Plum Pockets

Hi everyone,

I sent out some exploratory emails to a few craft magazines and ‘Making Magazine’ got back to me and said they had a look on my new business website and ‘loved’ it!  Really chuffed. They put me on their Facebook page and then a lovely lady rang me to ask if I would do some editorial work over the next 6 months; a possible profile page and some tutorials.

Soooo happy!!! … Below is the preview advert (clever Graphic Designer husband) that will be going in their magazine soon for you to peruse and a link to their Facebook page with my business name showing.

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Making-magazine/158069764232832?viewas=0&sk=app_2373072738  look for june 19 post.

We were walking around my local fabric shop when my 3 yr old passed some squares of faux fur and asked (demanded) me to buy it.  They were 1.25p each so we bought a few and here’s what we came up with.

Faux Fur Big Cat Tabard

Because I presumed he wouldn’t be bothered about what was behind him I only used the fabric for the back also it would have been reeeally hot to wear.  I sewed up the sides this time unlike the ladybird tabard because I presumed he would, at some point be a crawling big cat.

If anybody would like a tutorial I will add one on request.

So for 1.25p (I’d already had some spare sand coloured back fabric and some brown binding in my ribbon box) I have made a big cat costume or as a neighbour said “Hey Barney Rubble!”

Ladybird Cushion Cover

This was easy peasy and looks lovely in his room.  Just used some spare fabric (wasn’t too concerned with the backing colour (calico) used a close stitch setting on zig zag for the button holes then a rotary knife for the button holes.  I turned the buttons over so they wouldn’t dig into his face and voila a quick ladybird cushion and all for 1.25p.  Simples …

We’re hoping to get an etched glass house number looking filmy thingy over the top of our front door; as I wasn’t keen on having the number on the door (too much other door furniture already) but as its my hubby who wants to be the one in charge of its installation I could be waiting another 8 months so I’ve cooked up an alternative for the time being.

Not sure if it says “this house oozes crafty talent or just crafty crap”.  So I shall wait for someone to give me their opinion. By the way … my husband looked at it today and said “I can get you the etched glass house number from a sign maker in town for you tomorrow if you want” (famous last words … he said the same thing last month).   When asked AGAIN what he thought about it he said “Doesn’t our door look AWFUL with that wiring around the tops!”  So on one last ditched attempt to gain an answer I asked him once more “Yes agreed you can order it tomorrow and yes the wires look awful as well as that weird metal dripping mark that’s going down the side but WHAT do you think about the plaque?”  “Well … its not the best thing you’ve ever done and … it does look like you’ve hung up a picture frame above our door”.   So we stared at my post for a few silent minutes more until he asked “Would you be very upset if I ordered the film?”  “No” I replied.

Not quite sure about it yet.

This is my wonderful , Dairy Free Bread Recipe that tastes wonderfully like Tiger bread (but without the markings on top)

I have a Panasonic  and this is the ingredients and their measurements I use for it.

In order of putting in machine:

• 1 & 1/2 tsp quick dried yeast
• 550 grams Organic Bread Flour
• 25 grams Soya dairy free margerine
• 2 tsp sugar
• 1 & 1/2 tsp salt
• 360 mls of warm milk (Dried Soya Milk or warm water if preferred)

Obviously if your kids haven’t got a dairy problem just use normal organic butter as well as organic milk BUT as they have an intolerance at the mo I use soya baby formula milk as well as soya margarine.  We try to eat organic where we can and the whole reason for buying a bread maker was so that I was in complete control of the ingredients but with dietary needs one has to make compromises.

This is good for the 4hrs or 1hr 55mins settings and this loaf makes an Xlarge loaf (which is about the size of a small loaf really).

Best bread in the world … husband says its as good as fresh Tiger bread from bakers (even if they have changed the name to ‘Giraffe Bread’.  Whose the bomb!!!

As you now know my son loves Ladybirds, so when I saw him in a tabard Ladybird costume at his nursery I knew I had to make one for him for home, and for the shops and for walking and fro from the nursery and toddler groups … you get my drift …

Pictures are a little dodgily dark; as always, I did it late at night and as my husband insists on cloaking the house with energy saving light bulbs (frugal miser not eco-warrior) you possible can’t see details as good.

I started out with two pieces of black fabric that should be as wide as your child’s shoulders and somewhere a few inches above the knees. Then shape as a Ladybird towards the knees end but double hem the neck end straight; same for both pieces.

I used a standard double hemmed ‘flat seam’ to connect the two neck ends together which made it durable but to be honest a single flat seam is fine if its not going to get a lot of wear and tear. I would however stitch over again (as in the picture above for extra strength).  There are loads of tutorials out here on how to do a decent flat seam, capping it off with a diagonal seam (shown directly above) for extra support where the head is pulled through.  As stated previously I added another line of stitching on top as shown above in red thread for even more strength but this isn’t essential.

