Still crafting.....

No I haven't dropped off the face of the world, but I have been very caught up in business affairs this last couple of weeks....

In saying that I have also got a few projects happening to keep my sanity but haven't quite finished everything yet

I have been making some gorgeous baby change mats, started a xmas xstitch which I attack while waiting in the car for school pickup. I have also started a very cute verigated pink crocheted jumper for Miss Six for when I need something I don't have to think too hard to work on ;)

This week I have also started working on some very cute xmas placemats, a full set of eight, nearly completed!

Unfortunately at the moment my camera battery is flat and I can't seem to find the charger and so the photos will have to wait for the next post ;)

Fashion Parade in Feb...

A friend of mine who loves what I've been creating with the girls clothes, both new and refashioned, has put me forward for a fashion parade for a local show for the Childrens section....I am both honoured, but very nervous now as I have to produce enough clothes between now and then to pick the best ones to put on show, I will also have a market stall as well - the markets was something I was working towards, but now I guess I have a date to get started towards and what a way to promote my products :) So I guess I'm going to be very busy now and have to start putting the ideas down into fabric!

Theatre Feature

I was thrilled and honoured that Somewhat Simple wanted to feature our little Goldilocks Theatre holiday project today on her "Things I Love Thursday" with all those amazingly talented people...

Truth be told that it was the easiest project on my behalf as I cut the doors out and let my 6yr old paint the background scene and when the kids went to Grandma's for a holiday they finished off the project with Grandma and Aunty Mel. I think Aunty Mel really loved cutting out and creating all those lovely pieces of furniture and bowls of porridge, she even made gorgeous little paper pillows :)

The kids have had endless hours of fun putting on shows for us and visitors with such a simple little story, and for the little ones, this is a great way for them to get their brains ticking as they try to remember and recreate the story!

Thankyou Somewhat Simple for showcasing our little family project!

1 x Fancy Dress, 1/2 hour and a Roll of Ribbon

My latest challenge was to convert one of my dresses
(loved it but the colours just didn't work for me) into a cute little dress for Miss Six.

I cut off the top to the shirring waistline, pulled in the back seam allowance to fit Miss Six and added ribbon shoulder straps. I had been a little liberal
with the sizing so that she will get many years out of it, but it gapped a bit at the back so I improvised and put in extra straps across the back which makes it sit flat on her back with plenty of movement for her. I also left an inch of ribbon on each strap to enable expansion later on.



I finished it off with a ribbon around the waist and some simple camilla inspired flowers cut out of the bodice section and finished off with a couple of peals.

I was lucky enough to discover this red lampshade on the clearance trolley for $3, normally I wouldn't go for red at all but I needed a new lampshade for the girls and as luck would have it I have a quilt in the processes of being created that will have lady bugs on it (at some point)
I was struggling with how to make it special and decided on stamping it with my roller stamp with navy ink to soften the brightness of the red (these photos don't do it justice as it is Tomato red)I than glued the yellow gathered ribbon around the bottom and rick rack top and bottom


I spent so much time trying to decide on how to decorate it with, I had buttons and ribbons in so many colours, but I am happy with the result and know it will look amazing with the new quilt.

Multipurpose Super Hero Capes (how to make them sound boring when they are so not!)

Super special capes are required for Miss Soon-to-be-Five's special day which I have heard will require all manner of Super Hero's to attend (shhh!) Just because I could, I picked up some cheap but awesome patterned velour and satin from Spotlight and made up these universal capes....should be able to use these as multiple costumes - super hero's, magician's, red riding hood - you name it the list is endless, let's not forget just normal play - how wonderful is it to wear something that feels soft and silky and that can twirl, fly and disguise as well :) I even took the time to give them little hand slots in case they wanted to be very elusive ;)

And just in case you are wondering, special instructions that won't self destruct will be going out in the form of mask cutouts that the superhero's can decorate themselves with a piece of magical cape ribbon that will transform any pillowcase, tablecloth or teatowel into a super hero cape!!!

Purple Butterfly Shirred Dress

I made this very simple and gorgeous frilly dress and love that you don't need a pattern, just a tape measure to get the top part the correct size. I have never attempted shirring before and definately need to tweak my technique, but I could see this being the only thing I do! I just think I had the tension too tight and will muck around with that later.



All you need to do is cut up 6inch strips, or smaller if desired (I loved the smaller contrast fabric)and stitched up the lengths together (make sure you have about 6 lengths of each fabric...you may need more material for the bottom rows) , I overlocked the edges and worked out what size I needed for the top part and started shirring (approx 3 times the childs chest measurement)

With the remaining material, I stitched across one edge and had the tension set to gather it as I sewed so that cut out a lot of time. Each layer you attach the gathered side to the previous layer until you have reached the desired length, than sew up the back seam (inspired by this tutorial), hem the bottom edge and attach ribbons for the straps ensuring that you have sealed the ends of the ribbon with a lighter.

