Quilted Mat Sew Along Part One...

Today was part one of the Sew Delicious Quilted Mat Sew Along.

This is the first time I've participated in a Sew Along and this one is a nice and easy one.  Perfect for beginners and a fun little project for the more seasoned seamstress.

I've made mine using some of my favourite vintage sheet scraps.  In fact, the blue and purple vintage floral fabric was a gift from Roslyn from Sew Delicious, that she sent me ages ago.  I had made a dress for Hannah using that fabric and was waiting for the right project to come along to use the left over scraps.  So I thought this quilted mat project would be perfect!

I'll be using this mat to go under my sewing machine, as it's a rattly old thing and I'm hoping that this will ease some of the noisiness and allow me to sew during naptime without waking a certain little light sleeper up. 

Part one of the sew along is super easy and takes no time at all!  You can join in too.  Just pop on over here to see how easy it really is!

Can't wait for part two, on Wednesday.

Are you joining in?

Bloggers Baby Shower...

I'm so excited about this!

The lovely ladies from Blog Power Events are organising a Bloggers Baby Shower next month and I'm one of the special guests!

Joining me will be three other glowing Mumma's.  Trudie from My Vintage Childhood, Renee from Née Say and the crafty Cate from Life Behind the Purple Door.

If you happen to be in Brisbane on Sunday, 2nd of June, I'd love to see you there! 

For more info about the day, contact the girls at Blog Power Events via email at admin@blogpowerevents.com or via Facebook.

It should be fun!!!

Baby Blanket to Toddler Shrug Refashion...

Over the weekend I couldn't help but have some more fun with the Flashback Skinny Tee pattern.  This time I mixed things up a little, modified the pattern and came up with this sweet little shrug for Hannah.

I refashioned it from this baby wrap blanket that I scored from an Op Shop for the grand sum of 50 cents.

It came together really quickly and it was a great excuse to use my newest toy, a curved ruler.

I think I may have to whip up a few of these in newborn size before baby arrives.

Time to start stocking up on more knit fabrics!!!

Are you a fan of modifying basic patterns?

Playing with Flashback Skinny Tees...

I've been having fun with Made By Rae's Flashback Skinny Tee pattern this week.

Ros from Sew Delicious encouraged me to try this pattern after a rather dismal week of  frustratingly not finding enough time to sew.  I'm so glad I took her advice.  Using my overlocker/serger, I can whip one of these babies up in half an hour tops!  That includes cutting time.

For my first effort, I decided to skip adding the neck and sleeve cuffs and just serge the ends to give a kind of grungy look. 

 I love the effect of raglan style tees that have the serged embellishments.

Then I decided to refashion a much loved knitted top of mine using the same pattern.

(Before)

I love the colour of this top.

I'm not quite finished this one yet.  It's currently hanging on my wall, while I decided if I want to convert it into a cardigan.

I can see this pattern getting loads of use in the future!  

KCW - Vintage Sheet to Geranium Dress Upcycle...

Kids Clothes Week has come to an end and boy did it go fast!!!

I kicked it off with a sweet little capelet and thought it was a great first day.  But then the next day, things didn't go quite as well as I'd imagined.  After running errands and attending Emily's parent teacher interviews, I'd managed to successfully wear myself out! 

 I got as far as snipping into one of Hannah's long sleeve tops to refashion into a cardigan and haven't returned to it yet.  Perhaps I'll get around to it this week.

Day 3 was spent trying to rest, under strict orders from My Man the Muso.  Which translated to trawling pinterest for project ideas and inspiration.

Day 4 ....  I was ready to dive back in again!  I decided to get a start on my first try at  Made by Rae's Geranium Dress.  I printed, cut and pasted all my pattern pieces together only to come to a halt when I couldn't decide on which fabric to cut into!

Day 5.... had me feeling frustrated at my total indecisiveness.  So I thought I'd change my plans for the time being and set to work on another Made By Rae pattern,  The Flashback Skinny Tee.  Again, pattern printed and all cut out.... only to find that I didn't have enough knit fabric!  Can you believe it!!!!  I think it's time I started re-hoarding my fabrics!

Day 6... Finally things started to fall into place again.  I decided on a fabric for my Geranium dress and set to work cutting into yet another one of my lovely vintage sheets.

This is what I ended up with.....

This is such a lovely pattern to work with.  I can see me using it time and time again!  Such a great base pattern.  

I shortened the length for this one, as at the suggested length, it just looked a little bit 90's style for me.  You know the look where all the dresses came down to the ankle?  Yeah that... I'm not really a fan.  I think the short ties in well with that vintage look.  I may need to whip up a little pair of matching bloomers to go underneath yet..... how cute would that be!

I found the perfect little pearl buttons in my button collection, that just look like they were meant to be a part of this dress.

Considering all the mid week hiccups, I'm really happy with how this little dress has turned out.

Now all I've got to do is get my reluctant model to try it on!  Hannah is going through a little stage at the moment where she only wants to where her "Bairy" (translated... Fairy) skirt.  Hmmmmm..... I'm starting to think now that perhaps I should have made a Fairy skirt a day for KCW!!!

How was your KCW efforts?  Did you get everything sewn that you had originally planned?

I'd love to check out your creations!  So feel free to leave me a link to your KCW posts in the comments.

Kid's Clothing Week - A Cute Little Capelet...

Day 1 of KCW and I'm off to a good start!

I made my first ever Capelet using this fab tutorial from Simple Simon & Co.

The construction was super easy.  Although, I couldn't be bothered setting up the printer to get a copy of the collar pattern and drafted my own instead.

The collar turned out much smaller in width than I had envisaged.  Next time I think I'll not be such a slacker and print the template!

I used some pink pinwale cord that I had left in my stash and the remainder of one of my favourite vintage sheets for the reversible side.

I was originally going to add a button for fastening, but now that it's pretty much sewn up, I'm thinking that a tie ribbon would have looked nicer.  So now I'm undecided.  Do I continue with the button up look or sew some ribbon on either side or try something else?

What do you think I should do?

A New Dress for Hannah...

Recently I picked up a cute little dress for Hannah from Kmart.  I love the look of it so much, that last weekend I attempted to create my own knock off version.  You may have seen me post this piccy of it via Facebook last week....

I had fun drafting and working out the measurements.  The task had my not very good maths brain working on overload!  Me being the short-cutting person that I am, I decided to go with a gathered look rather than the pleats.  I got so excited it whip it up that I rushed it and the outcome wasn't one of my best efforts.... but it did suffice as a good first trial.

I knew by about half way through that I'd stuffed things up a tad, so I didn't bother finishing it off with bias binding around the arms and neck holes.  Instead I just whipped it through my serger with a rolled hem and dubbed it Hannah's "around the house" dress!

Thankfully.... my second attempt was much more successful.

This time I went with pinwale cord for the main fabric and thought it would be cute with a contrasting pink binding for the trimming and pockets.

I'm super happy with how the pockets turned out.  Especially since this project is my first time adding pockets to a dress and I managed to pull it off without a following a pattern... *fist pumps*

Again with this second attempt I opted for gathered rather than the pleats.  I think for attempt #3 I'll go with the pleats and see how that turns out. 

I had to bribe this adorable little munchkin with a photo shoot on her new trampoline!  Let's just say many photos were taken to try and get a handful where she was actually standing still!!!

Overall, I'm quite happy with the pattern that I've drafted.  After a few more attempts and tweaks, I'm hoping to share it with you all.  So stay tuned for future installments on this little number.

Do you ever draft your own patterns from clothing you have bought and love?