Party Dresses for Christmas

I made these dresses in October/November. I measured my daughters and made them up from their measurements as I didn't have a pattern. I am really happy they are both a little different. I made the bigger one first. Then with the littler one I decided to use a half circle skirt for the skirt part of the dress which I liked better. My confidence was up and I made the bodice in one piece instead of adding straps like I did with the first. I didn't want them to be identical just similar. Two party dresses for Christmas cost me less than one dress from a shop. (I bought something for me last year I will have to make myself something lovely this year too).

Egg, nut and dairy free Easter

I recommend The Cruelty Free Shop for Easter Eggs. They sell Alpha brand and they are a lovely dark chocolate (has to be with no milk). They were a hit with my daughter last year I only got one egg as they are quite large. They are also nut free and they came very well packed. I will be ordering them again this year. So easy shopping online for Easter eggs.

This year I have brought some moulds and foil to make small eggs so she wont miss out at Kinder. She wasn't too happy when she missed out at playgroup last year. They gave her lollies but its not the same.

Pineapple Shawl crochet

My first ever attempt at crochet

I have been working on this for about a week. I have just used one ball of yarn so far and this will be smaller than the pattern as I am using a handed down 4mm crochet hook and this requires a 6mm. I am using this Pineapple Shawl pattern its free on the Caron International website. I am only up to row 11 of 18 plus two edging rows. I am really happy, there a few mistakes and I have undone small sections a few times but I think I will ware it when its cold enough (its 30 degrees C outside right now). So I will post the finished product hopefully by next week, unless I get back onto the summer dress. The pattern is inspired by a vintage doily

eBay patterns

I just purchased 10 patterns off eBay for $17. Some of them I love and some I may pass on to someone else. Either way I am happy with them. I haven't opened them just scanned them to show you. Then I decided to make a folder to put the scanned pictures in an named the files with the pattern brand and number. This way when I want to decided what to make I don't have to get the patterns out and make a mess. I can just browse through them on my computer.

THE PERSONAL TOUCH

I picked this up at the op shop this week. Its an ex library book I paid $1.50. Its all about creating your own unique style. It shows ways of mixing and matching patterns to make your own look. With suggestions of making your own fabric buy sewing ribbon and scarf's together, using crochet accessories, monograms and bold patterns to add flair and re-fashioning skirts and dresses. All accompanied by helpful hints and diagrams. It also has history about fashion trends like Lord Spencer cutting off his coat-tails after burning the ends standing too close to the fire. He then avowed, so absurd were the vagaries of fashion, he could start a completely new style simply by strolling around London in his chopped-off attire. "In two weeks," according to one journalist, "all London was wearing the 'spencer'."

The book also includes patterns for all the crochet, knitting and embroidery. Plus stencils for the monograms. I love the pink knitted dress, it has all the instructions for the dress, hat and scarf. Its probably above my current knitting skills, seeing as the scarf is the same knitted pattern as the dress, if I master the scarf, I could one day attempt the dress. I will be attempting a crochet belt, not so wide as the one above, nor will it be in shades of pink.

I scanned the pages and made a collage with Google's picasa. It was so easy and much better than adding heaps of photos. I used the cover of the book as the background as the library had used double sided sticky tap to stick on a plastic cover (which my 2 year old removed before I could stop her). This has left some dark marks on the front. So setting the cover as the background has hidden the sticky marks and unfortunately most of the lovely butterfly's.

Sewing something for me

I found this at the local op shop I don't know what year it is or how to find out. Its got pre cut pattern pieces with no lines so it cant be too modern. Although Butterick claims on the back that "Modern sewing is easy with the very newest Butterick new sewing book". I am going to do the neck of view c with the short sleeves of view b and I am going to add the holes from the long sleeves of view a. Its the holes I like about this pattern it just adds something so will see how I go. I have the fabric cut so time to sew.