Embellish it as needed....

One very cute, simple, and very twirly dress!!!

I've been featured :)

I am so excited to find that Miss to-be-five's special denim dress has been featured today on 'Ruffles & Stuff'....so cute to see her smiling aussie face on an American blog..how very international :)

I have had an enormously busy weekend with magical capes (for Miss soon-to-be-Five's superhero birthday party in a weeks time), revamping a plain lampshade and whipping up a very cute twirling dress with my first attempt at shirring....

pictures coming....

Refurbishing Kid's Sofas

From this........

To this.......

Just a bit of pulling apart involved and a staple gun :)

Recycled Shirt - Gorgeous Dress :)

Day two of Daddy shirt make-overs.....I attempted Miss Six dress using Dad's unusable Polo Ralph Lauren business shirt. Let's just say that when I bought this shirt at DFO I bought it for the fabric, it was so smart and almost silken in texture, so although Dad never got to wear it due to the washing incident (now I know why they were on clearance) I am so grateful to have reused it for a much loved dress for Miss Six.

As mentioned on previous post that my inspiration came from here, and lets just say that it was the easiest dresses to put together, even with having to draw up the pattern via hand from a 2 x 2 inch photo - somehow the dimensions worked.

I did have to remove the pocket from one side and you can only vaguely see that there was one there, though I would assume after the first wash you may not even notice it.

I finished it off with a complimentary belt and a couple of attempts at fabric flowers with some funky floral fabric, which is usually not my style but I really liked the colours on this pattern. Note that the top flower is covering a hint of the wash disaster that snuck into the cutting zone, but just as well it was in that spot...almost like it was planned for a gorgeous flower!

One Old Favourite - One Happy Girl :)

After checking out Dana's fantastic pattern here for converting an old faithful shirt of Dad's into a funky little girls dress I was inspired to attempt refashioning myself i than went through Dad's hoard of shirts he never wears but can't give away and found a Roger David chambray shirt from many moons ago - I remember this shirt from our dating days :) just perfect for Miss Five-to-be

I thought I would attempt the pattern on the Chambrey shirt as a test, but the pattern is generally used on a pocket-less business shirt and when I attempted to remove one pocket the original prewashed colour showed......so my brain went into over drive and I envisioned a concept, cut quickly and started putting it together.....you could say it evolved as I sewed with inspiration coming every couple of stitches. At first it was going to be an overall style, than I discovered the special design on the back of the shirt and knew I needed to keep that, to tie it all in I reused the cuffs as the shoulder straps with buttons and buttonholes already prepared for me (gotta love that) than it was just a matter of prettying it up, a bit of rickrack to start and a bit of quilting fabric just waiting for this project....

As I sewed late into the night on all the beautification (that was the longest part, the main dress was incredibly simple to put together) I kept trying it on Miss Five-to-be, who struggled with the concept of a half finished dress with pins in it....."I will like it better when it is finished" - I love her honesty :) This morning as I lay in bed I was rewarded by her little voice whispering from the dining room where it hung - "I just love it, It's just what I thought it would be!!!" I love her gratitude :)

So even though it doesn't even begin to look like that pattern I originally started to do - I am so happy with the results and love that I didn't use a pattern at all....all my own creativity!!!

Tooth Fairy is finally coming - we are ready!

Miss Six has finally got her first wobbly tooth :) I was a late (7yrs) tooth loser so this is definately not out of character for our family....but as I came from a family that the tooth fairy never visited, I knew something extra special was in order for my children's first encounters with the tooth fairy!

Fabrics......

I got sidetracked when purchasing elastic yesterday - but check out these gorgeous colour combinations.....lot of ideas......

Black, White and Red



Salmon Pink through to Sage Greens








Funky Aqua blue combos





Mid pinks to purple tones

Ruffled Jumpsuit

How cute has these ruffles turned out....I found this simple tuturial here, but altered the design slightly so that it curves around to a neat point on each side.

Such a simple gift for someone, though this time around I practised on my friend Gabby's preloved baby's clothes....what was a simple outfit is now very special :)

PS.....by the way I had an over abundance over strips of fabric from the Spring quilt, what a perfect way of using it up :)

It's all about the Tassle....

All the sewing has been completed on Felicity's spring quilt, it's been a busy couple of days with hubby away and a couple of long nights while I didn't have to work the following days......almost like a holiday LOL! So the quilt is finished and I have started to work on the tassling of the border - here's a photo to show my technique...this is rather theraputic as you pull each horizontal thread out until you reach the base border sewing....