Kimono Baby Shoes

Today I attended a baby shower for my cousin. It was a great opportunity to try out the gorgeous little tutorial posted by Aimee of homespun threads.

They were a breeze to cut out and get the sole & upper made, but a little fiddly getting the shoe sizes exactly the same.  As you can imagine, millimetres of difference in the seam allowances on such a tiny project has significant effect.  I chose to interface the upper shoe with flannelette for a comfy feel and this meant that there was a little slipping and sliding when trying to attach the two pieces together (6 layers on the overlapping toes) with a little 1/4" seam.

  I got there in the end and I must say that I'm extremely happy with the fabric.  It's a double sided cotton/linen from Japan...so so lovely, a pleasure to cut with and very satisfying to sew with...you sewers know what I mean!  I used the gingham pattern on the inside, and polka dots on the exterior with a charcoal corduroy sole.  Anyhow, enough about fabric.  Here they are.  I teamed them with a tiny pair of white leggings and some facewashers.  She liked them if you were wondering, and I can't wait to meet the little person who will wear them!

Really Useful Fabric Roll

More makings from Pip's book.  This one a gift for a lovely friend who I thought might like to learn how to crochet.  I teamed this with a little crochet manual that I found at my local op-shop.  A nice gift for a nice friend.  I might just learn with her... I've always wanted to.

I made small alterations to the pattern - just added a few more divisions in the centre for the crochet hooks. and also changed the side of the ribbon to the left hand flap. I used a vintage cotton print and a heavyweight blue cotton for the exterior.  Same colours as my super-cute tote.  Four down, 18 to go.

Someone Buy Me

A ticket to New York so that I can go to this on the weekend!  How fun would that be?  Not to mention a day in the shop. I would go in there and never ever come out. 

Free Stuff I love: Pleats

The humble pleat is pretty but can require a touch of patience to get right. I love them. They make bags, clothes and other little things pretty when used in the right way. Here are a few tutorials I fancy that include how-to's for adding pleats to your projects!

Get the directions for making this gorgeous little pleated pouch from Sarah at My Spare Time right here.

Learn how to make these gorgeous pleated flower cards at studio calico

Why not be make something for you? Try these pleated skirts from LulaLouise

or this one from from thimble

Maybe make your own hairpiece at your wedding (or someone elses?) with this tute from Miss Taffy at Wedding Bee

Or if you're feeling confident, then try a pleated collar tutorial at Sew Mama Sew

And finally, if you'd like to learn some basic techniques, then try:

• This excellent post from Sew Mama Sew
  


• Or this one from Giabella Designs

 Happy pleating! xo

[all images from original linked sources]

Yoga Pants for Happy Babies

A little more sewing done last week. This time some winter pants for Miss E using Shannon's pattern in Meet me at Mikes.  I decided to use some red and grey corduroy instead of lightweight cotton, for warmth of course.  The red I found in my mother's stash last week - it was used when I was a little one...so I had to make something from the leftover fabric.  Grey was first but they were way too big for my petite little girl, so I downsized the pattern and the red fits pretty well.

Book of the Week: Bake

Bake by the Australian Women's Weekly.  If you don't have this book and you like to bake, then seriously consider buying it or getting someone nice to buy it for you.  It will be worth it.  I have been in love with this book ever since I received it.  The good old Australian Women's Weekly does it again.  A book absolutely full of the most delightful baking recipes.  And better yet, all these recipes are beautifully categorised into:  

Chocolate Cakes

Butter Cakes

Sponge Cakes

Fruit Cakes

Syrup Cakes

Loaf Cakes

Rich Dessert Cakes

Cupcakes

Kid's Birthday Cakes

Allergy-free baking

Biscuits

Slices

Muffins

Scones

Friands

Tarts and Pastries

Sweet Pies

Breads and Buns

Cheesecakes

Desserts

Christmas Baking

Savoury Pies and Tarts

On top of all that, there are lots of special features, including chocolate tricks and techniques, decorations, the basics to things like scones, muffins and gift wrapping, as well as step by step instructions on pastry making, special equipment and more!  Such a good one to have on the shelf.  I am not disappointed with this gift.  Not at all.

