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How to Make Bunting

August 7, 2013 · Leave a Comment

I haven’t posted for ever again, this time it’s because I’ve had so many projects on the go I’ve been waiting to actually complete something so that I can write about it. First of all there were the little outfits I made for Boys 3 and 4 for their dedication. I finished them last week and they wore them on Sunday. More about these another time! I was making a dress to wear for their dedication too, but I didn’t manage to finish it. There’s another dress I’m making from a pattern that came with a magazine. The bits are cut out but that’s as far as I’ve got. I’m making a hood for Boy 4’s buggy and another dress for Dress a Girl Around the World. I’ve also got the stuff to make some cushions for the boys’s room and I needed to make some bunting, also for last weekend, for a party to celebrate our tenth wedding anniversary.

Most of these projects I have not finished and some of them I have not even started. But the bunting I did manage to complete, and it was very easy and quick (especially as I had help cutting out the triangles 🙂 ) so I’m going to show you how in this little bunting tutorial!

The top edge was 20cm and the line down the middle was also 20cm. I joined the top edges to the end of the vertical line to make a triangle.

First of all make a template. Draw a line 20cm long onto a piece of card. I used an old cereal box. Find the middle and draw another line at right angles to the first line. Join the ends of the first line to the end of the second line and hey! One triangle! Probably an isoceles triangle but I’m not sure :).

Secondly choose your fabric. I used six different designs of polycotton.

Thirdly iron on some interfacing to stop the fabric from fraying. Some people don’t bother with this and use pinking shears instead. My pinking shears however are of the “safety” variety, i.e. very blunt, and although they would probably leave lovely zigzags in butter, they would not cut fabric.

Next, using your template,

draw some triangles onto the fabric. They should tessellate, so they fit together

nicely reducing wastage. If you have a lot to make, cut strips 20cm wide and then draw on the triangles, like a zigzag, see?

One pointy end down, one pointy end up. Geddit?

Now cut them out! When you have cut them out you may want to decide on an order for your triangles or you might want to attach them randomly. If you decide on a particular order, remember that when you are sewing them on, you will be starting at the right hand end of the finished bunting, so the flags will need to be in right to left order as opposed to left to right.

Now you’re ready to sew! Take a piece of bias binding and a triangle. Leave some tape free at each end so you have enough to tie your bunting to something. If you are an inexperienced sewist or a perfectionist, you may wish to pin your triangles on first. Attach the triangles right side to wrong side of the bias tape, so that both wrong sides are face up. I allowed about 5cm between each triangle and about 15cm of spare tape at each end.

That’s pretty much it! Easy peasy!! The possibilities are almost endless, colours, themes, personalised with applique letters or pictures… I have plans to make some for the kitchen when I get around to decorating it, some for my sons’ bedroom, some personalised bunting for Boy 4 and some for Christmas. Also one of our guests said she had been thinking about making some for her daughters’ bedroom and felt inspired to have a go!

If you make some bunting, please tell me! I’d love to see it!

Ps if you don’t want to make your own, I’d be happy to make some for you :). Message me with your requirements and I’ll see what I can do! Prices start at £2 a metre 😉

Baby Boy Dungarees

June 9, 2013 · 2 Comments

It had been a while since I had made anything clothes-wise for the boys. I think the last things I made for them were probably the dino hats. Boy 4 is growing alarming quickly, he’d been too big for most of the 3-6 months clothes since he was about four months, and he is now seven months. Husband finally had a rootle about in the loft for the next set of boxes last weekend. Unfortunately we only have a step ladder and he’d put most of the boxes where he couldn’t reach them. So poor Boy 4 has five babygros, a couple of pairs of trousers and some t shirts.

Thankfully, while having a rummage (I’m always in the middle of a sort-out 😉 ), I found a Simplicity pattern for some baby boy dungarees that I had bought when Boy 1 was about the age that Boy 4 is now. I quite like to make my own patterns despite having no training in this area and I felt a bit of a fraud even considering using a commercial pattern, but you know what folks? I’m tired, Boy 4 is almost crawling (so wriggling and rolling and grabbing everything in sight!) and if it’s good enough for the Great British Sewing Bee, well it’s good enough for me. Using a ready made pattern meant that Boy 4 would get his dungarees sooner, they would probably fit and probably not look daft and I would not end up ruining fabric that cost almost £10 a metre :0

Anyway, using a commercial pattern doesn’t mean necessarily following it to the letter. My motto for playing the piano is “thump out the tune and make the rest up” and this same attitude could be applied to making stuff from bought patterns.

