Burp Cloths

Some friends of ours had a baby boy the other week and I really wanted to make something for them. I have already planned on making some baby items to sell in the New Year, including these gorgeous burp cloths, so I thought this would be an ideal excuse to test them out.

The backing material is chenille, and is oh so soft. The co-ordinating fabric is cotton, and I also want to play around with some cute flannel material with the next batch that I make.

I've got to say, they look even cuter than what I even thought they would. I can't wait to make some more next year to add to my Etsy shop.

What do you think?

DIY Sewing Folder

It was my Sister's birthday last week, and I was trying to think of something to get her as a gift. She's recently joined our sewing class and has been making some lovely things, and seems to be really enjoying it.

I'd been mentioning different tutorial projects online here and there, but realised that it might be handy to have a whole heap of sewing tutorials in one easy place to give her ideas of future projects, and to see just how easy some projects really are!

So - with immense help of my Pinterest page - I prepared a quite large document (from memory, I think it was about 250 pages!!) containing all of my favourite sewing tutorials that I thought would be useful. I set up a folder with various sections, including some blank sections for her to fill up later, and also a couple of expandable plastic sleeves to store paper patterns, and also picture inspiration from magazines etc for ideas of future projects (something I started doing a little while back, and it's been quite useful). I realised that it wouldn't be practical to print off all of the tutorials to store in the folder, so I selected one from each category to print, and saved the whole document to a CD that could be stored in the front of the folder.

Here it is:

I also bought a voucher from Fabric.com to go towards fabric for her next project, and my lovely husband made up a very realistic gift card for me, as I just received the voucher in email form.

She seemed to really like it, and I'm sure she'll have fun skimming through all of the tutorials in there. I'm looking forward to seeing what she makes in the New Year!

Stripey Skirt

I've had a bit of a problem lately that has meant I need to make some new clothes. You see, I've lost 7kg (15lb) over the last 6 months and a lot of my clothes - especially skirts and trousers - are becoming too loose to wear. I know, terrible isn't it?!
Seriously though, I'm loving that I can make clothing that suits my new and improved body shape a little better, so I'm digging out some tutorials that I've been wanting to try out.
I've had some pink and brown striped jersey knit fabric for a little while and decided to make The Hopscotch Skirt using iCandy's tutorial. If you haven't checked out her wonderful tutorials, then definitely take a look. I changed it around slightly as I wasn't a huge fan of the checkerboard look, but otherwise followed the tutorial exactly - and it was so easy.

I love the sash tie on the front, it just adds a bit more cuteness to it.

Plaid Girl's Dresses on Etsy

I've added some more items to my Etsy Shop - these gorgeous plaid woollen dresses:

All three dresses are Size 1, and these are the only ones I plan on making. At least for now and in that fabric, as it's fabric I just picked up a few months ago not knowing what I was going to use it for!

My little model helped me out again - luckily she's a small two year old and the dresses fitted her still.

Aren't they just so cute? And perfect for those cold winter months.

New skirt additions to my Etsy Shop

I know I've been quiet on here lately, but that's for a good reason. I've been very busy on my sewing machine!

I made these corduroy skirts recently, and the other day had a photoshoot with my cute little model.

I've got to say, I love it when I've finished making something and it ends up looking even more cute on a little person than I even envisaged.

I have added these skirts to my Etsy Shop so they are available for purchase now - they are sizes 2-3 (they have an adjustable waist), but I will also do custom orders.

So let me know what you think!

Ice Cream Cozy

A while back, I pinned this Coffee Cozy Tutorial.  The thing is though, I’m not a coffee drinker but it looked so cute that I wanted to make one, but had to find a reason ... !


Fast forward a few months, and I found my reason. Once a week my husband and I sit down with some vanilla ice cream with milo on top (is there anything better?!) and watch one of our favourite TV shows. We have it in small ramekin bowls (portion control) but, being a particularly slow eater, I find that my hand gets way too cold.


Cue the Ice Cream Cozy!



Front

  

Back


I altered the pattern slightly to fit the ramekin, but otherwise followed the tutorial completely. It was a great project for using up some scraps, and I love how it turned out. And, of course, finishing it meant having to try it out, right?!

