Pyjamas for dolly please

Little Imp does not often ask me to make her anything in the ButtonRoom, but the other night, just before her bedtime she did. "Do you think you could make dolly some pyjamas mummy?"

Oh dear. I have been thinking for a while that dolly could do with some new attire. All she came dressed in is definitely from a summer range, and I feel cold just looking at her at the moment! But she is quite small, and plastic, and not very bendy, so I was scared of how I could make something that Little Imp could also get on and off of dolly without needing my help.

And then I had an idea... I keep many of Little Imp's old clothes for cutting up and sewing with & this was a perfect reason to use them. Once I got going it was actually fun, and before I knew it, not only did dolly have some pyjamas, she also had some cords & a skirt!

The PJs came from a sleeping bag. A sleeve became the pants, with the sleeve cuff as the waist band and a triangular seam creating the legs. Pinking shears worked to eliminate the need for sewing seams. THe top was made out of the base area of the bag. I pinking sheared a circle for the neck & stitched a few seams to create the shape of a long sleeve top. Done, & stretchy enough for Little Imp not to need me!

To make the corduroy pants I cut a square from the top of a pair of pants, including the elastic. Dolly is lying here to help me gauge the length.

A few simple straight lines of sewing along the open edge to create a tube, and then along the purple lines you can (just) see below to create the legs.

 And then pinking shears again for the base of the pants.

The skirt was even simpler. Cut out from the top of an existing elastic waistbanded skirt with a single seam to create a tube. Pinking Sheared bottom. Done.

Saved this picture for last. Dollys scare me. Even when they are in their pyjamas.

Many a way to use a Suffolk Puff

In the time it takes to clean the house...

How I will remember the Summer of 2012...

My feet are still giving me grief.  Moonboot on all my waking hours for the last 3 weeks while we swelter through heat wave after heatwave.  Euugh!

Trying to stay positive, I can come up with 2.5 good things that have come of this boot wearing.
1. My feet are beautifully soft and smooth - no hard, rough or dry skin here.  Husband says they are softer even than Little Imp's baby bottom!
2. I've hired a house cleaner.  This is the winning point.  She started today and I think she might be here to stay, even after the moon boot is no more.

Oh, and the half point of a good thing goes to Little Imp who has well and truly mastered the words 'shoe' and 'boot', and knows the difference between the two.

Look at what I did this morning in the time it took Cleaning Lady to clean the house.  Both productive ventures with good outcomes, but I know which I prefer!

More Elephants

Keeping with the elephant theme after making many a George the Elephant Kings / Queens (!) I crafted an applique elephant baby top for a friend who is awaiting her little boy's arrival.  I bought a large piece of elephant print stretch material on sale last year with the idea it could become a summer sleeping bag for a little one, or a great stretchy swaddle.  I loved stretchy swaddles when wrapping up Little Imp - so much harder for her to escape from her mummified state in stretch fabric!

After making the elephant softie for my friend I decided an elephant swaddle and matching applique top would make a perfect gift bundle.

Swaddle material in the background & copied elephant ready to applique

Basic 'How To'
I used fabric pens to copy the elephant design onto plain cotton fabric which I then roughly cut out & framed with strips of matching printed fabric scraps.  After using 'Heat & Bond' to iron the whole piece to the top I used a smallish sized blanket stitch around the outside edge to fix the fabric to the top & stop the edges fraying with wear and tear.  A straight stitch on the plain fabric to frame the elephant finished it off.

And then I made another one, and another.... The more girly ones also had a free motion embroidered flower embellishment added for fun.

I labeled these tops using the alphabet embroidery card on my sewing machine to stitch 'OneLittleImp' on felt,  & then sewed this label on the back neck line. Much neater than the handwritten labels I've made in the past.

Springtime flowers

There is a definite chill to the air, finally.  Winter is here and the rains have also fallen for the last few days, finally.  The plants in the garden are perking up again, and the kangaroo paws are beginning to flower. Perhaps this is what prompted the flower design of today's creation with the aim of using up some of the Suffolk Puffs I had lying around.

I discovered how to make 'Suffolk Puffs' in a craft magazine late last year, and since then have found a number of applique uses for these handy, and very quick and easy to make, little circles of fabricy-puffiness.

Springtime Flowers

Basic Tutorial:

• Make 3 Suffolk puffs, one slightly larger than the others as follows:

• for each puff, cut out a circle of fabric approximately 2/3rds larger than you want the finished puff to be
• using a needle and thread, use a running stitch to sew all the way around the circle, turning over a small seam as you go 
• pull up both ends of the thread to form a little pouch, knot ends together and then flatten fabric to create the puff.
• Sew 3 stems onto the baby grow using straight stitch on a machine
• Cut out 3 pieces of green fabric with 'heat and bond' ironed onto one side to create the leaves and then iron these in place
• Machine applique the 3 leaves using a small straight stitch and stitching around each leaf twice.  Don't worry about sewing a perfectly straight edge, as long as you catch the edge all the way around to prevent excessive fraying.
• Hand stitch the Suffolk puff 'flower' heads in place & you're done.

How many ways to use a Suffolk puff?

I do like these quick to make little yo-yo's or Suffolk puffs as they are otherwise known, so many uses!

Balloons floating in the breeze

Owls in a tree of blooms

Springtime flowers

The wheels on my bike go round & round

Some other Suffolk Puff ideas rattling around in my brain....ice cream in an ice cream cone... caterpillar...'bunch' of flowers, surrounded by single leaves.  Something I saw - a plain skirt with vintage fabric puffs all around the bottom edge.

Two Little Owls

I love owls in designs.  Finding a lovely owl print fabric on ebay has inspired a few variations of the 'owl on a branch' applique design.  Whipped up a few more of these baby grows yesterday as a de-stressor after a very trying weekend of screaming child.

Funky Retro Fabric

Came across this very funky fabric on sale a while ago and just had to buy some, even though it wasn't my intended purchase for the day.

Nothing particular in mind for what to make with it, but the colours went well with this pink and orange striped baby grow, so I cut and 'pasted' to create this design.  Happy with the end result, enough to think I might have to make something similar for my little imp given this baby grow is just a bit too small for her.