DIY Princess Anna (Frozen) Costume

Invitation to Frozen themed birthday party = me getting very excited about making an outfit for my little person!  But life is also pretty busy at the moment (settling into new home, finishing work for maternity leave, a million other projects on the go) so I needed an idea based on simplicity and speed, yet super effective!  I found 3 that I combined for the perfect Anna costume:

I started with this Anna dress idea - purchasing a plain black t-shirt as the starting point rather than trying to make the top part.

I had also previously come across this tutu dress tutorial which is so simple yet makes such a great outfit.  I have many plans for this design for the future!  And it also worked here.

And then for the finishing touch I used this Anna & Elsa cape tutorial.

Just from the pile of coloured fabric I knew I was going to enjoy this project!

I bought a very cheap vest as my base.  My daughter is almost 3 and the smallest size I could find was age 7-8 so I had to do a bit of nipping and tucking to start with!  I then stitched gold bias binding round the arms and neck.

For ease I used appropriately coloured felt and bondaweb to create the embroidered effect rather than dealing with complicated stitching.  I found the image on the computer and traced it straight on to the paper before ironing it to the back of my felt.  I also decided to stick to 2 main colours, green and pink, with just a couple of yellow dots, rather than adhering 100% to the original design and colours.  It was then really easy to cut out, iron on to the vest and stitch.

I then got really excited and forgot to take photos, but I pretty much followed the tutu dress tutorial that I linked above as I moved on to the skirt.  A couple of adaptations...I stitched the layers of tulle as described and sewed it to the elastic but before attaching it to the top of the dress I made a lining for the skirt.  I used 1 metre of blue dress lining, closed the seam, and basted and gathered round the top in the same way as I did with the tulle and then stitched it to the same piece of elastic that the rest of the skirt was fixed to.  And another piece of gold binding stitched over all the layers (and elastic).

Once the skirt was done I could fix and stitch it to the top.

Almost done...

The final step involved more felt and bondaweb!  I made 5 tulip-shaped flowers and ironed them (evenly spaced) on to the outside layer only of the tulle skirt.  To ensure the flowers didn't mess up the other layers I placed a piece of tracing paper underneath when I ironed, as well as a square of cotton over the top.  This meant that the tulle didn't melt, and the sticky underside of the bondaweb didn't get stuck to other bits of the skirt before it cooled.

And the dress was done!

For the cape I pretty much stuck to the tutorial mentioned above, although I used a velvety fabric which required a bit of sorting before constructing the cape.  For my cape I only used half a metre of this fabric and folded it in half right sides together, so it was pretty much a square.  I stitched around the outside of the square, rounding off each corner as I went.  I left a 6 inch gap so I could turn the cape inside out so that the princessy velvetiness was then on the outside.  To finish my prep I top stitched around the whole piece.  I was then ready to follow the instructions as in the tutorial.

This involved a long basting stitch about 6 inches from the top.  Then gathered until the width is about 12 inches.

Over the top of the gather I stitched a piece of ribbon (that had enough overhang at each end to tie once worn).

To achieve the desired effect the top 6 inches folds over the ribbon so it sits just over the shoulders (and hides the ribbon stitching).  Cape done!

I was so worried that she'd refuse to wear it as I was putting so much pressure on her to try it on but she was so happy with it!

Probably the quickest and easiest DIY project you'll ever see!

I harbour a disproportionate amount of rage towards all of the wires and cables that occupy my world. As per usual, I'm full of good intentions to solve the issue with a flurry of searching and pinning for neat little cable tidies and holders. For which I then lack the motivation, time or inclination to execute. But whilst sitting and thinking about how I want to get the job done but can't be bothered right now (not lazy by nature - just work, toddler, pregnancy-inflicted fatigue!) something occurred to me. All you need is velcro! And it need only cost pennies! Velcro is something I seem to have lots of and I'm not sure why. I think it's one of those items that's easy to overlook but can halt a project in it's tracks. So it is useful to always have some available - I would definitely recommend that you buy yourself a metre or two just to have around for occasions such as these. 

1. For headphones I cut a 3 inch length of velcro. For bigger/longer cables and wires just increase this length, e.g 6 inches for laptop cable.

2. Pull apart and refix with up to an inch of overhang at either end. You can adjust this once you've tried it out if it needs to be longer or shorter. 

