Tuesday Trio.

Instead of doing some sewing/crocheting or whatever other crafty thing my mind was supposed to be set at yesterday afternoon, I decided to head downstairs and go through some of my fabric stash.  I wanted to make a little purse out of some of the sample curtain material I got really cheap from a curtain shop that was closing down a couple of years ago.  I found some of said material, but to my surprise it was already cut out to make something else!  Of course, to make my life easier, the pattern and instructions werent with it, but I knew that I had to have gotten it off the internet - most likely somewhere over at Craftster.  So I set to looking for it there first.....only to be distracted by all the brand new stuff that I found on there!  Don't ya just HATE that?

Not to worry, though!  I found it (here)!  And here are the finished results -

And individually - I can tell you....I remember cutting these out now and it was a little hard to get the pattern to line up properly on the front!

These are destined to be gifts.  Probably for Christmas time.  I have a box which I like to fill with little things each year and this year, I have decided to fill it mostly with handmade objects, instead of cheap and nasty things I find at the $2 shop on sale.

So, my next endeavour will involve a reconstruction!  You may remember the bag I made from the shorts that my friend gave me...?  She also gave me a few items of clothing that she no longer wore...and I dont blame her!  Have a look at these -

"Hmmmmmmm" right?  I don't mind the black and silver/grey one....just the top needs changing.  The other one, however, is black with a bright yellow top and that ribbon is actually a purple....photo does not do it much justice.  The blue and white number is not too bad, either, except that it has a few rips in it and is looking a little old.

So i set to work with my unpicker today and came up with this -

First intentions were to make these into a broomstick skirt, but the one on the right has a thin gauzy material, which wont be suitable for it.  It does, however, have a lycra-type underskirt, which I can make into a pair of tights for me or one of the kids!  The rest may just go away for a future project.

Further inspection of the silver/grey one shows me that mayhaps I shouldn't have taken the skirt off and only changed the top around a little....but we learn from these things, don't we?  I shall just have to sew it back on....IF I can figure it out (my sewing skills are limited to straight sewing...haven't gone into gathering too much, just yet!).

As for the blue one.....?  No idea, just yet!  There are two layers - the blue with white dots and a white underskirt.......hmmm......

Sarong revamp.

I had a great day yesterday, sewing with Pete's cousin! She is visiting from Mackay for a few weeks (camping at a little spot just near Yeppoon) and decided to make her granddaughter, Mack, a Christmas dress. Since it had been nearly 20 years since she last sewed (or so she says), she asked if I would be willing to help her out. Of course, I told her that I would be delighted to give her a hand! So she came over yesterday morning, looked through my patterns and picked this one:

Just lovely, isnt it? I think I got it from an op-shop a little while ago and havent been GAME to use it! Now, I reckon I am....it is quite simple!

Next was a trip to Spotlight, where we discover that they are having 75% off Christmas stock! BARGAIN!!

So we get back to my house, set up, but before we can get into tracing the pattern (was cut out for size 7 and we needed size 3....none of my girls are size 3 any longer, so we decided to trace instead of cut to ruin the pattern itself!), Lee brings out some sarongs that she has been wearing tied at the front, but has been too afraid of them opening up with the first sign of a breeze! So, not wanting to scare the other people at the beach, she asked if we could work out how to sew them like another that she had that was pre-sewed (sewn??) shut in the front with a little bit of elastic in the back, sewn into a casing. "Looks simple enough!" I exclaimed and immediately jumped at the chance of working out how a 'simple' little thing was designed and made!

With both of us working on different ones, it took us about 1 1/2 hours to work it out and the 2nd took only a smidge of that time to make up! I was proud of our efforts, so I thought that I would share it with you guys, here! I will apologize for my bad pictures straight up.....I didnt even THINK of taking photos of the process while we were doing it during the day! So these photos are taken under fluorescent lighting and flashy from my camera....I have picked the best ones! I hope you can see them properly!

Materials needed:
Sarong (The good thing about using an already made sarong is that you dont have to worry about folding over the edges, coz they are already hemmed for you!)
Length of 2.5cm wide elastic
I would not recommend using a flimsy elastic.....one that is a little heavy will do the trick for a long time.
XL - 25cm (10")
L - 22.5cm (9")
M - 20cm (8")
S - 17.5cm (7")
Thread
Pins
Safety pins

Here is mine untouched, folded in half lengthways.










