Blanket and Pencil Roll Tutorial links

I LOVE magazines! Not that I get much time to read them but they are just fabulous for getting inspiration for colour combining. The walls in my sewing room are covered in various cuttings and clippings which inspire me. I really love this colour combination.

My fabric order from the U.S arrived and it only took 7 days so I will definitely order again and Im far less worried about ordering overseas now. I ordered a huge amount of 2d zoo fabric as I just love it!



So I made this huge blanket to go on Jacobs bed. He needed something light but cosy for the summer months and it will also be great to add in winter as an extra layer.

I was going to make him a patchwork quilt but this fabric is so busy I couldnt find a combination I liked enough and decided less is more in this case and just backed it with a lovely soft Minky fabric.

Minky can be a bit daunting with how slippery it is but this tutorial was very helpful

My next project which I've been waiting for ages to complete is this pencil roll.

I've found lots of tutorials for crayon rolls but crayons dont last very long in my house, they get broken ( my kids seem to love the snapping sound they make!) and they pick off the paper labels and its all such a mess! So this was the perfect alternative!





This is the first time I have attempted any sort of binding so I'm quite pleased with the result.

The tutorial and be found on this clicky.

Still running with the colour theme, I finally got around to making Jacob his own door stop.



I still have loads of 2d zoo fabric left, so I hope I dont get bored of it before I've used it all up!

Toy bunkbed makeover

I bought these bunkbeads a little while ago for £2.50 from an NCT sale. They were plain wood and the sides were a garish pink colour and covered in stickers. So I cleaned them up, painted them white to match my daughters bedroom and made a mattress, pillow and duvet set so she can put her dollys to bed.

I figured when she gets bored of them I can use them to keep my fabric stash in!



For anyone who has babys/small children and dosnt know what an NCT sale is, its like an indoor car boot sale, but all items are baby/child related. Most items are in exellent condition (hence nearly new)so you'll be sure to find a bargain, and if you offer to help out at these sales then you get to have first dibs on everything. Im helping out at my local one tomorrow so fingers crossed I come back with some bargains!

To find your nearest sale click here.

Girls Ruffled Halter FREE tutorial link

My little girl is off poorly at the moment so I thought I'd cheer her up and make her a new top. The trouble is she has wardrobe of clothes thats bigger then mine so I decided it might be a good idea to begin making clothes a size bigger so that she can wear them next summer. The problem with doing that is that there is less choice. I find a lot of patterns only go up to age 4...but not this one...and best of all...its free!

The wonderful Oliver+S has yet again come up with a simple, easy to follow pattern, and im really pleased with the results.



If she looks a little sultry its because shes not eaten for a couple of days and has tonsilitis...poor thing...

There thats better...a smile...




The pattern can be found here.

I was so pleased at how easy it was to do, I will definitely be purchasing some of her other patterns in the future.

Graffiti Trainers

It is much to hot to sew today! But going with my boy theme, here are some pics of my sons trainers I revamped with some graffiti.






Yesterday was spent at the beach with my family. I wanted to take lots of pictures to go into my daughters golden box, which I will need for September when she starts school. A golden box is a box kept at school for your little ones, so that if they miss you or are upset they can get some comfort from going through all the things in the box that remind them of you. I need ideas, so far I have her nunu which is her Kalloo comforter bear she has carried around with her since she was a baby. My next idea is photographs- I love this one:



This is Mya screaming with joy as the waves of cold water lap at her feet.

Do you have any ideas I can use as to what to put in this box? I really am stuck (short of packing it full of sweets which I know would always cheer her up!)

Chinos to boy shorts

Another one of my husbands cast offs has been remade into some shorts for Jacob.

Before:



After:






The pattern was "little explorer" by make it perfect which have some wonderful patterns for both boys and girls. Dont look to closely at the applique satin stitch though - it was my first ever attempt at satin stitching. Clearly LOTS more practice is needed!

Shirt to boys pajama bottoms

Goodness I'v been busy!. My daughter is due to be starting school this September and I'v been attending lots of meetings and filling out paperwork for the past few days. It's left me very little time to create but I do have lots of ideas bouncing around my head, so I will be posting, just not as frequently.

The make do and mend book really inspired me to start thinking about different ways I can use old clothes.

My husband has outgrown this shirt so I turned it into some boys pajama bottoms.

Before:



After:



This was such a simple project, and Id like to try and make these with jersey as I think they'd be really comfy- all I'd need is an old tshirt (but my husbands not getting rid of those just yet!)Jersey is a fabric Im not familiar with using, and I havnt seem it anywhere online to by, so if anyone comes across any in cyberspace, do let me know.

The best bit about this was that I used the bottom of the shirt for the bottom of the pajama legs so I didnt need to sew this part at all.

I've been given a few other things from my husband too, so I will have to put my thinking cap on and see what else I can come up with. Making things this way gives me a good opportunity to use fabrics other then cotton that arnt as easy to come by in your bog standard fabric shop. Its also a great way of recycling and saving money. :-)

Boy shorts Michael miller 2d zoo fabric

I've made so much for my little girl I thought it was about time I started making something for my (almost 2) year old boy, plus there is actually quite a bit he needs, shorts being one of them. There is so much choice for little girls out there, the fabrics are bright and funky, but its much harder to find brights for the boys. Even Gap kids have a dull range of muddy browns, greys and khaki greens. I did note that the under 2s section for boys was a little more adventurous but cant understand why age 2-5s have to look dull!

I just love this fabric and I have a few differnt styles to try out. I havnt tried making shorts before- the only trousers I tried were for the Tilda doll.



There were two flaws with the pattern I used- One was that it didnt tell you if you were using patterned material which direction the pattern should go, and if I should be cutting on right or wrong side of the fabric, and it also didnt tell me that before I put one leg into the other that I have to turn one leg piece the right side up. So I wasted a precious fat quarter of fabric thinking I had cut the pieces incorrectly when I hadnt....Perhaps this is all obvious stuff I "should" know but I really appreciate a "patterns for dummies" approach when it comes to following guidelines. I also prefer lots of diagrams, and this was somewhat lacking which is a shame.



Right, Im off to carry on quilting my pillow. Its going to take a long time as I've chickend out with the stippling and have decided to go with a straight line, but even by machine its taking a long time with all the starting, stopping, thread cutting and burying I have to do, so it will probably be at least another two weeks before its finished.