Waste not want not - Pirate Costume and a super-quick Pirate Eye-Patch Tutorial

We went to a little friend's 4th birthday party a couple of weekends ago, and it was ... yep you guessed it ... pirate themed. Ahoy There, Shiver Me Timbers ... and all that! 

Now being in a house full of girls (except Daddy of course) we don't have much in the way of pirate dress-ups.  A shame really!  We have also just been flat out busy, so I hadn't even got around to thinking about what Bethany would wear to this party until about the Friday afternoon before the party.  With absolutely no time and no chance to go to the shops before the party, I tried ... VERY hard ... to convince Bethany that she should really just put on every necklace and piece of play jewellery she owns ...which is A LOT ...and go to the party as the Pirate's treasure ... good idea, huh!?!  Well I though it was a great idea, but Bethany...not so much!  She decided that she definitely NEEDED to go as a Pirate.

Well, torn between being very time-poor, but never being shy to tackle a challenge like that one, I decided I'd just simply applique a skull and crossbones onto a plain T-shirt, and off we would go.  So Saturday morning came along, and about mid-morning when I finally had a chance to do this T-shirt, I discovered that Bethany has absolutely no plain T-shirts that I could potentially use for this project ... what!!  Mental note - next time I'm in K-Mart I'm picking up a stack of cheapo $3 T-shirts to keep in my sewing stash for occasions just like this!

I hunted through my fabric stash ... nothing suitable for running up a quick T-shirt.  Hmmm, no time to get to the shops as it was only 3 hours til party time, and I only had about half an hour left of Hannah sleep time to get this sorted.

Eventually, and with utter desperation, I had the idea to rumage through my own wardrobe to find an old t-shirt or something that I could cut up and use as fabric to make this T-shirt.  Found an old pale-yellow singlet, still in pretty good nic.  The coolest part of this was that when I got out my size 4 t-shirt pattern (traced from a T-shirt of Bethany's) I realised that I could make this work still using the original neckline and arm-hole edging.  Woo Hoo for that.  So with a bit of trimming, tucking, trying on, and a bit more trimming and stitching, Bethany finally had a plain top suitable for Piratising ... just made that word up ... do you like it?

I got this skull and crossbones shirt design from one of my favourite crafting books, The Crafty Kid by Kelly Doust.  The good thing about making the shirt as well was that I could do the applique before I sewed the top together, which is soooooo much easier than trying to keep the back of the shirt out of the way while sewing onto the front.

Then I got a little excited and decided to make an eye patch.  Simplest thing ever ... here's how I did it:

- I just free-handed 2 semi-circle pieces of left-over black drill, then ironed the edges under 1/4 inch all the way around.

- Pinned them wrong sides together with all the edges tucked in, then topstitched about 2mm right around the edge, making sure to catch in a piece of 1/4 inch black elastic (which i first measured around Bethany's head) at the top corners on each side.

And, done!! Super easy eye-patch.

Bethany actually hated wearing this on her eye, but it was quite easy to just flip up, and was almost like an elastic headband keeping her hair off her face while looking fantastically piratey (another made up work ... I'm on a literary roll today!)

Coupled with a scrap of red polka-dot fabric as a bandana and rolled up jeggings (which I actually pulled out of the 'too small' bag...didn't matter 'cause they were to be rolled up anyway, and Bethany only ever grows out of things in the length ... skinny little thing she is!), I reckon she made a pretty good little pirate!  And the total sum of this whole project ... $0.  I already had everything on hand either left over from other projects, from the 'too small' bag or from my own wardrobe.  Yay for that!

What's Mummy's Mummy Up To? - The 4 Fat Quarter Christmas Challenge

This is the first guest post on my blog by my Mum (aka Mummy's Mummy).  My mum is always creative and is an amazing seamstress, knitter, and is awesome at pretty much any other craft you can think of.  Any creativity that I possess definitely comes from her!  Sorry Dad!  So, a huge thanks to my Mum for trying her hand at blogging ... thinking of making a regular What's Mummy's Mummy up to series ... what do you think? Anyway, here's what Mummy's Mummy has been up to lately:

On the leadup to Christmas, I was doing lots of cooking to use as gifts for family and friends and making dolly beds and bedding for the dolls of our 2 younger granddaughters.   

When Wen asked what I would like as a gift this year I said ‘craft things, fabric or similar’.  Wen’s response was "If I give you fabric, will you make something with it and write about it for my blog?"

Now blogging is not my usual style.  I’m the one who hoards everything crafty, then spends a day sewing up whatever takes my fancy, changing methods, ideas and styles of what I had planned as I go.  But I agreed to give it a go, and I had lots of fun!

Wen gave me a four fat quarter bundle from Home Grown Pillows and Designer Fabrics. The colours work well together and I especially like the fabric with the birds on it.  Because fat quarters are not very big, and I was finding this limiting for the ideas I had in mind, I purchased 1 metre of plain purple homespun to use as well. 

Now, if your challenge was to use these fabrics to make something, what would you do?  I decided that I had to use as much of each of the fabrics as possible to really get the most out of them.  Here's what I came up with:

Project 1:  Tote Bag.  The original idea for this bag came from a project sheet produced for Spotlight in 2010.  I have used it several times and find it a good size to carry knitting projects or to use for shopping while on holidays, but I do change it up a little each time to better suit my needs or taste.  

I used a different fabric for each side (as there's not enough in 1 piece for both sides) and added a side panel around the bag rather than squaring the bottom corners.  I also made the straps longer so they can be worn over my shoulder and added a zipper to the top so things don’t fall out.  Then, because I was in a very creative mood, I decided to add some quilting along the branches and around the birds.  I was really happy with the result.

Project 2:  Satchel Bag. Pattern from Quilts-n-Bags.com.  As I still had a piece of the bird fabric, I decided to use it for the front pocket and back panels and homespun for the rest.  I put a zipper in the top too, rather than the magnetic clip suggested.  I will find this useful when I take a cruise in the near future, just as a carry-around on board for things like my room key and any other odds and ends.

Project 3: Babushka Doll.  I have had the pattern kit (from theredthread.com.au) for this doll for many years and felt that this is the right time and the right fabric to finally make her.  I have added a rattle while stuffing her for added appeal to my young granddaughters.  I would have liked her to have a headscarf, but sadly my fabrics have all run out.  Oh well, next time!

Well, this Nanna has had a busy and most enjoyable weekend of crafts and now needs a rest.  Thanks for reading my first ever post.  What have you been up to lately?

Waste Not Want Not - Turning a Onesie into a Top

The tricky thing when buying gifts for babies is that they grow so mighty fast, and who knows just what size they will be in any given season.  Both of our girls were born at a decent size (Both around 8 pound 4 ounces), but then gained weight very slowly, making it almost impossible to guess ahead of time what size they will wear.

When each of our girls were born, our friends and family have been so generous with an abundance of beautiful clothing and other gifts.  Of the gifts we're given, there has always seemed to be a couple of items that I have particularly loved, either because of who gave them to us or because they are beautiful designer pieces that I would never go out and buy myself.

In Hannah's case, my absolute favourite clothing piece was this beautiful onesie, given to Hannah by my Uncle and Aunt.  It's made from a cotton floral fabric.  I love the colours, I love the bodice design and I love the buttons down the back.  Sadly, when Hannah was born last Christmas this little onesie was too big on her.  Then because she was slow to gain weight, and because last summer in Sydney was pretty mild, she never had a chance to wear it.  I kept it in her drawer with anticipation of it fitting this summer.  However, when I tried it on her on one of the first hot days of the summer it didn't fit ... well, it fit perfectly on the body, chest, top part, but she was just a little long for it, and I had to strain to get the clips done up at the bottom.  I almost cried!!

I couldn't bring myself to put it in the "too small" box, so I sat it on top of her dresser and looked at it longingly every time I went into her room.  After about 2 weeks of pondering, I realised that I could quite simply turn this into the cutest little top.  Paired with a little pair of ruffle-bottom shorts (a gift from her Grandma for Christmas), I think this is just a gorgeous little summer outfit.  I'm so glad I did it, 'cause it's just too cute to waste.

Since then I've found another onesie in a similar situation - gorgeous little outfit, but too short.  This was also a gift from a lovely friend, so I don't want to waste it.  I think this would work with pretty much any onesie that you want / need to transform into a top, so I thought I'd share how I did this very simple transformation using this second onesie in case anyone is in the same boat!

What you need:

- A cute onesie that needs transforming

- Scissors

- Coordinating bias tape or maybe some lace (if it's too short to hem)

- Sewing machine and coordinating thread

How to do it:
1. Lay out your onesie on a flat surface.  Try to get it sitting as flat as possible.

2. Cut from one side to the other, making sure you cut only just above the clips to give you maximum length.  I did the cut free-hand but it was pretty nerve-racking, so it might be a good idea to use a pencil to draw a line to cut along.

3.  If you have enough length, simply turn the raw edge over 1/4" and press, then turn another 1/4" and pin.  Then sew around the hem.

In this one, the onesie was lined, so I simply hemmed both the lining, and the outer fabric pieces separately.  I made the hem on the lining slightly bigger than 1/4" so that I could be sure the outer fabric would sit slightly lower than the lining.

4.  If you need as much length as possible to make sure it's long enough for your munchkin (as with my floral one) find a coordinating bias tape, then fold the tape in half and press.  Sandwich the raw edge of the onesie into the middle of the bias tape, pin and top-stitch the bias tape in place.  If you need to add a little length, you could use a piece of lace joined to the bottom to make it a little longer.

All done.

This is a really simple transformation, but so rewarding.  I hate to waste clothing, especially when it's been lovingly chosen as a gift, and this was the perfect answer to that predicament for me! 

My baby is 1!

Hannah's birthday was 2 days before Christmas, yep the 23rd.  I hardly had time to put the birthday party left-overs away before Christmas was here and it's gone now too.  Where does all the time go??

Anyway, this Mummy has not enjoyed admitting the fact that my baby is now 1 year old.  And to top it off, the week before her birthday she went from cruising the furniture and taking the occasional step, to full-blown walking.  This left Mummy a little shell-shocked, but she does look so totally adorable when she's walking, so I guess I'll cope!  The cuteness is topped off by the fact that she's a petite little thing, and still has hardly any hair, so she really does look too tiny to walk ... cute factor to the max!!

To help Mummy cope with the birthday and the walking, what better than to put all that emotional energy into making a little birthday dress for the birthday girl?  I used this tutorial, but instead of doing the stripe match-up thing (which I also love) I used this cute spotty fabric, and just cut a 1 piece bodice-front on the fold.  The best thing about this fabric was that I got it off the "clearance table" at Spotlight a few months back for $4 per metre.  Gotta love a cute and inexpensive little birthday dress.

Anyway, in this project I learned how to make a lined bodice (never done that before), and how to use piping.  I was pretty happy with my attempt, but I will admit that I made the bodice twice ... the first time I forgot to add seam allowance when tracing a T-shirt to make a pattern ... yeah, the poor girl could barely breathe when trying it on, and almost needed to be cut out of it ... was a little small ... oops!  So I made a new one, and it fits pretty well.  She looks so cute toddling around in this little darling of a dress.

Then when Bethany saw Hannah's new party dress, she announced that she needed a new dress for Hannah's birthday too, and it should be the SAME!  Was a good thing I bought 2 metres of this fabric ... phew!

Now I really don't love the matchy, matchy, sisters in matching dresses thing all that much.  But I'm also aware that poor Bethany is feeling a little fragile at the moment with so much attention on all the new tricks Hannah is learning, then with Hannah's birthday as well, and all at the same time as pre-school finishing and all her other activities finishing or changing as she prepares to start Big School in February.  So I decided that it would really do no harm to give them matching dresses, and help Bethany to feel special too.  To keep Mummy happy though, I decided it would be a matching, but not TOTALLY matching dress.  I saw this tutorial recently, and decided to give it a go.  I found a cute white fabric, complete with ready-made pin-tucks, ruffles and lace, so all I had to do was decide which direction to cut it in, and try to get the details matching on the front and back of the bodice, and centred too!  Yay for pre-embelished fabrics!

This was probably the trickiest dress I've made (in terms of sewing techniques) to date.  But having said that, it really only took about 1.5 hours including making a bodice pattern by tracing a T-shirt, cutting out the fabric and sewing.  Not bad really.  This one taught me to do a curved bodice, a totally different lined bodice technique and gathered straps / cap-sleeves.  I really love it, and Bethany just looks so beautiful and grown up.

Oh, and do you like Bethany's new modeling pose ... boy that munchkin can be hilarious ... every time we ask her to pose for a photo now, this is what we get with her ankles crossed and hip stuck out ... oh, and the dress is just perfectly matched with those pink gumboots she decided to wear so she could jump in puddles as we watered our new plants!  Funny girl!  Love her!!

I would love to see any pics of other people's matching, but not totally matching sister outfits!!

Then, of course came the cake.  Now with the silly season upon us, and basically no time (I had 1 evening to get the cake decorated), I decided I wouldn't try to be overly creative and come up with my own design, as this was sure to fail as I pushed to get the cake done quickly.  Instead I went with a tried and true design by my amazing friend Jo, as per her book Fondant Fun (available here)!  My absolute fave are the Owl cupcakes ... so simple, yet so effective.

So that's how Mummy distracted herself from celebrated Hannah's 1st brithday!  Happy birthday to my sweet, cheeky, clever and ever-so-cute Hannah! xx