Some Christmas presents - play tent & house bag

This year I made a few Christmas presents. (What a surprise!) So Lilly and her best friend both got a house bag. I forgot to take a photo of Ellen's, but this is Lilly's. (Ellen's is more or less the same, but with a blue and yellow flower print on the outside walls.)

And Connor got this play tent. We had to try this out in the back yard and it was a hit! Love the Ikea fabric.

A few more of these tents may have to get made I think! This one was a 6 sided tent, and I think I might try a 4 sided one next. Electrical conduit (25mm PVC pipe) was used as the poles - as you can see I didn't cover the top ends of the poles - but I really don't think the kids noticed!

Tutus and dinosaur tails!

This is what Lilly's birthday is going to be! The girls at the party with get a tutu, and the boys will get dinosaur tails! So I have made the tutu's:

Lilly's is from voile (it was on special at only $2/m, and I thought it would be nice and soft, but still have enough body). The others have stiff net (pink) underneath, with only the top layer being voile. The instructions I based this on is one from Clairebear's Tutu 2.0. I did only 3 layers for Lilly's, and only 3 cuts for the base (10cm) layer; and I didn't pleat the top layer, just the "zigzag over dental floss" gather.

And for the boys ... here is my trial tail ... RAAA!:

These are from Running With Scissors. Better get a wiggle on for these... the party is supposed to be on Sunday, and I have 5 tails to make, as well as all the organising for the party (last minute thing....).
Will hopefully post some photos of everyone's tutu's and tails after the party!

Reconstruction How To for Girls

The dress on the left was found at Mission Australia, new from Alley for $2, size XS. The one on the right was a random shirt that was way to big for me (size 16). Lilly likes twirly skirts and shirred dresses - I figued these could be put to good use!
First up, the dress to tutu skirt - easiest reconstruction ever!:

 

Basically the top was cut off, turned over, and elastic added. For a bit of girlyness I threaded some pink ribbon though the eyelet around the top, and added a few on the skirt too. Apparantly a good skirt for spinning jumping.

Secondly, the shirt top to dress - a few more steps involved, but still pretty easy:

The sleeves were cut off. There was elastic over the shoulder of the sleeve - I unpicked this and added it across the top row of elastic shirring on the front and back, as this seemed to be getting a little loose. I did some basic measurements on Lilly for her chest took the side seams in to brinkg it snug around her chest. A few more basic measurements to get a shape for under her arm. I used a strip of fabric (cut on the bias) from the sleeve and used this to bind the new edge under the arms (hidden on the inside). There was also a strip of shirring on the original sleeve - I took this off to created the shoulder straps. To be honest, this seems to be a bigger hit than the tutu skirt. I think this is going to be great for summer!

Fabric Doll House

During one of my internet surfing sessions I came across this fabric doll house tutorial by "UK lass in US". Of course I can never do something exactly as someone else ... so here I have used an industrial felt (not sure exactly what you call it, but this is what it feels like) for the internal stiffener (the same that I use for my zippered handbags). This little house was given to Isla Rose who did seem to really appreciate it! (Thanks Isla's mum & dad for the lend of your trailer!).

The last photo is of Lilly modeling the doll house before we gave it to Isla.

Trial Doll

Here is a doll I worked on today while Troy was asleep. This has been developing over the last two weeks and this is the 2nd prototype. The first was quite different: short stumpy legs and arms, big head. I decided I didn't really like it that much (started from an old toys book I found at the Salvos, printed in the 80's). Lilly's first reaction to this doll was "wow, she's got a tutu!".

Zoe's Bunting

I mentioned Jack's sister's bunting flags in the last post, well here they are:

Personalised buntings

I made these buntings up during the week:

• ISAAC turns 1 and has a party today I think - congratulations mum & dad, you made it this far!
• JACK this is for a friend for his Christmas present - his sister's is nearly done too
• SIENNA is having her christening this weekend. These are double sided flags - on the back the letters are in yellow

New hat for El-Hannah - Girly cowboy style

Happy Birthday to El-Hannah!
When we see her tomorrow she gets this lovely new hat...hope she likes it! (Lilly assured me that here favourite colour was purple!)

  

 

The fabric flower has a snap on the back so it can be clipped to the side of the hat. Both sides of the hat can also be clipped up - cowboy style, or single side only. There is an extra snap on the left side so that the flower can be snapped to the clipped up side. Lots of choices, but only 1 hat!

