Ronda’s homemade flower brooch

This just arrived in the mail, a special handmade gift from Ronda, an old friend of my mother’s!

Ronda saw a photo of the first tea cosy I ever made on facebook and asked me to make her one, so I made her one and posted it to her. My second go at a tea cosy was a bit fancier, it was a reversible two way tea cosy with a Lady Grey side, and a Ladybird side. Ronda liked it so much she sent me a present back, which included her home made flower brooch!

How sweet, now I just have to find a special place to put it. I’m thinking my favourite sun hat could do with an embellishment like this!

Small camel stitch purse with a fluffy edge

I just finished this small purse today, completing the purple fluffy edge. I had made this to give to a friend as a gift, but I’ve decided to make her something else instead! I don’t know who I’ll give this one to.

The other week while on youtube, I stumbled upon some videos of a stitch I didn’t know. It was called the ‘camel stitch‘. It was interesting because it’s supposed to resemble knitting, so I decided to give it a try. I made a rectangle that measures 18cm x 8cm of the camel stitch. Then I went around it with a border of 2 rounds of sc. I used the last of my berry pink yarn from Lincraft, and a 4mm hook. Then I folded it to make the purse and stitched the sides and the lip in sc, leaving a 5 ch loop for the button, using the fluffy purple yarn. I ended by stitching a large purple button on the front. Hey presto! A small purse!

The finished product measures 11cm x 9cm, I wonder if anyone would like it.

Pretty Irish Rose for a Sunhat

I had a go at adding a flower to the child’s sun-hat I made the other day, using a tradition Irish Rose pattern. I think the end result is very cute, if I do say so myself!

I wasn’t sure how the colour changes would go, but it worked out fine. I changed colour after doing the back posts and chain foundations for the next row. I made a 6th petal, although the pattern I followed had 5, as I prefer it this way. A couple of buttons added to the centre provided just the right amount of embellishment. I’m glad a couple more of my homeless buttons have found a new home. This flower is not removable like my other flowers I make for hats, I just sewed it right on securing it tightly.

I wonder if my 4 year old niece would like this hat? I don’t know anyone else this would fit, and it would be a shame if no one wore it, it’s just too nice!

White Baby Layette

I don’t think my baby will even wear these jackets I’ve been making, but I’m doing all these baby clothes now so I can learn more about crochet. The pattern is on page 77 in a book my mum lent me called “Crochet with Style”, published by Murdoch Books in 1990. For this I used some really nice white wool my mum gave me for my birthday.

I’ve learnt a lot from from doing this jacket. It looks simple enough , but the challenge was interpreting the pattern for the shaping in the bodice and sleeves. As it was, I made a mistake in the front right yoke, so repeated it on the left side so at least they matched! I know what I did wrong. When the pattern said to repeat 3 more rows, I should have just done plain rows instead of decreasing like the previous row. I’ll know better next time! I tried a red ribbon and some very cute strawberry buttons I bought years and years ago but have never used, but have settled on some lovely silky yellow ribbon, also given to me by my mum. I do have some white ribbon but it is a different white so didn’t match. I could change the look of this set again and get some blue ribbon if I wanted.

I found the sleeves a real challenge and am quite proud that I figured it out! To join seams I usually use a crochet hook and dc, but that made this too bulky. So I undid the dc and sewed the seams with a yarn needle for a less bulky finish. And for these seams I did something I’ve not had to do yet with crochet – I actually pinned the pieces together first before sewing! I’m quite pleased and surprised these sleeves worked out. These are the first shaped sleeves I’ve done, and doing this has helped me learn more and makes me think I might be able to do an adult cardigan one day.

The bonnet was fairly straight forward, as were the booties. For the booties, the pattern gets you to fasten off twice, as the bootie is not all in one piece, but it wasn’t too bad. I just left a length of yarn and used that to sew up the seams at the sole.

This was really nice to do, and was a pleasant surprise that I was able to complete it without any help which I thought I would need, especially with the jacket. And I don’t know who will ever wear this. It’s a newborn size, yet my baby is due in the summer, and my guess is, it’s going to be a hot one!

At least I learnt more about crochet by doing this exercise, which can not be a bad thing at all!

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Purple and White Stripes Baby Jacket

How many of these things am I going to need? I do not know, but I just feel like making a bunch!

My baby is expected in summer, so I really don’t know how many of these will be worn if at all! I guess if they don’t get used they might make nice gifts for someone else. The jackets I’ve been making are different sizes, so maybe some will fit for the first winter. I’ve already started on my next baby jacket which is white!

