Sew Delicious

Pillowcase to Drawstring Bag - Tutorial

2012-02-29T08:00:00.000+11:00

More of a mini-tutorial - this is a really quick project.

The story behind it is that the other day, the cheap plastic ikea laundry hamper that I had in Lucy's room lost its leg. No idea how, the leg just fell off. So I needed something to keep all those dirty little clothes in while they wait for their turn in the wash. A drawstring bag was a perfect choice, because it can be hung on the hook on the back of Lucy's bedroom door.

You need
- a pillowcase (mine is a pretty vintage one I thrifted for 50c - score)
- 1 metre of ribbon, I used 1cm wide white grosgrain
- seam ripper and other basic sewing supplies

Take your pillowcase and turn it inside out. Use your seam ripper to split one side seam 5cm (2") from the top. This split creates the opening to thread your ribbon through to make the drawstring.

If your fabric is a bit raggedy on the edge, just fold the edge in and press it down. Stitch it if it continues to misbehave. It will be enclosed in the drawstring casing.

Fold the top of the pillowcase over 2.5cm (1") and press. Stitch all the way around to create your casing.

Each side of the pillowcase will look slightly different because one side will have that extra envelope of fabric. Once it is turned right side out, you won't see that and it makes no different to your casing.

Take your ribbon and use a safety pin to thread your it through the casing.

Turn your pillowcase right sides out. Tie your ribbon to the desired length. You are finished!

You might find that the bag is a bit too long for your liking. Just turn it back inside out, and stitch across the bottom of the bag at the desired length. Cut off any excess.

As I mentioned earlier, mine will be used as a laundry bag for Lucy, but it can be used for anything! Old pillowcases are often very soft due to be washed so often, which makes them a great choice for a lingerie bag. I also like to pack a bag like this when I go on a trip - it is handy to keep dirty washing separate from the clean items in your bag or suitcase.

If you make one, please share it with us over at my Flickr group!

Ask me ANYTHING!

2012-02-27T10:08:00.000+11:00

I have been thinking for a while that I'd like to create an 'About' page on my blog. My little blogger bio doesn't really tell my readers much about me, but I'm not sure what people might want to know. Since this blog is a real outlet for me, I figure I'd like to share a bit more about myself.

So over to you - ask me a question!

Source

It can be about sewing, my 'real' life, something random. Whatever! I'd love to hear from you - especially if you are one of those silent readers who hasn't commented before.

If you get this post via email, you can just hit 'reply' and I will get your question. If you follow me via facebook or twitter, you can ask your question there.

I'm looking forward to hearing from you!

PS. Talking about following - apparently Google Friend Connect will cease to exist on March 1st. So if you follow me that way, you may wish to resubscribe - Email, RSS, Facebook, Twitter, or Bloglovin. Pop over to my sidebar and choose your weapon of choice. I have been using Bloglovin lately and I am really liking it, so it may be worth checking out!

Snowy Mountains Vintage

2012-02-26T17:44:00.000+11:00

On our recent trip to the Snowys to visit our good friends, I went into the nearest town, Tumbarumba, and checked out the oppys and old wares shop. I am pleased to report that I struck gold, again!

You may remember my love for kitchen canister sets in this post, and I picked up these Nally canisters on our trip. That's three sets now - dare I call myself a collector?

Not a full set, but the pastel colours won me over. The flour one has been well loved and seen better days, but the rice one is pristine and gorgeous - my favourite of the three.

I've been wondering about the colours of the missing tea and coffee canisters. Maybe a lilac? Certainly a yellow.

A big shout out to the lovely ladies in the Tumba St Vinnies - they were very kind and helpful. I picked up some gorgeous vintage sheets there.

Hello to anyone reading in the Tumba / Corryong / Tooma / Batlow / Adelong / Tumut region. We love your part of the world! And the thrifting there is excellent!

Linking up with flea market finds today.

Sewing With Selvedge & Scraps

2012-02-23T09:28:00.001+11:00

The creativity has been a little slow around here recently. We have been away on holiday lately so the sewing machine has been a little bit neglected but I'm getting back in the swing of things this week.

I have seen a few selvedge projects floating around in blog land, and I have always loved the look of them, so I've started one for myself. It will be a zip pouch, and I have sewn my selvedges onto a piece of cotton batting, which has given the pieces a lovely soft quilt-like feel. I used this tutorial from Fussy Cut as inspiration.

I look forward to sharing the finished product!

I am participating in the Scrap Bag Swap hosted by Nin at The Wardrobe and I liked how my selvedge project is coming along so I used the same idea to start the scrap bag for my secret partner.

I pulled out my fabric scraps and used completely random pieces to create the same style as the pictures above. There is no rhyme or reason behind the fabric choices, just that they were scraps. Not sure if I'll ever make a good quilter...

It all looks a bit messy now but I'm hoping the finished product will be what it looks like in my head :)

Find more creativity here today.

Peggy Skirt Round Up

2012-02-21T10:34:00.000+11:00

After the popularity of the Peggy Skirt tutorial, quite a few people said they'd love to make it but they wanted to make another size. I decided I would spend some time working out a range of sizes, and now I have come up with the measurements for girls sizes 1-7.

The pattern is now in my shop, but before I released it, I put the call out for some pattern testers to give it a go and test whether the sizes were right. I gave measurements for babies through to women's sizes.

Clockwise from top left: green skirt made by Alyssa from Hems To Dolls,

the original made by me, black & white skirt made by Rachael from Imagine Gnats,

heart print & purple skirt made by Bella from Nisabell Necessary.

In a perfect world I would sit here and type about how brilliant it was and how every skirt turned out perfectly. But that would be a big fat lie. The kids sizes were great and all of them tested well and the sizing was right. The women's sizes were not so good. The women's skirts needed a different style of waist and a more a-line shape. So I decided to ditch those sizes, and just stick with the children's measurements.

Thanks so much to my pattern testers Alyssa, Rachael, Meig, Brandi, Bella, Megan and Molly and also to Pam from Threading My Way, a former teacher like me, who proof read my pattern and returned it with corrections in red! Haha I loved it!

If you would like the pattern, you can get it here, and if you really want to make life easy, I have put together some kits, with the pattern, fabric cut to size, thread and notions in denim and red, denim and pink, and denim and multi colour spots with yellow notions. All you have to do is sew it together - a great project for a beginner sewist.

Now to go and sew up some selvedge...it should be a fun experiment. Pics coming soon!

The Covert Robin

2012-02-19T19:37:00.001+11:00

I've been quiet this week. We have just had a lovely weekend down at the beach with some friends. Usual business will resume this week, but first I thought I'd pop in to give you some info that I know you'll like!

You all know I love swaps! So you MUST check out this one - it's shaping up to be awesome. So many fab bloggers, quilters and seamstresses are already involved.

So click on the pic to visit Rachael over at Imagine Gnats for all the info and the sign up sheet.

You're welcome! :) Hope you are also having a great weekend!

Love Birds

2012-02-14T16:28:00.000+11:00

Inspired by Valentine's Day, I spent yesterday evening stitching these lovelies -

They were fun to make, I really enjoy working with felt. I cut the felt shapes, hand stitched them together and glued the bird cabochon to the front. The back has a simple brooch catch attached.

You may have noticed lately that I have recently achieved one of my goals for 2012 - I opened my own etsy shop! I have added a tab at the top of my page, so feel free to check it out. I intend to add more bits and pieces in the near future. You will find these Love Bird brooches in the shop!

Hope you have a lovely Valentine's Day, even if you are like me and do nothing to celebrate it. I tell my husband that he should treat everyday as though it's Valentine's Day ;)

Gifts for Boys - Toy Car Mat

2012-02-13T07:00:00.000+11:00

I am making a concerted effort to improve my repertoire of gifts for boys. This car mat is my latest creation for the lovely Oliver who turned three last month and loves the Disney Pixar film, Cars.

When rolled up it is nice and neat and small enough to pop in a bag and take wherever you may need to keep your little one occupied.

Unroll it and it looks like this:

The Cars fabric on the exterior is from the home dec section at Spotlight, which works well to make the mat a bit sturdier and more durable. The interior is a simple cotton polka dot, and the car pouches were made from a strip of cotton navy star print. The road is a wide piece of black bias binding, stitched down the middle with my straight stitch on the longest stitch length setting.

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I used some grosgrain ribbon to secure the mat when it is rolled up. You could also use elastic or a strip of fabric with some velcro attached, which might be better for little hands.

I was pretty happy with my first attempt at a car mat, I think I would tweak the pattern a bit next time, but overall I think it was a success!

What do you think? Maybe I should do a tutorial for this one? I am also thinking of making a couple for my shop, so watch this space!

Real Men Crochet

2012-02-09T07:00:00.000+11:00

We have a little secret in this house... my hubby Trev is pretty crafty too. He loves Aussie Rules Football, cricket, going to the gym, he works in a very male dominated career, and he crochets!

The story goes that when he was a kid, he went to a tiny country primary school that had only eighteen students. Arts and crafts were taught by local parents who volunteered their time. He was a smart mouthed little boy, and when choosing his art and craft subject from a list, he chose crocheting last after chocolate making, basket weaving and egg decorating (it was the 80s!). He claims the teacher 'hated him' and placed him in the crochet group as punishment. To get back at his teacher, he resolved to get REALLY good at it.

So for many years, he made beautiful blankets for family and friends. He gave it up when he got to high school, but in the last year he has picked it up again, and he finds it relaxing to crochet while sitting in front of the TV.

One of his colleagues has just gone on maternity leave, and he made this for her and the baby girl she is expecting.

If you hang out with me on Facebook you will have seen me moaning about stitching on the sating binding on this blanket. It came out OK in the end I think!

Really should have ironed that fabric in the background :) No styling points for me on this post! I was hurrying to take the pictures before I gift wrapped the blanket!

Here is another blanket Trev made my sister Kirsten for Christmas last year. It is made in Geelong Football Club colours and is huge - about single bed size. It took him about six months to make.

So I guess my husband's secret is out! But he did give me permission to write this post - he is confident that none of his colleagues read my blog!

Linking to Creative Spaces today.

Fabric Crush: Echo

2012-02-06T09:52:00.000+11:00

At the moment I am loving the Echo range, designed by Lotta Jansdotter. Lotta is a Swedish designer whose signature bold designs can be seen across her range of books and other products as well as her fabric range. Echo is her first US collection for Windham Fabrics.

The simplicity, the colour ways, the Scandi-style. It is all gorgeous. I haven't purchased any yet, but I plan to. The astronomical prices of retail fabric in Australia generally grinds my fabric shopping to an abrupt halt, but often when I have a few pennies I will put in an order from one of my fave US fabric stores.

My favourites from the Echo collection are:

Spring Buds in Mustard

image credit: Hawthorne Threads

and Vines in Agave

image credit: Hawthorne Threads

Beautiful, right? What collection are you crushing on at the moment?

Cute you are - Yoda inspired onesie

2012-02-02T07:00:00.000+11:00

A friend of ours who loves Star Wars is expecting a new baby boy any day. I usually find making gifts for boys a bit trickier than girls, but with the Star Wars theme to work with, I came up with this:

I used green felt for Yoda's face and ears, brown embroidery floss to stitch his brow furrows, and some black buttons for eyes. Kind of an interpretive, cartoon-like Yoda, but I think he resembles the original!

May the force be with you and all the others linking to Our Creative Spaces today!

February Photo a Day Challenge

2012-02-01T20:51:00.000+11:00

I'm joining my bloggy friend Cass and participating in the February photo a day challenge hosted by fat mum slim.