Personalised buntings (name flags)

I made a few buntings last week for birthday presents. Pale yellow flags, with bright pink letters, then hand stamped with pink butterflies, and finished with a satin ribbon. I've noticed that a lot of the bunting flags sold on the internet only have 20" of ribbon for tying (about 50cm). But I left 60" on these. Hardest thing was trying to photograph these! This was the best one of the lot. Really like how the rounded flags turned out - thought these would look a bit more femine than the triangular flags.

Skirts added to Madeit

I have been working on this new skirt pattern, and these are the finished product. These are all made from thrifted fabrics, so they will be quite unique. The back of the skirt is the same as the front panel, and there are pockets in the side panels. Here are some details of the pockets:

There is some elastic creating a gather along the top edge of the pocket.
And here was one of my first trial skirts on Lilly:

She was about a size 2 then and it still fits her as she grows into a size 3. I think we will get next winter out of it, and maybe even another summer (size 4), depending on her waist.

I have some more skirts cut out, and I am going to try and put adjustable (buttonhole) elastic in them. That will definately increase the wearable period!

I am also planning on making up a PDF version of the skirt pattern to sell. Anyone interested in giving it a go as a trial?

New pants for Seth & Lilly

Why make one pair of pants when you can make two! I picked up a brown corduroy quilt cover at a thrift store the other day for much cheaper than you can buy corduroy. But I knew Lilly would never like to wear plain brown pants... what to do? Pink Birds ... girly enough for Lilly, and not too pink for mum ... win-win! And yes she does love them! Seth got a plane ... but I think I made them a bit big for him. Both have a cargo style patch pocket on the side of the right leg for special treasures you find.

Kids Overalls - trial of McCalls pattern 4518

I found this lovely pattern the other day at the Salvos. Not only was it complete, but it was even un-cut, and for only $1 an absolute bargain! Lilly helped choose the fabric. I thought this might increase the likeliness of her wearing them...I'm not holding my breath though...

I think this would look so gorgeous in a stripe, or with contrasting fabrics. Not totally won on the overalls idea though....I want to see how practical they are.

Madeleine's Banner - Personalised bunting flags

Inspiration came to me yesterday for Madeleine's first birthday present. This is how it turned out.

The flags are from a fairly heavy type of canvas with all raw/unfinished edges. I have used 6 strands of embroidery floss for the letters (deep red colour), and pieces of lace, buttons, doilies and ribbon for decorations (all in neutral tones). For the ties I cut bias strips 1" wide from a neutral (with print) fabric. I just folded this in half, so there is another raw edge along the bottom edge of the tie along the whole length.

This was quite easy to make, and I only used materials I already had in my cupboard - it's amazing what you can make in a pinch (Madeleine's birthday party is today)! I loved the way this turned out - hope Madeleine and her mum do too!

Scrappy Twirly Skirt for Lilly

During the heat of yesterday, while Lilly was having her day sleep I literally sat at the overlocker. I had a large tub of scraps and off-cuts and just started randomly picking out fabrics. I kept adding on until I had a new 'fabric'. I intended on making this a full circle skirt, but it got a bit too hot in the studio, so it ended up a 3/4 circle skirt! Great thing about the overlocker is that you don't have to worry about cutting the edges nice and straight - just let the machine do it for you! So here is the result:

I'll see if I can get a photo of Lilly wearing it tomorrow!

Next time I am going to make one long strip about 4" or 5" wide and make a 3 layer tiered skirt - this will give it a better twirling action.

There orange casing around the top has a split, and the tie is lace on the ends, with about 12" of elastic in the centre - this allows for growth to get more wear from the skirt. I love the 'prettiness' that the lace gives to the skirt. And you can wear the bow at the back, at the front, or on the side!

Retro stripe shorts

The fabric used in these was found at Salvos - I loved it as soon as I saw it! It looked that this was a cot sheet at one stage. It feels like a really good quality cotton - quite thick for a sheet, but perfect for some cool duds! I got 4 pairs, 1 each of size 0, 1, 2 & 3 (photos in same order). Again, destined for my market stall - which looks like it may be infront of the Old Court House in Wollongong on Sunday November 29, 2009. My favourite is the diagonal stripes!

Shorts from thrifted fabrics

These shorts were inspired by the crazy patchwork style of quilting. Fabrics used were a mix of old table cloths, cot sheet & new fabric. Both are a size 2 long short (just below knee) and are destined for my next market stall! Although they do have some flowers, I really think these are unisex. The photos show the front (left) and the back (right) of the shorts: