New Look 6235:Baby Shark Dressing Gown

How adorable is this! I'm not sure Master Fox needs a dressing gown quiet yet but why would he not want this adorable shark one?!?

The pattern is New Look 6235 and it comes with two dressing gown variations as well as knit Jersey pants and top. Of course I chose the pattern for the shark dressing gown, but the jersey pants will no doubt come in very handy, especially as Mr Fox has donated a couple more t-shirts to the sewing cause! 

Because he can't even sit up yet I decided to make the dressing gown in one of the larger sizes so he can wear it whilst sitting about the house. It's about 18lb which roughly equates to 3-6 months, but I anticipate us fitting in this by autumn. It does feel a bit on the large side though but it will give him plenty of room to wrap himself up and grow into. 

I didn't want to spend a whole lot of extra money making this up so I decided to use this project as a bit of a stash buster. I used some grey fleece (formally a blanket) and some plain white cotton to line (formally a bedsheet!) which I already had cluttering up the craft room. They are great for the project, the fleece is warm and snugly and the cotton perfect for next to the skin, warm in the winter, cooler in the summer. However if I was to purchase fabric to make this it would be great with a soft toweling lining to dry off after a lovely warm bath.

I only made a couple of very minor amends to the pattern. I stitched black fleece circles to the hood before attaching the lining instead of using buttons - babies and buttons are not the best combo in my opinion. I also omitted stuffing the teeth as the fleece fabric is pretty sturdy already. 

The pattern was very simple and easy to follow. As others have mentioned the sleeves are a little complex when finishing off but if you read the instructions clearly it makes sense. There are minimal pieces to this, they go together well and as its loose fitting there is no need to get a perfect size. Even the tie was easy to do. I will definitely make this again either in a bigger size or as a gift for any future mums to be that I know. 

I was inspired to make this by seeing That's Sew Amy's version on the Minerva blogger network Blog post. I love it though, it's definitely my kind of sewing :) 

Mr Fox has a fear of sharks but he surely can't be scared of the cute little Master Fox when he is wearing this!

Mummies and Bunnies and Twig Trees

The title nearly rhymed didn't it? I have had a busy but very enjoyable weekend. Saturday was spent mooching around in the good weather and then spending time out and about and playing crazy golf and eating yummy food with some good friends. Sunday, of course being mothers day here in the UK, was spent visiting the lovely mummies, eating more lovely food and generally catching up/chilling out. I really can't get used to loosing an hour to daylight savings though. Its going to be lovely having some daylight in the evenings (maybe I can actually take blog pictures in the week now) but I feel likes its earlier in the day than it really is, and getting out of bed this morning was a killer!

Anyway, I mentioned the other day getting back to some old school sewing projects and here you have it, some Monster Magic inspired bunnies ready to hang up in time for Easter. I designed the patten myself  based on an old bunny pattern I had (which have been described as looking like teeth wtf?!?). They are mostly machine sewn with the exception of the french knot eyes and the closing seam. The body is made from fleece and the ears from felt and cotton fabric scraps, these are such good little projects for using up those small left over bits you can't bear to throw away.

I really enjoyed doing this again. I love the little bit when you sew on their eyes so they have real faces, or when you stuff and sew their husks and make them come to life. Is that strange? oh who cares.

My sister has a lovely twig tree in her house and I wanted to steal her idea to use for displaying things on at the craft fair. I contemplated doing a tutorial for this but to be honest I don't think you need to be taught how to suck eggs so here you go:

Twig Tree Tutorial:
1. Gather some sticks
2. Paint them with emulsion (or don't like Rachel's)
3. Stick them in a vase/plant pot/ other receptacle
4. Hang things off it!
 If you want to secure the twigs I wrapped them in a cut up car sponge and then just shoved it in there. If you want to cover the top of the receptacle I used shredded tissue paper but you could also consider things like glass beads/sand etc.

So after the sunshine, the gardening, spending time with families and making these bunnies it really feels like it should be Easter already. The urge to go and buy a chocolate egg is getting far too strong.... must resist. Have you been inspired to make anything Easter related/themed lately, or have the signs of spring sprung you into florals? I would love to hear/see what you have been making.

Christmas Pudding Decoration Tutorial

Today I am going to show you how to make your own awesome Christmas Pudding tree decoration.

I came up with this design for a little stuffed pudding a couple of years ago when making stuff for my Monster Magic stalls at Christmas. Its very quick and easy to make and looks lovely when all finished up on your tree. Its a great little project to make as its quick so you could have a whole ton of these made up in time for that special day.

You will need:

Brown Fabric (anything will do, I used Fleece)
White Felt
Sewing Machine and or Sewing Needle and thread
Stuffing
Pins
Paper
Skissors
Pen/Pencil
Small piece of ribbon
Green Felt
1 Button (preferable red, pink, orange or purple)

Step 1:

Using an upside down mug or glass draw round the edge on to a piece of paper, make two circles this way. Once you have your two circles draw a wiggly line across the center of one circle, as above (this is to look like icing/cream/brandy sauce yum!). Cut out the full circle and the top half of the wiggly line semi-circle.

Step 2:

Get yourself some brown fabric (I used fleece but you can use whatever fabric you have lying around) and some white felt. You can use brown felt for the main body, but I find that it doesn't have much give in it to make a nice plump pudding. Fold both fabrics in half, pin the full circle to the brown and cut round it. Pin the half circle on to the white felt and cut out. You should end up with two brown pieces and two white pieces.

Step 3:

Pin one of the white piece on to the right side of the brown fabric (good side of the fabric facing outwards) and top stitch along the wavy line. Do the same on the other piece of fabric.

Step 4:

Fold your small piece of ribbon in half and pin it onto the front of one of your circles, try to get it as central as possible. You want to try and have the raw ends poking a bit over the edge of the circle as above to be sure that you are going to catch with with the seam. Be careful where you place the pin as you are going to be sewing around it. 

You then want to put your two circles on top of each other, with right sides facing each other. Make sure that you line up the white sections as neatly as possible. 

Step 5:

Pin all the way around the circle, but you are going to need to make sure that you leave a gap for turning the seam the right way out. I like to mark this section with two pins so I know where to start and stop. You also need to make sure that the ribbon is not going to get caught in the seam. The best way to do this is by making sure it sits inbetween these two pins. You can see mine just poking out above.

Step 6:

Machine stitch (you can hand sew it) around the edge of the circle. It is a good idea to do some back stitching over the ribbon to make sure it is secure. Once you have done trim and snip along the seam so you get a nice circle.

Step 7:

Turn your pudding the right way out and stuff with soft toy stuffing. If you don't have any stuffing you can just use some old fabric scraps. 

Step 8:

Hand sew the opening closed using ladder stitch (here is a YouTube video) You should use matching thread but I was fighting sunset so I am using the wrong thread for speed!

Step 9:

Finally, cut two tiny holly shapes out of green felt and hand stitch these on to the top of your pudding along with a shiny red button. 

Voila! you have yourself an awesome looking Christmas pudding to hang on your tree. You could make these for your tree or as last minute stocking fillers for your friends. Its a great little project which is really quick, and you could have a go with your kids, either learning to use a sewing machine, or if they are a bit younger helping to pick out the buttons.

If you make one of these up I would love to see it.

Its my birthday tomorrow so I am not going to be wishing you Merry Christmas just yet. I have been baking my little socks off since finishing work for Christmas on Friday in preparation for some family and friends coming over. I made my first ever Christmas cake, many batches of mince pies (using my Aunties home made mincemeat! Yum!), and I have some dough rising for pitta's and bread sticks. I hope tomorrow brings me lots of lovely crafty things to share with you all.