Image credit: fat mum slim

I will be a bit lazy though, I will be just snapping from my iphone and posting them on my Facebook page. So if you don't already, pop over and 'like' Sew Delicious on Facebook and you can check out my pics. I've never been much of a photographer so it will be interesting to see how it comes out.

I also like to use my Facebook page to share half finished projects, get opinions on sewing questions and share cool stuff I find out there in internet land, so it is worth your while to come and join me there! The button is on my side bar!

Come and say hi!

Oilcloth Toiletries Bag - Tutorial

2012-02-01T08:00:00.000+11:00

Another tutorial! I must admit, I've had this one on ice for a while because I hadn't got around to sorting all the photos out. I actually made and photographed this in early December, and I'm only getting around to posting it now! But I think you'll like it!

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Fun with oilcoth! Have you ever sewn with it? I love it because you can just wipe it clean - essential when you have kids around. We travelled to New Zealand last year for Christmas and just before we left I realised that I didn't have a toiletries bag for either of my girls. So I whipped these up. They are really easy.

You need -
- 2 rectangular pieces of oilcloth. Cut them to any size you require. Mine were approximately 30cm x 25cm. My prequisite was that I needed them to be able to fit an adult size toothbrush, and I went ahead from there.
- A 40cm zip (or larger or smaller depending on what size you want yours to be)
- Piece of ribbon for wrislet.
- Scissors, coordinating thread, sewing machine, paper clips.

Some oilcloth sewing tips - do not press it, the iron will melt it. Use your fingers to push seams out. If there are a lot of creases in it from being folded in a postage parcel, or folded at the store, just unfold it and leave it in the sun or a warm place for a couple of hours. Use a sturdy needle like a denim needle. Use paper clips instead of pins so you don't puncture the oilcloth. You can buy oilcloth in the Home Decorating section of your craft / fabric store (often on a roll with table cloth plastics) or you can buy it from loads of great stores on etsy. You can also go for a laminated cotton which is available in a great range of designer patterns.

Attach the zipper foot to your sewing machine. Place your first piece of oilcloth right sides down and line up with the upper part of the zip. Pins puncture holes in oilcloth, so use you paper clips to hold it in place.

Sew together.

Flip your oilcloth right side out and topstitch close to the zip for a nice finish. The right side of your oilcloth may stick to your sewing machine foot a little bit so you may have to help feed it through.

Complete the above steps for your second piece of oilcloth. You will end up with this:

Open your zip half way. This is important or once you have sewn it up you won't be able to turn it out!

If you want to add a little wristlet, fold a piece of ribbon in half and place it where you want it.

Then fold the bag so the right sides are together, and hold in place with paper clips. Sew around all three sides.

To get the box pouch look, box each corner. To do this, pinch the corners to form a triangle, having the seam come up the middle.

Sew across the triangle and trim.

Repeat for all other corners, making sure the length between the tip of the triangle and the seam are the same.

You will now have this:

Which you will turn inside out to have this:

Lovely! These pouches are quite soft and not overly sturdy in holding that boxed shape, which is fine for me because I just wanted something simple and waterproof that would fit in the girls' suitcases. If you want of sturdier finish you may want to consider lining it.

If you make one, I'd love to see it - share it with us at my flickr group!

Dachshund Love - fabric design by me!

2012-01-30T12:11:00.001+11:00

Late last year I really wanted to have a go at designing my own fabric using Spoonflower. Spoonflower is a website where you can upload your own designs and create custom made fabric. Awesome.

I am not overly artistic. So I stuck with something simple and a topic I love. Dachshunds. Aka sausage dogs or weiner dogs. Are they not the best dog breed EVER!

Here is my sweetie, Pharlap, when he was a pup.

He is a long haired dacchy so he is much shaggier these days, as you can see in this post.

So inspired by him, I designed this fabric and I named it "Dachshund Love".

I took advantage of a two for one fat quarter sale and I created two different colour ways. I am just waiting for the right project to come along so I can use some of this fabric!

Another brilliant Spoonflower project I have seen is by my friend Jodi from Art By Wiley. She turned a family recipe into gorgeous tea towels and gave them to all her family members for Christmas.

Image credit: Jodi from Art by Wiley

You can see the full story of Jodi's tea towel here. You could use the same idea to showcase your kid's art projects! (There is the Grandparent's Christmas gift sorted!)

If you designed fabric, what would your fabric theme be?

DIY Clothing Labels - Tutorial

2012-01-23T16:08:00.000+11:00

Labels can be quite expensive, so I thought today I would share how I make mine. There are lots of fantastic tutorials out there by other crafty people, but mine is a little bit different - I am going to show you how to design a logo to use on your labels as well. This is not only great for people wanting to add a professional touch to their sewing projects, but also for parents who need to put name labels in their children's school and sports clothes and uniforms.

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Supplies:
Computer and Printer
T-Shirt Transfer Paper
Ribbon (I use 1cm wide polyester grosgrain or cotton twill)
Scissors
Iron and ironing board
Cigarette lighter (to melt ribbon edges so they don't fray)

To create the logo on my label, I used Picnik. I know they are closing their website in April, but you will still be able to use it, they are moving all their services over to Google+.

First, upload an image to Picnik. Unfortunately you cannot start with a blank image. Go to 'Stickers' on the tool bar, then choose 'Geometric'. Cover your entire image with a rectangle and change it to the colour you desire.

Next, go to 'Text' and type in the text you would like on your label. Play around with fonts and colours until you are happy.

Add a little logo if you would like to - the bird I use is available in 'Stickers' along with many other lovely little pictures.

Next, use 'Basic Edits' and crop your picture into a rectangular label shape.

You are done - click 'Save and Share' and save it somewhere easily accessible.

Next - open a word processing document (mine is MS Word) and create a table. Mine has three columns and is the length of an A4 page. Insert your label image into the first cell and resize it to your liking. Copy it, highlight the whole table, and paste it. You will now have this:

Now time for printing. Important - do a practice run with some plain paper before using your tshirt transfer paper, it is too expensive to waste! You will notice that my logos are not mirror images - most computers will do that automatically. Your practice run will allow you to check that your logo is not too wide for your chosen ribbon.

You need to click 'Print', then click 'Properties' and in the 'Media Type' box, there should be an option for 'Tshirt transfers'. Choose that option and your logos will print as mirror images, so they are correct when you iron them on.

If your computer does not give you this option, highlight the image in the first cell, click on Picture Tools, and choose 'Rotate', then 'Flip Horizontal'. As before, copy your image, then paste it into the rest of the table.

When you have printed, your paper will look like this (without being hacked into of course!)

The next part is really easy! Cut your logos out and iron them onto your ribbon, making sure you have read the instructions on the transfer paper package. Make sure your iron is set to a dry cotton setting - no steam!

When you think they are done, give them another iron just to be sure. Let them cool completely. Then carefully peel off the paper backing to reveal your lovely labels.

Cut them up, seal the ends gently with the cigarette lighter, and you are ready to sew them on to your projects.

If you need any extra help, feel free to email me, tweet me, or send me a message on Facebook. I would love to know if you make some! Please share a photo over at my Flickr group!

Golden Books

2012-01-22T16:41:00.001+11:00

Thrifting has been disappointing this week. I came home empty handed every time. But that is the game, isn't it? I did have one little find for the grand sum of 10c, and it was a lovely old Golden Book. I adore them and look for them every time I'm in an op-shop. I loved them as a kid (until I graduated to every book ever written by Enid Blyton!)

Here are a few from our collection, all from the oppy or they were originally mine.

My special favourites are the ones by Richard Scarry (you may remember how I used one to decorate Lucy's room in this post) and any with the lovely vintage pictures of farm animals and rabbits. The counting book is the one I bought this week for 10c.

I love it when I buy one and I open it to find its former owner's name written on the book plate that is inside the cover of every Golden Book.

Whoever you are Katie Bull, your book is now being loved in its new home here with Anna & Lucy.

Did you love Golden Books? Do you still? What are your favourites?

Linking over at Flea Market Finds today.

A Janie Curved Skirt

2012-01-19T09:01:00.001+11:00

A little while ago I was a lucky winner of a Hadley Grace pattern of my choice. How great is winning something? Especially when it is something gorgeous!

The Janie Curved Skirt was the pattern that caught my eye, and much to Anna's delight I finished it a couple of days ago. She has already worn it twice!

Such a great design! My love for fabric from the Amy Butler 'Lotus' range is well documented (this dress and this bag), and I thought this fabric combination would work perfectly again for this project. The main fabric is Morning Glory in Linen, and the ruffle is Full Moon Polka Dot in Cherry.

The pattern was easy to follow and had a very clear tutorial with pictures. So a big thanks for the freebie Hadley Grace Designs! They are also here on Facebook.

Linking today over at Creative Spaces.

Rainbow Birthday Cake

2012-01-17T09:10:00.000+11:00

This past weekend was all about family for me. On Saturday we farewelled our beloved Pa (who you may remember from this post), who passed away a couple of weeks ago. From the day I started Sew Delicious, he was my biggest fan, checking the blog everyday and we chatted about every project I posted. He was a wonderful person and he will be greatly missed.

Nan & Pa with Anna & Lucy in September

On the upside, my family were all in the one location for the first time in a while. My parents live in Queensland, my brother lives in Perth and my in-laws live in Northern Victoria, so being together is very unusual. We took the chance to have a picnic in the park on Sunday and celebrate the January birthdays, my brother Andrew who turns 27 tomorrow and Anna, who will be 3 in a couple of weeks.

So that gave me an excuse to make some fabulous cakes!

A rainbow cake for Anna and the same sort of cake in blue and white for Andrew who is a huge Geelong Cats fan (Australian Rules Football).

The pictures aren't the best - it was really windy so I couldn't really 'style' the cakes, but I'm sure you've seen the rainbow cake around on pinterest or on another blog somewhere. Personally, I was inspired by these two cakes - this cake by Cass Can Sew and this cake by Minimoz.

Anna was very keen to cut into her cake.

So Andrew helped her.

And the big reveal of the rainbow centre was a huge success!

Yum! It was surprisingly easy to make. I cheated and bought some sponge mix from my local cake decorating supplies store, and used gel colours to tint the batter. I made the cakes earlier in the week and froze them, which made icing it much easier. I would recommend this cake to anyone with limited cake decorating experience, it was very simple to make and has such a wow factor when served.

If you do want to get more creative with cakes, gel colours are the way to go - you don't need much to achieve a very intense shade. You can buy them at cake decorating stores or online.

Was it delicious? The proof was in the eating! Yes!

Happy birthday Andrew and Anna!

Big Books Printable

2012-01-13T19:59:00.001+11:00

The Big Books Library Bag tutorial has been popular, but I wondered how many people would like to make the bag but might have been a bit daunted by the computer slogan design part of the tutorial.

So thought I would give you the one I made as a printable, so you can just print it out for yourself! You can get the printable HERE!

This is my first printable so if you have any problems accessing it, please leave a comment so I can fix it!

Looking forward to seeing your version of the bag - if you make one, make sure you share it at my flickr pool!

Christmas Card Swap

2012-01-12T10:44:00.001+11:00

It feels like Christmas was a very long time ago, but thanks to the tardiness of Australia Post and the USPS, I still have one more Christmas post for you!

I participated in a handmade card swap hosted by Fingerprints on the Fridge, and was partnered with the lovely Hailey from Coastal Heart, Country Soul. It is so great when you connect with people in other parts of the world and discover that you have a lot in common. During our email chats I found out that Hailey's brother lived in Australia for a while to play ice hockey, and she and her hubby had holidayed in New Zealand earlier in the year (we were there over Christmas). Such a small world. I really recommend you visit Hailey at her lovely blog which is full of creativity and variety.

