Week 31: A t-shirt dress tutorial

It's been a great week. If only because I managed to make a second t-shirt dress and take enough pictures to write a tutorial. So here it is:

1. I've used a £2.50 t-shirt from Next. I measured on my daughter where her waist was and added a 1.5cm seam allowance. Before cutting, I put a strip of iron-on interfacing to stabilise the fabric.

 2. I used the whole width of my fabric but measured the length of skirt I needed + 7cm of seam allowance. I then folded 2 cm at the top of the fabric and pressed it then repeated the operation. This folded edge will become the gutter in which to insert an elastic.

 3. I stitched my gutter as close to the bottom edge as possible.

 4. I measured a piece of sewing elastic to be roughly the same size as the cut edge of the t-shirt. To insert the elastic in the gutter, I tape it to the end of knitting needle and push it through.

 5. Once you have inserted the elastic, pin it in place so it is flush with the raw edges of the fabric and as close to the seam you just made as possible.

6. I've used a French seam for this skirt, they're meant to be stronger for children's clothes. So, if you're new to a French seam, what you do is make a small seam (0.5cm) with the wrong sides of the fabric together.

 7. You then turn your fabric inside out and do a larger seam (1cm) with the right sides together. That means there should be no raw edges showing on your seam.

 8. By using this seam, the elastic will have been trapped twice in the seam as well.

 9. At this stage, the skirt part is nearly done. You could just seam the bottom and use it as it is but as we're making a t-shirt dress, there's a few more steps for you to follow.

10. Mark the 4 cardinal points of you skirt with pins, so the two edges and the two middle points.

 11. Do the same with your t-shirt and match them up, right sides together.

 12. Pin the hell out of it so it won't shift when you're stitching it. While pinning, try and push the elastic towards the seam so it doesn't catch when you're stitching the skirt to the t-shirt and create bulky seams.

 13. It's time to attach the two pieces together. I find it easier to have the t-shirt underneath so you have a smooth surface to "glide" on and you can keep an eye on the gathering of the skirt.

 14. Finally, all that's left is to seam the bottom of the skirt. I've used a 1.5 cm seam folded and pressed twice.

 15. Et voilà, you have made a t-shirt dress! Well done you!

 16. I've added a couple of finishing touches to mine. A pretty little ribbon at the front of the skirt and a a chest pocket. Not mandatory, but they're pretty.

My daughter was so excited to see her dress in the morning, she practically begged me to put it on. She then ran to the mirror to admire herself. Look at that proud grin! It made it so worthwhile!

I hope you enjoyed this tutorial. If you have any questions, feel free to ask!

Week 30: Maxi dress, mini dress

As my clients have more or less all gone on holiday, it's been eerily quiet on the work front. That means I've finally had some prime crafting time and that makes me so happy!

I'm on the short side, but just not quite short enough to fit into most stores' petite range so I often find myself having to shorten newly bought clothes, the worst offenders being trousers and long skirts. I've recently purchased a really beautiful, allbeit simple, maxi-dress which needed shortening by a good 4 inches. I'm glad to report that is now done and I'm very much looking forward to wearing my dress. 

A little while ago, I came across a fab online tutorial on how to make a t-shirt dress for a toddler. I have tons of small length (50cm-1m) of really pretty lovely fabric in my stash and this seemed like a great way to use some up. I've bought a small selection of £2.50 t-shirts from Next and paired them with some of the fabrics I had. All I needed was some free time to make the t-shirt dresses.

I had in mind to turn my efforts into my very own tutorial (I haven't exactly followed the one mentioned above) but I got a little carried away and forgot to take pictures along the way. Never mind, as the first attempt was a roaring success, I'll be making a couple more this week and I'll use those as a tutorial for you lovely readers.

All in all, not counting my time obviously, I reckon this little t-shirt dress cost me less than £10 to make. Pretty good value for a one-of-a-kind item, non?

I can also say that it fits my daughter perfectly but she was too wriggly for me to take a decent picture. Maybe in one of the next dresses. Something for you to look forward to next week :-)

Screen printing fun

I learnt the art of screen printing while assisting the lovely Helen Rawlinson (do check her work, she makes the most gorgeous things!).

I decided to invest in a kit last year with the idea of printing baby vests but after printing a grand total of four vests, I ran out of puff and time and the kit and the blank vests just lay there abandoned.

