Another one!

Summertime!
But it seems that we had our "summer" in may already. It was cold and rainy lately but a few weeks ago we were able to go swimming and enjoy the sunny hot weather. It was then when I realised that I needed a light summer sleeping bag for Lucas. And as the pattern for the last one was nice and easy to sew I made another one.
And here it is (this time with an application):

Welcome the outdoor season!

The weather is getting better, sun is shining, birds are singing... you know what this means: It's picnic time! 

But as the ground is still cold and sometimes a little wet a picnic blanket would come in handy.

For this one ( aprox. 1,45m x 1,45m) I used oilcloth that I bought from IKEA (there are different colours) and a ready-made fleece blanket. If you want it to be extra cozy you can insert some batting. 

So it was a really unexpensive and fast project.

Enjoy springtime everybody!

Always nice: Endless loop scarves!

I wanted to sew a loop scarf for a while now, but I didn't find nice fabric to make one. 

Now I've found beautiful jersey fabric and made two of them. Both are really cozy but the brown geisha-scarf is a little wider and I guess it would be perfect for autumn while the blue-yellow one is a good spring or summer scarf. But I'll need a lighter one for the summer, too. 

I'll keep an eye out for some nice fabric and show it to you when it's ready.

(You can find a tutorial on Happy Serendipity for example.)

Little spring project

Hey there again!

I guess with all the sunshine-outdoor-activities in the last weeks I kind of lost sight of the blog. But at least there was some crafting lately!
I've made a little baby beanie hat and a matching scarf. This is a very satisfying project by the way. It is quick and practical.

 

The scarf is a simple triangle-scarf with a zig-zag-seam all around. No secrets :-)

And the beanie consists of two parts: 

 

You can copy the pattern from a beanie hat that fits the baby right now:

I usually fold the paper and cut it out to get a symmetrical pattern:

Then I sewed the parts together. I had to use the strech-zig-zag-stich because I dont't have another one. You can use the simple strech stich, of course. It is even better because the seam won't crimp.

Now you fix the second part:

Ok, and then you only need to sew the brim on by using a blind stich. (On the right side, of course) 

And because I liked the first one I made a second one. But this time more colourful.

That's it... Easy as I promised. Give it a try!

Appliqué!

Sometimes I'm really bored with all those clothes that look the same. But to find something original you have to search intensely or spend a lot of money. Unless you make your clothes unique by appliqué!

I bought some unexpensive basic shirts, digged up some fabric remnants and started to applique. I don't know if I told you earlier that there is an adhesive film called "Vliesofix"  (at least in Germany) which helps you to fix the fabric on the shirts before you start with the zig-zag seam. I really recommend to use it as it makes appliqué so much easier. Otherwise the fabric is constantly moving or crimpling. 

I used cotton shirts and for the applications cotton fabric or nicky/velour. (Everything prewashed, of course.) 

For the motives just let your imagination run wild. (But consider that many details will take time!)

These are mine (click to enlarge):

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cock-a-doodle-doo! First kid's costume!

On monday I had a little rooster at home :-)
Long before I was pregnant I had seen a picture taken by Julie Rivera and absolutely fell in love with it. It showed a baby all dressed up like a chick. And it was so cute that I printed it out and filed it until I would have a baby myself. And now finally the day arrived.
Last monday we celebrated "Rosenmontag" - this celebration is similar to Mardi Gras. There are big parades and everyone is dressed up - at least in the catholic regions of Germany.
Well, this was my chance to convert little Lucas into a cute little chicken. I asked good old Martha Stewart for some advice and started crafting:

First I bought a big shirt and cut it into a onesie shape. (I zigzaged the cutting edges). And then I dyed it because there were only white shirts on the shop but I needed a yellow one. Therefore I used onion peels which worked quite well.

I also dyed pants and socks:

Then I started to prepare the chicken feet out of rubber gloves. I turned them inside out, sewed a zigzag seem between the ring finger and the little finger and cut the little finger off. Then I slit the back of the hand and made a zigzag seam on the edges of the slit to strengthen them. After this I turned it on the right side I stiffed the gloves with some batting.

I thought that Lucas would be cold without a scarf, so I cut one out of a yellow fleece blanquet which was cheaper then buying fleece on a fabric shop:

But as you will see on the fotos beneath I decided later, that the scarf should be red to complement the costume even better. So I've ruined another blanket for this:

And then I made this little hat. Again I used the yellow blanket and an (unused) microfibre cleaning cloth:

This is the pattern of the hat, which I copied from one of Lucas' hats. I sewed the whole hat letting a slit open from the front to the back, were I inserted the cockscomb (which really was a freestyle object - just try it yourself).

And here's the main part: At first I fixed two feather boas with safety pins on the shirt. Later I sewed them on by hand (every 10 or 15cm a stich).

Do you fancy a look on my little chicken now?

*cheep*

(Besides, he is laughing not crying. :-) It's incredible how difficultit it is to read faces if you 
can't see someone's eyes!) 

Warm and cozy - my first handmade sleeping bag

Finally I find some time to show you my latest project. Lucas ran out of sleeping bags and so I've decided to sew one. It was not really cheaper then buying one though - only the fabric cost almost 40 € - but I wanted a soft baby towelling and a nice cotton fabric for it. And I believe it was really worth it. The sleeping bag is soft and cuddly, just like I wanted it to be.

Now, here are the pictures. As you will see the zipper doesn't match perfectly, but it was a really great bargain ;-)

Oh yes... I forgot to tell you how I made it.
I really have to begin to make tutorial fotos... but, you know, when I'm in the creative process I am really chaotic and uncoordinated, yes sometimes totally illogical and messy... Nothing I'm proud of and I would like to document. :-) And to be honest showing you a perfect (although artificial) work in progress would prolong the project so much and I'm so impatient while crafting :-).

But here's how I made it:
I laid one of Lucas' sleepingbags on paper and copied the form to get a pattern. After cutting out the four parts (two for the inside, two for the outside) I sewed two separate sleeping bags and put the red  one into the blue one (left side on left side). Then I sewed both bags together on the arms and shoulders (yes, the seem is visible and ugly up to this point).
After that I inserted the zipper in between the red and the blue fabric. Finally I finished the edges on the shoulder and axle with bias tape (now its nice) and pinned the press buttons on. It was a real fast and satisfying project. I'm sure it wasn't the last sleeping bag I made. So... try it yourself if you like ;-)