Fabric – Page 17 – The Craft Room

Superhero Doll Carrier

How do superheros carry their toys around?

Why in a superhero back carrier of course!

I’m taking part in the September Sew Along with Create H.O.P.E Designs.

CHD sells a wide selection of patterns for $5 each, with all money raised going to charity.

I chose the AVIVI Doll carrier pattern, as W had commented not so long ago about wanting a piggyback carrier just like the one Mummy uses for him (I have an Ergo).

He has been wearing his superhero t-shirts and capes as often as he can recently, and playing with the superhero toy I made him for Christmas, so a superhero carrier was just the thing he needed!

The front of the carrier is made from the same superhero flannel as his doll is made from … … and the inside is leftover black drill from his suit jacket and trousers. There is a heart shaped harness on the inside to hold the toy in. The straps are elastic with velcro to fasten them. Superhero doll has already been for a trip out in his new carrier, and I’m told he really enjoyed it!

There was even a piggyback on a piggyback 🙂

Wedding Suit Jacket and Trousers

I didn’t get a chance to share the photos of the rest of the wedding outfit I made before we went on our travels, mainly because I didn’t finish all the final touches like hemming the sleeves until after we left!

The jacket is made from red and black drill fabric using the Peek-a-Boo patterns Little Gentleman’s Suit Jacket pattern. I’m not sure whether I have a strangely proportioned child, or American children are just much bigger, but following the measurement table I made a size 2 and crossed my fingers the table was correct. It was! The most time consuming part of making it was the welt pockets. I may have huffed and grumbled making them, but they do look very good once they’re done! The trousers are made from the same black drill, and although you can’t see them in this photo, the pockets are made from the same red as the jacket lining. They too were from another Peek-a-Boo Patterns patten, called the Little Gentleman’s Pants.

Of course we had to have a trying on session to check that everything fit!

Looking cute in trousers, waistcoat and tie: Don’t I look smart: This is my ‘cool dude’ pose! (these were taken before the sleeves were hemmed):

He looked very smart. We’re looking forward to seeing the photos the photographer took on the day 🙂

This post contains affiliate links.

Modern QAL – September Block

I’m a bit behind as we’ve been away, and haven’t completed August’s block yet, so I think October will be catch-up month!

This month’s block is called Escalator. All of the blocks are taken from this book:

I think it’s a pretty looking block and it was quite easy to make. I chose pink, yellow, green and blue to make it in this month.

Here is my finished block:

I’m linking up over on And Sew We Craft. You can see the other blocks that people have entered there too 🙂

This post contains affiliate links.

My first t-shirt!

I have always avoided sewing t-shirts in the past, and generally avoided the section of the fabric shop containing ‘knits’ because knits are stretchy, and stretchy equals hard to sew!

However, I figured it was about time I gave it a go, and it was so much easier than I had expected I’m planning on making several more, ready for the summer! I sewed this t-shirt in a yellow fabric that I think was called cotton jersey, with green ribbing around the neckline. The colours were more a coincidence of colours the shop had in stock that looked nice together rather than a deliberate combination – I wasn’t intentionally making it in Australian colours or the colours of Norwich Football Club!

The pattern is the Charlie Tee by Fishsticks Designs. It was very simple to follow. I used the size 5 as we often have a problem with t-shirts being too small to pull over the head, and although is might be a touch long, it will definately last him all summer! I used my new twin needle to sew most of the hems and seams. It makes a double line of straight stitches on the front with a zigzag on the back which allows the material to stretch without the stitches breaking. My ribbon label in the back is a little bit wonky – it must have got pulled to one side as I was sewing the neckline! But it does its job of showing which way it needs to be put on.

And this little man seems happy with it! He’s actually worn it a lot since I made it. He likes Mummy-made clothes 🙂

Easy As ABC QAL: A-E

I’m taking part in the Easy As ABC Quilt Along, making five letters a month so that by Christmas I’ll have a finished alphabet quilt.

I have lots of boyish fabric, so I’ve chosen to use that, with an alternating background of red and blue to make my quilt, rather than the rainbow theme that I know lots of other people are following. Some blocks are going to have larger patches of letter than others, so I just need to arrange them as we go so the fabric with the larger prints fall on these letters.

This month we made the letters A-E.

A: B: C: D: E:

Altogether these five will make up the first row 🙂

You can see the letters that other people have made over on Blossom Heart Quilts. And since it’s August tomorrow, I guess it won’t be very long before I’ll be starting on F-J!

Modern QAL – July Block

This month’s block for the Mondern Blocks Quilt A Long looked a bit more difficult than the last one, and I have put off doing it for a while. But with only a few days left of the month I couldn’t leave it much longer!

I needn’t have worried. It looks harder with the diagonal lines, but in fact it was very simple, and now it’s finished it looks very pretty.

All of the blocks are taken from this book:

This month’s block is called Megan’s Star and the tutorial for it can be found on the blog Samelia’s Mum. You can see all the other blocks people have made and linked up over on And Sew We Craft.

Here is my block 🙂

This post contains affiliate links.

Green Cord Trousers

The third and final thing I managed to finish during Kids Clothes Week was another pair of trousers.

These ones are green cord, and I used the Parsley Pants pattern again, this time with the flat front instead of the full elastic waistband. I chopped a big chunk off the bottom of the pattern this time as the elephant trousers turned out quite long. So these ones once on are a much better length and don’t need turning up several times. They turned out well 🙂

Rocket Tie

The second item I finished during Kids Clothes Week was a tie, to go with the rest of the outfit I’m making for my brother’s wedding. The rocket fabric was left over from making the waistcoat. I fussy cut it to ensure you would see rockets once it was made as the rockets are quite big compared with the width of a tie. I used a pattern from the same designer as the waistcoat, which has a velcro fastening at the back of the neck. The ends are lined with the leftover red cotton from the waistcoat lining. It makes it look like a proper tie! There’s only the waistcoat and tie completed so far, which looks a little odd over the top of a checked shirt, but you get the general idea!Next up on the wedding clothes list is smart trousers!

Red Rocket Waistcoat

This last week was Kids Clothes Week.

I used this KCW to make a start on clothes for my brother’s wedding.

First up was a waistcoat. It is made from cotton, with plain red on the inside and rockets (which he chose himself) on the outside. It is made from the Fuddie Duddies Jacob Vest pattern. I made the size 4 thinking it would be a little big, but in fact it’s just right so it’s a good job I didn’t go with the size 3 after all! I made it a bit simpler with poppers instead of buttons – red to match the pattern.

He’s going to look very smart!

Elephant Trousers

When I finished sewing a baby changing bag for my sister I had some material leftover. It’s elephant drill, and I looked at it and immediately thought – that’s enough to make a pair of trousers! So that’s what I used it for!

I made these trousers from the new Parsley Pants pattern from Made by Rae. The orange and blue trousers I’ve made in the past get lots of wear, and these are even more cool looking with their elephants and apples, so I’m hoping he likes these just as much – they’re plenty big (I made the size 4 so they’re turned up a few times) so he won’t grow out of them any time soon! The pattern was really easy to follow and because I wasn’t adding pockets to these they were quick to make. The rainbow ribbon at the back was attached to a balloon we brought home from a birthday party a couple of weeks ago. They are very cool looking trousers!