Little Bento Project Bags :: How to ::

Back in the spring my sewing machine and I reacquainted ourselves and it was oh so good. I had grand plans of making myself a whole summer wardrobe, not to mention all manner of baby attire for Miss Effie. However, work and life, as is often the case, soon had other ideas and my sewing machine has been sat in the corner of my dining room gathering dust ever since then.

One of the things I managed to sew back in April was a really simple folded bag, which I love so much it has become my daily use bag. This bag is so easy to make, it takes so little time, but is so versatile and I love it so much.

As this years Knit Girllls, Stash Dash is currently in full swing, I've been pulling unfinished knitting and crochet projects out from all over the house and what I really needed were a couple of these bags in a slightly smaller incarnation. So, I dusted off the sewing machine and the iron (it's only outing is generally for sewing or weddings) and quickly stitched up just that.

Hillary's sent me some of their gorgeous daisy pistachio fabric to take part in their crafting competition, so I decided this would perfect for these little bags.

These are great little project bags for small knitting projects. Perfect for baby sized items or socks for instance. The handles on the top are knotted together to seal, so need to worry about zips getting too close to your precious knitting either. Read on if you fancy making some of your own.

Sewing :: Springtime Clothes for Effie ::

My iron has been in overdrive in the last few weeks. Anyone who knows me well will probably be surprised to discover I even own an iron. I do but it only comes out for 2 reasons, weddings and sewing. There has not been any wedding going to yet this year, but there has been a lot of sewing.

I purchased the lovely Simple Modern Sewing with a book voucher I received for Christmas, way back in January and have since been meaning to make some clothing for myself, so when Bex took up sewing clothing with a passion recently, I was inspired to join her. We took a trip to our crazy good, yet crazy full fabric shop and I purchased a couple of metres of cotton/linen blend in beige, for some skirt making for myself (more on that soon). With the fabric I had left over from that project, I decided to make a little romper with matching sunhat for miss Effie to wear on Easter Sunday.

I purchased this romper pattern from Puperita on etsy last year. I've made a couple of rompers for Effie with it, which I loved, though are sadly now too small and possibly slightly out of season. So I set about cutting out the patten pieces for the next size up on the Thursday night. I swear sewing is much more cutting than it ever is sewing. The bonnet is a free download available on the Purl Bee website. Which I also cut the pattern pieces for on the Thursday evening.

On Good Friday I picked out my fabric and got to cutting that out. I spent most of the day dipping in and out of sewing, when nap time allowed, or when Johnny was on hand to take care of the little ones. By the evening I had completed the whole ensemble. For someone who does not have a huge amount of sewing experience, I was pretty impressed with this.

For the bonnet I used some floral print fabric I had left over from a fat quarter I've had for years and years and some plain blue quilting fabric, I also already had to hand. For the romper, as I said, I used cotton/linen blend for the main body, for the pocket I used the same floral fabric as the bonnet, ideally I wanted to use the plain blue for the inside of the pocket and the lining of the bodice, but unfortunately I didn't have enough, so I used some more floral fabric I had in my stash. As you can't really see these bits I don't think it really matters and my main goal was to just use what I had on hand, but next time I'll try to get everything to match up a bit better I think.

Over all I'm massively impressed with myself and really pleased with the results. Both patterns were really easy to follow and included lots of pictures and instructions. The most difficult part was piecing together all the paper pattern pieces for the romper once I'd printed them off, as it wasn't always completely clear which piece needed sticking together where, but I got there in the end.

Details ::
Romper Pattern :: from Puperita here
Bonnet Pattern :: from Purl Bee here
Fabric :: various pieces I already had in my stash
Poppers :: KAM snaps from Plush Addict here

D ::

I did it!  I stitched together my first garment from a pattern and in Japanese at that.

I am so proud of myself, I mean the shirt itself is no where near perfect, but it is wearable, just about!

I decided that I should start with something reasonably simple looking and that wouldn't require too much fabric and I only used an old sheet.  That way if it did go terribly wrong I wouldn't have ruined some beautiful, expensive fabric.

I am so glad now that I decided to just get stuck in and have a go, because I learnt so so much by actually doing it and it wasn't until I started putting all those techniques in to practice that they started to make much more sense, some a little too late for this garment unfortunately, but that is of course what practice runs are for!

I really struggled a lot with the binding on the neck and the sleeves, it just didn't seem possible!  I actually ended up making some larger binding for the neck piece and handstitching the sleeves.  I'm not sure how to prevent this from being such a disaster next time, but I'm sure with a little more book reading and internet searching I'll get there.

I also didn't even consider raw edges until I'd finished!  For this garment it's not the end of the world, but next time I will definitely consider how to finish the edges.

I used Built by Wendy's sew u book for a lot of the technical stuff, I've had this book for ages and ages, but I've hardly even flicked through it before (I think I may have read a bad review of it just after purchase and it just got neglected after that) however it was actually really really helpful and I had it next to my sewing machine for constant reference throughout.

So next up....a dress!  Well maybe anyway.  I really want to make a dress to wear for my cousins wedding in April, but I'm not entirely sure I'm brave enough to make that big step of cutting up beautiful, carefully purchased fabric just yet!  Maybe another practice run first would be best.

• pattern D from stylish dress book 1 available here


• burdastyle notes here

japanese pattern book sew along ::

I received an email from Kate at M is for make this morning, inviting me to take part in this...

As I am a complete novice, I'm thinking this will probably be a fantastic opportunity to get a bit of help from some more experienced sewers along the way!  Plus it may give the boost I need to get that sewing machine off for the service it so desperately needs before any dress sewing takes place!

Now to decide which dress to make and the task I'm most looking forward to, choosing some fabric!

stylish dress book ::

this arrived in the post for me yesterday.  I'm hoping to make myself a dress to wear to my cousins wedding in April.  Inspired by this lady's beautiful creations, I feel in love with this book.

It's truly beautiful and I can't wait to get started, however I can't help but feel I was perhaps a little too ambitious, seeing as I have never made a dress before and can't read japanese!

Before I even start to think about fabrics I really really must get my sewing machine serviced, but I have been adding some inspiration for the dress to a pinterest board here.

my boy the chef ::

one of Milo's main christmas gifts was a little kitchen unit.  It's super special because it was handmade by one of our friends for his son and it's perfect for my boy who loves to help in the kitchen.

To accompany the kitchen we got Milo some of these lovely wooden slicing fruits and just 2 days before christmas I decided to stitch him up an apron, hat and oven mitt!

I used (though really I should say that I glanced at for inspiration) these patterns for the hat and the apron.  I really must reiterate that I didn't actually use this pattern, if I had I'm sure it would have turned out a whole lot better, the hat at least I'm sure, I only used it for inspiration.  I wouldn't want you thinking badly of the pattern, because of my bad workmanship!

The oven mitt I made all from my head!  I might try and post a small tutorial here at some point in the future if I make any more.

Most of the fabric I already had stashed away, the lovely kawaii fabric came from mine and my Mum's etsy shop, and the blue ribbon actually came from my step brothers wedding cake.  I suddenly realised this in the midst of stitching it in to the apron!

I wasn't sure at first whether he would actually like dressing up in these bits, but I'm pleased to say he loves it!  Watching put his little had in the mitt, declare 'hot' and then open his play oven, makes my heart swell!

hello ::

welcome to my little (new) creative space.  I have been blogging in various places for a few years now, but I wanted to set up a new place to write about and share my knitting, crochet and sewing adventures. 

You can mostly find me over here.  I've been making beads, buttons and ninjas from polymer clay for about 3 years now and selling them over on etsy, but I have been knitting and crocheting for a whole lot longer than that.  As the ninjas started to become my business and main source of income, my knitting and crochet and stitching became more and more part of my leisure time, with the birth of my little boy 2 years ago in April I was drawn further in to knitting.  Having the ability to produce soft warm garments to cover that little body is a fabulous feeling!

I set up a shop to sell some of these creations almost two years ago now, though I've never really dedicated much time to it.  I feel that with the dawning of this new year it's time to put a bit more in to it all, I don't want to consider it a business as such because I fear I will begin to lose my passion for all that stitching if it started to become a necessity rather than a pleasure, but I would like to spend more of my time, developing my skills, sharing my patterns and if I can make a little pocket money for more yarn in the process then that will be a wonderful bonus!

Welcome! I hope this will be the start of a fabulous creative adventure!

Crafting 21/365...

...slowly developing little houses embroidery...

I have to admit I've completely lost track of where I am with crafting 365 now! I've still got a few days to put up a few things to photograph...but I've also lost ALOT of days!!

Crafting 7/365...

...little houses embroidery....

...again, and I've been rubbish and missed 2 days or 3?!! Not a great start but I will get better I promise. x

Crafting 6/365

...little houses embroidery...

I imagine this will probably appear quite a few times before it is complete! But it's a perfect craft to pick up a put down as and when the little one decides he needs me!

A quilt for my niece (part 2)

So here are some pictures of that quilt I need to magically finish by Friday (I'm pretty sure, if not certain, that that is not going to happen now!).


I do like the fabrics and the log cabin design I went for but am wondering if it isn't just a little bit too girly!

Delicious Fabrics...

OK so I am fully aware of the fact that I am struggling to find to time in amongst looking after Milo to do pretty much anything at all, let alone anything crafty, but that didn't stop me recently acquiring these lovely fabrics...

