mermaid tails (-a work in progress)

Miss B decided that this year, she was to have a mermaid party for her 5th birthday. Not too hard, or so i thought.

I came across this tutorial for some mermaid tails costumes, and thought they would be perfect for little girls to frolic around in.

I'm always know for tweaking a pattern, and this is what i came up with.

 Lots and lots of cutting!

 Five down, three more to go!

 Close up of the shimmery overlay fabric.

These are not finished yet. I still have to put a waistband on each, make three more and then I'm done. Phew!

For the fabric, I used a cotton poplin as the main  fabric in various sea type colours ( no pink here!). I found this shimmery fabric, which reminded me of fish scales, and i overlaid this over the base colour. And to jazz it up a bit, I added some tulle on the fin section. Cute.

I'm so far very happy with the way they have turned out.

I'll update when all of the mermaid tails are completed for a finished photo.

kids pyjama pants

As previously mentioned, my 'Little Miss' is having a growth spurt- of epic proportions!
Realising just before bedtime that she had no clean PJs and those she had were w-a-y too small, i quickly trawled the net for some super quick pyjama pant tutorials. There were tons of tutorials out there, but these three listed below were pretty straight forward and easy to follow.

Pyjama pant tutorials:

 1.

 2.

3.

1. MADE, 2. Subtle Tee, 3. My Cotton Creations.

And here's my version.

These are a little more fitted than those shown above. Miss B likes ribbed ankles so they dont ride up at night. One small error due to rushing to make them, one of the cuff seams is inside out (see on the right hand side). No biggie though.
Super easy to make, and if you can score some cheap fabric like I did, these pj pants cost only about 45 cents to make. Perfect!

milkmaid skirt

Miss B has gone through a h-u-g-e growth spurt- nothing fits! And also, she's decided that girls dont wear pants, so our wardrobe attire is next to nil.

Skirts and dresses are on the 'to do list' this week. Special request from Miss B was for some of her favourite colours (pink & purple- of course) and not my 'boring' choice of colours (being navy, grey or red).

This bright number was finished today, and little Miss was delighted to see a multitude of colour.

Fabric: Amy Schimler 'Circle Toss in Pink ', and pink /white dot contrasting trim.

Tutorial for skirt came from here.

getting back on the bike

I'll be returning soon.

There's been a lot of speed bumps and wobbles along the way, but all looks good for a smooth ride now.

Stay tuned....

Just do it!

I just haven't been feeling like myself of late. I'm tired and puffed out, and just haven't felt like doing much at all.

So many half finished projects litter the studio. They're not orders, just things for my little one, or projects/ tutorials I wanted to try out. I just haven't had the heart to sit down and finish them off. Maybe it's the changing of seasons or something, but I just feel 'blah'.

Fleece night dress Miss B wants me so desperately to finish. Neck, sleeves and hemming required.

Charcoal linen pinnie. Printing and buttons required.

Crinkly owl teether. Stitching and turning right side out required.

Lovely nappy wallet. Only a press/ snap stud required.

Peasant dress cut. Sewing required.

 As you can see, so many projects that only need a little attention to get them finished. So today, I'm putting on my 'hat of completion' and getting things done! Now that I've said it and put it out there, I'm off to go do it!!

crinkly owl teethers

Isnt this the cutest baby teether ever!

This little owl was created after stumbling upon this fabulous blog. The tutorial for it is actually here.

I made it quite textural. Grosgrain ribbons, velvet ribbon, corduroy and beautifully soft minky fabric on the back. I might add a bit of satin ribbon next time. In the inside, I used a layer of felt and a layer of very crinkly plastic (from a old pasta packet). I think all babies love the 'crinkly' noise.

The little owl was actually destined to be gifted to my lovely neighbours new baby girl, however, my two children love it so much that they don't want to part with it. So it looks like I'm set to make a few more owls yet. I dont mind though- they are so cute!

  

wallets for bubs

The latest nappy wallet.

I think these are great! Super handy. This time I added a swivel clip on the inside. Use it to secure a dummy, your keys or even to clip on to a small coin purse.
I hope someone else thinks they're great too. I might try some in the shop.

play dresses

These dresses make the best play dresses.

Easy to run, jump, dance, roll, climb, wriggle and play in, they make a great kinder dress. On the cooler days, I layer them up with a long sleeved tee and leggings.

Fabric: Disco flower (Amy Butler)
Dress for my Miss B

Fabric: Antler Damask (Joel Dewberry)
Size 2 for a Miss S.

 

snooping around

A bit of fun.

Kirsty is hosting a new meme over at her place today. A bit of snooping through her stuff and others that are playing along. And really, who doesn't love having a snoop through the many wonderful blogs that are out there.

Snooping my sewing room bookshelf.
Books on various crafts, patterns galore ( in magazine boxes), screens for printing, knitting stuff ready for winter scarves, and just to mix it up, some SCUBA diving reference material (an occupation in my previous life).

Have a snoop at who else is playing along today.

busy times

Many apologies for being around for a while, I have been flat out.

Some things i have been working on.

Red linen pinnie with hand printed bird (robin?).

Corduroy pinnie with hand printed hare.

Still more to come.....