Super Cute Skirts for a Toddler Girl – guest post by Crafty Roo!

My little boy and I had a toddler party to attend this weekend for a friend.  She is turning two, and like last year, I decided to make her some clothes.  I didn’t have as much time this year (goodness knows why not) so didn’t have time to make anything as complex as the ruffled top I made last year.  So, simple skirts it was.

I found a pattern on the internet I liked and made it up.  My toddler was safely in bed. Mistake.  I tried it on him the next day and it was like a long pencil skirt.  Something wrong happened, I think in the measuring.  He didn’t like it as he couldn’t climb.

Anyway, I found another pattern – http://www.danamadeit.com/2011/04/a-simple-skirt-a-simple-tutorial.html – and quickly emailed my friend for her little girl’s measurements.

Here’s what you do – take the waist measurement and DOUBLE it.  This will give you a nice full skirt.  Then, take the waist to knee measurement and add a couple of inches for hems and waistband.

You should then have a rectangle of fabric.

Now, I went a bit wrong here in the making up, but the original instructions should be easy to follow.

My little boy was happily eating his snack as I was making these up – and he does love the sewing machine (phew) – and he can eat a lot so I managed to run up all three in snack time.  Just about.  These fit much better – a perfect size for a two year old.  I made the fleece one a bit biggger as it is August here and thankfully we don’t have much call for fleece but we will in a few months time.

Beautiful, right??? (takes a bow, gets gold medal chocolate from bread bin).

These are really really simple – even when I went wrong I was able to rectify it quickly and you would never tell from the looking at it.

‘Stack and Whack’ Quilt – guest post by CraftyRoo!

hello!

Crafty Roo bringing you this week’s make – a stack and whack play quilt for a baby.

I have been making quilts for some time and wanted to try a new method.  I had a birthday last week and received many crafty books, one of which was Kirstie Allsop’s Craft.  In this book, one of the first projects is a stack and whack quilt.  It looked quite easy and interested and I wanted to see if I could use this technique as opposed to cutting blocks or strips which is how I usually piece my quilts.

Anyway, the book suggested making a template. I didn’t do this and wanted to get straight on with my cutting.  I made a stack of five fabrics.  I then cut two squares through all five layers, each six inches by six inches.  Then I made four cuts into each square, giving five smaller piles of fabric for each square (10 in total).  I labelled these carefully.  Each pile of fabric was cut slighly differently, giving different shapes.

You then leave pile one as it is, take one piece the top of from pile two and put it on the bottom, take two from pile three and put it on the bottom, take three from pile four and put them on the bottom, put four from pile five on the bottom.  Do this carefully and you will end up with five unique squares. Sew these together so you end up with ten complete squares.

Lay these out so that no two of the same  fabrics are next to each other.  You will have one square left over, which you can use on the back, if you like, or to make a matching cushion.

If I was going to do it again, I would cut bigger squares to start off with.  Using only six by six squares made it very fiddly!

That is as far as I’ve got! I’ll try to update this with my next steps.

58. Fabric Mice

Before I start this make, I’d like to say hello to the 1st Tunstall Brownies.  Their  leaders have been in touch to say that they have managed to work out nearly the whole of next term’s programme from ‘makes’ on this blog.  Please send me pictures of how you get on and I’ll post them here.

This week’s make was just too cute for me to resist.  It is featured in this month’s ‘Mollie Makes’ magazine, which our library subscribes to.

All the instructions of how to make are in issue 11 and a pdf pattern is free to download at the magazine link above.

I had a lot of fun making these two.  They will be raffled off at our next library bake sale to raise funds.  I’m calling them ‘The Library Mice’

Here are some pictures of them. The first one before clothing and the second after they were dressed.

They were a fantastic way to use up bits of scrap fabric and wool.  You will see my first attempt at knitting something in a long, long time above too.

Addendum to Make 54: The Lion Hat

Here is a picture of the hat in action on the slopes

56. Apron

I’ve been meaning to make an apron for a long time as mine were looking particularly scruffy.  Luckily some very nice people saw them, took pity on me and made me some so I didn’t have to.  One of them even has Made For Pin appliqued on to the front.

However, after coming across quite a few people who wanted to learn to sew, I decided to put on a class at the library where the participants could learn and sew an apron at the same time.  It was lots of fun, if a bit frantic at times, with varying types of machines and all different sorts of bobbins and threading systems.

Here is what we did:

Start with 1m of fabric.

I used a lovely Ashley Wilde cotton twill fabric that is 143cm wide.  I bought it at the fantastic Fabric Warehouse.

