Handmade Kids Clothing Swap

I've just taken part in my very first swap!

This one was a kids handmade clothing swap and after some bullying and pressure I finally signed up. Jenny did such a fab job in organising it, I actually had fun creating a little garment for another little person and sending it off! 

It was great being able to meet Stacey online too, a new "friend" and I have loved watching her life unfold on Instagram, she posts the sweetest photos of her cosy country life with her sweet kiddos that are always dressed in flowers, spots or stripes!

Stacey sent me handmade bibs and the cutest bonnet ever! I'm going to have to train / trick Katie into wearing it, because its so sweet!

For my part of the swap I went with floral winter PJs and I hope her little girls fits them!! They seemed really small, and kids always look way bigger in photos. Next time I'll ask for measurements instead of sizes, lesson learnt! 

I also scored some little labels from Pattern Postie, I'm not entirely sure if I attached them correctly, I think I'll need to have a few more goes, but I loved being able to attach a size to a handmade garment! 

Thanks again Jenny for such a fun swap to be part of! I really really enjoyed it, and I hope my swap partner likes her goods! :)

Handmade Big Girl Coat! For Me!

(Thanks to my 2 year old for taking these photos!)

I just finished sewing up this new winter coat for myself! I've never taken on such a big sewing project!

I originally bought the navy corduroy to make a nice winter skirt, but decided that I could probably buy one for the same amount of money the fabric costs, so instead I perused Pattern Postie, an online pattern shop that'll post them to you, and hunted out the perfect coat pattern. Coats are pricey (and so is new fabric) so I thought it was a good challenging thing to make for myself to make the cost worth it.

I was SO happy with my Pattern Postie service! I had some questions about the pattern including a lining and they got back to me really quickly and included a photo of the back measurements and supplies. While I waited for it to arrive in the post I used that picture to go and get all the extra fabric I needed. Genius. 

I ended up going with this New Look 6153 pattern, hoping that the style was so generic it wouldn't fashion-age too much.  

I love the lining. Fun colours to brighten up a winter day!

It's really really baggy, but it suited perfectly this morning as I was layered up for a freezing winters morning! It's supposed to be full and baggy, but it feels a little weird to wear something so BIG, when most of my jackets have been tight fitting, and snug in the past. I hope it doesn't look ridiculous in real life. 

I ended up adding a button, but put it in the wrong place, only realising after I wore it for the first time today and the collar lapel bit didn't sit quite right. 

Also, my sleeves ended up gathered and a bit bunched. I'm sure to the untrained eye its not a big deal, but I can tell. I don't think I stretched out the sleeves properly when I sewed them in place, whoops. I may re do this, there's a 50/50 chance, but unpicking in chord is just so frustrating!!

I so love my new handmade coat, it's no Talia, but it'll do. 

OTHER RANDOM THOUGHTS:

Check out the new MooMooInn backyard now! All that green! Compared with this! Haha!

Thanks to MrMoo, always. I'd probably feel like I couldn't sew if you weren't so supportive. Money, time; It could seem so selfish, but you make it so its not.

Milla, thanks for being my photographer this morning ;)

Not a sponsored post.

Tea Trolley DIY 2.0

Our new friends Jared and Georgia sealed the relationship with love when they gave me a spare tea trolley they had laying around.

I spent last ANZAC weekend sanding and painting it, and finally attached the vinyl during the week.

I wish I had a before photo, but I don't. Needless to say she was in need of a lot of love and had 3 different paint colours showing through from her many years serving a primary school class room. "Library book returns" was painted on the top, probably explaining the slight bow in the top shelf.

I painted her Treefrog Green from Resene. Two test posts was enough to do two thick coats of paint, and half a meter of vinyl from Spotlight was enough to cover the two levels.

We did have a chunky dark brown shelving unit along this wall, but all it did was collect folded washing and an odd assortment of junk. It couldn't really be used properly. We sent the shelf out to the garage a few weekends ago and haven't regretted it for a second. 

Now our green trolley stands in it's place and I am mighty proud of her, shining away against a wall in our lounge, sending a bight burst of happiness into me when ever my eyes meet her. 

She was destined to hold Milla's "art supplies" (which I hope to get more of, our small collection is really rather pathetic) and our snuggly blankets that we use every single night on the couches. I do love snuggling under a warm blanket with my man! On Monday nights she'll serve drinks to our connect group as a tea and coffee station. LOVE.

