A Foxy Friday Treasury

Someone on Facebook linked the most amazing handmade Fox sweater dress today and I love it so much it promted me into a bit of a Foxy Etsy spiral. So I made this treasury to not only share this amazing find, but also lots of other amazingly cute Foxy things which you can find on Etsy:

 

The Treasury can be found here

Top Left - Right: Fox Dress with Ears, Crochet Pattern-Flint Fox Cowl, Woodland Fox Iphone Case, Nursery Art Print; Fox family

Middle Left - Right: Plush toy sewing pattern, Red Fox Shoes, Fox Scarf Kids, Fox Ring

Bottom Left - Right: Fox Mask and Tail, Fox Stud Earrings, Fox Felt Purse, Cloud9 Fanfare Fox print fabric

I hope you like my little foxy treasury. I am glad I now have some of these are bookmarked for later! I have a real hankering to make some pjs out of the cloud9 fabric, but its quiet expensive for just lounge pants really.

My Version of Tilly's Picnic Blanket Skirt

I really enjoyed the Christmas edition of The Great British Sewing Bee, it was great to see it back on our televisions and I really can't wait for next years series. Along with that I have been really getting in to reading the sewing blogs I have on my list lately and its really inspired me to get sewing again. I thought it was a perfect chance to re-post a blog post from my previous blog on here. What makes it even better timing is that 1: this skirt probably fits perfect now, and 2: in my attempt to get inspired and back on it I am going to attempt to finish the top at the bottom of the post which has been sat half finished for 6 months! What really inspires me about sewing bee though is trying out something which is outside of your comfort zone, so I hope it continues to help me grow, my tailoring skills do need a lot of work. So here you go:

I know most internet seamstresses have come across Tilly's fabulous blog, and her 'Picnic Blanket Skirt' tutorial. Well, I wasn't going to give this one a miss was I!I originally thought I might make this up in the out to sea fabric, so went to the local fabric shop for some cheap cotton to make a mock up and check I liked the design. Well, those that know me well will know I cant walk away from the leopard print once I have seen it! So what if I made a mock up with fabric I adore, at least I will get some wear out of it (I think the shoes might be a bit much!).

This is the first time I have ever EVER sewn buttonholes and I am so proud of myself. I took the extra time to measure them, and did a couple of practice runs first. They came out so pretty and neat, and I love the little wooden buttons to match the brown.

After also reading Tilly's post about sewing with cottons I decided to add a lining. Now this is not at all in the instructions for the pattern but it was so easy. I just used an old bit of black synthetic fabric which I had lying around, I have no idea what it is but it worked a treat. It added a nice amount of weight to the cotton without it getting too heavy, and I hate wearing a skirt without tights so it stops the cotton from sticking to them. All in all I am very happy with the way it turned out. It was a great little pattern, and was so simple to follow but very informative at the same time. I think I might have been a little bloated when I took my waist measurements as it is slightly too large now on the waist. I will either sew some belt loops on to the waist band or save this for my winter wardrobe when I will be carrying a few extra pounds!

So what is on my sewing table next? I am trying out the 'tunic' pattern from the sewing bee book as the pattern is included. I am aiming to conquer my fear of jersey knit armed with a walking foot and a super easy pattern which doesn't include any binding on the neckline! Still sewing every stitch with my fingers crossed and my eyes closed.

I Joined the Christmas Jumper Parade

So its all gone a bit mad on the old Christmas Jumper front, and you can't turn round in the shops without seeing one either for sale, or one already on the shoulders of the person stood next to you. Now I am not saying this is a bad thing, I love a scandi jumper and wish I could knit one myself, however there are some truly tacky versions out there as well.

 

Anyway, being as Save the Children, Costa, as well as many other places have been naming 'Christmas Jumper Day', and work are almost insisting on it as a uniform as part of the last week of work, it only seemed polite to join in. Of course I was not just going to nip to primark for a cheap one was I, not when the opportunity to applique one presents itself.

So here we have my Christmas reindeer jumper styled on my own Christmas tree decoration design, complete with woolly pom pom nose. It is just machine sewn on to an old jumper using fleece fabric so anyone could give this a go.

Are you styling a Christmas jumper this year? If so, what have you gone for, traditional knitwear, large prints, or are you donning your own DIY version? I would love to know.

Quick Edit: How well timed was this post after Patrick's applique reindeer on GBSB! 

Post Wedding Round Up: The Wedding Dress

Ok, so this is the one you have been waiting for right? Well I won't keep you in suspense any longer...

It is actually separates rather than a dress. The skirt is princess style and knee length and was made by my sister Rachel. It is made from 18 layers of soft tulle fabric, 8 pink underneath, 10 white on top, with a satin layer in between to keep my modesty. She painstakingly cut and stitched each layer. It is basically 19 circle skirts sewn together. She did a great job of this, the layers are perfect. 

The top is a baby pink silk satin corset which was handmade by my sister in law Alex. Alex has made a number of corsets in her life, and has always done a really professional job of it so I knew she was perfect for this task. It is laced up the back, and doesn't have a front fasten to keep a lovely clean line. I love the neckline.

I am so pleased with the final finish, they did such a good job of excellently turning  the image I had in my head into something real. I also wanted something which I could and would wear again. The corset is perfect for this, and my sister has given me the skirt pattern so I can use this as a petticoat for evening wear, perfect! 

A together I think the outfit really worked and was so very me. And who was I to resist finishing it off with Rock and Roll Bride for Crown and Glory cat ears. Mr Fox was completely not surprised with my unique take on wedding attire.

