Birthday Gift - Clark

So on the same birthday theme (a non-made-in-China plastic $20 toy), I did personalized shorts for Imogen's friend Clark.  The party was held in a school gym - fantastic idea!  And the entire Kindergarten class was there.  What fun.

Fabric is just perfect - robot eating sharks - dating back to my mum's stash for my brothers (now adults...or at least in age!).

The book is a Barefoot book purchased from my friend Jennifer.  I love that it come with a CD too - just making it that much more enjoyable!

And I really enjoyed making the 'stormy' gift bag using up fabric my mum gave me.  It just screamed - boy!

Pattern - KS3042, a well-loved pattern with my all time favorite pocket from an out-of print Simplicity pattern - where you stitch folds to give it depth like a real cargo pocket - and it's big enough to carry several Hot wheels cars (I have seen this personally).

 

Birthday Gift - Gabriella

Imogen was invited to another birthday party (hurrah) at a local gymnastics place.  I am always pushing against the norm of a $20 gift - aka plastic toy made in China.  So I've been on a kick for a bit...and yes there will be more...to make a gift bag and fill it with one hand-made item (personalized of course with custom labels) and a book. 

Most of my books come from a dear friend, Jennifer, who sells an amazing brand of books called Barefoot Books.  I like buying from here as (1) the books are amazing (2) I love to help a friend out and (3) the bonus - they are cheaper than a local shoppe.

So we combined leftover star fabric from one of Imogen's skirts...that was a leftover from a quilt I made her niece in England--with a piece of fabric given to me by my mum.  Together the stars shone!  For fun, I added pockets as the birthday girl is a fun, gregarious little girl who needs pockets.

 

The bag is a fat quarter courtesy of my mum's stash (thanks) and lined with a remnant of really nice muslin, almost like a polished cotton.

 

All combined = a happy Imogen and birthday girl. 

I call it sew-cycling (kind of like recycling mixed in with cycling).

Tie one on | Silhouette 300

Thanks (again) to my mum for cleaning out her sewing room...and fabric.  I really liked the tulips (I guess she did too) but was stumped as to what to make.  A dress would be too loud.  Mmm...what I wasn't sure but I knew I had to do something...something fun. 

So I was flipping through my pattern book (a binder with the pattern envelopes only in page protectors), when I spotted this top.  The pattern photo is a bit dated...but the design screamed yes.  Yes to tulips, yes to summer, yes to fun, yes to sassy and yes to a little tie.  Oh and I already had the yellow belt.  That's why it had to be sleeveless.  Fun.

I do like these patterns, being blessed with a full bust, it's much easier to make as they are sized for B, C and D cup sizes.  I cheat...as I don't make the alteration for my full bust (I don't really want to accentuate it) so I make the correct circumference, and do a bit of alteration. 

Fabric: A floaty rayon from 15 years ago (guessing as mum said she bought it at the last sewing show that rolled through Saskatoon) from Estees in Edmonton.

Pattern: Silhouette 300

Vintage Dress | NL6823

Well this is a very special dress as I made it 15 years ago for my friend's daughter, M.  M's now 18 and her mum stashed away all the items I made her, and passed them onto me.  I still remember purchasing the fabric as it was so cute.  My sewing skills have definitely improved over 15 years, but it's amazing it's still wearing fine.  My friend even passed it onto another friend who has 3 girls.  So in my books, that makes the dress vintage!

 Fabric: cotton knit from a fabric outlet store that used to be on 51st Street which is long gone!

Pattern: New Look 6823

A quickie | TJ 720

This top is such a quickie - cut, sew and wear within an hour.  No fitting, no darts, just fast.  Funny thing is that it looks quite warm...but if there is any breeze, you freeze in it!  I just loved the fabric and it goes with just about everything I own due to variegated colours.  Oooh look closely and you can see the mess in my sewing room in the background...could that be a future post?!?

Fabric: Recently purchased from Unique Textiles, locally owned boutique in Saskatoon.  I've seen in stores made up - very cool.

Pattern: Trudy Jansen 720 - Very Easy Doleman Sweater

The final set of napkins

I've been putting it off finishing the last set of napkins but I finally got them done.  They were cut out and waiting for me...I just needed to serge the edges.  Well after finishing my beginners triathlon yesterday, I didn't feel like doing too much so I finished these.  My girlfriend will be getting these next time she's in town.  Enjoy! 

The paisley fabric is new from Fabricland and the backing was gifted to me by my mother's box-of-quilting-fabric.  I like mixing old and new!

Birthday Gift | Abby - Skirt & Bag

This week we had a last minute invitation to a birthday party on Saturday -- 3 days notice. Sounds like me when life creeps up on you!  While we have been having non-gift parties (we take food-bank donations in lieu of gifts and gift-bags), we do realize that others do expect a gift.  So I started to think, what can we give that's not a disposable plastic toy...

That's when it hit me!  Why don't I use some of the quilting fabric I was given to make a fun little skirt and say a matching bag.  We also threw in a small knitting-in-the-round toy.  Thought that and yarn could 'live' in the bag after the present had been given.

The Skirt - Oliver + S Lazy Days Skirt | Free downloadable pattern

Used up a fat quarter for the bottom trim (pieced diagonally to reduce bulk) and the full piece of fabric was used for the skirt.  Of course we had to personalize it...so Imogen helped me make the labels with the birthday girl's name.  She helped cut the tags apart and showed me where to place them in the skirt and on the bag.

  

 

The Bag - Beads of Courage Bags | Free downloadable pattern

I've been working with a local charity Cloth for Kids who make clothes and items for needy children here. An item I saw last week -- they we're sewing up a storm of them -- were Beads of Courage Bags for our hospital RUH. I loved the bags they did, so I made one too...but for the birthday.

And to give you an idea of how large the bag is, here's Imogen off to the party!