3. Wrap and fix around annoying and disobedient wire. 

4. That's it. Done! Neat, tidy, quick and super cheap. Now sit back and feel smug about the task you've just completed!

Rosi's Mobile Making Baby Shower

I love a crafty baby shower. It gives the event such a lovely feel; all making something for the new arrival. For mine we each made a flag for bunting and for my sister-in-law we all painted a little canvas for the nursery wall. So when it was my turn to organise the do for my wonderful friend Rosi I wanted to do something similar, but not something any of us had done before. Cue lots of pinning! As well as the above ideas there were some other good ones, like bib and babygro decorating.

Here's what we did...

A couple of us took along bits of card, paper, ribbons, buttons and anything else suitable for sticking together. I also took along a little kite shaped template. We then all made a kite to our own design to then hang together in a mobile. 

It was lots of fun, and still left us time to eat cake, drink tea and open presents within a couple of hours.

It then fell to me to put the mobile together! It was trickier than I expected as it became something of an exercise in engineering and balance! I made a large cloud using 6 pieces of white card cut in symmetrical cloud shapes, which I folded in half and glued together with prittstick. I then used the trusty glue gun to stick a long length of cotton to each kite. This was in a different position for each one in order to balance them in a good flying position (due to everyone's individual designs). I used a needle and thread to attach a kite to each arm of the cloud. I also made a couple of small clouds to use as additional balancing weights and give it a bit of visual balance too. 

And this is how it turned out:

Mini Advent Stockings!

I'm aware that today is 1st December, aka the first day of Advent. But I've been so busy - had a wonderful time at Lewes Artists and Makers yesterday - that I didn't get round to preparing anything. If only I'd spent less time researching blogs and Pinterest and more time making! But I woke up this morning and gave myself a good talking to. I realised that I don't have to make 24 of something for today...just the first one! So I quickly made myself a miniature stocking template (find it here) and whipped this up by cutting out two pieces of stocking shaped fabric as per pattern.  (Don't forget to do opposite shapes for the front and back if your fabric has a right side)  I used fusible interfacing prior to cutting on one side of the fabric as it stiffens it up and it also means you can just draw straight round the template and then cut.  I folded over the top edge (just once, but you could do it twice) with a 5mm seam allowance and stitched.  On the back piece a stitched a folded piece of ricrac about 1 cm in from the back edge of the stocking so that it can be hung up.  I used bondaweb on the back of coloured felt and cut out a number 1 and then ironed it to the front piece of the stocking.  I then placed the fabric right sides together and stitched round the outside using a 5mm, leaving the top edge open.  Using pinking shears I trimmed the edges - the interfacing also means the raw edges won't fray so is perfect for this quick project.  Turn the little stocking inside out and you should have a cute little stocking to hang on the mantelpiece or somewhere equally as festive!  Now repeat 23 times!

I bought the fabric especially a while ago. I was also able to do tomorrow's stocking. When we were younger my mum made some very similar stockings (another idea pinched from her, despite the hours on Pinterest!) and every morning a new stocking would appear with a little goodie inside - a toy, choc or other treat! Jola is still a bit little to get it, so I figure I can use this year to make the advent stockings and start the treat bit next year. I'm so pleased I realised it wasn't too late! And there are still a few hours of the 1st left, for anyone who's feeling as disappointed as I was with myself this morning!

Emergency Icecreams

Knew it was going to be a scorcher but had no appropriate supplies for cool eating. Saw this on Pinterest recently and tried it out today. Brilliant!

Build Your Own Tipi - Teepee - Wigwam!

Last week as the sun started shining I wanted to get my little girl some exciting things for the garden.  I was initially looking into some little pop-up tents when I came across a couple of amazing tipis - so much prettier and lovelier!  They are so fun but I didn't really want to spend too much money so I decided to give one a go myself.

You will need:

- 4 metres of 44" width fabric or 2.5 metres of 60" width fabric for main body of tipi

- 5 x strips of fabric measuring 3" by 60" for the pole casing

- 5 x 6ft bamboo canes (or other similar poles)

- 2 x 44" pieces of bias binding

- 4 x 16" strips of fabric/bias binding for ties

- small piece of fabric and Bondaweb for star patch

I got my star fabric as an emergency purchase from Dunelm Mill - I desperately wanted to start making this and didn't want to spend the normal few days researching!  I had a meeting in Eastbourne and was passing so I popped in.  Saw this immediately and loved it! I also got 10 6ft bamboo canes from B&Q for under £4.

