babushkas

The spring has finally arrived in Stockholm. The weather is still very changing, still rather cold, but at least some days are really sunny. What a change after the long winter!

No need for warm and bulky overalls for the little ones either! A simple spring jacket will do...

Pattern: based on two different Ottobre's patterns for a hoodie
Fabrics: Babushkas from Nea Nobelle, ribbing and fleece from Ohlssons tyger.

different shades of blue

My daughter got a new pair of jeans! I made them using the Ottobre pattern and - as quite often - I had to modify it because it was too wide. I'd prefer the pattern to be more "slim fit". Anyway, after the changes the pants were fine in the end.

I added some decorative details to the pockets.

I also made a hat and a scarf in a petrol/blue elephant fabrics from Znok design.

animal prints

I have sewn a couple of t-shirts for my little one using these great fabrics with animal prints. I really like what the Swedish textile designers create! Colorful, funny and with a retro feeling to it.

 

 

pjs

Still no time to update the blog, but at least some time to sew. There is always demand for pajamas at home: the little one is growing so fast! These ones are practical as they cover the small freezing feet.

: pattern: Ottobre Design 1/2012 (the pattern is a bit too wide in my opinion)

back to the needle...

... or a sewing machine, rather. The past months have been quite tough since our baby refused to sleep during the nights. She used to wake up and cry and scream for 2-3 hours every night. It was very tiresome and deprived me from any lust to sew or to blog. I do not know how we survived these two months of horror... Anyway, it is much better now. Our girl still wakes up during the night, but then she falls asleep without too much fuss.

I am back to business now, meaning sewing, and I am much inspired as: 1) my shelves are stuck with new fabrics bought at the winter's Syfestivalen in Stockholm, 2) I've got myself an overlock (Janome 644) - it really makes much difference, 3) I have created a proper place for sewing at home (thank you, IKEA).

Here are some of the things I made during the past few months.

A simple scarf for me! Very warm...

A baby top...

Red corduroy pants...

And black cozy pants (actually upcycled from my husband's sweatshirt)...

 

: Patterns: from Ottobre Design

: Fabrics: various, mainly from Stoff & Stil and Znokdesign.

scarcity of time

I am back to work since October, and unfortunately I do not have much time  neither for sewing, nor for updating the blog...

These pants I made for quite some time ago as a birthday present for my husband. They are warm and comfy and just perfect for his parental leave.

 

:pattern: Ottobre Design 4/2011 (which is one of the best issues in my opinion), size 174cm

: fabrics: grey velour from MG-tyger and cobalt-blue ribbing

knitting again

Got back to knitting... In just three days I managed to knit this ribbed turquoise pixie with a collar. Perfect for winter days for my little one.

 

: Inspiration: http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/stella-pixie-hat

Pants en masse

I like sawing baby pants! It is so easy and quick... Looking at different patterns in OttobreDesign I just knew I have to make these and these...

...and these and these :)

Baby quilt, x-large

Here it comes... the most demanding and the largest (literally) project so far!

A quilt made for my daughter, large enough for her to play on it... Of course if she only stayed there as now she is anyway crawling everywhere...

It is my first attempt at making a quilt and to be honest I am quite proud (especially about using the free motion technique for quilting).

The binding is hand stitched as I reckoned that better to do it properly as I dedicated it so much time anyway.

: size: 115cm x 162cm (each square is 15 x 15cm)

: fabric: Watermelon bundle of fat quarters from Fabricworm plus some coordinating fabric for the back and binding.

: inspiration: quilting tutorial on youtube and a great description on free-motion quilting

for the cold feet

I decided to make one more pair of booties for my little treasure. She is always pulling her socks and playing with them in her pushchair. But these booties with ribbing are not that easy to take off!

The booties are lined with velour - just perfect for the cold feet.

: pattern: own, but inspired by this
: fabric: denim and ribbing from Ohlssons Tyger, velour for lining from Stoff & Stil.

cute harem pants

My daughter needs new pants as she grew too big for all her old ones. So I made these harem pants! Not only they are cute but they are also comfy to crawl around...

I really like the pattern, so I guess I will sew more of them - maybe using same colour jersey and ribbing... And the nice thing about them is that they were made in no time!

: pattern: Ottobre Design 1/2011, size 68 cm
: fabric: jersey from MG-tyger and ribbing from Ohlssons Tyger

10 months and 3 kids

Both my brother and my sister have baby-boys that are just couple of months older than my daughter.  Actually, all the three kids were born in the span of 10 months. Funny, isn't it?

So here comes the first present to the little cousins.

I have made two of them, one for each of the boys.

As I only own a simple sewing machine (no serger or coverlock) I find attaching the ribbing the most boring / difficult part of sewing children clothes. Here I tested sewing the ribbing with a universal bias binding foot (bought on ebay). I imagine that with some practice, the binding foot could be of much help...

: pattern: Ottobre Design 3/2011, sizes 80 and 86 cm
: fabrics: yellow jersey with white vehicles from JNYdesign

simply, a t-shirt

In the beginning I wanted to sew a bodysuit and I even cut out the fabrics according to the pattern, but then I changed my mind as I realized that my little one has plenty of bodysuits in size 68. And made this simple t-shirt instead.