Here is the stunning card Hailey made for me -

Love those paper rosettes! I only received this in the mail last week so it was a lovely surprise. Another coincidence for Hailey and I - we both used sheet music in our cards.

Here is the card I sent to Hailey -

I picked up a huge stash of old sheet music from the op-shop in Barwon Heads (best op-shop ever!) for the bargain price of 50c. I cut some into ornament shapes, and of course I had to use my sewing machine! I stitched the ornament shapes to the card and embellished them with different buttons, some glued on and some stitched on. Finally some stamps and little rhinestones for a bit of extra bling!

The sheet music had a couple of sheets of songs that fit perfectly into the card so I cut one out and stuck it inside, stamping it for an added festive touch. It was great for covering up the stitching on the inside of the card.

When I got home, I went through the folder of sheet music and this fell out -

How gorgeous! I plan to put it in a simple white frame and hang it in my little Lucy's room!

Kitchen Vintage

2012-01-08T20:45:00.000+11:00

I haven't shared anything thrifty for a while so I thought I'd show you some fabulous retro kitchen canisters I picked up on holidays a couple of months ago. Here they are in all their bright red glory:

We were visiting our good friends Georgia and James on their beautiful property in the Snowy Mountain region of New South Wales and their nearest town is one called Tumbarumba. I picked up these in an Old Wares shop in the main street. As you can see, it's not the full set and the coffee canister has some damage. Nevertheless, I had to have them!

They now take pride of place in my pantry, alongside a full white set which I picked up for a song on ebay about 5 years ago.

I adore them. And yes, I do keep the flour, sugar, rice, tea and coffee in them! I use the red ones for self-raising flour, caster sugar and arborio rice.

I'm not an avid thrifter, but I take my chances when I can and I know that retro kitchen canisters are rarely found as sets and rarely cheap these days as people like me covet them for their kitchen!

Do you have a cool kitchen canister set? Show me! Send a link in my comments or upload a pic to my new flickr pool!

Linking up here, check it out to see lots of other vintage lovelies!

Big Books Library Bag - Tutorial

2012-01-06T14:23:00.000+11:00

I love my local library. I can "make a suggestion" and they will buy books in for me, reserve them, and I can collect them when they send me an email. I can browse the catalogue and reserve books online. They also have fun rhyming sessions for parents & bubs, and they are just generally great and staffed by lovely people.

Given the frequency that I visit, I decided I needed a new library bag. I wanted my library bag to be fun, but grown up. Inspired by a slogan I've seen on Pinterest and other places on the web, here is my finished product!

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I did a google search to see if this slogan came from anywhere in particular, but obviously I am a bit late in noticing it because it seems to be everywhere, so I will credit Sir Mix-a-lot. (yes, you know the song!)

Would you like to make one too? Here is the tute. Be warned - it is a LONG tutorial because it covers designing your slogan/image on the computer, then the sewing of the bag.

You need:
- 1/2 metre/yard of calico or other solid fabric
- 1/2 m/y of fabric for lining
- 1 metre of cotton ribbon, other ribbon or calico strips for shoulder straps
- machine, thread, cutting tools etc
- T-shirt transfer paper. Mine was about $20 a pack at my local craft store
- iron and ironing board
- computer and printer

First you need to create the image or slogan you want on your bag. I did this using two different techniques - using Picnik to create an image then using Microsoft Word to resize the image and print, or just simply using Microsoft Word.

If you are not sure about designing your own slogan, use mine! Get the Big Books Printable here.

First, Picnik - unfortunately there is not an option to start with a blank image, so I just upload any picture. Have a look along the tabs above your image and choose 'stickers'. Down the stickers list you will see 'Geometric'. Choose a rectangle and resize it to cover your existing image.

Once you have done that, create your image or slogan. I used the 'text' tab and played around with different fonts and layouts until I was happy with my image.

Once you are happy with your image, go to the main tabs above and click 'save and share'.

Open Microsoft Word or other word processing program, and open a new page. Choose to insert a picture and open your recently created Picnik image. Resize it on the page to how big you require it to be and double check it using Print Preview.

This part depends on your printer. Go to Print and choose Properties. In the Media Type box, scroll down and find the T-Shirt transfer paper option. Select it.

Using this option, my computer automatically flips the image. If you have text in your image it must be flipped, so when you iron it on to your fabric it will come out the right way.

**Important: Do a test print using plain paper. If it reverses your image, you are ready to print onto your t-shirt transfer paper. Just double check your settings in properties again before you hit the print button.

If your computer does not automatically flip your image, you can do it yourself. Click on your image, and in the above tabs choose Picture Tools. Choose Rotate, then choose Flip Horizontal. (you can see the picture tools in the screen grab below.)

When you print this, in Properties just choose the highest quality printing option you can. Again, do a test run with plain paper - you don't want to waste that expensive transfer paper!

If you are choosing to just create a page in your word processor to print, you will have to make sure your printer had the t-shirt transfer option available, because you cannot flip your basic text in the same way as an image.

Once printed you should end up with this:

As you can see I was in the process of making two bags - one for me and one for my sister who is a big Harry Potter fan!

Now onto the sewing - cut two pieces of outer fabric (I used a simple calico) to 35 cm wide(14") x 42cm long (16"). Do the same with your lining pieces.

Trim your transfer to make it easier to iron on.

Iron your fabrics. Following the instructions on the packet, position and iron your transfer onto your outer fabric.

When you have finished ironing it, give it another quick iron, just to be sure. Once it has cooled down, peel the backing paper off your transfer and you should have your slogan or image nicely adhered to your fabric.

Place both fabrics right sides together.

Sew your exterior fabric around three sides with a 1cm seam allowance. Clip corners and trim seams. (Oh look at my poor cutting mat! It has seen lots of projects!)

With the lining pieces, sew down the sides, but along the bottom leave a 10cm (4") gap along the bottom. (The floral print makes my pins hard to see, but if you look closely you can see the pins marking the gap)

Place the exterior bag inside the lining so that the right sides are together.

Now we can add some shoulder straps. I used some cotton ribbon that I ripped off a paper bag from a fancy clothing store because I am ~~tight~~ thrifty! You can use any kind of wide ribbon, or you make your own can by cutting some strips of your exterior fabric, fold in half, sew, turn inside out, and topstitch.

Pin your straps inside like this:

Sew the whole way around the top of your bag. Reverse over your straps for extra strength.

Use the gap in the lining to pull your bag through to the right way out.

With the gap in the lining, pinch the raw edges under to line up with the existing seam.

Sew the gap shut, stitching close to the edge.

Push your lining into your bag. Almost finished... Use your iron to press around the top of your bag.

And finally topstitch around the top of your bag.

You are finished!!

Now you can go to the library and feel smug when people say 'Love your bag, where did you get it?'

If you make one, I'd love to see it - make sure you share it in my flickr pool!

Liebster Award

2012-01-05T10:25:00.000+11:00

I have a dirty secret...even though it appears that I am a busy and organised person, I am actually quite lazy in some departments. And to my shame, I have been very lazy about getting around to this post, it has been put on the back burner several times when some shiny new idea or project takes over!

Thank you to three lovely bloggers who over the past few months have all awarded me with the Liebster Award - an award for up and coming bloggers who have less than 200 followers.

The three ladies who have awarded this to me are:

The Domesticated Mama - she makes gorgeous stuff for kids and has a fantastic etsy store. Check it out!

Pam at Threading My Way - fellow Aussie blogger and seamstress extraordinaire, if you are in to sewing her blog is a must read!

Leigh Ann from Sew Blessed - a great blog with lots of creativity, sewing tips and activities for kids.

Source

Thanks to all of you for giving me this award! My job now - to choose five small blogs to give this award to. Hmmm so many good ones!

Sew Love It - Christy has a lovely blog where she showcases her creations for her cute baby daughter, as well as recipes and other fun stuff.

Jubee's Craft Box - Brandi is great at sewing and crochet amongst lots of other things!

Pritty Tings - Kristin is a new blogger who I found after I saw her this bag. Love that fish!

Tales of the Scotts- Eva blogs about her creative projects and we share a mutual love of Amy Butler fabrics.

Bird On A Cake - Robin makes AMAZING cakes and takes beautiful photographs of them. Be warned - your mouth will water reading this blog.

So that is my five! Head on over and check them out!

How to Add a Facebook Like Box to your Blog

2012-01-03T10:08:00.000+11:00

The last 5 months I have spent many hours setting up my blog. It has been really fun, but also a huge learning curve! Everything on my blog that you can see has been completely customized by me (with a little help from blogger and other internet tutorials) and there are a few things that I thought I would share.

Professional bloggers often have designers and IT people behind them, but most of us are just blogging for the love of it and to share and participate with like minded people. So I thought in 2012 I would share some of the technical bloggy things that I have taught myself because I am sure that there are lots of you who would like some simple tutorials that will improve your blog.

Source

For the first tutorial, I thought I would show you how to add a Facebook 'Like' Box to your sidebar.(sorry wordpress friends, this tute is for people who use Blogger) Having a complementary Facebook page is great - it allows you to interact with your followers, have conversations, give people an alternative method of following, especially if they don't have a blogger account. I use facebook to share lots of my 'behind the scenes' projects, ideas and ask opinions of my readers. I also share tutorials and other things I've found out there in internet-land that I think my readers would be interested in. So come on over and follow me!

Now for the tutorial - first, open four windows / tabs on your browser. In these tabs, open this tutorial, your blogger dashboard, your blog's facebook page and this page.

Next step is to complete the little online form to get your HTML code. Copy the URL address of your blog's facebook page and paste it into the box where it says 'Facebook page URL'.

Once you have done this, you will see on the side of your screen an example of what your box will look like. You can see mine in the screen grab below.

Most bloggers put their like box on their side bar. To make sure it fits, you need to alter the width. Mine is 190 and it fits really nicely in my sidebar.

Play around with the other options in the form. For example, I chose not to have my stream published in my like box, just the like button and my followers. Choose the options that suit you and your blog. Once it looks the way you want it, click 'get code'

You will have two boxes of code here. Copy the code from the first box.

Go to your blogger dashboard. Go to layout and on your sidebar choose the 'Add a Gadget' box. From the list that appears, click the little plus sign to choose the HTML/Java Script gadget.

Copy and paste your code into that box. I didn't bother to title the gadget as it is obvious what it is.

Go back to the facebook code box and copy the code from the second box. Paste directly under the first lot of code. Your code box should now look like the picture above.

Click save.

Position your gadget on your sidebar where you want it and click 'save arrangement'. You are done! View your blog to make sure it looks the way you want it. Now people can 'like' your facebook page without having to leave your blog.

I hope you found this tutorial helpful - I plan to do a few more tech tutorials, so if there is something particular you would like to know, comment or email me and I will do my best! If there is something in this tutorial that doesn't work, please comment or email so I can help you further.

Happy blogging!

Show me yours!

2012-01-01T21:21:00.002+11:00

Happy New Year! Hope you have all been enjoying a wonderful holiday season with your family and friends. We are sweltering here in Melbourne with a 40C day expected tomorrow. I just got back from an amazing week in New Zealand where we enjoyed a relaxing time in the South Island town of Wanaka. A Merry Christmas indeed! As you can see from this pic, it is just gorgeous.

Source

So you are wondering about the title of this post - I have created a flickr group for Sew Delicious so I can see what you made from my tutorials. I am really excited to see what everyone has come up with - I have received quite a few emails from lovely ladies who made the Peggy Skirt and have been thrilled to see the fabric choices and added embellishments to make the skirt suit their own style. PLEASE PLEASE add your pics if you have made something!!

2011 has been a great journey in terms of blogging for me and I am bursting with ideas for the coming months. I have some big plans for 2012 and I can't wait to share with you!

