Design your own sheets!

My little girl is into all the little girl characters like Dora, Hello Kitty, Princesses, Winnie the Poo, etc. One day, she wants a princess bed, the next day a Dora bed. It is hard to keep up.

I went to the store to see what sheets they had, but obviously it is either princess or Dora, so I decided it was time to get crafty.

I purchased a plain set of light pink sheets, and using fabric markers drew all of her favorite characters on it (leaving some more room, just in case we start liking a new character). The sheets are a big success (I have to wash and dry them while she is at daycare, because I am not allowed to take them off of her bed!).

Car Seat Strap Covers

It has been a long time again. I am now 35 weeks pregnant, and am allowed to get up more. In two weeks I get the stitches taken out, and then pretty soon baby girl will be on her way...

I can't sit for long at a time, but I can sew a little bit, so I have been working on smaller projects that don't take too long. 

4th of July

We don't celebrate the 4th of July here, but my nephew in the States does, so I made him this little holiday outfit for the occasion. I just took a simple T-shirt and soft knit pants pattern, and added a pocket in the front of the shirt, and two pockets in the back of the pants. I used a blue and white stripe knit as my main fabric, made all the edges red and used a fun blue and white stars knit fabric for the pockets. It is a little hard to get pictures of my nephew these days, but I think you see the outfit on these.

 

 

I hope you all had a Happy 4th of July! Stay well.

 

 





Stuffed animal storage floor cushion

Do your kids have tons of stuffed animals and you don't know what to do with them? Well, mine does, and she is not even three yet! She actually never really plays with them (yet?) and they are just laying around all over the place. I was searching the internet for some storage ideas, and came across this fun idea here - A big pillow that you can store all the stuffed animals in, but also use as a sitting pillow. How fun!

Ruffle Flap Top

A few months ago I saw a girl on the playground wearing a shirt similar to this one. I thought the idea of the ruffly sides was really cute. Unfortunately, since I did not know the child I could not just walk up to her and take a closer look, or even take a picture, so I made this from my memory. I actually really don't remember what the shirt looked like, but I think this one turned out kind of cute :)

Anyway, it is really easy to make, you just need to alter a normal shirt pattern a bit. I will briefly talk you through it, but I don't have to explain much, if you know how to make a regular t-shirt...

Ruffle Leg Shorts

This is the first tutorial for my "You are my sunshine" outfit. My ruffle bottom shorts were inspired by these shorts I saw from the Gap:

I didn't gather the pockets (wasn't quite sure how) and left out the bow, but otherwise, I think they turned out pretty similar. Want to make them? Read on...

You are my sunshine summer outfit

You must think I am crazy, but honestly, I am sick of sewing things for the winter. I find it difficult to find thick fabrics (other than fleece), and well, short sleeves and shorts are so much faster, not to mention how fun it is to make sundresses…

So, even though it is February and cold, I decided to get a head start on Littleheart’s summer wardrobe. I surfed around the net for some inspiration and then started making these sketches:

I really hope I can try out all the ideas from my sketches, and bring you lots of fun, new tutorials.

This first outfit I made for a fun series called Sew in tune. It is actually the winter version of the series, but hey, people in Australia are not going to be sewing winter clothes right now, right? Anyway, you are supposed to sew something inspired by a song. I actually had the outfit idea first, and then realized it was perfect for the series, because it fits the song “you are my sunshine”. My grandmother, may she rest in peace, used to call me her sunshine, and I feel the same way about Littleheart. So this is the perfect little outfit to start off my summer sewing.

I will post both a tutorial for the top and shorts. My pattern is as usual, the size of Littleheart (3-4T) but you can easily make both with any top and shorts pattern.

So come back soon to find the tutorials for the “You are my sunshine” outfit.

Update: You can now find the tutorial for the shorts here and for the top here.

Holiday Jumper with removable Menorah/Christmas Tree

My Thanksgiving jumper with removable turkey tail was a great hit, and a lot of fun to make. My sister and I were talking about it one day, and found that the options are never ending! We came up with so many new ideas, so the next project for Littleheart's holiday wardrobe is the Hanukkah (Christmas) Jumper with removable Menorah (Christmas Tree). This one can definitely have the interchangeable ruffle like the Thanksgiving jumper with removable turkey tail, but to change things a bit the interchangeable piece for this dress will be snowflakes and a snowman.

Fleece Jumper with a pouch

Today I am going to teach you how to make the second project from my "Fun with Fleece" series. It is a fleece Jumper (or tunic, depending how long you make it. I actually was thinking this year a Jumper, next year a Tunic). It is a really easy, fun little sewing project you can sew up in an evening...Let's get right to the point!

Fleece top with a zip

As you have probably noticed, I like to make every-day clothes. I don't like to make things that are worn only once, I like to see them worn and feel like it was worth all the hard work. 

I got some pretty fleece a couple of months ago. My first project was a coat for Littleheart I made during KCWC. I discovered it is actually really easy to work with fleece, and was excited to go on to my next project.

This time I searched the internet for some inspiration. Mostly I found fleece jackets and coats (which I did not need, since I just made that), but I did stumble across this cute fleece sweatshirt from Old Navy. A simple sweatshirt, but the bottom part is gathered, which makes it very feminine. I looked at it closely, and decided, it is actually really easy to make. I just needed to trace a simple bodice piece, cut two rectangles for the bottom part and of course the sleeves. I left out the collar, since I myself don't love collars.

