Blossoming...

Hello Hello!

So it's 3 minutes past midnight at the moment which technically means I am late with my blog update this week. Oh noes! I'm sure you don't mind though ;)

Well this week I have been pretty busy putting together some of my blossom headbands. I've done a couple of the newborn ones which have a single small blossom, perfect for that new little bubba. 

Then I have about 6 different combos so far in the two tone headbands which are sized for 4-12mths old.I think this could work on a 1yr-7yr sized headband as well but more so for the younger age rather than the older.

Since I have been looking into applying for some market stalls in the nexr future I thought I better design some sort of display card. I do have my biz cards but I really didn't want to use them as their design isn't really suited for clips. Plus if I designed and printed my own then I can change it to how I want it...which is what I did!

You can see the design below. I have made them with the basic information on them and not too overpowering in colour either. I like my clips to be the focus on the cards where some others have quite busy clip cards and thats ok too. What I like about these new ones is it incorporates my new pink/aqua/blue colours even though they aren't too bright. 

Another little task hat I have been doing over the past couple of weeks is taking in T-shirts of my boyfriends that are too big. All of them have come from America and their sizing/fit is quite a bit different to ours so I've had to take in some tops so that they are decent enough to wear. 

The last one I did was a Tampa Bay top and when I was trimming off the excess on the inside I ended up with two long stretchy strips. So what did I do?? I tied them around my head to make a headband...as you do. It actually stayed in place really well and doesn't look too bad. 
 

Then I had to take the sleeves up as they were too long. Again I had some excess bits when I gave them a trim and as you do....I turned my cat into a ninja with the leftovers! Now we have matching headbands.
 

Probably the best news that I got all week is that my friend finally had her bubba!! She went 10 days over and was meant to get induced on Wednesday but it didn't happen until Thursday (I am guessing) and then little miss Grace was brought into the world at 1:30am this morning!! I am going for a visit to mum, dad and bubba tomorrow so I am going to take my camera with me and hopefully get some cute snaps of lil G. 

But now that she is here I feel safe showing you all the personalised bunting that I made as a pressie for the baby shower!!

TA DA!!

 

I know it's not the best photo but I had no-where I could hang it and take pretty pictures. 
 

However I am very lucky and mummy took a piccie of it hanging up in bubbas nursery!

Well I have been awake now for about....18hours and I am quite tired and need some sleepies as I have quite a busy day tomorrow. 

TTFN xx

A bunting baby....

Well it's Friday and like I promised I would try and blog once every week! Since I am only just getting back into the swing of things I have a small project that I've been working on over the last two days. 

Now this is for a friends baby and her baby shower is next weekend. I am lucky enough to know bubbas name however not many have this privilege! So to protect little miss and her mumma & dadda I can't show you the whole finished product...but..... I was able to take pics of bits and pieces as I went along. I'll do a brief mini tutorial explanation below along with some pics! If you want a better view of the piccies just click on them and it'll enlarge. 

Baby Name Bunting - Mini Tutorial

So this is going to be my first mini tut for 2013 as well as my first time making bunting! Woo! I'll list the materials that I used below:
- Fabric for the flags & contrasting fabric for the shapes/letters
- Matching bias binding
- Vliesofix (or you could use Wonder Under, Heat n Bond etc)
- Thin interfacing
- Thread
- Sewing Machine
- Scissors (a rotary cutter would be easier and quicker I discovered)
- Pins

To get the template for the triangle flag shapes I started with a piece of paper that was 7inch width and 6inch in length. You then fold the piece in half long ways so you have a piece which is 3.5inch by 6inch (following??) You then draw a line or you can use a craft knife to draw from the top left corner (where the corners meet but aren't connected) to the bottom right corner (where the fold is). Cut on the line, unfold your piece of paper and voila, you have your little triangle!

1. Here are my two fabrics. The Nursery colours are a pink/purple with a creamy yellow colour so my two fabrics are a cream base for the flags and a patterned purple fabric for the shapes and letters. The walls are the pink/purple so I thought the cream would really pop against them. 

2. You pin your template to your fabric and cut out how many flags you need. My fabric was folded so when I cut out my flags there were two together. I was going to mention how many flags there are in total but I'll keep it a surprise!

3. The letters and hearts I am appliqueing onto the flags so here I traced out my piece onto Vliesofix and then ironed them into the WRONG side of the purple fabric. Please remember if you are doing letters or a particular shape to make sure you reverse it before tracing it into the bonding agent otherwise it will be backwards when you go to iron it onto your piece. 