Details:

Resene Treefrog Green (2 testpots) $8 (on sale anzac weekend)

Vinyl from Spotlight $10

Sandpaper $5

My happiness and functional space, $$Priceless.

Read More:

Tea Trolley makeover 1.0

Colourful Mixed Crochet Blanket Reveal

Be prepared to feast your eyes on a whole lot of colour and snuggly goodness, that is, my eclectic mixed crochet blanket!

She's taken me 6 months to complete but I never once felt uninspired, or lacked motivation to complete her, which often happens towards the end of my blanket making process. Instead, a lack of time, priorities and circumstances got in the way, frustrating me. But as it was a labour of love, I joyfully picked up my hook when I could and slowly worked away at her.

 

I originally pinned this blanket a year ago, and lamented on Twitter at how I wish I could create such a beautiful thing, and afford so much wool. Usually my blankets are made from acrylic, the cheaper option, and are fairly simple.

After Katie was born I needed to fill a creative gap in my life (such is what happens after birth, the greatest creation of all), and decided this was the project for it. I've wanted to expand my crochet knowledge but didn't know what kind of projects to do it on, this was perfect!

I wanted it to be for our couch, I'm building a nice little collection of homemade blankets for us to snuggle under in the cold months, and winter is always coming so there is always a need for more blankets!

I already had a blanket I preferred, one that Miriam had made that I felt was a perfect size for us tall-ies, so I used that as my base to get the chain length that I wanted. 

180 chains long, I took a guess at the multiples I would need. I'm not to good at math, and couldn't work out how many clusters I would need, so I took a guess and figured I would work it out in the following rows. (does anyone have any cheats way of doing this that they could explain to me? I should have continued math in high school... regrets!)

I used little woolies "pattern" as a guide, but soon realised she just repeated the same 2 or 3 stitches each time, and I wanted to learn moooore! I tried to order the book she was working from but couldn't buy it online from anywhere, and none of our libraries here stocked it. So I ditched her and just went with whatever mood struck. I figured out what hdc looked like in single rows, then double rows, then back and forward etc etc. (hdc is now my new favourite standard stitch) 

I also added in a tapestry dot pattern, also of little woolies. I used the term "pattern" loosely, because they're quite vague, and her patterns often miss chunks of information and detail from them. 

And then, joyfully, worked on my border, which alone took 4 balls of wool to work up. I decided on a pom pom edging, using Once Upon A Pink Moon's pom pom tutorial, which is quite fabulous I have to say! 2 pom poms in and I was a master! That and a row of turquoise, hot pink and baby pink nestled underneath in alternating rows. 

Altogether she is a big lump of colourful wool, woven and hooked into something quite dreamy-out of this world-breaking all the crochet granny rules, and I absolutely LOVE her. 

In fact, as I sit here typing, she is keeping me warm during a 100yr storm that is blowing over our way. She's already part of our family and when Camilla sees her she promptly says "Mummy crochet 'dis"

Also, incase you're interested, I steam blocked her using Attic 24's explained method (at the very bottom of her post). Out of all the blocking methods I've tried, this works the best for me. It makes my crochet so soft and flexible, and allows it to hold its shape. If you're not addicted to blocking yet, try it out!

So are you ready for the grand reveal?! My eclectic mixed crochet blanket in all of her glory?

6 months

23 balls of wool

11 different colours

4 mm hook

148cm * 146cm

 (she looks a bit wobbly in this photo, she's not that bad I should have stretched her out more, it's just she has a few womanly curves!)

Thank you so much for following along on this crochet journey with me! 

To see my other blankets:
Granny Stripe Blanket
Ripple Blanket
Granny Circle Blanket

Crochet Mixed Blanket 3 (an overdue update)

After posting a photo on Instagram of my raging Friday night recently I realised I haven't updated you in foreverrr on my crochet mixed blanket. It started all the way back here and here when I was being very casual and mysterious about the whole thing.

I'm happy to say that I've almost finished it, I'm currently working on the aqua border but need to buy about 3 more balls of wool before I can finish it. Hopefully I'll get into the city this weekend so I can get this baby finished up.

She's been such a pleasure to create. Such a happy, joyful pleasure. 

Crochet Cloth Gift

Following on from the handmade super hero capes that became Christmas presents, I also made some co-ordinating crochet dishcloths. They're bigger than ones I've made in the past and I think would be quite good for using practically. I liked them so much I plan to make more for myself.

