Cushions!

New in the shop are these cushion covers featuring my new prints.

They are printed onto lovely soft smooth Kona cotton and all have contrasting piping.

The bears on bikes cushions will soon be available personalised with a name hand embroidered by me.

I love them so much I'm already working on the next range!

Dressing my girls in my drawings

I have been creating some fabric designs lately which has been lots of fun.  And its even more fun to make them into something!  These designs are really for new products for the shop I couldn't resist trying them out on clothes for the girls.

I made Bea a Geranium top (pattern by Made By Rae) in my Bears on Bikes pattern.  The colours will be great for spring.

For Nell I drafted my own pattern for a little A line dress with collar in the Foxes in the Rain fabric.  Its pretty cute.

Can't wait to for my much larger order of these fabrics to arrive so I can transform it into cushions!  Meanwhile you can order these fabrics plus coordinating designs from my Spoonflower shop (link in side bar).

A Geranium for Nell

After making a Geranium dress for Bea I loved the pattern so much I wanted to make a coordinating one for Nell.  I also wanted to try cross stitching onto fabric using waste canvas so I decided to combine the two projects and came up with this cross stitched heart Geranium.

I lined the sleeves again just because I'm not a huge fan of the raw edge look, this time using the floral fabric on the outside as well.  I cross stitched a simple heart on the bodice and was really pleased with the way it turned out.  The waste canvas was great and I love a bit of embroidery on handmade kids clothes, it makes them feel a little bit more special.  I used the same linen look cotton for the skirt as it is so soft and lovely, especially after a few washes.  I may even make myself something from it!

I made the dress back in July but only recently managed to snap a couple of photos of her wearing it - she never stays still these days!

Bea's rainbow dress

I found this unfinished dress that I started to make for Bea last summer.  It was mostly sewn up - it just needed a button and some details.  I'm thinking it was probably the arrival of little sis that put this project on the back burner!

Luckily it still fits (just a bit shorter than intended!) so I decided to finnish it off.  It definitely needed colour so I added some little pockets made from vintage fabric.  When I showed it to Bea she insisted it was lacking in the rainbow department so after a brief head scratch I added a quick running stitch rainbow to one side.  Its slightly crazy but I like it!

Stop the bandwaggon, I'm hopping on

I've finally made my first Geranium dress!  I've seen so many beautiful versions of it floating around the web and when I came across this linen look cotton fabric it came to mind as the perfect pattern for the colour block dress I had in mind.

I made the age 5 with fingers crossed (the pattern only goes up to age 5 so I was praying it would be big enough) but luckily it fits really well, with even a little room for growth.

I wanted to line the flutter sleeves in the same fabric as the bodice lining as I thought it would look cute peeping out so I rejigged the sleeve pattern piece a bit to allow for the extra seam.  I love how it turned out.

The fabric is really soft and drapes nicely.  I went for the gathered skirt option.

Bea objects a bit to my button choice, but at least she can't see them once its on!

And Miss Fussy is happy with it thank goodness!  I will definitely be making more geraniums for both girls.  I can see why the pattern is so popular!

Stanley

Just popping in to introduce Stanley, my latest one of a kind handmade toy.  He is listed in the shop now.

Summer sewing

I've been cheating on the blog a bit lately with instagram (@juliastaite) but here is a look at some summer dresses I made for the girls recently.  The pattern is the madeline dress by sew sweet patterns on etsy.  Its a lovely classic dress with a great collar - very cute!

The pattern was simple and came with clear instructions.  Its quite a quick dress to whip up apart from the dreaded buttonholes (my worst part of sewing!)

I did however have major sizing issues -  Bea is pretty tall so I cut out the age 5 for her (shes three and a half) but after partially sewing the dress together it was very clear it was way too small.  So as not to waste the fabric I cut it down to fit Nell.  Shes 9 months old so I cut out age 2 after the first came out so small and as you can see below its fits - but probably won't for long!

I made Bea a bigger one (age 7!) and it fits well for length but still comes up a bit snug in the width.  Its a shame as its such a sweet little dress.  Maybe it was just me but I would recommend going up at least two sizes if you're making your own.

Key candy

I like to have a keyring on my keys.  It makes them easier to find as I'm scrabbling around in the bottom of my nappy bag.

