January sewing

 So this year I signed up for the 52 week sewing challenge on Facebook. I've made it to week 4 ok, I'm not sure I'll be able to do all the challenges as I find myself thinking of new things I could do to meet the challenge instead of making things from my to-do list!

Week 1

Week 1 was "organise your sewing space", as I'm currently using the kitchen table for sewing, I organised my storage space instead and I went through and catalogued my fabric into albums on my phone so I can plan things without pulling everything out constantly. It was also annoying me that all my cotton thread was stored upstairs in my sewing box, so I found a tin to keep it in instead so I could bring it all up and down instead.

Week 2

Week 2 was "complete a work in progress/unfinished project". I had started making myself a tshirt and got really annoyed with the neckband after I had done it wrong twice, so I sat down and finished that off. It's still not perfect (the neckband should be ribbing really and I don't have any, so I used jersey which isn't really stretchy enough) but I will wear it anyway because I like the main fabric. And maybe one day I'll re-do the neck. (Pattern is Slim Fit Raglan from Patterns for Pirates, fabric is from Fabricasa but looks like they've sold out of that design)

Week 3

Week 3 was "make up a pattern you own that you've never made". Now I have several that fit that description, but in the end I decided to make up Hallå Patterns Twirly Skirt. It's a simple circle skirt so doesn't really need a pattern, but hey it's a free pattern and I don't have an easy way to draw a circle that big. Also it has pockets! Love pockets. I made it from some modal fabric that I'd acquired - mainly because I seem to buy 1m lengths of most things so I didn't have many pieces big enough - the modal feels nice to wear but it was very stretchy so a little difficult to work with especially on the hem.

Week 4

Week 4 was "make something for your head or feet" well I had promised a while ago to make a birthday crown for my friend's little girl so I did that. It's the same as the Christmas crowns I made, Crowning Glory from Made by Jack's Mum.

I also seem to be doing a "make all the cuddly toys" challenge with my toddler. I got a lovely panel from Bugweed's Fabrics and Crafts with easy cut and sew cuddly toys, and we've been making some of those up. She also requested an orange dinosaur, which we drafted from a picture in her dinosaur book, and soon it will be her friend's birthday so we made a pink bear using the free Plushie Pals pattern from Patterns for Pirates. (free patterns may be a theme - I do buy patterns but the free ones seem to be easier!)

Dusting off the blog! Past crafts:crochet

I have been crafting recently, I just stopped blogging about it. Here’s some things that I’ve made with my crochet hook in the intervening time.
Amigurumi - I made a few little animals as presents for my nephew when he was born:

The patterns for these came from “Let’s Get Crafting” magazine who helpfully put all their patterns online too, so here’s the links if you want to try. The wool is double knit weight.
dolphin pig crocodile
and here’s a little red dragon that I made for myself by adapting the crocodile pattern.

Blankets - I’ve made a few blankets for my friends and their babies, the first one I made was a stripy red one for my friend’s twins.

Here’s a granny square blanket that I made for us to curl up with on the sofa:

This one is one that I started not knowing who it was for and then I finished it when I got pregnant. I actually made two to the same pattern but somehow they ended up slightly different sizes. My tension isn’t always consistent so I like blankets because it doesn’t matter if they end up slightly the wrong size! It look like its lots of different colours, but it’s actually only two, the green sparkly wool and the rest is multicoloured random-dyed wool. The pattern for this came from “Let’s Get Crafting” as well so here’s the link Filet Crochet Blanket

Here she is when she was tiny under the blanket. She uses it for her dolls pram these days.

Baby clothes - I got a book of crochet baby patterns, so I made a couple of things from it, but the sizing seemed to end up a bit too big (could be my tension again) so I didn’t make too many after that.
Jumper - this one is for my cousin’s baby, it’s made with random dyed wool so that it can be stripy without having lots of ends to sew in! I made the 3-6 months size but it fitted him till he was a year old. The pattern is quite clever so there is only a small amount of sewing up, the centre back plus a small bit around the arms.

Coat - I made this for my daughter but it turned out that the sleeves were too long once she grew into the rest of it, and since it’s made of chunky wool it’s difficult to turn up the sleeves, so she hasn’t worn it all that much.

Dress - this was for my friend’s little girl for her first birthday. The zigzag stripes took ages with all the increases and decreases but it looks good in the end.

Other things - There’s a few other bits and bobs that I’ve made in the past few years.
Tiger gloves - I made some tiger stripy gloves out of chunky wool for my D&D character. I got the pattern from The Crochet Crowd, who do lots of free patterns and video tutorials, though they are based in Canada so the wool they use is not always available here.

Hungry Caterpillar - I made this as a toy for Grace before she was born. It was supposed to be about two feet long but ended up a lot bigger, I think I used wool that was heavier than the pattern intended. The original pattern is from a blog that doesn't seem to be active any more. If anyone wants the version I used, I have it written down somewhere so just drop me a comment.
Well I think that’s enough for now to cover the past six year of crocheting.

Patchwork Owl - March 2012

I've been making things lately, but I keep forgetting to blog about them so stand by for a few posts in a row.
Partly that was because I was making things as presents so I didn't post about them before i gave the present, and then I forgot all about it!

So in March it was my mum's birthday. I decided to make her a cake which you can read about here, and as a present I made her a patchwork owl as she runs a Brownie pack so she is a 'Brown Owl'.

Patchwork owl sitting on the sofa!

The pattern was quite simple as the owl is symmetrical, the main problem I had was hemming the beak & eyes (you might be able to tell from the picture they're a bit frayed especially at the corner of the beak)

Anyway my mum loves it so that's the main thing!