Sewing – Page 20 – The Craft Room

TSL Dolly Drive 2013

In the three months from January to March the Dolly Drive is hoping to collect 1000 handmade soft toys to distribute to children’s hospitals around Australia.

These are my contribution to their collection. They are Mushroom Rattles, made from a Dolls and Daydreams pattern. They have two little bells in the head of the mushroom and three ribbon roots attached to the bottom.

It’s a lovely easy pattern and was a great way to use up the odds and ends of some pieces of fabric I had.

I hope they brighten the days of some poorly children 🙂

Bags Bags Bags! 6 – Children’s Backpack

I cut out the pieces to make this bag last July, and they’ve been sitting on the ‘to do’ pile ever since!

Finally I got round to digging them out and finishing it off. It started off as a pile like this: And after several days of working on it it ended up like this: It is made from a pattern by Pattern Play. I used this blue monkey fabric with plain blue for the inside and straps.

The one adjustment I made was to add a drawstring at the top as I thought it would hold things in better than just a flap with vecro: DSCF1349 I used iron-on letters on white felt to add a name onto the top of the front pocket: DSCF1350 The straps on the back are adjustable using the metal rings: DSCF1351 After a bit of persuasion I managed to convince my little monkey to model his new monkey backpack for the camera: DSCF1345 DSCF1346 He seems to like it! 🙂

Dr Who Shorts!

New shorts for the new year!

I used a pair of shop-bought trousers to draw round to make the pattern pieces and finished these in an afternoon: Front Perfect for our little Dr Who fan!

With a ribbon tag at the back so he can put them on the right way round himself: Label With lots of Daleks and TARDISes (anyone know the plural of TARDIS?) on the back too: Back We had to have an early morning trying on session: Modelling Standing on the bed to admire them in the mirror! Checking in the mirror They’re definitely a big hit – he wants trousers in this fabric too now! He appreciates his Mummy-made clothes 🙂

Superhero Doll

Finished just in time Nothing like leaving things til the last minute to make you get them done! This little fella was made start to finish on Christmas Eve. He’s made from the Dolls and Daydreams Superhero sewing pattern.

The pattern was pretty easy to follow, although wrestling the arms and legs inside to sew around the body was a bit tricky.

He can be just an ordinary boy … Just a boy …or you can add his reversible mask and cape … Reversible side 2 Reversible side 1 …and he becomes a Superhero! He has yet to be named, but he was well received on Christmas Day 🙂 Superhero side view

Christmas Elves

Father Christmas sent his elves to check we were being good! I made the Christmas Elves from the Funky Friends Factory.

They were quite a long time in the making. They started off way back near the start of December as piles of Christmas fabric and paper pattern pieces, and I hunted out the Christmas music to get in the mood for making them. Ready to start There were surprisingly more pieces than I expected and it took most of the day to cut out the pieces (in duplicate to make two elves). All cut out It was another couple of weeks before I got round to doing all the sewing and stuffing them, finishing them just in time for Christmas Eve.

Edward Elf:

Edwina Elf:

Keeping an eye on us for Father Christmas 🙂 Christmas Elves

Bags Bags Bags 5 – Pink Owls Show-Off Bag

The second of my scheduled posts (because I’m not really on the computer on Christmas Day)!

This is another bag (like the one I made my Mum for her birthday) from the show-off bag pattern from Made by Rae, this time for my (soon-to-be) sister-in-law.

I made it the same as the last one, this time with owls cotton at the bottom and pink cord at the top, with one pocket inside and boxed bottom corners.

I must be improving – my seams are much more in line on this one! 🙂 Bag from side Inside bag Pink Owls Show-Off Bag

Geeky Tablet Sleeve

Woo, I started and finished something all in one afternoon!

I got this fabric from Spoonflower – just perfect for my Mathematician husband!

I’ve been wondering what to make with it since it arrived last month. It was originally going to be a cushion to put in his office, but then when he got a new tablet a cover for it was the perfect thing to make with it.

I didn’t use a pattern (it’s not a big name brand like all the patterns online are for) so I just put the tablet in the middle of the fabric and guessed!

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It’s lined with black fleece to give the tablet a bit of protection when we go out and about, and has a pocket on the front to keep headphones or a stylus in.

Nice and easy, and it looks pretty cool too 🙂

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Fancy Dress Tutu

Last week I had to go to a fancy dress party, and needed a tutu to wear to it!

I searched online and found lots of tutorials for how to make a tutu, so after a trip to the fabric shop to pick up pink tutu fabric off I went!

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I found the rotary cutter the quickest way to cut up the fabric into lots of strips. Lots and lots of strips (9 metres cut into 6 inch strips!), until I had a huge pile of them:

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And it didn’t even require any sewing – you just fold each strip in half and knot around a piece of ribbon that will fit your waist.

It’s very hard to take a photo of the finished thing because it’s so big, but here is the finished tutu!

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P.S. I won the fancy dress competition 🙂

Waterproof Seat Pad

I've paused in the recent bag making to tackle the toddler milestone that is toilet training!

And so I found myself in need of some kind of waterproof mat to use in the buggy or on the bus or train to contain any little accidents.

I had all the materials I needed from making other things recently, so measured the buggy as a starting point and away I went!

I used this pretty cotton for the top – fish and whales are quite popular in our house at the moment, so he has an added incentive to want to keep them dry.

Inside is bamboo fleece to absorb any little accidents, a layer of PUL to make it waterproof, and it's backed in fleece.

Here it is all finished and ready to go 🙂

Bags Bags Bags! 3: The buttercup bag

Another bag finished today – I think that puts me about a third of the way through my bag to-do list!

This bag has been on my list to make for over a year, when I bought the pattern and the material, and I finally dug it out of the cupboard last week to finish it.

This is another Made by Rae pattern. The original pattern is available free here, and there is also a larger version with a license to sell the bags that you can buy on the site too. This one that I have made is the larger version. The fabric is a Michael Miller print which I bought from an etsy seller.

I made mine with a zip rather than a magnetic clasp (which is what is in the instructions). I’m likely to lose everything in it when I inadvertently turn it upside down without a zip! To put the zip in I used an online tutorial I found here.

I made the buttons to go on the front using some of the material from the lining and a button covering tool:

The inside is spotty, with a little pocket – because you can never have too many pockets!

And this is it from the outside, all finished 🙂