Toddler clothes from a tablecloth & a bedsheet

My husband laughed when I brought home a table cloth from a charity shop and announced I was going to make Daisy something to wear with it.  I intended it to be a dress, but got distracted and cut it far too short, so I ended up making a long top.  Made using the peasant blouse tutorial at Indietutes (so easy and quick – thank you Vegbee!) the top took less than an hour.

Daisy doesn’t really have any summer trousers or shorts yet and the top I made would look ridiculous with a skirt so I decided to make her some bloomers!  I used a pattern from Making Children’s Clothes and whipped up a pair within an hour.  The pattern was 12-18 month size but looked huge so I figured they’d fit my dinky almost-3-yr-old.  I made them in white so she could also wear them with a couple of outgrown dresses from last summer.  The white fabric was a brand new bed sheet also found in a charity shop.  My darling husband burst out laughing when he saw the outfit on, I think she looks cute!

So, dressed in a table cloth and a bed sheet, here she is:

Front & back (please excuse the mess!)

Bloomers & messy hair (we’d just been out in the rain!)

 

Happily rolling around the floor changed pretty quickly to fed up of picture time.

Daddy & Dylan obviously weren’t too impressed:

Now I’m looking for a pattern for a party dress to make her for my brother-in-laws wedding in a few weeks.  I have some fabric but no idea what dress to make with it…

 

Jen xxxx

Crayon Rolls

These have proved really popular on my stall at craft fairs in the past so I thought I’d make a few to go in my shop.  They are brilliant for carrying around in your handbag and whipping out when the children need to be distracted and kept quiet (anyone else have children who can’t sit still for 30 seconds without moaning they are bored?!)

I generally only make them big enough for 8 crayons – what kid needs more that 8 crayons when you’re out and about?  This means they are small and light – mums have enough to carry without adding a whole art set!

This is a lovely girly one, made with a pink & blue floral cotton fabric for the outside, and a pink & white polka dot crayon pocket.  It has a bright pink ribbon tie to keep it rolled up.

 

 

I’ll be making some more over the weekend, both girly and boyish.

Jen xxxx

Please sponsor me!

I'm taking part in the Jo's Cervical Cancer Trust Walk for Fun on 12th June 2010 in memory of my beautiful friend Ally, who recently lost her fight against cervical cancer, aged just 26.  I know Ally received a huge amount of support from the girls she met through Jo's Trust and I'd like to give a little something back and do my bit to ensure the charity can keep on doing its brilliant work.  Please sponsor me if you can, every little helps and it will be greatly appreciated. 

Every year in the UK, over 2,800 women will be diagnosed with cervical cancer and 1,000 women will die from the disease. After breast cancer, cervical cancer is the second most common cancer in women aged 35 and under.  Jo's Trust is the only UK charity dedicated to women, their families and friends affected by pre-cancer and cancer of the cervix.

There is a little widget on my left hand sidebar, or you can follow this link to donate: www.justgiving.com/jen-winkley

For more information on the work of Jo’s Cervical Cancer Trust please click here.

♥ Ally ♥

As promised

The ice cream pouch/clutch and red zippy wristlet are now available in my shop!  I managed to get some slightly better pictures, even though it poured with rain on and off all day.

I’ve been having a little play around with the look of my blog today so if it looks a bit weird at times that’s why!

In other news, my poor little Daisy was ill this morning so she spent a while snuggled up in our bed feeling sorry for herself.  She asked me to get in bed next to her so she could talk to me, told me to shut my eyes and then sang ‘Twinkle twinkle little star’ to try and get me to fall asleep.  I asked why she wanted me to go to sleep and she said ‘Mummy I want to be naughty and you can’t look!’ – Glad she is still her cheeky self even when she feels poorly!

This evening I’m going to finish making a little shop button to go on my new right hand sidebar and then hopefully get started on sewing a few crayon rolls to list tomorrow.

Jen xxxx

Recent makes…

Just thought I’d share a couple of the things I’ve made in the past few days!

Unfortunately my lovely husband dropped our new camera during a trip to the zoo on Monday and the lens is now stuck out and makes a horrendous noise when you try and turn it on – ooops!  Until I get a new one you’ll have to put up with some photos taken on my phone, if I’d remembered to take them in daylight it wouldn’t have been so bad, but I forgot!

 

First up is the Ice-cream pouch/clutch – I love this fabric, it’s perfect for Summer!  This has a bright yellow zip and matching yellow stitching.  I added some red buttons with green stitching to pull some more colours from the print.  I’m so tempted to keep this for myself but I’ll resist and it will be available in my Folksy shop tomorrow (once I’ve taken a decent daylight picture!)

Next is this gorgeous little zippy wristlet.  Perfect for carrying cash, some cards and even a smallish mobile phone.  I love the quirky print of this fabric, with all the little outfits and pattern pieces.  This will also be available in my Folksy shop tomorrow.  I still have a little bit of this fabric left so expect to see it popping up every now and again!

This little clutch bag is what I’m working on at the moment, testing out an idea in my head which turned into a pattern and this ‘prototype’!  It still needs the curves pushing out properly and some top stitching to finish it off and close the gap (hence the pins!)  I left the gap in a stupid place but never mind, I’ll know better next time.  It’s fully interfaced on both the lining and the outer shell, and closes with a magnetic snap.  Once I’ve perfected it I’ll put a tutorial on here :)

Please have a peek at my shop to see what else I’ve got for sale, I’ve got quite a bit to list still so keep an eye on it!  All money made will now go towards a new camera lol!!

Will end with a couple of pictures of my little monkeys, they are growing up so quickly.  I’ve spent quite a bit of time making some Summer clothes for Daisy so I’ll get her to do some modelling this week and put some pics up.  The peasant blouse tutorial over at Indietutes is so quick and easy that I’ve made a few tops and currently working on a couple of A-line dresses using the same idea.  I’m struggling to think of clothes to make for Dylan other than pj trousers – if anyone has some good suggestions please leave a comment and let me know.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Gorgeous babies xx

Jen xxxx

What’s that I hear?

Sewing machine is whirring once more!

After a bit of a break, I’m back and ready to sew.  I’ve been doing a lot of knitting recently and zero sewing but that’s all about to change.  As is the neglect of my poor blog!

I’ve got new ideas and designs and (hopefully) lots of energy to turn them into something good!

Watch this space for news and sneaky peeks…

Jen x