Christmas sewing - Eblieh and Eee Eee

Katie's most favourite animal is Ebliehs (a.k.a. Elephants!).  I decided that Santa ought to give her one for Christmas and had a wee hunt around on pinterest to find a toy elephant pattern.  This is the one I decided to try - but I machine stitched it - for speed really, rather than aesthetics.  Since the pattern wasn't intended for machine sewing there was a couple of places where a number of seams met and they were a little tricky.....but a bit of wrangling and manipulation soon sorted them out.

I also made a couple of wee mice, complete with little beds, for Santa to give the girls.  I saw the pattern mentioned on Flossie Teacakes (Florence has some wonderful adaptations including a pig and crocodile).  The tutorial is here.  The Eee Eees are very satisfying to make - quick, simple and effective.

The photos below show Katie sporting her first ever ponytail (polylail). She was very proud of it, although it lasted all of 5 minutes before being pulled out, and blissfully unaware that she is still completely lacking in proper hair at the front!  Her attempts at a 'camera smile' result in this wrinkled nose grimace - which I find incredibly cute but I am, of course, awfully biased.

I'm burying my head in the sand at the moment and trying to pretend that school doesn't start back tomorrow.  Still, I know they'll have fun and Katie and I may brave the swimming pool.........I do wish the water was warmer.

Hoping you have a lovely Sunday evening and not too much of a shock tomorrow morning.

Teddy and doll carrier - Katie's handmade birthday

Katie turned two last month and an adoring set of older siblings meant she was a very lucky girl.  All the children wanted to make her something and their gifts are so lovely I thought I'd share them.

This wee teddy carrier was Islay's idea and she chose the fabric too - I did most of the sewing but Islay was very involved in a supervisory kind of way...............repeatedly asking when I would be able to make it and hovering over my shoulder and breathing in my ear while I was making it!

Katie isn't too keen on carrying her baby in it but she does love to carry Ele around.  It is especially useful when arranging fabric scraps.....two free hands and Ele is still close by.  That, in Katie's book, is a very good thing.

Details:
Pattern - bear carrier from 'Oliver and S - Little Things to Sew' by Liesl Gibson
Fabric - Yay Day (Birch Forest and Wings of Love) and Essex Yarn Dyed Linen in Black from The Village Haberdashery
Buttons - vintage buttons
Comments - a straightforward pattern, straps are really long on a shorty like Katie but do leave lots of growing room, it is adjustable so will fit a small toy like Ele or a much larger teddy or doll, I love the fabric.....a lot

Sewing with Islay - making the cat bag from Sewing for Children

On Saturday Islay and I had a precious, and very rare, couple of hours with just the two of us at home.  We finished off a little sewing project that we had started some time ago.

 Last autumn I was in John Lewis with all the children and Islay saw their little sewing machines* (because, of course, we visited the sewing department) and she immediately asked if she could have one for her birthday or Christmas.  I thought it might wear off but she carried on showing interest so my parents gave her one for her birthday. She was delighted.  I had also seen good reviews of Sewing for Children by Emma Hardy** and they gave her a copy too (and mum has promised her a Grannie sewing session some time this summer).

Islay picked out the cat bag to make and she has made it nearly all herself over a couple of sessions.  She is quite scared of the sewing machine and worried that she'll sew her fingers (I'm now wishing I hadn't been quite so serious when  I told her to be careful, oh well) and this has made the machine sewn bits a little tense (and, yes, I know am the grown up but I do struggle to maintain my patience at times).  Consequently I was quite nervous about tackling the hand sewing which is what we had left to do on Saturday. But she did really well and picked it up quickly.  You can see though that her stitch length did increase and become less neat as she made her way round the bag.  But she is only six and she was also desperate to finish it in time for a friend's party that afternoon.  Thanks to some super speedy button sewing by me she was able to take her bag to the party - she couldn't have been happier or more proud of herself.  Success.

The book is great and I'd be happy to for the kids to have a go at most of the projects. They can all be completed with hand sewing but I'm keen to show them how to use a machine as well - but I'm also, after Saturday, now more confident that we can do a fair bit of hand sewing too.  Angus is part way through making the wee owl.  Finn hasn't asked to make anything yet but I think the projects may be a bit young for him. I'll have to think of something else for him - or maybe he could make something for Katie, I think he'd love to do that.

 Our house has been the land of horrible colds recently.  I'm only just getting my voice back after a few very croaky days.  Katie is recovering and back to sleeping all night but waking up faaaaar too early.  And Islay had a day off school yesterday, not so much for illness but more because she was very tired after coughing all night.  We made some brownies together and, for the first time, I let Katie help too.  I think from her face in these photos you can tell how much she enjoyed herself!

 * I like the sewing machine, it is fully functioning with backstitch and a few different stitch settings.  It isn't very fast and it is noisy but I would recommend it as a good starting point
 ** I can't help thinking that the title would be better as Sewing with Children, Sewing for Children seems to me like things to make for them rather than with them

Pebble vest for Katie - more adventures in knitting

I seem to be a bit back-to-front with my knitting updates.  I was sure I had posted this post but it appears that I definitely haven't.  So here it is....a post for which the photos were uploaded in November, I think.

As you'll probably know by now knitting is a bit of a battle for me although I am a little more confident since making this little Pebble Vest for Katie (and having subsequently finished this cowl and this snake).  I'm at the stage where every more or less successful finish is a Big Thing.  Katie's woolly vest, small as it is, was definitely a Big Thing.  She couldn't care less what she wears* so I have no idea whether she likes it but I assume it is comfortable and it certainly keeps her podgy** little tummy warm and her arms free for lots of busyness.

The Pebble Vest is a free pattern and I'd definitely recommend it to fellow shaky knitters and, since it makes such a great wee top, I'm sure it would be fun for proper knitters too.

You might notice that I haven't sewn all the toggle buttons on with the same coloured wool.  That wasn't intentional, I used all my remaining green wool sewing them on initially - and apparently not very well - and then when some came loose I used blue wool which I had handy.  Very shoddy but better than nothing, I thought, although not better than changing them all to blue.  And, yes, they are still a mix of blue and green.  That's coz I really don't like sewing on buttons...........it is almost as bad as ironing, or maybe even as bad as sewing on cubs and judo badges.  Does anyone else dislike perfectly simple tasks like sewing on badges?  I do hope I'm not the only one.  And, just for the record, if the top had been for a non-family member it would have had properly sewn on buttons first time round.....it is only my poor family who has to put up with me trying to cut corners.

* Although since she is such a good wee girl I'm sure she much prefers being dressed head-to-foot in mummy-made clothes like she was on this day............Big Butt Baby Pants info here.

** Now that she has reached the vast old age of 19 months her tummy is a little more svelte compared to the 14 months or so she was in these photos.