A CHRISTMAS STOCKING TUTORIAL:
Firstly, you will need to gather your supplies!
To make one stocking you will need:
Saturday 14 December 2013
A Christmas Stocking Tutorial : :
My sister has been pestering and pestering me to make up this tutorial, and I have been meaning to do it for a little while now, so here it is (just in time for Christmas).
Wednesday 11 December 2013
A Foxy Little Fellow : :
Another Christmas present done!! (It feels so good to say that)
This little guy is a present for Little Mr Z.
He is made from a really good quality wool felt. I have never really used felt before, but I actually found it better than cotton. The felt can be stuffed really firm, and it was a breeze to sew.
I am DEFINITELY going to make more felt toys. He is just too cute!
I don't know if Little Mr Z is going to love him. He will probably be much more interested in the wooden car I have for his stocking, and not to mention all the wrapping paper that's going to be floating around on Christmas morning.
But *I* think he is really cute. And I know that Little Mr Z's sisters will want to play with him, even if he isn't terribly interested.
I got this pattern from the craft show that I went to this year. Its called 'Bandit' by Simone Gooding. The pattern is really good with really clear instructions. I finished sewing this little guy in about 2 evenings (not including cutting), and that was taking my time.
Now all I have to do is make two dolls for the girls. I have about 2 weeks to do them, so hopefully I can get them done. I want to get them done quickly too because I have a baby carrier pattern that I would LOVE to make them to go with their dolls. I just need more time! (story of my life)
Jessica
This little guy is a present for Little Mr Z.
He is made from a really good quality wool felt. I have never really used felt before, but I actually found it better than cotton. The felt can be stuffed really firm, and it was a breeze to sew.
I am DEFINITELY going to make more felt toys. He is just too cute!
I don't know if Little Mr Z is going to love him. He will probably be much more interested in the wooden car I have for his stocking, and not to mention all the wrapping paper that's going to be floating around on Christmas morning.
But *I* think he is really cute. And I know that Little Mr Z's sisters will want to play with him, even if he isn't terribly interested.
I got this pattern from the craft show that I went to this year. Its called 'Bandit' by Simone Gooding. The pattern is really good with really clear instructions. I finished sewing this little guy in about 2 evenings (not including cutting), and that was taking my time.
Now all I have to do is make two dolls for the girls. I have about 2 weeks to do them, so hopefully I can get them done. I want to get them done quickly too because I have a baby carrier pattern that I would LOVE to make them to go with their dolls. I just need more time! (story of my life)
Jessica
Monday 9 December 2013
Oliver & S Lazy Days Skirt : :
Summer.
Just this word makes me think of the beach, ice-creams, seagulls and thongs (the kind you wear on your feet!).
The girls need some new summer clothes, and I'm in the process of making them some new skirts, shorts, and dresses.
I've had my eye on the free Oliver & S pattern, Lazy Days Skirt for a while. (I love free things!)
So I let the girls choose some fabric from my cupboard, and we whipped them up.
These were SO quick! Seriously, 1 hour later and I had two cute skirts made.
The fabric they picked was Michael Miller's Bella Butterfly. Its been in my cupboard for a while, and these skirts take so little fabric, I still have heaps left!
Little Miss E wanted to help me sew, and since these skirts are easy-peasy, I let her sit on my lap and help me feed the fabric and press the reverse button. Then of course Little Miss I wanted to do the same thing...
Instead of adding the ribbon around the hem like suggested in the pattern, I used a strip of fabric that I double folded. I didn't have any ribbon but I really liked the contrast around the hem.
I also found some 1/4'' crochet trim to add around the bottom, then I got creative with a few decorative stitches on my sewing machine.
I really liked how quick these skirts came together. The inside seams don't even need any finishing as you just use the selvedges to save time!
They are perfect for lazy hot summer days.
Jessica
P.S Some exciting other news is we have picked the colour paint for the outside of our house! We are renovating, as you can probably tell, and I cant wait till our house looks beautiful from the outside at least! (Still a few more walls to pull down on the inside!)
We are picking the paint up tomorrow! Ill be sure to take a before and after picture!
Just this word makes me think of the beach, ice-creams, seagulls and thongs (the kind you wear on your feet!).
The girls need some new summer clothes, and I'm in the process of making them some new skirts, shorts, and dresses.
