A Sunny hat for my niece

 I made my niece a Sunny hat using the free pattern from Twig and Tale.

It is super cute, especially in the rainbow ink blot fabric from Frankie Bear. I quite enjoyed making this hat - I didn't do too well on the lining up on the outer layer, but the lining is perfect of course! It's a good thing it was a nice sew as I've got two nephews and a niece that will need hats for their birthdays too. Lily very cutely got so excited when I showed her the finished hat for her cousin, and promptly asked which cousin I'm making a hat for next...

Lily's dance bag

 We've started Lily in dance lessons where she needs jazz and tap shoes, plus a jumper since it's cold in the mornings now. So I spent the past few days trying to sew a bag with Miss Bossy Boots asking me if I've finished yet!

I followed a video tutorial from Echidna sewing to make this mini duffle bag, which is a great size bag for a 3 year old. I used webbing for the handles, added extra pockets inside and put d-rings on the ends in case Lily wants a long strap.

The corners of the side pieces look wrong but I didn't have the brainpower to work out how to fix it, especially not with a deadline of the next dance class. It was an easy sew other than the bulky seam I made by adding the d-ring, so that part go sewn by hand - I must remember not to put on moisturiser right before hand sewing again! 

Something that would have made the whole process easier was to use a black lining so I could stick with one thread colour. And I should have added elastic to the long side pockets to stop them gaping open so much. Maybe I'll stretch some elastic along the pocket and stitch it in place and see if that improves the pockets.

The fabric is from my stash and my mum's stash, and the rainbow zip was from Temu.

Rainbow hearts Chloe dresses

 Well I don't know what I've been doing, but I completely forgot to write a blog post last week. I mean can I blame that we have a "threenager" and we are exhausted... and so is she since she will not sleep!

I have been crocheting again, but that's all work in progress blankets which will probably never be finished. And when I asked Ray what on earth I've been doing he said a lot of gardening - which is thanks to the Autumn weather finally cooling this place down. There has also been a lot of chasing a toddler who recently decided she needs to run down the hill whenever you're not looking!

Over a month ago we had a first birthday to go to so I sewed a dress for the birthday girl, along with a matching one for Lily. Although she thinks I'm terrible because I didn't add pockets!

This is the free Chloe dress baby and Chloe dress from Vintage Little Lady. The fabric is Rainbow Hearts for the skirt, with a purple homespun for the top. I thought about doing all rainbow hearts but I really liked the solid top I did on the first Chloe dress I made.

So that's this week sorted, and I'd best get to work on something to share with you next week!

Birthday bunting

 I quite enjoyed making this Christmas bunting and mentioned that I would like to make birthday bunting and I finally did, with the help of my mum.

Originally my thought was that I could just cut some stencils and paint the letters on, but mum said she could do the letters on her fancy embroidery machine.

The fabric is all from Spotlight with the triangles being poplin with a white cotton drill for the backing, and the trim is another poplin. The font I chose for the embroidery letters is Jared.

It was quite the process in the end and would have been far easier to buy a printed panel like the Christmas one was, but this is special and one of a kind. And just like the tablecloth I shared last week, I hope that it will be used for many birthdays to come!

Rainbow tablecloth

 I decided for Lily's party this year that I would make a bright rainbow tablecloth instead of buying yet another one of those plastic "reusable" ones, that haven't actually survived their first use.

I nearly didn't finish it, turns out I don't like slippery satin. It's impossible to cut straight and equally impossible to press the hems. While I did roll the whole lot up and throw it in a box, I ended up getting it out and finishing it. The worst part of it all was that I was hoping I would enjoy sewing satin because it was supposed to be my practice run for sewing a dress with it... obviously not happening anytime soon!

The rainbow satin is from Spotlight and the trim is from Temu. Here's hoping it will suit many birthday party themes over the years, and save us from needing anymore of those "reusable tablecloths".

A sun hat for myself

 I made myself a hat!

I used the free Set Sail Hat from Patterns for Pirates. I made the biggest brim size but ended up trimming a few centimeters off and finishing with bias binding. The interfacing was some old stuff I had at home sand ended up being rather floppy so I added extra interfacing and lots of top stitching. It's still a little floppy so I might trim another couple of centimeters off and see if that helps. Probably would have been smart to just buy what was recommended...

Anyway I'm really happy with it, and even happier that I don't need to keep replacing my straw hats that never last long and can't be washed!

Garden apron

 I made myself a garden apron! Because half my clothes don't have pockets which is really annoying when you're on acreage.

Of course I'm happy to finally finish my new apron, but nowhere near as excited as Lily is! I tried it on to show her and she was stuffing all her pens in the pocket - I assume it'll be full of 'pretty' rocks whenever we go outside.

