Happiness is a self-made dress that actually fits!

Hello everyone! It's been pretty busy here at Chez Craftady. Hence the lack of postings of late. Sorry! I hope to make up for it very soon with a neat little tutorial of a paper flower the girl child and I made recently for her school Easter holiday project. Anyhow, I wanted to share with you something I made for myself recently. It's been a while since I made myself any clothes. I had the Simplicity 2444 pattern in my stash for some time and finally decided to pull it out after seeing all the lovely versions out there on the Internet.

It's a Project Runway pattern with lots of different options and variations. I decided to go for the sleeveless. I have had this particular fabric in my stash for a year. I bought it last summer intending to make a dress with it but never did. Aren't the flamingoes adorable?

Instead of using facings, I decided to line the whole dress with a navy coloured lightweight poplin. This meant making two of everything .... Except for pockets. The bodice is fitted with four darts on the front and two in the back. The skirt is lovely and wide with darts at the waist. Best of all, it's got pockets!!

I really took my time with this one. I made the lining of the bodice first and used that as a toile to make sure it fitted. I had cut a straight size 16 out of the packet. There is a zip at the back which went in surprisingly easy.

I am very pleased with the finished dress. It fits, it's comfortable .... It has pockets! See? What do you think?

I was so thrilled with it that I just started cutting out a second one. LOL! With summer approaching, it would be great to have a couple of new dresses for work.

It's Friday soon. Yay! Do you have any nice plans for the weekend? I am going to try to get some more sewing in, then I have market on Saturday morning and Missy Moo and I hope to finish the tutorial and post that for you next week.
Until next time, happy crafting!

Last minute stuff and a whole lot of panic

I kept meaning to share the other stuff I made for the kids with you but one thing or another got in the way and in 2 hours time I am heading off with kids in tow to the airport to get on a plane heading towards South East Asia. We're going to Malaysia to visit my family. I have not been back in 7 years!! Very excited!

Here is the last of the jersey dresses for Missy Moo. as usual, she is thrilled with it.



Typical of my kid, she demands to wear it to school on the next non-uniform day and when she gets home from school that day, tells me that there is a hole in the back of her dress!!



It's a small hole but still a hole. No idea how she did it - probably caught it on something in the playground. So I sewed a small patch to it and it's fine now.

The boy has a new top too but I can't find the photos! I'll have to show you it when I get back from malaysia. I will have very limited internet access whilst I am there so I apologise if I don't reply to your comments. I have to go finish packing now and get the kids out of bed.

See you in a few weeks, friends. x

The forest friends vest top

I bought a 1 metre cut of this gorgeous fabric and from this I made a dress for Missy Moo and also managed to cut this vest top for my 8-year-old niece.



This fabric makes me very happy - the colours are bright and the pattern is beyond cute. I'm glad I stuck to the red jersey bands for the neckline and the arms. I think black ribbing might have been too heavy. I hope she will like it as much as I do.

The kids and I are going away for 3 weeks to Malaysia to visit our famiy there. We fly a week today. I have so much to do before then. I'm working almost to the end. I've not even thought about packing yet - I'll probably be madly lobbing stuff into my cases the night before.

My kids and I have not done much long-distance travelling together. I used to travel loads before the kids came along. As a matter of fact, this will be Missy moo's very first flight ever. She is very excited about the trip. Dino-boy and I have flown out to the Far East before - we went twice before he was 4, both times to attend my brothers' weddings. The kids have had their jabs (Dino-boy felt a bare tickle apparently and Missy Moo screamed blue-murder at Nursey and cried tons) and are making their packing lists for stuff to take onto the plane. The first leg is 7 hours and we then have a 3 hour transit before another 7 hours to our destination.

Since my two are 5 and 10 respectively, I'm thinking of packing some sugar-free lollipops for them to suck as we take off and land. Have you traveled long-distances with your kids? What are your top tips for flying long-distances?

Hope you're having a great weekend, friends.

Forest friends tee-dress

Here is the second tee-dress I made for Missy Moo. This has superseded the purple space kids dress in popularity and is to date her most favourite item of clothing.



Her joy knoweth no bounds when she is in this dress.



When asked how much she loved the dress, this was her answer.



The sewing of clothing for small people is continuing. I will be back to share more results in a few days.

Have a great weekend.

The elephant vest top and a bit of Frankie Valli

Since I was very much in the mood to make quick, (relatively) easy vest tops / vest-dresses, next on the sewing table was this lovely number for Dinoboy.



This is yet another gorgeous jersey fabric I bought from Kitschy Coo - seriously, where does that woman find such amazing fabric??!! This one is 50% organic cotton interlock blended with 50% bamboo viscose. It is so soft and lightweight. Perfect summer wear.

