Oddly shaped balls.....

Well, if you're a rugby fan, like me, you can not have failed to notice that the Rugby World Cup is under way in New Zealand!

Now this is very exciting for me...I've been a fan since I don't know when, and now my little dude is getting into it too, which makes me a very happy Mummy indeed! It's not surprising though, really - last World Cup, he was in here - I gave birth one month and one day after this was taken ha ha! 

 He's been walking round the flat ordering 'Crouch! Touch! Pause! ENGAGE!', and was shouting 'Come ON England!' and 'Go Johnny!' - he makes me very proud lol!

So yesterday morning, I decided he needed an England shirt of his own.  

So I found a picture of the England Rose (not hard - it's my wallpaper on my pc!), and traced it onto paper with pencil. I made sure I did the lines quite dark, as I then turned it upside down onto the back of some fusible interfacing, and using the schoolkids trick, rubbed all over the back with the end of a pencil so the design was transferred to the back of the interfacing. This way, the applique pieces would form the image the right way round.

I then cut them all out, and then ironed them onto the jersey scraps, and cut them out. Then Istuck them onto the shirt with washable glue stick to hold them in place - there were too many pieces that pins weren't practical.

Please excuse this photo as it was taken with my phone cam lol! You can see the traced image on the left..this is all the pieces glued onto the shirt.

Then the last thing to do was to stitch them on....I handstitched it all as I think it would have been too fiddly for my machine skills!

And here's the little guy in his new shirt....he seems to like it!

Thanks for looking...and 

COME ON ENGLAND!!!!

Lisa

xxxx

Superman, Custom Feliz, and a sneaky peek!

Hi all!

Thought I'd show you my latest creations....

Russ had this tshirt for ages, and loved it, but it got a little tight for him lol! So I rescued it from the trash, and turned it into a shirt for Jamie.

Jamie decided he needed to do some of his 'posing' shots.....

Then I made this Feliz today...it's a little different to the usual style I make. It has no overdress, no frills, but it does have the sash ties still, with grosgrain ribbon straps and a giant applique flower. I love the way this turned out!

and finally....a sneaky peek at the oilcloth camera bag I'm working on...it's going ok so far lol!

Thanks for looking!

Lisa

xxx

Woohoo! I got picked!

Yes, Shwin&Shwin have been having a Boys Tee week, and asked people to post photos in their Boys Tee Flickr group......

Well, they did their Boys Tee Week Roundup today - and picked one of mine! Eek! I was so excited when I saw it in my Google Reader feed this morning!

It was this Striped Top with 'J' Applique, remember? It's always been one of my favourites of his...I think when he grows out of it I'll have to make a bigger one lol!

Thank you so much to them - their Flickr Group and great tutorials they've had all week have certainly been an inspiration! 

Thanks for looking!

Lisa

xxx

Sorry it's been quiet here....

But I have a lot going on right now personally, and I don't seem to have been able to find the spare time or energy to get on here and post.

But today, I decided if I don't start updating it now, I never will...so here goes. 

Firstly, you'll see the new look...I decided it was time for a change, and I wanted something fresh and different - hope you like it! 

These are a few things I've made lately(yes, I've still managed to make time to sew - if I didn't, I'd go bonkers!).

Firsty - here's a (little bit) better picture of the bunting I made.

here's another Imke for Jamie - this one made from linen with a button fastening yoke.

a couple of camera strap covers - one for a friend, and one for me!

a Farbenmix Insa skirt...

and a pair of Farbenmix Dortje pants changed up a little for a boy (it's a girl pattern!)

Jamie seems to like them...lol!

and finally...a first attempt project - I followed this sandpaper crayon transfer tutorial here...it's fantastic.

Now I know it works, next time I'll make it a little neater ha ha!

Jamie's nickname is Monkeybum, so he's my little surfin' Monkeybum - bet you won't find another tshirt with that one anywhere lol! 

 Phew - that was quite a lot of stuff - thanks for looking!

Lisa

xxx

Hot hot hot!

Wow, the weather has been glorious here for ever.....long may it continue lol!

I haven't got a lot of sewing done, but thought I'd share what I have made.....

I needed to make up a Romance bag for the tutorial I'm doing to go with the pattern pieces I've already put up, so this is what I came up with! It's the Big Romance pattern....and a phone case I self drafted to go with it!

then, as my lovely man bought me the 'Sewing Clothes Kids Love' book, I thought I should get some more use out of it other than just the Feliz! I decided to have a go at the Imke hooded top for Jamie. I upcycled it from two of his Daddy's tshirts - the stripey one had a huge logo/pattern on it that would have been cut through and looked odd if I had left it, so I self drafted a square yoke for the shirt that eliminated the problem nicely!

Jamie likes it, and I'm pleased with how it turned out, so that's good - I'll definitely make it again.

and finally.....yes, it's been in the 80 degree range here....but sometimes, a boy just needs to make fairy cakes.

So we did.

I love to bake with Jamie - he's so enthusiastic, and gets so annoyed every time we have to actually COOK them before we can eat them - he's so funny!

Thanks for looking

Lisa

xxx

Stripe 'J' applique top - competition entry!

Tomorrow is the final deadline for the 'I am Momma Hear me Roar' 'Let's Hear it for the Boys' competition .

