Cool corduroy

Don't you just love corduroy? It's cosy and soft and warm and...it's funky! The weather is starting to get cooler and I am determined to make rather than buy my daughter's Winter wardrobe. So much cheaper and so much less pink!

This pattern is a winner! So many good things about it:

• It's easy to make- all one piece, no front and back
• It's comfortable
• It's reversible- 2 outfits in one (yay!)
• It can be worn by itself, with a T-shirt underneath or with a skivvy and tights when it's chilly.
• No need to pull it over the head- just wraps around, crosses over at back and buttons at shoulder.

My model wasn't being very cooperative so you'll just have to use your imagination!

The reverse side

The back

I think I'll be making more of these. I'm just deciding whether or not I will sell them. Not sure yet. I found some cute corduroy and cotton colour combinations at Spotlight this week. What do you think of these? 

Funky pants- great for Autumn

My 3 kids seem to have inherited my love for the Saturday afternoon nap! This afternoon, they all slept for over 3 hours. YAY! My husband enjoyed some guitar playing/ listening to music/ surfing the net, while I got into some sewing of course. I have been dying to get my hands on this fabric since I bought it at Sew Beautiful last week. My friend from work recently gave me some patterns she used when her daughter was young. I made these pants using one of the patterns. Thanks, Jen! I am happy with how they turned out although they are a bit long and need tightening up in the waist. Hopefully I will get to that tonight. Whipped up a matching headband and voila! I think they'll be great with a T-shirt in Autumn and a skivvy and cardi for Winter. I'm quite looking forward to the cooler weather. I have a heap of corduroy just waiting to be made into something gorgeous. So much fabric, so little time!

So cute I-spy bag

March is madness in our family!  We have my son's 5th, nephew's 4th, brother's 30th, cousin's and friends 21sts plus a wedding! Oh my!
Thought I'd better start early with the gift making. For my gorgeous Luke, I have made this I-spy bag which I saw on a blog somewhere. You basically sew a clear vinyl window into a square of fabric. Sew it to another square of fabric. Add special things you have collected and photographed. I used letter beads, charms, buttons, paper clip, 5 cent coin, small key, googly eye etc. Fill with mixed coloured beads (or rice). Then you make and laminate little cards with the photos and names of the objects you want the child to find. Attach to the bag through a small button hole.

I love this project because:

 * It is easy to make and quick

* It doesn't use much fabric

* It's a great gift for a girl or boy

* It's educational

* It's personalised (Luke has to find his age, J for Jonah etc)

* It's fun collecting all the special things to put in it

* You can adjust the level of difficulty depending on the age or ability of the child

* I think Luke will love it!

There are 36 things for Luke to find

This is the back. How cute is this fabric?

Pretty skirt with applique T-shirt

This is my latest little outfit for Gabby. I am so into the pink and chocolate combo at the moment. The main fabric was a fat quarter on special at Penrith Patchwork and the pretty pink stripes are from Sew Beautiful. The pink T-shirt was on special at Target for $1.86. What a bargain! All up, this outfit cost about $5 to make. Gabby had a great time playing around in some of my heels. I wonder if this is a sign of things to come!

Pillow case dress and dinosaurs

The 'Pillow case dress' seems to be the 'in' thing to make at the moment and now I know why. This cute little dress took me about 40 minutes to make. It is so easy- Just 2 rectangles of fabric with 'Js' cut out for the arm holes, bias binding on the arm holes plus extra to tie at the shoulders and a little bit of elastic front and back. Hem it and you're done! It's great for really hot days and I'm hoping Gabby will wear it in Winter too with a skivvy and tights. Pretty pink and green fabric is from 'Sew Beautiful' in Springwood.  I added some rick-rack around the bottom and have since made a felt flower to either pin on the dress or clip in her hair.

Speaking of 'Sew Beautiful', here are my dinosaurs that you can now buy there along with many other lovely locally handmade gifts. It's a really beautiful shop. Check it out.

Gabby's Upsy Daisy Birthday cake

One of my favourite things to do is make birthday cakes for my kids. In our family, the kids spend a lot of time deciding what kind of cake to have. They change their minds heaps before making their final decision.  I spend hours the night before decorating. I love it. I think I probably get even more excited than the  kids! Birthdays are special. 

Friday marked our Gabby's 2nd Birthday. Where has that time gone? As a big 'In the Night Garden' fan, I thought an Upsy Daisy cake would be perfect. Gabby loved it and got really upset when my husband started cutting her up to be eaten. I thought it would be fun to take photos of the creating process so here we go-

The pattern pieces drawn and cut out

Small circle cake for head, large circle for dress, square for arm and legs

Icing supplies. So colourful!

Pin pattern to cake and cut out

All cut out, assembled and ready to ice

Rolling out the icing

Plonking it on the cake 

Gabby's comment was, "Love it!"

All finished after many hours!

The cake was pretty huge, but we ate more than I thought we would with the help of our 18 guests. 

Such a blessing to have 3 kids to make things for! Gabby has brought us so much joy in the 2 years she has been with us. I am so looking forward to seeing her grow and watch her personality develop. 

Happy Birthday my beautiful, clever, talkative, strong-willed girl. What a privilege it is to be your mum. I love you so much! xxx

Happy 8th Birthday Ella!

It has been a while since my last post for a number of reasons- I have been super duper busy with work and getting back in to the routine of dropping kids at school, preschool etc, I misplaced the lead for my camera (found now!) and I have been madly sewing dinosaurs that will be sold at 'Sew Beautiful' from this weekend. How exciting! My lovely friend, Christine designed the 'Make It Funky' logo for me and we're off on a new adventure. Who would have thought I would be supplying my craft to a local sewing store? Crazy!
My beautiful niece, Ella turned 8 at the beginning of the month and keeping with the handmade gift idea I made her a skirt and headband. The skirt has little shorts attached underneath- perfect for a cartwheeling/ hanging upside down girl! Ella's favourite colour is red. This one was tricky as I misjudged her size and had to start over. I now have one that fits my 6 year old niece, quite well too! The pattern is a from a website called 'The long thread.' The photos aren't the best. I think it's time for a new camera!

Hard to get a decent photo of shorts attached under skirt

      

Happy Birthday beautiful girl!