Buba's new wardrobe

Yesterday Nathan took the girls away for the WHOLE DAY! My biggest break from them since Ellie was born I think. He went to his parents house and Chipmunks and I went to the gym and pottered around the house. The main thing I wanted to achieve was making dolls clothes for Mia's dolls. It is near impossible to find decent patterns, either on the internet or paper patterns. I wanted simple, easy to put on and off, modern clothes, not frou-frou dresses!

This is Buba:

Because of this I have been working on patterns to fit Mia's doll "Buba" for a while now. They are basically scaled down baby and toddler patterns, but I made mock ups of each pattern for the doll, and then adjusted them to fit better. Yesterday I used the final patterns to make Buba an entire wardrobe:

The patterns I made were a knit top that can be long or short sleeved, a trousers pattern that can be shortened to shorts, a dress pattern and a tights pattern that can be shortened. I had fun making them, but they are quite time consuming, even though you don't have to pay as much attention to finishes or details!

Here is Buba modelling her gears:

Yellow shorts with pink floral back pockets and green striped T-shirt with heart

Green striped T and tights that can be worn as PJs

With the dress over:


Long sleeved top, ladybird skirt and short tights with a heart on the bum:

This morning Mia and I wrapped them up and put them under the tree "To Buba and Dolly (the 2nd down the pecking order Doll!) From Mia. Lets hope they like them!!

Christmas Advent and my Mum is O for Awesome!

Its the first of December! Time to start (officially anyway!) our activity advent. My Mum made this gorgeous advent calendar for Mia last Christmas. It is a quilted tree with little ornaments that you hang up each day in December.

My Mum has made Mia some lovely handcrafted things since she was born. She sewed and knitted for us when we were kids too, and preserved, and baked and grew veges. I wonder where I got my love of all these things from!? She is much better at paying attention to detail than I am, so the things she makes are beautiful, and Mia is so lucky to have a grandmother that is so talented.

Here are some of the other things she has made:

A cross stitch Christmas stocking. When we were kids she made us these too. Actually quite big kids, probably too big to have stockings!

Dolls for both girls when Ellie was born. They have reversible dresses. This is probably a better photo of the cute baby than the dolls!

A bag of little dolls that will be wonderful if we ever get a dollshouse. Mia likes putting the dolls (or rocks or whatever!) into the bag when she is playing one of her elaborate imaginery games!

She has knitted for Mia including this jersey

She is currently working on a rainbow quilt for Ellie that I will share when it is completed.

I am so lucky to have such a legacy of handcraft talent in my family. My grandfather knitted, my grandmother spins and is a potter, my other grandmother was a talented sewer. It goes back even further than that. When I was a child we received several handmade toys that my great-grandmother had made, all the way from Petersfield in the UK, and I grew up playing with a dollshouse that both her and my great-grandfather had handcrafted for my mother and her sister. It is still at my parents, although is a little worse for wear!

I know that most people my age haven't had this background that has inspired me to try and follow in their footsteps and I feel very lucky.

Felt Cookies

This is the felt project that Mia has been nagging me to make, cookies! After finding inspiration from pictures on pinterest I decided I would make a "cookie baking" set, with the cookies cut out of "dough" and uncooked, and then the same cookies finished with icing and sprinkles so that she could pretend that she was completing the baking process.

Here is how to do it:

You will need: Light brown felt, medium brown felt, brown cotton, beads for sprinkles that can be sewn on, felt for icing (I used pale pink) and matching thread.

1. Cut out a "dough" shape from the light brown felt. Take 1 or more cookie cutters and trace around them onto the shape. Cut them out so that they can be removed from the dough. These are your unbaked cookies ready to go into the oven!

2. Cut out an icing shape for each completed cookie, using the cookie cutters. Cut out 2 medium brown felt shapes for each finished cookie, but make them bigger than the cutters as shown below. I did this because cookies get bigger when you cook them in the oven!

3. Sew the icing shape onto the top medium brown felt shape. Sew the sprinkle (beads) on. Sew the 2 medium brown shapes together for each cookie. They look yummy!

Yes there is a "well done" cookie on this plate, I ran out of the first colour of felt! And the strangely arranged sprinkles on one of the hearts are supposed to say "Mia"!

I don't think there will be too much KCWC sewing going on here today - baby up half the night and sick, tired Mummy! I will try to at least do something!

Dolls' nappies (diapers)

KCWC turned a bit to custard at the end of the week as my overlocker ran out of thread and I haven't had a chance to buy some more yet! I have half finished matching dresses for my girls that I will share over the next few days when I finish them. Instead I found a couple of little projects that are not kids clothing, but still worthy of sharing I think. The first are very quick and simple felt nappies, the second is an owl tag toy that I am very happy with and will share tomorrow.

I love felt! Such an easy fabric to work with. No hemming and almost indestructible for kids! A really quick way to make nappies for dolls (or other toys) is to use felt. They won't fit perfectly or be streamlined under their clothes, but they are easy for little hands to put on and off and are very quick and easy to make.

