Child's Paint Smock

A good friend of mine asked me if I could make her little son a paint smock for when he started school this year. She wanted it to be something fun that he would recognise and love, and also it needed to have his name clearly labelled where the teachers could easily see it.

I set about finding a free pattern for an ideal paint smock, and found this Kid's Art Smock Pattern from Don't Look Now!'s Blog. It not only has a free pattern, but a step-by-step tutorial that is very easy to follow.

The fabric that I used was Robert Kaufman's Robot Factory - this was the one that Master T picked from some of my favourites, and I'm glad he did as I just love it!

And lastly, my husband (Graphic Designer/Signwriter) came up with the idea of printing the name onto iron-on vinyl. I don't think his teacher will have any trouble seeing that!

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.

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.

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.

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.