Everyone loves a happy ending!

A great fairytale always has a happy ending, right?

One of the themes during 3rd term of school for my eldest son was fairytales. One of their tasks during the year was to write their own fairytale, with the help of their buddy. Corbin was proud to tell me when he completed his story, keen to let me know that it ended in the 'baddies' winning. My memories of fairytales were the likes of Cinderella, Snow White, Hansel and Gretel, The Little Match Girl, Thumbelina, Pinocchio and Puss In Boots. I thought fairytales always had a happy ending and told him I was surprised that the baddies won. My son is very clever and matter-of-factly told me "mum, it was a happy ending, for the baddies"!!

To mark the end of the fairytale term, their grade had a dress up day and parade. Corbin was keen to go as Peter Pan, though he was not keen on wearing tights! We didn't have a Peter Pan costume at home so I set about making something. I browsed the web for some images and tutes and came across make it and love it which had a tute for a toddler's Peter Pan costume. It was easy to follow so I used it as a guide.

The top - I headed to Spotlight and they didn't have any suitable green fleece so I bought some green cotton fabric, cut it to size using one of my son's t-shirts for sizing, leaving extra length at the bottom. I made some bias out of the same fabric and sewed the bias onto the neckline. First time making my own bias too!!
The hat - I bought some woollen felt which I made the hat from and sewed in a red feather. The only thing I would do differently is use a coordinating colour thread in the overlocker, as you can see the white thread under the tip of the hat at the front, but I didn't have time to change the thread over so just left it white.
The belt - I had some brown courdory left over from a previous project already so I cut it into a long strip, sewed it up and then added a couple of snaps for closure.
The pants - As my son didn't want to wear tights, I made a pair of midlength shorts for him out of bottle green fleece. I figured that he would get more use out of them seeing that his uniform is bottle green pants. Shorts were a bit of a fail, they looked ok, but my son said they were really uncomfortable, so we scrapped that idea and at the last minute we cut off a pair of his old school tracksuit pants that had a big hole in the knee and made some cut off shorts which ended up working really well with the costume!

I think it turned out pretty good!

My first orders!

Here they are: two sets of ribbon cuddle blankets with matching large blankets, and an individual ribbon cuddle blanket. All have been complemented with personalised name tags.

More Ribbon Blankee's

I met up with a number of lovely friends recently, they each had a little one around the same age as my youngest.

I had already given a ribbon blankee to all the babies except for one, so I made this one, for a little princess, the night before our get together.

Gorgeous mushroom print cotton fabric on one side, lovely soft heart fleece on the other side, and an assortment of contrasting ribbons.

Home made Mei Tai stlye baby carrier

So after lots of discussion with some fellow baby wearers, I decided to try my luck at making a Mei Tai style baby carrier. I trawled the internet in search of a pattern but of course each site I looked at all gave different measurements! So as per my usual way of making things and with an image in my head, I made up a pattern of how I thought it should work.

I needed some fabric first, so I dragged my patient husband to Spotlight in search of some suitable fabric for the body of the carrier. I was thinking along the lines of denim and was super lucky to find some denim fabric in the clearance section, bargain! For the waist band and shoulder straps I used some dark brown corduroy that I had at home left over from a cowboy vest I made for a friend's son a while ago. I padded the waist & hip area with polar fleece, as well as the shoulder area. Cut the denim fabric to shape including a hood and then sewed it all together.

I was very happy with the finished product and have received a lot of positive comments on it! I have even had people come up to me and ask me where I bought it from! I still have to sew some tabs onto the shoulder straps so I can attach the hood but it's finished otherwise! I have been using it almost daily, it is super comfy and I just love it!

Medium Nappies!

So I finally started and finished one medium AI2 nappy woot woot! I purchased the blue hibiscus print poly PUL fabric from Nappies Covered a couple of months ago but hadn't had the time to start working with it until now. It is such a summery print that I wanted to have it made for summer but Autumn will have to do!

I love the poly PUL for a nappy as the stretch in the fabric helps to make for easy nappy changes and a good fit too. The inner of the nappy is stay dry white suedecloth and there are two snap in foldable 2 layered bamboo bosters for absorbency, giving 8 layers of absorbency.







