Nearly Christmas

Just one last present to finish and I will be ready for Christmas.

Enormous Hippos

I received the best email yesterday from Sarah who had used my hippo pattern to make enormous hippos for her son's kindergarten class. They sang "I want a hippopotamus for Christmas" for their holiday assembly and it is now living in their classroom. I love it! I think they are the best hippos I have ever seen. I really want to make an enormous hippo for the girls (ok they might be my excuse, I really want one for myself).

Sarah said she enlarged the pattern 300%. She said the only problem was that she had to tuck the neck a bit to make it fit. I had this problem when I was trying to make one out of  wool or corduroy once. If you find you have this problem at all the best way to fix it is to place the head inside the body and if one is bigger then the other just sew a couple of seams a little bigger and then try it again until they fit perfectly and then sew them together.
Thanks for sharing Sarah!

Christms Sewing

I think I am nearly at the end of the Christmas sewing.

It is the last day of school today and I made a few pouches to go in the teachers' presents.

 A few little hats for little cousins.

I just have to finish dresses for the girls and I think the Christmas presents are all done!

Kwik Sew 3776

I haven't had a tiny baby during summer before. The others were all winter babies. So I have been going through patterns looking for cute little summer clothes. You can't go wrong with little overalls.

I chose Kwik Sew 3776 as they are quite wide and can fit a cloth nappy in. I really should have followed the instructions exactly as I thought I knew what I was doing so of course I made mistakes and there was a lot of unpicking.

 I love this aqua fabric. It is by Sevenberry and I think I bought it at Calico and Ivy in Perth last year.

 Somehow I managed to put the snaps on the wrong way, but it isn't that obvious.

  I used cute little pink flower buttons from the seemingly never ending bag of mixed buttons I bought a few years ago at Spotlight.

 I made the 0-3 months size for Olive who is 3 months next week (already!!) as she is a little shorty. They are still a little big so they will fit for a while.

Love this pattern. I think now I know what mistakes not to make I might try some in Liberty.

Ice Packs

A few years ago my friend Emma made the girls little ice packs made of rice. They have saved us so much money in bandaids. Whenever they have a sore or bump themselves they go and grab one from the freezer. They are also great when it is hot and they want to cool down. I made a few this week to add to all their cousins' Christmas presents.

Christmas Stockings

Four stockings ready for Christmas. I used this tutorial and fabric by Aneela Hoey.

Stockings

Eeek! How did it get to be less than two weeks until Christmas? Time for some stocking making.

2 1/2" Square Ruler

Most of the rulers I own are basic square rulers. I own a few triangles, a really long rectangle (which I love) and a couple of others I rarely use. When I saw the Creative Grids 2 1/2" square ruler I knew I could use it a lot. I bought it a few months ago and finally got around to playing with it on the weekend.

 So simple to use. Just put two 2 1/2" strips right side together and cut.

 Take them to your machine and sew them together.

 You can snip off the other tip of the triangle if you want.

 And then press. I pressed my seams open. The second one has the tip trimmed, but I left it on the first one to show what it is like if you don't trim it.

If you love jelly rolls and 2 1/2" strips this ruler is a great investment.

Good Mail

Some days I can throw quilt blocks on the ground and they look great wherever I have put them and some days it takes hours of rearranging and they still don't look right. Today is one of those days.
Luckily this great package arrived in the mail today, I ordered this as soon as Pink Castle Fabrics put it up. I love it even more than I thought I would.
I think some of this will be perfect for a new bag.

Tiramisu Dress

Just reposting this as I seemed to have accidentally deleted it.

As soon as saw the Tiramisu dress by Steph was available for pre-order I ordered it and as soon as it arrived I traced it and started sewing. I finished it yesterday and guess what I wore today?

I love this style of dress and own quite a few similar patterns. This one is different to the others I own in that the skirt is cut on the bias and is quite full and it has kimono sleeves.

I thought I would make a muslin out of cheapish black synthetic jersey from Spotlight. This fabric is very stretchy in all directions. Sorry about the headless pictures but I am long overdue for a haircut and colour (a friend asked me what was happening with my zebra hair it's that bad).

I traced a copy of the pattern according to my measurements and sewed. I really should have tried it as a sewed, but sometimes I find it easier to sew the entire thing and then see where changes should be made. When I first tried it on it was really huge in the top and band. I think this was due to the very stretchy fabric I used. I left it for a bit and then had another look at it and with a bit of pinning I worked out how to make it wearable.

I think the big problem I have with it is more a problem I have with my current shape less than three months after giving birth. I am definitely an apple shape and the band was just accentuating my stomach. So I cut off the side seams (about 3/4" at each side) and cut the top front and back from the band (so 1/2" from the top and bottom pieces and from the top of each band) then I cut off 2 more inches from the top of the band, I just prefer a smaller band on me. Then I sewed it all together with a bigger side seam where I needed it and now I have a very wearable muslin.

 The band now sits under my bust, when I make another one I might make it a little longer, I might have taken too much height off. It is hard to see where it sits in black fabric so to make it a bit clearer.

The only other change was to take two inches off the length.

If I was making this with a less stretchy fabric I would definitely make it according to my measurements and the original pattern I cut out and try it on a lot more as I went.

I love this dress, it is so comfortable. I love the arms- perfect for those of us with bigger upper arms and I love the full skirt and it is perfect for breastfeeding in.

Pattern Winner

The winner of the pattern was Waverlee!
Please let me know your address and I will get it sent to you.