Sprite knitting

I was given a large bag of wool including this lovely bright pink. Miss O cannot be trusted to wear anything she doesn't like the look of so I decided to use some of the pink wool on a project for miss E. I found a pattern on Ravelry.com for a sleeveless tunic called Sprite. Honeycomb pattern in the top and numerous cables down the skirt meant it took weeks, but turned out great!

Girly dresses

With miss O to be starting daycare soon I knew she needed some more clothes, especially dresses. I took her to spotlight and on the bargain table she picked out two matching fabrics with flowers. One had small flowers and the other had large flowers. With a pattern I drafted off a lovely white dress that she loved to wear, I made two dresses from 2 meters of fabric.

Katniss Tunics

I knitted a tunic for each of my girls. Each one took me weeks to complete as I only like to knit at night. Worth it though, they turned out great (even if miss O has only worn hers twice).

Sewing and knitting update

So I knitted each of the kids a hat... mr T took his to school and promptly lost it, miss E's is stuffed at the bottom of her school bag, and miss O's is floating around the house somewhere. Don't you love it when kids show such appreciation of hand-made items!! 


After finishing their hats, I decided it was time to knit something for myself. I stumbled across a pattern for fingerless gloves and thought they looked like a bit of me, so I made some! The pattern is called "Ever After Gauntlets" and comes from this blog. 















Back to the sewing... 
Eyeing up my stash of random fabrics one day, I decided to do a sleeveless vest for miss O (with daycare in mind in a couple of months) and line it with polar fleece. Does she wear it? NO!













Winter PJ's for the kids. I decided to do flannelette pants, then buy plain long sleeved tshirts and applique onto them. This is how they turned out:

And to finish... a new tutu skirt for miss O.

Dressing gown

Yes.. another project for miss O. To be fair, she was the only one without a dressing gown and with winter coming she needed one!
I actually made this about a month ago but she refused to wear it at first. I dont know why, just one of those things that seem logical to a 2 year old. But now she likes it.
I didnt have any nice polar fleece to use but I had a large piece of fluffy polyester fabric that has been sitting in my fabric box for ages and she would often pull it out and use it as a cape or 'wings'. I didnt have a pattern, so I made one! I like making patterns but I do need a starting point, so I used the DaRNCaT crossover sweatshirt pattern to get my footing. I measured miss O to get a length, then cut back the cross over sections so they would meet in the middle, and then put it all together, complete with colour-matching snaps.

I have been working on a set of Little Buttons Pop-naps since finishing the dressing gown, so I havent got any other sewing to show, but I have picked up my knitting needles again.
First project was a Milo vest for a friends newborn baby girl. Its so small! - but a perfect fit. I also gave her one of my Button Pie minky bibs - it looks huge!

Since finishing the milo vest, I have done two winter hats, one for miss E and one for mr T. Once I make ones for miss O (cant leave any of the out!) I will get a photo of them all. 

More for miss O

I like sewing little stuff because it means I am finished quickly, and can move on to something else!

Another dress for miss O. This one is pinwale corduroy with FOE trim - same pattern as one she has now grown out of (DaRNCaT).

This isnt the best photo - the fabric has been sitting in a box for a while and there are creases right across the front of the dress.

I whipped up a pair of leggings for her this afternoon. Obviously they don't match the dress !!! but I made them with denim skirts and dresses in mind. Maybe I will even get some black fabric one day for a skirt, and put some stripey applique on it to match....

The fabric is a 2 way stretch knit that has been sitting at the bottom of one of my fabric boxes for a number of years, waiting to be made into leggings. The pattern is also a DaRNCaT pattern, but as miss O is not wearing nappies now I used a smaller size but made the legs longer.

Button Pie

Button Pie is my range of minky baby bibs, cotton velour circular face wipes, cotton velour square nappy-change wipes, and pacifier pockets. All the stock that I currently have made up is on my facebook page and available for purchase http://www.facebook.com/Buttonpie

The minky bibs are backed with microfleece. The great thing about minky is that it is hard to stain, and washes up so soft and fluffy every time. There are two snaps on the neck so they fit all ages. I have a variety of boy, girl, and neutral colours.

Face wipes and nappy-changing bottom wipes have one side of soft cotton velour and one side of cotton flannelette. I make the face wipes in a circle so they are easily identifiable and different from the square bottom wipes. They come in sets of 4.