Decide which long end you would like to have at the top of your sarong. Fold down this top edge 3cm, pin and sew close to hemmed edge to make a casing for the elastic.














Sew another line close to this line to reinforce the casing.













Fold the material in half, marking the middle.



I did mine with a pin through one side of the casing....my reasons will come apparent soon!








Put the safety pins in each side of the elastic and insert elastic into the casing.













Push through elastic to the half way mark and secure the middle of the elastic to the middle of the sarong's casing.













Measure the required distance from the middle of the garment towards both ends and mark.
XL - 35.5cm (14")
L - 38cm (15")
M - 40.5cm (16")
S - 43cm (17")

Push elastic back through the casing on each side and secure with a pin (and you thought I was being silly asking you to put safety pins on either end of the elastic!). Sew securely in place (I put at least 3-4 lines over it, because this will be under a lot of pressure).














Put the short end of the sarong together. Measure 23cm (9") from the top and 15cm (6") from the bottom and mark. Sew between these marks and reinforce with a line of stitching across these lines close to the splits.
























And there you have it!! The front can be tied through a shawl holder or tied by itself. I am thinking that this will become my favourite hot weather thing to wear! I have never worn it since I received it as a present years ago....because I loved the pattern and material....but mainly because I just KNEW that I could do something else with it!!

Burp cloth tutorial

I told the girls on Crafty Mamas that I would make up a tute for these and then promptly forgot about them!! So sorry, girls, but here it is!! This is not EXACTLY how I made them, but how I learnt through sewing them!

Materials:
Cloth nappies. I used towelling nappies that I found - very luckily - at an op shop. If you are using new ones, I suggest that you wash them first in hot water and, maybe, dry them in the dryer, so they pre-shrink.
Flannel material. Again, I used a plain cot sheet that I got from the op shop. And, again, if you are using a new one, I suggest that you wash it first....etc. Any other type of absorbent material will work well, too, I spose!
Cotton material. In any print that you like.
Ribbon.
Thread.

Step one.
I find that cloth nappies - especially the towelling ones - are different sizes, depending on the manufacturer, so following this step will make the burp cloth a little more uniform to the rest of them, should you have a couple from different manufacturers, like I did.

Take your nappy and fold it into three sections. Take the measurements from the middle section and this will be the measurements for your outer material. Do not unfold! You will need this for the next step!

Step two.
From these measurements, cut out a piece from your flannel material that is a little smaller each side. You may like to cut out one large piece (doubling, tripling or whatever to maximise absorbency) From my cot sheet, I managed to get 4 inners out of 1/2 the sheet (by folding it in 1/2, then 1/2, then 1/2, cutting out and then folding this piece to have 3 layers....I think! When I make another and put the photos up, I will edit if otherwise).

Step three.
Take this piece and centre it on the folded nappy. No need to be exact, here......the outer layer will cover any mistakes (as I found out). Pin and sew down each side to stabilise. You may like to do the top, too....depending on how close it actually comes to the top! Mine were a little skewed on it and were a little shorter, so I sewed the ends, too.

Step four.
Cut out your outer material, adding on a seam allowance from the measurements. Fold and press in the edges to make a hem on each side and end. Centre this over the top of your inner and sew in place. You MAY like to double stitch each end.......it is entirely up to you

Step five.
Take your ribbon and place it down the side of the outer material, measuring how much you need and adding a little to fold under each end. Pin in place and sew as close to the outer edge on each side as possible. I suggest sewing the inside of the ribbon first, because I found that, after sewing the outside, the inner material has a bad habit of popping out of the ribbon! Then again, I used a thin ribbon and centred it on the edge of the fabric, so it was BOUND to happen!

There you have it!! A very nice burp cloth and not just a plain old nappy!!

Some extra notes:
This is NOT how I made mine! But is an easier way than what I did (and what I will be following in future)!!

If you are lucky to have those premade nappies (the ones that you can find with the padding already in the middle, then 1/2 your job is already done!! Just take measurements and follow Barb's tute, here!