Typically for me, I only found out about it yesterday, but thought it might be fun to have a go at entering...so I did!

I used the last of the stripe jersey that I made my stripe tee with - I'll just make sure we don't wear them both on the same day lol!

I thought it looked a bit plain for him as it was, so I jazzed it up a bit with a red jersey 'j' applique (cut from an old tee that was too small for him) - he said 'Mummy, that's a 'J' for Jamie! Is it for me?' Bless him!

No pattern, as per....lol!

Posing shot....

There's a shadow on my feet, Mummy!

Look at those eyes....they let him get away with murder! (ok, I know this shot has nothing to do with the top, but....I'm his Mummy and I love him! lol!)

Thank you for looking, I can't wait to see the other entries - how exciting!

xxx

We're a creative pair...lol!

As some of you may know, my Mr. B writes 'film score style' music in his spare time.

Last night, for a bit of fun, he came up with this tune...and it inspired me (along with this lovely fabric my friend Nick gave me!) to create this straight-neck 3/4 Sleeve Tee this morning!

Here's the tune...if you listen I'm sure you'll see where I'm coming from!

http://snd.sc/icvI92

and here's my tshirt.

(As per - please excuse the awful photo! lol!)

Thanks for looking!

xxx

Man size sewing lol!

I made this today for the big man in my life...as opposed to the little one I usually sew for lol!

This is my first adult tshirt, so I was a little apprehensive - but I'm really pleased with how it turned out, as is Mr. B!

He's now going to wear it for his big meeting in London tomorrow with the music biz people as it's 'casual' wear...and that makes me very proud of my sewing!

Thanks for looking (and fingers crossed for Russ's meeting tomorrow please!)

xxx

Sir Topham Hatt coming through!

Jamie decided he wanted a hat like Sir Topham Hatt from Thomas the Tank Engine this morning...

so after an hour with some cardboard, sticky tape, an old tshirt and some sewing (the tshirt fabric is actually stitched to the cardboard lol!)....here's what he got!

and here's him modelling it...

he's been bossing his trains around now for the past half an hour...I think he's happy with it lol!

Thanks for looking

xxx

T-Shirt Flower Tutorial

Yes, my first tutorial...

No, it's not for a boys shirt lol!

I thought I'd break myself in gently with a tutorial for these pretty flowers...I have a feeling you'll be seeing a few of them when I start making things for myself to wear!

Firstly, you will need:

an old tshirt (size doesn't matter!) or tshirt scraps

some co-ordinating thread

a needle

some scissors.

First, cut out a petal shape you like from the tshirt.

This is mine.

Next, cut out 7 more. It doesn't matter if they're not identical...I actually think they look better if they're not - just make sure they're all pretty much the same length!

Next, you need to thread them onto your needle, like this...make sure you double stitch them (so the needle goes through twice) otherwise they won't gather properly!

Keep going until you've done all 8....

Then gather them all up together (I like to call it 'squishing' lol!)

Next, carefully tie the 2 end of your thread together as tightly as possible, and trim the shortest of the two threads.

You can now leave the flowers like this (in a bud shape), or you can fan them out into a flower shape, making sure the gathered ends in the middle are on the side you wish to see, so they make a nice centre!

You now have your flower!!

You can use the length of thread still attached to sew it onto anything you like...tshirt, bag, hair clip, hair band...the possibilities are endless!

Happy making, and thanks for looking!

xxx

Contrast Hoodie

Made this for Jamie last night - he seems to be loving all these new clothes lol!

I was going to do a picture tutorial for this, but it's hopeless trying to get photos at night (the only time when I get to sew) - the photos all come out awful!

I will do another one of these in the near future though, and see if I can get some better pictures for a tutorial for you!

Anyway, here is the finished product - the weather was actually nice today, so we went out in the garden! Yay!

Sorry about the number of pictures - I got a little carried away ha ha ha!! 

Thanks for looking (and well done if you made it this far lol!)

xxx

Rockin' Guitar Tee

I made this shirt from an old one of mine, but felt it needed 'something' to lift it a little...so I decided to make something to go on the front out of a scrap of red tshirt I had left over from something else.

I asked Jamie what he would like on it - he pointed to Russ's bass on the wall and said 'A guitar, Mummy!'

So that's what he got!

The knobs on the guitar are made from snap fasteners as I didn't have any buttons small enough (I'm not even sure they make buttons THAT small lol!)

He seems to like it...

Thanks for looking!

xxx

Stripey Shirt Upcycle

This shirt was one of Russ's, but it was screaming at me to get made into a French style inspired top for Jamie...

I'm very pleased with how it turned out!

Thanks for looking!

xxx

Thomas Cushion Upcycle

I made this this evening  - a kids cushion upcycled from 1 adult and 1 child's tshirt.

Can't wait to give it to Jamie in the morning!

Thanks for looking!

xxx

Another tunic upcycle (work in progress)

This tunic is all cut out and ready to go...just needs pressing and then sewing up!

This is also for a friend (well, her little girl, anyway lol!)

It's made from a blue tshirt top of mine, and an old patterned sun dress I sadly can't get into any more...

I like the way it's looking now - hope it looks as good when it's all stitched.

Please excuse the small one trying to get in on the act...ha ha ha!

Thanks for looking.

xxx