This one was easy and boring to do. If I use this pattern again, I’ll try and use a more interesting stitch. I think the stripes saved me from absolute monotony! This simple baby set pattern comes from the Lion Brand Yarn website, to access their free patterns all you have to do is register. This is the same site I got the baby socks pattern from.

I drew up this simple pattern on a square piece of card. This way I could do it while watching tv, when I prefer not to have to read patterns. The square board is as big as the back of the jacket, and I’ve made markings for the sleeves and front sections. This pattern really was very straight forward and easy, all you have to do is make 5 rectangular shapes and sew them together. But instead of making up the sleeves separately, I just worked them right onto the made up vest in rounds.

I used my left over purple and white dimples yarn from Lincraft, I think I used the 4mm hook. I chose some very cute recycled flower buttons, and gave them a quick scrub with Earth Choice detergent and a recycled toothbrush so they came up just like new.

Although this is newborn size, it looks a bit bigger than that to me.

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Green Hexagon Baby Jacket

I’m quite pleased and surprised this one turned out so cute!

I used some green craft wool my mum gave me for my birthday, I’ve got quite a lot of that colour left. The darker green was a small amount I have in my scraps bag, as was the white. I’m not sure if that dark green is real wool so I’ll have to wash this one carefully, which might turn out to be too inconvenient later on. But this jacket was a bit of a ‘practice’ item for me to try, recycling some old buttons that I think look really cute, so making this jacket turned out to very thrifty and frugal indeed!

I used the hexagon jacket idea which I’ve tried before. I’ve since found another blog that explains the hexagon jacket pattern in more detail, I did the bottom edging and collar following that blog’s pattern. The 11 rounds of green used 60g from my 100g ball of craft wool.

Even if this jacket doesn’t fit my baby, it will be cute for a toy teddy to wear!
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Four Little Lost Angels

As I was taking them home from the market, I knew I would have so much fun cleaning up these second-hand dolls and dressing them in new crochet outfits, perhaps even with angel wings! In the end I settled on summer dresses complete with pretty bonnets and mary jane slippers. These tiny Kelly dolls are just 4.5 inches tall.

I first found the little blonde in a washing basket full of toys. The stall holder was busy selling a set of Dora dolls, so when I said I would like the tiny doll, she dismissed me saying I could have it for free. Well, I wouldn’t take something so special for free, it just wasn’t right! Her hair is in excellent condition, and she even has two near new shoes. I was thinking to give a dollar, but when we looked in David’s wallet a 50 cent coin was sitting on top so I grabbed that and pressed it into hand of the man that was helping her with the stall. I think it must have been Karma, because later on at another stall, I saw the three other dolls, all with different coloured hair and all just 50 cents each! It was so uncanny it must have been fate that these four tiny Kelly dolls should meet in this way!

Crochetting some clothes for these dolls turned out to be a lot more challenging than I first anticipated. I made several attempts before I ended up with a dress I was happy with. At first, I did a smaller version of the Barbie doll dress I usually do, using baby yarn, but I decided the result looked too bulky. Later, I made matching knickers for that dress using a free pants pattern I found on an old blog, again using the baby yarn. I made a top using baby yarn and a free ruffle top pattern, but I did not use the right size hook and yarn, and it didn’t fit. The problem was, I was using baby yarn when I should have been using fine cotton thread.

At first, I really didn’t think I would need to follow a pattern for this project, but I did. I had a little success with a free dress pattern @ Crochet Crafts by Helga, using fine cotton and 1.5mm hook as recommended. But I didn’t like the skirt, I thought it was too short so added more rows, which then made the result bulky. Finally, I made a dress I liked using the bodice from Helga’s free pattern, but adding my own skirt. Using the same cotton, I made some panties using Helga’s free pants pattern,shortening the legs by making just one row of sc. I stitched up the gap at the back of the pants as I don’t think it needs a button, pull on pants are fine for this small doll. I then made matching pull on panties for the other dresses I made, one each of pink, green, apricot and yellow. Each dress has one button on the back of the bodice.

Because you can’t see the panties underneath the dresses, I decided the dolls needed some little tops to show them off! Maybe these outfits can be PJs or summer beach outfits? The tops are just the bodice part of the dress, with every stitch in the bottom frill incr. The tops looked a little plain, so I crochet a tiny heart, clover, flower and sun to attach in contrasting colours to the front, to make them look more fun (hopefully!). The flower is just clusters to form 5 petals, and the sun is a round of 15 trbls, with a 2nd round of a picot in every 3rd trbl. I used the heart and clover patterns explained in previous posts.

