ruby "button" slippers

So for Poog's impending bambino/a, i made a cute little pair of strappy slippers at her request. The pattern was extremely easy to follow and is available as a free ravelry download here. If only shoes were so quick and easy to make in larger sizes.....
Well for reasons related to the theme of this post i'm going to be taking a little blog-holiday for the month of August. Due to various health-related issues I won't have any opportunity for crafting or posting this coming month so i'm allowing myself the luxury of a month off. It also allows me to redress the balance of 10 posts per month since I posted 20 posts in March 2009 and the uneven numbers have been annoying me ever since (yeah i know i'm a little weird and obviously have nothing more important to be annoyed about!! - but i hate uneven numbers!!)

So i'll see you in September! xxx

july jumpsuit

So i saw this really cool variegated (is that the word i want??) material that had lots of different patterns in the one fabric - i thought it would be great for a simple summer dress, but then i saw this pattern for a little jumpsuit in the July Burdastyle and decided i'd have a go at that.

image: Burdastyle 07/2011

So this is the final result.

It was great having all the different patterns, it gave it a lot more detail with no work.
The little shorts are edged in self-fabric binding and it has two deep pockets too.
It's a rainy day today so i didn't fancy modelling it, so you'll have to make do with it on Sam, who is a little different on the measurements front to me...hence it pulls a little strangely round the bust...that mannequin has got to be at least 40-42" inch chest!!!
And she's got no bum whatsoever!!! I did say we were pretty different!!!

raspberry madeleines

So i needed another set of pjs for my holidays. It was just a matter of deciding what went with Buttercup Sorbetto....Raspberry Madeleines of course!

These are made again with the free Colette patterns the Sorbetto top and the Madeleine mini bloomers. piece of useless trivia: the flowery fabric for the bloomers came all the way from Sri Lanka thanks to fabulous Amanda - it's perfect for pjs, it is so light and breathable!

in-thread-ible!

So superD had promised me a super-useful birthday pressie and finally got the time to make it for me, just a couple of months late! He made me a thread tidy for all the piles of spools of thread that litter my sewing room!! Never again will i be delayed hunting through all my sewing boxes looking for that particular colour...
It has classic superD touches in the swirly design! lol!
And all the edges are scalloped on the little shelf.
The shelf at the bottom is the perfect size for me to line up my bias binding and ribbon rolls.
And here's a particularly blurry picture of it in action! Sorry there wasn't much natural light happening this morning.
I started by themeing the colours, but i gave up after a while - i'm never going to keep them in order - who am i kidding???
ooooh it looks so great i absolutely love it!!! Thanks D!! Ti amo un casino!!

Tattoo bikini top

So this bikini top pattern was in Burdastyle June 2011, it was supposed to be inspired by Brigitte Bardot, which i don't really get, but i liked it enough to have a go anyway.
It's gathered so you don't need to use stretch material which i thought was a cute idea. I didn't make the bottoms because to me they looked a little like giant nappy-pants if you know what i mean.
And since i used a light fabric i lined it with a red cotton shirting for a bit of body. Can't wait to try this one out!!

Not quite venus

So i decided to make one of those duct tape bust things - to see if i could drape patterns on it. Didn't quite work out as planned. I forgot to wear supportive underwear up top and therefore when superD was winding the tape - my chest was kindof squashed flat as a pancake - not a great start! I also am not overly happy with the bunchy abdomen area - do i really look like that?? But, it gets worse...

check her out from the side!!...what is that bunch on the lower back??? Do i have a roll of fat there or something?? (frantically grasping and poking behind me...) This was the worse idea in my crafting history - i think this little slice of self-realisation is going straight into the attic so i don't have to see her flat chest and back fat anymore!!!
YIKES!!!

Buttercup sorbetto

So i also made a little pj set for going on holiday. It needed to be light and airy and not too revealing - because i'll be prancing around the campsite in them. Both patterns are free to download from Colette Patterns, the cute Madeleine Bloomers and the Sorbetto Top. Both are extremely simple to sew up and nice and quick!!

Happy Mother's Top

So for mother's day this year i gave my mum some different fabrics to make a top and a wraparound skirt - well that was quite a while ago...mother's day here is 3rd of April and well she hadn't had the time to make the top - can't understand these people who prioritise things above craft??!! So anyway, just so it would be finished in time for her holiday (on which we will be joining her tomorrow (*squeal of delight*) i decided to sew the top myself.
It's a super simple wrapover from one of the 2010 Burdastyle magazines (too lazy to go upstairs and check which one) and it's super-easy.
I can't wait to see it in action on the lakeside this week!!

line of lino flamingos

One of my colleagues told me a hilarious story about flamingos recently - well the story wasn't particularly funny it was more that the person was telling it, assuring me that it was the truth and i am perfectly convinced that it was wholly a figment of their over-active imagination...less said about that the better! Anyway, it put them in my mind and i was thinking they would make a cool band around the bottom of a pink 50s style skirt. So i carved up a stamp from the 5mm SOFT lino.
As always, it was a dream to carve and fun to stamp. When i finally get round to making something from it, i'll wear the skirt in honour of tall-tale-tellers everywhere!

Barbie's Dreamhouse

So poog got 2 chickens a while ago and bought them the cutest little dream-hutch to live in. She decided to call one Hen-rietta and one BBQ (a big of dark humour there i think) and then it occurred to her how well the names worked together "Hen(rietta) & Barbie(Q).

It didn't really take much imagination then to decide what to call the hutch - it had to be the Dreamhouse, in memory of the many (many) days we spend playing Barbies (& Sindys) with our very own dreamhouse - it had an art deco elevator and everything!!!! *sigh*
SuperD made them a sign for their little hutch's front door. While watching him cut out the little pieces of metal from a tin can i was very confused!! I think the final result is adorable!! And i know the chickens loved it too.