I love it! Thank you sisters xx

Photo's thanks again to the talented and 'award winning' Ed Godden Photography

I Blinged My Jumper!

Yes that's right, look at the pretties! I thought it might feel a little more festive to have a sparkly jumper, and lets face it, this is much more fun than a plain old black one don't you think?

I originally wanted to pom pom it, but I couldn't make small enough pom poms which would be secure enough to go through the machine. That might be a job for another day if I purchase some multi coloured manufactured poms. I was also going to bling the whole jumper but decided after a small section that I really just liked the chevron pattern in it so left it there.

The jewels have a little hole in the top and bottom so they are sewn on rather than glued as I thought this would be more secure option. They key to this is to buy a cheap jumper, and mark out where you want to place the jewels before sewing them on. I used tailors chalk and a ruler and marked out a diagonal pattern before I started sewing and this made them pretty even.

I will try to get a picture of me in the jumper, but Mr Fox is not the best photographer and so it may take many attempts, especially as I won't see him in daylight now for another week.

Fit for a Queen (or King) Crown

I love it when you get a little idea for something whimsical and it turns into such a great little successful project. This one was really quick and I am so pleased with the outcome. Isn't it a spectacular crown, I am sure any little future King or Queen would be happy to receive this. 

I have made this one for a friends daughter (hence the 'Queen') as a little Christmas gift, so I am really hoping she likes it. I can see me making more of these in my future.

 

These are made using two layers of felt fabric, with a layer of iron on interfacing in the middle. You could make it without, but it make it much sturdier. 

The pattern idea basically came from combining the following two tutorials:

Dress up Crown by The Long Thread

and Royal Felt Crown by Long Things

I hope you like my felt crown, and I urge you to have a go at one of these yourself for any young Kings and Queens (or in fact yourself) in your life. 

Post Wedding Round Up: The Bouquets

I purposefully didn't want to purchase real flower bouquets for my wedding. The idea was to hand craft as much as possible. I started off, like I usually do, collecting images from the internet with ideas and popping them on (yep you guessed it) pinterest. There were actually tons of ways to DIY flowers out there I was surprised at the amount of different ideas I got from it.

So after a couple of evenings with my bridesmaids trying out different techniques, with some attempts more successful than others, we finally settled on these. It was actually something which I didn't find an image or tutorial for but just happened to cobble together from the collective ideas I got. I think it worked perfectly and the colours really complimented the dresses. I think the finishing touch of the ribbon which my mum did really helped as well.

I am not planning on writing up a tutorial on these as there is some vague twinkle in my eye about making them for sale. But should that not happen I will of course show you how to. In the meantime, check out the board (sorry it's on my old account) and hopefully find some fabulous ideas for yourself. It's actually really easy to make your own wedding bouquets and the best thing about them is that they will keep forever as a souvenir of that special day.

A little sneaky peak there at the dresses! but look at how well they work with the colour scheme.

I plan to run the wedding bits as a series of Friday posts, so watch out for next weeks installment!

Photos by Ed Godden

Christmas Gift DIY

I am full of festive cheer at the moment. Any excuse to put on a christmas tune and have a sing a long. So naturally we are all thinking about the decorations and the gifts. 

My mum has always had a fascination with wrapping anything and everything for under the tree, something which has rubbed off on the rest of us. So I wanted to hand make a couple of the stocking fillers this year. 

All my family are huge gardeners, from my grandad to my younger sister, so naturally all enjoy relaxing outdoors enjoying the fruits of their labour. So I decided to adapt my DIY ombré candle tutorial and make these cute little terracotta plant pot candles.

They are scented using citronella which it perfect for these as it is known to be an excellent insect repellant, so great for lighting outdoors in the evening. 

I also had an excellent brainwave for the wicks, instead of tying them around, if you pull them over and then tape them to the outside using duct tape then you get a much better wick placement. 

A word if note as well if you are thinking of starting the is to plug the hole with either a bit of duct tape or cover it with a penny. 

I hope you, and they, like them. I would love to know what wonderful/quirky Christmas traditions your family have passed down, or what DIY stocking fillers you are planning to make this year.

Post Wedding Round Up: The DIY Glittery Shoes!

I am finally able to start blogging some of the DIY craft done for the wedding, I'm so excited to be able to show you now that I have some decent professional photo's thanks to our fabulous wedding photographer Ed Godden.

You will all remember the DIY Glitter Shoes tutorial that I posted a couple of months ago. Well not only did we glitter my shoes but we also glittered the bridesmaids shoes. The idea was that they could pick the style of shoe they wanted and then they would end up matching as we used the same glitter on them all. They turned out fantastic don't you think? I am so pleased with them and they matched the dresses so perfectly.

The Glitter on my shoes was a very chunky nail art glitter with large heart shapes in. This created a lovely effect, but the finish was not particularly smooth. The blue on the other hand was an extra fine glitter which produced a much smoother sheen with a more professional finish. Which do you prefer? I really can't make my mind up!

Next up I want to show you the DIY Bouquets, they were so much fun to make, and so simple. I know, I know, you want to see the dresses and what we actually looked like. I hear you don't worry but I wanted to show you the elements before I put them all together. It will all come along very soon I promise, so watch this space.

Little Fox Jumper

Foxy Make number 1:

I had lots of fun making this little number for my nephew as it is his 2nd birthday in a couple of days. 

I can't take any credit for the design idea, I found the inspiration for this on pinterest and it is 100% credited to Elise Hooper Designs on Etsy. So if you want one, I would advise you head over there and purchase one of her excellent hoodies. But this was a super fun project to fill a Sunday morning whilst Chris was sleeping and feeling snotty.