Lots of people doubt crochet dishcloths but don't knock them till you try them. They are the BEST at absorbing, wiping, scrubbing, washing clean and drying for more uses, forever and ever and ever!

For reals.

Like I said, I need to make more for me!

The spot cloth was made using this pattern for a tapestry style spot, which as far as online crochet patterns go is pretty rubbish. But if you're capable of figuring out a graph you'll be alright (hey, I managed to figure it out and adjust it), but if you're a beginner you might feel a little stranded.

Give it a go though, the result is pretty awesome!

Thanks for reading! Love, Sophie x

Careful Camilla to the Rescue!

Pre Christmas I went on a super hero cape frenzy and made six of them for the little people in our lives. I hope the little kiddos will get some wear out of them and will one day enjoy saving the day at their place!

They were all coloured on the inside with the childs "favourite" colour, with a matching felt initial in the super man font with a dark blue top and fastened with velcro. 

It was so much fun making them!

I've had a few people ask about them since seeing Camilla's so thought I would show you on here.

I used this pattern, out of all the others I found online I liked the one the best. The neckline sits so nicely and drapes off the shoulders so well and has a curved bottom! It ticked all the boxes for me! Great pattern and the instructions are pretty straight forward if you're a beginner :)

Enjoy!

These capes were part of my handmade Christmas effort, more to show you soon! 

Love,

Sophie xx

Wearing Breastmates at HAZED Launch and Giveaway!

Last week I was lucky enough to attend the launch of the first printed HAZED magazine!

Doesn't that sound so swanky?! Magazine launches and all, as a Mama! Who would have thought?

The invite told me to wear a "frock" so I wore this cute number from Breastmates! It's the RaRa dress, and is just as bright and fun as it looks! It comes in a bright blue too, but I just love this little pop of orange down the bottom on the pink version! 

When deciding what to wear I discovered that my pre-feeding dresses all have tight waists and can't be lifted up / pulled down to feed, but more than that, I discovered most of the dress straps just didn't work with my nursing bras!! I searched high and low on the internet and in malls for something feminine that had thick straps and was feeding friendly (the top flap lifts up to feed) and this was a winner!

So far I've worn this out to a mag launch, birthday date, birthday party and you'll see me in it through Christmas celebrations too! 

(and no matter what kind of day I think my body is having, it covers and forgives all! Bring on the Christmas Pav!)

It's nice to know that I still have a resemblance of a social life and I actually need nice to clothes to wear out, despite my mother badges! If you need a nice maternity / feeding dress this summer, definitely check out the range from Breastmates. (this one was designed by Franny herself, love!!)

Look! A maternity dress without a bump!

(I posted this picture on FB and Instagram, thank you for all your super kind compliments!!!)

I had such a great time at the HAZED launch, it was lovely to be out all dressed up with other put together people! 

I'm also crazy proud of Hazel for putting out such a beautiful magazine, it's first time in print after being published online for over a year!

Inside HAZED you'll see an array of interviews of NZ talent in the indie world, along with our own Sisterhood column! Huge thanks to Hazel for offering it to us and being such an avid Sisterhood supporter! 

GIVEAWAY::

*giveaway now closed* Congratulations Kimberley A!

Leave a comment here with your email address (or have it linked to your blogger profile) and let me know if you'd like to be in to win a copy of HAZED! 

[[I have one to giveaway, and will draw the winner on Friday 6th December, you'll be announced on FB and will be emailed. NZ entries only please.]]

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

You can buy the RaRa Breastmates dress here, and buy a copy of HAZED here

Handmade Baby Gifts

Having my second daughter I really didn't expect any gifts. However, Katie and myself have been ridiculously blessed by so many people. Starting from the surprise baby shower, 2 weeks worth of delicious fresh meals and baking from our Church, and a whole lot of beautifully wrapped practical and lovely gifts! 

Most of all its so touching to me as a mother to know that people still love and want to make a big deal about my second. That really does mean a lot. 

I wanted to show off a few of the handmade gifts here to recognise the bloggers who gave them in secret. Each were such a surprise, from a colourful nappy and wipes carrier, handmade shoes, blankets and quilts and clothing. 

We received so much more than this from so many generous family and friends. Thank you to everyone for your love!!

 (Thank you cards have been written and are slowly making their way to you.)

Those featured here:

Holly, Treena, Miriam, Juliet, Cat