You will need: Felt, hook and loop tape (also called "velcro" sometimes), thread

1. Firstly you will need to make a pattern for the toy that you are making the nappy for. I used some baking paper and kept trimming and extending it until it fitted "buba" the doll. Once you have the pattern you can use it over and over again. Your pattern should be shaped like this:


2. You then need to cut one of more outlines from felt from your pattern.

3. You then need to sew hook and loop tape onto your nappy as shown below. It doesn't really matter which goes where, hook or loop, just as long as you have both and don't use the same one in both places! You will need one kind in the centre and the other kinds on both the "arm" bits that stick out.

4. Put the nappy on the doll! It's as simple as that!

Felt Carrots

Today I wanted to do something quick to add to the felt food collection,so decided on carrots.

You will need: Orange felt, green felt, stuffing (I used wool) and orange thread

1. For each carrot cut out a matching front and back from orange. I made 4 carrots.

2. For each carrot you will need a square of green to make the greenery for the top out of.

3. Roll the square up and pin it closed.

4. Remember those paper trees you made when you were a kid? Well you need to do eaxctly the same to your roll of green felt, cut it down about three quarters of the way. Cut three equally spaced lines around your felt so that it fans out.


5. Place the greenery inside the carrot and pin around the outside.

6. Stitch around the edges with orange using the sewing machine and leaving a space to put stuffing into. Stuff it.

7. Hand stitch the opening closed with orange thread.

Felt animal mask tutorial

So here is another felt tutorial, but it is a bit of a break from the food I have been making. The inspiration for this project started from a conversation I had with Mia before she went to daycare yesterday.

"Mum can you please make me a Pepa Pig mask today?" (Mia)


"I guess so" (Me) "Yes I am sure that I can" (as I realised that this could potentially be quite a fun project!)

Pretending to be an animal is big with Mia at the moment. We have Whiskers the cat, Wuffy the dog and most recently the whole family has to pretend to be Pepa Pig's family. This latest role play was inspired by her being plonked in front of youtube watching Pepa Pig clips while Nathan "babysat" while the All Blacks were playing. Nathan thinks Daddy Pig is hilarious (he is actually, completely clueless as many father cartoon figures are) so plays along with it. Ellie has to be her little brother George and pretend to be obsessed with dinosaurs (as much as a 7 month old can pretend) and I have to be Mummy Pig who sorts out all Daddy Pig's mistakes (quite like real life really!)

So while Mia was at daycare and Ellie asleep I decided to make each of these 3 characters a mask.

Pig mask

You will need: Pink felt, elastic, pink thread, black felt

These are the pieces you will need to cut out: Front and back mask panels, nose and 2 ears (from pink) and 2 black nostrils

Sew nostrils to the nose. Sew the ears onto the front of the back mask panel.

Cut elastic to fit around the child's head. Sew ends of elastic to front of back mask panel.

Top stitch the 2 mask panels together around the edges. Top stitch the nose onto the mask. You can also top stitch around the edges of the ears if you like.

Here's Pepa:

Cat mask

You will need: Black felt, pink felt, elastic, black thread

Cut out: 2 mask panels and 2 ears from black felt, a pink nose.

Follow exactly the same process as you did with the pig mask.

Dog Mask

You will need: Brown felt, elastic, brown thread, black felt

Cut out: 2 mask panels, 2 ears from brown felt. Black nose.

Follow exactly the same process as you did with the pig mask.

Wuffy the dog:

Discovery Box

I have read a couple of times on peoples blogs recently about how they have given their newly sitting up 6 or 7 month olds a discovery box and how it has kept them busy for ages. Ellie is 7 months and (unsteadily) sitting so I quickly (read: In about 1 minute!) chucked several things in an icecream container for her and set it in front of here. If I was a better and more organised mother there probably wouldn't be any plastic in there and I would have trolled the environment for natural things, but I haven't yet. Will get round to that some day!

Ellie loved exploring everything with her hands and her mouth, and it also made me ponder the differences between our two precious girls.

At first I thought to myself "why didn't I think of this with Mia!", but I guess I actually did in a way as I gave her household items to play with all the time, just not in a box! And then I thought "To be honest I don't think Miss Mia would have sat there for over half an hour playing with things and not wanting to move!". Mia came into the world wanting to do the next thing. She reached all her milestones early and then promptly worked on getting to the next one. She was also quick to tell you if she was annoyed and still is! But she is so smart and so like me in personality that it is scarey. She has the patience of a, well a 3 year old, and wants constant attention and playmates (as many firstborns do I think!).

Ellie arrived into the world calmly (and quickly!) with her unworldly big blue eyes calmly taking in the surroundings. She is content just to watch the world go by, and idolises her big sister. It is actually difficult to bore her, hence the discovery box being perfect for her! Having said that she has also had her challenges. Her big sister was quick to sleep for hours at night, Miss Ellie not so much! She was also refluxy and uncomfortable at feeding early on but that has long passed.

So each of my girls are so different from each other, and its wonderful that they already have different strengths and personalities. I look at them both in awe and cannot imagine having anything different (sorry mothers of boys I would love them just as much if I had them!). They are also so lovely to each other at the moment, and I am hoping that lasts for as long as possible!