This is the tutorial I followed, with a couple of changes. First, I cut the pocket front and lining the same size so I could keep as much of the print visible so I don't have the decorative trim at the top. Second I didn't have any D rings so I cut the tie piece 9" longer - I can just tie it in a bow, so definitely needed to add a few more inches.

And then I went and made an apron for Lily using the same fabric...

I used this tutorial, but when it came to sewing I found it easier to follow their video. I didn't add a pocket into the bib as I turned the skirt into one huge pocket! It is simply a second skirt layer with some hand holes cut out of each side, I finished the pocket edge with bias binding since it was a curve.

Santa sacks

 I've finally made Santa sacks out of the Australian animal fabric panels I bought a couple of years ago - they match the panel I bought for this bunting.

I originally bought two of the panels because I wanted the red on both sides, but after washing the fabric it warped so I had to do the blue on one side and red on the other. And then I just had to deal with the wonkiness and the fact that they aren't actually nice even rectangles. Now I have two exactly the same... handy for Santa to quickly swap the empty sack for a full one!

Lily loves the empty sack, so I'm sure she'll love it even more when she wakes up to it full of presents on Christmas morning! So far she is excited for all things Christmas - except the train we attempted to put under the tree (it's just as scary as the robot vacuum).

Christmas furoshiki

 Well I've finally made some fabric wrapping paper so I could do Furoshiki for our Christmas gifts this year. I actually completely forgot about this plan until I had already wrapped a few presents. 

I still need a lot of practice but I'm really enjoying using the fabric and not wasting so much paper! I've just been using everyone's intial in marker on all the paper wrapped presents, for fabric ones I used the 3D printer to make reusable tags.

If you're wondering, I used 1/4" hem and mitered the corners. If you have a 1/4" seam foot it makes things so much easier - especially when there is a toddler sitting on your lap while you sew!

I didn't prewash like I normally do, simply to make it easier cut, fold, etc.

Deciding on what sizes was the hardest part so I've just been making a few at a time then trying them out before making more. So far I have found 50cm a pretty good size and 70cm is a little big for most of our presents so far.

I still have another 2m of reindeer fabric so I might try some 60 or 65cm ones next.

Pillowcases

 Last month Lily had conjunctivitis for the first time, luckily she got over it quickly and actually asked for her eye drops! But the hardest part was the pillowcases, she got upset that I was taking her bunny pillowcase away to give her a clean one. I thought I'd make my life easier and just buy some cute pillowcases, but turns out they're hard to find. Besides, I have so much fabric and a sewing machine so now she's got three new cute pillowcases - and no more tears whenever she needs a clean one!

I even found my notes from when I made all the kids in our family pillowcases for their birthdays. Although I still needed a pillowcase example since I couldn't understand my own instructions!

Maggie's Booties Pandas

 I finally finished some mummy/daughter matching slippers! Just in time for winter to be over of course...

These are Maggie's Booties, I've made a few of them as those tiny feet grow quite fast! For mine I didn't have enough of the non slip fabric left, but I did find some vinyl fabric at the op shop which is working well. And my little one was so excited when she realised we had matching slippers!

Lovely muslin blankets

 I loved these thick (3 layer) muslin blankets I made while I was pregnant, so much so that I luckily got the last three metres of the rainbow gingham from Frankie Bear Fabric so I could make two more!

Now I will admit at 1.5m wide, they are rather large for a newborn, but they are perfect for my toddler. She loves these blankets almost as much as the fluffy one on her bed! It is the perfect size for travelling so I like keeping one in the car and the pram.

I must say though, sewing with a toddler is difficult enough, let alone when they love a fabric so much that they've decided it's theirs! Trying to get it cut is impossible when you have to chase said toddler to get the fabric back every time you walk way from the cutting table. I'm so glad she can't reach the scissors yet...

Corner straps for sheets

 Did you know you can buy clip on straps for sheets? I did not, until after I sewed elastic on the corners of our mattress protectors, when I happened to stumble across them.

It's very quick and easy - I sewed 6 inch pieces of elastic approximately 6 inches in from the corner and repeated for all corners... and now they don't slide up the side of the mattress!

Trolley Liner

 It took me forever to finally sew up this trolley liner - and I had it cut out, ready and waiting for so long. I guess cute little outfits were more appealing to sew.

I can tell you that I did not enjoy sewing it, and probably won't ever sew another one. Perhaps it would have been easier with an industrial machine rather than just a domestic one.

At some point I would like to add some flaps or something at the sides - they seem to be the focus for little hands, which instantly go in little mouths of course.

But it's done, it's great, and now I can do a full shop at Aldi since they don't have click and collect. I normally just took the pram but that doesn't leave much room in the car for said groceries.

