Freehanded Fox Beanie

This the cutest little fox beanie that I free handed for a friends little girl. 

 

It's a basic beanie shape with a triangle nose and triangle ears stitched on - the button eys and nose are added last of all.

 

I used some Cleakheaton Country 8-ply yarn that I got on sale at Spotlight over Christmas.

 

 

 

Baby Blossoms scarf

This is my new favourite scarf pattern - the beautiful Baby Blossoms - I just reduced the repeats until it was the width I wanted.  It is such a simple repeating pattern and just looks lovely.

Before blocking, this scarf has great texture but not a lot of drape.  I blocked this one pretty vigourously - so it looks quite lacy and drapes well.  Luckily it's only cold enough to wear it for about three weeks a year so warmness isn't that big a factor.

I made this one using Bendigo Woollen Mills Luxury 8-ply yarn in the colour Lake.  I gave this one to my friend at work for her birthday.

Alma blouse - Sewaholic

I made an Alma blouse from Sewaholics.  It is the first top that I've made that I've really liked!  It was meant to be a wearable muslin but it was so trouble-free that it is a wearable top.

It was a bit of a palaver though because I have never done this before and I am a lazy cow.  I bought the pdf pattern, so printed out the million pages, stickytaped them together and then drew my pattern pieces on baking paper.  I was incredibly suprised that the finished product turned out so well.

The pattern was easy to follow but I screwed up the sleeves by having too much gathering at the top.  I didn't baste them on either.  The inside seams in the armhole have binding type arrangement and I couldn't face taking the sleeves off and redoing it all.  I just put a wee tuck and a stitch in each side to make it sit flatter.

I didn't quite have enough fabric for the belt tie so its made from four pieces instead of just two.  I also did a line of topstitching all around the belt - I have no idea if that is in the instructions but it looks nice.

I didn't put in a side zip either - I would like to say that I didn't want the fabric to pull down with the weight, but the truth is that I was too lazy.

I used an inexpensive cotton voile that I bought at Spotlight.

I completely love this top.  I think I'd like to try it in a light knit fabric too - like a heavy t-shirt style top - it probably wouldn't need facing then!

Clemence skirt - Tilly and the Buttons

This is my Clemence skirt from Tilly and the Buttons book Love at First Stitch.

I convinced my husband make the pattern up for me while I tidied away the childrens lego - it was a fair swap - soooo much lego.  The pattern uses your individual measurements to work out the length of the waistband and I just used the amount of fabric I had left for the skirt rectangle piece.

This was the first project I've made with gathering - I'm not sure I did it perfectly but it is not abysmal. 

The skirt was not difficult to make but I did struggle a bit with my old foe, the invisible zipper.  I've never done a zipper through a waistband before and it doesn't quite meet up perfectly - but it is definately ok.  In the end I made the skirt too big so took it in about 2cms each side with the overlocker - and inelegant solution but effective and fast.

I used some Cloud9 fabric that I got from Spotlight - it's a quilting cotton - I like the heavier fabric because it sticks out nicely. I'm also wearing a light tulle skirt underneath to give it a bit more pouffiness. I don't think it's meant to be a pouffy skirt but I like pouffy.

I will make this skirt again but I think I'll use a darker fabric though, the lighter colour is not that flattering. Also the cardigan is a bit matchy matchy but I quite like it.