The tale of the three princess dresses

Once upon a time, three little girls were invited to a princess party. Alas, they had no princess dresses to wear to this princess party. So a good fairy decided to try and make some dresses for these three little girls. The good fairy only had 3 days to make these dresses, and so she raided her stash for some suitable fabrics and trimmings, and got to work. Many doubts entered the good fairy's mind as she worked on the dresses - how was she ever going to get them finished on time. However, luck was on the good fairy's side, and with a few hours to spare, the dresses were completed. 

Pattern: Princess Dress from Little Lizard King

 And the princesses lived happily ever after ;-)

Baby Shower gifts

I went to a baby shower a couple of weeks ago for my husband's cousin's wife, who was only a couple of weeks away from having her first baby - a little boy. I was able to get crafty and put together a few things for the new arrival.

Card: Stamp set - Baby Prints and Nursery Necessities

Cardstock - Whisper White, Pacific Point and Kiwi Kiss

Ink - Pacific Point and Kiwi Kiss

Other: Oval punches, Polka Dot embossing folder

Tie Bodysuit to wear to church:

Newborn Snuggler from the Lotta Jansdotter book - Simple Sewing for Baby. Its a simple swaddling cocoon for a new baby. It's made from cotton fabric on the outside and minky on the inside to keep the baby warm.

(I also made one of these for my baby...)  

A quick crafty overview of the past few months...

I've been suffering from crafting ADD the last few months - I start a project, only to stop and start another one, and so on and so on. Plus the baby creating and working and two other little boys have left little time/energy for finishing things. And then there is the whole taking photos/blogging of the actual finished projects :-) But here are a few things I have been able to finish:

A baby girl outfit for a friend's baby shower. This is a combination of the Little Lizard King "Elizabeth Claire" pattern, a scalloped skirt tutorial and the "Diaper Cover" pattern from MADE.

A card to go with the baby outfit:

Toys for my boys - This is the Kinder Boys pattern by Ric-Rac (I haven't quite finished all the clothes for these yet...)

A MiniHoot using this tutorial

My youngest son's 2nd Birthday Cake (from Australian Womens' Weekly Childrens Cake Book)

3 zippered hoodies for my eldest son using Burda 9822

And the occasional card making - this is the mothers day card I made for my mum and mum-in-law.

Christmas Goodies

Warning: Picture heavy post...

So here's what "Santa" made for Christmas this year for some of the family members...

Top and skirt set for a 4 year old - the buttons and ribbon I used for trimming were actually from Stampin' Up (The free Ice-Cream Parlour bundle that came free during the year)

Ballet Neck Toddler dress from the "One-Yard Wonders" book - I made two of these for my 5 and 6 year old nieces:

Top and skirt - I can't find the tutorial I used for the skirt, but its very similar to this skirt here.

Shorts made from the Champion Cargos pattern by Make It Perfect:

The Junebug Dress by Craftiness is Not Optional:

A Mommy and Mia Apron from Sew Much Ado for my sister:

Kids Messenger Bag from One Yard Wonders:

A freezer-paper stencilled shirt for my brother:

And some Stick By Me goodies...

This one is a tile bought from Bunnings which I've stamped with Staz On in and Fifth Avenue Floral stamps from Stampin' Up. I had to be so careful not to smudge, but I'm really happy with how it turned out :-)

And a block set with the Stick by Me stickers:

And the biggest thing I learned from all this... if you want a handmade Christmas, you probably have to start in June! :-)

Birthday presents for the nieces

In the lead up to Christmas we have several family birthdays as well (from the end of November to the beginning of February we have 12 family birthdays from both sides). Here's what I made for the three nieces birthdays.

This first one was for a 4 year old. I found some shirts on clearance at Target for $2.86 (I bought some for my husband as well :-D), and intended to make a Shirt dress from MADE. However the material was a slightly thicker polyester and when I tried to make the shirred Shirt Dress the fabric didn't shirr that well. So I made a simple skirt instead, and took the pocket from the shirt to applique onto a plain white t-shirt. I've sewed up the buttons on the front of the skirt for modesty reasons :-) and added a broderie anglaise border to make the skirt a little more girly. The felt flower is cut out using the Big Shot.

The next set was for my little 1 year old niece. Its a simple shirred shirt and pair of shorts. I added a ruffle to the shorts to make them more girly.