And this is how I put it together:

Dropped waist sweater dress with over-sized pleated pockets

I mentioned to you a few days ago that I was chosen to participate in an exchange program with fabric fascination. I chose two fabric pieces called Nest Fabric Bundle by Valori Wells, and received half a yard of each to complete my project.

Since my real "thing" is sewing clothes, especially for my daughter, I decided to design something for Littleheart to wear this winter. I am always torn between practical and pretty. I would love to make Littleheart pretty blouses and cotton dresses, but they are not comfortable, and not suitable for daycare. And she really doesn't have many opportunities to wear them. She wears them once or twice and then they get too small. So I tend to stick to the knits, at least most of the time. So this was a bit of a design challenge - how can I integrate these pretty cotton fabrics into Littleheart's normal wardrobe style.

Rainbow Circle Skirt and Rainbow Applique

Remember my post about these pretty sleeves?

I promised you that I would show the whole Birthday outfit, once it came together. The birthday party was so much fun, as you can see we had a rainbow theme, and everything looked great. I will write about the party soon, but here is a tutorial on how to make the rainbow skirt:

I made this skirt for Littleheart using scraps of lightweight cotton fabric, since it is still pretty hot here. I made it big so she can wear it next year too. Since many of you are slowly going into your colder seasons, I bet it would work really nicely with thicker materials too (like different colors of corduroy). 

So do you want to learn how to make the rainbow circle skirt? Read on…

Little Changes - Big Outcomes: How to change your patterns for different looks

After reading all of your responses to my "One Pattern - Three Shirts" series, it got me thinking. I often start out with an already made pattern, but I almost never make it exactly the way the instructions tell you to. I love to add simple extras here and there to get different effects. In this post I want to show you how you can make a few very simple changes to your patterns, and get completely different outcomes.

I have summarized the different methods I use to change patterns. For each method I have linked to a good tutorial, showing you how to do it (some of which are mine, but not all). Give them a try and you will be amazed at how far your patterns can stretch.

Cardboard Kitchen

A little while back I realised that Littleheart loved to play with the play kitchen at daycare. Every day when I picked her up from daycare she would be "cooking". The cook would always say: "I cook in the morning and Littleheart cooks in the afternoon".

I started looking around for play kitchens, and realized they are very expensive. And most of them are very chintzy looking. I had saved the big box from Littleheart's highchair thinking I would use it for something, and decided this was my chance.

Pleats, pin-tucking and smocking - all in one outfit!

I am very new to the sewing blog world, and I was always wondering how you get to meet the other sewing blog ladies. When Rikka from Ricochet and Away! announced her sewing challenge, I thought, hey here is a great opportunity!

As I mentioned here the theme of the challenge is pleats, pin-tucking, and smocking. Since my real passion is sewing clothes, and I need to work on Littleheart's winter wardrobe, I chose to make Littleheart an outfit for the challenge. My personal challenge was to try to incorporate all three techniques (pleats, pin-tucking, and smocking) into one outfit and I did!

See where they all are?

Knight's Pleat Sleeves

Littleheart's second Birthday is coming up next month, and I want to make her a special outfit for the occasion. I am planning on making her a rainbow birthday party, and am designing her outfit accordingly. I will post about the finished outfit when it is done, but today I would like to show you how to make a Knight's Pleat Sleeve (which I am using for her birthday shirt). I saw this sleeve on a woman a while back, and have recreated it from my memory (so I am not sure if it is like that shirt, but I like the outcome, so who cares, right?). I call it the Knight's Pleat Sleeve because it reminds me of the armor the medieval knights used to wear:

This sleeve works for any shirt, adults or children.

Want to make it? Here is how!

The outfit that started it all...

You might recognize this outfit, it is the shorts outfit I made for "Shorts on the line" this summer. This is the outfit that gave me the push to start my own blog. I had been thinking about it for a while, but I had the usual concerns, "am I interesting enough?", "is my sewing good enough?", "can i commit to it?"...So I kept on putting it off. Then Melanie, who writes a monthly column for Sew, Mama, Sew! contacted me and asked me if she could use my picture in an article she was writing about sewing trends. She said she would link the picture back to my blog. Of course I was thrilled, and told her she was welcome to use it, but that I didn't have a blog of my own yet. So Melanie linked my picture back to my flickr picture and that was it. I told myself, if she chose my outfit out of the many, then maybe I do have something to offer. And so here I am...

The Lani Overalls

In the beginning of the week I showed you how to make the shirred appliqué on these cute overalls and today I will show you how to make the overalls. What I love about these overalls, and all you toddler mothers will probably agree, is that there are snaps at the bottom so you do not have to take them off to change a diaper. 

Shirred Appliqué

The overalls you see on my banner are what I call the "The Lani Overalls - The baby version" (Lani is what we call my sister, and she was the inspiration for them).

See the cute Truck design on the front bodice? Today I am going to show you how to make the design. I call it Shirred Appliqué which is basically the two techniques I used for it. I know - more shirring! But I can't help it, I am hooked!

Dresses for Daycare

So Littleheart is in Daycare (which we call "Gan" - Hebrew for Garden) when I am at work, and she loves it. I am really happy with her progress, I feel that it is really good for her to be with other children. She learns a lot of social skills, and her language is really developing nicely.

I have two problems though: