Pirates

It was my son's pirate party yesterday and he looked super cute in his pirate outfit (that I made). I made it big enough that he'll hopefully have a couple of years wear out of it. Or I have enough fabric to make the rag bottomed pants into trousers by adding onto the bottoms, or hemming them to make shorts.

The tee material was pretty fun with the stripes and crossbones. My second time making a tshirt and this time I got to use some stabilising strips on the shoulders. That was a first.

I love the waist coat, it has red inside and a little pocket for secret treasures. I also made the red scarf under his captains hat with a little skull and crossbones bondafixed on.

I had fun fun fun!

Vintage Pyjamas

I was given a box of 'vintage' fabric from my friends mum. Awesome!!! My first project was to make Mr 3 some winter PJs. I made them quite big in the hope they will last two winters. Don't you just love the vintage cowboy print! And the flannette was still so fluffy and soft too.

The top of the PJs was my first try at sewing knit fabric. Man was it easy!! This raglan sleeve pattern is a raw style. The seams are on the outside and the hems are raw. I love it. My boy seems to as well, wanting to wear them to bed that night, even though it's still relatively summery at night.

I love it that he's excited about home sewn clothes. I know it won't last forever, but I'm making the most of it for now. He asked me just yesterday to make him some winter pants. Ay ay captain! Off to make some sweat pants for kindy!! When does sewing clothes become more expensive than buying them? I was pretty shocked at the price of sweat material... I'm hoping to get two or three items out of the piece I bought.

Next challenge is some pirate clothes for his 4th birthday in a month. I'm quite excited about making them. I've got fabric for a tee, waist coat and pants. I'll also make a waist tie and a head scarf.

Happy sewing!

Wallet

I decided to have a try at making a wallet (see tutorial here). It wasn't too tricky actually, although I would sew up slightly different at the end if I made it again. Mine looks a tad messy, but not bad for my first time.

Check out the photos:

I changed the magnetic snaps to a flap and snap. This week I'm having my first try at sewing a tshirt. I haven't sewn with knit material since I was at school. Wish me luck!!

What is your favourite fabric to sew with?

Too many things to sew

There are too many sewing things to make... I have a list of items to sew and I keep adding to it so I will probably never get to the end of the list, but that's exciting. It always means I have a fun challenge waiting!

Recently I decided to try making some bags, trying out some fun appliqué ideas I've had. Check them out, aren't they cute!!

I've been thinking about going to a craft market, but I have no idea what people want to buy at them. What sort of things would you buy at a craft market?

Cats and quilts

Our cat of 15 years died this week. It was a very sad time and made harder by trying to explain to our 3 year old where the cat had gone :-( I stopped sewing for two days as every time I went to use the machine, my eyes welled up so badly, everything went blurry. (Here she is sitting on my strips of tshirts I was half way through sewing for my quilt).

I want to try sewing a sleeved bib for messy meals, but before I tackle that, I made a few regular bibs. They were fun and, with the great fabric around these days, look fab! Who doesn't love minky!!

I finished my quilt last week, it only took a couple of evenings to cut up all my squares and a couple more to sew them all together. I decided to use iron-on batting to hold the tshirts firm (to stop them stretching too much) especially when sewing them to the denim. I am really happy with the result. I won't be entering it into any quilting shows, but it has awesome memories and will be toasty in winter! (photos = back denim, front tees)

Do you like the pockets I left on? I think they look so cool!!

Happy sewing!
ZG

Welcome!

Welcome to my new blog dedicated to all things crafty. I've read so many first blogs from crafty ladies who say having daughters got them into sewing... well I'm no different. I have always loved all crafts (including sewing) but suddenly I just can't stop making little girls things, it's an addiction (I'm taking medication - ha).

I keep thinking of new things I want to sew that my list is getting ridiculously long and my house is getting seriously neglected.

I decided to start a little teeny tiny business to sell a few of the extra things I'm making and to earn a little bit of money to makes ends meet (and so I can afford to buy a few bits of fabric here and there). Check out Zealous Design on facebook!

Since I've started sewing madly, my son keeps asking me to make him things too. So far he has shorts, trousers and a superman cape and next I thought I'd make him some winter PJ pants.

I've also been trying to declutter my wardrobe and didn't have the heart to throw away all my old tees that have so many cool memories (but just don't fit anymore), so I decided to make a quilt (kinda like Bella's mum on Twilight) using my tees on one side and old jeans on the other. I'm having so much fun. I'll post pictures as I go. For now, here is the pic of all my denim squares cut out. I used the cardboard square as my template.

It's meant to be summer here in New Zealand, but I'm feeling seriously ripped off this year... it just won't stop raining... grrr... oh well I guess that means more sewing time :-)
ZG