The last dress was made using Simplicity 2320. One of my 6 year old nieces had been asking her mum for a "rainbow" dress, and I had this material left over from a trolley cover my mum made for me. I think it fits the bill of a "rainbow" dress :-)

Getting ready for Sunday :-)

My boys needed new shirts for church, and after searching for an inexpensive white shirt for my eldest son I decided to face my fears of sewing a button-up white shirt and actually give it a go. (I've been having issues with my automatic button-hole foot... ending up with buttonholes that are way too big for the button and lots of unpicking...) And to my surprise, it turned out really well :-)

Then I tried making a tie using the toddler tie tutorial from Lil' Blue Boo. And things didn't go so well with that. As you can see, its a bit too long for my boy, I used an interfacing that was a little too thick so the tie is really stiff, and I didn't hand sew the top (I did the elastic version) so now the tie has pulled out from under the knot. Oh well. It only took me about an hour or so from start to finish to make the tie so I know what to do next time :-)

And for son No 2 I appliqued some tie shapes onto onesies - the easiest way to wear a tie :-)

"Charlie" Pyjamas

Next up on the crafting catch-up is some pyjamas I made for my eldest son using the "Charlie Tunic" pattern from Made by Rae. I've used a couple of Rae's patterns now (the Buttercup Bag, the Big Butt Baby pants and now this one) and find them so easy to use. The only thing I had to tweak on these was that the placket was far too low on my boy - it reached almost down to his tummy. I've made it shorter on the short-sleeved version and it fits a lot better. Add some matching basic pants and ta-da - new rocket pj's for the 4 year old :-)

The Buttercup Bag and Gathered Clutch Purse

My cousin recently celebrated her 30th birthday, and after finding out from her husband that she would appreciate "something handmade, natural, green or crafty" I decided to try a couple of tutorials that I'd been wanting to try for a LONG time :-) I found some beautiful Moda Cotton Blossoms fabric in a Oz Material Girls online sale (unfortunately it appears Moda doesn't make this fabric any more) and some contrasting fabric in (of all places) Big W!

The first tutorial I used was the Buttercup Bag pattern from Made By Rae. I enlarged the pattern using the instructions in this post and I left off the button tab - I just sewed the buttons on to the outer layer. I also added some extra pockets on the inside. I also made the strap adjustable.

The second tutorial I used was the Gathered Clutch tutorial from Noodlehead. I must admit, I did find the zipper tabs in this tutorial a little tricky to do (my zipper foot and I don't get along very well) but I managed it in the end. I also added an extra pocket on the inside again (you can never have too many pockets in a handbag - well, that's what I think anyway)

These were quite quick and simple (well, except for the zip tabs) to make - I managed to make these over a couple of days while the kids were either eating or sleeping. I'll have to make some for myself now!

Make it Perfect Afterglow shirt

Sorry its been so long since posts! I've been so busy crafting (and with life in general) that I haven't had time to blog!

Anyway, one of my nieces recently celebrated her 5th birthday. I had been eyeing off the Afterglow pattern from Make It Perfect for a while and luckily The Oz Material Girls had it on sale! I found some material from my stash (I'm pretty sure my mum had used the same material to make one of my sister's a dress when she was only about 3 or 4 :-D), and voila!

The pleated detail is a bit hard to see in this photo (sorry, it was taken in the afternoon of the night before the birthday...). I shortened the pattern to shirt length, and added a pleated frill on the bottom. Below is the picture from the front of the Afterglow pattern so you can see the pleating around the neckline a bit better - I think mine turned out ok :-)

Hope the birthday girl liked it!

The Bapron

What is a Bapron? Simply, a baby apron :-) I found this tutorial on Craftiness is not Optional the other day, and thought it would be perfect to make for my 1 year old, who insists on feeding himself :-) It has more coverage than your average bib, and is a little harder for Mr 1yr old to take it off. I used a plastic "table bib" that my dad had picked up somewhere for free and cut it up to make this (and 3 other baprons). I lined the back with a "vintage" sheet (ie I picked it up from an op shop), and made my own bias tape using a Birch bias tape maker I received for my birthday (an awesome sewing tool). The tutorial uses fabric and flannel for their baprons, but I wanted something I could wipe clean (and could keep off beet root stains!). Oilcloth or any other laminated fabric would probably work well too.

And here's an action shot :-)

Easter bunnies

I know its a while after Easter, but this little Easter bunny has been a little slow to take photos...

I saw quite a few versions of this tutorial before Easter, and decided to share the marshmallow bunny love with my two boys.

I ended up using a cream fleece remnant I thrifted from my mum's stash. I learned a couple of things... firstly to draw a line when doing embroidery so that the words are straight... and pinning is essential to keep everything straight. I was rushing to get these done before Easter and so I left out the pinning. But they turned out quite good (albeit a little twisty) and the boys love them, which is the most important thing!