I've had my eye on the free Oliver & S pattern, Lazy Days Skirt for a while. (I love free things!)
So I let the girls choose some fabric from my cupboard, and we whipped them up.
These were SO quick! Seriously, 1 hour later and I had two cute skirts made.
The fabric they picked was Michael Miller's Bella Butterfly. Its been in my cupboard for a while, and these skirts take so little fabric, I still have heaps left!
Little Miss E wanted to help me sew, and since these skirts are easy-peasy, I let her sit on my lap and help me feed the fabric and press the reverse button. Then of course Little Miss I wanted to do the same thing...
Instead of adding the ribbon around the hem like suggested in the pattern, I used a strip of fabric that I double folded. I didn't have any ribbon but I really liked the contrast around the hem.
I also found some 1/4'' crochet trim to add around the bottom, then I got creative with a few decorative stitches on my sewing machine.
I really liked how quick these skirts came together. The inside seams don't even need any finishing as you just use the selvedges to save time!
They are perfect for lazy hot summer days.
Jessica
P.S Some exciting other news is we have picked the colour paint for the outside of our house! We are renovating, as you can probably tell, and I cant wait till our house looks beautiful from the outside at least! (Still a few more walls to pull down on the inside!)
We are picking the paint up tomorrow! Ill be sure to take a before and after picture!
Friday 6 December 2013
Pencil Cases : :
Being a twin must be great sometimes, but other times not so great.
They have to share EVERYTHING...well everything except beds pretty much.
They share clothes, toys, a bedroom, friends at kinder...you get the idea.
So every now and then I try to get them something that is just theirs. Something they don't have to share.
When I was shopping the other day, I decided to get the girls some new pencils and markers. They needed some new ones as their old ones had the led broken inside and only a few colours left.
I got them a packet of pencils and markers each. They were so happy, Little miss E esspcially. She kept asking 'I don't have to share?'
Since they were both so excited about having their own pencils I decided they needed their own pencil cases.
So I let them pick some fabric from my cupboard (which they LOVE doing), and I made some!
Little Miss I chose this premier prints pink elephant fabric. I coordinated it with a pink fabric from my stash for the piping and lining.
If you look closely at the photo below, you can see quilted circles on the pencil case. (Yes the elephants are up-side down on one side). I free-motion quilted that! First time I have used it, and not unpicked it! It was actually kinda fun too! I may have to use it more often....
I really like how it has a large zipper opening. This took me a little while to make because it was just so fiddly! But it will last longer than the rubbish plastic ones that you get from the store, and it looks better too.
It didn't turn out quite as well as I hoped, but its still cute, and I'm sure I'll get better at it, because I still have to make another one for Little Miss E, who has been pestering me to make a yellow one for her.
I used a free tutorial from HERE. Its quite a good pattern, although hers is much neater than mine. But that could be because i used a zipper that was too long, then i trimmed it too short. Oops! I also omitted the muslin step, because i didn't have any, so mine is probably not as stiff as it should be.
Jessica
They have to share EVERYTHING...well everything except beds pretty much.
They share clothes, toys, a bedroom, friends at kinder...you get the idea.
So every now and then I try to get them something that is just theirs. Something they don't have to share.
When I was shopping the other day, I decided to get the girls some new pencils and markers. They needed some new ones as their old ones had the led broken inside and only a few colours left.
I got them a packet of pencils and markers each. They were so happy, Little miss E esspcially. She kept asking 'I don't have to share?'
Since they were both so excited about having their own pencils I decided they needed their own pencil cases.
So I let them pick some fabric from my cupboard (which they LOVE doing), and I made some!
Little Miss I chose this premier prints pink elephant fabric. I coordinated it with a pink fabric from my stash for the piping and lining.
If you look closely at the photo below, you can see quilted circles on the pencil case. (Yes the elephants are up-side down on one side). I free-motion quilted that! First time I have used it, and not unpicked it! It was actually kinda fun too! I may have to use it more often....
I really like how it has a large zipper opening. This took me a little while to make because it was just so fiddly! But it will last longer than the rubbish plastic ones that you get from the store, and it looks better too.
It didn't turn out quite as well as I hoped, but its still cute, and I'm sure I'll get better at it, because I still have to make another one for Little Miss E, who has been pestering me to make a yellow one for her.
