Small Bean Birthday Frock

Small Bean, incredibly, has just had another birthday.  Where does the time go?  Anyway, as promised I made her a party dress and let her choose the colour.

After much changing of her mind she settled on orange and I set to work.

I couldn't quite bring myself to make an entirely orange dress (I'm sorry Small Bean!  Next year, I'll take you shopping and you can choose all the fabrics yourself, promise!), so I added a white lace overlay tot he skirt and a white satin sash and contrast band.

The buttons are clear plastic with a floral design on them, which I felt complemented the orange but weren't washed out by it.

Who doesn't need a froufrou party frock?  Happy Birthday Small Bean!

Faux Taxidermy

Xanthipe has a wall of faux taxidermy, so clearly I had to add to it!

This is another version of Simplicity 1218.  I used fleece for the head, antlers and nose, but velvet for the inner ear and neck.  The trickiest bit was turning the antlers right side out and stitching them on and it was a complete pain to wrap!

I love making these and have plans for another two at least, so keep your eyes peeled for the future blog posts!

PJ Trews!

I had a large amount of the floral fabric from my maxi dress left over, only due to how I'd cut out the maxi dress is was in a long fairly thin strip.  I'd wanted to make another dress, but I didn't want to piece it, so int he end I decided to run up a new pair of summer pj trews!

They are my usual lazy elasticated waist design!

They're very comfy and I'm looking forward to getting some use out of them before the weather turns too cold!

Maxi-Dress

I had a wedding to go to last week and apparently in Germany, they do long frocks for weddings.  So I needed a new dress, oh the hardship...

I used New Look 6280 and lengthened the bodice and the skirt.

 I'm really pleased with this dress!  It's comfy, pretty and can be dressed up or down as I need.

In case you're wondering these pictures were taken in a farmyard during the wedding celebrations, in fact just before my cousins all consumed a really quite amazing amount of alcohol!

Kindle Cover

Mr Kit has a habit of wanting gadgets and then after a few months getting bored of them, at which point I acquire them.  Case in point is the kindle, which he doesn't use any more so I've been using.  I didn't like the case he had though, so I made my own.

I embroidered the pictures using a transfer from a book I was given for my birthday a few years ago and then discovered it wasn't quite big enough to be the front of the cover, argh!  So I added it to a tartan cotton cover that was big enough and added a batting lining before a lining in the same tartan.

The top is bound in cotton bias binding and it just snugly fits the kindle so I haven't worried about a closure at the top.

Monster Kit

Goodness me, it has been vile at larp these last few weeks.  Rainy and warm, creating a muggy outside that's stupidly energy sapping.  Thing is, being in Britain my larp gear is mostly made to be warm, so I have felt like I was melting!  Something had to be done!

So I acquired some black t-shirting and set about working on something out with the aid of my beloved Alabama Chanin book (one day I'll get the other Alabama Chanin books...)

Tadaa!  Here is my new super simple t-shirt dress.  It's the shift dress skirt added to the t-shirt top.  I used the cap sleeves and made the neckhole slightly larger than usual.

 It doesn't have pockets, because I couldn't figure any out that didn't look really silly (which makes me very sad).  It was also originally longer, but I didn't like the length so I hacked it shorter and I'm really pleased I did!

 Please excuse my hair, these photos were taken as I was getting ready for larp and I hadn't quite realised how messy it looked!

Having worn this dress larping all day I'm thrilled with it!  lightweight and comfy it meant I didn't overheat (well not more than could be helped anyway)!