If you are using fabric that is narrower then buy extra length for the straps and pocket if you want one.

We started by folding the fabric lengthwise so that the selvedges were parallel.

Fold one side in so that the folded fabric measures 33cm from fold to selvedge.

Measure 5cm down from top of fabric and draw a 16cm line from the fold towards the selvedge.  If you don’t want to mark the outside of your fabric, turn so the right sides are together.

I cut out a plastic guide for the next step but you could equally draw freehand or use a large curve like a round tray or something similar to draw out the armhole. Draw the curve from the end of your 16cm line to the selvedge. Make another straight line from the top of the curve to the top edge of the fabric.

Cut out from the top of the fabric along your last line, around the curve of the armhole and then straight down staying close to the selvedge.

If you have used a 1m length of fabric then just cut to the other end of the fabric.

Now cut 3 ties from the remaining fabric.  Make them not less than 4 cm wide and as long as you need.

Press each tie so that one short edge and both long edges are folded towards the middle, then fold and press in half lengthwise so all the raw edges are hidden.

Press the raw edges around the whole apron in and then fold over again and press  to hide the edge. Fold the top over at the line you made and press.

Stitch all the pressed  straps and apron edges starting at the left underarm, up the left armhole, across the top and down the right armhole.

Once you turn to go down the right side, stop to add a tie. Tuck the open end of the tie under the folded and pressed side seam and fold over on itself like this:

Continue stitching over the top of the tie, down the right side, along the hem and up the left side.  When you get to the same place on the left side as you placed the tie on the right, stop and add a second tie.  Continue stitching over the top of this tie up to the bottom of the left armhole where you started.

Measure and cut the third tie to the length you need for around your neck.  Sew the two ends to the inside top of the apron equidistant from the armhole edge.

If you have any fabric left you can cut out a pocket, fold and press the raw edges.  Stitch along the top edge then pin to the front of your apron. Stitch in place around the 3 remaining unstitched sides (assuming you’ve cut a rectangular pocket).

54. Lion Hat – guest post by Sierra Lima November

This is a guest post from Sierra Lima November

This Christmas, I decided to make all the presents to give to my friends and family.  This spilled over into January. Some time ago, my brother had a Lion Hat which got lost/given away, so I decided to make one to replace it for his birthday.

Here’s how I made it.

1. First I got my brother’s girlfriend to measure his head.  She did a great job of measuring while he was asleep.

2.  Then I got a pattern from the excellent website www.fleecefun.com and thought about how I could modify it to make the Lion Hat I wanted to make.  The pattern itself can be found at http://www.fleecefun.com/halloween-hat-pack.html .

3.  I then had to decide whether the Lion had more bear-like ears or more cat-like. With the help of one of my son’s toys, I decided they were more bear-like.

4.  Then cutting the pieces.  I added for the lion some triangles of felt for the mane.

5. I then sewed all the layers together

6. Then I pinned and sewed the bottom, which was actually really cool as it made the mane stand up.

7. The final hat….

Thank you so much to www.fleecefun.com   for the original pattern – it is amazing and so easy to make and for allowing me to post this with my modifications!

Here is the hat in action on the slopes in France

51. Fabric Bag With Lots of Pockets

I cleared out my fabric stash cupboard this week and found quite a few projects that were started but not finished. Fortunately, not as many as there were at the beginning of the year and not all of them are mine. However, when I tried to give them back to their creators, they were all returned with, ‘oh, you can finish it or make it into something’ Some even denied having anything to do with them. (Could this be next year’s blog?)

This week’s make was a project I started ages ago.  I was going to make a matching cushion for some curtains I had made. You can tell how long ago this project was started by the fact that the curtains were put on freecycle last year and are long gone.

I still like the fabric and as I’d already quilted a huge piece of it, I decided to make it into a bag with lots of pockets.  It might be useful as a diaper/nappy bag or for lugging around crafting bits and pieces. The piece I’ve started with is a rectangle measuring 92cm x 41cm.

So, I finished the quilting off then added a pocket to the inside.  For this I folded a piece of contrasting fabric 25cm x 25cm in half, and sewed it to the inside of the bag along 3 sides. I then made this into 2 pockets by stitching along its height with contrasting thread.

Then I started to make the pockets on the outside.  This turned out to be a bit trial and error as I was making up how to do it as I went along.

For a large front pocket, the yellow one below, I used 2 squares of fabric 25cm x 25cm.  Sewed them right sides together on 3 sides, turned them right side out and sewed the top closed with contrasting stitching.

