Day 363 - Pants that ROAR

Back in 2010 I bought this book Meet me at Mikes. It has lots of simple projects in it and it got me back into sewing which I really hadn't done much of since I was a teenager.

I ended up making heaps of pairs of these baby yoga pants, a super simple pattern in the book.

Here are some of the ones I made for Little A back then.

Today I made some of these for Mr D, with some fabric I found at the op shop for $1. It's a cute and vibrant fleecy lined fabric that will be fantastic for when it gets cooler.

Only 2 days to go!!

Day 358 - Shaker toy from a slurpee sipper

Today I made a simple shaker toy for Mr D using a slurpee sipper we got at the kite festival on Sunday.
I put some rice, pasta, gumnuts and wool inside.

Beautiful Kites

Happy little man making some noise.

Day 246 - Birthday Trousers

The next couple of days will be devoted to birthday goodness as I prepare for my baby to turn one. Yes I am feeling a little sad that he will be the last baby in our house, and that his days of babydom are numbered. It's been an amazing journey this past year and he has taught me so much, as I know he will continue to do.

I have a little background project that I was working on today, which is a kids tent. I made the pattern last week and started cutting out the pieces today.

Here's a little peek.

I love this retro fabric and thought it would look awesome with some chenille, so I used some of the scraps to make some birthday boy trousers.

Rocking it out as always. xx

Day 229 - Cute baby skirt

Another gift for a one year old girl, a cute little skirt in this awesome Amy Butler fabric.

My model is rocking it out once again ;-) .

 

And now all the pressies are wrapped and we are ready to PAR-TAY.

Day 224 - Dog tutu marries Christmas onesie

Yesterday ended up being a massive day for us. After Juliet and I made the skirt, two children learnt to ride a bike in one day, and then she lost her first tooth. It was the perfect ending to a lovely weekend barely leaving our property.

Here is Ms Happy Gappy. So, so excited.

This refashion began with a dog costume. A dog tutu that was always miles too big for my maltese cross pooch. Here it is. Sitting around feeling unloved.

I decided it should have a marriage with this Christmas onesie that came in a bag of baby boy clothes someone gave me years ago when I was pregnant with Mr 3 year old.

 I cut the dog costume off under the arm area.

Found some lace to add.

And attached both of them to the bottom of the onesie. Now we have a Christmas fairy. Cute? I think so.

This is for a one year old girl so My D was kind enough to model it for us. He is going to be one very soon. Aaargh!!

Day 147 - Tie dyed baby singlets.

It's one of those beautiful warm, sunny, winter's days that give me hope and joy, reminding my that winter doesn't last forever and spring will soon be here. YAY!!!

I have made some tie dyed baby singlets using hair ties and some string and a sink die bath. They actually get to dry in the glorious sunshine instead of in front of the fire which is just awesome.

Oh and it's a really good way to hide little stains that creep onto baby clothes.

Hope you are enjoying your day too, whatever the weather is where you live.

Day 127 - Owl scrunchy baby toy

Here's a cute little baby scrunchy toy that is super easy to make.

I had a little bit of this owl fabric leftover from another project. I just cut out one of the owls (the back is the blue fabric with tiny flowers), stuffed it half with stuffing and the other half with a noisy plastic/cellophane, and sewed it up.

It's a good size for little baby hands and the sound makes it interesting to squeeze. And of course it is harmless to put in their little mouth.

Materials -

Owlie

Day 116 - Sweater Pants

A few years ago one of my gorgeous (70 plus year old) neighbours at the time gave me a hand knitted sweater for my son Liam. It was a gorgeous cable knit but was basically unwearable. The shape was short and wide and the arms were outrageously long.
Because she has knitted it I didn't want to give it away, so I have held onto it for years. Today was the day for it's transformation.

I think these sweater pants turned out out absolutely adorable and I will be making something with the middle section of the jumper too. Here is a look at how to make them - so, so simple.

Here is the starting point.

First step is to cut off the arms.

Second step was to cut down the inside seems of the two arms about 10cm to create the crotch.
You can measure this using a pair of pants you already have and adding a couple of cm's to create the elastic casing later.

Then you turn one arm inside out and put the right side out arm inside the other one, matching the newly cut sections. Now sew these raw edges up and it will look like this.

The wool can be quite thick to sew so I then overlocked (serged) the top edge and then turned it over once to create an elastic casing. Then I added the elastic.

Here's the result. Just adorable. These are slightly too long so I have rolled the cuffs up. I love them.

 

Day 102 - Soft toy baby

I have to admit that sometimes I just do things because I can, and because they make me laugh. Today is one of those days.

I made a soft toy of my baby boy Dylan using an ipad app to first put his head in a chicken suit, then printing it onto some printer fabric. His little little legs are felt and the back is a fleecy lined cotton.

Day 40 - Reversible baby pants from a doona cover, men's shirt and scraps.

What do an old Where's Wally doona (duvet to some) cover, a men's shirt, and a scrap of old chenille bedspread have in common? A pair of reversible baby pants of course.

I've been wanting to make these pants for a while, based on a pattern by Anna Maria Horner from her 'Handmade Beginnings' book.

I had already made some pants about a year ago from the doona cover for one of my boys, and the bedspread (which I found on the footpath during hard garbage week and gave a good clean) has been used in many, many of my sewing projects. There is only a tiny bit left. I decided to use one of my husband's old shirts to complete the project.

We are going on holidays for a few weeks later this year and I think these reversible pants will be awesome to pack - you only need half the number of pants in your bag.

Front - 

Back -

A little spill? Turn them inside out and.....I left the shirt pocket on the front so there is even a pocket feature on the front leg.

The model doesn't need any help in the cute department. But they are adorable on him.

 

 

Day 23 - Reversible baby hat from 2 baby singlets. Why not?

Today's challenge was a bit of a joke. The way my random brain works sometimes. I was sitting looking at 2 brightly coloured ribbed baby singlets and thinking of the cold mornings we have started to have this autumn when an idea sprung to mind.

I wondered if a reversible baby hat could be made from 2 singlets. Why not try? The sewing is a bit rough and ready and the stitching isn't my best, it's more of a mock-up, but the answer is yes.

Craft cupboard materials

- 2 singlets (or 2 ribbed or knit fabrics)

I just cut a half moon shape twice from the bottom of each singlet then sewed it all the way around leaving the bottom edge open. Then I turned one inside out and put the right side one inside the other one and sewed all around leaving an opening to turn. Lastly, I turned the hat the right side out and topstitched the bottom edge closing the little hole as I did that. All done!

The model.....

I think he likes the orange more....