I have made some medium nappies before this one, quite a while ago now, and I made them with hook & loop, though I now prefer to use snaps on the nappies. I decided to alter my original medium nappy pattern which I made myself, making a few changes to accommodate the snaps, inlcuidng shortening the front and back wings. I thought that would be easy enough but I am not 100% happy with it so I need to tweak it a bit more before I sew the next one as the sides are too low on the front panel and it doesn't sit right. Hard to tell from the pics but I know that's how it is and, as I'm a bit of a perfectionist at times, I need to change it on the next nappy I make!








On another nappy related note, a girlfriend of mine is due to have her second child early June and she has asked me to make her a stash of nappies! I am very excited to be making some for her baby and feel very priviledged that she asked me!

A Boys Bunting

My latest sewing project was something to add to the bare walls of my 6yo & 3yo sons' bedroom. With their input we decided on a bunting.

I headed down to Spotlight while they were at school and daycare and bought some different printed and plain cotton fabric. They were pretty excited about the boyish prints I found - cars, trains, camo, space, robots.

I soon got to work cutting out triangles of fabric and then the time came to let the boys choose which triangles they wanted their bunting made from. My plan was to do a create a bunting alternating the prints and the plain colours but of course my boys only wanted the prints, so that's what I made!

I used bias binding to sew it together and once completed I attached it to some hooks in their room for a great effect! The next bunting I make I plan to use only one or two prints or a theme, such as space, and alternate with prints and plain colours but also make it a reversible bunting, so space on one side and cars or something else on the other.

Ribbon blankee gifts

With some left over fabric from the cloth nappies I made, and some other fabric I had laying about the house, I made some ribbon snuggly blankees.

I used different fabrics on each side of the blankees including PJ Silk, flannelette, minky, jersey cotton and fleece. Each blankee has 16 assorted ribbons sewn in and no two blankees are the same.

I had enough fabric to make eight of these blankees. I made them as gifts for some lovely friends of mine. Each one of my friends also had a new baby around the same time I had my baby in November.

My original plan was to have them finished in November so I could send them out as gifts for their babies arrival but I wasn't that organised!


Not to worry thought as it's a great time for our babies to have such a special item now, as they are at the stage of development were they are starting to grab hold of things and feel different textures.

To accompany each blankee, I made little personalised gift tags for each baby with their name on it, and tied it to one of the ribbons on the blankee before I popped them in an envelope and into the post. They have been well received and I have received some lovely comments about them :) which I am super pleased about!

Baby Carrier, wrap style!

When I was pregnant with my first son I didn't know much about "baby wearing". We simply went into a baby store and I tried on all of the baby carriers to work out which one was most comfortable. I grabbed a dolly that was in the shop and used that as a pretend baby to see how easy it was to put a baby in and out of a baby carrier. We settled on a Baby Bjorn carrier. Having a refluxy baby meant that both my husband spent many hours pacing up and down our hallway with our baby in the carrier trying to get him to sleep and it was fabulous, however it did give me a sore back though hubby found it a lot more comfy.

Since then I have used the www to find out about baby wearing and have been amazed at the many different types of wonderful slings and carriers that are available. So when I was pregnant with my second son I decided to buy something different to give it a go and opted for a Jazsling, in a gorgeous Indian cotton fabric. I absolutely loved this sling, and my baby was so cosy in it, I would often get comments from strangers while out and about telling me how lovely he looked in there. As this type of sling is sized, I bought it so that it would suit my height, so as much as I loved it my hubby didn't find it as comfortable!

Fast forward to when I was pregnant with our third son and I had grand plans to walk son #1 to and from school, approx 40mins each way. I would need something more supportive than a sling, and although I have a great pram, I figured that as my first two boys didn't like being in the pram while they were babies, I highly doubted that my third son would! So I bought myself and Ergo on sale and it has been fantastic. Excellent choice for the school run but too bulky for short trips, such as to the supermarket. I used to use my Jazsling for quick trips and I used it again to carry bub #3 but unfortunately he no longer likes it and constantly squirms and cries when he's in it, he just can't seem to get comfy any more.

