A Hand Made Christmas Gift

A few weeks ago, Abi posted about a gorgeous little Rabbit doll that she had sewn, as a birthday gift for her friend.  Abi had bought a pattern online, from Alicia Paulson.  I loved it so much, that I bought the pattern for myself, with the intention of making a Rabbit as a Christmas Present for Keri-Anne.

 So, I did:

Here she is - a Christmas Rabbit!

Her boots are made from scraps of bookbinding leather and suede, laced with linen thread.

The pattern included a dress, with a gathered, elasticated kneck-line.  I added an inverted pleat and two buttons, to make the front look smart.  I also made little white linen & cotton knickers (which you can't see in the photo) and a lace-edged petticoat, with a ribbon-tied drawstring waist - old fashioned and traditional!  

I'm hoping that Miss Rabbit will come and visit me before long, so I can measure her, as I'm making a coat too, though I didn't get time to complete that before Christmas.  

Thanks to Abi for sharing the pattern link.  I'm pretty pleased with how she turned out - and Keri-Anne loves her, so it was all worthwhile! 

Sewing Again (at last)!

My first sewing project in a Very Long Time!

 

New Roman Blind 

Not a very difficult thing to make, but it's literally the first sewing project I have done in years.  I took my sewing machine to be serviced last week, so it would be working well.  Then I turned the spare curtain (from the two pairs I bought for the windows - only needed three, not four) into a matching blind for the long window. 

I'm pleased with myself. :-)

Crazy Sock Creatures and Silly Sock Pets - My Saturday

This Saturday I ran a workshop day at the local quilting and sewing shop.  It was "Crazy Sock Creatures and Silly Sock Pets  " and - guess what - we made Sock Creatures!

Jo-Ann made "worms"!

Also a rather adorable dog....

...with a very appealing look in his shiny eyes.

Marie came up with a wonderful pink lady bunny, with loooong eyelashes - very glam!  She also had a go at the 2-sock dog, like Becky.  Hers was quite different, with the big roses splashed over it, googly eyes and sparkly glitter-glue eyebrows. He also had a knotted wool tassel for a tail.

Leah, aged 11, came with her grandma, Chris.  They made a couple of lovely sock rabbits.  This is Leah's, which she made for a baby family member.  She was very careful with her sewing and embroidered the features, so there was nothing dangerous to the baby.   Leah also started a sock Monkey.  It was about half done by the end of the day.

Sadly, Chris didn't want me to photograph any of her items, because she hadn't finished them yet.  She made a baby rabbit too (which still needed its face), and was part-way through a very bright yellow spotted dog. 

June made a great striped cat, then a really funky rabbit.  Although they were obviously made from the same pair of socks, they look so different.  I loved them!

Last, but by no means least...  Becky first made this wonderful leopard-cat.  I love his felty nose and the pattern of the sock on his tummy.

She gave him embroidered eyes, which are so well camouflaged, but work extremely well.

Becky's next project was a dragon, which she found in one of the books I had brought along for reference and ideas.  The one in the book was green...  But Becky had 2 pairs of socks, one pink, one black, so she decided to combine them, to make this truly fabulous creature!  She split the pink sock for his head, so that she could use the black one as a mouth lining. 

She gave him toes on his feet and fingers on his paws.  Her plan was to make big teeth from white felt, plus claws for the fingers and toes.  I hope she finished it at home - it would have looked amazing!

I think the day was a success.  Everyone seemed fairly happy with their sock creatures and all had more than one project to take away with them.  They all seemed to think they would have another go at home too.  I hope they enjoyed it - I certainly enjoyed seeing the wonderful variety of creatures they came up with!

* * *

Oh, a commenter has reminded me that there are two tutorials here, on my blog, for making your own Sock Creatures!  Look here: for a cute little one-sock Bunny Rabbit and here: for instructions to make a traditional Sock Monkey.  Have fun!  

A Day of Sewing

Yesterday I spent the day at my niece's house, helping her learn to use her new sewing machine.

Grandma bought Keri-Anne a lovely sewing machine as a birthday present, as she has wanted to make clothes for herself and the babies, for a long time.
I bought her a couple of excellent sewing books as well, so she was well equipped with information and tools, but not with experience! Sometimes you just can't learn something from a book - you have to have someone there to show you and help you make sense of it all.

So, we got out the books and sewing equipment, went to buy a piece of suitable fabric and settled down for a day's stitching.

Big Girl was at nursery, but Little Girl was supervising....

though it was a busy day at the office... lots to do!  When she was tired of her job, Little Girl (who is, after all, only 4 months old) had a nice break, lying on her play mat and playing with her toys, then watching her favourite "Baby TV" channel for a little while, before having a snack and a hard-earned snooze.

We traced, prepared and cut out our pattern, then cut it out of the fabric.  Then we got the sewing machine out of its box and set it up, learning the names of the various parts, checking tensions, stitch lengths, needle size etc.  We wound a bobbin with white cotton and threaded up the machine.  Then Keri-Anne stitched her First Seam!

The machine has a handy storage box, which slides on and off, doubling as a "flat bed" for straight seams, but allowing you to have a "free arm" setting on the machine as well.  It's such a clever idea.  All the bits and pieces - like bobbins, spare needles, screw-driver, stitch unpicker, spool holders etc - are held in the box and kept with the machine. 

But you can still get the leg of those bloomers round the base of the machine, so you can stitch the hem and add elasticated thread along the bottom! 

(I actually covet this sewing machine - it has more features than mine and is super-nice! It also weighs about half mine, which would make it much easier to lift onto my table/desk... Still, mine is a Family Heirloom, so I am happy to have it and I don't use it enough - currently at least - to give me an excuse to waste money on a new replacement.)

By the time Big Girl was home from nursery and I had to go home, we had got a long way.  This picture shows the little bloomers before the elastic was stitched round the legs, or the casing was pinned, ready for the elastic at the waist.  That was the situation when I went home.  Keri-Anne had a good, clear set of instructions in her book, which she could follow to complete the bloomers during the evening.

And She Did!

Her Big Girl wore her lovely new bloomers today - don't they look fab?