handmade style by a designer
At last it’s time for us to show off the Mini Jarrah tester makes with you!! We’re constantly amazed and filled with joy seeing our testers sew up mini patterns for their children. There’s still time for all our northern friends to sew up a cosy layer for the last hurrah of winter, and for us here in Australia, what a perfect time to get ready for when it cools down a bit! We hope you enjoy all of our mini makes made by our ever so talented testers!
I’m so excited to finally share with you some of the Mini Jarrah‘s I made for my kiddos whilst we were working on the pattern! I LOVE that this pattern is unisex! After working on Mini Cottesloe and Mini Eucalypt and making so many things for Bunny and Birdie, it was so lovely to be able to make something Buddy could enjoy too. And gosh has he enjoyed it!!!
I used a See You At Six french terry, which i purchased from lovely Maaidesign and it’s so incredibly soft and comfy that he has tried to convince me on many occasions to let him wear this as both a sweatshirt and pajamas. Continuously hahaha. Beyond their amazing designs one of the things I love about See You At Six fabric is how many unisex designs they have. I love sewing for Buddy, but it’s often super hard to find fabrics that he wants to wear. The second I saw this print I knew it would be perfect for him and that was really affirmed when he saw it in my stash cupboard and immediately asked if it was for him. I had enough left to make him something else so i’ll make sure to share that soon!
You’ll notice that I sewed the tag on the right side of his sweatshirt. I always do that for my kids as they often need a little guidance about which is the front or the back, but they find tags to be really itchy and uncomfortable on the inside of a garment.
It has taken over his Awe-some sweatshirt as his favourite winter wear, and I can’t wait to make him more Mini Jarrah sweaters once the weather gets cooler in Perth again. He’s quite keen to have a matching sweatshirt with my favourite quilted Jarrah and I absolutely 100% feel like this NEEDS to happen.
ps. This wouldn’t be a post about Buddy if there wasn’t a jump shot in there – so here we go!
I’m so excited to share with you our next Mini pattern: the Mini Jarrah sweater!
Mini Jarrah is a loose fit drop shoulder sweater with two necklines, sleeve cuffs, and four hem styles. This pattern was careful drafted to mirror the adult Jarrah pattern, but with a few kid specific updates to make it perfect for active little people.
This is a fantastic beginner pattern that will help you learn new techniques or if you’re an experienced sewer, is a super quick and satisfying make. You can sew it with an overlocker/serger or a zig zag stitch on a regular sewing machine. It uses very little little fabric and is my favourite way to use up small amounts of sweater jersey. If you need some extra help sewing, all of the Jarrah pattern tutorials will apply to this pattern as well.
Lets run through what’s included in the pattern!
View A is a sweater with hem band.If you hate hemming jersey and want a quick clean finish, then this is the view for you!! This view of the pattern can be sewn entirely with an overlocker/serger and is a great option for both boys and girls. I love making this view with ribbing a the neckline, collar and hem band, but you can just as easily use self fabric or contrast fabric. As with all of the views of this pattern you can swap out the crew neckline for a funnel neck if preferred. For this sample we used See You At Six french terry and matching ribbing.
View B is a sweater with curved hemline.As the mum of girls who only want to wear leggings in winter I love the curved hem on this view and the fact that it gives some bottom coverage. This view includes a crew neck, and sleeve cuffs, and two options for sewing that curved hemline depending on skill level. As with all of the views of this pattern you can swap out the crew neckline for a funnel neck if preferred. For this sample we used a gorgeous Liberty of London french terry and love how it turned out!
View C is a sweater with waist tie.This view of the pattern includes the sweetest tie hemline, crew neck and cuffs. This view is very slightly cropped, but still appropriate for little ones. The length and cinching at the waist make it a wonderful sweater to wear with dresses and skirts. As with all of the views of this pattern you can swap out the crew neckline for a funnel neck if preferred. For this sample we used quilted sweat shirting and matching ribbing from Nosh Organics.
View D is a cropped sweater with funnel neck.This view of Mini Jarrah includes a funnel neck and a very cut crop length which is still kid appropriate. I love how warm and snuggly this view is and it’s really great for kids who need some extra warmth around the neck on cold days. You can also add the hem band to this view if you’d like and as with all of the views of this pattern you can swap out the funnel neckline for a crew neck if preferred. We used some gorgeous deadstock rib knit from our studio for this sample (which wink wink will be on the website soon).
