Gorgeous accessories from madeit.com

For all you lovely non-Australian readers out there, we have our very own etsy type online shop here in oz called madeit which stocks a huge array of beautiful handmade things. It's a nice feeling being able to support fellow crafters in Oz and by using Madeit we can avoid the sometimes large postage price for shipping things to our far-flung country.

Here are some cute accessories that have caught my eye on Madeit today. Click on each pic to follow the link.



Sophie & Jack Vintage inspired bobby pin set

 These gorgeous hairclips from Sophie & Jack are so sweet. I love cabuchons and these colours are my favourites.



Sophie & Jack, English rose hair elastic

 I adore the fabric on these button hair ties from Sophie & Jack too. So darling, I wish I was young enough to have pigtails or plaits so I could wear these everyday without getting mocked at work. :)





Little Peanut Rose ring

 This beautiful resin ring is gorgeous. Sigh, I need more money. :)



Citrus Pop Vintage inspired necklace

 More cabuchons and cuteness. I am sensing a theme today....I'm fairly predictable sometimes....!

These little accessories are so sweet and I would recommend anyone go and check out Madeit for lovely handmade things from talented Australians.

Now, to put in an early birthday present order from me to me.....

'I love tea' embroidery pattern

I have a love for all things sewing and crafty, and lately I have started doing some simple embroidery. I have found Wild Olive to be a wonderful resource as Mollie has a fab series in embroidery basics I have been following.

Today Mollie shared a link to a post on Michelle's lovely crafty blog, Scissor Quirk, of a darling embroidery pattern called 'I love tea.' Michelle has kindly allowed me to share a picture of her work with a link to the post so you can download the pdf of the pattern too.

'I love tea' Embroidery pattern from Scissor Quirk

Isn't it cute? I love the smiling tea cup and the little cookies. I start every work day with the lovely ritual of making myself a cup of tea so naturally this pattern really appeals to me. It also looks fairly easy to stitch which is good for an embroidery novice.

Maybe this lovely embroidery would look nice in a hoop in the kitchen?

xx

a crafty baby shower- baby bouquets

Over the last couple of months I have been getting some decorations together for my dear friend's baby shower. Since she knows she's having a little boy, I have been making things in blues and yellows. So far, I have made some fabric bunting, a fabric flower corsage for the mum-to-be and lots of little decorations like fabric yo yos and pom poms.

I also discovered those beautiful baby bouquets made from rolled socks, onesies and bibs at another friend's baby shower. My friend's sister-in-law had made two for her following this video on you tube from an episode of Martha Stewart and they just looked gorgeous! They were a little expensive to buy online and it looked easy enough to make so I decided to give it a go.

I went out and bought some singlets, socks, bibs and washcloths along with some floral tape, fake leaves, mini flowers, flower wire, some tissue paper and plastic wrap.

It was a little fiddly to make at first but after awhile it became easier and I just sort of made it up as I went along. I am really happy with how it turned out (if you don't look at it too closely, heh heh) and it sure beats paying $60-$70 for someone else to make it for you.

Here are some pictures of the final result of my baby bouquet:

 I think it's a lovely present that doubles as a table decoration. My friend really liked it so I was happy. 

Have a happy crafty baby shower!

xx

Baby shower present for the mum to be- fabric corsage

In helping to plan a crafty baby shower for my lovely friend, I came across a beautiful fabric flower corsage from Michele from The Scrap Shoppe. I thought it would be such a nice idea to make something special for the mum-to-be as most presents bought for a baby shower go straight to the new bub!

Here is a picture of Michele's beautiful fabric corsage:

I love the colours and the rolled roses and since I am using blues, yellows and whites in the theme I thought I would try to make my own version after being inspired by Michele's version.
Here are some dodgy pictures of the finished product taken with my phone camera (as I am too impatient to wait for my husband to take a good one!)

  

I am really happy with how it turned out and it was fun to make. I want one for me now too!

To make this fabric flower corsage, I first made a cuff for the base using what looked like doily ribbon, some satin and some felt and closed it with a pretty snap. Then I made some fabric flowers using this fabric flower tutorial for the big blue flower, this fabric flower tutorial for the burnt edged white one and a rolled rose tutorial for the yellow one. Then I just stitched them into place. Done!