You can be tempted by this book here.   x o

(ps.  I thought Georgie was a pretty match, so she made an encore appearance)

Paper Dress

Wow.  Look what Jolis Paons made.  All out of phonebook paper.  I am truly impressed.  See all the photos here.

[via whip up]

Weekend Reading

It's out!!  I know i've said it before, but I think this has become my favourite online zine...it's just so good.  You should subscribe.  Really.  Not kidding.

Finders Keepers Markets May 09

It's a little late, but here are a few pictures of what I did last weekend.  Saturday I went to the Finders Keepers Markets at Carriageworks in Sydney.  They weren't too bad - a little smaller and more exclusive than I expected, also just a bit too crowded into one end of the building I felt, and as expected, heaps of people!  But otherwise, great fun.

Below are a few pictures of my loot - I bought a sampler pack of fabric from a group I did not know about (located in Leichardt) called Publisher Textiles.  They are open to the public on Saturdays and sell their hand printed fabric by the metre.  However, I did have a look at their website....my goodness!!  Rather expensive!  Not sure I'll be able to shop there, even though I'd love to.

My favourite stall was the Frankie magazine stall.  It included a small rack of cute vintage clothes and accessories.   I bought a lovely vintage doily as well as an embroidered apron, that I still can't decide whether to cut it up for a sewing project or keep and wear as is....let me know what you think!

Someone buy me...

Rest. I need some this week.

[rest is not idleness by J.M.Sheldon on flickr]

Free Stuff I love: Bloggers with lovely printables

Here are some of my favourite bloggers who regularly post lovely free printables.  They have pretty and useful labels, cards, artwork, and calendars for free!  Check out these lovely blogs and have a good click around to see what you can find!  Also worth adding these guys to your reader if they take your fancy.

Lets start with my favourite at the moment - Lollychops.  Just have a look at how many free downloadable cuties there are at this place.  Foodie stuff, paper, calendar, recipe cards, cards and tags...if you love stationary, visit right here.

A Print a Day - from the creator of parasol magazine, your daily dose of cute artwork and prints, along with regular freebies to download.

The downloads from The Blah Blah Blahg and invited guests are so sweet!  And there are heaps to browse through.

Decor8 has some lovely printable labels among many other lovely things..

Poppytalk also has lots of great labels and printable art

Blog Kind Over Matter has lots of cute things like these printable fortune cookies - all  positivity and kindess!!

Creature Comforts regularly posts cute stationary like this...

Artist Lisa Rupp shares a monthly printable calendar for her readers

Enjoy this week's browsing....see you again soon. xo

  [all images from linked original sources]

Fair Trade Fair 2009

What a weekend of markets it's been.  Right up my alley.  As mentioned last week I attended the Fair Trade Fair at our church and came home with some lovely handmade goodies....  

How cute are these handmade Peruvian little finger puppets from Ethica Accessories?  I purchased a pig, a lion and a Kookaburra for Ellie.  She adores them and keeps throwing them around and picking them up and throwing them down.  She is rather fond of the pig....he stayed with her all afternoon today.

I also bought a few other things - a nice handmade leather jewellery box, a pack of cross stitched notecards and a beautiful hand-knitted dark green alpaca wool scarf (some for presents, but the scarf is for me!).  

As i'm just about finished Ellie's quilt, I bought this pillow cover to match the pink and red.  It's sewn by hand and is so unique and beautiful.  Just the thought that someone put so much time into it makes all the difference.  Below are some of the numerous stalls we attended.  Please consider supporting their businesses as it means our fellow crafters around the world get a fair deal.  Links to websites are below the images, so check them out!

Ethica Accessories have the most beautifully knitted alpaca wool products from Peru.  SO soft!

Ethica Accessories

Chocolate Tasting Table (Green & Blacks, Cocolo) It was very good.

Nerada Tea Sampling Table.  I'd never had white tea and it's actually very nice.

Global Conduct have so many lovely things I didn't know where to start!

Global Conduct 

Tribes and Nations - the cutest little mix of toys, coffee, bags and other lovely things

Tribes and Nations

Carpets For Communities

Rise Up have lovely Organic and Fair Trade Cottons/cottton products - perfect for all the sewers and fabric printers out there!

So there you have it, please support Fair Trade and remember to look out for these symbols: