Zipper Critters

We are smack in the middle of birthday season. Lots of our wee friends are turning 5, 2 or 3. Its special. And birthdays are a great excuse to sew sew sew. One of my favourite little person's gift is a Zipper Critter.

A year or so ago, my Mum was gifted a pattern. Knowing that it would be right up my alley, she lent it to me.

Zipper Critters are a wonderful way to use up scraps to make a super special gift. I have made the little dog and cat that hang from a clip. Oscar's was my first creation and I believe it went down a treat. Last week, a little friend of Cullen's turned 5. He was visiting from overseas and instead of trying to work out what to buy him I decided to give him some spending money while he was here. Money fits perfectly in the mouths of these little critters. He told me he would hang it from his bag when he started school so he could remember which bag was his.
Our local $2 shop sells these little clips, four for $2.50. They are plastic not metal but definately do the trick.

You can use anything to create these colourful little guys. Old buttons, old zips or cheap ones from op shops. The ears have pipe cleaners in them to make them bend. Am thinking it might be a great pass the parcel prize for another up coming birthday..... pretty neat eh? A xx

Kids belt from scraps

If you have lots of scraps lying around, plus a child to sew for this is a quick and easy project.  This is not a new idea, but after having tried a few different tutorials I made my own as I found the others too complicated!

Firstly, cut out a whole heap of 3" wide pieces from your fabric.  You can make them any length you choose.

Then sew them together into a strip, using a 1/4" seam and right sides together however long you need to fit round the waist and some overhang

Iron open all the seams

Fold the long sides together and iron a middle crease

Cut 1" wide interfacing and iron on one side of the crease

Fold and iron the material in (along the edge of the interfacing so cut it very straight!)

Repeat the other side.  Make sure you fold in one edge to finish one end of the belt.

Then iron together

Sew 1/8" seams from the outside edges

Get your 25m d rings

And thread through the raw end

Fold the raw end under and then fold it over

Sew a 'box' shape to make it secure

And you are done!

You could make this out of one fabric, or increase the width and lenth to make for an adult.

Till next time, Melissa