Then I made a run of pockets around the bottom of the bag using  a strip of the main fabric, 106cm x 40cm. I folded the strip in half lengthwise and placed the open edges along the bottom of the bag.  As this strip is slightly wider than the bag, I pinned it in place so that the pockets stuck out a bit like pouches. Hopefully this will mean that it will hold bulky items. At the front, I made a pleat in the strip in the hope that it might lie flat when nothing is in that pocket.

I then sewed the strip to the main part of the bag attaching it at the sides and bottom.

(The pocket didn’t lie flat so I slipped a piece of elastic into the top fold.)

I made the straps by using two strips of fabric folded over some batting and then stitching along the length.

I also used an old duffle coat toggle to the front and crocheted a strip of yarn as a loop fastening.

I was going to add this to the blog as make number 46 but have decided to give it to one of my lovely daughters so will save this make and publish it after Christmas.  As it is now Friday, I’m going to have to make something very quickly to get it in for this week.

47. Tartan Tote Bag

I’ve finished even closer to the wire with this week’s make.  Well, in truth, it has taken me 2 weeks as I have had to wait while ebay delivered me some brown canvas.

This make came about when I saw the price of some very trendy tote bags in one of the most popular stores for teenagers in the UK. Almost £50 is way too much for a fabric bag in my book so I set about making one.

The tartan in this bag was a remnant that had made its way into my fabric stash after my mum made herself a skirt in the early 70s. Yes, I keep fabric that long! I’m very pleased to find a good use for it at last.

I started by cutting a rectangle of tartan and a similar sized rectangle of lining then sewing them together along what would be the top edge of the bag.

I then cut another piece of tartan and matching piece of lining to make a front pocket.  I attached it at the top of the pocket and then folded it down about 1 cm so that the tartan folds over slightly.  I then sewed almost all the way round the remaining 3 sides, leaving a small gap to turn it right side out.  After turning and pressing, I attached it to the front of the bag with a row of top stitching.

And this is where I had to stop until the brown canvas arrived.

It also gave me some time to figure out how to finish the bag.

I cut two long, rectangular strips of canvas and folded and pressed the long sides in to make the handles.

I then folded them in half and started to topstitch along the edge.

And this is where the fun began…just after I took the photograph above, my trusty Singer sewing machine, that I bought in 1978, decided to quit.  Smoke billowed from its motor but luckily I was able to turn it off before any flames engulfed my precious bag handles.

My mum came to the rescue and has given me her machine to finish it off.  Thank you, mum!

After a bit of bobbin shenanigans and some oiling, the machine worked well (and is much smoother and quieter than mine ever was, I guess sewing machine technology has improved somewhat since 1978).

I attached the canvas to the bottom of the bag.

Sewed the handles on, added a small rectangle of canvas to the front pocket and closed the side seams.

Here it is.

44. Quilt label

This week’s make has been a bit of a mission.  Our good friends, R & A have been made proud grandparents and I wanted to give new baby Samantha a specially made quilt.  The quilt was no problem, after all, you will have seen from previous posts, I’ve made these before.  This time, I decided that I’d like to label it as I’ve read some articles saying that labelling is important so future generations know where and when the quilt was made.  I did some research and found that I could print directly onto fabric from my ink jet printer.  This sounded ideal, I could design a beautiful label, print it and sew it to the back of the quilt and hopefully it would last the life of the quilt.

Some websites suggested that  in order to print successfully on to fabric, the best thing to do is to soak the fabric first in ‘Bubble Jet Set’ .

This I did:

I left the fabric to dry, then ironed it to some printer sized freezer paper. (Common in the US but not so easy to get in the UK – try ebay)

I then designed the label:

Unfortunately, when I tried to print the fabric on the freezer paper, my printer didn’t cooperate. I tried an old printer – still no luck. Very disappointing.

Trying again, I decided to write directly onto the fabric.  Once again, I ironed the fabric onto freezer paper.  This holds it and makes it easier to write on.  I found a fun font and then copied it directly onto the fabric using a Copic Multiliner SP 0.25.

Then I cut it out and sewed it to the back of the quilt.

Not quite what I had intended but it works and I hope it will last as long as the quilt.

41. Baby Shoes

Our smallest grandson has just started walking and needed some soft shoes as he pads around the house. I looked around the net and found the most gorgeous patterns for baby shoes.

Click here for the pattern I used for the shoes below. I used some fabric from my stash (yes, the pile is getting smaller) but made the mistake of not cutting the pattern exactly the same for both shoes.  However, he is fast growing out of these so I’ll have the chance to get it right for the next size up.