Upcycling An Old Favourite - Part 1

Do you remember the gorgeous brown and blue toddler dress I made for my little one a few years ago?  If not, take a look here to refresh your memory

http://www.keiscreations.blogspot.co.uk/2012/01/lots-of-old-projects.html

This was my very favourite fabric, and still is.  I was only able to get half a yard of it, and I squeezed this dress out of it with no leftovers.  Little girl grew out of it a long time ago, so now we are going to transform it into something else.  Watch this space!

2014 So Far...

As you can see, I've had such a busy start to the year that I haven't updated this blog at all!  I've been very busy setting up my insulin pump belt shop Kaija Sofia and making lots of lovely pump belts for my customers.  This is one of my favourites.

I've also been making things for my children, as usual.  There are probably too many to share here, but here are a few of the highlights.

Candy Castle Peppermint Swirl dress for my daughter's doll.

A grown-up dress for my eldest daughter in that gorgeous Jennifer Paganelli fabric.

I used the Brownie Goose Lazy Susan pattern, and adapted it to put in a zip under the sash, so my daughter could access her insulin pump easily.

This was not my creation!  My 11-year-old daughter made this one all by herself for the Easter bonnet parade, and won a prize!

Elsa dress, made from a t-shirt and a ballgown from a charity shop, with a detachable floral voile train.

Little girl wanted an Anna coronation dress for her birthday, so I got out the pen and paper...

Painted a few panels of green fabric with Dylon fabric paints (I had to mix my own colours).

Painted a design on the front of the black fabric for the bodice, and added gold satin ribbon.

Hey presto!  Many, many, many, many hours later...

One very happy birthday girl in her new unique dressing-up outfit!

Aprons for the teachers at the end of the school year.  I used the Sweet and Sassy pattern from Modern Vintage Design.

Candy Castle Bubblegum dress in newborn size.  So little!

 

Candy Castle Peppermint Swirl dress, ladies' size, for me!

November and December Sewing

I seem to have got a lot done during November and December.  More than I thought I had!  This pretty butterfly dress was for a good friend's beautiful little daughter.  I love the flutters on the straps!  It's a BOO!  Designs pinny, with a fuller skirt.

I made her a BOO! twirly skirt too.  I just love these colours together.

My daughter wanted a dress that would make her look like a dancer from the Strictly Come Dancing TV show.  The Candy Castle peppermint swirl dress seemed perfect for this, so I joined the sew-along in December, but decided I wouldn't buy any new fabric, just use what I had on the shelf.  Little girl adores yellow and pink, so this was an easy choice!

Covered snaps, to add a touch of class, and because the snaps I had didn't really match!

She absolutely loves this dress and would wear it all the time if she could.

The next thing is not my creation at all!  Big girl wanted to make her teaching assistant a special Christmas gift.  Earlier in the year, both girls grew their own lavender in the garden, and dried it, so she made a heart-shaped lavender bag.

Big girl was worried that she didn't have anything fancy enough to wear for the class Christmas party, so we put together a BOO! twirly skirt from my Christmas scraps.  I love it!

On 19 December (the last day of the school year) I smugly sat down and went through the list of Christmas presents for the children, happy that I'd got them all ready and wrapped, then realised I'd missed one!  The list said, "make little girl a Sofia the First dress"!  I dashed to the fabric shop, and over the next 4 nights I sewed till very late to make this.  The medallions are white fabric, cut out and appliqued on.  The top is Fairytale Designs' Mackenzie dress and the bottom is Candy Castle's princess dress.

Big girl helped choose the fabrics for this cute Brownie Goose Lazy Susan dress for her little sister.  I love the green with the Christmas print, and thought little hearts would be just right for the hem of the flutter sleeves.

I hope you all had an amazing Christmas, and wish everyone a wonderful 2014 with lots of sewing time!

Growing up too fast!

We have reached the stage where oldest girl (10) doesn't want to wear pink and frilly dresses any more!  Left to herself she would wear black all the time, but we have agreed that black and bright colours are great, just "no more pink and pastels, please Mum!"

So, since I had two yards of this lovely Jennifer Paganelli Carrie fabric in bright orange, I made her a BOO! Twirly Skirt, a matching belt for her insulin pump, and I appliqued a star in the orange fabric onto an old black t-shirt.  It must be OK, since I've been told she wants to wear it to the next school non-uniform day.  The highest accolade for a home-made outfit! 

The even better news is that I still have enough to make her a couple more skirts or a dress.

Just a few of the pretties I've been making recently.

Pink Flower Fairy Dress

I made this dress for little girl (5) today.  The main part is a lovely Michael Miller Flower Fairies print.  Her big sister (10) has made herself a skirt with the pink fabric tonight.  When it's finished I'll take a photo to show you, because it's lovely.

Ruffles, ruffles and more ruffles