I only made a few small changes in the end.

Firstly, my sewing machine doesn’t do button holes so I added two loops of elastic instead.

Secondly, I really, really abhor facings. Hardly any clothes I buy have them and the ones that do require ironing, which I do not do. A much neater finish can be achieved with bias binding or a lining. I opted for a contrasting lining, inspired by the dungarees on this lovely blog The Crafty Kitty .

Thirdly, I didn’t want to applique any of the weirdness the pattern people suggested. Dungarees need a pocket. Unfortunately I put it a little bit to low and the pocket is on Boy 4’s tummy instead of his chest.

Lastly, the dungarees didn’t need the elastic. They fitted perfectly well without it, which saved me some brain-ache how I was going to attach the elastic between the outer fabric and the lining.

I considered changing the shape of the back but decided it was too much of a faff. I wasn’t sure about the shape of the front either but I felt in the end that curves were probably easier to get neat with a lining than pointy corners.

I’m quite pleased with the results! There’s some growing room but they fit him and he looks comfy. Two more pairs are currently in the cutting out stage and I am contemplating making him some warmer ones in the autumn. I might have to size them up a bit though if he keeps growing at the same rate!

Half Term Fun: Making Glove Puppets

May 30, 2013 · Leave a Comment

The boys like to make a list of things they want to do during the school holidays. For Boy 1 this usually involves riding around on buses. I was planning to encourage them to do lots of outdoor things, like planting and running about in the woods, but it’s been too wet. Boy 2 wanted to make a hand puppet, a nice, quiet, wet day activity! He also wanted me to show him how to sew, so I was able to combine both things and teach him how to sew two bits of fabric together and how to make a glove puppet!

First we needed a template. A quick google brought up lots of results 🙂 but unfortunately I couldn’t get the printer to work, so I had to make the template myself. Thankfully this was easy to do. I drew round my hand with fingers together, not spread out, then added a head and some arms to the shape. Using Boy 2’s hand, I checked that it was the right size, so that once it was sewn up, he would be able to get his little hand into the puppet and move its head and arms. Some small alterations were needed to the puppet template, mainly in the armpit area, then I was able to cut out the pieces. Boy 2 had a go at cutting out his own pieces but the felt was quite thick. Boy 3 changed his mind after I had cut his out. He decided that he did want a pink puppet after all.

I sewed Boy 3’s glove puppet up on the sewing machine, by which point he had lost interest. Boy 2 however was determined to sew up his puppet himself. I showed him what to do, to his irritation, as he said he already knew what to do! A quick tutorial later and he was away!

Here is the finished result:

I was hoping they would turn out like this

With a kit they might have done, but this puppet is almost entirely Boy 2’s own work

Swirly Circle Skirt

May 12, 2013 · Leave a Comment

A few weeks ago the parents of some friends of the boys had a ceilidh to celebrate their tenth wedding anniversary and, happily, I had nothing to wear, so it was the perfect opportunity to make something!

I needed to be able to feed the baby and I also have very little free time at the moment, so a circle skirt was going to be the easiest and quickest thing to make.

Here’s what I did!

I used 2m of taffeta that was 150cm wide, 6m of net also 150cm wide and some 30lb fishing line.

Cutting out

I needed to make squares, so from the taffeta I cut 1 square 150cm x 150cm and from the net 4 squares 150cm x 150cm.

I folded the taffeta square into quarters.

Next I took some measurements: the distance around my waist (what there is of it after 4 babies!) and the distance from my waist to my knee.

Now for the tricky maths part. I needed to cut a circle out of the middle of the square. I had the middle of the square thanks to folding the original taffeta square into quarters, and the circumference (ie my waist measurement) of the circle, so all I needed was the radius (distance from the centre to the edge of the circle). Mercifully there are thingies on the internet that do this for you. Phew!! For people who are not hopeless at maths, the way to work it out is circumference divided by pi (2 point something?) divided by 2. Don’t forget to add a seam allowance!

Next cut a piece of string the length of the radius. Attach the string to the centre of the fabric and mark off a circle. Cut out.