I hope she likes her little present. I'll be sure to try and get a picture of her wearing it on the day!

What do you think?

xx

make a drawstring bag for ballerinas

At the moment I am busy sewing 10 pretty things for ballerinas and dancers who go to my friend's dance school. I have been having fun making ballet shoe bag using this gorgeous kokka ballerina fabric which I'm in love with. I thought I'd share a little sewing tutorial on how to make a drawstring bag (even though there are a million other ones out there!).

Here is a picture of the final result:

Ballet show drawstring bag

This style is a bit different to the usual way you make a drawstring bag as the casing runs along the outside of the bag instead of at the top (you can just see it in the picture, it's white and pink polka dots). I think it looks nice and it's smoother and easier for kids to use.

The casing can be a little fiddly to get on (there's probably an easier way so suggestions welcome!) but it opens up the option for having a contasting casing panel. Have a go and see what you think!

Materials:

• main fabric for front and back (I've used a different fabric for each side to conserve expensive fabric but you can obviously use the same front and back!)
• lining fabric
• casing fabric (i used the same fabric as the back. You could use your lining fabric to coordinate)
• interfacing (optional)
• ribbon
• pins, thread, machine etc

materials

Step one: cut your fabric

For the body and lining pieces cut two 11" x 14" (27.5cm x 35cm) rectangles from your main fabric, lining fabric and interfacing. (I like to make my interfacing pieces a little smaller to avoid bulk in the seams)
Fuse your interfacing to the wrong side of your main fabric pieces.

For the ribbon casing cut out two strips of fabric 9" x 3" (22.5cm x 7.5cm)

Fold in each long end of each strip about 1/4 an inch (0.5cm or so) and press.

Fold in each short end of the strip about 1/4 an inch and press.

It should look like this:

prepare casing

Step two: stitch on your casing

Place your main fabric piece right side up on your working space with the two short ends at the top and bottom.

Put your casing right side up about 1/2 an inch (1.25cm) below the top of your main fabric piece and carefully pin into place, making sure the ends are all folded under nicely. You can see in the picture below that there is an even gap between the fabric edge and casing on each side. (well, it's close enough!).
Repeat with the other fabric piece.

pin casing

Top stitch the two long ends of each casing close to the edge, leaving the two short edges free to encase the ribbon.

stitch on casing

Step three: sew your pieces together

Pin your two main body pieces right sides together with the two casing pieces at the top.

Pin your two lining pieces right sides together, leaving a gap of around 3 inches (7.5cm) at the bottom so we can pull it all through later. (see picture, right hand side)

pin main and lining pieces together

Take your main body pieces and sew around the 2 sides and bottom, leaving the top open.

Clip your corners, turn the right way out and press. Set aside.

Take your lining pieces and sew around the 2 sides and bottom leaving the gap at the bottom open.
Clip your corners, turn the right way out and press.

stitch, turn, press

Ok, now the fun part!

Step four: sew the bag together

Turn your lining piece so it is inside out.

Place the main body piece (right side out) inside the lining piece. in this picture I haven't put it all the way in yet so you can see what it looks like.

place body (right side out) into lining (wrong side out)

Line up the top edges and seams and pin all the way around.  (don't pin the top together though.... :)

pin around the top of the bag

check you haven't pinned it together!

 Stictch all the way around the top of the bag, avoiding the casing.

stitch around the top of the bag

Pull the main body of the bag through the gap in the lining.

pull main body through the lining

pull all the way through

Slip stitch closed the gap in the lining, press and tuck it into the main body of the bag.

Give the whole thing a good press.

Press. Almost there!

Using a safety pin, feed one piece of ribbon through the casings so both ends appear on one side.

repeat using the other piece of ribbon so the two ends appear on the other side. (I hope that makes sense) You'll know if you got it right if you pull on both ends and the bag closes. Magic!

attach a safety pin to your ribbon

feed through casing

Knot the ends of the ribbon and pass it on to your favourite little ballerina or dancer.

finished!

