Some Photo's..

Here are some photo's of the girls wearing their Xmas outfit's. They all looked super cute and had a hoot having their pic's done.

YAY...5 outfits done and dusted.

Phew, I was on a mission today to get these finished so I can take some photo's tomorrow. I am pretty happy with them all except the "ELF" top which I am tempted to redo.

One Christmas outfit down another 7 to go....

I have decided to get all festive this year and have the girls all frocked up in christmas outfits so that I can make up some gorgeous Christmas cards for all my friends and family that live interstate..boo hoo..move home you lot we ALL miss you so much!!!

Anyhow today I finished Lexies and have Abbey's half done. I also have another 2 I will complete before the day is through. I also have another 3 orders, lucky I really enjoy making these and it makes a nice change from bags.

Still not sure if i will make Chelsea a skirt or shorts as she really doesn't dig skirts at the moment.

PJ's for Abbey.

Abbey was mumbling this morning that I never make her anything...Ever! Pfffft..anyhow I thought I would make her some new Pj's as a suprise. I made some shorts from a soft cordrouy and appliqued "love" onto a plain white Tshirt.
Can't wait for her to find them tonight under her pillow after her bath, hope they fit.

Lexie loves the dress...Yay!

Thought I would just add a photo or two of Lexie wearing her new dress, she loves it. And best of all it looks great on.

Chelsea also wanted to be in the photo, very unusual for her..lol.

Cupcake dress and Xmas skirts.

With Christmas coming up I have started to make up some Christmas skirts for my girls and a few for a friend. I am hoping to have the sets all finished by the weekend so I can get some photo's for Christmas cards. I think the skirts look gorgeous and are very twirly when on, a bit of a hit with the girls.


I have been wanting to sew something using a stretch fabric for a while but I have been a tad cautious. Anyhow I decided to bite the bullet and attempt a dress for Lexie I have had my eye on for a while. I used a pink jersey fabric and the cutest cupcake fabric...very cute!
It was a lot easier than I thought and this dress only took over just an hour to complete, It's not perfect but it is ok for a first attempt, I made it from Simplicity pattern 4252.

A Pillowcase dress for Miss Lexie.

Today Lexie asked me if I could make her a new dress, well of course I couldn't let her down could I?
I needed to make something quick and easy and remembered seeing a "pillowcase dress tutorial" on the net a few weeks back so went searching and found it.

I didnt have any pillowcases that I could bring myself to cut up but had plenty of fabric..of course! So I let her choose some and she picked a pretty blue and red floral fabric.

I am pretty happy with the final result although I will be replacing the ribbon straps with a skinnier ribbon tomorrow as all I had on hand at the time was the wider ribbon but I think it's a bit too much and comes undone much to easy.

Also today Lexie recieved a special suprise in the mail from a lady on EB who's little girl "Lexie" had outgrown . It is a grogeous hat with "Lexie" embroided on it, needless to say she has been wearing it all day and I don't see it coming off anytime soon.

What have I been up to today?

Well today I have sewn up a storm. A friend placed an order a week back and today I made the whole lot.
So that's what I have done today..1 Funky bag, 1 beach bag and 3 notebook pencil holders...phew I am stuffed..time to sit down.

Dinosaur shorts and a stylish new apron.

Being Monday I spent the morning re-organizing the house and doing a zillion loads of washing, I also look after my nephew on a Monday so I have a house full of kids aswell.
Ben my nephew is toilet training at the moment and had a little accident, he was very embarrased poor little bugger. That's when I remembered I had a small offcut of camoflauge(sp?) dinosaur fabric I got in a remnant bag, just enough for a little pair of shorts. I used a pair of his shorts as a pattern and just made them with an elastic waist. He was pretty happy with them and there were no more accidents..YAY for me!

While I was at it I made another pair for Abbey in a gorgeous summer print and also whipped up a new apron for Abbey,I have adapted it from a tea towel and she loves it and is now bugging me to let her cook something. Now this is somthing I really struggle at as I have no patience when it comes to cooking with the kids...think I might send her over to Lou-Lou's to get her cooking fix.

Ahhh Friday at last..woohoo!

I love Fridays, knowing the weekend is only a sleep away and its time to kick back and destress. Fridays are also liked in this house as it is my sewing day..ok I sneak the odd hour or two in during the week but Friday is the day I set aside to sew as I dont need to pick Abbey up from art classes until 5pm leaving me a good 4 hours in the afternoon to get stuck into it. I have added a photo of my sewing area so you can see where I hang out, it is in the corner of the games room.