Cut another piece of string the same length as you want the skirt to be. Attach to the centre with the safety pin and mark off the bottom edge of the circle. Cut out.

You should now have a circle with a hole in the middle.

Cut in a straight line from the edge to the middle.

Repeat with the net.

Making the Curly Hem

Wind some of the fishing line around the handle of a wooden spoon. Microwave for about 1 1/2 minutes in bursts of 10-20 seconds. Check that it’s not fusing together. This should be enough to make the fishing line curlier.

Now the fishing line needs to be sewn into the hem. If you have rolled hem foot, this should be easy. Just be sure that the fishing line is inside the hem and some of the line is poking out of the end.

If you don’t have a rolled hem foot it’s a bit trickier. Not impossible though 🙂 Fold the edge over the fishing line, then over again, and sew the hem using a straight stitch. Keeping the hem as narrow as possible will help the curliness.

With the net, it might be easier to zig zag the fishing line into the hem. Put the fishing line in the centre of the foot and sew away, ensuring that the fishing line is in the centre of the zig zags.

Waistband

From the remaining fabric, cut a strip 8 cm wide and as long as you need for your waist. Fold in half lengthways and press. Fold up 1 1/2 cm on each side and press again. (This might work better cut on the bias, but it will use more fabric. I cut mine on the straight.)

Pin net underskirts to the taffeta skirt. You will need to decide whether you want them to show or not. Also remember to pin vertically with the pin heads pointing down, otherwise you will end up with pins sewn into your skirt (this is the voice of experience here!).

Next attach the waistband, making sure that the net underskirts are caught in the waistband as well as the outer. Sew, keeping close to the edge to ensure a neat finish.

Finishing off

Nearly there! Inserting a zip can be tricky, but this is how to do it according to a very useful book Husband found for me in that bargain bookshop The Works 🙂

Starting with the taffeta, pin the seam. Line up the zip and mark where the end is. Sew up to the mark. Repeat with the net.

Go back to the taffeta and tack the part of the seam where the zip will go. Press the seam flat. Put the zip over the tacked part of the seam and tack into place. Sew, then remove tacking stitches.

One completed skirt!!

How to Make Breastfeeding Tops

January 20, 2013 · Leave a Comment

So Boy 4 has arrived! He was born on 22nd October, 10 days late and looking just like his brothers. It’s so easy to forget just how demanding tiny babies are, even the relatively easy ones. Hence no posts and very little crafting. It’s a challenge just to get everybody fed some days.

Having looked at the list I made last time, I can say that I managed to finish precisely none of the things on it before Boy 4’s birth. However I did make some tops for breastfeeding 🙂

The biggest problem I have with breastfeeding in public is not so much getting my boob out (it’s fairly easy to do this discreetly) as flashing my saggy old tum. After 4 kids you can probably imagine the kind of state it’s in. My stomach looks like a blancmange that has a map of the London underground engraved on it. Also it’s very draughty in winter. I did some research on the internet and found some tops that would keep blancmange contained, but they were expensive (£15 for a vest top!!) so I decided to have crack at making my breastfeeding tops. One trip to Primark, £20 worth of stretchy tops and a needle and thread later, I had several breastfeeding tops and for a fraction of the price! Here we go…

1. Belly Band. This one is the easiest to make. Take a stretchy top, work out where where the top of you tum/ under boob area would be. Cut the top part off and hey presto!! One belly band stylee thing, to wear under a top of your choice. The only disadvantage with this is that it doesn’t stay put and has to be rearranged every so often.

2. Top With Attached Belly Band.

This solves the problem of the band part moving about. You will need 2 tops for this one and a needle and thread. Take one of the tops and cut the top part off, as above. Turn the other top inside out. Put the belly band piece on top of the whole top. Line up the side seams and sew along the side seams. Turn it the right way out.

3. Belly Band With Straps. Make a belly band, as above. Cut strips from the top half of the top and attach to the belly band half. I found this to be problematic as the fabric curls and trying to hem it without an overlocker is horribly difficult.

4. Vest Top. I actually found this one to be the best. Take a vest top and cut the straps at the back. Attach about 10cm of elastic to each strap to make the straps longer. The neckline should now sit underneath the boob area.

So there you go!! Release your inner Gok and be comfortable breastfeeding in public 🙂

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