My Very First Quilt or The Great Thing About Rainy Weather

It's been rainy and miserable here for most of the week, so as a result the girls and I have been stuck inside.  Even though we're all suffering from a particularly nasty strain of cabin fever, it's been good in a sense that we've been able to hang out and do some crafty things together.

I was inspired recently to give quilting a go, and I thought I would ease myself in with a little quilt for one of Katherine's dollies (which Katherine has named "Katherine Ann Elspeth" funnily enough).  Katherine loved helping me with this - which was great, as it was really a good excuse to get her involved after spending the last few days as MIA Mummy while I tried to complete my niece's birthday projects.  Katherine raided my scrap bin for some pretty fabrics we could piece together for the quilt.  I cut out a bunch of little squares and rectangles, then Katherine helped me do the "special puzzle" to try and fit all the bits together.  It took us a while as we didn't work to a pattern, we just kind of pieced it together to try and get all the parts to fit, and make sure that the colours all went together too.  This was the trickiest part!

Our 'special puzzle'

I was worried about sewing all the layers together as I don't have a walking foot, and the only other attempt at quilting anything - a pot holder of all things - ended disastrously. If you're the kind of person who thinks that wrinkled fabric is a disaster, which obviously, I am. I pinned the hell out of the quilt (couldn't be bothered basting), and set my presser foot to the lowest pressure, and everything went pretty smoothly.

I intended to use the backing to bind the quilt but there wasn't as much backing as I thought once I'd quilted it, so I had to make a bunch of bias binding, and use that instead.

Anyway, it's very rough - all cut by hand, and totally not square - the only time I pulled out a ruler or marker was to make the bias binding - but dolly has a quilt!

The other thing I finished today was this cute little bag to go with my niece's birthday dress. I am really happy with how this has turned out, as I really just made it up as I went along. Katherine has already put in an order for one of her own. Might have to get her back into that scrap bin again...

Yes, she's in her PJs... it was raining and miserable, the perfect excuse to wear them all day!

Katherine did her own craft today too - these cute little fairy fridge magnets. I picked them up a while ago in one of those boxed activity sets from Lincraft, and had them stashed away for one of those days when colouring in and play-dough just won't do. Today was that day!  She had great fun mixing up the plaster, pouring the moulds, painting them and sticking little magnets on the back. Mummy helped, of course.

Did I forget to mention...

I held off blogging this outfit as it was a gift for my niece, and I didn't want to spoil the surprise.  I only just realised when I posted the other day that I still hadn't put it up.  Since her birthday was back in April, I think it's probably safe to do so now!

The top is the Oliver + S Hopscotch Top, only I added extra length to make it more of a tunic style top.  The pants were these jeggings.  I made a pair for Katherine earlier in the year and thought they were super cute.

The fur vest was the Peikko fur vest from Ottobre 6/2009.  I had to size this up a bit as it only goes up to a 92cm, which is the size I made for Katherine, who is 3.  My niece was turning 6 and is quite tall and thin, so I mainly added in some length and some room around the arms/shoulders.

I decided it still needed something to pull it all together, so I crocheted this cute little beanie, and put a little decorative flower on it to girly it up a bit.

All in all, I was really happy with this outfit and think it will suit my niece to a tee!  I haven't seen her wear it yet, but I've been told that it (mostly) all fits!  I think she'll look very grown up and trendy wearing it.  I hope she likes it too.

Birthday Dresses

It's been a while since I have blogged - partly because I've been super busy, and partly because I haven't been doing anything worth blogging about.  I had a break from sewing for a while, and then found that I just couldn't get back into it.  But I'm pleased to say that this week I made two dresses!  One for my niece Emilia, who is turning 4 in a couple of weeks, and one for Ellie, who is 1 on Wednesday.

I used the Oliver + S Jumprope dress pattern for both (since having some success with one for Katherine earlier this year), and I'm pretty happy with how they turned out.

Emilia's was made out of some pink polka dot fabric I purchased at Lincraft. I'm not totally happy with the fabric choice. It's very plain, and I'm not sure that's a good thing. But overall it's a cute dress, and I hope she likes it. She's a tiny thing, so I used the size 3 and just added in a bit of extra room here and there.

I wasn't going to make a dress for Ellie, but I found that I just couldn't help myself.

I've had this Pachyderm Parade fabric by Robert Kaufman for a while now and kept thinking that I would use it for Ellie. The problem was I only had 1/2 a yard so had pretty much resigned myself to making a skirt for her in the Spring. But then I got to thinking, maybe I could use a contrast fabric trim, like with the polka dot dress, and I might just, just have enough for a little Jumprope dress for her as well. I used some Riley Blake Red Quite Contrary Dots for the trim at the bottom of the dress, as well as the sash and the sleeve tabs. I only had a fat quarter of this fabric! The collar, placket, cuffs and belt loops were made out of some white scraps I found in my scrap bin! I am very happy with this dress, and quite proud of myself that I managed to piece it together with what little fabric I had on hand.  Now if only Ellie would get up and walk so I could dress her in this without fear of her tripping on it!