New Mummy Gift Box

When I gave birth a couple of years ago we were inundated with beautiful and amazing gifts for our new daughter.  We were touched by people's generosity and thoughtfulness.

And then one friend in particular surprised me with a box of loveliness just for me!  I loved it, and who wouldn't...there were lotions and potions, wine, nail polish, bath bombs and other sweet little luxuries.  Since then it is something I have tried to do for friends when they've had their little ones, even if it's only been a couple of bottles of nail varnishes (and the 60 second quick dry stuff has been a revelation at this time in my life!).  

It's also a nice little reminder that just because you've had a baby doesn't mean that you shouldn't make time for yourself and the things you enjoy.  This is one that I recently gave a friend - little bits from Boots and a pretty box from Paperchase. I love a good box!

Easy Peasy Zippy Pouches

I had some left over fabric from the changing bag I made for my friend and I know she wants to use reusable nappies so using the scraps to make a waterproof pouch for transporting wet apparel seemed appropriate!  A useful idea for any of us with little ones, not just those with soggy bottoms!

We're also in the process of moving house, which reminded me that for months I've been planning on making some bags to store some of my daughter's toys.  

I found a couple of straightforward tutorials through my old friend Pinterest, such as this one on See Kate Sew.  I got a bit confused by the reference to folding the zip towards the lining when sewing the two sides of your pouch together.  It felt weird and bulky and not right.  I explored a bit further and found some instructions with pictures of what this step should look like, the most helpful of which was this one at Pink Stitches.  The pouches described on this last blog were a little more complicated on the whole (would make great gifts!), but the pictures simplified the process for me.  I also like the way she has secured and extended the zips with small pieces of fabric.  I used this idea for a couple of my pouches as the zips I had were all pretty small and I sometimes find my zip slipping when I sew it.  This is a great way of solving both problems!

Apologies for not creating any new tutorials recently, but I've mainly been using other people's so I'd rather direct you to them than try and come up with my own when I know they already exist.  

A Much Better Changing Bag

Changing bags are expensive!  Even the plain ones seem to cost a small fortune, as well as being a bit boring.  A friend who recently came to this conclusion asked if I could make one for her.  Suddenly the changing bag world expanded!  Naturally I spent some (read "a lot of") time on Pinterest and found one that met the criteria, which were a) that my friend liked it, and b) it was within my capability!  This tutorial by the Crafty Couple was clear and easy to follow, as well as being patternless - which is ideal as I don't have a printer and could just cut the fabric straight to size.

There were a couple of websites that we looked at for oilcloth fabric (so that the bag was waterproof inside and out).  These were Only Oilcloths and Norfolk Textiles, although I'm sure there are many others.  The fabrics we went for were Stampede Pastel Gloss and Lisbon Denim Matt from Only Oilcloths.  We opted for 135cm x 100cm of each, to ensure we had enough (and the cost was the same for this size or smaller).  The total cost of the bag was just under £30, which is pretty reasonable for a one-of-a-kind totally practical bag of this kind.

Before cutting out I worked out which pieces I wanted in the patterned fabric and which pieces were going to be plain.  

I had enough fabric to make a changing mat to fit neatly in the back pocket.  I did this by cutting two oilcloth rectangles 30cm x 60cm and one 30cm x 60cm in a lightweight wadding.  I arranged the pieces as follows: wadding, piece 1 right side up, piece 2 right side down (ie right sides together).  I pinned and sewed around three edges (starting with a long edge).  I then turned the piece right sides out, folded in the remaining seam and top stitched around the whole rectangle to close up the open edge and neaten it up.  Folded in three the mat fits just right!

I had a few left over scraps of the fabric so a few days later I made a waterproof zipper pouch, which I'll tell you about properly soon!

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:

JLW's New Bag

When Jola needed a new bag for nursery I tried really hard to find one on Etsy; I like supporting other people's handmade businesses.  I found one, but it was going to cost nearly $30 to ship, which made it much too pricey!  I had recently pinned a tutorial on Pinterest so decided to give it a go.  It's this one here by the Ribbon Retreat.  It's a really straightforward tutorial with easy to follow instructions and pictures.

As it's quite a simple design it was pretty easy to add some additional touches so I made a few changes:

- I added a couple of inches to the side panel pieces to make it wider.

- I added an elasticated front pocket, with velcro fastening and button decoration.

- I added piping to the main body seam.

- I machine stitched initials onto the front.

Changes I didn't make but should have done:

- I shouldn't have bothered with the piping; I'm not very good at it!

- I should have brought the straps closer together at the top as they currently sit too wide to stay on my toddler's shoulders.

I am definitely going to try another one in the future now that I've learnt some lessons for this one!

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!

Wintery Knit Knit

I'm not a very fast knitter. It was probably my first craft, but it is not my craft of choice! I love hand knitted items and would love to improve. My mum's one of those casual, chatting, watching TV, super fast knitters, whipping up a little cardi in a couple of evenings.  I've tried doing it without looking, for about 10 seconds, but I may as well look for all the concentration and teeth gritting it takes!

Anyway, I decided to attempt a hooded cardigan for my little girl. I took great pleasure in searching Ravelry (where I could lose hours!) for a suitable pattern. Found a good one here. 

But I started knitting it about 9 months ago, for age 18-24 months.  She's now 26 months and it's not finished.  I got up to the hood and abandoned the plan.  I decided to convert the hood into a little bonnet.  And here's the result!...

 

For the last 8 rows I added 30 stitches on each end and changed to a rib stitch to shape it round the face and allow it to be tied under the chin.  I then folded it in half and stitched the back seam.  I'm also planning on putting a popper on the strap so it's secure.  Oh, and I made a pompom for the top.  It's a little small, naturally, and isn't quite shaped right.  But I'm pleased with it and it looks so cute!

There are proper patterns available - like this one - so sweet!  A much more realistic goal for a non-speedy knitter like me!