More Shopping Bags!!

It’s starting to look like I have an obsession with these upcycled shopping bags, but they’re so easy to make and practical too!  This week I’ve made 2 more, another Star Wars one for my hubby in a different Star Wars fabric and a penguin one for my Mum’s friend who loves penguins.

Children's Apron

As planned, I made a matching apron for my daughter - she loves it but the neck was a little snug going over her head.  So the solution was to unpick one shoulder and add poppers to make it easier to get on and off.  With this project I have new tools and have learned plenty of lessons!!

Altered shoulder

Apron

My latest upcycling project has been making an apron out of vintage Thomas the Tank engine curtains.  It was a nice easy make, I cut the apron shape out of the fabric and edged it with herringbone tape - I'm really pleased with it and now need to make a matching one for my daughter!

Star Wars Shopping Bag

After much searching I managed to pick up some reasonably priced second-hand Star Wars curtains so that I could make a shopping bag for my hubby.  He is really pleased with it and I've learnt how to change the needle in the sewing machine!!

Oops!

Honey Bear

This week I've had my first go at a Funky Friend pattern from Funky Friends Factory, I'm pleased with how she turned out.  One of my aims since starting to learn to sew is to be able to make keepsakes from my daughter's clothes and this has been a good step towards that - I need loads more practice before I take my scissors to her babygrows though!

This honey bear has been made from leftover fabric from other projects.

Pieces cut...

So far, so good!

Finished Honey Bear

Peasant Dress

Last night I finished making a peasant dress for my daughter!  It was my first attempt at making clothes ad I'm really pleased with the outcome. I used this pattern from Scattered Thoughts of a Crafty Mum, it was really easy to follow and I'd definitely recommend it to a beginner.

Pattern cut out and fabric ready!

Fabric cut....

...first seams sewn - there's no going back!

The finished dress!

Taggy blankets for new baby boys

As 2 friends are expecting baby boys soon, its time to make some more taggy blankets and this time I decided to keep a note of how I did with the measurements to make it easier in the future!

Materials:
30x30cm fleece fabric
30x30cm patterned fabric
12 ribbons each 13cm (for narrow ribbons use 2 next to each other in one space)

Arrange and pin ribbons to right side of front fabric

Sew ribbon to fabric - go over this at least twice to ensure the ribbons are secure.

Pin the 2 square of faubric, right sides together, and sew leaving a small opening to turn the taggy back the right way out.
Turn the taggy making sure the corners are pushed out and hand sew the opening.
To add the final detail, top sew about 0.5cm from the edge.

Taggy 1 finished, I'll update the post with a photo of taggy number 2 once it's done.

Update - 03/02/2018

Last night I sewed the second taggy ready for meeting the new arrival today.

Dolly Blanket

Last night I whipped together a blanket for my daughter's dolly - we couldn't have her getting cold in her carrycot!  It was nice easy mini-project for a Friday night and I'm pleased to say it was well received this morning!

Igglepiggle Surgery

When my daughter's talking Igglepiggle stopped talking, I decided to try and fix him.  I carefully unpicked the seam in his back and found the voice box (stitched inside a fabric pouch!!). We bought replacement batteries and were relieved when we put them in that it worked! I then carefully stitched the pouch and then the back seam.  I'm very pleased with how my first toy repair went and am glad we didn't just bin him and by a replacement.

Snowman Christmas Decoration

One of my stocking fillers at Christmas was a cute little sewing kit.  I'd hoped to sew him in between Christmas and New Year, but on closer inspection the kit needed fabric glue so I couldn't work on him till that had arrived.

On Monday night I got stuck in while we watched Lego Batman (another Christmas present).  It was a great way to start the New Year and this post gets my sewing adventures up to date.

On the tree!

A New Year's resolution for 2018 is to post my projects as I complete them - we'll see how that goes!

A few of the projects on the list for this year are my shopping bags, more taggy blankets, toddler dresses and more!

Shopping Bags

In December, in a moment of madness, I decided to make shopping bags as Christmas presents from my daughter.  She loves In The Night Garden and Thomas The Tank Engine, so I bought some second hand curtains in both designs and upcycled them to make the bags using a pattern from Creating my way to success.  The pattern uses bedding, but I found the lightweight curtain fabric worked well.  I finished the last 2 bags I needed for presents on 21st December, just in the nick of time! I still have one of each type to sew for myself, but they can be done at my leisure!

I'm really pleased with the results, as were the recipients!

Update - 18/01/2018

I finally found time to sew my bags together today!

Christmas Placemat

In November I started on Christmas projects.  Last year I'd seen a Christmas Placemat pattern, but ran out of time to have a go at it, so I was determined to make it for this Christmas.  I'm really pleased with how it turned out.  I'd been tempted to find an easy cheat way to edge it but am so glad I followed the pattern and took the time to hand stitch the back! It really added to the sense of accomplishment too!

Taggy Blankets

In October, I made 2 taggy blankets as presents.  They looked like a fairly straightforward project, so I decided to try without a pattern and was very pleased they were successful.

To make sure the ribbons were secure, I sewed them to the front fabric before then sewing on the back fabric.  Once the sides were sewn together, I then top-stitched around the edge to give a border - the also helped to secure the ribbons as it was a 3rd row of stitches over them.

There will be more taggy blankets as future presents as they were so easy and effective!

Cushion

As a break from the big blanket project in September, I made a cushion using some leftover Minnie Mouse fabric.

My daughter loved it so much she kissed it when I gave it to her!!

Kissed cushion!

Quilt/Blanket

In September I decided to attempt a bigger project and set about making a quilt/blanket for my daughter.  The plan initially was to make it using mine and my husband's old work shirts, but I quickly realised this would not give enough squares so I mixed in fabric from other sewing projects, I needed 108 squares in total.

With 108 squares cut, the next challenge was to plan the design and then stack the squares so it could be sewn.

To create the front of the blanket I sewed the squares in rows of 9 and then sewed the 12 rows together.

Rather than use wadding and traditional quilting methods to compete the project (I couldn't face learning how to edge it properly!), I used fleece fabric.  I sewed it with right sides together leaving a small gap to turn it the right way out and then hand finished the gap. 

I was really pleased with the finished blanket, as was my daughter!

Ta-dah!

Final approval!

Pencil Cases

As we start the new year, I want to finish writing up last year's sewing projects so that I can hopefully write as I complete new projects this year.

In July, I found a pencil case pattern and decided to give it a go.  The pattern I used was on See Kate Sew.  It was a really easy tutorial to follow and I was pleased with how it turned out.

I then made a 2nd as a present for a friend, she was really pleased with it.