Archive for March, 2009
I have a name!
Finally, after more than 2 years, Emma has given me a name. Mimi. Awww cute! For a long time now, she has talked about Daddy this and Daddy that. But if you show her a picture of me she just looks at it blankly. I guess she has finally realised that we are separate people!! It is great though, and it makes me feel all warm and fuzzy every time she says it.
Just a little thing, but I had to share!
Hot off the sewing machine
All the children’s clothes shops in my town have closed down over the last few months (except Tesco, which is too far out of town for me to walk to), which gives me a great excuse to find more time for sewing!
My mum bought me the Little Stitches for Little Ones book by Amy Butler for Christmas. It is really lovely, but unfortunately the clothes patterns only go up to 9-12 months. I finally got around to resizing the pattern for the “Easy Empire Waist Top” last night, and finished it off this morning. The name “easy” was misleading – I found it quite fiddly. But that could also be because I think my pattern resizing may not have been quite correct!
So here it is!
And a close up of the fabric
I’m going to do a pink one next week! 
Onbag from a shortie wrap instructions
I promised a few people that I would write up how I made my recent Onbag Baby from a 2.5m wrap. I hope you find this useful!
The official instructions for making an Onbag of your own can be found here.
Materials used:
2.5m Hoppediz Florenz
1m (1.4m wide) Pale Green Taffeta
a: I cut the following pieces from the wrap:
- Front (30 x 30cm with rounded bottom)
- Back and Flap (65 x 30 cm with rounded top and bottom)
- Straps (all 20cm wide, 2 long pieces and 1 piece of 40cm)
- Inside Pockets (just scraps – I didn’t measure)
- Side Pockets (15 x 25cm)
I also cut matching pieces from the lining for 1,2, and 3.
b: I prepared the pieces for the front and back as follows:
(All hems are rolled)
- Hem all around the side pockets.
- Hem the top of the inside pockets.
- Sew the inside pockets to the lining.
- Tack the lining to the Front and Back/Flap pieces.
- Hem the top of the Front.
- Hem the bottom and sides of the Flap.
c: I pieced together and lined the straps, then added side loops.
- Pin the strap pieces right sides together so that you have the short piece in the middle, and the long pieces on the outside.
- To make the seams, do one line of running stitch, then reinforce behind it with zigzags. I did a close zigzag right at the edge of each seam as well to help prevent fraying. (If I had an overlocker, I would have used that instead).
- Iron the seams flat.
- Piece together the strap lining pieces in the same way.
- Tack the lining to the straps.
- Find some scraps that are approx 30 x 10 cm. These will be the side loops (for if you want to convert the bag to a rucksack) Fold the long edges into the middle, then fold again and sew together.
- Fold the strap in half to find the mid point. Lay the back of the bag down over the middle and line the side loops up at the edges. (haha – the proper Onbag instructions explain that bit much better than me!! )
- Attach the side loops to the straps using xboxes. Make sure you leave lots of room at the edges of the straps so that you don’t struggle to do your rolled hem later!!
- Attach the side pockets to the straps.
d: I put the bag together…
- Simple… hem the long strap, and attach it to the front or back with the same rolled hem. It takes quite some time to pin it, and should be sewn slowly because there are quite a lot of layers to go through.
- Reinforce the stitching where the back becomes the flap – this is quite a stress point.
- I added a button to the front of the bag (because I didn’t use velcro).
e: I sat back and admired my handywork!
Some thoughts….
Because the strap is pieced together, I probably wouldn’t do this for a full sized onbag classic. You naturally don’t carry so much in a smaller bag, so I feel it will stand up to the job.
I am not a fan of velcro, so I didn’t use it on mine. I used a pretty antique looking button instead.
I didn’t add the inside elastic either, purely because I have never used it on my other onbag. However, when I get time I am going to use a small scrap to add a little loop inside for my slingview mirror to attach to.
I made the straps a little wider than standard. It makes the bag a tiny bit deeper, and also lets the strap spread over your shoulder and back more.
Oh, and I have used it just about every day since making it – I’m pleased to bits with it, and can’t wait to make another some time!
Early morning at the playground
The weather is still lovely, and we took full advantage of it with an early morning trip out to the playground!