I have just been making some keyrings for the shop.  They have a panda illustration printed on cotton on the front and are backed with a co-ordinating fabric.  They are stuffed with toy stuffing to make them like little squidgy pillows.

A few finished projects

As the biggest project round here is finally nearly finished (the new baby is due next week)  I have been trying to get a few other things finished.

The nursery is done but has nothing on the walls yet so I made this little embroidered initial and elephant.

Bea has been ousted from her cot bed as we needed it for the nursery so to make the transition to big bed more appealing I made her a couple of new cushions (she is a girl who loves cushions) with this very cool vintage fabric I bought on Etsy (here)

And finally a little dress for the baby to match this top I made Bea a while ago.  Hopefully we can get some cute photos of them in their matching clothes!

A very British Jubilee

It was a couple of weeks ago now but we were lucky enough to have a Jubilee street party arranged in our street.  It was a pretty big event in the end with loads of people, games and food.  The weather wasn't great and we had a few showers but it didn't spoil the fun too much.

There was a fancy dress parade in which Bea took part.  I must say her costume was more to join in rather than an attempt to win first prize but I thought she looked like a pretty cute queen, Corgi and all.
The crown we made together then I whipped up a simple cloak.

I also made her a Jubilee dress that she could keep on all day.  I only got a couple of quick snaps of it before it got jelly down the front.

(Excuse the grimace - that is what passes for a smile round here at the moment).  I wanted the dress to have a vintagey feel so added a little collar with ric rac to a simple dress pattern, and a wide polka dot border at the bottom.  I really liked how the dress turned out and hope she gets a bit more wear out of it over the summer just as a cute (if very patriotic) sundress.

Stripy summer top

I pinned this lovely top ages ago on my kids clothes board as I loved the horizontal stripes and the wide white bands on the sleeves.  I had it in my mind to make something similar for Bea for the summer.

So last week I finally got round to it.  I adapted a simple pattern from Making children's clothes by Emma Hardy - basically just chopping off the sleeves and adding the white bands.

Obviously its quite different from the original inspiration but I'm pretty happy with it.  The only thing I found with the pattern is that it came up quite short - I would definitely add a couple of inches next time.

This week I hope to make a matching dress for the baby (yes, I plan to be that mother!)

Something for Easter?

I have just added a new handmade toy to the shop. This is Edmund the rabbit, just in time for Easter dressed in fresh spring colours. Its been starting to feel a bit more spring-like around here and the blossom is starting to bloom. Although today its blowing a gale!

I do love making these little toys - especially their faces. They seem to come to life with every stitch!

As with all my handmade toys Edmund is a one off.

My blog absence

Its been a long time since I last posted properly on here. But it wasn't my fault, it was this little person's fault! As with my first pregnancy I have spent the last 3 months throwing up and not being able to do much else but now at nearly 15 weeks I am beginning to be able to function again and will hopefully be posting regularly again!

There hasn't been much going on around here to share. I did make aprons as Christmas gifts this year (just before the sickness kicked in) but didn't manage to photograph them. The shop is also in serious need of a restock so I will be working on more cats and a brand new product soon. So instead I just have to mention the most beautiful sewing pattern shop I have just come across. C'est Dimanche makes me want to get the sewing machine back out right now with their range of french style patterns for babies and children. They also sell lovely fabric and other bits and bobs. I just can't decide what to make first!

New work in progress

Now the knitting is out of the way I have finally started on the Daisy Chain sampler kit. I'm on my third letter now and really enjoying it. I haven't got much embroidery experience so I'm sure mine won't look quite as perfect as Alicias but I am trying my best to keep it neat!

Flora

Flora is a new cat that I have just added to my Etsy shop. She is a girly cat who loves flowers and tea parties. See more of her here.

Lovely Libby

My camera came back last night and I just couldn't wait to take some quick snaps of this blouse I made for Bea this week. I joined in the Libby shirt sew along over at Craftiness is not optional and I am LOVING this new top. (And judging by the weird fake smile she is doing here Bea is happy with it too).

I chose a pretty cotton print I have used before here and cream cotton for the bib. The lovely buttons are a kind of pearly gold colour that I think works really well.

I based the sizing on an age 3 top but it came out slightly smaller than I would have liked - It fits her perfectly but I like things a little bit big so they last longer. (The child just will not stop growing!) Oh well, I may just have to make another one when she grows out of it!