Woollen Skirt

I know, another skirt. I have decided I really have to start making some tops to go with all of these skirt creations!

But in the meantime, I am a bit excited about this one.

I picked up some woollen plaid material a little while ago from my local Spotlight store, with the plan of making a nice, warm winter skirt. I had an image in my head, but wasn't sure whether to go with a pattern or just wing it. After much hesitation, I decided to go without a pattern and, using an existing skirt to get the sizing right, I took the scary step of cutting out my fabric.

I cut in on the bias as I knew it would fall a bit nicer, and I much prefered the diagonal plaid pattern. I also decided to use a zipper for a side fastening, and an overlocked edge finish for the hem. The wool fabric is pretty thick, so I tried to take that into consideration while designing it so that I wouldn't end up with bulky hems etc that wouldn't fit under my sewing foot on my machine!

I was a little surprised that it ended up fitting so well, and it is really comfortable and warm to wear - which is great for the icy Melbourne weather at the moment.

Success!

Study Hall Skirt

I’ve recently finished making a skirt that I’ve been really excited about – I bought the pattern at the beginning of the year, and have actually had the fabric since last year, but I was a little nervous about how complicated it might be to make. So I decided this would be a perfect project for my weekly sewing lessons, so that I could get plenty of guidance along the way.

I used Anna Maria Horner's Study Hall Skirt pattern, and the fabric I used was Amy Butler’s Love – Memento, in Burgundy.

The fit is perfect, to my utter relief (I haven’t been as lucky with other patterns recently) and it is very flattering and comfortable. And pretty J

Recycling Old T-Shirts – Part 2

Last week I blogged about my stack of beloved t-shirts that I wanted to reuse, and so I thought I'd share another t-shirt recycling project with you.

While scouring the internet for inspiration, I found this T-shirt Skirt Tutorial  and decided this would work wonders.

Front

Back

I used three black t-shirts for this (sorry, I didn’t think to take before photos!): two of the t-shirts were used for the main body of the skirt, and the third (which was an old t-shirt I wasn’t that keen on anyway) I used for the skirt band – I prefer a stretchy band to just using elastic.  


It didn’t take long at all, and the best thing was that I didn’t have to hem it, as I just used the existing hemmed edges of the t-shirts!

Recycling Old T-Shirts – Part 1

I recently had a big clean out at home and discovered a stack of t-shirts that I love, but don’t fit anymore. I couldn’t bring myself to give them away, so I scoured the internet for ways to recycle them. I found plenty for t-shirts that are too big (blog posts for the future) but hardly any for ones that are too small.



I then came across mmmcrafts messenger bag tutorial that I had pinned onto Pinterest (seriously, who else is addicted to Pinterest?!) and realised that I could incorporate one of my t-shirts into that.

This is the t-shirt that I used (I’d already started cutting into it, when I decided I should take a “before” shot ... ). Can you see why I didn’t want to get rid of it?



The tutorial was so good, and easy to follow. I actually really enjoyed making it and it didn’t take long at all. For the main fabric, I actually used stiff curtain fabric and it was ideal – with just a red cotton lining.

Here is the finished product – the only thing I would have preferred would be having the image a bit further down, but I just had to work with what I had. I’ve had SO many positive comments about this bag, which is great because I love it too.



Stay posted for Part 2 ...

Plaid Wrap Skirt

A few weeks back I saw a picture of a plaid wrap skirt and I automatically thought “I bet I could make that ...” Usually, those sort of well meant plans have ended up in either a really dodgy result, or a massive headache of mistakes, lots of unpicking and vowing never to do it again.



So, this time I decided to do the proper thing of making a practice skirt out of some old fabric that I couldn’t use for anything else. I used an existing skirt to make up a pattern, and it ended up working out even better than what I’d expected, no alterations needed.

Front view

Back View

I finished my skirt the other night and wore it the next day, and LOVED it. The only thing I may need to address is that the D Rings don’t offer quite enough support for my peace of mind (they’re not bad, but I like to be 100% sure with wrap skirts!). I’m going to make another skirt with some gorgeous woollen plaid material, so I will do a “Plaid Wrap Skirt 2.0” and make the fastening more secure.

Bags of fun ...