Dinoboy thinks it's fabulous. He's animal mad and loves the colour red - this vest ticks all the right boxes for him. Here he is channeling a bit of old Frankie to express how much he likes this vest top.



"You're just too good to be true.
Can't take my eyes off you.
You'd be like heaven to touch.
I wanna hold you so much.
At long last love has arrived.
And I thank God I'm alive.
You're just too good to be true.
Can't take my eyes off you.
I love you baby, and if it's quite all right,
I need you baby ....."

Space kids tee-dress finished

This started out as a jersey vest top for Missy Moo but her royal Moo-ness wanted it to be a dress instead. I only got a half metre cut of this fabric and with careful cutting, I managed to squeeze out a skirt to sew to the top bit. She was very pleased with the dress.



I got the fabulous fabric from Kitschy Coo's shop and it was one of three jersey fabrics I bought from her.

Missy Moo wore this dress all weekend. Here she is throwing a few shapes around on the patio to illustrate how much she loves this dress.



There's a vest top for Dinoboy coming soon, another tee-dress for Missy Moo and a vest top for my niece too. It's all about sewing for the kids this week.

The wee prom purse

A colleague of mine has a daughter who is in high school. In July, this young lady will be attending her first prom at school. My colleague had arranged to have a special dress made for her daughter. She’d asked if I was able to make a little purse or clutch in the same fabric as the dress for her daughter. I gladly said yes.

I used this pattern from Michelle Patterns (formerly keykalou patterns) but I added a ruffle piece to the front flap.



It is small and fits nicely in my hand but it is big enough to hold some keys, a cellphone, maybe some money, some lippy and perhaps even a small compact camera.



I lined it with some black cotton fabric and it has two magnetic snaps to close. There is also a little slip pocket on the inside.



I made a little wrist strap and finally decided to sew on a silver-and-rhinestone flower embellishment as I felt the little clutch needed a bit of bling to make it a teensy bit more special.



What do you think? I hope the young lady will like it.

A teatowel is not just for drying dishes

Teatowels make good bags too! A foray to my local op-shop / charity shop recently yielded a lovely cotton teatowel with a very Jubilee themed print. I bought it and turned it into this -



It was a fair sized teatowel. I unpicked the hems, ironed it out flat and cut it in half. I had a piece of red dotty fabric in my stash bag and a chunky black double-ended zip. I've had these leather handles for ages - waiting for just the right project. I hand-sewed the handles on with some cream linen thread.



I sewed this bag just as you would sew a zippered pouch. I added some iron-on interfacing and a fleece wadding between the outer and inner layers for body. Instead of making boxed corners on the inside, I made the boxed corner on the outside and added a button. I thought it would look good since the print on the teatowel featured buttons too.



The only thing this bag lacks is a firmer bag-base. I might add one later. I rather like this bag - it is suitably cavernous for my needs! I shall be on the lookout for more nice teatowels in the future. Royal Mail has this awesome one with all the different coloured 'Queen's head' stamps on it.

Hope you're having a great weekend, friends.

Easter bunny ears headband

I've had the past week off work to spend with the kids. I had annual leave to use up and since the kids were off school for Easter, it seemed a great opportunity to spend some time with them. Despite Easter itself being over, Missy Moo is still very much in an Easter mood.

I saw this tutorial that Amy put up over on her blog and wanted to make some Easter bunny ears for Missy Moo. A quick rummage around the stash bag yielded some white felt, a scrap of Easter themed fabric and a bit of elastic. It was a pretty quick and easy make (thanks Amy!) and the girl was very pleased with the outcome.



I used a bit of elastic at the back, instead of ribbon. Missy Moo wouldn't have been able to tie the ribbon. With the elastic, she can put it on and pull it off as she pleased.



Yep, she is very pleased with her Easter bunny ears. We're off to my godson's birthday party this afternoon and she's decided she will be wearing her bunny ears.



Here's a gratuitous action shot.



I hope you are enjoying your weekend, friends.

Two more quillows

I finished these two quillows a little over a week ago.



The red one with the bright Aztec inspired print has already been claimed by my friend who wants it for his dad. The other one has no owner yet. I like the pretty print and am almost tempted to keep it for myself.



We've had an amazing week of bright sunny and very mild spring weather but this morning it all changed. A bit dull and damp. Ah well. Hope the sun comes back soon. The kids have broken up for the Easter vacation and were very excited this morning at the prospects of two weeks without school - I was more excited about the prospects of two weeks without ironing of school uniforms. It's a shame I still have to go to work on Monday but the long Easter Bank Holiday weekend is coming up next weekend. Yay!!!

I'm just starting on another handbound journal today and am hoping to finish it over the course of the next couple of days. What are you up to this weekend? Whatever it is, I wish you a wonderful weekend.