So today I made another beach bag but improved it by adding edging around the top and a clasp to the front pocket, I love it! I really loved my original bag but this one is SO much better again!

I then made a "funky bag" in some black and white fabric by Micheal Miller, I used a sparkly denim as the lining, it looks great.

I am thinking of setting up a little blog shop to sell some things that I make that dont have homes already such as the two bags I made today, might be a job for me tonight.

Getting ready for the festive season..

Something strange happened today, I was at home ALONE!! No one else was about and the silence was deafening. I couldnt handle the peace anymore so needed to come up with a way to break the silence...ahh the machine in the corner bekoned me over, what a perfect way to make some noise and chill out at the same time!

So then I had to work out what to sew, so through my rather large stash I searched for inspiration only to come across some Xmas fabric perfect for a little Christmas outfit that I promised someone special that I would make for their gorgeous daughter.

I am hoping it fits but if it's too big I suppose there is always next christmas...

The Mummy and Princess combo.

Mummy and Priness Combo bags...the Princess bag is a fair bit smaller than the Mummy bag but when I photographed them they look the same size.


It is so cold and windy here today that a day spent home sewing sounded like a fabulous option. So after I cleaned up from the mess and destruction my girls manage every morning before school I got busy sewing.
A friend ordered a bag for herself and wanted a smaller matching one for her daughter, the most important thing being that the bag had Pink on it.
I found the cutest fabric for the lining, it's very chic and something that I am sure any pink loving 2 year old will love. They turned out great and now all three of my girls want matching ones too.

I have a few bags to make but think I might take some time out to use some gorgeous pink dinosaur fabric I found yesterday at Spotlight. Chelsea loves it so I am thinking I might make up some shorts as she has decided skirts are not for her. I have a wardrobe full of skirts and dresses that she refuses to wear...and all the cute little skirts and tops I have made her might need to find new homes as she wont have a bar of them..*sigh*.

More Bags....

I have a few bags on order that I need to finish before I can do any other sewing. I made these two bags for two friends that requested the fabrics, I think they look great.
I also got Stace to bring home a heap of Shade cloth today so I can make up some Beach Bags...but not until all my orders are completed.

Animal set for Chelsea.

After a succesful morning of sewing it put me in the mood to do some more. Lexie and Chelsea had a friend over so they were entertained, the house was clean, beds were made so I had some time to do what I want.
I decided that I would make something out of a gorgeous animal fabric by Anna Griffen, I decided on a skirt and singlet set. All up it took just over an hour and looks cute as.

The beach bag.

Not to long ago we were cleaning out the shed and came across some shade cloth, Stace was going to throw it out but I asked him to keep it as I would make something out of it...what? I wasnt sure..lol.

Anyhow after a day at the river one day Stace was whinging about all the sand we carried home with us, that was my lightbulb moment!

I have talked about making this Beach bag and have thought of different designs and ways, anyhow after weeks of thought I finally made it today.

I needed the bag to be big to fit in towells, drink bottles etc, so I made a large simple tote bag , I added a thick denim pocket to the front and some spare fabric in a funky summer print I had left over from a funky bag.

I love this bag! I have even been out to the kids sandpit and put a shovel full of sand into it and it just fell through the holes of the shade cloth so my plan worked..YAY!

Another bag..

Here is another bag I have finished off, I really like the look of this bag in this fabric.

Back on track!

The last few weeks have been kaos around here with Abbey being very unwell, school/kindy going back and a few other curve balls thrown our way. Anyhow we are back on track, Abbey is well and back at school, Lexie has settled back into kindy and the days are getting longer and warmer..YAY!
Today Stace had to sail so I bribed the wee ones with Macca's and 2 new DVD's to keep them busy while I got reunited with my sewing machine. Firstly I finished off a dressmade out of Heffalump material for Chelsea, she loves anything Heffalump so when I saw this fabric I just had to get it. The dress is from a New look pattern but I have changed the back to a cross over with elastic back so that it fits better and the straps wont slide off her shoulders. It looks a bit crumpled in the photo as she wore it all afternoon.
My machine has been playing up of late when sewing my Funky bags so I made one up just to play and readjust the settings as I didnt want it to stuff up on a bag that someone had ordered. I used a gorgeous green vintage fabric that I had in my stash and the machine worked a treat the whole time, the end result I was pretty chuffed with. I then set to work on a bag that a friend had ordered in a pink print, it worked out great, I hope she will be happy with it too.
I have a few more bags to make this week and will also get to work on some Christmas outfits for the girls.