I just can't stop looking at this delicious jelly roll from moda and hoping that soon I will be able to transform it in to a beautiful quilt for Milo. OK so there may be a little pink in there but I'm sure Milo won't mind.

and this lovely piece of fabric depicting lovely scenes from what I imagine to be children's stories. Again another quilt for Milo I think, I plan to cut out the pictures and then piece them together again with some different coloured edgings, but not sure just yet as really don't want to waste those lovely strips of measuring tape. I'm sure I'll have plenty of time to think about it mind, as I doubt either quilt will be made for a very long time. I'm still working on the one I started for my niece's birthday which is less than a week away now! Hmmm maybe it can be a christmas gift instead!

xx

Lilley Stitches...

Sorry I have been such an absent blogger of late, I do intend to be better, promise.

I've just popped in to let you know, I have finally set up my new shop!

xxx

A quilt for my niece...

A couple of years ago now I made a little quilt for my youngest nieces 1st birthday, she's far too big for it now, but apparently uses it for her dolls (one of whom she's recently renamed Milo in honor of her new baby cousin!), anyway, it's my eldest niece's 7th birthday coming up so thought I'd make her a quilt for that occasion.
I'm not entirely sure that little girls really appreciate quilts as gifts but I know she proudly shows off any handmade gifts I have given her in the past. Also being the mother of a newborn allows me little spare time so perhaps it is a little ambitious a project right now, but it's what I decided I wanted to do!! I bought myself a rotary blade and a quilters ruler yesterday as I am so so rubbish at cutting in a straight line, I've picked out the fabric and I've even cut it into strips (I'm going to do log cabin stylie I thinks)...now I just need to set up my sewing machine and find time in between nappy changes and feeding to actually do some sewing!
The kari-me sling I purchased weeks and weeks ago, finally arrived today...so at least I now have hands! Milo loves it...he's currently laying fast asleep inside it, he's the most contented he's been in days!

I know I said I wasn't going to go all baby like on this blog but I can't help but share a the first picture I've managed to get of him smiling!

A mobile for Milo...

Milo has really begun to focus on objects the last week or so...he's so inquisitive, his favourite place to stare is most definitely any one of our many book cases. However, although he will happily lay there chatting away to himself, I was concerned that he had nothing particularly interesting to stare at (except of course the ceiling) when he's lying in his moses basket.

We never really got particularly prepared for his arrival in the sense of creating a nursery for him and never purchased a mobile, so there was only one thing for it, to make one of course.

It is incredibly simple, but then is was quite hastily made in snatched moments here and there! It was also very difficult to photograph, unfortunately you can see our terribly messy house in the background, but I did just have a baby (which is of course my excuse for everything at the moment!). Having said that he is in fact 6 weeks old today! It's gone so quickly and yet feels like forever! He sits on my lap as I type, looking up at me with bright eyes and smiles...bliss!

Little Blue Houses by the Sea

Just a quick hello today to share with you my latest embroidery hoop...

Little Blue Houses by the Sea

I sketched out the idea whilst waiting for Johnny at the dentists and stitched it up yesterday.

I spent most of my teenage years by the sea, and since all of my grown-up life has been lived so far away from it I miss it terribly.

Happy Friday!!! The weekend is here!!!

Getting Ready...

Here are some shots of my preparations for my new shop...

And some more shots of my finished Little Multi-Coloured Houses embroidery hoop....

I've backed the hoop with some little houses fabric I've had forever in fear of using it because I love it so much!!

That's all for today...I must return to washing all the many many baby things I have been given...not quite sure how many sheets a baby needs...but I'm pretty sure I now most certainly have enough!! I've also been awake most of the night, the baby has taken to head butting me in the ribs, which wakes me up in quite a panic, so hopefully I'll be able to get a little more sleep before attempting any crafting today!

xx

Lilley Stitches....

Hello...
I just wanted to quickly share with you some stitching I did for the banner and avatar for my new shop.

I'm off into the lovely sunshine to make my way to the hospital for my last scan....that means the last time I see the baby until he is really here in the flesh!!

xx

A New Rug...

I'm a very very very happy girl indeed as yesterday my lovely man bought for me this lovely rug...
It came from Habitat and I had lusted over it for quite some time, well since I was promised a new rug for our lounge at christmas time. I couldn't decide on it for a while because it was little on the expensive side, but after too many evenings of lying on the cold floorboards in an attempt to get comfortable we finally decided to get it. Johnny even had to carry it the whole way home for me!

Here is a picture of it in situ, although the light in our lounge really is terrible...

And to prove that I didn't spend all day admiring my new rug here are some pictures of the little embroidery sampler you can see down there...

I've just been playing around with different types of stitches, as all I ever seem to do it the regular old back stitch, and as I have a whole book full of different types I thought I'd give it a go.

Happy Weekend xxx