So this is the ideal time to give you a quick round up of my five most popular posts of 2011. Since this is my first year blogging, they are also my most popular all time posts.

5. The Travel Document Pouch Tutorial - very popular on Pinterest! This pouch was fantastic while we were in NZ.

4. The Dinosaur Roar Skirt Tutorial, a cute and simple skirt I made for Anna using some dinosaur print fabric from a thrifted pillowcase.

3. My Tohoku Tote, I made this bag as part of the Ucreate 'Create with Me' September project. The pattern and tutorial is a gorgeous one designed by Cheri from I am Momma Hear Me Roar. It was definitely the Amy Butler Daisy Chain Clematis fabric that caught everyone's eye!

2. Baby Gift Zipper Pouch Tutorial - a simple zip pouch with lots of love for that cute whale fabric!

1. Hugely popular with over double the traffic of any other post - The Peggy Skirt! The Mad Men inspired design with the cute pleats won many of you over! I have been so amazed at the huge response for this skirt!

So there you have it! I hope this little blog continues to inspire you in your creative endevours in 2012 and if you make something.... add it to my Flickr Group! I wonder what will be added first?

Merry Christmas!

2011-12-21T15:24:00.000+11:00

I am taking a little break from the blog - back in a week or so! Hope you enjoy the season for celebration this year!

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My Christmas is going to look a bit more like this:

Source

I'll tell you all about it next week!

Thanks for all your wonderful support of my little blog! Season's Greetings! xxx

Travel Document Pouch - Tutorial

2011-12-19T14:43:00.000+11:00

'Tis the season... to be travelling! Many of us are going away to spend the holiday season with family and friends in other parts of the country or indeed, the world. Good times! But with holidays comes the organisation - airline tickets, car hire vouchers, passports, travel insurance documents and the list goes on.

My little family are heading away (more details to come in future posts!) and now that there is four of us I wanted to carry all of our passports and documents in one easy to access place. So here it is, for your sewing pleasure...

OK, I know it is a really simple zip pouch tutorial, but there are two important things that make this specific to travel documents - the fabric (of course!) and more seriously, the measurements. I designed this pouch to be able to fit at least 4 passports, several pieces of A4 paper folded into thirds (for booking and travel info that we all just print from our email these days) as well as a pen and a small notepad.

You need -

- Two pieces 28 x 15cm fabric for the exterior of the pouch (11 x 6")
- Two pieces fabric (same size) for the lining
- A 35cm (14") or longer zipper (any excess can be cut off later)
-Sewing machine with zipper foot, coordinating thread

The fabric I used is one I bought from Spotlight eons ago and I haven't seen it since. Here, here, and here are some other cool travel fabrics I found! If you are travelling for a long time (or if you are just accident prone) you may like to use some oilcloth or laminated cotton for the exterior fabric to keep your documents waterproof - sometimes a drink can spill in your bag or you may get caught in a sudden downpour and that way everything stays nice and dry.

I am using some pics from a previous tutorial I have done, so don't be confused by the different fabric - it is the same type of pouch!

Here we go - sandwich the top edge of your zipper with the lining at the back (polka dots in photo) and the exterior fabric (whales in pic) at the front, and pin with right sides together.

Sew the seam using your zipper foot.

Flip the fabric so it is right sides out and press. It is optional, but it adds a nice finish if you top stitch along your seam.

Repeat process for the other side. Inside your 'fabric sandwich' this time will also be the fabric you have already sewn on.

You should now have this (that pic makes the zip look quite wonky!) :

And if you flip it over it will look like this on the other side:

**IMPORTANT - at this point, unzip your zipper halfway. This is so we can turn it inside out later. If you forget to unzip it, you will have to unpick later, which is a pain!

Flip your fabric so lining is right sides together and exterior is right sides together.

Pin sides, and leave at least a 10cm (4") opening in the lining. I turn my pins to mark it so I don't forget!

Stitch all the way around the outside (except the opening of course!) and reverse over your zip for extra strength. Cut across corners, trim your seams and trim your zipper too if you have a large amount of excess. Once you have done that, reach in and pull the exterior fabric through the opening in your lining.

Fold the raw edges of your opening together.

Stitch close to the edge of your fold to close the opening.

Push your lining into your pouch and you are done! Pack it full of your tickets and passports and you are ready to fly! (or train, bus, boat, drive, helicopter, cycle...)

Happy and safe travelling and have a wonderful trip!

I have some great tutorials up my sleeve for the new year - don't miss them! Follow me or join me on Facebook so you can see what project is next!

I would love it if you shared a picture of your finished product at my Flickr Group!

Crossover Pinafore for JJ

2011-12-15T22:24:00.001+11:00

My lovely friend Jodi from Art By Wiley welcomed a new addition to her family recently with the arrival of her new baby girl. I just love sewing for baby girls!! I find boys a bit trickier, maybe because I don't have one?

Here is what I made for this new sweet girl:

You may know this pattern, I have blogged about it before, it is the Crossover Pinafore Pattern from Smashed Peas and Carrots. I love it for a couple of reasons - the sewing project itself is simple, quick and great for beginners. The dress is very versatile - in summer they can wear it as it is, in winter it is great over a long sleeved tee and leggings, and as they grow they can wear it as a little top.

I took a departure from the traditional pink and went for a teal theme instead. This pinafore is reversible, so the outer fabric is Zoology in Sea by Michael Miller and I embellished it with some gorgeous big pearly buttons.

Inside I went for a simple teal with white polka dots and some grey buttons.

Love a reversible dress - if you are out and they spill food on themselves just flip it and you have a clean outfit!

Here it is from the back view, the crossover straps are very cute when the dress is on.

Love those hippos! Enjoy baby JJ!

Any suggestions or links for sewing for new baby boys?

Easy Vanilla Baked Cheesecake

2011-12-12T12:00:00.000+11:00

A couple of weeks ago I was a guest over at Mine for The Making for Kara's Foodalicious Fridays. I shared this cheesecake which is a favourite recipe of mine and a sure fire winner for any party! The raspberries add a lovely festive touch so it is perfect when you have been asked to contribute something to a Christmas party or BBQ. Here is the recipe and tutorial, hope you enjoy!

Lots of people seem a bit scared of baked cheesecakes, but don't be! I think the most time consuming part of this one is actually the base. The filling is quick and easy and you can make this a day ahead and refridgerate it until you need it - a busy hostess' dream!

First the base - you need:

A 20-22cm (8") springform cake tin
A 250g (9 oz) packet of plain sweet biscuits (cookies)
150g (5oz) melted butter

Prepare your cake tin by lining the base with baking paper.

Use a food processor to whiz up your biscuits (cookies) until you have crumbs. If you don't have a food processor, place biscuits in a plastic bag and bash with a rolling pin until you have crumbs.

Place crumbs in a bowl, add melted butter and stir until combined.

Pour into cake tin and use your fingers to press the crumb mixture evenly around the tin and up the sides to form a shell. Once you have a fairly even shell, place it in the fridge for 30 minutes.

Now the filling - you need:

500g (1.1 lbs) cream cheese (room temperature)
300g (10.5 oz) sour cream
3/4 cup caster sugar
3 eggs
3 tsp vanilla essence
250g frozen raspberries (or fresh or any berries you like)

Preheat your oven to 160 C (320F).

Place your cream cheese, sour cream and sugar in a clean bowl of an electric mixer and mix until combined and smooth. You can also use a food processor.

Add the vanilla and eggs and mix again until well combined.

Pour mixture into your shell.

Bake for one hour. Turn off oven and open the oven door slightly and allow the cake to cool slowly in the oven (this prevents cracking). Sometimes it isn't safe for me to do this as my little ones are around and my oven is positioned under my bench. If you are the same don't worry, we can risk the cracks, it makes it look more rustic and home made!

I pile on loads of frozen raspberries a couple of hours before serving and leave the cake out to bring it to room temperature. As the berries thaw they ooze out their juice which runs into the cake and makes it extra good! You can use any berries you have available.

You are done and you have a gorgeous cake that everyone will love!

Gifts for Amanda

2011-12-08T10:07:00.001+11:00

As you know from my last post, I participated in the Craftaholics Anonymous Gift Swap. Such fun!

I made three items for my swap partner Amanda - the first one is the Buttercup bag which is a gorgeous pattern designed by Rae from Made by Rae. After I had made it, I was having a look at Amanda's pinterest boards, and she had a buttercup bag pinned! Hurrah!

It was my first time using this pattern and it was really easy, a really good bag for a beginner. Next time I will work out how to sew the straps into the lining. I used Amy Butler Lotus Wall Flower in Cherry and added a vintage button from my op shop stash to embellish.

I also made Amanda a cute suzy-homemaker style apron using some Christmas fabric. Here it is being modelled by yours truly.

Love the squinty face! (It was a really sunny day!) Here is the front view:

This is one of the prettier Christmas fabrics around, it is 12 Days Of Christmas by Kate Spain for Moda. I trimmed it with some white bias binding and used some red polka dot from my stash for the waistband, and some satin ribbon for the sash. The design was based on an apron tutorial from the book 'The Crafty Minx' by Kelly Doust, but I made a few changes.

And last but not least, I made a little felt Christmas Tree ornament.

Love that vintage star button at the top, and I had some gold embroidery floss to stitch it on with. I used pinking shears to give the edges a more tree like appearance.

So there you have it! If you are considering participating in craft swaps - DO IT! It is a lovely way to meet new people and see what other people's fabulous talents are!

Linking here with other creative people today, as well as lots of other great link parties - check out my link party page.

Winter (Summer!) Swap Gifts

2011-12-07T07:30:00.000+11:00

I participated in the huge Winter Swap (summer for us Australians) over at Craftaholics Anonymous!

A few months ago I did my first swap (you may remember from posts here and here) and it was so much fun and I had such a great swap partner that I decided I would definitely do some more swaps in the future.

This time I was partnered with the lovely Amanda from Sydney. She is a very talented lady who has her own label, Nanny Kate. Here is what she made for me:

This amazing bag which you may recognise as the 241 tote designed by Anna from Noodlehead. When Amanda and I were emailing each other I mentioned that I was loving yellow and grey as a colour combination at the moment - and how perfect is it with this bag! I just adore it. I have seen a few 241 totes around on Pinterest and I think this one is by far my favourite fabric choice...and it's all mine!

My second gift (yes there is more!) is another Noodlehead design, this time a gathered clutch, made to match my tote.

This clutch came full of goodies like baby wipes, band aids, an emery board, hand sanitiser and more, and Amanda has called it her 'Mummy Rescue Kit'. I think every Mum needs one of these in their life!

Want one of these amazing items? Yeah you probably do! Check out Amanda's blog, Nanny Kate, and also her Made It store. I know she only recently bought the patterns so she may not have stock in there yet, but I'm sure she'd love to hear from you if you wanted a custom order.

Thanks so much for your gifts Amanda, I really am thrilled with them!

Stay tuned for my next post, I will show you what I made for Amanda!

And the winner is...

2011-12-05T14:09:00.001+11:00

Drumroll please....

Random.org selected number 23 - Jo!

Jo said: It's SUCH a fabulous bag! I follow your blog through Google Reader. Thank-you!

Thanks to all my followers for all your lovely comments and great support! Special mention to the lovely Debbie McLean who sent me this lovely poem:

“My day was made when along came “Sew Delicious”
With lots of creative ideas and warm wishes
I get a lovely surprise when a new mail pops in my inbox
Your friendly, vibrant blog really rocks....

