who would have thought...

Who would have thought...making your own fitted nappies could be so satisfying! We have be in desperate need of new nappies around here for Maeve. The old terry squares just aren't doing the trick, no matter which way I fold them they don't fit right. Up until now they have been perfect and served two little bottoms very well. 
I decided to sew the free Ottobre pattern, which turned out to be a winner. I know a lot of people say this pattern runs rather large, but I found it fine if you ignore their elastic instructions and sew the elastic in as tight as you can. Just secure it at on end, stretch it as far as you can and stitch it down. Make sure you use a good quality elastic (I used swimwear elastic) because having to pull them apart later on to add new elastic doesn't appeal to me at all! I added snaps instead of velcro hoping they will last longer and be much harder for little fingers to undo. 

Back to the sizing again, I made Maeve the larger size 80-86cm (she is usually size 86cm) which fits great now but has room for growth.The best thing about these nappies was for each terry square I cut into I got one nappy piece and 2 soaker pads. There was very minimal fabric wasted. The outside fabric is flannelette, and there are an extra 2 layers of flannelette in the soaker pad.

linen and silk

Maeve has a new pair of duds, refashioned from a pair of ladies linen and silk pants. This fabric is truly amazing stuff...maybe a little too good for toddlers play pants. Pattern is Ottobre 1/08 "Candy" pants.

How do you like our out of control clover, popping up throughout the lawn? Would you believe it was only mown a week ago. Its such a pest, but look how pretty it comes up in the photos.

Nice and comfy, with plenty of cloth nappy room.

I know this is a very photo heavy post, but I was having trouble choosing which photos not to add. I love all the ones that capture the girls immersed in play. Having your sister as best friend really is such a precious thing.
And there is nothing that make them giggle more than going down the slide backwards...apparently this is very humorous!

'Come on Maeve, I'll race you to the fence!'

Then she attempts the getaway...

Maybe I should make more play clothes out of linen and silk, seems to be a winner.

recycled vintage dress

My sewing machine has been very busy of late, believe it or not. Unfortunately, my blogging is falling behind, due to computer troubles (like having our 3rd new Mac in a month...who does this happen to??). So I have been working on this old hack computer which has a mind of its own, and randomly shuts down when the going gets tough. Things are looking good though, and the newest computer is behaving, so when we set it up properly hopefully I can blog away.

Anyway, about the dress...I found this pattern at the op shop a couple of years back, and finally decided to sew it up. Cute hey! I made mine slightly longer than the original.

The dress is made out of recycled fabric's, also found at various op shops. The main fabric was a table cloth, and the trims were a place mat that someone had lovingly cross stitched. So essentially you could eat off this dress...almost like this one!

The white ric rac was also off the place mats, and even the yellow buttons came from my Grandma's sewing supplies. So the dress is made from 100% used materials, re-fashioned and given a new life! Does anyone else find this satisfying?

dance leotard

I finished this little dance costume last night for Grace's friend Mikaela who just celebrated her birthday. She was at our house earlier in the week flicking through my Ottobre 1/07 magazine, and spied out what she wanted. I made one for Grace earlier in the year when she started dancing...although it doesn't have the frill attached. She has a skirt to match.
This was also my first attempt at cropping out the background on my photos (thanks Tim for the tutorial over the phone!). It took me a while first go, but hopefully next time I will be super speedy.
Ok, I think I'd better go, I can hear Grace playing 'duck duck goose' by herself (if that's at all possible), surprisingly she seems to be enjoying herself! We have a dance lesson to catch.

spots, clips and birthday cake

We had a party for a little friend on the weekend. I recently brought this spotted voile to make a dress for Grace (photos to come) and had a quite a lot left over. I ended up making two little shirts out of it, one for Maeve and one for her friend Scout.

I also had a go at decorating some little hair clips for her. They turned out cute, but I dont know how well they will hold together! The tutorial for the covered button ones is here if you are interested.

And here is the birthday girl with her beautiful felt party hat on...she has a very creative Mama! Maeve was loving that cake.

cute skirt

This little skirt arrived in a bag of hand-me-downs, looking rather boring (big Disney embroidery along the bottom). To freshen it up we added a wide strip of fabric and gave it a new life. I am so glad she likes this one, because it's one of my favorites!