You can make the red wing pieces from two pieces if you want, I just decided to do it using one long strip and fold it.  Leave 5″ for stuffing in the wadding that should be cut to the same shape as the wing.  You could do an invisible stitch to close it up but I kind’a liked the crisper look so I just went all the way round on the machine.

The Red wings should endeavor to be the same shape and size as one of the Black tabard sides BUT if its slightly bigger or even smaller I wouldn’t sweat it.  Mine are an inch bigger either side; a mistake but it looks fine.

I ironed on some fusible web stuff on to the back of the same black fabric I used for the tabard and after penciling with a chalk pen, six large mug circles, I ironed them on to the red wings and then used a contrasting red thread to keep the dots in place.  Then all you have to do is sew up leaving the 5″ gap, load in your wing shape wadding and close.

I debated how to attach the wings but decided to attach from underneath so they flop back in place when worn.  I did iron the crease a little but remember wadding compacts on ironing so a light press only… ever!

My opinion is that finding a good black fabric is preferable.  A normal cotton is too light weight and fleece gathers and is blinking hot for indoors during summer AND my pet hate with fleece is that it does attract all sorts of household debris and no amount of picking, washing or vacuuming gets it out (think velcro).  A  stretchy jersey would have been the best option all round due to its practicality for pulling over little heads and medium weight but I couldn’t get hold of any so a fine corduroy was my second and only option.  I still think I’ll be hoovering him down, but anyway … an 8/10

It was waiting for him when he woke up and when he saw it I got the response I was hoping for.  It would look terrific in yellow or green and could be embellished with ribbons or buttons.

This is where some mother readers will part company with me as I talk about knee pad for newbie crawlers.  I know some will think “what a load of rubbish!” but have ‘you’ tried crawling around on ‘your’ knees for 6 hours a day?

I’ve tried various varieties of designs over the years and I’ve come to a conclusion that the only way for knees to be truly safeguarded from the perils of hard flooring is built in pads.

So here is how I made mine.  Really easy and he loves them, I’ve just got 5 pairs to go.

I cut out a bunch of rectangles 9″ by 7″ and some wadding rectangles 8″ by 6″.

Then I basically made a tea bag sandwich, as shown below of a piece of padding between two layers of cotton, making sure you sew into the sides of the wadding to keep it in place, you could criss-cross it to make sure it really stays put.

I left about 2ish cm for a sewing margin to fix onto clothing.  Then slip into desired dungarees or trousers.

I then used the ‘very helpful’ margins to sew my pads where they could be hidden by previous hem lines, etc.

… and “da daa!”

and most importantly, he’s very happy with them.

Firstly, apologies about the picture.  I really should have taken the picture just after I made it then it wouldn’t have been so wrinkled but as I had to quickly run this up five minutes before he was due to look for his Easter eggs on Easter Sunday (and I don’t iron) its looking a little frazzled now.

Really it should have had three eggs on it (more aesthetically pleasing I’m told) but time was a factor and I shall add one more later.

I made it quite big (30cm high) because I wanted it to fit all the boxed eggs as well as the small ones that he would have to hunt for. I used red thread as a contrasting colour to the blue polka dots to add some pop.  Although he couldn’t have given a monkeys whether he had a nice homemade bag or an orange Sainsbury’s I think it added to the experience for us biggen’s and looked nice in the photo’s that are going to the Grandparents.  I’ll do it next year for my other one too and hopefully make a tradition out of it.

Does anyone have any other ideas that they use or make for Easter frivolities to enable Easter to be that little bit more memorable?

My little one was starting nursery and so he needed a spare clothes bag for usual accidents. Completely forgetting that we’d bought a Thomas the Tank Engine rucksack last year, that would have been just as good.  So it was a good job I was in an applique mood as I realised that, half … way … through.  As it’s worked out,  I leave the bag there ‘all’ the time whereas a rucksack is great for days out in the back of the car, so not a bad idea in the end.

I decorated the front lined pockets with ribbon and added a matching button to define the separate front pockets. I now know that these cute pockets are a complete waste of time as what mother puts anything in an unfasten-able pocket if they want to see it again? … but … it does look cute and distracts from the old and quite horrible curtain material (sorry Karen!  … up-cycled shabby chic fabric) I used for the body of the bag.

I found some ‘heaven knows what!!? … and from heaven knows where!!? … to use as tie tape/ribbon and because it had the usual frayed edges I decided to add a fabric ‘stopper’ to each end, to keep it neat (I amaze myself sometimes, with my use of expert, technical jargon).

Anywayzzzz … I tie it in a bow and hang the bows on to his nursery hook and it looks lovely. I like to take pictures of my craft items in situ and I’d have taken a picture of it on its hook but I’d probably have been trespassing into some unexpected anti-photographic nursery hook policy. But … hey you can see what it looks like mighty finely from these David Bailey masterpieces.

It’s a bit ‘homemade’ rather than ‘handmade’ looking (a definition test term my husband uses a fair bit) but I like it … 6/10