Pacifier Pockets are designed to hold dummies, keys, anything that needs keeping safe while being easily findable in your bag.

Another something for myself

I bought some dark purple pinwale corduroy with the intent of making a pair of pants for miss O. Then I pulled out the pattern and remembered how long it took me to sew the same pattern a few years ago when I made a pair for miss E... toooo long. So I sifted through my Ottobre books looking for inspiration and eventually came to my only womans' book. A basic skirt pattern, designed just for me! I had *just* enough material for it.

I am not a fan of zips, but I did it (very carefully) and I am very pleased with how it turned out. Now to find a top to go with my new skirt! :)

Warm winter outfit

I love seeing miss O in pink! This pant and jacket set is from Ottobre, 4/2008.http://www.ottobredesign.com/lehdet_js/2008_
4/index.html?en The fabric is sweatshirting, with a FOE trim around the jacket, and minky bumblebee appliques.

Winter dress

I acquired this lovely red knit fabric, embroidered all over with butterflies and flowers. I knew miss O would love it. I turned some of into a nice dress for winter. It looks quite big on her, and it is a bit big yet, but it will be ideal for putting layers of warm clothing underneath in winter. The pattern is Burda 9829.

Dress-ups for the kids

I wanted to try something a little different. Miss-7 loves to play dragons, so I did a google search for dragon dress-up patterns. I found this one, http://www.instructables.com/id/Baby-Dragon-Cape/

Purple polyester velour, lined with green polar fleece for a bit of structure under the light velour, plus white polyester velour for the detailing - spikes and wings.

I was going to make one for Mr T in different colours, but he immediately requested a red ninja costume. Hmmmm ok, I can do that!

Red poplin, basic linen pants pattern from an Ottobre book, and the top from a kids costume book. I had to create the hood pattern from scratch, going by images from google and T's head measurements. Turned out pretty good! He was stoked!

I couldnt forget little miss O. She loves My Little Pony, and I had heaps of pink sweatshirting, so I made her a Pinkie Pie dress-up. I used the same instructions as for the dragon dress-up.

DaRNCaT patterns

I tested a couple of patterns for my friend Shar, who creates DaRNCaT patterns for kids http://darncat.com/ http://darncatpatterns.blogspot.co.nz/ and http://www.facebook.com/DaRNCaT.Patterns These patterns are so quick and easy to follow.

First was the Jessie Junior top. I made this one from polar fleece with FOE trim.

I did another one, this one from sweatshirting with minky, and FOE trim.

A dress from the same pattern.

Unisex leggings from knit fabric - this pair is a Pumpkin Patch fabric.

Merino flower power

The top is merino with an applique cotton flower. Ottobre 1/2010. Pants are a basic legging pattern, corduroy with matching flower trim.

Something for myself

I made myself a tunic from a lovely soft merino blend fabric. So warm for winter.

The pattern is from Ottobre, 6/2008 (yes... its a kids pattern... I fit the 158cm size!).

Merino/cotton baby set

This gorgeous fabric is a lovely merino/cotton blend, perfect for baby clothes. I made this before the arrival of baby #3. The top is an Ottobre pattern, book 1/2006. http://www.ottobredesign.com/lehdet_js/2006_1/index.html?en The pants are a basic Burda pattern. I edged it with soft Fold Over Elastic (FOE) and later added snaps by the ribbons as they kept coming undone.

Margaret Bag

Early 2009 I decided to try making myself a bag. This lovely pattern came from http://www.ohfransson.com/oh_fransson/2011/12/margaret-bag-patterns-now-available.html Unfortunately the pattern is no longer available for free as too many people were using it to sell bags from her pattern.

It is fully lined and has interfacing to hold its shape.

Clothes of the past

Some of the clothes I made 2005-2008-ish

Reversible cow/lilac pants

Polar fleece jacket and pants. Jacket lined with cotton.

Corduroy overalls

Sweatshirt in cotton rich fleece aka cotton sherpa

I was so proud of this gorgeous yellow top, complete with my first attempt at a zip. I was devastated when I realised the overlocker had cut through some bunched fabric on the front and I had to take half of it it apart and put in a seam down the front. It went under a wee pinafore and the seam was hidden.

Christmas Day dress and matching headband, cotton velour

Long sleeved bib

Nappy/bib/wipes set

Sleepsack - cotton knit outer lined with merino

Overalls