I love the projects that you create
You include it all – patterns, directions and templates
Whether it is sewing, craft, painting or recycling bits
Your blog is sure to have lots of hits”

Hope you like my little rhyme –
Just have to get myself some more time
To enjoy making the things you have shared
And give my grandee – Milly – cute things to wear”

Thanks Debbie! Such a gorgeous poem, it made my day when I read it! Here is my virtual gift to you:

Source: stylemepretty.com via Roslyn on Pinterest

The Autumn Bag is looking forward to going to its new home with Jo!

Santa Baby!

2011-12-04T14:21:00.001+11:00

I noticed lately that I make a lot more clothes for Anna than I do for Lucy. I guess that happens when you have two kidlets of the same gender - the eldest gets all the new gear while the younger ones end up wearing the hand me downs. So I decided to make something special for my littlest one.

I found this cute Santa fabric at my local Spotlight. The selvedge says 'Cute Santa' by Sugar and Spice Textiles. I only bought half a metre on a whim last week, and then while I was having a browse on pinterest I found this cute pattern and tutorial over at Prudent Baby. Perfect!

I had the yellow polka dot fabric in my scrap stash, and had just enough for the neckline and to make some bias binding to sew along the hem.

Yellow and red aren't a common christmas colour combo but it matched perfectly with the yellow in the lights on the fabric.

I was really pleased with outcome and it fits Lucy perfectly!

I have teamed it with a cute red corduroy skirt for Lucy, chances are it will be a warm day for Christmas here in the Southern Hemisphere. If you live north, these little tops are very cute over a plain long sleeved tee and some warm leggings or jeans. The pattern allows you to adjust the length so you can make it as a top or extend to make it a dress.

My model wasn't overly cooperative this morning, so this is the best shot I got of her in her Christmas outfit:

Have you done any Christmas sewing? I will be posting some more for you later this week!

Less than 24 hours to go for entries into my giveaway! Check it out!

Guest Post - Christmas Bell Birds

2011-12-03T09:19:00.001+11:00

I am guest posting today over at Sugar Bee Crafts! Very exciting - Sugar Bee is one of the first blogs I started reading and Mandy is always full of great ideas and inspiration.

So you should pop over there and see what I have made for Christmas - these little cuties:

You will find the full tutorial including a printable template.

If you haven't already, don't forget to put in an entry for my giveaway - only a couple of days left! Hi and welcome to all my new followers, I can't believe there is over a hundred on GFC now! Thanks for your support!

Have a great weekend!!

Bright Owls Mobile

2011-12-01T08:56:00.001+11:00

Here is a project from before I started blogging. Before I even bought my sewing machine! The dark ages...actually about a year ago.

While I was pregnant with Lucy, I wanted to make something for her but we were still unsure if she was a boy or girl. So this was pre 20 week scan. I think I might have been about 15 weeks when I made this.

I used some felt, buttons from my huge op-shop stash, and ribbon to hand stitch these little owls and create a mobile. I used some white felt to make the moon and stars hanging down the centre.

The mobile hangs above Lucy's change table. It is in front of a mirror so she likes to look at two mobiles - the real one and the reflection! The ring for the top part of the mobile is just a wire circle I picked up for a dollar at my local craft store, and I wrapped the ribbon all the way around. The whole project was very thrifty and probably cost around $5.

I love their odd eyes, makes them look extra rustic and handmade. The owls were inspired from the Owl & Pussycat mobile in the book The Crafty Minx by Kelly Doust - lots of fanstastic projects for beginner crafters and budding seamstresses.

Have you entered my giveaway yet? You have until Sunday - don't miss it!!

Linking with lots of other lovely creative people here today.

A (little) Giveaway!

2011-11-27T21:38:00.001+11:00

Blogging has been such a fun outlet for me since I started a few months ago. I've made new friends, learned new skills and have loved each and every kind comment people have left on my blog! So I would really like to say thank you to all the people who have taken the time to follow me.

Many of you loved the Autumn Bag I made a couple of months ago, so I have made another one and I am giving it to one of you! My blog is only little and I have no sponsors so this giveaway is small and handmade by me! I loved making this bag because I love the fabric and colours but be warned - it is not perfect - I had some trouble stitching the lining and strap to the exterior so there is a little bit of hand stitching on one side. It was tricky!

This one is slightly different to the first one I made. It is smaller and has only one strap. The fabric is the gorgeous Co Co Chi by Kokka. Love those deer and rabbits!

Would you like it to be yours? This giveaway is for my followers, so if you would like to enter you must be a follower of mine in your preferred way - GFC, Facebook, Pinterest, Email or RSS. Just leave me a comment and let me know how you like to follow Sew Delicious!

Not a follower? You are very welcome to start following and then enter!

Not sure how to leave a comment? If you don't have a blogger profile, just choose Name/URL and type in your name, you can ignore the URL part. Then leave your comment in the box.

Extra entries if you follow me in more than one way - leave a comment for each! I will send this purse anywhere in the world so I look forward to hearing from both my Aussie and international readers!

Thanks again for all the support you have given me the past few months, I am so glad I decided to put my crafty endeavors out there to share - everyone has been so enthusiastic and supportive! I look forward to reading your entries (email me if you have any trouble leaving comments) and I will choose a winner a week from now - Sunday 4th December.

Good Luck!

Thrifty Gift Tags - Tutorial

2011-11-23T19:30:00.000+11:00

Let's face it - it all ends up in the rubbish bin on Christmas Day once the gifts have been torn open, right? So I am not spending extra money on wraps and cards. I love a really prettily wrapped gift though, so I made these gift cards which I think look lovely and cost me next to nothing!

Here is how I did it:

You need -
scrap cardboard, not too thick (mine came from the insert in a wine box)
scissors or paper trimmer
hole punch
ring binder reinforcement stickers
stamp kit and ink pad and/or dollar store Christmas themed stickers

First, take your cardboard and your scissors and cut your cards. I use a pre made one as a template and cut around it, you may choose to make a template in the desired shape and size you want, then cut as many as you can from your cardboard.

You can also buy gift tag shaped craft punches which make the job very quick and easy.

Next, take your hole punch and punch a hole into the end of the tag.

This is optional, but I think it gives a more authentic luggage tag look - stick your ring binder sticker around the hole you just punched. I bought them at an office supplies store.

Time to decorate! Use your stamps if you have some. My ink pad and letter stamps came from the craft store. The cute reindeer stamp I bought here. I used some christmas words this time, but I often personalise them with the gift recipient's name.

Or you can use some dollar store stickers to make some pretty tags like these:

Now add them to your lovely gifts:

Brown paper packages tied up with string...these are a few of my favourite things!

Make sure you follow me in your preferred way - GFC, Facebook, email, RSS - I have a little give away coming up for my readers later this week and I think you'll love it! Don't miss it!

Lots more creative ideas here!

I would love it if you shared a picture of your finished product at my Flickr Group!

Mum's Birthday Ruffle Cake

2011-11-21T13:57:00.001+11:00

Have you seen all the amazing cakes over on Pinterest? I have been inspired by them lately - you can see my collection of inspiration on my pinterest cake board. I love dabbling in a bit of cake decorating, as you may have seen from my Butterfly cake and my Diamond Anniversary cupcakes and I have seen a few fantastic ruffle cakes made by other bloggers and they have all commented on how easy it is. So armed with some tutorials found on Pinterest and trust in others that it really is easy, I made a ruffle cake for my Mum's birthday last Friday. Here is how it turned out:

Excellent huh? Not quite as neat as some of the other pictures I'd seen but I had to decorate it in a hurry because Mum had rung to say she was on her way over!

To get the ruffle effect, I used one quantity of buttercream icing which I made a lot thinner using extra water and then I tinted it lilac using a purple gel colouring. If you don't want to make your icing I think the Betty Crocker pre-made stuff will work well too - if it is a warm day just pop the cake in the fridge as soon as you have finished decorating.

I then used a piping bag and a petal tip (I used a Wilton 104 tip) and I followed the instructions on this video tutorial.

The cake was a hit and I was really pleased with how it looked. The top seemed a bit plain so I scattered over some silver cachous, but if I had more time I would have written a birthday message on it.

I will definitely use this ruffle method again and I recommend it!

My First Guest Post - Baked Vanilla Cheesecake

2011-11-19T07:56:00.001+11:00

You can see me over at Mine for the Making today!

I am guest posting for Kara for her Foodalicious Friday series and you can get the recipe and instructions for this beauty:

Head on over and enjoy! Mine for the Making is great blog with lots of creative ideas so make sure you add it to your list of 'must reads'! Have a great weekend!

Happy Birthday Mum!

Play Wallet

2011-11-15T08:00:00.000+11:00

Anna has been really getting into imaginary play and her current favourite game is 'shops'. We have traded many things including tan bark, flowers, socks, but I thought she might like to trade with something a little more realistic!

We like to pretend to buy (or sell depending on who is playing which role - shopkeeper or shopper) and lately the smaller items from the pantry have been the items of choice. I got a free download of Mollie Makes Magazine Issue 5 on my iphone and it had a great and very easy wallet tutorial, so I made Anna a little wallet so she can pay for her shopping items with money.

I only needed a really small amount of fabric and I got all of it from my scrap bag. You can see the exterior in the above picture, and here is the interior:

The wallet is a great size for some cash and a few cards, and I think I might make a couple for myself for times I need something smaller than my everyday wallet.

Here it is with some cash and cards - for Anna I use monopoly money but for this pic I put in the real thing!

It fastens with a simple button and elastic loop but you could get really creative with this simple design and customize it in many different ways.

Cute huh? Great for kiddies and mamas alike!

Linking here with lots of other amazingly creative people.

Thrifty Finds

2011-11-11T08:00:00.000+11:00

On a recent trip up to my parents in law's place in Northern Victoria, I was lucky to have a child free morning so I went for a little op-shopping trip. I hit the jackpot in Elmore, a little town between Bendigo and Echuca.

I picked up some gorgeous vintage sewing bits and pieces:

Some great vintage sheets and pillowcases that can look forward to their new lives as future dresses for my girls!

And my favourite - this great Cadbury Chocolates tin. It is a bit battered and bruised but I love the waratahs! My mother in law thinks it might be from the 1950s. Do you recognise it? Any ideas when it was made? I might have to email Cadburys and find out! I keep lots of my sewing things in old tins so this one will probably be filled pretty quickly.

Love country op-shops! Happy thrifting!

Linking here with lots of other gorgeous vintage finds!

Dinosaur Roar Skirt

2011-11-07T07:30:00.000+11:00

I love making skirts! And I thought it was time for another skirt tutorial!

Ages ago I thrifted this pillowcase for 50 cents, thinking I would use the fabric for a gift for a little boy.

Anna found it in my stash, pulled it up over her waist with her feet in the corners and walked around the house saying "Mummy, I want a dinosaur dress! Will you make it for me?" How could I say no?

I wasn't sure if I had enough fabric for a dress (and I didn't really want to make a pillowcase dress this time) so I thought a skirt would be a good option. So here's how I made it. The measurements given will make a size 2T, so you can add length and width to your pieces depending on the size of the kiddo you are sewing for.

You won't need much fabric. You will need:

-a pillowcase or 1/2 yard / metre fabric (or a bit less, there will be heaps left over.)

- 1" elastic

- rotary cutter & board, sewing machine, thread, pins (you know, the essentials)

I based the design of the skirt on one Anna already had but it was made from a knit fabric so I had to change the dimensions. The design has a waistband with a casing for elastic and a gathered skirt.

You need to cut 4 rectangles -

2 waistband pieces, 11" x 5" (28x13cm)

2 skirt pieces, 15" x 7.5" (38x19cm)

First I made the waistband. Place the two pieces right sides together and sew both edges with a 1/2cm seam allowance.