Quillows for boys

Well, not boys really. These are two quillows I made last week for two males friends of mine.



These were made using store-bought fleece blankets to which I added a printed fleece pocket. In case you want to have a go at making your own, you'll find my tutorial here.



These quillows were a big hit with the guys and I have a request to make another one for my friend's dad. There are now two other quillows on my sewing table, cut, pinned and ready to sew.

Have a lovely day, friends.

Little lovelies

Here's handful of lovely little purses which I finally got around to finishing and photographing this weekend. I had wanted a couple of nice large wooden buttons for two of them and managed to pick some up yesterday.



On the inside, there is a slip pocket for cards and a zip pocket for coins.



These were made using a Keyka Lou pattern. They are great for using up bits of fabric. I've also used up the last of my flat split rings on these. I need to get some more.

The hood project is going slowly. This weekend, I've mostly been messing about with another handbound journal and a couple of small quick crochet projects. I've also decided that I'm keeping the lovely journal I posted about recently for myself and I've started doodling in it. All in all, a crafty and relaxing weekend ... so far. Mr CraftyAdy thinks that it's all really displacement activity and that I am really trying to ignore the pile of ironing languishing in the corner awaiting my attention. He's probably right.

Hope you're having a lovely weekend, friends.

Tee to tank refashion

Yesterday I showed you this ....



which got cut up like this ...



and now looks like this ...



Thanks to this fab tutorial over at Crafterhours, I now have a great 'new' tank to wear to my fitness classes and during the summer. I hacked a hideous old tshirt of Mr CraftyAdy into strips and used one of the strips to make the straps for this tank and actually left the hem on this tshirt untouched. It's so comfortable to wear. I love it!

I'm off to hack up a couple more old tees to make more tanks.

A couple of small UFOs and a bit of stash-busting

I was hunting around in the plastic storage boxes on my desk when I came across a little stack of small rectangles of fabric. I reckon I must have cut them out to make little zip pouches but got distracted by something else and they ended up being forgotten.

It didn’t take me too long to knock them up into small lined zip pouches. They are the blue floral one in the back and the red one on top.



Once I got motivated to start on them, I spotted some off-cuts left over from making the wash-bag I showed you a couple of posts back. I figured I would use them up by making yet more lined zip pouches and managed to squeeze two out of what I had left.

I’m sure I have a handful of big UFOs somewhere that need to be cleared out. Just need to go find them.

I've had a good weekend so far - worked on these little projects, did a few more rows of my crocodile stitch neckwarmer and met up with some good friends for a fun evening. I find that weekends tend to pass by far too quickly for my liking. Hope your weekend is going well, friends.

Another UFO is no more

This Un-Finished Object (aka UFO) has been hanging around in a corner of my workspace for some time now. Looking back, I think I blogged about this foldaway shopping bag in one of the My Creative Space posts way back in July! How disgraceful is that?!

So last night I decided to stop procrastinating and finish the poor little bag off. It is now done.



Here it is all folded up and ready to go shopping with.



If you fancy making one yourself (and hopefully you won’t take as long as I did), you’ll find the tutorial link in the Tutorials bar on the left.

Wishing you a great day ahead, friends.

Pressa's new cover

One of my new year's resolutions was to make a new cover for my little table-top ironing board. This is Pressa. Pressa came from IKEA well over fourteen years ago ... I am trying to think when I actually got this little ironing board and I am sure I moved into our present house with it in 1997.

It lives right next to my workspace and was increasingly looking sorrier and sorrier for itself. The original white cover got browner with age and a lot of use and more recently, started to wear through. I couldn't bring myself to even take a photo of the now discarded hideous cover. I am too ashamed. So instead I will show you Pressa's new cover.



I'd been putting the task of recovering Pressa off because I thought it might be cumbersome and difficult. In the end I bit the bullet and it turned out to be a pretty simple make. I took off the old cover (cringing with shame as I did so!) and unpicked the binding around the edge. There was a piece of thin and sorry-looking fleece under the fabric cover. I used it as a template to cut two new layers of Insulbright which is a kind of fleece-y wadding used for placemats, oven-mitts etc. I then used the old cover as a template to cut a new cover piece from some old Debbie Mumms quilting-weight cotton fabric from my stash.



I used the old binding to measure out a piece of new bias-binding. I reused the nylon cord from the old cover and inserted it inside the binding as I sewed the binding around the new cover. The fleece layers sit on top of the metal frame and the new cover over the top of that. Then the cord is pulled and the new cover tightens itself around the frame and holds the fleece in place. The whole project took just over an hour to complete (with coffee break included!)



I am very happy with this project and Pressa looks as good as new. As far as new years' resolutions go, this was a quick win for me.

Hope you are having a good weekend, friends.

