Shelley Made: May 2012

Tuesday 29 May 2012

Getting Colder...

It's Autumn...very Autumn...in act, in a few days it will be Winter here!



What have I been up to?  A bit of sewing, a bit of fabric designing, and a bit of walking in the last of the leaves.




Decided Mr 2 needed some warmer clothes...so I've been doing some sewing without a pattern! A hoodie top, and some warm fleecy trackpants was in order...  He's wearing the pants in all these photos, and the hoodie is below...  Nice warm merino wool knit I had left over from when I was sewing merino baby wraps!







I was even brave enough to get out my cover stitch machine to do the hems properly!  That machine drives me crazy on really stretchy knits like this one...but this time it actually behaved!!

The top fits Miss 4 too (with some extra length added in the arms and body), so sewing one for her will be next!

I have a tutorial to write up too - with an upcycled denim skirt that I recently made for my daughter...will try and get that done this week!  Along with showing you my newest fabric designs...which I am about to send off for their first printing...a new cut and sew one is in the mix!


Wednesday 23 May 2012

Coloured Pencil Fabric

I was having a bit of fun with my son, and ended up with a design to enter into the Spoonflower Fabric of the Week contest.  The theme this week is Hand Drawn.  There are a HEAP of great entries...over 500 this week!  I got my swatches of it yesterday, and am pretty happy with they way they have turned out.  Other than quick outline sketches, most of my designs are done digitally - so this was a departure from my norm!

This is the design, a rainbow of coloured pencils, drawn in coloured pencil!:


Coloured pencil, coloured pencils!

I actually really like it.  It's bright and cheery, and just what I need to look at on a cold wintry day here.

There are 4 designs in the collection, two diagonal stripes, and two regular stripes.  Each pencil is around 2.5 inches tall.  You can click on the images to be taken to see the full repeats on Spoonflower, where they are now for sale:

Coloured pencil horizontal stripeColoured Pencil Coloured Pencil!
Coloured Pencil Stripe


There is still time to vote - about another day and a half to go.  If you want to have a look at all the great entries, and perhaps cast a vote - the link is here.

Tuesday 15 May 2012

A Male Present - Personalised Earbud Pouch!

I really don't sew much at all for my husband.  So for his birthday today - I made him a zippered pouch for his earbuds, using the great tutorial from Dog Under My Desk.

The front:



The back:


...and here are those earbuds.


No excuse for misplacing them now!

I used my own personalised fabric - the mid blue version for this...you can get your own over on Spoonflower if you so desire.  My husband, Asbjorn, has an unusual name - so never had anything personalised as a child, so this fabric is just right for him.  Even as a grown up!

Have a lovely day...

Tuesday 1 May 2012

Ruffle Top and Pleated Skirt

I've been meaning to post about this for AGES.  I made this top and skirt outfit for my daughter months ago, and it is one of my favourites.  The ruffle top is a stretch knit pattern from Ginger Louise.  The skirt is the Sassy Pleated Skirt from Sew Sweet Patterns.  I love both of these patterns, and best of all, my little girl agrees to wear them!



The top I made in a size 4, but ended up taking it in just a bit down the arms and sides after taking these photos.  My daughter is a very slight build!  I love the ruffles though - and they were pretty easy to do.  It's a very simple top, but the ruffles just add something to it.




The skirt I made about 3 inches longer than the pattern states - it was just a tad too short for what I wanted, plus with my girl growing like a weed at the moment, I wanted it to last! 

I also added details like the topstitching at the top of the pleats, and around the waistband.  I liked the effect that gave - plus with the use of the denim, I thought it just looked "right".  This is probably a better photo of the skirt:



Best of all - they are not pink.  I know every little girl LOVES pink, but Mummy gets a little tired of it sometimes!