Then I made them all matching Mary Jane slippers with my own made up pattern.

Mary Janes for Kelly Dolls by Teena Sutton
using 1.25mm hook, fine cotton
1. ch 7, trb (US db) in 3rd ch from hook, 2 trb, 2 db (US sc), turn
2. ch 2, trb in next 5 trb, 3 trebles in the stitch space at the toe, go round to the other side of the shoe and do trb in ea 5 trb, 1 trb at the heel, sl st in 1st trb of this round
3. ch 2, db in next 2 trb, sk 2 trb, trb in next 3 treble to form top of toe, sk 2 trb, db in next 3 trb, sl st in 1st db  of this round
4. ch 8 to form ankle strap and sl st in 1st ch

Finally, I finished the outfits with bonnets, again with a pattern I made up myself. When I found these dolls, their hair was mostly ‘fly-away’ and a real mess. After shampooing, conditioning, air drying and finally smoothing with baby oil, their hair came up very nicely indeed. The pretty bonnets help keep the hair in place.

Pretty Bonnets for Kelly Dolls by Teena Sutton
using 1.25mm hook, fine cotton
1. chain 10, trbl (US dc) in 3rd ch from hook, trb in ea next 6 ch, 5 trbl in last ch which is the bottom of the last trbl, trb in the bottom of the other 7 trbl, turn
2. ch 2, trb in ea trbl, extra 3 trbl in last trb, trbl in bottom of each trb, turn
3. ch 2, sk trb, (3 trb in next trbl, sk trb, trb in next, sk trb) twice, 3 trbl ea in next 3 trbl (9 trbl), sk trb, trbl in next trbl (sk trbl, 3 trb in next trbl, sk trb, trb in next) twice, turn
4. ch 2, (sk trbl, 3 trb in next trbl, sk trbl, trbl in next) thrice, 3 trbl in next, trbl in next, (sk trbl, 3 trb in next trbl, sk trbl, trbl in next) thrice, turn
5. ch 2, repeat (sk trbl, 3 trbl in next, sk strbl, trbl in next) seven times, each cluster of 3 is in centre of cluster below, turn
6. repeat row 5 except don’t turn, ch about 12 or enough to be long enough to form the chin strap, measure, slip stitch into the other side of the bonnet to form chin strap, don’t turn
7 (bonnet frill), ch 2, repeat the pattern from previous row, except each cluster has 5 trebles instead of 3, turn
8. ch 2, repeat the previous pattern, except each cluster has 7 trebles instead of 5, fasten off.

Making outfits for these four Kelly dolls was heaps of fun and very satisfying. I learnt more about adjusting patterns for size, and also how to make pants. These are such a joy – but I think they will be going in a box soon. One day I’ll bring them out again as a special treasure.

This is my post for this week’s Transformation Thursday hosted @ The Shabby Chic Cottage. Be sure to check out fun crafty stuff at this blog party!

Purple Baby Jacket and Hat

This was an easy jacket I made following a pattern David’s sister Michelle got free for me from Spotlight, the hat I made using an easy pattern from Lincraft.

The hat was the first of these that I made using a pattern from the Lincraft booklet I bought some months ago. I then had a go at the matching jacket but I just couldn’t make sense of what the pattern wanted me to do. My M.I.L had a look at it for me and tried to explain but in the end I decided it was harder than it deserved, so I gave up and had a go at the pattern from Spotlight, which made more sense to me.

For the jacket, I used more of the purple dimples baby yarn from Lincraft, this pattern required a 4mm and a 4.5mm hook. It’s a straight forward pattern and now I know how to do it, I’m sure I could make more variations of it. I really like the stitch in the skirt, so much so that I’m also working on a scarf using the same stitch. I think it looks like a pretty flower or star pattern. The buttons are recycled from my old stash and I think they suit perfectly! The pattern has sleeves, and also says to thread a ribbon around the waist, which I can choose to do later if I wish. For now, I think this is ok!

Perhaps I need to have a go at the booties ?

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A White Dress for Barbie

I’m very surprised how this turned out, how could it be that the bodice of this dress fits so perfectly? This is my post for White Wednesday which is hosted by Faded Charm. I’m also putting this in for this week’s Transformation Thursday hosted @ The Shabby Chic Cottage.

I used white dimples baby yarn from Lincraft, that’s their cheapest baby yarn and it costs $1.99 for 50g. I started with the bodice as usual with all of these dresses I make, working up from the waist. When I got to the cleavage area I attempted a sweet heart neckline. I have attempted this before on a top I’ve made but undid it as it didn’t work out. This time I did it over two rows and I am totally amazed at how perfectly it sits, I was certain it would be a little wonky.