Champion Cargos - pattern by Make it Perfect

My boys both recently needed new pants to wear to church, so I pulled out the Make it Perfect book that I received for Christmas and found the "perfect" pattern - the Champion Cargos pattern.

The first pair I made were in an olive coloured drill that I had managed to snag on clearance at Spotlight one day. These are size 3.

The second pair I've just finished are in a size 0 for my 12 month old (and there is plenty of room). I made these using some corduroy I picked up at an op shop. I probably wouldn't make these pants out of cord again (unless maybe it was a microcord or something) because when it came to sew the waistband I was sewing through 4 layers of corduroy at the pockets and my sewing machine didn't particularly like it, even when using my denim needle.

I love how these turned out - and how they look just that little bit dressier without having to try and figure out how to do a zip fly!

Sharing

A couple of weeks ago (after trying to get together all year! :-D) two of my sisters-in-law came over for a sewing class where I taught them how to shirr. I was so nervous before they came over, because I'm really bad at trying to teach people (I would love to improve in that area - I love sharing techniques and ideas with others but just can't get the words out coherently!). But I shouldn't have worried, because they picked up the technique beautifully :-)

Here's what we made :-) My dress is on the left, G's dress for her 6 year old is in the middle and L's dress for her 6 month old is on the right. (sorry about the dark pic - it turned out to be a really cloudy afternoon...). And then my SIL's went further with the shirring... G figured out how to make shirred sleeves for the dress (I had never been able to figure it out before!). And then...

L made this gorgeous shirred headband and sewed on some felt flowers that I cut out using my Big Shot die cutting machine. The shirring technique is so easy and there are plenty of tutorials around to show you how. I'm glad I was able to share this skill with others and help them to enjoy sewing.

Finally...

One of my bad crafting tendencies is to get all excited about a project, going out and buying all the supplies... and then leaving them to sit in the (overflowing...) craft cupboard while I move onto something else :-) I've had the material for these cushions for about 18 months now. My original plan was to make this zigzag pattern from A Quilt is Nice - which is probably why it has been sitting there for so long. Cutting out is definitely my least favourite part of sewing. I'd rather just get straight in and sew. Anyway, I looked through the Sewing Bits and Pieces book that I received for Christmas and found this cushion cover pattern and decided that it looked much easier :-)

The material I've used is a fat quarter bundle that I'd found at Spotlight - I think there were 5 co-ordinating materials, and used a navy cotton fabric for the plain rectangles and for the backing.

(Just ignore the baby bottle lid in the photo...)

I'm really happy with the way these turned out. And I have a little bit more room in my craft cupboard now that the cushion inserts are gone :-)

How sometimes two wrongs (or three or four...) can turn out right

I recently hit the Boxing Day Sales where I picked up some plain polo shirts and a plain t-shirt from Rivers for $3.90 each. I decided that I wanted to embellish the plain t-shirt a bit, but still be able to tumble dry the shirt (due to all the rain we've been having). So I decided on reverse applique. And that's where things started to go a little pear-shaped... :-) Here's what I did.

Here's the original shirt. I love the blue, but it was just a little plain. My first problem was that the shirt didn't lie flat - it has a slight twist. I don't know if that makes it drape nicer, but it made the whole process a lot more challenging.

I found this tree design from LollyChops and thought that it would look great on a t-shirt.

Then I decided to try and use the freezer paper stencilling technique... Unfortunately I don't have any freezer paper, so I thought greaseproof paper would work as it is shiny on one side. So I traced the design and cut it out.

Then I tried to iron on the greaseproof paper. And found that its not the same as the American freezer paper. It just wouldn't stick. So I ended up having to trace around the stencil with a fabric marker.



Then I tried on the shirt and found that I had placed the design crooked and the trunk of the tree was pointing diagonally to my right hip. So I decided to just forget about sewing the trunk!

Next I pinned a remnant of white knit fabric to the inside of my shirt. Make sure that the knit fabric covers your front design.

Then I started sewing. I used a stretch stitch and my applique foot on my sewing machine.

This next photo is sideways but you get the general idea...

Then I trimmed the knit material to close to the sewing. Knit fabric won't fray, so you can leave it unhemmed, but it would probably look better with overlocked or zigzagged edges.


Carefully trim the top layer of fabric only around the design.

Ta-da! I'm really happy with how this turned out :-) Especially after all the stumbles along the way :-)