I used pinking shears to reduce fray then I pressed the seams open. Feel free to zig zag or overlock (serge) your seams.

Then I made the casing for the elastic. I folded over the top 1/2cm, then over 2cm and pressed.

Sew the casing into place but make sure you leave a small opening to thread the elastic through later.

Put the waistband aside for now and take your two skirt pieces. Place wrong sides together, sew up the sides, finish your seams however you choose to. At this point I hemmed the skirt, just because it was easy to do it before I gathered the top of the skirt. You can do it now, by pressing 1/2 cm, then another 2cm and sewing, or you can do it at the end.

Next, using the longest straight stitch available, sew around the top of your skirt. Only reverse or knot at the end of your stitching, not at the start because you will use the bobbin thread to pull your gathers.

Pull the bobbin thread to make your gathers. Even them out along the top of the skirt and stop gathering once the width matches the width of your waistband.

Place the waistband inside the skirt so that the right sides are together and the raw edges align. Pin them together.

Sew this seam, keeping the gathering stitches between you new seam and the raw edge. (If they accidentally show through later, you can just use your seam ripper to pick them out.)

Finish this seam with a zig zag stitch or serge. Turn skirt the right way out and this is what you should have (sorry for the shadows in the pic) :

Cute huh? Now to finish we just have to pop in some elastic. Cut your elastic, I usually fold it in half and cut it at 2/3 the width of the waist. (serious seamstresses would be horrified by my lazy techniques, but hey, it works for me!)

Attach a safety pin and thread your elastic through the casing. Once through, take the elastic ends and sew them together using a zig zag stitch. It doesn't have to be pretty - no one will see it.

Pop your elastic inside your casing, and sew up the opening.

You are done! Your finished product will look like this:

It is a really easy one and it looks really cute. I hope you give it a go! I would love it if your shared your finished product with me at my Flickr Group!

Mini Tohoku

2011-11-03T08:57:00.000+11:00

Do you remember my Tohoku tote bag? I made it a little friend:

I just love that Amy Butler fabric! It's Clematis from the Daisy Chain Collection. I also love that pearly button - it really finishes it nicely. I used the same design as this project from this tutorial.

This little clutch is a gift, we are going to dinner tonight at our friend's place and it is a gift for the host.

My tote bag is getting lots of use, the colours are so pretty and it is one of my favourite projects to date!

Sharing at Creative Spaces today and lots of other great parties you can find on my party page.

Home Made Paint

2011-11-02T07:30:00.000+11:00

Last Sunday was a grey and rainy day here in Melbourne. Anna was bored so I had to get creative with some indoor activities!

Pinterest to the rescue - just the night before I found this excellent recipe for home made finger paints. I won't give it to you here because the recipe belongs to Easie Peasie, but you should pop over there and book mark it, pin it, or however you want to save it - you will love it and you will most likely have everything you need already in your pantry. I even used her idea to package them in baby food jars - it looks pretty and I had heaps of jars in the cupboard.

Making the paint only took about five minutes - too easy! Also, knowing the exact ingredients of the paint is good too, you know toddlers, they love to taste test everything!

I grabbed some paper plates, plastic cookie cutters and a roll of brown paper and we made some prints.

Even our dog wanted to get involved!

A little bit of paint ended up on the floor and the table but it wiped clean and there was no staining. It didn't take long before Anna decided that the paint needed to be mixed and that hand prints were much more fun - no photos of that though because I feared for the camera's safety!

If you need any other rainy day activities, don't forget to check out my No Cook Play Dough recipe!

My Swap Gifts

2011-10-31T11:29:00.002+11:00

As you have been reading in my recent posts, I participated in a Fall / Halloween swap hosted by Pink Stitches. The other day a lovely parcel arrived from the USA, and these are the gifts that my swap partner Brandi sent to me!

Too funny - you may remember the 'Spooky Pouch' I made for Brandi, using this tutorial that I pinned? Brandi saw on Pinterest that I had pinned that tutorial, so she made this pouch for me! Snap! How cute are the whales? She must have seen my love for whales after reading this post.

She also sent the cutest crocheted pumpkin pin cushion -

She is really great at crocheting and you can also find a really cute pattern for a kids pumpkin hat on her blog here. For Halloween, Brandi also sent some candy corn, which is very hard to buy here in Australia. It didn't last long enough to make it into the photos!

Last but not least she sent a gorgeous felt flower which I think I will attach to a headband for Anna, and some lovely fabric from her stash, a pink and green print which is very similar to a fabric I had pinned, and a cute cupcake print.

How lucky am I? You can see some more of Brandi's crafty creations at her blogs, JuBee's Craft Box and Crafty Girl Squared that she writes with her friend Meig. They also have an etsy shop where they sell some gorgeous stuff.

Thanks so much Brandi, it was really fun swapping and getting some lovely surprises in the mail!

Craft & Sewing Show Highlights

2011-10-28T10:00:00.000+11:00

Yesterday I had a great visit to the Mebourne Craft and Sewing show at Caulfield Racecourse. My parents in law came for a visit and babysat the girls, so I had a kid free morning - yay!

The show was incredibly busy and all the exhibitors had their work cut out keeping up with everyone shopping up a storm! I thought I'd share with you a few great things that caught my eye.

This burger looks pretty yummy huh? Love the details - the oozy cheese, the fries on the side. It is actually a cake! How awesome is it? This amongst some other gorgeous designs was displayed by the Cake Decorators Association of Victoria.

I enjoyed browsing the fat quarter baskets of Sew Materialistic:

She had a really beautiful range of fabrics including laminated cottons and some great patterns.

There was some beautiful quilts on display but these ones really caught my eye:

The Owl Parliament quilt was my favourite of the day, I love the black, red and white colour scheme and the entire design is just lovely. They are designed by Heather Buck from The Bay Window, where you can buy the pattern or the entire quilt kit. I also loved the Fishy Fishy quilt - sorry for the odd photo angle but I was trying to get as much detail of the quilt into the picture.

I had a great morning at the show so if you are free this weekend you should definitely check it out. I actually found it to be a good chance to pick up some of those little bits and pieces you forget about when you shop at your regular craft store - you should see the new fancy seam ripper I bought!!

You will find all the details on the show's website. Hope all you Melbournians have a great Cup Weekend!

The Postcard Pinafore

2011-10-27T07:00:00.000+11:00

So what do you do with those kitsch souvenir tea towels you found in your Nanna's cupboard? Make them into dresses of course!

You know when you have those ideas and you think 'this could be brilliant or it could be so horribly, horribly wrong!'? This was one of those for me, but I think it works and I hope you like it!

This is the final item in my series showing you all what I made for Brandi as part of our Fall/Halloween swap hosted by Pink Stitches - The Postcard Pinafore!

This one isn't really for Brandi though - this one was made for her gorgeous little girl Julie. You can see Brandi's blog post about our swap and pics of Julie wearing her dress here!

When Brandi and I first started exchanging emails, she admitted that she didn't know very much about Australia. So I thought I'd add a couple of little gifts that were very Aussie. I included some Australian chocolate bars that you can't buy in the US, and a cute calendar of Australian animals. I wanted to make something with an Australian theme too, but getting fabric with some kind of Aussie theme was hard. I was shopping in the kitchen aisle one day and saw some tea towels, and the light bulb came on - I'm sure I can get a tourist one with some animals or birds on it! So I did, and I bought it here.

This is kind of a tutorial, but I was working at night which doesn't lend itself to good photography, so it isn't as detailed as it could have been. However, here are the steps to make a lined Postcard Pinnie(size 2T).

You need:

-a souvenir tea towel (mine was 77cm x 47cm, 100% cotton)

-1/2 metre exterior back fabric (I used denim)

- 3/4 metre lining fabric (I used a thin soft poly cotton)

- 2 buttons

-sewing machine and basic sewing items

- pinafore pattern - I used New Look 6578:

Cut your pattern pieces - the beauty of pinafores is that they are simple - a front and a back piece. Cut your exteriors, front from the tea towel, then back from whatever you are using. Then cut your lining pieces.

If you want to make your dress bigger than a size 2T, you may have to add some fabric to the tea towel at the widest part of the skirt. The tea towel was only just big enough when I cut the size 2 pieces.

Pin your exterior pieces together at the side seams and sew (use the seam allowances instructed on the pattern) and then repeat for the lining pieces.

Turn your exterior dress right sides out.

Have the lining with right sides facing in. Slip the lining over the exterior dress so that all right sides are together.

Align side seams and pin the dresses together around the top of the dress.

Sew all the way around the top of the dress. Clip into curves and trim corners being careful not to cut your stitching. Turn the dress out the right way.

Press the top of the dress.

Topstitch around the top of the dress. I chose a bright pink which matched the colour of some of the flowers on the tea towel and it contrasted nicely against the denim.

Line up your buttons and mark where you want the button holes to go with tailors chalk or disappearing ink.

Use your button hole foot on your machine and make your button holes. (Confession - I always freak out when doing button holes. Don't know why, it usually works out well!)

OK, phew, scary part over. Now hem to the desired length and you are done!!

You can also use the same technique to make a reversible dress - just make your lining and exterior out of similar weighted fabric, pop buttons on both sides (so you'll need 4 buttons) and when you hem, fold both hems under, press together and topstitch.

Front

Back

Here is a close up of some of the details on my pinnie - cute mama and baby koala:

Some Australian native flowers:

What do you think? Success or too crazy? Would you make one? These tea towels would also make great tote bags I think!

If you make one I'd love it if you shared a picture over at my Flickr Group!

Linking up to Creative Spaces today and lots of other lovely link parties - check out my link party page.

The Autumn Bag

2011-10-23T22:00:00.000+11:00

I made three items for my swap partner Brandi for the Fall/Halloween themed swap organised by Bonnie at Pink Stitches.

You have already seen the cute Halloween purse, so here is the Fall themed item - I have called it The Autumn bag.

I found this beautiful fabric, Co Co Chi by Kokka. After a bit of a browse on the internet, it seems that this fabric is kind of hard to get, I found it here. The colours are perfect for the Fall theme and I love the small details - the rabbits, birds and deer in amongst the trees.

I made up the pattern myself using a lot of the elements and techniques I learned when I made my first bag, the Tohoku tote. The trim fabric was a red cotton I had left over from making a Super Mario Brothers costume for my sister to wear to a fancy dress party!

To finish it off, I added a large faux tortoiseshell button I had in my huge op shop button stash.

I was really happy with how it turned out, and my swap partner Brandi said she really loves it! I have a fair bit of the Kokka fabric left. Any suggestions what I should make with it?

Our Pumpkin Patch

2011-10-20T10:00:00.000+11:00

I recently participated in a swap hosted by Pink Stitches, which was in the theme of Fall and Halloween. Kinda silly for me - it's spring here in Australia and we don't really celebrate Halloween. But I was carried away with the excitement of a swap (it is my first time participating) plus I was feeling left out of all the amazing halloween and fall crafts that are dominating all the link parties lately. So here is my contribution, my Spooky Little Gift Pouch, which has just arrived to its new owner and my lovely swap partner, Brandi.

How cute is that fabric?? It's from the Boo To You! line from Riley Blake. I used this great tutorial but I made the dimensions smaller so it is more of a coin / card sized purse.

I'm sure some of you are thinking 'What!? No halloween?' Um no, not really. Some people here use it as excuse to have a party, you very occasionally get trick or treaters, but its rare. Lots of shops will use it as a reason to decorate or to sell more lollies, but that's about it.

