My little witch

So... Halloween is here and at F's nursery they are having 2 days of full on party!! Yesterday she was a little Pumpkin (bought outfit) and today she is a witch. The first thing she said this morning when she saw the outfit was 'I don't like it'. Excellent... somehow I managed to get her to put it on and after a while she started to like it a bit more (the broom and hat that I had bought to go with it helped!!).

I also made one cape for me and one for H to wear on Saturday when we are going to a Halloween party. Thay are made exactly the same way as F's but just longer (and on H's I made the 'hole' for the neck a little bit bigger).

Pattern:

The same as this one for the dress and the same as this one for the cape (but without hood).

Material:
Some strange and VERY DIFFICULT TO WORK WITH material with white print for the dress and the lining of the cape. The outer of the cape and the lining of the dress is something they called 'budget silk' in the shop. It is a rather heavy fabric so worked quite well.

Next time:

Try to make sure the fabric is a more easy to work one than this time... The print is almost like plastic and the thread kept breaking, stitches were skipping both on my overlocker and my sewingmachine. I was on the phone 5(!) times to Sewing Machines Direct thinking it was my overlocker that was broken. They were very helpful but I think the main problem was rubbish quality thread and this very tricky fabric.

 

Addicted to fabric??

Today I did it again... I went to the fabric shop in Tooting to buy thread and to 'have a look'. This is what happened!! 5 new fabrics!!! :o)

From left:
1. Red cotton with white dots.
2. Red and white gingham (smaller pattern than the fabric I had already).
3. White polycotton with pattern in red.
4. Warm yellow cotton ribbing.
5. Fleece that I will probably make pouch trousers from.

Where will this stop?? Need to move to a bigger house if I don't start to sew more now. Hhihihi!!

Purple skirt

This skirt was very quick to make, but when I had just 10cm left to do on the last hem, the needle broke!! Typical... it was the twin needle and I didn't have one that was exactly the same size to the seam looks slightly different on the last bit, but I don't think anyone will notice.

Pattern:
The same as this one, and just like on that one I didn't do a belt.

Material:
Baby-cord from John Lewis.

Next time:
This one was a bit big because I use an overlocker so when there is a 1.5cm seam allowance included it is a bit too wide. I will fix this one and modify the pattern for the next one. I will also try to remember to put the size label on the next one.

 

Goldhawk Road

Ooops... I was only going down there to 'have a look' and ended up bying 9 new fabrics. H kindly sent me a link to this blog that recommended Goldhaw Road fabric shops. Now, he probably wishes he didn't!! ;o)

 100% cotton that I thought could be used for lining a dress or maybe make something for the summer. (I know - summer is a long way away yet, but it is never to early to make plans.)

Cotton jersey in very nice and soft quality. The colours doesn't really come out very well in this photo, it is a very nice red in reality.

Another even softer cotton jersey. Very 'flimsey' and nice.

A not too thick stretchy denim fabric with metallic red stars printed on it. Maybe a little A-line dress or a trouser pouch? Or is it a bit too mad this fabric...? :o)

I have never seen 'fabric' like this before. It will probably be a nightmare to work with but has great potential for something rather nice. (With my lack of patiens though, it is very likely to end up in the bin if it starts to play up!!)

I love this fabric!! I found it in the last shop I visited and just had to buy it. There were a few more in there but I already had so much in my bags that I limited myself to only this one. Will definately go back though!!

This is for the summer. It is cotton with blue embroidery on it. Can see it as a little peasant top for F. :o)

The first thing I will create from this is a dress for F. Will try to add some little detail on it to make it a little bit less 'serious' and grey. Will keep you updated on how that goes.

Ok, that is it for now. I recommend a trip down there for everyone who needs some new and interesting fabrics!!

Fabric covered boxes

I needed some boxes for F's toys and was struggling to find any that I thought was any good. So, what I decided to do was to buy some temporary ones from IKEA  and cover them in fabric. F wasn't too impressed when I tried to take her boxes to photograph them so she had to be part of the photograph. :o)

Pattern:
None, I just meassured the boxes and went from there.

Material:
Striped poly cotton.

Next time:
Use a thicker fabric that is less transparent and add handles for pulling the boxes out with.

Purple dress with little flowers

Pattern:
My own. It is a modified version of this one but one size bigger.

Material:
Babycord (that I think I bought in Sweden...) and turquoise cotton for lining.

Next time:
Next time I might try to use buttons and button holes.

Patchwork duvet cover

Pattern:
My own.