To be frank, the t-shirt ended up a bit too short. But what I like about it is the waistband made of a bit wider stripe of ribbing. Later on I even added some elastic to it so that it stays neatly where it should.

: pattern: Ottobre Design 3/2010 (envelope-neck bodysuit), size 68
: fabric: JNYDesign

Welcome to the world, Jack!

My friend in Gothenburg has just become a proud mum to a baby-boy! So I sent a few handcrafted gifts to her little Jack. Starting with this babynest:

I have tried a new pattern this time (where the ring and the mat is a one-piece), but it was actually more difficult to give it a shape that I wanted. Next time I would make the mat and the ring separately but I would keep the nice round shape of the mattress on the top.

The mat has snap buttons so that it is easy to take out the mattress and to wash the babynest.

: pattern: inspired by this

: fabric: lovely green cotton fabric bought at Åhléns

I also made a tiny baby bonnet and a bandana bib and now Jack can rock on the West Coast :)

: patterns: Ottobre Design 5/2006 (bonnet of size 36) and this for a bandana bib pattern
: fabric: yellow jersey with white vehicles from JNYDesign, white ribbing and violet velour

I guess that Jack looks like this in his babynest:

One summer dress and two tiny booties

Greetings from Rio where the weather is changing every day... One day it rains, the next day is sunny. Today has been beautiful and my little princess could wear this cute summer dress I made for her. The pattern was from the latest Ottobre Design.

It was actually easier to make than expected (apart from the ruffles which took some time to make). I had much fun sewing this dress!

: fabric: white cotton with roses by Tilda and pink cotton
: pattern: Ottobre Design 3/2011

I have also made a pair of matching booties: the stripes and the lining are of the same fabric as the dress.

 

: fabric: white linen and white cotton with roses by Tilda

: pattern: Making Children's Clothes by Emma Hardy

Turning, spinning, bumping...

My daughter is getting more and more skillful in turning, standing, sitting etc... Sometimes I find her with her legs on the pillow and her head in the middle of the crib as she loves to spin around now. High time to make a crib bumper!

I did not use any particular pattern for the bumper as I thought it should not be that difficult to make anyway. I took the measurements of the crib and through much trial and error managed to sew this Japanese style bumper.

Inside it has a pocket for books, toys or pacifiers.

Now my kid can bump around as much as she wants!

: pattern: my own

: fabrics: cotton fabric with Japanese dolls for the inside and lilac cotton fabric with circles for the outside (from Stoff & Stil). Also foam rubber for the interior panels and a velvet ribbon for the ties.

in circles

Finally, I managed to sew a bodysuit for my baby. The pattern I came across in the latest Ottobre Design magazine was for a wrap bodysuit, so I made it (although my daughter is getting too big to be wrapped).

It was not easy to attach the bindings without a coverstitch machine... I used my regular sewing machine and a twin needle - it just took more time. I made a little mistake when attaching the binding to the collar, but otherwise I am quite pleased with the overall result. Not bad for a first try!

: pattern: Ottobre Design 3/2011
: fabrics: Gekko's white jersey with brown circles (JNYDesign) and yellow binding.

Angry bird

I have discovered a whole new world to me: amigurumi. It is so cool what one can crochet... It seems that sky is the limit.

The first amigurumi I made was the red Angry bird. (You might see more of them in the future as I have an idea to make a pram toy of Angry birds for my daughter...)

 

: pattern: Angry birds Cardinal

clouds in the sky

Here is the latest addition to my collection of canopies. I love the fabric: it is so dreamy with the white clouds but at the same time the red backgrounds adds some spice!

 

This time it went even smoother with sewing. And I paid more attention to the finishing, therefore I am happy with the final effect.

: fabrics: white clouds on the red background by JNYDesign and cobalt blue beaver nylon for the lining (Stoff & Stil). Plus yellow and blue bias tapes.

Make your own bugaboo canopy!

If you want to create your own Bugaboo Cameleon canopy,  here's the way I do it (inspired by Mamma på vift).

You will need:
- the outer fabrics: 1m (if it is at least 110 cm wide)
- the lining: also 1m (if it is 150cm wide)
- bias tape: around 4m
- elastic for the small loops

The pattern:
The easiest way to make the pattern is to pin some old fabrics (for example an old sheet) to your original canopy (when it is unfolded on the stroller) and draw the lines along the seams. As a reference, you can see my measurements for the patterns, but please add approx. 1 cm for the seam allowance.

Here I use red cloud fabric for the outside of my canopy and a cobalt blue beaver nylon for the lining. For the lining you will need TWO tops in order to make the channels. From one of them you should cut some 10 cm out from both edges (1a and 2a).

The tutorial:
1. Fold and stitch both ends of 2a to get a nice finish.

2. Stitch 2a and 1a together.

3. Now you want to create the slots for the canopy frames. In order to do that just make a stitch some 5 cm from the edges of the fabric.

4. Sew together the outside fabric with the lining (1a+2a together with 1b, 3a together with 3b and 4a together with 4b).

5. Pin all the parts (1, 3 and 4) together.

6. Try it on your pram and make any adjustments if necessary. Then stitch all the parts together.

7. Stitch the bias tape in order to cover the inside seams as well as to neatly finish the outside edges around your canopy. Don't forget to create small loops from the elastic (to be attached to the hooks on your Bugaboo).

8. Pronto! Your custom canopy for Bugaboo is done!