoon for Emma - she helped me do most of it too :D As a bonus it also fits her little sister!



Here is a pic of the outfit I have made/embellished for my nephew for his First Birthday. I bought the jumper and added the pocket and made shorts to match. His birthday isn't until May so I can't wait to hear how it fits!




And finally, this isn't made my me, this is a Vintage tablecloth that has been turned into a beautiful little dress that I bought for Em - the poor girl has really got no clothes so each fortnight or so I'm slowly trying to increase her wardrobe - and this will fit for a long time I think.



And I think that is quite enough from me!