4. Although other tutorials say you don't need any sort of interfacing I used some behind the applique only as this gives me a nicer finish. 

5. I have ironed all of my pieces into the flags and they are ready to be appliqued!

6. I chose a lighter purple colour for my applique thread. Since this is going into a baby's room I thought it would give it a softer touch rather than being bold or bright.

7. I applique with a simple zigzag stitch and I just change the settings to whatever I am making. I just stuck with my normal settings for this one. You can still see the interfacing behind the heart in this pic. Once all the threads are knotted and cut then I trim around the interfacing leaving only a tiny little edge which is barely noticeable. 

8. Pin your two pieces of your flag together with RIGHT SIDES facing in. If you are using a plain colour like I am for the flag then the right/wrong sides are generally the same. Sew down the two sides of the flag with a 1/4 seam but leave the top open! Remember you need to turn the flag right side out. Alternatively you could pin your flag pieces WRONG SIDES facing in and sew around the edges giving your flags a more raw look. 

9. Before you turn your flag inside out remember to trim the tip off the bottom so that you get a nice pointy finish. Be careful though, don't cut any threads! 

Now turn your flag right side out and push out your nice little point with something like a dowel, pencil end, paint brush?? I used a manicure stick thing that pushes down your cuticles. Iron your seams down nice and flat. The flags are now starting to take shape!

10.  Trim the little pokey bits off the top of your flag to make them nice and straight again. Take your bias binding and slide your flags into the fold, pinning them in place. My bias binding didn't come pre-folded so if yours is the same then you need to iron it in half before hand.
 How far apart do you put the flags?? That's really up to your personal preference. I like mine touching under the bias so they have about a 5mm or so gap between them that's visible.

11. Sew your bias binding from end to end. I gave mine a 1/4 seam which I though worked well but you can do something different if you want. Maybe even two rows of sewing or a decorative stitch?

12. This is just an additional step I did to finish off the edges of the bias binding. I folded the ends over about 1cm (10mm) and did a zig zag stitch to hold it. I thought that this gives the ends of the bias a nice finish plus the zigzag matches in with the applique. 

13. Your bunting should now be finished! Give it a quick iron, find somewhere to hang it and then admire your crafty work. I admired mine that's for sure! But like I said I can't reveal the whole thing until bubs has been born so that will be in about another month or so. I'll add a link to the bottom of this post to the new post with the full bunting!

Hope that wasn't too confusing for anyone trying to follow my steps.

If you are a beginner then I would suggest leaving out the applique steps for now and maybe making the flags out of different but coordinating fabrics for an effective look.

TTFN xx

Lace Bunting: Mini Tut and Personal Project

I do have a little bit of a secret fetish...bunting! I think it is just way too cute and very versatile. There is a lot more bunting going around in the handmade markets these days and they are being used for all sorts of things; bedrooms, engagement parties, weddings, birthdays and business signs!

A while ago I saw some really nice bunting made out of material doilies and I LOVED it! When I was out one day I was looking at the material doilies but it did seem like a lot of work and would take a bit of time...time I don't really have. So next to them I saw these paper doilies and that's when this idea was born! I will take you through a very brief mini tutorial on how I made my paper lace bunting!

What I used:
- Packet of paper doilies ( $1.50 for 20)
- Embroidery thread in colour of your choice
- Glue (I used my good old UHU glue sick)
- Old paper or place mat to glue on

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I separated around 10 doilies and then folded them all in half. The pattern didn't match up directly when I folded them but it doesn't really matter that much. Next I took my thread and measured approximately 30cm in and tied a tiny knot.

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I think took one of my folded doilies, put it on my place mat and lined one end of the fold with the tiny knot. I put glue on half making sure to have it all around the edges so that it will stay stuck together. Then I pushed the two sides together nice and firmly, trying to get rid of any creases or bubbles. Because the doilies are made of paper it goes a little bit wavey due to the glue but I think this looks fine.

I measured approximately 7cm from where the doilie ends and made another little knot. This is so I know where to start the next piece without too much hassel and the knots are barely even noticeable in the final product. Keep doing the above steps until you have the desired length or number of doilies you want! I used 7 doilies all up even though I was planning on using 10. Below are some pics I took of my lace bunting in use!

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I think that this is a very simple, effective and best of all CHEAP project! It would have taken me an hour at the most to complete it and it is easy enough to possibly keep kids entertained for a little longer.

Hope you liked it and I'd love to see any pics if you decide to make one too!

TTFN xoxo