Tom's wash-bag

This year, I gave my team at work handmade presents for Christmas. Two of the ladies in my team received quillows for Christmas. One lady received a glasses case and another lady received a jewellery pouch. One of my team members is a great young man named Tom. When I was trying to work out what to give to each team member, I realised that the stuff I make is all very 'girlie' (handbags, purses etc) and that I had very little in the way of masculine fabric. My fabric stash (aside from the fabric I normally use for lining pouches and bags with - ie the polka dots and the odd striped fabric) was very much female oriented.

Tom's a keen swimmer and he plays water-polo very regularly too. A casual discussion few weeks before Christmas gave me the idea of making Tom a zippered pouch or wash-bag for his swim stuff like shower gel etc. I found the outer fabric for this wash-bag in my local quilting shop. Here's the wash-bag I made for Tom for Christmas. Isn't that a great fabric for a sporty kind of wash-bag?



I cut one piece of outer fabric, one lining (polka dots from my stash), one iron-on interfacing and one piece of fusible Thermolam fleece, all measuring 14 inches by 16 inches. The zip I used came from my stash too and is a 16-inch (roughly) open-ended slightly chunky nylon zip.



The inside seams have been enclosed in bias-tape. I also cut a 4 inch by 7 inch piece of fabric to make the handle.



The finished wash-bag measured approximately 10.5 inches long, 5 inches wide and 3 inches deep. I had sufficient fabric leftover to make myself a washbag exactly like this for my gym stuff too and it happily holds my sweat bands, knee support, weightlighting gloves and a 50ml sports drink bottle. I think this is a great size boxy zippered pouch for all kinds of purposes and I plan on making a couple more to hold my crochet / looming projects. I might even try to see if I can put a photo tutorial together when making one of these. What do you think?

The general plan for 2012 and a finished UFO

Hello friends! A very belated Happy New Year to you all. I hope you've all been well over the festive season and had wonderful times with your friends and family. Mr CraftyAdy, the kids and myself stayed at home and thoroughly enjoyed the Christmas break. The kids have been off school since 16 December and they return to school tomorrow having enjoyed the long break. Mr CraftyAdy and I were off work for 9 days (not including weekends). It was the longest break I've had all year and I very much needed it.

I spent some of my time during the break doing some sewing and enjoyed that a lot. I decided that one of my 'resolutions' for 2012 is to do more sewing - specifically using the stash of fabric I have accumulated over the past couple of years. In no specific order, I thought I could commit to the following resolutions:
1) do more sewing and use the CraftyAdy fabric stash
2) try to pick up crochet again and actually learn to do it properly
3) re-cover my table-top ironing board
4) find all UFOs (Un-Finished Objects) and finish them.

On that note, on New Year's Day whilst looking for something in a storage box, I found 6 squares of fabric in a little plastic wallet. Two 15-inch squares of brown printed upholstery-grade fabric, two 15-inch squares of a red lining fabric and two odd-sized small bits of the brown fabric. I must have cut them out sometime ago intending to make a bag from them and just never did. I imagined the smaller pieces would have been intended as pockets. I found some black quilting cotton in my stash and put them altogether to make this bag for myself. The black strips across the body of the bag are strips of grosgrain ribbon.



I think originally I might have been intending to make a basket-bag like the first one pictured in this blog post which has a magnetic closure. I decided I actually wanted a zipped closure instead. So I used the odd-sized bits of brown fabric to form the gusset zip closure in the top of this bag.



I like the bright red lining and thought I could omit the pockets. The handles and the inside facing were cut from a long quarter (as opposed to fat quarter) of black fabric and the silver rings are actually flat split rings.



I've been using this bag for work this week and it's a nice size for me. It felt really nice making such a positive start in 2012. Last year's resolution was focused on stash-busting of the paper variety and I thought it went really well and hopefully will continue into this year too. The theme of stash-busting continues this year with the focus on fabric.

What are your resolutions for this year, friends? Is there anything in particular you wish to achieve, hope to learn or want to make this year? Whatever your resolutions, I wish you every success and may 2012 bring you lots of wonderful things.

Small Christmas gifts

As these were commissioned by a friend for her friends as Christmas gifts, I am happy to share these with you before Christmas! These are little purses made using Keyka Lou's Zip Pocket Pouch pattern.



When open, each has a zip pocket and a slip pocket (behind the zip pocket). A bit of velcro holds the pouch close.



The friend who commissioned these pouches specifically asked for cat themed fabric.



I made this one in two sizes.



The slip pocket in the smaller pouch is perfectly sized for credit cards. I made myself one of these for myself a couple of months ago. I added the loop and split-ring as I like having the option of adding a wrist-strap if I wanted to later on.

These are great fun to make and I have three in progress on my sewing table at the moment.