Ruffle butts, necklace and a dress

So I have been sewing again. One thing for a friends bubby a cute ruffle butt onesie that has yoyo's on the front.





I also made up this cute fabric necklace- very easy- has beads inside


And another pillowcase dress for Alyssa

More sewing and craft

So I made a little owl for another friends little girl. She has a frilly tummy and crinkly wings.


And I made a monogrammed singlet for Alyssa. I am loving sewing and have so many things I want to make but find it hard to work out what to do first haha

Owls and Handbags

So I have a lovely friend in Aus who also sews and is sending something over for Alyssa so I thought I would send something over for her two little ones. I asked her what she would like for them and she said a handbag for Hannah and a taggy toy for Oliver.



So the handbag I knew what I wanted to make and went about making it. I knew I wanted a contrast top panel, some type of flowers on the front and the bag to have some type of pleats.
So this is what I can up with.







and the taggy is an adaption from this Blog- http://lubirdbaby.blogspot.com/2009/11/owl-ribbon-tag-baby-toy.html
I added a crinkly element to the wings and body. And did not really follow the tutorial but looked at the design and used it as a basis.

Headbands

So I made a few headbands the other night- mum said she would like some. They are reversible and I think super cute.

Tutu's and Aprons

So last nights sewing was a tutu and an apron for Alyssa.




THE TUTU
I had the tulle cut and gathered and started attaching it to the elastic, of course the first time I did not stretch the elastic haha- but i had done a zig zag and was able to get the stretch back BUT then I added the ribbon at the waist and was not going to make the same mistake twice so stretched the elastic as I sewed ONLY I stretched it way too much. Luckily I fixed it by threading through some thinner ribbon and now it is adjustable. Well it looks cute and Alyssa loves it





THE APRON
there are so many tutorials out there to make aprons from a teatowel- but really it is pretty simple. Buy a teatowel cut a strip approx 5cm off both long sides. On one of the shorter ends cut another 5cm strip- I had an applique on mine- making that the bottom of the apron so I cut the other end which would become the top. On the two longer strips stitch up the cut edge to match the already hemmed edge. On the shorter one you can do the same (although I found this to be very wide and would sew it in 1/2 next time). Measure how long you want the apron and cut off the excess from the short cut edge. I then cut out a J shape on both sides of the top (this is the short edge that has been cut) to allow for the bib shape- this is just a guessing bit- no measurements here. Now turn and topstitch all the cut edges- I started with the sides then the J's and the top was turned down a bit more then the edges. Now attach the straps the shorter one is for the neck strap and the others are waist ties. I think I might add a velcro to the neck strap next time just to make things easier.

A home for my new phone.

So we arrived in Chile and got some mobile phones- just cheapy ones on prepaid because we were not able to get the phones we wanted straight away (I wanted and still want an Iphone- but that is another story). So the cheapy phones were crappy and even the reception in the house would drop right out= so we went and got some better phones (still not my iphone). We got LG touch screen ones with a lot of similarities to the iphone (grr). So I thought a new pretty phone needs a pretty case and this is what I came up with. Some linen and gorgeous Amy Butler fabrics for the outside and some felt to protect the screeen for the inside. I quilted the outers with some batting for some extra protection.

Alyssa's new handbag

So here is Alyssa's new handbag. It is so different to how it started out. It was going to be one of those ones that uses bangles as the handles but I did not like how small the opening would be. So I changed it made a lining and squared off the bottoms. I sewed the handles by sewing on the ribbon. Then attached to the outer bag. I then folded down both the lining and outer fabric and used a decorative stitch (Alyssa chose it out) to stitch it all together. It is reversable but really the denim is the outer only for me. Alyssa loves it. It is totally far from being perfect. The ribbon detail was in the right place for the bangle handbag but when I squared off the bottoms ofcourse it was a little low. Oh and the heart decorative stitch bunched up a bit when going over the handles- that was a lot to sew through. But it is SUCH a simple bag to sew- the outer and inner are one piece each using a DVD case opened and on the fold of a fabric piece as the template. I needed something rectangular to draw around. All those people with FQ's this would work from one of those and you really do not have to line it. All my edges were serged before sewing though.

Here she is.

There is no stopping me. hehe

Well I just want to keep on sewing and sewing. I made a skirt for Alyssa today a simple twirly one. made on my design. SO SO SO simple.

here are the basics of what I did.
*cut two strips across the fabric from selvedge to selvedge at the length you want the skirt+ hem and elastic casing allowances.
*Sew 2 strips together, serge and iron seams flat.
*Serge the bottom (you will not have to serge the top as you will double fold for the elastic.
*Iron up you hem and then iron up you elastic casing at the top. Do this by ironing over 5cm then again iron over to allow for your elastic (this will depend on the thickness of your elastic)
* I then sewed the casing leaving a gap to thread the elastic then added the white ribbon to the botton and sewed this at the same time sewing up the hem (kill two birds with one stone).
*Thread the elastic, stitch together and stitch up the gap you left to thread the elastic- simple.

Still deciding on whether I should add a red ribbon in the middle of the white one??

Another dress finished.

So here is another dress I whipped up today- Super simple and again using a remanent piece of fabric from spotlight. I think this one was 50-60c. It is not 100% cotton and is a medium weight. But this is perfect for Antofagasta's unpredictable weather.




so not sure what will be my next project- I am in a sewing mood. Still have not been living in the house a week. Movers came this time last week BUT we did not fully move in until Sunday!

1st Sewing Project in Chile

Well we have been in the house less then 1 week and I have already completed my first sewing project!!
I made this cute dress for Alyssa using a remanent I picked up at Spotlight a while back when they were removing the display fabrics. I think I paid 60c for it!! Bargain.





It was made using this tutorial
http://lilblueboo.blogspot.com/2009/06/border-fabric-sundress-tutorial.html

BUT I did not have the same amount of fabric that was required being a remanent and all. The border was on both sides so I joined two pieces-I had to do the same for the chest piece too. But really for this amount of money who cares- It is not perfect but I got to sew.

Another Christmas Card Design

Yep another Christmas card design- I am really loving playing with Photoshop and even though there are already 11 other Christmas card designs this year I am making more. This one is with no piccies.

We've Moved

Yep we have haha- so in Chile now have an address so thought I would make some we've moved cards to go in with the Christmas cards.

More Christmas cards.

Well I still have not decided on a Christmas card and still have way too many ideas for more.
So here are some more haha.

and some more silhouette bookplates

more for Alyssa- more new backgrounds

Some more Bookplates.

The Lovely Lynn loved my bookplates I did for Alyssa using her silhouette and since I already had Cassies Silhouette I offered to make some for her- there are 6 more different to the ones I did for Alyssa so 10 in total. Here are the 6 other ones.