My Little Pony jackets...

I've been getting patterns from other blogs the last while and I need to pay my dues with one of my patterns.

Before starting new sewing projects, I usually Google and find out what patterns are available (for free) or look at other blogs for inspiration. But when I Googled clothing patterns for My Little Ponies, I didn't find much in the way of apparel for My Little Ponies - instead  My Little Pony Halloween costumes.

So I got out the felt, was inspired by a little dog jacket from another toy and came up with this outfit.

As promised, here is the pattern for the little jacket. It's super easy and could easily be sewn by hand, although I used a machine.

Good luck. If you need any help, please post comments.

Summer time... hats!

The other day I mentioned making a sun hat for my little girl. It's summer here now, so having some protection is essential.

I know the current style is to make a tutorial with photos, but sometimes I find a sketch is clearer, so this is my first experiment.

Baby sunhat pattern ages 6 months to 2 years

By the way the photos is taken by a friend of mine who used the application poladroid to get the retro feel. Love it!

Sewing is fun, sometimes

I like to sew, but I am not sure exactly why. I don't enjoy the mechanics of it (if I can avoid a zip or buttonhole, collar or lining I will) and I think it is the end product that makes me pleased. Nothing better than making something unique and special, or saving yourself money by fixing or making something yourself.

However, there is one part that I absolutely detest - cutting out. It always takes longer than you expect, and sometimes longer than the sewing itself. Unfortunately this is the part you normally start with, so it means a lot of my projects take a while to get off the ground. I recently got a new blade for my rotary cutter (thanks Helen) and it has made such a difference - cutting out is a lot quicker - now all I need to worry about is buying enough fabric!

Sewing tip of the year

I have to credit my sources and say I discovered this hack after my husband book his new jeans to be shortened at the tailor. I always find the chore a mission - I never have the right thread and getting the length right is a pain. When he got them back he discovered the neat professional trick - they kept the original seam and simply overlocked a fold off ... just above the stitching..

Today I finally was fed up with my turn-ups (somehow I always find the only jeans in stock are 34" long - instead of 32"). I made sure the folds were the right length and the same size the whole way around, then stitched as close to the original seam as possible. I didn't overlock to cut the extra off and discovered that this allows you two styles 1) I simply folded the cuff into the inside. You could also overlock along the same line, but this way you get both a turnup and the right length jean (pant).

hot! hot! hot!

I feel strange saying "hot sack" but really have no idea what to call these marvellous things. So easy to make. Put in the microwave for 2-3 mins and lie down and relax while your aches and pains are eased.

Buy some long grain rice.
Optional: collect some dried herbs
Find 2 rectangular scraps of fabric
Sew all but 1 side of the rectangle closed right sides together and then turn inside out.
Sew a couple lines (I did three) down the breadth - but stop about 5 cms away from the edge on the one side - this makes pockets in the bag so the rice doesn't bunch.
Fill with rice, turn the raw edges of the fabric in (on the open side) and top stitch across to close the sack.

What is a truncated icosahedron?

Emme guessed correctly - a soccer ball, or otherwise known as a football. I will give Brendan half points for saying a hat - half way through it sat on his head and had a nice Davy Crocket tail.
My first edition is almost full sized, so next time my hexagons and pentagons will be halved (it is meant to be a baby toy in celebration of 2010 world cup being held in South Africa).

Truncated Isoahedron curtesty of Wolfram, developers of the newest, most exciting computational search engine - Wolfram Alpha. (sorry for the geek-out)

Serging ahead

Sew Mama Sew has a timely and informative blog post about sergers (also known as overlockers). I have quite a bit of experience with my mom's overlocker (which arrived the other day) but I must admit to using it vanilla - always scared of messing with any settings. Hopefully I am more adventurous now, and this article gave me a taste of what is possible.

My boxy pouch with a twist

Baby C loves this fabric + I had made a quick drawstring bag out of it for her dummies. This morning I sewed it into a boxy pouch, which I blogged about before. Today I filled it with a finished wipes packet - fun because it makes a loud crinkly noise. I reused the drawstring to make a scruffy handle for this bag which doubles up as something to chew on (especially the knot).

