Woodland Stroll Cape

This is something I actually made about a year ago but never got round to posting about it. However, it has come back out of the wardrobe recently and made me think about putting some pictures up.

I used the Woodland Stroll cape pattern from Liesl and co and some really lovely navy coat felt fabric from Stuart's market stall in Leicester. I also found some really pretty fabric to use as a lining - although this isn't ideal as it frays so will probably need replacing in the future.

The pattern instructions suggest lining the cape all the way to the edges of the cape however, I thought it would look better with an inside border that matched the coat outer, it also gave a sturdier edge for buttons. To adapt the pattern was a bit fiddly but not impossible. To begin with I cut out the medium sized cape outer as instructed. To allow space for a border on the lining I cut the lining out in a size smaller. This did require some adaptation as in some places I had to redraw the pattern to add the border but for the most part the smaller size worked out perfectly. 

After cutting out the lining and lining edge it was a simple process of assembling the cape although getting the curves to fit together was rather fiddly! I liked the wooden toggle buttons as it makes the cape feel almost like a duffle coat. 

The final adaptation was to use the underarm buttons just to decorate the cape as I didn't think I would ever really need to undo them. I didn't pay too much attention to the suggested placement either I just tried on the cape and put them where I felt they worked best.

I love how the cape turned out, it feels really smart but fun and it has had a lot of wear! I hope the pink lining lasts a little longer and I have recently covered it in fray stop to try and extend its life.

Books and blankets

So I have been making more baby things....

Recently finished item include another blanket, this time a crocheted grey blanket that is really soft and snuggly. For more information I have uploaded the project to the love knitting website where I found the pattern but here are some pictures.

I have also had some fun constructing a soft, quilted number book. Which is probably more for me than the baby (even a super advanced child isn't going to want a number book as a newborn - yes I do know that!!) but I enjoyed making it and it is something soft a squidgy for him to play with.

I had to make this up as I went along but think it came out fairly well. I started with a jungle animal panel form the fabric guild in Leicester and began by chopping up each of the squares.

Each square was quilted directly on to some wadding. I spent ages doing this, programming in the numbers and words to my sewing machine and playing with different patterns to make the quilting interesting. 

When I was happy with each one I pressed them and trimmed around the edges so they were all the same size.

It was a bit of a headache trying to work out how the pieces now needed to go together to turn out in the correct order and I had to make a couple of extra non-number pages to make up the sequence. The centre of the book I wanted to use the elephant procession and the two alphabet and number lines.

When I had worked out the order I attached the quilted squares to some calico and then bound pairs of calico pages together. I had to hand sew down each binding otherwise it didn't look very neat.

Finally the pages were sewn together in the centre for a completed cute safari counting book....

Blankets and Quilts

This is a combined post as I finished two separate projects at the weekend that fit well together.

Project 1: Knitted blanket

This blanket hasn't taken very long to complete at all but I have really enjoyed doing it and it has come out really snuggly!! 

The pattern is worked in squares but instead of completing them all and sewing up afterwards you pick up stitches from block below as you add in each colour. This not only makes it a bit more interesting than making a load of squares but also removes the need to sew them all together at the end - Great!!

The wool was mostly left over from a the sweet as candy jacket I had made last year so I only had to buy a small amount to complete the project. I followed a pattern by Kino designs: Sweet Faux Hawk blanket but made up my own colours.

I did alter the pattern slightly as I am not a fan of garter stitch so used stocking stitch instead and added a moss stitch border. The final size is 34" x 40" perfect for a car seat or carry cot.

2) Dinosaur quilt

I have enjoyed doing a bit of quilting recently instead of making clothes all the time and  have even got all the left over bunting out from the wedding to start making the memory quilt that I have been intending to do for months. However, this project used a really cute quilt panel I found in the Quilters Den in Warwick two weeks ago.

I haven't used panels before so I decided to cut it up into blocks that could be recombined to form a square lap quilt or even floor blanket. I had to add a couple of fat quarters to have enough material to make the border but other than that the quilt is mostly made from the panel itself. 

The back is a grey cotton combined with a strip left over from the dinosaur panel. 

I layered the quilt with double thickness of wadding as I am intending the blanket to be thrown on the floor for baby to lie on rather than to cover him up. I had some fun playing with the different patterns on my machine before deciding on the wavy lines for quilting. I also outlined each of the dinosaurs.

Finally the binding was added which I hand stitched down. Again this was made from some fabric that was on the original panel to keep all the colours matching in.

I am really pleased with the final result and have already bought some more material to make some more quilts - at least the baby will be warm!!!!

Ball Dress

I haven't felt like writing posts for a while as there has been a lot of computer time at work so the last thing I wanted to do when I got home was more writing. However, I have been doing loads of sewing so I thought I'd start putting a few of the recent (-ish) projects up.

Starting with this dress and jacket I made to go to the winter ball (in November). I wanted a floor length dress that wasn't too fussy but it also needed to cover my shoulders. I struggled to find a suitable pattern so in the end I used two Kwik sew ones that and mashed them together a bit.

For the dress I used pattern K3400 (without the train). It is a flattering empire line dress with a seam between the bodice and main skirt fabric. I used a black satin backed crepe but showing the "wrong" side as I didn't want a shiny dress. I actually liked using it this way around as it was a nice weight and didn't need lining! Especially using an overlocker to finish the seams off.

The jacket was a bit more of a combination affair. I liked the capped sleeves from the K3516 pattern but didn't want the high neck line. Luckily because they were both Kwik sew patterns and obviously from the same pattern block it was easy enough to substitute the front of the jacket from the other pattern.  I did have to modify it slightly as the removal of the collar would have meant doing some hand sewing along the open neck edge to allow the lining to be inserted and turned out correctly. To prevent this I cut the back lining out in two pieces (adding a seam allowance) and left a portion of this open to turn the jacket out and hand sew shut where no-one would see. The fabric I used was left over from my wedding dress so is actually a wonderful heavy weight beaded silk and the lining is also silk!! 

To coordinate the jacket and dress I used some of the jacket fabric as a sash but have only tacked it in place. The view being that I can now make a new jacket and change the ribbon for an entirely new dress for the next event - genius!

Dog Cushion Cover

This is mainly an excuse to put some pictures up of the dog behaving herself - it's rare!!

Recently we had a new sofa and during the process of getting rid of the old one we noticed that the old seat cushions fit rather well in the dog bed. But before we got them to the bed we left one on the floor in the living room and the dog went and got on it and went to sleep - all evening while we watched TV!!

However, the cushions were cream coloured - really not practical when the dog is A) black and B) always muddy! So I set about recovering the fusion so that it was more "Freya" friendly.

The cushions are a large box shape and have zip covers so I didn't think it would be too difficult. I found a meter of heavy weight upholstery material in Dunelm that was a nice purple colour and took the zip out of the old cover.

Quite pleased with the result and even managed some stripe matching, at least on the front (no one needs to look at the back right?!?)

And the best news is - the dog still seems to like to nap on it! Peaceful :)