More Funky bags and a sweet pair of shorts.

Today I needed to finish off some Funky shopping bags that had been ordered, I also made a quick trip to Textile Traders and got myself a large cutting mat...so excited!
While I was there I stocked up on more fabric to make more bags from, I could spend all day looking at all the fabrics and dreaming up different combinations.

Because it was a beautiful 30c here today, the kids spent the day outside leaving me some time to make a sweet pair of elastic waisted soft baby blue cordroy shorts for Abbey, they are really sweet and apparently very comfy.

Also the labels I ordered a few weeks back arrived and I am pretty happy with them, it feels good seeing them in something I have made.

This morning they were jeans, now they are a funky skirt!!

Today I was sorting through the million clothes that my girls have and came across one of my favourite skirts from Pumpkin Patch. I bought it for Abbey when she was 2 and now Chelsea is wearing it, it's a denim top with 2 fabric ruffled layers. This got me thinking about some of the jeans Chelsea had outgrown in length that I had bagged up to pass on. I picked out the daggiest pair and started to cut them up, I then chose some material I had left over and cut and hemmed to size, gathered it up a bit and then attached to the denim, they worked out ok, but now I know what I am doing I will make sure the next pair are even better. Might start scouring Op shops for jeans in Abbeys sixe to make her a funky skirt out of as hers all have another 2 girls to get passed on to.

Animal bag and Lazy day skirt.

Abbey has been unwell for days which has left me housebound and Stace had to sail again today so I spent the day sorting through my large fabric stash and sorting my patterns. I am amazed at how much I have accumulated in such a short timeframe, it's a bit embarassing really.

Anyhow not much sewing got achieved today between sorting my stash and caring for Abbey. But I did manage a small bag for Chelsea to keep her favourite Dinosaurs and jungle animals in so that she doesn't lose them.
I also knocked up a skirt for Abbey from some pretty floral fabric I found in my stash that I wasn't even aware I had, I made it from the lazy day tutorial.

Another summer dress for Lexie

Does it mean I have a problem when the ladies at Spotlight know me by name???

Stace went sailing today so I decided to spend the day sewing, I even bribed the girls with new craft and a new Mr Men DVD and Macca's for tea if they gave me some peace...it worked!

So today I made this dress from Simplicity pattern 3853. Lexie chose the fabric, she seems to have a thing for brown at the moment which is fine by me (o:

The dress was pretty easy although next time I wil use wider bias tape as it was a bit fiddly as it was rather narrow.

Hope to make this dress again but for Chelsea using a gorgeous floral fabric I got today.

Spotty skirt and top.

Lexie has been bugging me to make something out of a brown fabric with soft pink spots on it that I got from the remnant table at SL. So last night I decided to make her a skirt from the "Lazy Day Skirt" pattern and appliqued some left over fabric and ribbon onto a white tee. Once I had sewn it on I realised the motif was a bit skewiff so added a bow and some buttons to even it up a bit.
She was wrapped when she woke up this morning and saw it hanging in her wardrobe.


Today I started on another dress for Lexie but need to make a trip to SL to get a few more bits and peices to finish it off. I also started on a top for Abbey...will blog them soon.

Photos of the halter Top

Since Chelsea refused to try on the halter top for me Lexie was happy to step in. I took this photo at Falcon beach yesterday and will be making a few more of these tops today as they are so sweet!

Cute halter top modelled by Bob!

I bought this pattern off Etsy from Melliemakes, it was simple to make and has an easy formula so that you can make it for any shape and size.
I used two contasting apple fabrics from Spotlight and added a cotton lace to the hem.

When I finished it I was dying to try it on Chelsea but she was fast asleep so Bob had to step in and help me out....Onya Bob!!!

Photos...

Thought I would add some photos of Chelsea and Lexie wearing their Sweet little Dresses by Leila and Ben(made by me (o: ) and also a photo of Abbey wearing the twirly skirt I made her on Thursday, she twirls and twirls and twirls, needless to say she loves it!