So to compensate for my lack of Halloween content, I will share some of these very beloved photos which are related to the Fall / Halloween theme. These were taken in March 2010, and looking back on these I'm so shocked at how much my little girl has grown. (and even more shocked that I now actually have TWO little girls!!) March is Fall (or Autumn as we call it) here in Australia, and my husband who is a very keen vegetable gardener was harvesting all our pumpkins. With a couple of helpers!

These pumpkins are a popular Aussie variety called Queensland Blue.

Partners in crime... Anna and our beautiful dachshund Pharlap.

Hope everyone who celebrates Halloween has lots of scary fun! Become my newest follower or facebook 'liker' if you want to see the other items I sent Brandi for the Fall / Halloween swap!

You can find some lovely creativity here today, as well as at lots of other great link parties - check out my link party page.

The Craft & Sewing Show is coming!

2011-10-19T07:00:00.000+11:00

Hello Melburnian crafters! I am really excitedthat the Craft and Sewing Show is coming to town next week!

I'm planning a girl's day out with my friend Lyndelle from Little Olly. There are a few things I want to accomplish, and based on thegreat list of exhibitors it should be very easy!

I want to check out overlockers (sergers) - I'dlike to start including a neater more professional finish to the clothing Imake for my girls. Until now, the old zig-zag stitch has been enough, but so Ican drop some hints to Santa this Christmas, I need to do some research! Allthe various machine companies have an exhibit. Twice a day, Bernina is offeringa one hour course on overlocking for only $10 at their stand, and you get totake home the project you make, so I think I'll have to sign up!

Next, I plan to have a look for some good quality rubber stamps.Lately I've started making my own cards for birthdays, new babies and thankyous, and I would like to keep going and make a bunch of Christmas cards andgift tags.

Source: fab.com via Roslyn on Pinterest

Of course, as a fabric addict, I will bedigging through all the fat quarter baskets and browsing the bolts at all thestands selling fabrics!

Source: thehumblenest.com via Roslyn on Pinterest

I have been checking out the website and there seems are heaps of fabulous exhibitors and activities so I'm sure some serious impulse shopping will bein order too. The show is on at the Caulfield Racecourse from October 27-30. Don't forget to like them on Facebook so you can get updates on everything to do with theshow.

Crafters in other states - did you go this year? If you did, tell me what you liked best! Melbourne crafters - see you there!

That's very Pinteresting!

2011-10-17T07:49:00.001+11:00

Ahh Pinterest. Was there ever another time waster like it? Umm yes, Facebook actually. And reading blogs endlessly, and... yeah you get the picture.

Source: www-en-rhed-ando.blogspot.com via Roslyn on Pinterest

But Pinterest. So addictive! If you are a follower of mine you might have noticed I have been pinning a lot of humourous pictures lately. Reason - my sister Kirsten has joined Pinterest in the last week, and I have made it my mission to make her burst into uncontrollable laughter every morning at work.

We are both Harry Potter and Twilight nerds, so this has caused some fits of hysteria between us:

Source: tumblr.com via Roslyn on Pinterest

Then there is the ridiculously cute stuff like this baby hippo:

Source: thechive.com via Roslyn on Pinterest

But really - some of the crafts and sewing stuff you find on there are just beautiful and amazing.

Source: needleandspatula.com via Roslyn on Pinterest

Like this gorgeous purse tutorial - I made one as a gift for my swap partner (stay tuned for some posts about that!)

Source: etsy.com via Roslyn on Pinterest

And given that our dog Pharlap is a dachshund, I have some serious plans for a dress like this for Anna. Love it!

This post could go one forever about the cool stuff I've found. Cass over at Cass Can Sew made me laugh with this post earlier in the week.So if you want a good laugh or to see what other crafty things I've found, feel free to click on my pinterest button on my sidebar and have a look at my boards yourself, and follow me if you like!

Before I go, here is just one more for Kirsten:

Source: etsy.com via Roslyn on Pinterest

Lucy's Nursery Art

2011-10-12T13:45:00.002+11:00

Just before Lucy was born, Mum came down for a visit and brought a bag full of books and toys that were mine as a kid. Needless to say, some items had been very loved and had seen better days. Including this book:

Richard Scarry books were a big favourite of mine and my sister when we were little - such fun characters and books with so much detail you could pour over them for hours.

I didn't really want to pass this one on to Anna - she is not known for being gentle with books (yet) and this one already had a few pages that had detached from the spine.

I know many of you will have a sharp intake of breath when I say - I pulled the book completely apart - it was a delicate operation. I'm usually not a fan of deconstructing books for craft but this one was already falling apart. And now I get to see these lovely illustrations every day, hanging as wall art in Lucy's nursery.

I wanted something simple but pretty for her room, so I picked up some inexpensive white frames that fit the pages perfectly. Here are the close ups:

I love them all but the middle two are my favourite - I love the surprise of a letter or parcel arriving in the mail. I also love that the pictures connect something from my childhood to my girls in their childhood.

Linking up today over at Kootoyoo and some other great link parties, check out my link parties page!

Beautiful Butterfly Cake

2011-10-09T21:25:00.000+11:00

My close friend Rebecca's daughter Zoe turned four this week and she was very keen to have a butterfly cake for her fairy themed party. Apart from the butterfly shape, my brief was to keep the colours bright and girly, but the decorations were completely up to me. Love these kinds of projects! Here's how it came out:

And here is how I made it:

I used the cake recipe from this post for the cake, which is a simple vanilla cake. For an extra girly touch, I marbled pink through the cake. Once I mixed the batter, I took poured about a quarter of it into a seperate bowl and tinted it pink with food colouring.

I used the Wilton Butterfly tin I hired from my local cake decorating shop, greased it and filled it with the vanilla cake mix.

I spooned the pink mixture over the top -

Then used the back of a spoon to gently stir the pink mix through the vanilla mix to create the marble effect. Only stir gently though - you don't want the colours to mix too much or the marbling won't show once it is baked.

(Keeping it real shot there - see my little helper's hand there in the picture:) )

These types of cake tins are great - they are embossed so once the cake is baked and turned out, the cake has the pattern imprinted on it making decorating easy. Speaking of easy, I like to keep these types of projects quick and simple, and I have to really with a 2.5 year old and a 5 month old. So Betty Crocker ready made icing is my secret weapon!

Here is the work in progress - I tinted the icing yellow, purple and pink using gel food colourings. Gel colourings are much better than liquid, the colours are stronger and you don't need as much. For the decorating I spread the yellow around the edges with a thin metal spatula, used a piping bag with a no.3 tip for the outlining, and a no. 21 star tip for filling the wings with colour and creating the outline around the cake's base.

To embellish I used white heart shaped lollies (similar to runts) and mini m&ms.

The birthday girl was thrilled! And I was pretty pleased with how it came out too. :)

Baby Gift Zipper Pouch - Tutorial

2011-10-04T11:00:00.000+11:00

My lovely friend Vanessa got a big surprise when her baby boy decided to arrive quickly and unexpectedly last Wednesday night, four weeks early. Great news, but I was caught short without a gift - I thought I had a bit longer to prepare something! She has a 3 year old daughter, so I knew Vanessa had lots of pink and red accessories, but not much in blue. I wanted to make something, and I had a window of about two hours where I could whip something up before heading to the hospital for a visit. This is what I came up with:

I am not a big fan of the large nappy (diaper) bag, so I love a zipper pouch full of baby change gear that I can fit in my bag, throw in the car or stash in the pram. Here's how I made it:

Decide on what you want your pouch to hold. I wanted one that could hold some nappies (diapers), a packet of baby wipes, some plastic bags and some rash cream, or alternatively, a change of clothing and a bib for a baby or toddler. You will need a zipper (I used a 35cm / 14"), and two coordinating fabrics, one for the exterior and one for the lining. Cut 4 rectangles, 2 exterior, 2 lining. Mine were approximately 28cm / 12" wide and 25cm / 11" long, but you can cut them any size depending on the size you want your pouch.

Sandwich the zipper between one exterior piece and one lining piece which are right sides together, along the upper side of the zipper. Pin into place and sew.

Turn fabric out to wrong sides together and press.

Turn around so the other side of the zipper is now the upper side, and sandwich the zipper betweem the two remaining pieces of fabric right sides together. Pin in place and sew.

Open out and press. It should now look like this:

Lining


Exterior

*Critical Step - Make sure you open the zipper half way at this point. Don't forget or else later you will have to unpick all your hard work!

Flip your fabric so the exterior is right sides together and lining is right sides together. If you would like to add a ribbon or strip of fabric to create a wristlet, this is the point where you need to add that.

Lay it between the exterior fabric in the position where you would like it, with raw edges at the seams. Pin all edges, but leave a couple of inches gap in the lining. I turn my pins the opposite way to remind myself to leave a gap.

Sew all the way around, I like to reverse a couple of times over the zipper and ribbon wristlet to reinforce, but that's optional.

Before turning the pouch out, I like to box the corners because it creates a larger interior in the bag. This is optional, and will slightly alter the shape of the pouch, so if you prefer a rectangular pouch, perhaps skip this step.

Pinch the corners of your pouch so that the seams run down the centre of the triangles you form when you pinch. For this pouch I boxed all my corners 4cm in from the point.

Sew across and trim the corner off, like this:

Once you have done this for all corners including the lining, use the gap in the lining seam to turn your pouch out.

Pinch the gap in the lining and pin if you want to.

Stitch close to the edge to close the gap, then push the lining into the pouch.

You are now finished! For a cute baby gift, fill with bits and pieces a new mum might need on the run - some nappies, wipes and cream.

Or as an alternative, you could make your pouch out of a fabric you know your friend will like, and fill it with some lovely products to pamper a new mum!

If you make one I'd love to see it! Please share a picture over at my Flickr Group!

How d'ya like them apples?

2011-09-30T15:00:00.000+10:00

This week I participated in the Libby Top Sew Along over at Craftiness Is Not Optional. I have made a few things from this blog and I find the tutorials really easy to follow and great for a person who is fairly new to sewing (admission - I've only been sewing for about 6 months). So thank you to the creative and talented Jess, the creative force behind CINO!

So here it is - my version of the Libby Top.

I went for a pretty simple red polka dot fabric with white cotton for the bib, but to make it stand out a little, what better than a novelty button? Anna and I went shopping together, and she chose some green apples - I must say, an excellent choice.

A lot of skills in sewing are new to me so every project is a challenge. My biggest challenges here were:

1. Making the bias binding - I had great success (using this tute) and felt very smug about the whole thing! :)

2. Making a sleeve pattern - the sleeves came out a bit flared but I actually think it gives the shirt a bit of a retro shape, so a bit of a happy accident there. I definitely need more practice at sleeve making.

3. On the hanger it came together well but once Anna was wearing it a little gap in the bodice was obvious. If it was any bigger I'd unpick and resew it, but who can be bothered? It looks OK! And she loves it.

The modelling session didn't last long - there were much more interesting things to do -

Like making silly faces.

And running around the yard like a maniac. Good times!

Whale Watching

2011-09-27T12:30:00.000+10:00

I am loving whales as a motif at the moment. They are great for sewing for both girls and boys, they can be cute and cartoonish or grown up, and I have always loved a marine theme.

This is my favourite fabric at the moment - Whale Love by Dan Stiles. It is organic cotton, and as a result is pretty expensive so I am saving my pennies so I can afford a few metres of it and the other coordinating prints in the collection. Unless anyone wants to send some to me free of charge?...*crickets chirping*

Source: store-66711.mybigcommerce.com via Roslyn on Pinterest

I recently purchased the Heidi & Finn Urban Unisex Hoodie Pattern and found a cute whale print knit at my local fabric store. Great PDF pattern with tutorial and this was the result (my model insisted on eating lunch during the shoot!)

Another project was for Anna's friend Felix who celebrated his 3rd birthday recently. I made him some summer pyjamas from Whales in Bermuda fabric - love it!