The pattern I used was from Muffy Duck Designs, the instructions were great as usual, it's just big and bulky which makes it awkward to sew. Like the pram liner, I made it out to be much harder than it actually was!

Christmas Bunting

 One of the first things we packed into a storage shed in preparation for our move was the Christmas decorations. There is no chance we're pulling everything out to get to it so our house is not very Christmassy this year - I'll make up for that next year! 

Luckily I hadn't packed up all of my fabric until recently so I was able to pull out the Christmas bunting panel which I bought in the boxing day sales last Christmas.

It was actually quite fun to make, repetitive but nice and easy. I might even make a birthday one for our daughter! It would have been easier to use premade bias binding but I didn't think to get that out of the shed. Strips of a newly purchased mistletoe Christmas fabric (it's all on sale already!) worked well enough... but I now have more fabric to pack! 

I actually bought a few of their cheap Christmas fabrics to do Furoshiki for our daughters gifts in the future. We'll see how I go with learning the folding technique and I might start doing it for everyone's gifts. I'll keep you updated, I'm not quite sure what sizes would be best to make, or how they wrap large gifts. Perhaps we'll hide any that are too big for the fabric wrap and do a treasure hunt for them instead!

Christmas Dress

 I'm cutting it close with Christmas this year, I finally finished my daughter's Christmas dress, once it is washed we can get her Christmas photos done!

This pattern is Simplicity 7017, it was my grandma's pattern and it looks like she has made a few versions! 

This is the first one I made which is a size 1/2, although its more like size 1. Now that she is so tall it is a top! The Christmas one I made size 1, again seems more like size 2, but I used the length of the size 3, next year it might still fit as a top!

I was a bit lazy and opted to gather them rather than do the pleats - I tried for the Christmas one but couldn't work out the instructions. I also added a second set of buttons/snaps so they would fit her sooner.

Isabella Romper and Skirt

 I've been going through my photos and found a little romper and skirt that I made using the Isabella Mini fabric from Frankie Bear.

This little romper was one of the first ones I made and it is the Daphne from Bebekins. In the blur of caring for a newborn I don't really remember making this pattern other than having a tough time wrapping my head around how to do the straps! I also made a matching bib for this one but unfortunately didn't take a photo before packing it all away.

This skirt is another one from Scattered Thoughts of a Crafty Mom - I've shared the Sunflower and the Galaxy skirts I've made in the past. The only change for this one was that I made it a bit shorter since it was a gift for a toddler and I feel the other ones I've made are quite long.

Minu Pram Liner

 We really like our big pram but it takes up our whole boot so we got a little stroller for the car. New pram means we need a new pram liner!

The pattern is from Muffy Duck Designs which is the same company I got the pattern for my other pram from.

This one I made double sided using blue gingham and my special panda fabric from Frankie Bear. I also added velcro to the strap covers so they don't fall off all the time.

It was even easier the second time - mostly because I knew it wasn't anywhere near as difficult as I originally thought it would be.

Red and Black Amsterdam Romper

 In this post I mentioned that it was the second time I had made an Amsterdam Baby for my daughter. This one is my first version, but a romper with an extra fancy lace overskirt.

Since it was my first time sewing with lace I had to figure out how to finish the seams and the hem. I opted to do a bias binding hem and did a small, close zig zag over the side seams, then trimmed.

This romper was made for our wedding anniversary, we decided to head back to the Japanese gardens where we got married and got an updated photo since we're a family of three now! For our wedding I wore a red and black dress so decided that our daughter could wear something similar and I'm really happy with how it turned out and as an added bonus, bold colours really suit her.

As for the snaps on the bottom of the romper I got a whole kit from Amazon, I never have to make button holes anymore!

Rainbow Ink Amsterdam Dress

 I love this Rainbow Ink Blot fabric from Frankie Bear! I've been hoarding this for awhile and I'll definitely need more of this one!

This dress was made for my daughter to wear to a party to celebrate her Great Grandfather, if he were here today I think he would very much approve of this bright and beautiful dress! 

This is the Amsterdam Baby from Little Lizard King and it is the second time I've made this dress - I should find a photo of the first one to share with you. 

My only issue with this one (apart from catching the gathers when I attached the waist to the bodice) is lining up the straps and loop nicely. My solution for this was to use the knot button on my sewing machine before and after the strap so I could unpick that section. Then used the stitch holes to line up the strap properly and restitch the straps in place.

I opted for the size 3 rather than the size 2 as it is a bit hard to get her arms into dresses with elastic backs. I'm hoping as she gets older she'll continue to get less upset about clothing that goes over her head - as a newborn she would cry every time, thankfully now it's just if we take too long.