I love this pattern for my kids cold weather wardrobes! The loose fit and drop shoulders make for a super warm, comfy garment that will grow with your child and the small yardage required makes it super economical and a great way to use up leftover fabrics.
I am really excited to try some hacks like leaving off the sleeves for a summer tee option and lengthening into a dress!
I really hope you love this pattern as much as i enjoyed making it for you!
We’d love to see what you’re creating from the new Mini Jarrah pattern! Don’t forget to tag your creations #MNminijarrah and @megannielsenpatterns to share what you’ve been working on, and check out what everyone else is up to!
Don’t have the pattern yet? Order Mini Jarrah today!
I’ve been hearing so many good things about the Mini Hudson pants sewing pattern by True Bias over the years that I knew it was high time I tried it out for my kiddos. Bunny was in desperate need of more warm clothing this past winter. She has just grown so much, and every pair of pants were too short. As she has grown I’ve tried to take her personal tastes into account more and more, and I love seeing how she chooses fabrics for her own clothing. She shoes this grey french terry I had in my stash, and we used the right side for the main track pants, and then used the wrong side (the loopy side) for the waistband, pocket edging and cuffs. I think that’s one of my favourite things about this pattern, the ability to use contrasting fabrics for details. She has loved these pants and already wants more!
At the same time as i was making these pants she asked if she could have a new top too. She wanted something a little shorter and closer fitting that the usual Mini Briar tees i make for her, so I thought that was a pretty good opportunity to try a kids pattern by Oliver and S. I chose the Schoolbus tee because it looked pretty close to what we wanted. I ended up removing quite a bit of length, shortening the sleeve, and scooping out the neckline a lot. She wasn’t a super fan of the close neckline so i kept things simple and just trimmed it back, turned in the edge and top stitched.
The fabric is another Nosh organics fabric which i purchased just before they stopped shipping to Australia (CRY). Bunny chose a KATM “YES i made it” label to add to her top, and as per usual we sewed it to the outside of the garment so it wouldn’t be scratchy. Please ignore that loose tension on the topstitch next to the label, IT’S HURTING MY EYES. I wish i could just ignore little details like that, sometimes i’m my worst enemy ha!
So there you have it my friends! Two hard working and very cute additions to Bunny’s wardrobe that she has been using constantly. If you are looking for new patterns for your kiddos I would recommend the Hudson Pants without any hesitation! The schoolbus tee is a good option for something long, close fitting and with a high neckline, but keep in mind if you’re going for a similar look to this tee you’ll need to make alterations.
My friends, I have been on a bit of a shoe making binge recently. Someone needs to stop me! After attending Lisa’s Shoe Camaraderie shoe making workshop last year I was dying to make more pairs. I would love to have a collection of handmade shoes to use in all our sample shoots, wouldn’t that be amazing? Handmade from head to toe! So with that in mind I decided to get the Ines sandal kit to create a nice pair of neutral clean lined sandals for an upcoming shoot of a new pattern.
I decided to bring my kit home and do it on the kitchen counter rather than work on it at my studio and i’m so glad I did that. My approach was to take it slow, and I basically did one step at a time for a week until I had finished my shoes. I love the workshop i went to, and i learnt SO SO much, but i think this slow pace of making shoes is more my style. I really enjoyed being able to take my time with every step and think carefully about what i was doing. At one point i was unhappy with how i had attached the sole and i just ripped it off and started again the next day!
These shoes are obviously not perfect, but i’m so happy with them! Lisa’s instructions were a joy to work with. Very detailed, well illustrated, lots of tips and she even provided free video content. I would really highly recommend these kits, they really make shoe construction achievable at home. I like that you can also pretty easily customise things on the fly. This style comes with ties, but after I was done I had extra leather left over and realised it would be really easy to make an ankle strap too! So i just sliced a strip of leather, added holes and a buckle and ta-da an ankle strap. The thing i like about this is that now when we use these shoes in the studio we can swap out the ties or ankle straps for a different look!
I thought you might enjoy seeing a few snaps of the process of making my sandals – and at the end a few peeks at how they looked when we used them in our shoot!