But as I've now set up a Facebook selling page and might have a stall at my WI's Christmas Extravaganza, I figured I'd best get printing again.

With the help of my (very patient!) hubby, I've spent a couple of evenings printing the stock of vests and some tote bags too.

Ok, they're nowhere near as original as what Helen makes but I'm happy with how they turned out. All of these are now on sale on my page, so go and have a look.

All about comfort: speedy nursery makes

In the summer of last year, I'd bought some very cute, vintage looking, flannel fabric to make a spare cover for my maternity pillow but as with everything else, I never got round to it.

When Nimue was diagnosed with silent reflux at four weeks (horrible, horrible, horrible! I'll spare you the details), it became clear we'd be spending quite a bit of time on her feeds. During the day it's no big issue, it just takes a bit of patience but at night, when you have to spend a minimum of an hour each time in the nursing chair, you want to be comfortable. So I've used my fabric to first make a cover for the nursing pillow. A very wise move that's been as in the last few weeks, her reflux isn't so silent anymore and it's been good to have a washable cover on that cushion!

And since I had some fabric leftover after that, I've also made a neck pillow so if we doze off, we don't end up with a crooked neck. I've used a ton of toy filling I had in my stash to stuff the cushion and hey voila, our necks have been taken care of :-)

I didn't have a pattern for either. For the nursing pillow I traced around the cushion and then corrected the lines/angles. For the neck pillow, I dug up an inflatable one that lives in my suitcase and used that as the basis for my pattern. It was all done in about a couple of hours while hubby looked after the little one. Maybe not my best piece of sewing but it has been a real life saver these last few weeks!

Gearing up for a lot of baby makes

As we get ever closer to our 20 weeks scan, and by that, the mid-point of my pregnancy, I am more and more itching to make stuff for the baby.

We have settled on a loose "owl" theme for the nursery and I've placed an order for a load of fabrics from Fabric Rehab. I'm hoping to turn those into a baby quilt, a cot bumper, some cushions and whatever else I can think of. Aren't they cute?

Inspired by the Make Lounge and their brilliant screenprinting workshop, I've also ordered a Permaset screen printing kit. Expect some pictures soon of printed baby grows and T-shirts!

I already own a couple of baby knitting and crochet books which I'm really fond of, namely
Crochet for babies and toddlers by Betty Barnden and Baby knits for beginners by Debbie Bliss. Both have great projects in them, really well explained and generally easy to make, I highly recommend them.

I've now ordered a few more books, The ultimate book of baby knits by Debbie Bliss, which I'd been eyeing for some time now as it's full of really beautiful and practical projects and I trust the author, and Cute and easy crocheted baby clothes by Nicky Trench, which I've only just discovered but like a lot already.

I'd also ordered the Big book of baby afghans but promptly decided to return it. I couldn't find one single project in the book that I liked. Every single afghan looked like something that would have been popular when I was born, in the late seventies. It's all a bit frilly and lacy and the stereotypical pastel palette made it even less palatable. It's the first time ever I have returned a book but I really couldn't see any point in keeping this one and couldn't think of anyone that might have liked it instead of me.

Now I just need to find the time to make all these lovely things!

Feeding the addiction

If you've been following this blog, you'll know there is no denying that I am a crafts addict.

Since moving to Bristol, I have been on the look out for new "dealers", lovely little shops where I can buy all the supplies I need to feed this addiction of mine.

And so I have discovered Get Knitted, the biggest knitting shop I have ever seen and Shiney Rocks, a jewellery supplies shop which also offers classes. I've also managed to locate the nearest Hobbycraft and John Lewis and its (disappointingly small) haberdashery department.

What I haven't yet managed to find however, is a nice fabric shop. Sure, there's the rather imposing Fabric Land in town which sells a variety of fabrics and sundries at reasonable prices but it's not really "nice" fabric, you know, like the ones on the lovely fabric wall at the Make Lounge.

So when I was in London last week, I made a little detour via the Make Lounge. I wanted to say hello to owner Jennifer and whoever of my former colleagues was around and re-stock my stash a little - not that it was ever depleted, mind you! I found, as always, some gorgeous fabrics and took some home.

This lovely neutral set will soon become a baby quilt

Not sure what these will become but they are just so pretty, I couldn't resist

On my way back to the station, I popped into Ray-Stitch which had only just opened when I left London. I'd not planned to buy anything else but I caved in for these colourful fat quarters.

So that's my fabric cravings taken care of for a little while...