The skirt is the 5 cluster separated by english doubles in the cluster below pattern which I saw in a picture of a Barbie doll wedding dress, although that’s the only thing I used from that pattern. I didn’t plan for the skirt to be this shape at all, it just kind of happened. I forgot to increase more before starting the shell pattern so the skirt is more fitted at the top, so then I flared out at the bottom. It was nice but it needed something more so I finished off with a row of picots, and low and behold, they really wanted to sit up in the air like that! It kind of looks funny but it is a ‘white dress’ after all, so they are kinda of required by law to look a bit frilly and silly!!! lolzzz

I have many white buttons and I knew I wanted the one holed pearl kind, but the only ones I could find in my stash were a little too big or had peeling polish so I actually bought these buttons new /gasp! That really is naughty for a doll’s dress isn’t it? I got some really cheap ones and there are plenty left over to use on other things, so I figure I’m not toooo bad!

The last thing to do was to make something white for her hair so I just whipped this thing up. It’s simply a row of English trebles (US dc) to allow room for ribbon to be threaded through, then some shells like the skirt on top of that. I didn’t really know what I was making, this kind of just happened! I threaded the ribbon through then around again to form a loop that the hair could go through. Tying it tightly keeps her flyaway hair in place and every bride needs a little something white on the head, don’t you think?

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Be sure to check out other pretty whites @ White Wednesday!
My favourite highlight from this week’s White Wednesday

• another beautifully embroidered baby dress @ The Old Fashioned Sewing Room

Check out lots of cool & crafty ideas @ Transformation Thursday!
I checked every participant this week for this blog party as I always find so many useful posts. Here are some of my favourites.

• make home-made wood polish @ Nancy’s Tidbits
• chalkboard top desk @ Twice Lovely, chalkboard labels @ The Scrap Shoppe, reuse the back of a photo frame chalkboard @ Keeping it Simple, old chalkboard makeover @ My Magic Mom
• ideas for home-made kids clothes @ Little Lizard King
• no glue stretchy button headband @ Love Stitched, cute girls dresses @ The Train to Crazy
• how to cut up a watermelon @ The Pumpkin Patch, jello rockmelon @ How Does She?
• home-made beauty products like parsley toner @ Homemade Mamas

I also found these Ten Parenting Tips @ Real Parenting Tips

1. Read to your children.
2. Have the courage to say “NO!” at times.
3. Create meaningful family traditions.
4. Make home a place where your children want to be.
5. Have Family Dinner every night.
6. Teach your children to work – and work with them.
7. Support your child’s interests.
8. Talk with, not at your children.
9. Listen.
10. Say “I love you” often.

A Set of Small Purses

This set began with a shell pouch I made for my mum to say thank you for teaching me how to crochet. Now the set has grown to include more purses! This is my post for this week’s Transformation Thursday which is hosted by The Shabby Chic Cottage. I transformed a ball of  lovely and soft multi-coloured wool into these purses.

I made the tiny purse without a pattern. I again used the shell pattern for one side then plain for the other so the shape would not turn out wonky. I then made a lid for the purse. I was inspired by the lid on the quick clutch at Crochet Spot but I did not follow the pattern. If I did I probably would not have had to pull it apart two times before I got it right on the third try! I also made up my own tiny button, although I might replace it with a proper button if this doesn’t work out. This tiny purse took one morning to do.

I completed the tissues cover over two days without using a pattern. I had been planning to make one with a slit down the middle but then I saw the tissues I had bought for this opened a different way. I made this tissue purse using the shell stitch on the front only and plain treble crochet on the back and sides so it would keep it’s shape. I had trouble deciding if I would make a lid for it, but settled on leaving it open because the shell stitch made a nice wavy edge.

I gave these and the matching tiny dancing teddy bears to my mum yesterday when she came to visit. She said she likes the set, and promptly put her pens in the larger pouch to stop them from rolling around in her bag! The tiny teddies fit neatly inside the tiny purse, they were so cute!

Be sure to check out the other things linked in with Transformation Thursday, there is always HEAPS of handy home-crafting ideas which I love to check out!
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My Highlights from this weeks’ party

• sew star pin cushions or beanbag toys @ Sew a Straight Line
• recycle old jeans and pants into aprons @ Keeping it Simple
• turn a child’s t-shirt into a dress @ I Can Find the Time
• make a simple memory game using stamps and wood cutoffs @ A Bit O’ Shine