New year, new post

 First, the UFOs:
The only one I finished was the Fabric baby book. One of my colleagues was expecting a baby, so I finished it all except for the cover - and then we all started working from home before I could give it to him, and he's now left the company, so I guess it will keep for another baby! It's quite nice though

Once that was done, I made a rainbow blanket for my friends who were also expecting. It was made with rainbow yarn so I didn't need to keep switching colours, and it came out quite well, if a little bit longer than I meant it to.

 

I even made an easter chick from a kit!

By then lockdown/working from home was in full swing, so I didn't get much else done till later in the summer as work was busy. I did manage to make a "bumblebee costume" one evening thanks to a random request:

Once work quieted down a bit at the end of September, I had more free time in the evenings (bed times had also got a bit earlier I think). So I made quite a lot (well, quite a lot for someone only sewing two hours a day) of clothes for the small one - mainly leggings but also a dress. I also made some for a couple of her friends. And we managed to finish the hat to go with her red pinafore, she requested doll's clothes for her scary looking doll one day, last of all I made her a party crown for Christmas.

I did manage to make some things that weren't children's clothes, too - mainly presents, but hopefully I can make myself something in the new year!

The best thing I got all year (got it in January, which seems so long ago) was my zigzag attachment which means I can do zigzag seams with my Singer sewing machine - otherwise I couldn't sew all these lovely knit fabrics!

And this year I've signed up to the 52 week sewing challenge on Facebook, so who knows I might be able to post a few more blogs since I'm documenting it all there anyway.

Reversible toddler sun hat - free pattern from Oliver + S

It's getting to be that time of year again where the child needs a sunhat, so I decided to make her one out of some fabrics from my stash. I used this free pattern from Oliver + S. Here are my fabrics, I used two fat quarters that I already had and some ribbon that I also had so I have managed to make a project without buying any additional stuff (which I never normally do!)

Mainly I followed the pattern instructions, with a couple of variations: - I pressed the edge of the side pieces 1/2" to make it easier to create the seams between the side, crown and brim. It's quite tricky to pin otherwise.

- I added two ribbon ties at the side seams when attaching the sides to the brim so that we can tie it to her head (it doesn't actually keep it on her head much more that usual unfortunately) - Initially I hand stitched the final seam as the pattern instructed, but I don't like how the hand stitching looks so I am planing to machine sew a seam very near the join and take out the hand stitches. I am using a contrasting thread as I like the way it stands out.

And here we are! A reversible sunhat which can also double as a rain hat if it’s not too wet.

She even kept it on her head long enough for me to take a photo< Br/>