Felt Strawberries

This is the second instalment of the felt food tutorials - strawberries. These were a little bit more time consuming than the sandwich was.

1. Cut a 10cm circle from red felt, then cut it in half. This will make 2 strawberries.




2. Use white cotton to sew lots of white "seeds" on the strawberry. This is the most time consuming part, you could miss this out if you weren't too fussy about what the finished product looked like.

3. Fold the long end in half, right sides together and stitch together. Turn the right way in.

4. Stuff the strawberry.



5. Run stitches around the top of the strawberry and pull the opening closed, secure with a knot.




6. Cut out a 6 pointed star shape for the top and stitch on to the strawberry.

Felt Food: Sandwiches

Here is the first of a series of felt food tutorials. I have been wanting to make felt food for a while, and finally did it today. Miss Mia is going to have a surprise toy to come home to from preschool today!

I thought sandwiches would be a good thing to make, because there is actually some roleplay involved in making the sandwich as well as pretending to eat it. I am pretty happy with the results, and with the exception of the bread slices all the pieces were very easy to make, beginner sewers project!

The tomatoes, cheese, ham and lettuce were all made simply by cutting out the shape from felt and then top stitching. The tomato and lettuce are a little but more complicated.




The pita pocket is exactly what it looks like, 2 half circles stitched together to make a pocket.

The bread was a little bit more complicated. Here are the instructions:

1. For each slice of bread you will need 2 rectangles for the outsides of the slices and a long strip for the crust. You may need to sew 2 thin strips together to make it long enough.




2. Pin and sew the "crust" to one of the 2 sides, right sides together. Pin and sew the other side to the crust to make the slice, leaving a gap to put the stuffing into.




3. Turn it the right way out and stuff. Handsew the gap closed.




Now you are ready to make a sandwich!

Pimp my buggy!

Mia has a dolls' stroller since she could walk. It is a very cheap one and for most of its life the thin nylon cover has been ripped, forcing the doll sitting in it to sit on a very strange angle, and upsetting Miss OCD who cannot handle things not "being right". One day last week it was causing particular concern. My first thought was "We should get her a new one", then I thought "I can make a new cover!". After bribing her into cooperating and having a nap with the promise that I would have a new buggy cover for her when she woke up I used the old one as a pattern to cut out a new one. The whole process probably only took about 45 mins and it is (I think!) much cooler than the old one and much better quality. Mia and "Buba" were very happy with the result. The moral or that story is don't throw it away if you can fix it!

Art Case

While wasting time on pinterest, I came across some pictures of art folders for kids and thought "what a great gift". I played around with a proto-type for Mia, and improved on it from there. I think this will be one of my "go to" presents for kiddlies for the next year or so until they have one each! Here is how I made it. You will need:

• 2 fabrics (for inside and outside and pockets) it is a good idea to use at least one that is quite stiff eg: denium. Alternatively you could iron on interfacing to stiffen it


• velcro


• Double sided iron on stuff (forgot what it was called) for applique on front


• Thread and a machine etc

What you need to cut out:

• A piece from each type of fabric measuring 35 x 60cms (interior and exterior)



• 2 handles measuring 25 x 10cms



• 1 pocket measuring 35 x 22cms from exterior fabric



• 1 pocket measuring 35 x 15cms from exterior fabric



• 1 pocket measuring 35 x 15cms from interior fabric

Iron them all to make them nice and flat.

How to make it:

1. Work out half way both vertically and horizontally so you put the applique in the right place (I learnt from my first try!) Adhere whatever applique you choose to use to the front of the exterior piece of fabric. Sew it on.










2. Fold a cm under each long side of each pocket and iron. Hem one ironed side of each.










3. Work out half way of the interior (the bit that will fold it into a suitcase) so that you put the pockets in the correct place. Stitch the exterior fabric smaller pocket to one side of the interior. Stitch close to the side, as this is just basting and will hold the pocket in place until you sew the interior and exterior together. Sew lines on this pocket, to make "mini-pockets" to put crayons and other treasures in.












Place the 2 remaining pockets together, with the smaller pocket on top of the larger one. Overlap the ironed under bit at the bottom. Sew this onto the other side of the interior fabric, very close to the centre line.










Sew the long side of the handles, and turn them the right way out. Iron these. You can top stitch them close to the edges if you want to make it look pretty.










Pin the exterior and interiors together, right sides together. Also pin the handles on, making sure that they are sandwiched between the two layers and pointing inwards. Make sure you centre the handles (again learnt the hard way!) Sew right around the outside, leaving a small hole between the 2 ends of one handle so you can turn it the right way out.










Turn your art case the right way out.










Sew right around the outside of the whole case, close to the edge to make it look nice! Also sew along the "fold" where the case will close.










Sew on 3 8cm pieces of velcro on each inside edge, on either end and in the middle. Be very careful to ensure that these match so that the case can be closed.










Fill it with crayons and some paper or a colouring book and you have a gift!