presents for my nephew and easy projects

my nephew will be one on thursday, i hope i'll get the trousers and t-shirt to him on time in the post... they are supposed to be combat type trousers but i think i might have placed the pocket a little too low, i didn't think of the hem.
the pattern is burda 9716 it's got a nifty fake fly and the instructions of pulling one leg into the other before sewing the seat and front seam were very handy, i don't think i've done that before but it's been at least 10 years since i sewed anything as complicated as trousers. i'm going to make a simpler pattern, with just one pattern piece for quick to make trousers, i might put a 'fake fly' into that, too.
the t-shirt is appliqueed with matching fabric, using bondaweb and a satin stitch

and here some photos of my new matching sewing machine cover, pin cushion and ironing board... making the ironing board cover was a simple matter of piecing the plain and printed fabric, putting it on the ironing board and going around it at about 10cm distance. then i went around it twice with the sewing machine, creating a casing for the tie that i took out of the old cover.
the sewing machine cover is made from two rectangles (one pieced) and one strip, i measured off the plasticky cover that came with the machine, and i'm actually using both, the plasticky one for sturdyness and the fabric one 'cos it's pretty...
and the pin cusion as you can see is just two squares of fabric sewn together.

not very impressive projects, but quick and fun and instant gratification! and they'll stay in my house, unlike all the presents i made lately. pity it's so much harder to make grown up clothes...

fabrics

felted jumpers, waiting for bag inspiration


this apron is from the charity shop, it looks like it was a school project, the seams are quite uneven. unfortunately it has a little stain. Will I cut it up? or try to get out the stain? although it doesn't really fit me, it's a bit small.


these are cotton shirts that i cut up for fabrics, the pink one's my favourite. they are partly from the charity shop and partly donated by P. I might make some more bibs from them,


this is another charity shop find, a big polycotton (that's what 50/50 polyester and cotton is called, right?) duvet, washed many many times, a lovely soft feel to it. i think it might make pretty lining for a tote bag. although all the wool fabrics i have wouldn't really go with pale brown and dusky pink on cream background. i think dark brown soft corduroy would work well though!


i can't claim credit for these, my mum made them for me ages ago, she wen't on a course. they are not pieced but attached to this foundation fabric that has pre printed squares, so it's easier to get the squares at the right angles. she made a good few of these at a course, and also some small star shaped tablecloths, for christmas, they are done on a different foundation fabric, with 30 degree angles on it.

the photos are taken with the new camera that p. got me as a surprise. it's a small compact camera, i haven't quite figured it out yet, it doesn't always seem to be focusing, it's supposed to from 50cm or further. but the menu is well layed out and it has a lot of handy functions. it's also much quieter than my old one (which was a bad value very basic olympus i bought out of the pure frustration of my lovely canon powershot breaking after the warranty was up and i didn't have a lot of money to spend, a bad buy. i should know better, it's probably like spontaneously going to the hairdresser!)

finished cushions

I took this cool photo the other morning when a flock of birds visited the neighbourhood


and here finally the finished cushions for the living room

and I got this lovely super soft blanket in just the right colour in TKMaxx... it had a horrible, uneven (hence the cheap price), yellow mashine stitched border, which i unravelled and replaced with this fire engine red crochet border, i think it's called dogtooth edge? I'm not sure... I wasn't even sure how to do it until i picked up the crochet hook and then it came back to me, from a long long time ago... I vaguely remember my granny or mum showing me how to do it when i was in school.

-PS it's not quite the right colour but i think it might be after a few more washes...

cushion - started / tissue holder - finished

i ran out of the red fabric, i meant to make two matching but not quite identical cushions, now i have to wait for the last half yard of the same from that ebay site...

things i've made lately

This is my latest creation, a pincushion for an aspiring designer friend who was getting a lot of hassle - from a ginger person...


A soft and cuddly elephant, made from westphalian fabrics (Westfalenstoffe) that I bought in Germany. The traditional cotton fabrics from this area are mostly blue or navy with white printed patterns, or woven stripes and squares with white, red and green. In the seventies and eighties my sister and I had matching dresses made with their printed fabrics, white with red or blue, must dig up some photos! My granny's aprons were mostly made of their weaves. These days they do most of the traditional and many new prints and weaves, and I think they ship abroad as well.


These two are for P's niece, the clothes are made from 'recycled clothes'.


This 'grab ball' was a lot of fiddly work, 36 separate parts to make into 12 segments, and then those are stuffed, sewn closed and finally all sewn together (very very securely, because it's for a baby). The fabrics are 8 different Westfalen prints and some plain cotton.


This was my first patchwork project, it was supposed to be a cushion cover at first, but then i realised babies don't need cushions, and bought more fabric and made it into a small light blanket (a little on the small side), using flannel for batting and thrifted pillowcases in the softest 1000times washed checked cotton for the back.