BABY QUILT NO. 2

Lately, the stork has been busy delivering bundles of joy to my friends. Another friend Z, has been blessed with a baby girl. So, this quilt was made with lots of love for the new arrival using the same pattern as before.

I wish I could make a sweet pink one, to comply with the distinctive gender specific. But I don't have pink combo scraps in my stash and keeping true to my principles, I try to be economical in my craft. Remember - reduce, reuse, recycle!

I settled with what I have - the middle yellow and blue material is twill bought at $1 per metre at Hospice Shop, the rest are all scraps from my previous dress-making and projects.

I like the idea of using flannel sheet as batting as it gives weight for the blanket. For the backing, I used fleece which I bought on sale at Spotlight for $5.59 per metre.

I hope you will enjoy it as much as I have making it for you Baby M. Welcome to the wonderful world!

STRIPED TOP

Among the stash of $1-a-bag scrap I got recently was a piece of  striped knit fabric. Soft and warm, perfect for the coming winter. 

I am finally happy to be able to use this sewing pattern which I bought from Spotlight sale a long time ago for $2. I used the Small size pattern for this top but the top is still slightly baggy for her.

This is my initiation ceremony working with knit fabric and I am loving it! Knit fabrics do not fray and not flimsy , therefore does not get in your way much. It is also a very forgiving fabric, allowing you to stretch to accommodate unmatched seam.

I have used straight stitch to join the seams and sew seams 2 times close to each other. Eventhough the pattern instruction tells me to stretch the fabric, I disobeyed it and followed the tips on sewmamasew.com. Though it is not necessary to finish the hem as knit fabric do not fray, I still finished it with a zig-zag stitch.

To personalise the top, I created the stencil of the letter "A"-  her initial - using the font "Forte" enlarged to 700 points on Words document. The material for the stencil is a fluffy soft pink fleece from the same stash. To applique the stencil, I stitched in in place with a straight stitch and finished it with a zig-zag stitch.

She was super excited and profusedly thanked me and proudly wore it to school today!!

TIERED RUFFLED VALANCE

I have been working hard on the bedroom make-over of my 10-year old girl. The make-over is long overdue and she certainly deserved it!!

I tossed back and forth between a full floor-length curtains and a valance. Taking into consideration that the room is small - at a mere 2 by 3 metres and we have an existing vinyl roller blind, I opted for the latter.

This valance  is inspired by this Pottery Barn Kids Ruffle Blackout Panel selling at over NZD120. I wanted to create a whimsical and colourful room for her, so instead of opting for a single colour I went over the top with contrasting colours and pattern. 

The valance is designed to have a curtain rod threaded  through a 2-inch flat casing. I have yet to get the curtain rod, for now they are temporarily mounted with push pins. 

To get a fuller gather of the ruffles, each piece is cut twice the length of the window. To make the ruffle, I adjusted my Brother BM-2600 sewing machine tension to No.1 and increase the length of the stitch to the max, No.4. Then with a straight stitch, I made two rows of stitches 1/2" apart at the top of the ruffle pieces. Then pull to gather to the required length.

The ruffle is then stitched to the backing material, in this case I am using the same material with the ruffle to give a more continuous look, before they are joined with the other ruffled pieces.

This tutorial  at sew4home.com is very useful on tips, tricks and general ideas on working with ruffles.

Again, the fabric rose making another appearance here to give it a special effect, or in my case to cover the imperfections in the curtain!

My girl is very happy with the results, and that's all that matters to me!

BABY QUILT

I am happy to finally find a good use of that fishy material in the centre which has been in my stash for a while now..

My mum is a self-taught tailor and dress-maker. She has the special gift of looking at a dress that she liked on the street and later creating an exact replica of that dress at home. Being a dress-maker and tailor, she always have ample supply of scraps, which she would later convert to blankets, bedspreads, pillows and all kind of patchwork! 

Unfortunately, I left home early to live at a boarding school and later overseas and didn't make a point to learn from her, when I had a chance. Now that her eyesight is failing and I am living thousands of miles from her, I do not foresee that precious experience will happen. But, I am thankful that she has passed that creative gene down to me, if I may say so!

A friend recently gave birth to a gorgeous baby boy. I could go the shop and buy something as a gift, but where is the fun in it. So, I decided to give a try at creating a small baby blanket using the scraps that I have.

As this is my first attempt at quilting, I wanted a simple pattern that would not leave me with a half-finished quilt. This free pattern which I discovered via Quilt Taffy was perfect for my project.

As I am not equipped with a rotary cutter or the special equipments required for making a quilt, all the pieces are  cut with my faithful scissors with the help of a cardboard template for the small squares.

I was very careful with the measurement when cutting and sewing to make sure that all pieces are joined perfectly. All seams are 1/4".

The lining was an old flannel sheet and the backing is a soft purple fleece, which in my opinion is suitable for a baby blanket. The pieces are a combination of an old dress, curtain, scraps and a flat sheet. The backing fleece, blue polka dot and stripe material was bought at $1 a meter.

The fancy quilting techniques still daunt me, so I opted to topstich along the seam lines instead. Apart from a slight pucker at some places, it works well this time.

The binding was done with wonderful help from this Heather Bailey' tutorial, which was brilliant. I have to say that there is still a LAAARGEEE room for improvement from yours truly, especially the corners.

There's a 10 year old behind that quilt. She loves it so much that she's asking one for herself!

As it goes with working with recycled materials, the fabrics are soaked and washed thoroughly before I started quilting and gave it another  wash after I have finished it.

FABRIC FLOWER CUSHION COVER

Turquoise cotton and fuchsia fleece

It is autumn down here in the Middle Earth. The days are getting shorter and colder. But autumn is my favourite season. I enjoy the different hues of deciduous trees, the brown leaves on my walkway and the beautiful architecture of  almost barren trees. It is a good time to reflect and pause to ponder..

However, with the looming darker and colder days, my living room needs some colours to lift up the sombre mood. My ash coloured sofa and monotone brown curtain probably are not much of a help either. I can change the sofa or put up a brighter curtain, but I am on a very tight budget.

So, I decided to give my throw cushions(again covered in the brown curtain material!) brand new covers. I gave this Petal Pillow Tutorial  from my favourite blogger, Cluck Cluck Sew, a go and used complementary colours on the colour wheel to achieve maximum impact. 

I have to say that these colours did what I intended them to do. The splashes of bright colours lifted up the neutral monotony of my living room and the first thing that caught the eye!

I see many more appearances of this petal arrangements on T-shirts and bags!!

All materials are from $1 a bag scrap I got from Hospice Shop and it is certainly cheaper than replacing the sofa or the curtain!

Soft pink fleece and light green cotton