Fifty Cent Sun Dress: Lessons Learnt in Sewing with Knit Fabric and a Giveaway!

Finally, I have turned a market bargain into a sweet little sun dress!

A metre square of turquoise coloured stretch terry cloth for 50 cents caught my eye in a cardboard box last spring.

My favourite colour of course and the fabric reminded me of the dresses my mum used to where in the seventies.  I had to have it.

With Dana's Warhol Dress pattern and tutorial I have sewn my first dress for my little girl.  It is the perfect just been on the beach dress, or poolside dress.

 And, have I learned sew, sew much about sewing with knit fabric in just one dress!

Janome - my temporarily adopted sewing machine is much cleverer than me.  She knows more than me and harbours much wisdom of which I am yet to understand.    I have discovered a stitch called "overcasting", which seems to be very close to overlocking.  This is the stitch I used making this dress, it looks more professional that zig zag.

I also learned that when sewing knit fabric it is much better to have a longer stitch.  I seemed to go no where fast when sewing with short stitches and knit fabric.

Apparently, there is also a ball point needle which is better to use when sewing knit as it does not break a hole.  It is also possible to use a twin or double needle to hem knit fabric creating that professional double hem with over locking stitch on the reverse.

I am very excited about sewing with more knit.  However I have decided that I really must have an overlocker, despite finding the overcast stitch on Janome.  I think a second hand overlocker would be perfect.  And I have been given many cones of thread.....

Sadly I can't use them, and I have no idea how to go about finding a good overlocker.  So, I would love to give away the following bundles to homes who will appreciate them.

Pack one - Citrus Zing (lime is a woven thread)

Pack two - Summer Sea Blues (turquoise is a woven thread)

There are two bundles, each include a roll of woven thread.  To enter please join my facebook page and leave me a tip on how to find and buy a second hand overlocker, or a tip on sewing or overlocking with knit fabrics. Oh and let me know which trio you might prefer.  

I will draw winners on April 2, 2012     x

Summer Tee Pee

I love tee pees!  Last year while cruising the internet I found many gorgeous tee pees, my favourite being those who had the hand made touch.  They reminded me of childhood summers spent under our tent made of bed sheets in the shade and with use of the branches of a nectarine tree.

In time for Christmas I managed to create these tee pee for my daughter and her cousin using this pattern from Spotlight - made from sheeting even!!

One was appliqued while the other featured stars.  I love the idea of tee pees providing a little space for peace and serenity for big brothers or sisters.  That is of course until little brothers or sisters learn to crawl!

KB still loves to share with her wee sister and read to her, so for now her tee pee is a shared space.

'dell has taken to his tee pee so much that it has become his nap time destination!  For this I am so grateful as when he unwrapped this Christmas present from his Aunty it sure paled in comparison to his cousins bike from her Aunty!!

If you've not seen the tee pee pattern from Spotlight and want to practice straight lines and seams like I did, take a look. This is a great project, simple with potential to become a magnificent project.

What do you think?  I would love to read your comments, they will motivate me to keep trying to find a space in my hectic life to post that which my busy hands have created!!  Thinking about a give away too...

Hope to post again soon x

Strawberries and Dreams

Happy 2012 Everyone!  I love this time of year - I love the opportunity to begin again, to set goals, to refresh.  I also love strawberries, dreams and the fact that I have managed to sew pyjamas for our girls.

Check out these sweet little legs complete with strawberry nappy covers!  E's pjs have been teamed with a white onesie.

KB's pj pants have been modeled on a pair of shorts from her wardrobe and teamed with a "rhubarb" singlet.  I just cannot believe I actually made these and they actually fit!!

Dana and her inspirational blog motivated me to believe I could actually sew these.  She is one outstanding Mama.  I found her tutorial on creating ones own patterns to sew very helpful for these pj pants.  

Dana's diaper cover pattern and tutorial were used to create these cutie pies for baby pjs.  The delicious fabric was an on sale discovery from Spot light and I feel like it just sums up what we love about summer here in Aotearoa.

Now my two little strawberries are (finally) snuggled in bed, sleeping in their new "jammas" and their very excited and proud Mama awaits the morning to see if these pretty things can function as they are meant to and hold it together for a night!!

Thanks for stopping by I would love you to make my new year by joining me on my Facebook page if you can.  If you have not already, please visit Dana's newly refreshed and very motivational blog.

Have a happy week.

Gorgeous Handmade Apron!!

Our little KB has a talented crafting Aunty who lives just out of Christchurch.  For her birthday Aunty Pam crafted this simply gorgeous apron - which we all love, especially KB!  Thank you so much Aunty Pam.

She looks super in the kitchen and seems to want to bake more often now that she has her apron from Aunty Pam to wear!

The colours and fabric combo are lush, the frills are perfect.  I could never imagine being able to sew so well.  I have not photographed the very personalised tag tucked inside with a message to KB along with a scanned photo of her too. Amazing.

For this fashion shoot KB was keen to cook with marshmallows so we attempted a modified hedgehog recipe with almonds, marshmallows, coconut and biscuits.

She is mastering her knife skills.  As well as her ability to actually put the ingredients in the bowl, rather than her mouth!!

All was going swimmingly until Mum put it in a too large tin for setting.  However it has been a hit with visiting family members.

For hedgehog recipes try these:
                                
                                  Cadbury Bournville Cocoa Hedgehogs
                                  A pure chocolate version of Hedgehogs

My Creative Space: A Quilted Headboard

Now that my big girl is in her bed, and we have rearranged her room she really needed a head board.  But my goodness to buy these things are expensive!  It seems even more so if you are looking for character or originality.  I still find my self being hit with a barrage of pink when looking for anything slightly girly. Perhaps I am looking in the wrong places, please redirect me if you think I am.

All of this led me to "Why don't I make it myself".  Armed with mdf, some timber, batting, foam, a few power tools, spray adhesive, buttons and sewing machine we have this... a quilted white head board with randomly sized and placed buttons.  I love spray adhesive - it has come in handy for a few things.

Luckily you cannot see the back of the head board.  The back is purely functional and hardly pretty.  Problem is that when her blinds and curtains are open you can see a corner of the poor finishing through the window.  One day, when my belly is back to normal size I shall felt the back and tidy it all up.

In the meanwhile KB adores her head board.  I could not believe how excited she was to have it up.  It has proven to become a wonderful bedtime quiet game tool too.  KB counts the buttons, we match buttons and she practices her colours.  Who knows what we might do with the buttons next!

Now KB has a  hand crafted head board to match her up cycled Dr Seuss foot stool.

Check out more creative goodness from the Creative Space community here.

A mouse took a stroll through the deep dark wood...

We celebrated our daughters second birthday during the weekend.  One of her favourite books is the “Gruffalo” so we celebrated to this theme.  

KB wears her home made ears and tail - she was of course the mouse!  Her cousin proudly wore his home made Gruffalo costume. My sister is very clever!!

KB’s most favourite sweets are marshmallows, so requested a chocolate and marshmallow birthday cake.  This became a chocolate swiss roll filled with home made marshmallow, covered in chocolate and decorated as a log from the deep, dark wood.  I managed to craft a wee (well actually he is quite tubby) fondant mouse - eating the nut.

We also had scrambled snake (scrambled egg with sushi roll), owl icecream, roasted fox (chicken) sandwiches and Gruffalo crumble.  

The crumble was a home made apple crumble with boysenberries for his purple prickles, green grapes for his poisonous wart, his orange eyes were apricots and his black tongue was licorice erupting from the crumble.  It was delicious!!

The table setting was the woodland scene complete with edible toadstools and leaves.

I now get to look forward to my nephews birthday and working with my sister on creating something fun for him!!!

Happy Birthday my Little Mouse x

Trilly for Trelise

Meet Trilly.  This wonderful little tweet heart is my first ever hand made softie.

The hand drawn pattern for Trilly was inspired by the wonderful fabric I have for my daughters quilt (yet to be constructed).  I am so very proud of her as I managed to use the applique stitches on my adopted sewing machine (a very flash Janome - with a touch screen) and my first attempt at applique.

Trilly was a hand made gift for Trelise who recently turned one!  Trilly winged her way to New Plymouth with me on my first girls weekend away since KB was born.  I have so much to post about that weekend!

Janome locked up on me when I attempted to created Trilly's sibling as she was in desperate need of a service.  Months later all serviced and eager to go I have Janome back and can crack on with the next "hundred" or so sewing projects on my mind!