Apple dress collage

Here is my Gabby in the apple dress I made for her and her friend. I made this collage using Picasa. Haven't used it before. So much fun!

A dress for Liliana

You never can tell how a project is going to turn out. It's part of what I enjoy about sewing...

Our little friend Liliana turned 2 last week. I originally made her a little skirt with red apples that I showed you in my last post, but I realised that it would be way too big for her- she is such a petite little thing. So I decided to keep that one for Gabby and make Liliana something different.

Once again I used the round-necked pattern by 'That darn kat' and some different apple fabric to make this dress. I bought a heap of this fabric when I saw it on special at Spotlight a while ago. I love the way it turned out. This dress is so handy because she will be able to wear it in Summer alone or in Winter with a skivvy and tights AND when it gets too short, she will be able to wear it as a top.

I'm loving my new overlocker- everything is just finished so much better. Here are some photos. The dress looks so much better on, but the model was not cooperative I'm afraid- sorry!

The finished product. Gorgeous fabric! Love the colours. 

Love the way this one turned out.

Off to church in a little apple skirt

I'm back!

It has been a while in between posts, but I have good excuses! The holidays disappeared as they always do way too quickly. It was so good to get away to Darwin for a little bit even though I missed my family!
When I arrived home, some patterns that I had ordered before I left were waiting for me. For the first time, I am going to try to make some clothes for me! My Grandma recently gave me an overlocker so I am hoping to gain more confidence in sewing clothes... A very exciting prospect. Thanks Gran!

Here are the patterns

A sneak peak at my first attempt at a dress for me. Loving the grey and mustard combo atm

This week, I made a pretty skirt for our little friend who is turning 2 soon. Love the apple fabric-

Anyone could make this skirt. It is just 2 rectangles sewn together at the sides with a strip of green added and hemmed at the bottom. Press the top of the rectangle over, stitch and insert some elastic. Easy!

Stay tuned for my finished dress soon.

More handmade gifts

Well I'm finally on holidays again (yay!!!) and straight into the sewing!

Firstly I made this hat for my niece, Eva who turned 6 yesterday. This is the second one of these I've made and I still love it just as much. The last one I made can be found HERE. There is something very satisfying about this pattern. I started this at about 7:30 last night after the kids had gone to bed and was finished by 10:30. Not bad for a night's work! I hope she loves it.

Happy Birthday sweet, red-loving Eva!

Next, I finished these dresses to sell at Sew Beautiful

I love the insects on this corduroy!

Finally, I started with this:

And finished with this:

I loosely followed the tutorial found HERE to make this fabric covered journal/ scrapbook which I will give to a special friend for her birthday in a couple of weeks.

That's all for now.

Not your every day heat pack

Here is another cute project made from polar fleece. It's a funky gecko shaped heat pack made especially for my wonderful dad whose birthday is tomorrow. He has a bad back so I thought this would come in handy. The pattern is from this really cool site called Funky Friends Factory. They have lots of lovely downloadable soft toy patterns mainly made from polar fleece.

He is filled with wheat and cinnamon

So lovely and warm. Gabby was a bit shy when she first met him. Funny girl!

Happy Birthday Dad! Hope you have a great day tomorrow! xxx

A warm winter vest

It has been so cold here this week and I never seem to have enough warm, comfortable, casual, play clothes for Gabby. I recently discovered polar fleece which I had never sewed with before. It is fantastic! So cheap ($6/m), so easy to work with (no need to hem anything as it doesn't fray), so soft and soooo warm! I didn't use a pattern for this one- just drew my idea onto paper and cut it out of the fleece.  The bottom sections are just rectangles gathered to fit the top half pieces. You could leave the raw edges as is, but I chose to line them with bias binding for a bit of contrast.

All ready for a play at the park 

I'd like to make a red one and maybe a funky yellow one with orange binding,
but pink is practical as it goes with the most things in her wardrobe.

So cuddly!

Stay tuned for another polar fleece project coming up soon- It's a cracker! I just can't post it until after I give it to someone special for their birthday. Wouldn't want to spoil the surprise!

More reversible dresses

I'm looking forward to the day when I see a little girl walking down the street wearing one of my dresses. How cool would that be? These little reversible numbers have sold really well at Sew Beautiful so I have been busy making more this week. I love these bright colours. Who says Winter has to be dull and boring?

Fabric is Cool Cords Cherry on white by Robert Kaufman

Fabric is Birds of Norway by Michael Miller

Cool Cords Blue Dot by Robert Kaufman

Cool cords Cherry on lime by Robert Kaufman

And matching reversible headbands