Once I was a T-shirt

Last week a friend of mine picked up a bargin find at the op shop for $4. A size 12 girls tshirt. Too small for her angel, too big for mine. Today in about 30 minutes, while chatting on the phone, I have transformed it into a little dress for Macie.

I based it on a pattern by Leila and Ben http://leilaandben.com/sweetdress.htm that I have used several times in the past.

For this t shirt transformation I just cut of the neck band and folded the tshirt over about 1cm and stitched around it leaving an opening about 4 cm wide. I threaded through some 6 mm elastic, joined it and closed the hole.

For the sleeves I used the hem already there and just cut the cotton to make a wee hole to thread the elastic through, closing it when I had finished.

All done, super quick and fool proof. Looks pretty neat eh?
I would recommend pinning down the two year old to try it on first - Macie's arm elastic is a little loose but this little firecracker was busy in the sandpit and couldn't be bribed to assist!

Happy Christmas crafting! A xx

Dresses Dresses Dresses

Over the last little while I have been making dresses for Thea mostly from what I have lying around which is great.

This dress is from one of hubby's old tshirts:

This dress I made for her 3rd birthday party (there's teeny weeny russian dolls on the fabric as it was a russian doll theme)

And also this skirt is following the same principle except no straps (didn't have enough length to make it a dress)

And finally this double layer pillow dress - didn't make it double layer as in the end couldn't be bothered!!!

All of these were super easy and the only material I bought especially was the muslin for Thea's party dress - it's so great to be able to use fabric from the stash!

Till next time, Melissa

Quick and easy idea for Christmas

I thought it would be cute to have the kids wear matching t-shirts on Christmas Day - or around the holiday anyway.

I used this tutorial from DragonFly Designs but did a couple of extra things (oh and I chose to cut out the t-shirt fabric),  I interfaced the tree and star (just to make it a bit sturdier) and also traced around the template with chalk so when I was sewing, I could get the shape right.

After trying numerous times to draw a five-pointed star, I found this great tutorial online!

Till next time, Melissa

Macie's Big Bib

Here is a great gift idea for a new baby or under one in your life.

These bibs are big, bright and beautiful both to use and to gift to others. They are super easy to make.
Here is a little tutorial:

Materials needed:
A couple of fat quarters (two bibs to a fat quarter)
Sweatshirting/polar fleece/terry towelling (for the back)
Co ordinating cotton
Velcro
A template of a favourite shaped bib would be handy

Step 1 - Make your template
Make an outline of bib onto paper. I added a 1/4 inch seam allowance to my outline. Check that your bib template is even by folding it in half length wise. You may need to adjust it here.

Step 2 - Cut out fabric
Place the bib outline onto your fabric. If you want to speed up this process, place the sweatshirting and the cotton fabrics right sides together. Lay the bib template on top and pin. Cut out both fabrics together.

This means your edges match perfectly and you are also ready to sew the two pieces together.

Step 3 - Sew your bib

Pin your two pieces of fabric to secure and then sew a 1/4 inch seam around the edge leaving a 3-4 inch gap along one side. Clip your curves by cutting into the seam allowance to just shy of the stitching line. Take care not to cut your seam. Leave about 1 inch between each cut. This is important around the neck curve. Turn bib right side out and press. Top stitch around the entire bib using a n1/8 - 1/4 inch width. Make sure you close the hole used to turn bib.

Step 4 - Attach your velcro
Cut two pieces of velcro about 1- 11/2 inches long. Pin one on the top of one side, the other on the bottom of the other. Check that they fit nicely and evenly when you close the bib. Sew in place.

Your bib is done.

Have fun with fabrics, add some extra sewing lines to secure or add decoration. Here are a few I made for a little girl born just recently.

Have fun creating, A xx

Give me a lift

Macie has a little buddy who is just the same age. These two little tikes find it pretty tough come dinner time when the family sit down to dinner. They are at that age where they are not babies and are not quite big boys and girls either. So a little boost is needed to make them feel part of the group, rather than stretching their necks just to see over the table top let alone seeing what is on the plate in front of them.

For my birthday a very cool crafty friend of mine gave me '101 One Yard Wonders'. In it was the perfect solution to Macie and her little buddy's dilema. A booster cushion.

I had about half a bag of beans left over from my pouf and several metres of corduroy spare so I set to work.

This is the result of about an hours work.

Now our little ones feel like part of the family. Super cute and very portable.

A xxx

Another craft room project – a noticeboard

(First an apology for the bad photos, I had to take these on my ipod)

The colours for my craft room are pink, white and green (the walls were a pale green already and I didn’t want to re-paint).  My mum gave me some pink gingham so I thought I would use this for my notice board.  You can use any fabric but I do think quilting cotton or furnishing fabric does work a bit better. 

What you need:

- a large piece of board cut to your desired size (not too heavy if it’s to be mounted on the wall)

- enough fabric to cover the board with perhaps 5cm clear all around

- calico to cover the board

- elastic

- batting

- staple gun

- optional bull dog clips

Just a note, the first I made these I did it on our table.  DON’T DO THIS unless you want staple holes all over your table and an angry husband!!!  Now I do them on the carpet or even a sheet outside on the grass would be fine too.

1)    Lay you fabric right side down, then the batting on top (to cover edge to edge), then the board

2)    Fold the fabric up and onto the board, pulling fairly tight and secure with a bulldog clip.  I like to do one side, then the opposite.

3)    Next run your elastic from corner to corner across the diagonal underneath your board (so the elastic is on the right side of the fabric).  Staple one end, pull it tight and over the end to staple on the back.  Repeat for the other side, then the middle.

4)    Iron a small seam on your calico and place on the back of your board (this is to cover up the messiness).  You might need to do a few staple before this too.  Then simply staple the calico on in a few places while also stapling down the fabric.

You are done!

Now drill some hooks in the back and put it up to show the world.

'Till next time, Melissa

A good storage solution that looks pretty neat!

I don’t know about you, but most of my crafting is for other people (I don’t even make that much for my kids really).  The lead up to Christmas is crazy and I still have many, many projects to do.

But sometimes I get a bit fed up of making stuff for others and want to make something for me.  So while this project should have been left to after Christmas I wanted to reward myself so I just did it.

I got the idea for this bobbin/thread holder from Pinterest.  As you know I am setting up a craft room and I want to have as much space as possible on the desks so putting these up on the wall is perfect – it looks amazing, plus clears space on the desk.

The one I saw on Pinterest was made up completely but my father had an old wooden cherry box lying around which I thought would be cool.  I just needed to add three shelves to it.

So yeah really easy – I painted the box white and the shelves in a soft pink called Dulux Fruitlands.  Then nailed together at the sides, then nailed in wee nails to the shelves for my bobbins.

Isn’t it cool!

I just love going into my craft room and staring at it J

Until next time, Melissa