12yr old designs-his-own!

So i have a 12 yr old nephew who loves punky clothes and rock music. He put both of these interests together recently and designed a jacket that he asked me to make. Here is the pattern that his sister (who loves drawing manga and comics) drew out for me to follow...
The only executive change i made to the design was to veto the skull on the centre chest....his parents aren't keen on having their kids dressed too goth-y. But the initials are there and so are the studded flames!!
The studs on the shoulders and wrists, and the metallica patches on each arm i just made myself using the image found on google and just piecing and sewing the letters on.
Not content with only one rock band name-checked...he also wanted gunsNroses on the back. The easiest way to get this was to buy a tshirt and cannibalise it....so i did!
Interestingly, he wanted metallica written as mirror image on the right arm...original right??
I can't wait to see how he likes the final version of his design!!

spikey rubber stamp

ooops! i had totally forgotten about stamping my napkins and so when i remembered on christmas eve night, i realised that i had no new stamps to use. So i packed some supplies and spent 5mins or so at poog's christmas party sitting in the corner carving out these stamps.
Great..i love rubber stamps they are so quick and forgiving!!

shuttered view

[sorry about the dodgy photos in this post..the light was very poor!!]
so superD made another of his shuttered frames for a gift for a family member in italy....this time it was tiny!! The whole frame was about 6-7" wide.
This time we choose a different view...somewhere a little closer to home..
yep...whitehead from the headland in springtime.
He made all the cutesy little details for the shutters so that they can close and lock and everything...cool!!
so now they can look out the window and see where we are!!

fishtail frills

so lil'pill wanted a skirt, which was great...but she asked for fish-tail....um....ok....yikes, how do i do that?? Well after a long time spent darting, draping and gathering ruffles, i finally settled for this. Please excuse the picture, as usual, i didn't iron it before photoing and the seams are a bit puckered looking!! naughty naughty!
She's also not such a big fan of highband waistlines so i halfed my usual height of waist piece to bring it down to her typical style. I made it to fit me tightly, but i've heard a rumour that she reckons it's too tight for decency...uh-oh, time for some amendments to make it fit the customer's preferences

alice in giftcard wonderland

So when superD said he was getting me a useful present and then handed me this box...i was a little confused. It looks like something that Alice would have found in the Queen of Heart's palace...
...and then when she opened it there would be a bottle with "drink me" written on it....
instead when i opened it, there were 3 fat giftcards for material and craft shops with "spend me" written all over them!!!! lol
I can't wait to do just that!! I think i'll have to use the box for some mad craft supplies that i purchase with my new-found wealth!!! yippeee!!

neeeeigh!! lol

I couldn't resist customising a t-shirt for superD this christmas!

I copied the font from the free website dafont, and just got the ferrari horse image from google. I used waxed freezer paper to make a stencil and then sponged with white fabric paint. Iron to cure the ink and you've got a permanent stencil!
He looks so good in it..yay!!

mamma's jj

So another thing my mum asked for was a blouse (she's a big blouse fan...not a big blouse fan...but like a big fan of blouses....i'm going to get myself in trouble here! lol)

She never wears black so i thought for a wee change i'd make her a black JJ blouse (free pattern found here). This material was perfect because it is covered in little white polkadots and has the lovely white embroidery over it so it doesn't look so severe.
The material was quite light and had quite a bit of give in it so it made the little cap sleeves a bit awkward to get right. In the end i got them to be the same (even though the pic below looks a bit funny....Note to self - iron them properly before taking photos!
The back is gathered with ties from the side seams just to give it a bit more detail and flexible shape around the waist.

tidy tablets

So my mamma asked me for a solution to the messy pile of tablets that she and dad keep on the windowsill...some way of keeping them neat and separating them so they know whose is whose!!
This was just a simple partitioned box with a stiff carboard frame inside and coordinated for flowery section for mamma and blue gingham for uber-macho-dad (lol!)

tiny table trees

I was again looking for place markers that would be festive and having done trees before in 2008 that were made of paper...i decided this time to go for the real thing! These were "harvested" (read: "pinched") from a tree in the centre of our village and poked into corks.
I gave the needles a little trim around the top so that they had a more tree-like shape and would look less like bottle brushes. Little stars with names were added and they were planted on the table at each setting.

suzi's secret weapon

So for the poog i made a festive petticoat for all those fabulous adventures that she goes on. Again the tutorial from Sugardale was used.
I haven't yet made her a skirt/dress to go over the petticoat, but in the meantime i suggest she wears it with my gorgeous christmas tree necklace...that'd create quite an impact i think!!! lol!

Giant Christmas Card

So i was asked to make the Christmas Card for our church...yep just one card for the whole church...which means it needs to be BIG!! I had to make it on A1 card!!!

I thought layering paper would be the best look, rather than to try and paint directly onto the card. The design was copied from a card i saw online that i thought would suit layering. I just drew all the pieces free-hand and layered lots of different colours and types of paper. The star and the sand are super-glittery, unfortunately the light in the photo isn't great for showing them up.
Inside i put a verse from Luke 2, but left lots of space for people to sign their names! It means that all the church members don't need to buy each other christmas cards!
It's hard to know what size it is so i've stuck my foot (complete with snow-boot!) inside this photo to give you a bit of perspective!!
cool huh?

Gingerbread Coffee Date

I’d wear this dress all the time if i lived in a gingerbread house. It’s the fabulous Coffee Date Dress pattern from Burdastyle site amended a bit.

I cut the back very low, so that the zip ends at the waistline and made new facings for the back so that the sides would sit nice and stiff.

I made the skirt much fuller at the bottom but kept the waistline the same so there would be no need to gather. This looks good but you need to be very careful in cutting out the waistline that you cut an even curve…I could’ve done it better, so i think the fullness doesn’t hang perfectly equal ..if that makes sense. I also didn’t cut the length quite equally so added a band of piping and material round the bottom, which i think adds something…i love that about mistakes, they force you to be a bit more creative!

Right i'm away to bake cookies or hang out some more candy canes or do something else gingerbread-housey!

Santa's little helper

I'm not sure what this dolly peg was going to be...i was just going with my instincts (hence she is head to toe rainbow!) But once i made the little hat for her...
i knew she had to be an elf!! I'm going to set her out beside my mini reindeer like a little shepherdess kindof thing....or maybe put her on the tree...o i've just given myself an idea for another dolly-peg...an angel....and i need something for the top of my tree!!! perfect!

Just loving the jenny!

Decorator weight fabric from ikea and the Burdastyle skirt pattern Jenny are a beautiful combination. Quick, comfortable and easy to sew...
...and nice and stiff so there's no need to suck in!! I could go on forever with these!!

Give thanks for eco-bags

I had to take a craft class themed for "Thanksgiving". I think the reason most people don't do craft is because they think it's about making useless stuff that you then have to find a place to store...so when choosing what to make for this group (who are not very into crafting!) i had to go with something useful!!

I decided on reuseable eco bags...you know the ones that you can bring to the shops and use instead of plastic bags. I wanted the girls to design freezer-paper stencils for their bags and then sponge some nice autumny colours onto them.
I made a massive pile of blank bags from some curtain lining fabric that i bought, and printed out some example motifs and text that they might want to use.
I was so pleased with the brilliant results...theirs were much better than mine!!.

Autumn leaf kimono

So this is another Burdastyle free pattern creation...this time the Naomi kimono jacket. I don't know why i really wanted to make this so much....it's not something i would usually wear, but i really wanted to do it!
I love the cool pockets which extend all the way round...so useful!
And while it supposed to be a bit billow-y, the side straps allow you to pull it in a bit so you don't look massive!
It was a bit of a jigsaw to put it together...there are a million little pieces and it's hard to see what is going on until the end...then you're kindof like..."o it goes that way - I get it!" Don't know if i'd make it again..i prefer stretchy clothes, but i don't think that would sit right in a knit...plus it uses almost 3 metres of fabric....another reason why i chose a cheap ikea curtain material!!!...can you tell??

la bella coppia

Haha i just had to! Don't they make a beautiful couple?! The wedding dress has a sweetheart neckline and a halter back with a deep "V". She is also wearing jewelled stockings!!! This is just because i wish i had worn them!The groom's hat is a bit fluffy...i might need to give it a haircut. Do you like the bride's bun? I also cut out one of the flowers from the lace to go in her hair.
And a gust of wind arrives just in time to lift the veil so you can see the little bow at the back of her wedding dress.
Congratulations peg-people...a mini-peg to come??!!

Sophisticated Baby!

Firstly...there is no deep meaning in the fact that i'm knitting baby clothes...i just like knitting but get bored of it too easily to make something big enough for me to wear. This is the Baby Sophisticate cardigan by Linden Heflin. See the pattern here. It really is a joy to knit...super-quick and very easy!
I feel like having a go in a reindeer / snowflake pattern..hmm

Clodagh Clothespeg

I wanted to do a nationality clothespeg dolly so this is my attempt at a traditional irish dancer outfit. It's hard to see in the picture but there is a kindof-apron piece at the front of the skirt and of course the lace underskirt. To make this perfectly realistic she really should have tight ringlets instead of straight hair...i tried and it wasn't happening!!
Embroidery thread is a pain to work with!!...but dolly-pegs are super-fun!!

mini bloomers! LOL

there was like a 5 minute delay between me finding the free pattern for the madeleine mini bloomers on colette patterns and me beginning to make them...and that time was spent waiting for the printer to finish printing the pattern pieces....they are hilariously cute!!
As the nights get colder, and the heating goes on, as well as the extra-puffy duvet cover that we use in winter...i have to wear light pjs or would risk boiling alive in my sleep. I think i need to make a large quantity of assorted mini-bloomers for night-time wear!!