1. Cut 5 triangles to this size:

You'll need to do this in different ways depending on your width of fabric.  If you have 60" width fabric you can zigzag your way across the fabric until you have 5 pieces - they'll be slightly taller than 60" but that's fine (just adjust other measurements accordingly).  If you have 44" width fabric (like I did) it's a bit trickier but you can definitely do it with 4.5 metres. 

2.  Cut 6 inches off the top of each triangle.

3.  Fold down (twice) and press the hems at the top and bottom of each triangle.

4.  Stitch your hems.

5.  Measure the finished side length of your triangles.  Your 5 strips for pole casings need to be this length plus a couple of inches for your hems.  Mine measured 56" by 2.75".  Fold down (twice) press and stitch.

6.  Fold strips in half and press.

7.  Take 2 of your large hemmed triangle pieces.  Lay one right side up.  Line the pole casing up against the raw edge (as shown in photo) and lay another triangle piece right side down.  Pin in place.  Using a 3/8 inch seam allowance (approx. 1cm), sew this seam.  Trim seam allowance.

8.  Take another 2 triangles and repeat step 7.  You will now have 2 separate pieces made up of two large triangles with casing stitched in between.  Now repeat this step to join these two parts of your tipi together.  You will now have one single piece of work in the following order: triangle, casing, triangle, casing, triangle, casing, triangle.  Put this to one side for the moment.

9.  You should have one large triangle piece left.  Fold this in half and press.  Cut along the fold line until approx. 9 inches from the top of the piece - the cut will measure approx 44 inches.

10.  Take 2 pieces of bias binding (folded and pressed) and stitch in place along the cut fabric.  To neaten the bottom of opening allow an extra inch of binding and fold it up before sewing.

11.  Iron an 8cm x 8cm piece of Bondaweb to a piece of yellow fabric.  Cut out the shape of a star and then iron it to the top end of the opening, placing it a few millimetres over the top of the binding.  Of course you don't have to have a star - most other shapes will do the same job!

12.  Use a zigzag stitch to sew around the outside of the star patch, securing it in place as well as strengthening the opening.

13.  Use ribbon or binding (pressed and sewn in half) and place and pin somewhere along both sides of the opening using even spacing.  Mine were 14 inches apart.  Sew in place.

14.  Now sew this last triangle piece to the rest of the tipi along the two seams using the same process as in point 7, with the pole casing placed in between the fabrics.

15.  All your sewing should now be done!  Feed the bamboo canes into the pole casings.  Spread out the tipi and use ribbon, binding or a strip of fabric to tie the poles where they cross over (approx. 1ft from the top of the poles) to keep them secure.

16.  All done!  Have yourself a pow-wow!

If I'm honest my pole casings didn't always match the exact length of the side of the triangles - I think partly because I was so desperate to finish it before it stopped being sunny and partly because my triangles were a bit uneven too!  But fortunately little J doesn't seem to care!

DIY Sleep Eye Mask!

As dawn broke this morning I woke. As I do every morning at about 5.30 because our silly little curtains let all the light in. Admittedly my own fault, but super frustrating all the same. So at 5.30 this morning I planned this out.

It'd make a great going-away gift for someone heading off on their travels.  You could also embroider or personalise the outer piece of fabric before stitching it together.

You will need:

- 2 pieces of fabric measuring 10cm x 25 cm

- 5mm elastic about 37cm in length (cut it a bit longer and then check before you sew)

- 10cm by 25cm piece of wadding

- pattern for eye piece, which you can find here. 

1. Using the pattern, cut two shapes in your fabric and one piece in wadding.

2. Stack as follows: wadding, fabric right side up, pin elastic as shown in photo and as indicated on pattern, then final fabric piece wrong side up. Pin in place.

3. Leaving a 1.5" opening and using a 1cm seam allowance, sew around the outside of your work.

4. Clip/pink edges.

5. Turn inside out through the opening. Poke out edges (my poking device of choice is usually a knitting needle).

6. Press.

7. Blind stitch opening.

8. Sleep in peace!

Modelled by dishy husband!