Walking to the playground
Swing - Emma's new favourite word for today!
Boo!
Can I climb up yet?
What a lovely start to the day!
DIY Wrap to Onbag Conversion
For those that haven’t come across them, Onbags are bags specifically designed for babywearers. They have no hard parts in, are big enough to carry everything you need for a day out with a kid, and you can wear them in any number of different ways. I was given a black one with a pink lining a few months ago by a good friend of mine and I use it every day. So I decided to make myself a new one for myself based on the DIY Onbag pattern that you can find here:
http://blog.onbag.co.uk/
I wanted to use a wrap to make the bag, but chopping up a 4.6m wrap seemed a bit expensive. I managed to get my hands on a 2.5m Hoppediz Florenz to use, but this gave me a problem – the strap is 3.3m long, but my wrap was only 2.5m. So, I did a bit of pattern customization and pieced the strap together (with a lot of reinforcement!)
I took photos as I went along… I’ll post them up with an explanation of how I did the strap when I am a little less tired.
Perfect for spring!
The girl’s got style!
Poor old Emma has been suffering with a horrible cold for the last few days, which has made her rather sad. She started to look a bit perkier today though – on Tuesday we go to a music group together and she always loves that.
Today has been a very fashionable day. The day started with pyjama’s and my gardening shoes. A good look don’t you think?
Emma is getting rather opinionated at the moment about what she will and will not wear. So today, I just went with the flow and let her pick clothes out of her drawer. And this is what she came up with:-
- Rain hat, bought from Millets while we were in the Lake District on holiday last year.
- Pink top, present from Grandad at Christmas.
- Blue Melrose Blossom (my favourite Robert Kaufman print!) skirt, which I bought only for the fabric and had every intention of chopping up… until I tried it on Emma and realised how much it suited her. I just hope she doesn’t get toddler grime on it so that I can reuse the fabric after she grows out of it – it is like gold dust that stuff!
- Dora the Explorer wellington boots, which I think compliment the whole look very nicely!
I think we have a budding fashionista in the making!
Oh go on, you can have one more. Sorry – she needed to wipe her nose as I was taking this one!
Satisfied
It has been a satisfying day today. I finished off some work on the MamaNatura web site which I have been trying to find time to do for ages. After weeks of searching I finally found the perfect lining for a bag I want to make. And I solved a dilemma with a mother’s day present that I am working on. (Which of course will remain secret for a few more days at least!)
Friday’s are great for me, because Brett finishes work an hour early. This gives me time to go into town for a little walk on my own. It is only an hour, but it makes me feel sane again. Much as I love Emma dearly, these little snippets of “me” time are kind of treasured these days.
Speaking of Emma, she has suddenly started speaking a lot more over the last few days. Just little things, but she has started calling animals by their real names instead of just mooing or miaowing at them, and this afternoon she brought me her cup and asked for a drink instead of just shouting. She is really into singing at the moment too – Dingle Dangle Scarecrow is a favourite right now and we sang it all the way into town this morning. Goodness knows what jo public thought of me walking around with a kid strapped to my back with us both singing away and flapping our arms and legs around!
Photos for today are actually from last week, when we went for a little run around in the Abbey Gardens.
Bubble bubble toil and trouble
I managed my first ever natural dye graduation yesterday, using fustic and cochineal. It was a huge amount of work, but I am ridiculously pleased with how it came out. I didn’t expect to manage such a smooth colour change.
It started life as 2m of undyed linen/cotton mix. When it was dry, I sewed it into a ringsling. The linen makes it really supportive, but it is quite stiff. It will soften with use though.
It is my first proper post, so lets make it a picture heavy one!
Bubbling in the dye pot:
Starting the graduation
Pink side after the first dip
A very tired Emma wants to help!
After a lot of rinsing, the finished sling
A close up
Hello world!
Hi, and welcome to my little world. If you want to know more about me, then go to the about me page. I’ll be posting bits and bobs of daily life, things we get up to, work stuff, things I’m making, etc etc. I’m not done with the layout (or header) yet, so bear with me while I make changes over the next week or two. Thanks for dropping by!