She (or he) can put their ballet, jazz or tap shoes in it. If you have a boy or girl who isn't into dance, these drawstring bags would nicely hold some trains, tracks, dolls, tea sets or a mountain of toy cars.You can also make some for yourself to house all your gorgoeus strappy shoes!

I hope you have enjoyed this tutorial, feedback and links to pics of your completed bags would be very welcome!

xx

baby shower decorations- baby bunting

One of my oldest and dearest friends is having her first baby next month and we're getting pretty excited! I've been helping to organise a crafty baby shower and have been planning lots of decorations for the party.

I decided to make some bunting for the occasion and found this fabric bunting pattern on the chickabug blog. Since we know she's having a little boy we decided to use blues and yellows for the theme of the shower. I found some cute animal printed fabrics and some coordinating spots and stripes in lovely blues and yellows.

Here's a picture of the final result:

I figured making bunting would be pretty straight forward so I worked it out as I went along, but here are some instructions anyway in case you'd like to have a go too. 

 Materials:

• 6" (15cm) base triangle pattern from this bunting pattern 

(I transferred my paper pattern onto cardboard to make it easier to cut around with a rotary cutter)

• small amount of fabric,  6 different patterns/colours
• bias binding
• machine

Step one: cut out your flags
For bunting with 12 flags, you will need 2 of each different fabric you have.
place two 7" (17.5cm) wide strips of fabric right sides together on your cutting mat.
Cut out two triangles using your bunting pattern.
Repeat for all of your different fabrics

Step two: pin and stitch
Give each set of triangles (still right sides together) a little press and pin around the two long sides, leaving the base of the triangle open.
Sew around the two long sides of the triangle. Clip the corners and press the seams to shrink and set stitches.
Turn all your triangles right side out and poke out the point of the triangle using a chopstick. Press nicely.

Step three: attach to bias binding

Determine the order you would like your flags to go in and line them up.
Cut your piece of bias binding to this length PLUS about 14" (35cm) on each end to allow for tying up. (This may be longer or shorter depending on your preference)
Pin the flags inside the fold of the bias binding starting in the middle so you have an even length of binding on each end for tying.

Step four: Sew closed
Using a matching coloured thread, stitch the bias binding closed close to the seam all the way along the bunting.
knot the ends and give the whole thing a press.

Admire your work and hang it up somewhere to enjoy.

I think fabric bunting looks so sweet and the style options are endless. This decoration doubles as a sneaky present too as my friend could hang it up in the baby's room if she likes.

Happy bunting making!

Blog love- ruffled bib dress tutorial from Made by Lex

I stumbled across this gorgeous ruffled bib dress tutorial on Lex's blog, Made by Lex. It is so my style and I just adore it. I'll be adding it to the long list of projects I'd love to sew if only there were enough hours in the day!

 

Mama's got a new dress, by Lex

 

 I think projects like these make it seem easy to get started with sewing clothes which is still a little daunting to me.I'm great at sewing things in my 'comfort zone' (bags, purses, accessories) but I am a little bit pathetic about sewing a skirt or attempting a dress. I think it's partly because I don't want to ruin beautiful fabric and partly because I'm not good at reading patterns (due to a lack of experience). Either way I need to stop being a chicken and just get started because I'd love to make this dress!

What projects do you have on your 'wish list'?

baby shower decorating ideas- clothes line & wishing tree

To help me prepare for a dear friend's baby shower, I have been trawling the internet for inspiration and decorating ideas.

Recently I came across the preppy and pink blog which has some truly gorgeous styling and photography of events like birthday parties and baby showers. I found a post Stacy wrote about styling for her best friend's baby shower for twin girls. The pictures are amazing so head over to the post to check it out.

I was most inspired by this adorable washing line and decided I would love to try something similar.

 

Isn't it just adorable?!? My friend is having a boy so I'm going to use lots of baby blues for my baby shower washing line. I could have a couple of bibs, some appliqued singlets, maybe a couple of onesies and some  embroidery hoops hung up on the line. 