I used a free tutorial from HERE. Its quite a good pattern, although hers is much neater than mine. But that could be because i used a zipper that was too long, then i trimmed it too short. Oops! I also omitted the muslin step, because i didn't have any, so mine is probably not as stiff as it should be.
Jessica
Tuesday 3 December 2013
A Vintage Quilt : :
Mr Handsome loves his mum. He treats her like a queen! (Which is one the the things that I really love about him, because that's how he treats me too).
He wants to give her something special for Christmas this year, so he asked me if I would make her a quilt.
He had a look though my quilting patterns and magazines, and we picked one out of my currently-favorite book, 'Simply Retro'.
I have made two quilts from this book so far, and I just love the patterns!
We decided to use the pattern 'Vintage'. This pattern makes a quilt that is big enough for a twin bed! I didn't have that much time (or fabric), so I decided to scale it down. I naively thought that I could just decrease every measurement by 1 1/2 inches to make the quilt smaller. Erm.....WRONG!!
That plan soooo did not work! After getting frustrated, I had to sit down with a pen, paper, and calculator and figure it all out.
It took some work, but I effectively turned the pattern into a jelly roll quilt!
I don't know if that means I can pass this pattern off as my own now...(probably not)....but I'm really happy with it! I am getting a little bit tired of really large blocks, so it was a refreshing change to make some 'normal' sized ones.
Enough chit, chat....here is my quilt!
I used the fabric line 'Winters Lane', from Moda. Its supposed to be Christmas fabric, but I think its non-christmasy enough to use all year round. I really like the mix of blue, red and grey.
The background fabric is Kona Snow, which I think matches perfectly with winters lane.
I backed it in a vintage-looking cotton that I got from spotlight, and bound it in a solid red.
Once I got over the measurement/planning stage, this quilt was really fun to put together (although, I wont lie, it DID take me a long time).
All that's left is to label the quilt, then wrap it up for Christmas morning. I hope my mother-in-law likes it!
(This is me trying to be artistic at a park near the beach! I really liked the rope and I wanted to get a photo with it!)
We are spending Christmas is Mr Handsome's family this year, which we do every other year. He has so many Aunts, Uncles and cousins, that even after 5 1/2 years of being married, I still haven't met everyone! (and I have NO CHANCE of remembering names), but it should be a lot of fun, and I'm glad my kids will have a zillion cousins to play with!
Jessica
He wants to give her something special for Christmas this year, so he asked me if I would make her a quilt.
He had a look though my quilting patterns and magazines, and we picked one out of my currently-favorite book, 'Simply Retro'.
I have made two quilts from this book so far, and I just love the patterns!
We decided to use the pattern 'Vintage'. This pattern makes a quilt that is big enough for a twin bed! I didn't have that much time (or fabric), so I decided to scale it down. I naively thought that I could just decrease every measurement by 1 1/2 inches to make the quilt smaller. Erm.....WRONG!!
That plan soooo did not work! After getting frustrated, I had to sit down with a pen, paper, and calculator and figure it all out.
It took some work, but I effectively turned the pattern into a jelly roll quilt!
I don't know if that means I can pass this pattern off as my own now...(probably not)....but I'm really happy with it! I am getting a little bit tired of really large blocks, so it was a refreshing change to make some 'normal' sized ones.
Enough chit, chat....here is my quilt!
I used the fabric line 'Winters Lane', from Moda. Its supposed to be Christmas fabric, but I think its non-christmasy enough to use all year round. I really like the mix of blue, red and grey.
The background fabric is Kona Snow, which I think matches perfectly with winters lane.
I backed it in a vintage-looking cotton that I got from spotlight, and bound it in a solid red.
Once I got over the measurement/planning stage, this quilt was really fun to put together (although, I wont lie, it DID take me a long time).
All that's left is to label the quilt, then wrap it up for Christmas morning. I hope my mother-in-law likes it!
(This is me trying to be artistic at a park near the beach! I really liked the rope and I wanted to get a photo with it!)
We are spending Christmas is Mr Handsome's family this year, which we do every other year. He has so many Aunts, Uncles and cousins, that even after 5 1/2 years of being married, I still haven't met everyone! (and I have NO CHANCE of remembering names), but it should be a lot of fun, and I'm glad my kids will have a zillion cousins to play with!
Jessica
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