And the winner is...

Well my lovelies who entered my charm square giveaway, you had a 25% chance of winning, and the random number generator selected comment number 1:

so congratulations...

...you are the proud owner of 40 random squares of fabric.  Hope you've got big plans for those ladybirds.  They are all packaged and ready to go, please get in touch through my blog to let me know how I can get them to you.

Thank you to everyone else for playing along.  Hope your weekend is going FABulously well.

Restyled 50's dress

Remember the vintage floral fabric I acquired?  Here is how it looked made into a dress back in the late 50s.  My mother made this outfit herself at the age of 14.  I don't know about you, but at 14 I'm pretty sure I wasn't sitting at a sewing machine making my own clothes.  Such wasted opportunities - and something I plan to address (did you get the pun - heehee) with my own girls.

When she decided she no longer wanted to wear the dress, mum pulled it apart and saved the material from the full skirt.  There was roughly two metres of fabric, more than enough to make a swing dress for Renee.

Despite her expression, she truly does love the dress.  Something stung her on her upper leg just before I took this photo.  I captured the moment she realised she had been stung:

What the....??

Poor girl, our photo shoot was very short-lived.

Inspired by the mini Boden dress below (isn't it adorbs?), I drafted a pattern and made up a test dress using an old sheet.  The first attempt was a bit snug and the neckhole was too tight so I'm glad I took that step instead of cutting straight into the fabric.

Tackling the panel and facing on the front of the dress was the hardest part. I made two attempts at it and I am still not entirely happy with it, but since I have no fabric left to have another go, it shall remain like it is until it falls apart.  There is probably an easier way of making a facing with a neckline shape like this, but I ended up making a full facing that is in a 'y' shape to neaten the panel from the reverse side.

The most enjoyable part of constructing this dress was stitching a diamond pattern on the front panel.

I don't know about you but one thing I cannot do on a sewing machine is a blind hem stitch. Somehow, I miss stitches completely in places and have huge stitches on the outside of the garment in others and, to me, it just looks so messy with all those v-stitches on the reverse of the fabric.  I usually just topstitch my hems to avoid this issue altogether, but for this dress, I ended up hand sewing the hem and front facings.

The dress has deep hidden pockets, good hidey holes for Renee's little treasures and she thinks they are the best part of the dress - although for a child who has been known to be a little light-fingered at times, I'm not sure I thought that one through...

The dress is a little on the big side, but at least this way, she will get a couple of years' wear out of it.

Degree of difficulty: Inserting the panel into the neckline at the front of the dress and the facing was hard, the rest of the dress was easy
Time taken: 2 days
Result: Renee loves her new dress and wants to wear it to school while her mother will spend the whole day praying it won't fall apart in the playground.

The point of no return

Wish me luck, I'm going in.

FABRuary giveaway

Would you look at that?  It's February already.  That means I have been blogging for nearly five months.  I'm still full of ideas, fair bursting at the seams in fact, and seeing more people join up to read about my crafting journey motivates me even more to see the projects through. So, to thank you for coming and visiting my little part of the blogging universe, I am going to have a giveaway (oooooohh) and it involves fabric (aaaaaahhh).  I'm dubbing it my FABRuary giveaway for all by FABulous friends.

In honour of my husband's significant birthday next week, I have cut 40 charm squares (roughly 13x13cm) from some fabrics in my stash for one lucky reader.  Some are slightly undersized, but I am sure you will forgive me for that and for the fraying edges; I need to invest in some pinking shears.  Some of these prints are, shall we say, inexpensive, but there are some nice quality ones in there too, and even one or two hard to find Kokka pieces.

You might think I've gone a bit dotty:

Most fabrics are light to mid-weight cottons:

There are also some wool blends:

As you know, we are heavy on the girl prints in this household:

But there are some boy prints thrown in too:

So, hopefully there is something in there for everyone. Are you excited??

All you need to do is leave a comment telling me which is your favourite charm square bundle (I'm just curious). The giveaway is open to New Zealand-based members of my blog only (I am sorry about that, my international lovelies).  I will announce a winner next Saturday.

I didn't, I won't (Part 2)

Indecisiveness is a trait of mine (such as choosing paint colours), and when it comes to gift selection, I can dither like the best of them.  I know when I have found the perfect gift because I have that feeling of certainty that it fits that particular person's interests and lifestyle and knowing that they will love it makes me happy.  When I feel indecision as strongly as I did with the ripple crochet blanket, it's usually a sign that it's the wrong gift for the intended recipient.

So, while my girls made merry baking mayhem in the kitchen this afternoon...

...I opted to sew my friend's new baby a change mat instead.  I feel happier about this already so I know I'm on the right track.

Using Tea Pea's change mats as my inspiration, I cut a template from an old change mat of mine and curved the edges.  Some of you may recognise the Michael Miller prints I used.

Many store-bought change mats have a layer of wadding for absorbency.  The downfall is that it cannot be machine-washed (if you are inclined to follow the manufacturer's care instructions).  What's the point of a change mat if you can't machine-wash it when it's dirty?  Hand washing items is not my favourite job, and it's not likely to feature highly on a new mother's list of priorities either.  To counter this, I put a double layer of cotton fabric between the outer layers.

I used striped bias binding, mainly because it contrasted with the fabrics and also because it was the only one in my stash that wasn't girly.

Degree of difficulty: Easy
Time taken: 40 minutes
Result: I'll let you know what the new owner says.  It was quite a nice departure for me to sew with boy's prints.

Do I, don't I, will I, won't I? (Part 1)

Your impartial advice is needed please.  I am full of indecision on this one.  This ripple blanket was started a while ago in anticipation of the birth of my friend's baby boy and now he is here (yay!), I'm not sure if it's something my friend would even like to receive as a gift (boo)?  I know that crochet items are not everybody's cup of tea and I would hate for her to accept it out of politeness.

Added to that is my nervousness about gifting something for the first time that I have made myself. Will it survive its first wash?? Will little fingers pull on a thread and unravel the whole thing?

I made it a travel blanket size so it fits in a capsule and stroller.  It's made from pure wool so will be handy for the cooler months ahead.  I think the colour combination is quite masculine, but now that I've worked it up, I'm thinking I probably should have gone with a chevron pattern rather than a wave.

Now that I've bared my soul to you, what do you think I should do?  Should I just go safe and buy her son a book or something instead?

Vintage floral fabric

When I saw this fabric stashed away in a cupboard at my mother's house it was instant love.  I'm so glad she agreed to let me have it.

The cotton fabric is from the 50's and despite the odd stain and hole, it is in amazing condition for its age.  It's so soft to touch and I love the floral print, even if my husband thinks it looks like an old curtain.

I didn't have a specific project in mind at the time but now I do and I can't wait to get started.  It might have to wait a little bit longer though, it is still school holidays here and I really need to concentrate on this one because if I make a mistake with pattern placement or sizing, there are no second chances.