Happy belated birthday

BoyGoblin turned two not long after The Big Move, and so it was time for another birthday badge. You can see last year's here (and there's a pdf tutorial too).

This year it was all about steam trains.

This works the same as the last one, with a magnet sewn into the frontspiece, and into a large plain felt circle worn inside the clothing. 

A big hard-to-swallow felt circle for the back, with the magnet double-sewn in.

You can see that I had to use oblong magnets this year - round ones work better.

The ribbon really lifts it

The ribbon was a real find - from a bargain store, of all places!

Pun-tastic!

Lesson learned!

Remember that slippy organza?


And my first failed french seam?


Well it's all come together in a "Sewing Solutions" article for Korbond.


Korbond are creating a sewing resource for the tips and techniques that loads of pattern-writers take for granted.



Trimming the seam allowance - lesson learned!

 Like, or instance, sewing a french seam.

Not cranky. Not even a little bit.

Here is the first piece of beading I have tackled in nearly 10 years. The last time I tried to bead, I got so incandescent with rage that my partner confiscated my loom. So. Here we are.

the very very beginning.

This is the start of a simple beaded fringe. Its the subject of a tutorial I wrote for Korbond's Sewing Solutions site.

I might try some more.

Dribblicious

When our boy was teething like a teething thing with his first two teeth, he was perfectly dribblicious. We’re talking two bibs and a soaked carseat before we even start the engine.

And I am appalled at how expensive bibs are - £10 a pop? You must be joking. So. To capitalise on a new-found love of snaps, and to overcome my fear of topstitch, I made some bandana-style dribblebibben in jersey, cotton drill, and jersey-and-cotton drill.

Offending teeth clearly visible in toothy grin.

Tutorial here.

Nice. Turns out he’s dried up the drool for pegs 3, 4 and 5.

These were initially made as an advent calendar – a mammoth thing that hangs down the length of our hall. The sacks, however, work really well as gift sacks or table favours so I’ve made a few extras since.

Each sack shows a British woodland Christmas scene. Many of the animals, like the woodpecker and the stag beetle, can be found in our London garden andmost are based on photographs that my wife has taken at home or on holidays:



swap fish for tinsel...

Although we’ve yet to see a hedgehog wearing a hat:

These are fantastically portable (an emerging theme of mine), and great for using up oddments of scraps. I'll post a tutorial in the next day or so.

Update: The tutorial for the sacks has been posted at The Sewing Directory (worth a good poke about while you're there) and I'm lazy enough to send you over there, rather than faff about with Google docs. Besides, I know that as soon as I open the file I'll find hundreds of things to improve. So here it is in its imperfect glory: http://www.thesewingdirectory.co.uk/small-gift-sacks/

Birthday fun!

We've just had a birthday in our house - the little one turned one!

This is a big felt badge I made for the special little boy. It attaches with magnets, sewn into the big felt discs - safe to chew but too big to swallow.

Happy birthday boy!

This shows the backing disc better

It was easy to make and came together in an evening Once I'd faffed about with the sketchbook, and i think it translated pretty faithfully.

There's a project sheet here:Birthday badge tutorial