Ric-rac and ruffle T-shirts

Here are T-shirts 3 and 4. I sewed ric-rac onto 1, it was supposed to be for M but it ended up being too small so will put that one aside for a gift. With the other I cut thin strips of fabric and ran wide stitching up the middle and gathered it. I left the edges frayed for a rock star look and stitched them down the centre onto the T-shirt. I then un-did the original running stitch. Not sure how long the ruffles will survive the washing machine, but they look cool for now!

Animal Costume Challenge!

M is turning 3 next month and wants an animal costume party. For some reason Tigers are the flavour of the month and we have to make a tiger cake and a tiger costume. I have ideas of the tiger hoody with ears and a tail that I am going to make but here are some links to help you make an animal costume for your child:

• A variety of animal costumes from tigers to butterflies


• Generic animal costume making instructions


• Printable animal masks


• Masks to print out and colour

The masks look like easy wet day projects (and we have had a lot of those recently!!!)

Mia's Flower T-shirt

OK this one is a bit of a cheat as I had already made the badge, but the singlet I made it for is too small for M so I decided to re-use it for one of my 5 T-shirts. The reason I put this on a safety pin badge is because it is hand sewn and has raw edges so wouldn't successfully survive the washing machine, so this way you can detach the badge and watch the T-shirt. All I did was get a strip of material and put handsewn running stitch through one edge and tighten it to make the material curl up then tie a knot. I then sewed the button on the front and a safety pin on the back. There are lots of tutorials on the net to make flowers of various sorts. Here are some:

• Frayed flower tutorial (like the one I made)


• Stacked flower brooch


• Button flower

Do a search and you will find a lot more!

Mixing colours

Most of my best childhood memories, apart from playing with my siblings and cousins, are about making stuff with my Mum. Probably why I love it as an adult, although that gene wasn't passed onto my sister! Baking, learning to sew, learning to knit, making bread, watching her bottle stuff, playing with playdough and making artistic creations. So since M was born I have naturally been looking forward to being able to create with her. She already loves to help me cook and bake, and recently she has been pestering me to mix colours with her. Finally the other day I managed to coordinate baby sleeping with a suitable time to do this and we learnt about mixing colours! Very cute how it can be such a wonder that red and blue make purple and blue and yellow make green!

Handmade Wellington 2011

This sounds like my idea of heaven!!!! Not sure if Miss "I don't do bottles" E (mind you I am too lazy to express and try!) will let me go, but maybe a class or two. Handmade is being held in Wellington during the first weekend in June. It is a series of classes on a huge variety of all things handmade, from knitted socks to cheese.

Mia's Lollipop Dress

Here is one of the few things I have finished since E was born, a dress from the latest Ottobre magazine . The big pink pockets make me think of lollipops. I made it from some denium and cord I had from fabric-abrac last year, and a little bit of pink linen scraps. I am pretty pleased with it, as long as you don't notice the fact that I ran out of thread with 10cms of the hem left to go, and that I put the buttons on backwards!

The buttons were put on using a stud press that my cousin Hols and I went halves in to make nappies. You can buy these at greenbeans along with other stuff to make nappies.

I also made the merino/cotton top M is wearing underneath. If you want to save money by sewing something, make it merino. It is ridiculously overpriced in the shops and you can buy it for $10 a metre if you want to make a trip to Levana in Levin.

Blogging

You will have to excuse some of my strange looking posts until I come to terms with this blogging thing! My main issue is that it seems to want to space everything out ridiculously and even if you edit and save it it goes back to everything being spaced out. Grrrrrr! Will figure it out soon!

Niko's Giraffe T-shirt

Here is my first attempt to decorate one of the T-shirts. I am going to make a shape and fuse it to the T-shirt using vliesofix. Lets see if it is idiot-proof!









Steps:

1. 
   Go to the shop and buy some double sided fusible stuff to stick a fabric shape to fabric, I think it is called vliesofix.









2. Trace a mirror image of your shape onto the non-textured side of the vliesofix (it will appear back the right way when you are finished.











3. Iron it textured side down to your fabric. My mum recommended using greaseproof paper to save your iron.












4. Cut out your shape from the fabric.










5. Peel off the paper, leaving you with the fusible stuff on the shape.

6. Iron the shape, fusible side down to your T-shirt.

7. Sew the shape on to the T-shirt to hold it firm, using running stitch or small zig-zag.

Issues I had:

• The vliesofix didn't seem to stick the shape to the T-shirt that well, even though I ironed it more than I have ironed anything for months (not hard to beat that record though!

• It was quite hard to sew the giraffe on as it had skinny extremities. The end of its tail broke off in the process. Sus I hope you can create an exciting story for Niko, such as a close escape from a lion! Next time I think I would attempt solid shapes as these would be easier to sew on.

Any hints on how to overcome these difficulties?

Gaggle of T-shirts

E is asleep at the moment and M is at kindy, so I can sew! I have been sewing 5 size 3 T-shirts from a pattern in the latest ottobre http://www.ottobredesign.com/. 3 are intended for M, 2 as gifts for some of the little boys in our lives. If you don't like the "rustic" style of home sewing (well maybe yours isn't, but mine is!), you could buy some T-shirts or anything else for that matter and decorate to your hearts content!)

My intention is to decorate each one using different techniques. I haven't used any of them before except the freezer paper stencil one, so could be interesting!!!

Trade Me Treasures

I love looking on Trade Me for bargains and treasures. Some of the things I have bought recently include retro patterns for myself and the girls (about $2 or $3 each!), felt, ric-rac and wool and broderie anglaise fabric. Can't wait to use them!

Internet Inspiration

Due to having a 2 month old baby my time and energy to create anything is very limited. Most of small amount of free time is limited to cruising the internet for inspiration of what to make when I actually do have time! If nothing else this blog gives me the opportunity to organise my ideas into one place!

http://grosgrainfabulous.blogspot.com/2011/05/free-pattern-month-day-10-adventures-in.html#bit

http://www.dana-made-it.com/2008/07/tutorial-simple-skirt.html

http://www.dana-made-it.com/2008/07/tutorial-ruched-leggings.html

http://sewingin-nomansland.blogspot.com/2011/04/eating-me-alive-shirt.html

http://sewingin-nomansland.blogspot.com/2011/03/instant-gratification-top.html

http://www.etsy.com/shop/heidiandfinnstudio?ref=seller_info

I will hopefully get the opportunity to create some of these over the next few months!