What's your current favourite motif?

Mad Men in Melbourne

2011-09-25T10:12:00.000+10:00

The Peggy Skirt , inspired by the character Peggy from the show Mad Men, has been by far the most popular post on my blog so far and I have had such great feed back from many people - so thank you! I would like to give a special shout out to Sunny who sent me a brilliant email today with a picture of her two beautiful girls dressed up in their Peggy skirts on their way to church! So awesome, thanks Sunny! If anyone else has made a Peggy skirt I would love to see it! roslynruss{at}gmail{dot}com.

To get some more Swinging Sixties inspiration earlier in the week I went over to Chadstone Shopping Centre here in Melbourne which is currently hosting an exhibition of costumes from the hit show. Apparently it's a world first, so I thought I'd share it with you.

I know most people love Betty & Joan's outfits, but Peggy is still my favourite. I love the structure of the outfits she wears and I think if I lived and worked during the 60s, I would have worn similar things. These are the outfits on display for the character of Peggy:

Some of the photos didn't come out as well as I'd liked due to the protective perspex around the display, but I did my best! I love the orange and cream outfit, but I must say my overall Peggy favourite is this one:

Such a stunning design and great shape.The black and white check is great - perfect for Derby Day I think! (Derby Day here in Melbourne is a race day where the traditional fashion for ladies is black and white)

The character of Betty...hmmm. I certainly don't take mothering tips from her but gee she scrubs up well! Here is what was on display for her character:

Love them both. There was also a formal blue dress but I didn't get any pics of that. I remember the episode where she and Don went to Rome and she wore the black dress - the dress wasn't that amazing in real life but I remember she had an incredible hair do and it was very striking on TV.

Source: ofthefashionblog.blogspot.com via Roslyn on Pinterest

See what I mean by the hair?

And then we come to my husband's favourite - Joan. I expected her clothes to be bigger given that they style her to be very va-va-voom in the program, but no, she seems to be the pretty standard small Hollywood size.

Sorry for the bad photo of the pink outfit - I was trying to get the props behind it in the photo as well because I thought they looked pretty cool!

And finally one for the boys. My least favourite character - although I warmed to him a little in Season 4 - Pete. I have always detested his blue suits. But it wasn't so bad in real life!

So there you have it. If you are a fan of the show and this exhibition travels to a place near you, I recommend it! If not, I hope you have enjoyed this post while we all wait patiently for Season 5! Do you have a favourite character or outfit from Mad Men?

Animal Friends Hair Clips - Tutorial

2011-09-21T21:07:00.000+10:00

Here is some cuteness I thought I'd share. Anna is finally enjoying wearing hair clips so I made her some little animal friends to wear. She has hair that is in between - too short for a pony tail but too long around the face, so clips are perfect for her right now.

You will need:

Metal prong hair clips (I bought a box of 50 on ebay for a few dollars)

grosgrain ribbon (dollar store)

fabric glue

cigarette lighter / matches

felt scraps

craft googly eyes (dollar store)

scissors

scrap paper

pencil and thin tipped black marker

Using your hair clips as a size guide, sketch a couple of basic animal shapes on your scrap paper to use as templates. Once you are happy with them, cut them out. Google images of 'animal silhouettes' are handy if you are worried about your drawing skills!

Use your template and cut your basic animal shapes out of the felt.

Once you have cut your basic animal shapes, cut any additional pieces you need - eg. for the pig I cut a small circle for the snout, for the owl I cut some wings and a small triangle for a beak.

Glue extra felt pieces and googly eyes with fabric glue.

How cute are they looking? Use your black marker to add any further details - I gave the whale a smile and the pig a couple of nostrils on his snout.

Put your animals aside, and grab your hair clips and ribbon. To stop the ends of the ribbon from fraying, gently seal it with your cigarette lighter or a match.

Put a thin line of glue down the length of your ribbon (not too much - you don't want it too ooze out the edges) and glue the ribbon starting from the inside of the clip.

Glue your ribbon around the clip and finish on the inside of the other prong. It should look like this:

Once the glue on the hair clip is dry, attach your animals. You will have some very cute clips that look like this:

There are heaps of different animals you could make - birds, cats and fish were other ones I considered as they are relatively easy shapes. Whatever your little girl's favourite is! The ribbon covered clip is a great base for any kind of decorations, I also use buttons and little fabric yo-yos.

Place it in their hair and away you go!

If you make some I'd love to see them - please share a picture over at my Flickr Group!

My Tohoku Tote Bag

2011-09-18T17:15:00.000+10:00

When I saw the Create with Me project for September over at Ucreate my first reaction was 'yes please'! The project is the Tohoku Tote designed by Cheri from I am Momma-Hear Me Roar. She has a fantastic tutorial which is really easy to follow and here are the results:

My interfacing didn't behave during the ironing on phase so I have a few wrinkles, but they weren't that obvious so I continued on. My fabric choice was Amy Butler Daisy Chain Clematis in Grey. I used a coordinating solid that I picked up from my local fabric store for the bow, straps and lining.

I popped in a custom made pocket that fits my phone so I don't have to rummage around when it rings. I was worried about my bow making skills but it came out better than I expected!

Overall a great success and a pattern and tutorial I would highly recommend if you fancy a new bag!

Diamond Anniversary Cupcakes

2011-09-15T21:13:00.000+10:00

On this day 60 years ago, my grandparents Ewen & Betty were celebrated their wedding day. Today we celebrated their Diamond Wedding Anniversary with a party at their church hall with 60 friends and relatives.


Betty & Ewen 15th September 1951

We had a great day and I think Nan & Pa are exhausted tonight, but thrilled that they have been able to enjoy such a fantastic milestone.

Pa, Anna, Nan & Lucinda

For those of you familiar with my blog - yes that is the Back to the Future dress you can see being worn by Anna!

My contribution to the party was the cake, or should I say cakes - I made 60 cupcakes and one small cake to sit on top of the tower to be cut by the 'Bride & Groom'.

I went for simple vanilla cupcakes today. When catering for large numbers you need a recipe that is quick and easy so I use this one - just throw all the ingredients in your electric mixer and turn it on. Cake batter done.

Vanilla Cupcakes (makes 24)
250g (9oz) softened unsalted butter
2 cups caster sugar
4 eggs
1 cup milk
2 1/2 cups plain flour
5 tsp baking powder
2 tsp vanilla essence

Put all ingredents in your electric mixer and mix at a medium speed for 8 minutes or until thick and pale.

When dividing the batter into the cupcake tin, I find using a snap lock bag the simplest and quickest way. Here's how I do it:

Place a large snap lock bag in a tall cup or glass. Use you spatula and fill with cake mixture. Snip off one corner of the bag and use like a piping bag to fill each cupcake paper.

Bake the cakes at 180C (350F) for 15-20 minutes or golden brown and the cakes spring back when touched.

For today's cakes I went for a simple colour scheme of white and silver. I decorated the cupcakes in two ways. The first, I piped a simple swirl on top and decorated with small silver cachous and a fondant butterfly I made using a butterfly shaped punch. Here's how they came out:

Pretty huh?

The second one was the icing spread over the cupcake evenly, then edged with the silver cachous and finished with a topper made with some diamond patterned card punched using a craft punch.

They call came together on a pretty perspex stand that I hired from my local cake decorating store.

The top cake was a dense chocolate cake - a dense cake works better when using fondant (ready to roll) icing. I made a topper using Nan & Pa's wedding photo and edged the cake with the diamond print paper I found in the scrap booking section of my local craft store.

I called in a favour from the school I teach at (although I am currently on mat leave) and the textiles department kindly lent me a dress makers mannequin and we were able to display Nan's wedding dress - still in fantastic condition after 60 years.

Congratulations Nan & Pa, I hope you had a great day!

The Peggy Skirt - Tutorial

2011-09-09T21:45:00.000+10:00

We are currently working our way through Season 4 of Mad Men. One of my favourite things about the show is the fantastic costumes. The episode I watched the other night had Peggy wearing a striking blue dress with red pleats. This is the best picture I could find when I googled it.

Source: google.com.au via Roslyn on Pinterest

I loved it. Don't know why it struck me - maybe because I tend to prefer Joan and Betty's outfits over Peggy's, although Season 4 has seen some more sophistication in Peggy's wardrobe.

I had to give those pleats a go. Here is my version. Of course in miniature!

Pin It

You will need:

1/2 metre (yard) denim

40 cm (16") contrasting fabric (I used some quilting cotton - you only need a small amount)

thread/sewing machine

2 buttons

1cm wide (1/2") elastic

Want more sizes? Buy the PDF pattern for sizes 1-7! Want the fabric and notions too? Buy the DIY kit! You can purchase them HERE.

Denim is not mandatory, but I have found that a heavy duty fabric helps the pleats sit well.

For the front of the skirt:

3 denim pieces and 2 contrasting fabric pieces, 11.5cm wide, 38 cm long (4.5"x15")

For the back:

1 denim piece 38cm x 38cm (15" x 15")

Those measurements will make a skirt that is approximately a size 3. By adjusting the widths and lengths you can make it for any size. Just measure your child's (or your) waist, halve it, add an inch on either side for seam allowance, and that is the width of your back piece. For the front piece, you want the denim pieces to add up to make that measurement (eg. If its 18" you will cut 3 pieces of denim 6" wide each, and cut your 2 contrasting pieces the same.)

Pin together and sew the front skirt pieces together using a 1/4 cm seam allowance. The denim pieces should be the outside panels and the centre panel.

You will end up with a piece that looks like this:

I cut my seams with pinking shears to reduce fraying, then pressed the seams open.

Next, mark the centre point of your pleats.

Fold the denim either side so your pleat fabric is concealed inside the pleat. Pin the pleat into place.

Once you have pinned both pleats, it should look like this:

Machine baste across the top of your pleats to keep them in place.

Fold the top of the skirt over 1/2cm (1/4") and press. Fold over 2 1/2cm (1") and press. This creates a casing which will be decorative on the front of the skirt and will coordinate with the elastic casing on the back of the skirt.

Sew the casing and top stitch along the top of the skirt. It will look like this:

Put the front section aside, take the piece of denim for the back of the skirt, and create a casing for the elastic using the same measurements as for the front piece.

Stitch the casing in place then topstitch along the top of the back piece so it looks the same as the front.

Cut your elastic approximately 2/3 size of the width of the skirt (mine was 15" so I cut the elastic 10")

Thread the elastic through the casing and pin it into place at each end.

Pin the sides together and sew the side seams.

I don't have an overlocker (serger) so I finished them by using a zig zag stitch, but for you lucky ladies who have overlockers, that would be the ideal way to finish the seams.

Hem your skirt to the desired length, then hand sew your buttons onto the front of the skirt, over the top of your pleats.

You are done! Enjoy your gorgeous skirt. I think this would be a good style for ladies as well as kids - I will have to supersize it for me! The elasticated waist suits given it has only been a few months since I had my daughter!

I hope you find this easy and you give it a try! I only ask one thing - if you do make one please share a picture over at my Flickr Group - I would love to see your version!

Strawberries n Cream

2011-09-05T15:29:00.000+10:00

Matchy dresses for the girls! Found this sweet strawberry print fabric at my local fabric store and couldn't resist!

First for Anna - I used the pretty easy sundress tute from Craftiness is Not Optional and whipped up this cutie:

For Lucy I made a crossover pinafore from Smashed Peas and Carrots and even though it is way too big, I just had to put it on for a photo!

Cute girl!

Here is what the dress actually looks like:

The pinafore is reversible so I have a simple red with white polka dot on the reverse side.

Hope you like them as much as I do!