The Girls’ Road Trip & Little Truck Stop Tops…
I love my girls. Love them. They are beautiful and funny – but more importantly they are sweet-hearted human beings. I always imagined being a mother to boys – but life had other plans and I’m more than OK with that.
This post seemed timely as I’m actually solo with the girls at the moment as the husband is away in Malaysia fishing (no he didn’t fly with Malaysia Airlines) until mid next week.
My girls… Giselle and Zoe – the very best of friends. Just a random shot one night when they were being funny and sweet to each other. I love the spontaneity and love in this shot.
I made them some tops for the girls earlier this year – then I lost my blog drive (now recovered – and I save everything to Google Drive now!). It’s on the long list of things I need to blog about… and I’m finally getting there… unfortunately it’s been a long hard road this year, in every sense – but I will get there.
It’s The Little Truck Stop Top by The Makers’ Journal from Stitch56 (and sent to me by Stitch 56). It’s such a simple little pattern – perfect for using up your scraps and sending the kids to the remanent bin to find fabric for their next one! More about the make later in the post.
It’s so cold this winter and I need to channel some virtual sunshine into my life – so here they are. And I’ll probably be making more this spring and summer for them.
The crazy kid on the left is Giselle – she is going to need a riot squad as a chaperone when she grows up. She is a beautiful, generous soul with a wicked sense of humour… She ‘brings me back’ with a hug and a kiss when ‘Mummy looks far away’. I’ve always described her as the child that God trapped a ray of sunshine inside and it’s so true. She was an adorable little tot, always giggling and smiling… and making me giggle and smile… she still does…
this one kills me every time. So beautiful.
… and the one on the right is my ‘big girl’ Zoe Rose. She’s so sombre and serious at times. She saves her money – and buys shares as investment… she’s a beautiful dancer… she studies hard… she’s one of the most driven individuals I’ve ever met. What makes me most proud? She stands up for the kids that can’t stand up for themselves, even at her own personal expense. She’s got opinions about bullies, boat people, gay marriage and discrimination. She’s quietly extraordinary. The world needs more people with big hearts and open minds like my beautiful, brave Zoe.
I’m terrified of her growing up, she’s too gentle & soft to get her heart broken.
The LITTLE TRUCK STOP TOP by The Makers’ Journal…
There is always water somewhere nearby! People get married every weekend at this beautiful place and now padlocks are appearing on the wires with the couples’ names engraved on them.
Such a simple and quick little make this Little Truck Stop Top – these will pop up a lot in their summer wardrobes. They are loose through the body which makes them cool and easy to wear – and hence very popular with the girls. Zoe also loves to throw her top over her leotard between dance classes.
I opted not to attach the frill to the hem – my girls are not the frilly types. While Zoe may dance obsessively, she’s got a rock ‘n’ roll, boho personal style thing going on (she loves leopard print and wears a fedora in summer) and Giselle is a low-fuss gal. That said, I think the frill is gorgeous – but perhaps on girlier girls than mine :-)
Once you attach one edge of the binding strips to the arm and neck you then leave the other edge raw. It creates a really cool little finish as the binding curls over a little. Making the tops look a little bit cool’. The hemline is just finished with the rolled stitch on my overlocker. They take no time to make and kids love them.
With Zoe’s top I rolled the binding over on the sleeve edges as an experiment to see what a clean edge would look like. I prefer the raw edge finish TBH.
Zoe is tall and very lean, so she wears her top with a singlet underneath (she’s also a layering junkie like her mother – must be in the DNA).
The pattern is beautifully presented. It is vacuum packed and printed on environmentally friendly recycled paper. It’s also got detailed instructions and comes complete with some fabric swatches so you know that types/weights of fabric will be suitable. You can see the packaging here on the Stitch 56 site.
We recently had a road trip together, just the three of us. We had such a lovely time… we did the much-wanted trip to Dreamworld… which despite all the anticipation wasn’t quite what they hoped… although we had lots of laughs which I needed…
I couldn’t figure out if Giselle was trying to save Zoe… perhaps not…
and the things they loved the most on the road trip?
Staying on the top floor…
I confess I wasn’t a huge fan of the ‘water view’, the river is brown! #spoiltcoastal girl
Walking along the river at night…
They loved our evening walks before dinner – there was lots of games and giggles.
Visiting my grandfather’s house Glengallen (my grandfather was born in this house) near Warwick on the Darling Downs in Queensland…
I was always captivated by this house growing up – it was amazing to finally walk through the doors and see it partially restored. As a child I had only ever seen it derelict with the verandahs collapsing and windows smashed. I had always wondered about the house & the lives lived here – it’s just magnificent, I’m so glad we visited.
Horseriding for the first time…
I was shivering behind the camera – so cold! Thank goodness my cousin Megan is made of tougher stuff than me. #spoiltcoastalgirl
Staying in a little tiny cottage – even though it was freezing cold…
Yes, let’s all play ‘spot the ‘townie girl’ car’. I stayed in this cottage often as a child. It was referred to as Camp David. LOL. It’s been spruced up and there are even stairs into the cottage – I used to clamber up via a big rock – which was quite a feat… I was absolutely tiny as a child.
Feeding beautiful birds on a cold winter’s morning…
Rosellas at Queen Mary Falls
They are already talking about going back…
like the Little Truck Stop Top… the simple things in life are the best…
Thanks for reading :-)
MAKE DETAILS
Pattern: Truck Top Tee, The Makers’ Journal from Stitch 56
Fabric: remnants from Spotlight & Lincraft!