I made the bag with one piece of fabric and was surprised at how big it turns out (I took the sides in on this bag because it was initially too large for dummies (the full piece was about the size of an A4 piece of paper).

Kim Raad

My friend, Kim, made me such a great surprise present the other day - a tea cosy made creatively from her adaptation of the Amy Butler Stash and dash pattern. I always love the fabrics she chooses - she has good taste and instinctively knows what patterns and colours match. She has just started sewing with a machine (before she did everything by hand - like this very cute blanket and toy she made for baby C before she was born) doesn't it look great?

Vintage bags

It was my sewing buddy Kim's birthday last week and I bought her this book - Making vintage bags. It had good reviews on Amazon, and I wasn't disappointed. The bags are very cute and the instructions seem very detailed. The best thing about this book is the finishing touches on the bags (like a fabric rose), or big floppy bows, and they show you how to do it yourself. If you like bags as much as Kim and I, then I would recommend this book.

Weekend designer

I am just blown away by this blog, Weekend Designer - there are a lot of blogs with howtos and free patterns, but this one is for serious dressmaking. Don't worry though, his (I assume it is a he, not sure why) instructions make it easy for the averagely experienced sewer (that word always looks funny). According to him 'it ain't rocket science'. The patterns featured are super hip (from the world of fashion and design) - another thing that sets this blog aside from the rest - they weren't created by the average crafty woman who gets excited by tissue box covers.

A useful thing to sew, giant floor cushion

Another one from my useful things to sew book. It's a giant cushion and the thing I really like about it is the button detail on top. Enjoy

In my home, with all my stuff it's quite a weird thing.

The baby c is all sorted (somewhat of an adventure to Ikea without a car to get her a new crib because she definitely outgrew that moses basket) and we are trying to get into a new routine. Let's see how that goes.

I found a new sewing site by accident this evening. http://www.sewing.org/

my highlights
- Fat cats quilts - i should make that and freak out B :)
- rice bags - a classic+easy pattern & I use mine all the time.
- teenager furniture - very cool but when I was a teen the stuffing cost wouldn't have let me.
- mittens - a very appropriate pattern (the shops here only have summer gear)

There are so many patterns here and I feel I have got enough good idea projects for 2009. Yay. Have fun, just don't go into the fashion department or prepared to be horrified with lots of 80s, the stuff you want to forget about (except for that cute strapless dress).

I would love to checkout this software but unfortunately I am running the unsupported Apple.

The bags I sewed yesterday

Free Finnish patterns

From the same place (Ottobre Design) that I got my cloth nappy pattern, I discovered a wealth of great + free PDF patterns. Like a cute mouse toy complete with clothes, a teddy bear rattle, or a "dotted dream" purse (pictured).

Their website says: OTTOBRE Design is a magazine specializing in children's and youth fashion. Each issue includes more than forty trendy designs and complete patterns and instruction for sewing.

I'm keen to get a subscription - based on the free goodies, the magazine must be full of inspiration for someone like me.

Plush cupcake anyone?

Cute and unusual (cupcake, fortune cookie, loaf of bread, etc) plush toys... patterns from Cherry Mix here

Baby changing mat

I made this bubble wrap changing mat while I was still pregnant and then again after my original mat fell out of the bottom of the pram.

It's pretty simple to make:
1) decide how big to make your mat (mine is 63 x 38 cm).
2) cut two pieces out of your chosen fabric (I choose easy-to-wipe vinyl usually used for table cloths).
3) cut one piece the same size out of bubble wrap.
4) sandwich together with the bubble wrap on the inside and the right sides of the fabric on the outside.
5) sew around the edge.
6) neaten the edges with bias binding (this step is easier if you round the edges so you can use one piece for the diameter).

This took me literally 10 minutes to make (although I do admit the bias binding is very untidy - so don't zoom in :).

strapless shwe shwe dress

This pattern is a winner - it's a dress and high waisted skirt combo, and is real easy to make. Best of all no bra is necessary because the elastic in the smocking keep you snug.