Material:
Leftover fabric from curtains, boxes and duvet cover, some red and white Gingham that I was ment to make a hat from but never did and an old bed sheet.

Next time:
Do a different pattern and don't try to make a grid, it is impossible to line it up perfectly!!

Pouch-trousers v 2.0

Another little 'welcome to the world' gift. This one is for the little brother/sister of a girl in F's nursery. I had already started on this one when I finished the other one so unfortunately this one also has the jeans-stitch on the back...  However, I made the inner pouch's waist a bit smaller on this one with a much better result.

Pattern:
My own, but the idea is from ATT SY EN GECKO's blog.


Material:
Very thin and soft jeans-look stretch cotton for outer and stretch jersey for lining and inner.

Next time:
Make the inner pouch a little bit smaller than the outer one, not only at the waist. Maybe better to use a fabric that doesn't need an inner pouch?

Pouch-trousers premiere

This is a little 'welcome to the world' gift for the little brother of a swedish girl that goes to the same swim school as F. It is a bit of an experiment because I don't have anyone to meassure or test on that is of the right size/age. I have seen this type of 'pouch-trousers' in ATT SY EN GECKO's blog and thought they looked so cute.

Pattern:
My own, but the idea is from ATT SY EN GECKO's blog.

Material:
Very thin and soft jeans-look stretch cotton for outer and stretch jersey for lining and inner.

Next time:

Make the inner pouch a little bit smaller than the outer one, especially at the waist and put the 'jeans stitch' so that it shows from the front instead of the back.(I will update this section once I receive some feedback from the receiver of these 'pouch-trousers'.)

Sleep bag prototype

Even though we still have some rather nice and warm weather during the day, the nights are quickly getting colder.
Little F is kicking off her blanket when she is asleep and I have not been able to find any sleep bags for toddlers (they only seem to go up to 18 months). As soon as the weather changed F started to sniffle and cough so I made this prototype where the idea was an opening at the bottom that was done in a way so that it could be turned 'inside out' when she got out of bed in the morning so she would be able to walk with it on. Didn't work out... firstly I made a mistake when I put it together but I have also realised that it makes more sense to just take it off as soon as she wakes up (she is wearing her sleepsuit inside the sleep bag).

Pattern:
My own.

Material:
White fleece, some white stretch jersey from my stash for lining at the top half of the bag and 2 snap buttons.

Next time:
Make it a 'simple' pouch without any gap at the bottom where the legs can find their way out. Also make it longer and wider and use lining in all of the sleep bag and not just the top.

Matilda's new clothes

This little doll is called Matilda. She used to be mine when I was a little girl and now she belongs to F. Matilda has been in storage for the last couple of decades(!) and was in desperate need of some new clothes. She got this little polka dot top and some very simple trousers with elastics in the waist.

Pattern:
My own.

Material:
Leftover cotton fabric from when I made the curtains for F's room and white stretch jersey from my stash.

Next time:
Make 'holes' for arms bigger. A bit tight on this one...

Polka-dot curtains for F

I wanted some red and white curtains, I wanted them now and I didn't want to spend too much time on it. The result is simply two rectangles with a channel at the top for the curtain rail to go thru.

Pattern:
None.

Material:
Cotton.

Next time:
Try a different type of curtain. But what...? Ideas welcome.

It started with a toadstool...

Earlier this summer my cousin U came for a visit with her daughter. They gave F a lovely little money box in the shape of a toadstool. It is so cute and now has a proud place on a shelf in F's room. This gorgeous little  toadstool inspired the creations in the next few posts and F's room is slowly developing a red and white theme to match with the money box.

♥♥♥ Thank you U!! ♥♥♥

The Guardian (off topic)

On the weekend H and F was on the front cover of the family section in The Guardian. It was an article about first-time fathers.

The photograph was taken about one year ago by photographer Megan Taylor.

♥♥♥

Blue and yellow like the beach

Today it was another fancy dress day at nursery and the theme was 'Blue and yellow like the beach'. The blue linen trouses are the ones I made a few weeks ago so all I had to do was a peasant top from some leftover fabric I had in my stash and a lei to finish it off. :o)

Pattern:
Modified Butterick 3045. I didn't have any instructions for the lei...

Material:
Leftover yellow cotton fabric from my stash. The lei is made of 3 buqets of flowers from the pound-shop that I ripped apart and then put on an elastic band with peices of plastic straw in between.

Next time:
Let's wait and see what the theme is next time...