Bamboo baby blanket

This week I finished a simple little blanket for Violet.  Before I know it summer will be over and she'll be sitting up on chilly days in the stroller, so I'm stowing this away for a few months time.  I used some lovely bamboo fleece from here and some floral Voile from my stash.  Both delightfully smooth, soft and lightweight - perfect for keeping little bodies warm.

Love this vintage...

Blue suit from Belle Heir.  Adorable.  Can you tell I have lovely things for little people on the brain?  

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Monograms

A tiny package from France wrapped beautifully and delivered to my place this week.  

The contents?  A gorgeous box of vintage french laundry labels with my initials.  Love them. I've been on the watch for some monogrammed labels like this for ages and I finally have them.  Can't wait to find a project to use them with.

Love this vintage...

Photograph of Grace and Audrey, backstage at the Academy Awards, 1956.  Stunning.

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Five little bibs

Five little bibs, fresh off the production line for my littlest girl, and a really fun way to use up some of my fabric samples and scraps. I had so much fun going through my scrap box, which in my pregnancy nesting phase underwent major culling and is now only "favourite and useful scraps".  So much nicer than sifting through rubbish and fabric bits I'll never be able to use.

Fabrics I chose (left -right) were a turquoise Moda print; some vintage cotton, floral Voile from my local Lincraft and a couple of pink Liberty prints (below).  I've been hoarding my liberty sample stash for so long and I thought what better person to use them for than my own sweet girl?  The pink, grey and apricot 2011 seasonal is my absolute favourite.   So pretty up close.

These bibs are more suitable for 0-6 months and a smaller size than my regular feeding bibs, and I'm thinking it might be a good idea to pop some smaller ones in my shop at some point too, so you may see some like this appearing soon.

I hope you're having a lovely Sunday.  I'm celebrating that I survived week one on my own with toddler and newborn and made it safely to the weekend! 

Raglan Tee

Last weekend and early this week I completed this knit t-shirt for Ellie using this great tutorial from Craftiness Is Not Optional.  I picked up this striped interlock half price at a local sale, and the t-shirt came together really quickly - A lovely easy tutorial to start my knit projects with.

Unfortunately, I drafted the pattern a little long, as I forgot I was adding a waistband, and the shirt I used to draft my pattern on was as much stretchier fabric, so this is actually both a little long and also a bit too tight across the chest.  Will she wear it?   Nope.  Boo hoo.

Disappointed I am. My husband laughs at me when I get cranky that things don't turn out perfect first go.  I live and learn, but like it when I learn quick!

Hope you're enjoying more of todays creative spaces.

PS.  My new twin needle worked like a dream!  Love the result and highly recommend it.

Bloomers

Another little project that was completed before the arrival of Violet.  A series of newborn bloomers from Lotta's "Simple Sewing for Baby" (great book if you're looking for quick and easy last minute baby gifts!).  Now all I need is some warmer weather so she can actually wear them!

I think I've nearly survived Day 1 without my husband, with newborn and toddler all to myself!  Between what seem like uber-long newborn feeds, settling and 3 year old entertainment I'm beat.  Both kids are bathed and dinner is still to go -  Here's hoping the rest of the week is smooth sailing...

Love this vintage...

Enamel pitcher from Zinnia Cottage.  I'd have a shelf full of these things if I had the space.  Lovely.

The year of knits.

I've wanted to get cracking on some more knit sewing for some time now.  I've been looking through some Ottobre Magazines, some fantastic online tutorials, and I've recently been inspired by this series (really enjoyable if you want to get into some knit sewing). 

My goal this year is simple:  Sew more knits.  I've had a little taste of it before, but I probably started too complicated, and I want to be more confident, make less errors, and really enjoy sewing things I haven't been game to before (including some items for me!).  A few weeks ago I even bought a twin needle, so here goes! Despite my previous practise, I've never really committed to improving my skills and becoming a confident knit sewer.  While I would love an overlocker/serger, I know I don't really need one to dive in, so here goes!

This weekend I'm having fun with an easy little project.  I picked up some half price interlock at my local Lincraft, and I'm about to go and work out how to thread a twin needle on my machine.   Hopefully there will be just a little time to get some sewing done between newborn feeds.  We'll see.

Oliver and S Reversible Bucket Hat

Just before Violet made an appearance I made this little bucket hat for Ellie, my first project from Oliver + S "Little things to sew".  It was a one day project - taking me a little longer than I had anticipated, with a very pleasing result.

This is a lovely pattern, and yes it is reversible, but takes a little fiddling to get the reverse side finished just right.  While I didn't think so at first (from looking at the pattern), I think with the amount of even top stitching and fitting straight edges to curves needed in this hat, this is a project suited to an intermediate level or very confident beginner sewer.  If you're comfortable with a fair bit of fiddling and pinning, then you will be pleased with the outcome of this project.

That aside, Liesl's guidelines really are wonderful, and it was nice using a pattern of such high quality and clear instructions.  This is one beautiful book and I plan on making a few more things soon.  

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