So that's why I decided that I would have a go at making my own carrier. I couldn't decide between a wrap style sling or a mei tai carrier though so bought some fabric to make one of each!
My first attempt was the wrap, pretty simple I thought - just buy 6m x 1.4m suitable fabric, cut it down the centre longways to give two long pieces of fabric 6m -.70m, overlock the edges and sew a line down the centre so you know where the centre is to make it easier when putting on. Too easy! From my brief research on the www it appeared that many wrap style carriers were made from cotton jersey (t-shirt fabric) however I made mine out of Cambridge Suiting fabric, which was mix of cotton/spandex/rayon (I think if I remember correctly) so it has a slight stretch to it. I picked it up from Spotlight on clearance for $5/m. After sewing it, I tried it out a couple of times but decided that it was just a smidgen too long and it was bulky at the ends to tie up, so back to the overlocker I went and shortened it as well as tapering the ends so it's now a much better fit for me and far easier to tie up. As I had enough fabric to make two, I have overlocked another one for a girlfriend who is due with her second child in June.

I have almost completed the mei tai carrier as well, pics to come soon!

Final Project for 2010

I didn't get a chance prior to Christmas to show my final project for 2010 and this was it.

I made a Santa sack for each of my three boys. We spent Christmas away from home this year and the sacks were great for the boys to put under the tree at father in laws house in anticipation for Santa Clause making a visit, which he did!

They were very simple to make, Christmas fabric for the sack, coordinating cord for the drawstring and felt for their names.

Christmas Nappy is in use!

Well the newborn nappies I made for my scrumptious baby boy have been packed away and out have come the small size! My gorgeous son is 6weeks old now and he's been in the small nappies for the past two weeks, since he hit approx 4.5kg. Excellent timing as with Christmas only a few days away it means he fits into the one and only Christmas nappy I made for him, awesome!

Babies Nappy Stash Finished!!

With just over a week till my due date, I have finally finished off the newborn and small nappy stash for this bubba!

This is the newborn stash - 16 x fitted nappies, plus 1 x AI2. They are tiny, so I am sure they will only last a few weeks!



Newborn covers. I am not 100% happy with them as I am not too great at sewing FOE but they will do. They look great from a distance but the zig zag stitching is a bit dodgy close up!



A comparison of a newborn & small AI2. The outer is a gorgeous PUL cotton print from, the inner is lined with suedecloth (both fabrics from Nappies Covered) and it has both a sewn in hidden bamboo booster and a snap in bamboo booster. I love this print and they would have to be my fav nappies so far!



This is the small stash - 21 x fitteds plus 1 x AI2. I made a couple of covers as well but haven't taken a pic yet.



I thought I would try and make a Christmas nappy as I had some red fleece that has been sitting in my cupboard for a while. It's an AI2, has a hidden layer of PUL, an inner of suedecloth, sewing in hidden bamboo booster and a snap in bamboo booster also topped with suedecloth. The Christmas tree on the back of the nappy is an iron on patch from Spotlight, though I have sewn it on to ensure that it stays in place! I was really happy with how this nappy turned out!

Indiana dress up outfit complete!

As it was our oldest son's 6th birthday yesterday he got the finishing touch for his Indiana dress up - a hat! He was thrilled. You can see in the pick the Indiana bag I ended up making for him too, it has an adjustable length strap.

More Nappy Creations.

I have finally finished off the newborn nappies yay! Only 8 and a half weeks to go before I can try them out on our newborn! I have made 12 all up now, and I have even started on some small nappies too, just need to work out what size booster to put in the small nappies as I am not too sure. The outer fabric is either flannelette or cotton print, all from Spotlight. The Inner stay dry layer is suedecloth from Nappies Covered. The bamboo boosters are made from bamboo fleece from Snaps Australia, which is also where I purchased the snaps from.

Here are my finished newborn MCN's.

And the first of the 3 small nappies I have made, compared to the newborn ones for size.

Indiana Vest take 2

The vest was a success and my son even took it to school for show and tell! He tells me that it's not a cowboy vest in reverse though, it is a Woody from Toy Story vest!

So yesterday I managed to make another vest for my youngest son, and I can't believe that I started and finished it in one day!! I changed the cuddlefleece to flannelette cowprint instead which made it a lot easier to sew. Now both boys want an Indy bag, so that is the next sewing project for me to whip up. I have never made a bag in my life so here's hoping I can make something up that will look half decent!

Here is a pic of the 2nd vest and my kids playing in their vests this morning, I thought the 2nd vest was going to turn out a bit bigger but it's a great fit on my little man. My guess is that it's about a size 3. They both worn them for most of the day today, even out to the shopping centre!