Lately I've been making Nicole Mallalieu's City Shopper Bag (from her book You SEW, Girl!) as a present for my neice who was turning 10 years old. Well, this week I finished it:

I agonised over the fabric choice in my favourite fabric shop for a little while, but I am really happy with it (don't you just love the retro bikes!).

I also made this for my 5 year old neice (a request from Nana):

And, not wanting to leave out the remaining sister, I made her this purse together with my first lot of fabric covered buttons (I'm addicted to making these buttons now ... ):

It's amazing what you can get done on a wet and gloomy ANZAC Day public holiday.

Spoonflower

We got a very exciting package in the mail this week – our order from Spoonflower.

For those of you who haven't yet heard of Spoonflower, it's a company that prints your own designs and images onto a range of different fabrics. It can all be done online, and ours arrived from when we submmitted our design (from America to Australia) in just over 3 weeks.

The prices are quite good for what you're getting, I actually worked out that it was actually cheaper than some cool fabric (you will see this in a few weeks ... ) I picked up here in Melbourne. You can also submit your designs for others to buy, and you get commission on any that are bought, which is definitely something I'm encouraging my graphic design husband to do!

OK, now that I'm done "selling" it to you, I will show off our fabric:

We set it up in a way that we can cut it up and use them as embellishments, and the circles for fabric covered buttons. So keep an eye out for future Etsy items that will feature these cute little guys.

Scented Sachets

The other day we attended a 70th Birthday Party and so I decided to try out something I'd seen a little while ago on Quilting in the Rain's Blog called "Ravioli Sachets".

The best thing about doing this was that I had everything I needed right there in my sewing room. The fabric was from my (very overflowing) scraps tub; the ribbon was leftover from another project; and the pot pourri and scented oils were from a project I was going to do a year or two ago, that just didn't happen!

Each sachet was a different scent: Cinnamon, Nutmeg, Orange and Grapefruit. They made my sewing room smell very "pretty".

Personalised Child's Library Bag on Etsy

A couple of weeks ago, a good friend of mine had her Little Man start Kindergarten. So she approached me about making him a bag that he could use for their library visits.

Being a Librarian, and also keen to make things, I jumped at the chance! The other great thing is that the Kindergarten Teacher had suggested I make up a flyer in case any other Mum's were interested in having one made for their child as well.

Well, after having a bit of a think about what would look really cute, and also be practical for the many Library visits, I came up with this:

What do you think?

Tyson had requested "Blue with spots" and also to have the Dinosaur (as you'll see from the picture below, we took the liberty of changing Dudley the Dinosaur to Blue for this special occasion).

Dudley the Dinosaur is one of Ash's creations from a year or two ago that I've been busting to use, and this seemed like the best way to introduce them. So let me introduce you to Dudley's friends - Florence, Geoffrey, Katie and Harry. Harry the Horse is only 1 week old, but has been accepted very kindly into the group by the rest of the animal bunch.

Aren't they just so cute?!

I have added this to my items on Etsy, so if you're reading this and thinking "Oh my, I wish I could have one!" then this is your golden opportunity. Just click on my Etsy link, or go straight to Personalised Library Bag by Spot of Colour.

By the way, Tyson was delighted with his new bag and I believe he will be using it today at Kinder.

A million and one projects

A slight exaggeration, perhaps.

In true "me" style, since getting back into my sewing projects for the new year I have managed to build up a massive list of projects, so I now have a heap in progress and heaps more sitting waiting to go. So, if you're patient just for a little bit longer, you will be able to find out what they've been!

Recently though, I celebrated my 31st birthday and was lucky enough to get some birthday money from both my parents, and my husband's parents. So I bought myself an overlocker - a Janome Ezy Lock 304D (which I still need to learn how to use, but I'm looking forward to using it!), and I also bought these two patterns which I've been eyeing off for a little while now:

Anna Maria Horner's Study Hall Skirt Pattern

I'm thinking of using my Amy Butler Love fabric, and matching plain burgundy for the contrast fabric.

Amy Butler's Mini Dress, Tunic and Top Pattern

I'm unsure whether to do a top, or longer version of the Tunic dress. (To be honest, I'm also unsure now if maybe I should use the Amy Butler fabric for this instead ... ?)

Check back in with me hopefully next week to see what else I've been up to!