pillowcase dress

I have been on the look out for clothes in charity shops that I can upcycle into clothes for Grace. But I can never bring my self to buy a perfectly good item and then cut it up. Plus it never seams to be good value to spend pounds, on something to cut up. But I have discovered that pillow cases are very cost effective. They are generally about 25p and have plenty of material for a dress.

I found a lovely white cotton pillowcase with a embroidered lace boarder for a whole 55p and it was my intention to make the simplest, quickest dress possible. I was just going to gather it at the neck and use bias binding for the arm holes and straps. But the more I thought about it the more I realized it would look so much nicer with a little bit of extra colour. A quick root through my hoard found the perfect thing and a scrap of white satin bias was perfect for the straps.

I'm really pleased with it, I think the pink flowered material for the front really sets it off. The only thing I'd change next time is the underarms as they are a bit bulky. Despite the extra work it was still really quick. I'll let someone else faff around making things with sleeves that are time consuming. Sleeveless dresses like this can be worn over long sleeved grows in the colder weather, which is just as well as we are not getting much of a summer this year.

reversible dress

I have had an idea for a reversible dress for a while, I found a fab pillowcase for 25p in a charity shop and decided it was time to try out my idea. I made two dresses and sewed them together at the neck and armholes leaving a gap for ribbon. Turned it right side out and folded the hem of both dresses inside then finished with a double row of top stitching. I also top stitched the neck and arm holes and did another row 1cm down from the neck to make a casing for the ribbon.

It worked pretty well although I don't think the ribbon will stay done up long on Grace. I love the fact it cost so little to make. Pillowcases are dirt cheap and have plenty of material for a baby dress, and the strawberry material I already had.

I made this ages ago and have been meaning to take a photo but only ever remember when Grace is a sleep and the dress is in her room. She hasn't had chance to wear it as the weather has been grotty, She'll have to wear it over a long sleeved grow.

toy bag

I found some great foam building blocks in a charity shop when Grace was tiny. Now she is big enough to play with them I thought I'd make a nice bag to put them in. The plastic bag we've been keeping them in just isn't safe with an almost crawling baby in the house! I used the corner of an old stained duvet cover and put the pocket on before sewing up the side. It doesn't need a pocket but I've been itching to try out Rae's pleated pocket tutorial. It's so easy, I can't wait for Grace to be big enough to have a use for pockets on her clothes so can make a few more. The only design flaw is that when the draw strings are pulled tight there is a lot of ribbon dangling about for a little crawler to get caught in so it's still not great for unsupervised play.

I wrote this post ages ago and have been trying to get a good photo of the bag ever since. I have given up and taken a photo on yet another gray day. Grace is now crawling like a good un and can get the blocks out of the bag her self.

elderflower and grapefruit cordial

It is the time of year for making elderflower cordial. Normally going out to pick elderflowers is a good excuse to be out in the sun, but this year we picked them in torrential rain covered head to toe in waterproofs. Not quite as much fun. This year I decided to try making coridal with grapefruit for a change. I figured that one grapefruit was equivalent to the 4 lemons that my recipe calls for. Mark and I both agree that it was a worth while experiment and has made lovely cordial. And I made marmalade with the grapefruit pieces rather than throwing them away. I discovered that last year, it is a great time saving way to make marmalade.

Elderflower and grapefruit cordial
One ruby grapefruit
1.5ltr water
1kg sugar
1 bag of elderflowers
55g citric acid
1/2 camden tablet

Bring the water to the boil and dissolve the sugar in the water then let is cool. Once it's cooled a bit stir in the citric acid
Cut the grapefruit up into fine slices - how you'd want it for marmalade
Shake the bugs out of the flowers and tip them and grapefruit into the sugar water. Leave for 24 - 48hrs depending on how much time you have. Give it a stir every now and then.
Strain through a piece of muslin. I usually do this by tying the muslin to the legs of an up turned stool, and leave to drip for a few hours.
Crush the camden tablet and stir into the strained liquid then poor into sterilised bottles.

Camden tablets are used in wine making. They kill the natural yeasts that arrive with the elder flowers and allow you to store the cordial for longer. You don't have to use them but the cordial will only keep for a month or two if you don't.

To make the marmalade
Pick the fruit out of the elderflower mess once it has drained and pick out any big clumps of flowers but leave the rest.
Measure the fruit, mine made 1.5cups
Add 1 cup water and 1 cup sugar to the fruit and boiled until set. Mine took about 20mins but I had cut the grapefruit up very thin.

full of Grace

Grace has a cold and has not been able to sleep, the only way she's been able to get a decent amount of sleep is with one of us holding her. So I have been designing dresses for her and writing blog posts in my mind while I sit in the dark listening to her sound like Darth Vader. This is one of the posts and if she ever sleeps more than 20mins in one go again I might make one of the dresses.

I realized that I posted this on flickr but not here. For most of my pregnancy I kept saying how much I wanted photos of my new voluminous body but somehow never got round to taking many. In the end, I grabbed the tripod, found the remote and snapped a few pics. They are nothing to write home about, poor light and against a plain wall. But I am glad I took them, as two days later Grace was born.

I wanted to use the photos to do something that celebrated my pregnancy. For nine months I watched in fascination as my body changed, then one day (in my case 6 days earlier than I was expecting) I had a little dark eyed bundle in my arms and I was no longer pregnant with no time to acknowledge that passing. I was blessed with an easy pregnancy and thoroughly enjoyed it, perhaps it is because I'm unlikely to be pregnant again that I don't want to forget it.

I've used this inkscape technique before. I used to do pictures like this with actual cut out paper when I was younger so it appeals to me. I tried out lots of different colour combinations, which is much easier to do in Inkscape than in with real paper, I like the heavily textured blue paper but it is far too distracting.
One day I might use the files to craft robo the actual paper and make the real thing!

dress

I've been mulling over how to make a quick dress for Grace for a while now. There are some lovely baby girl dress patterns but I wanted something supper quick as Grace doesn't give me a lot of time. She has a nice fleece dress that decided to copy. I think more baby clothes should be made in fleece, it's warm, stretchy, comes in great colours, doesn't fray and the sick and drool doesn't soak in!

I just traced round the dress to make the pattern, adding a 1.5cm seam allowance when I cut it out. This worked ok but I think to be more accurate I need to include seam allowance in the paper pattern. As it is fleece I decided to cut down on one line of stitching by not giving it a hem, just cut the fabric with pinking shears. I did the same on the front yoke to make it look more intentional.

The yoke is lined with material from an old t-shirt. I was able to save time by using the hem of the t-shirt as the hem of the yolk. The dress is those colours because I am using up my scraps of fleece. The photo doesn't show it but it's purple at the back. I added a couple of flowers to pull it all together (and to give Grace something to play with!).

It was really quick to make, I'll definitely be making another. The only thing I would change is to make the shoulder straps longer. Then I'd be able to move the buttons as she gets bigger and get some extra use out of it.

The colour is a bit off in this photo, but she looks fab in it.

hat update

Amelie Me

Here are 2 of my little ladies trying their new hats. Dad loves it so much he wants one so that when he is out pushing Rose in the pram they have matching hats.... he should be careful what he wishes for!

Rose