i took pictures of the swap goodies i sent out for this swap and then forgot completely to upload them once my partner got her stuff.. so here are a couple of what i think are the highlights of the swap
here’s amberglas modelling the mad hatter hat and key necklace.
she thought it was a leprechaun hat and started step dancing.
noni had to checkout the quilt.
she didn’t want to let it go till i promised to make her a pink one, “which you still haven’t done” she pipes up.
early as i got up this morning, someone else was up first. i came downstairs to see noni sitting on my sewing machine. do you have pink ones made yet? she queried. i NEEDS pink!
i want to make the girls new pajamas for christmas. i found a really cute red knit with white snowflakes on it to make them with. but first i have to get a pattern that fits.
noni volunteered to be my model for the little girls on the condition that i make her a pair of pink ones, since that is her “favoritist” color.
i made the first trial from a lovely soft blue cotton velour. unfortunately it was just to bulky for the wee ones.
noni said they were way too hot, and not PINK!
next i tried a lightweight knit. the fabric is from a jersey sheet i got cheap to use as test fabric. the pattern is printed crooked so it really doesn’t work for anything else. i realized after i sewed them up that i did the bottoms on the “wrong” side and the top on the “right”. oh well they are just to test for fit anyway.
i think the legs need to be a smidge longer. when i made them snugger in the crotch it cut a bit too much off the leg length.
noni says they are much more comfortable but still NOT PINK!
then she noticed the elastic hanging down the back.
look she said
i gots a tail!
i just finished taking a course on sewing knits so i could make t-shirts for everyone. unfortunately the class ended up being designed for people who really didn’t know how to sew, so it mostly turned into 2-1/2 hours a week that i could dedicate to sewing with no distractions. probably worth it if that was all i got out of it, but i did learn a few good tricks and was able to extrapolate on some of her other ideas to solve my main problems, so it was a good class.
kiri volunteered to come with me and be a test model. (once she volunteered all the little girls wanted to come, but there just wasn’t enough room.) it was nice to have some one on one time, something sorely lacking around here some days 🙂
most of what i did was trying different ideas, which made for interesting t-shirts with each seam done differently 😆 however i did get one jacket almost finished. i forgot to bring the buttons with me, and the pattern will require some tweaking before i do the next one, but i think it ended up cute anyway and kiri gets to keep this one for her help instead of selling it on etsy.
anyway here is a picture of her in the unfinished jacket
just ignore the pin and pretend it has buttons
kiri also decided to cut her hair. she said it kept getting in the way when she was taking her shirt on and off. we trimmed it into this short bubble cut and now her straight hair has some wave to it, who knew? i think it looks cute and really suits her
noni is happily modeling a mix and match set of clothes i made for a swap.
the hat is a very bright pink mohair that was hard to capture on film. it matches much better in real life. the ribbon is hand dyed silk, the skirt is cotton and the t-shirt a cute cotton knit print i found. she is also wearing the the short leggings n this photo but you can’t see them.
so here they are.
a sundress and longer leggings, which i apparently forgot to photograph before sending them off. the are turquoise blue with darker blue/purple dots
and if she is chilly, the t-shirt can be reversed to make a short jacket.
i meant to add this post before smilga’s gift arrived and i posted the finished quilt. instead you get to see the “before” shot, after. 😆
i’m doing a swap with someone, a quilt for a crocheted dress. it’s a fun idea and the girls helped me pick out the fabric. they were busily diving through a bin of fabric looking for just the right ones. beezie is determined that the best fabric is down below, just waiting to be discovered, noni keeps get side-tracked. “this is pretty she exclaims, “i’d like something out of this….” she looks up beseechingly. ellyce is determined to keep them on track. “she SAID she wanted PINK!” she firmly instructs the other two.
i did a swap with smilga (check out the link on the side to see her wonderful crocheted outfits). she couldn’t decide between pink to match her girls room
or turquise for her favorite color, so we did both! the quilt is pink butterflies on one side,
and turquoise bears on the other. the large pillows both reverse to turquoise and pink butterflies on the back, on the front one has a pink butterfly, the other a blue bear. the little ones are solid blue or pink, because the backing showed too much on the wrong side. i tried a trick i learned elsewhere and put tiny glass beads in the quilt for stuffing. this makes it drape realistically over the edge of the bed rather than sticking straight out. it worked really well but was a lot harder to get the beads in past all the pieced seams, so i’m not sure i would try it again.
the pillows are stuffed with a mixture of stuffing and lavender. the lavender makes for pleasant dreams and also allows for a bit of shaping under sleepy heads.
noni and beezie did a quality control test and filled the quilt and pillows with best wishes before we sent them on their way.
digory was getting awfully hot running around in sweaters all the time, so he requested a new t-shirt. i love the colors and the way the embroidery turned out, but i really need to learn how to sew knits properly, cause the neckline is pretty wonky!
i joined a swap for bedding for realpukis/ pukipukis. my partner liked purple and teddies. it was fun to do ’cause i love purple and teddies too, so i had lots of fabric that worked. she sent me the dimensions she wanted and here is what i made. i think it came out rather well.
here is a picture she took of her cute zoey with her new quilt
i think she looks rather sweet don’t you?