I also loved this wishing tree she made. The guests make a wish for the mum, dad and babies and tie it onto branches displayed in a vase. I think it's a beautiful idea not only because it looks lovely, but the wish cards would be nice things for my friends to keep. Have a look at how my baby shower wishing tree turned out if you like!

Thanks for the inspiration Stacy!

Knitting season has arrived!

It is late autumn here in Australia, and in the last few days I have been donning scarves and jackets in the mornings and evenings. I love this time of year as it is the perfect kind of weather to get cozy on the couch with some knitting. This is often a challenge with two cats who don't quite understand the concept of string that's not there for their entertainment.....

I am not much of a knitter. Mostly because knitting projects are too time consuming and I'm quite impatient. I also don't have the skills to fix knitting mistakes and can often be heard throwing tantrums and screaming "No! Nooooooo!!!!!! there's a hole and I can't go back!!" My husband runs in and tries to help (bless) but I usually just pull the work off the needles and rip it apart in fury (much to the amusement of my husband).

Anyway, I have decided to give knitting a go again as I have been inspired by some lovely projects of late.
I have fallen in love with richly coloured and textured cowls and I am determined to have a go at knitting one, even though it involves learning how to use circular needles!

Here are two styles of cowls I have been admiring with links to the downloadable patterns if you would like to have a go too.

This honey cowl is a free pattern by Madeline Tosh. This version was made by Stefanie over at a common thread. her blog is full of gorgeous, classic and vintage style sewing, knitting and fashion ideas. I just love the colour and texture of this one.



Honey cowl in mustard yarn by Stefanie from a common thread

This GAP-tastic Cowl Pattern was designed by Jen Geigley who has a lovely blog called hey jen renee. She also has an Etsy store where you can buy some beautiful chunky scarves. Gorgeous!



GAP- tastic Cowl pattern by Jen Geigley from Ravelry

I have decided to start with the GAP-tastic cowl pattern as the pattern is a little easier and I'm pretty much a beginner when it comes to knitting.

I know some of you reading this are heading into springtime and have probably put your needles away, but if you have any easy knitting patterns to recommend I'd love to hear about them!

xx

planning a crafty baby shower

It's baby season at the moment and I have lots of friends welcoming their first babies into the world. It's such an exciting time for them and baby showers are a lovely way of celebrating the occasion.

I'm helping out one lovely and excited friend for her shower and have teamed up with her mum and two other friends to help organise a party. I took charge of decorating (yay!) and have been busily trawling through some of my favourite sites like hostess with the mostess and Martha Stewart to get some ideas.

There are so many different theme ideas out there, but since my friend knows she's having a boy, I thought sticking to blue and yellow would probably work best.

Here are some pics and links to some baby shower ideas I have been loving in my travels.

The first comes from Kathleen at Twig & Thistle. Her beautiful blue and yellow baby shower features Matryoshka dolls, a blue banner, a fun little crossword, blue pom poms and some sweet handmade favours. I'd definitely like to try some of these ideas and thank Kathleen for the inspiration!




banner, cake with Matryoshka dolls and blue pom poms

 


sewn favours with shortbread biscuits inside. yum!

 I came across a lovely post from Michele at The Scrap Shoppe. She made a beautiful fabric flower corsage I would love to try and make for my friend. Just gorgeous.



fabric corsage from The Scrap Shoppe blog


A cute idea I saw at a recent baby shower was to make a bouquet for the mum-to-be out of rolled up baby socks, onesies and washcloths. They looked so cute and you can make them in colours to match your theme! Here are some pics, and you can see a video tutorial from a Martha Stewart episode here on you tube.



baby shower bouquet




baby shower bouquet

 I think I'm also going to make some blue and yellow fabric bunting to decorate the baby shower. My friend can keep it and put it up in the baby's room if she likes too, so it doubles as a gift.
I found a fabric bunting pattern on the Chickabug blog and bought some blue fabrics to get started. I'll also need some yellow fabrics and some bias binding to put it all togther.

Here is an example of a vintage bunting diy kit you can purchase through The Haby Goddess:

vintage bunting diy kit from the Haby Goddess

I think these ideas will keep me busy for a little while. Have you got any cute baby shower ideas to share?

xx