As I overheard 'panels are dressmaking made simple'. Very true - if you use at the standard length, there is no need for finishing hemline seams.

All you do is take some panels, in my case I used eight panels in three different patterns. If they are still connected together, cut out panels.


Pin the panels right sides together so narrow edges are together at the top and wide edges at the bottom. Do not sew together in a circle - leave it flat as shown in the picture. Finish the raw edges using a serge stitch.


Then thread some elastic thread (used for smocking) onto the sewing machine bobbin.
Sew in straight lines starting from the top of the garment. Sew on the right side. The first three should be close together (say 1cm) then the next three at 2cm and the rest at 5cm until you have 15cm (at least enough to cover your breasts). In order to keep the elastic lines straight, I suggest marking the fabric with a removable marker (e.g. chalk). Finally sew up the two edges so you have a finished dress.


If you want to make this pattern without the standard skirt panels, use this guide to make your own: each skirt panel measures (without seam allowance)
91cm long (0.99 yards),
13cm wide (0.14 yards) at the top
25.5cm (0.28 yards) at the bottom.

For my dress I used 8 panels and I am a size 78cm (32 inches) under the bust and 91cm (36 inches) over the bust.

I have some panels available in my etsy shop:
brown spidersweb
baobab tree

My cloth nappy experiences

I made 6 cloth nappies last week and have been trying them out. In conclusion, the next batch will probably not be aio... I definitely prefer the separates, it's really not that much extra work to change and I think there will be less moisture leaking onto the outside through the leg holes. Sewing the soaker pad in is the best option - easier and one less part.

Making my own cloth nappies

The cloth nappy adventure continues ...

The turning point came when I searched on Etsy for cloth nappies. Unfortunately they weren't any cheaper, but now I really knew I could make my own.

When I spent a little more time searching I came across a pattern for fitted nappies.

Great stuff. I now just had to make some choices about what fabric to use. Bamboo would have been first prize, but I didn't know how to get it aside from ordering online. Then I had to decide whether to make AIO or buy some waterproofs. I decided to try out an AIO and managed to find something called 'incontinence fabric' (used for making matress protectors) at the market - I was looking for PUL, but this was the closest I could get. Most importantly it is washable in high temperatures and is also breathable.

Cutting out the pieces is what took me the longest - the soaker pad took quite a number of layers. In total,
- 6 x soaker pad out of cloth nappy fabric
- 2 x soaker pad out of cotton quilters batting
- 1 x nappy out of cute penquins flannel
- 1 x nappy out of waterproof fabric
- velcro strips as explained in the pattern (4cm and 19cm)
- elastic, much shorter than in the pattern (12 cm for the back & 11 for the leg). I think my elastic needed to be much tighter because my nappy had to be waterproof and had to stop moisture leaking out the leg hole.

The construction was also fairly pedestrian - nothing complicated at all. I followed the instructions on the pattern, except I tried to be a little creative with the soaker pad.


- pin and sew velcro and velcro pocket covers (for washing to protect fabric from the hook side of the velcro because it must be washed undone) onto outside and inside nappy panels


- pin and sew elastic onto inside nappy panel. make soaker pad


The most important piece of the puzzle is the soaker pad. I tried a creative option of keeping it separate. This, I thought, could improve drying times and mean it could be possible to use a dryer. An advantage I didn't think of was that the soaker pads could be re-used in the bigger sized nappies. If you decide to go with this option, remember to give yourself extra seam allowance.

To make the pad, stack in a sandwich with 2 pieces of cloth then 1 piece of cotton padding and so on. If you are going to make it separate I suggest sew inside out as a tube - take two of the top layers and turn face down. sew down the long edges and then turn inside out so the two layers are now the right way). Finally serge the top and bottom edges (with an overlocker). If you make as the pattern says, cut one piece larger than the rest, serge the edges (with an overlocker), then place the soaker pad sandwich on the right side of the inner panel with the larger piece on top. Sew around the edges.

- sew inner and outer together and then serge.


- sew over the elastics with a zig zag stitch through the outside panel.