The placing of the outer fabric is totally up to you! You may like to place it just inside the outer edge (which is hemmed, doubled over and, therefore, harder to sew through) or have it going to the outside edge. You may also like to have a little of the towelling to each side when folded, like mine.....like I said - TOTALLY up to you!

CM Tea Towel SWAP - mine!

This is my tea towel that I made for Karma! She received it last week and says that she loves it! I am soooo glad! I had nerves about it, the whole time it was in transit...you know....as you get with all swaps!

I forgot to take an up close photo of the redwork that I did! So, I tried to cut out and enlarge the photo that I took and it didnt turn out too good, so I scrapped that idea - sorry!

Glad you like it, Lisa!

The way I made this -

Materials
1 piece of 100% cotton fabric (mine was actually an old curtain)
2 pieces of contrasting fabric (for the trim)
Thread to match the trim (or any other colour you like - I used red)
Embroidery thread for the redwork (of course, redwork does not actually have to be red - you can make it any colour you like!)
Embroidery pattern (I used 2....one for the girl and one for the flowers and bee and mixed them together)

NOTE: The embroidery is completely up to you! You can embellish the towel in any way you like - applique, embroidery, whatever tickles your fancy!

To Make
Decide what size you want your towel to be. I wanted something big, but not too big to be encumbersome (is that a word?), so I took an already used towel and measured that. Measure out your fabric and cut it to size. Remember the seam allowances! You need one on each side and one on each end!

Take your trim fabric and decide what you would like to do to it - you could just add it to the bottem of the towel, like I did, or completely encase the bottem, making the towel 3 times as thick on the end (if you get what I mean!). This is what I originally wanted to do, but forgot all about doing, so mine just got added on! You could also make it as small OR big as you would like!

After you decide this, measure and cut the trim to these measurements - make sure that it is the same width as the towel fabric and twice as long as the trim.

Fold over the seam allowances on the long side of the trim fabric, pin and iron. Then fold this whole thing in half (wrong sides facing) and iron.

Place the trim on the end/s where you decided that you would like to put it and sew a line just inside the trim edge. This can be a decorative stitch or you may decide to just straight stitch. If you straight stitch, I recommend you put two lines....just for extra stability!

Trim off the threads and hem the sides of the towel (I just folded mine and stitched with a straight stitch, but do yours whatever way you like!) and there you have it!! A blank canvas to work from! Now you can embroider, applique, paint or whatever and you have a unique, handmade gift for anyone!

AH! My first EVER sewing tutorial!! I hope that it is easy to understand! If not, feel free to leave a question in the comment area and I will try to answer it the best and most honest way I can!

FINALLY!!

I have finally finished a sewing project and can post up pictures!! The first 3 photos are of a crayon roll that I have made for a friend's daughter (the pattern is taken from here). My friend is due to have a baby very, very soon....like, she was due Monday just gone!! I havent heard anything, yet, so I am guessing she is still crossing her legs, the silly woman!! LOL. The material is from my stash. I do not know where I got the material from, originally, but the pink floral, *I think*, is from Big W and one of their remnants that I purchased AGES ago! The hearts on the outside are yo-yo hearts and I blanket stitched around the outside by hand (yep - took me ages....longer than actually making it...because of the thick layers of material!!).


These ones are a frog. I have made 2 of these, but have only stuffed one....just to see how he would go. This one is completely stuffed with poly stuffing. I might make the next one/s with the wheat that is just begging to be used.....just to make him a little more floppy. This pattern was taken from here. I used some old material of my Mum's. The top was actually a dress (I dont know whether she cut it out, ready to sew and she just didnt get to it or if she actually cut up a dress, planning on using the fabric for something else) and the bottem is from a skirt (yep...a lime/fluorescent green skirt....with a white satin lining underneath...geez my Mum had great taste!! LOL).


About the patterns:
The crayon roll is really, REALLY simple! It took me only a couple of hours to make it up......if my sewing skills were a little better, then it probably would have only taken me 1/2 as long, I reckon! The tutorial that I took it from (here) has really simple and easy to follow steps and photos......which is really good, considering my sewing abilities are not all that great, just yet!

Mr Frog turned out WAY different to the photos (go here), but I am still very happy with the way he turned out!! He only took me a couple of hours to make......again, if my sewing skills were a little better, then he would have taken me 1/2 the time.