Octopus Tutu

Our village has a May Fayre and has done for more than 200 years!

This year the theme is The Seaside, all the children from the school and play school parade through the village and then there is a big fair on the school field.

Cue costume options.

Miss S "I want to be a diver" same as her best friend, quickly order a wetsuit and a dive mask.

Me to Miss H "how about a mermaid" nope, "a jellyfish?" nope

Miss H "i want to be a SHARK!"

Hmmmmm sharks are quite difficult so I talked her into being an octopus after seeing this tutorial.

A quick trip to the market, £4 later I returned with some white felt and some rather tacky purple lurex with gold sequins.

I started with a test leg....

Then seven more legs and a tutu later here we have it!!

She still wants a head, so I'll have to work in that.

kcw day 2, 3 4 and 5! - big pocket dress

here is the fruit of my labour these last four days of kids clothes week.

it is completely and utterly "inspired" by this wonderfully gorgeous dress from groovy baby and mamma

it's the bodice from too sweets september tunic and an interpretation of the skirt from the sally dress. my client (miss H) loves it and accessorised it with me spaghetti sauce!

Kids Clothes Week Day1

Started with a bump when I realised what the date was!! In my head it's still January, well let's face it in my head I'm still 25, the date and the month are inconsequential!!

So I'm squeezing in an hour of pattern tracing in the sunshine!!

Planning on do three items of clothing, one for each of the wee ones.

A pair of these for Big G - quick change trousers from Anna Maria Horners book.

And I found this lovely book in Waterstones and plan on making....

A pair of these for miss S

And a dress a bit like this for Miss H

flashback friday - rollie pollie

i was planning on making a few big beanbag style cushion for the playroom, so i bought dana's pattern for the rollie pollie - the pattern is really easy to follow and the finished article is pretty cool

the fabric is from ikea (good old faithful ikea!) i did find it hard to find a zip long enough until my mum found one in an old bolster which i was throwing away.

it's a much loved comfy place to sit and read, it's also loved by visiting babies, and unfortunately visiting dogs!

flashback friday - princess and the pea

miss S had a beautiful white company princess and pea toy, and i wanted something similar for miss H for he third second, after trawling the internet and not really finding anything which lived up to the vision in my head i decided (like i often do) "well i could just make one!" so i did.

the wooden bed is from ikea and comes with a simple blanket and pillow

i made lots of additional "mattresses" (there are quite a few which went awol before this photoshoot) i reused the ikea one on the reverse of one blanket, with a wonderful creation by miss S on the other side. i just let her creative instinct run wild on a piece of white fabric with regular pens.

the princess is a mixture of a couple of patterns from the brilliant "wee wonderfuls 24 dolls to sew and love" by hillary lang of wee wonderfuls. she is mostly little miss storybook from p.89, but her hair is from the tag along doll on p.61, with a bun on the back like the dolls from the sleepover pals on p.53. the skirt and the crown were just made up.

so far she's stood the test of time, and been moaning every morning about not sleeping well.......

pinterest - actually creating something that you pinned!

i pinned this pin a veeeeeeeeeeeery long time ago, and when we bought our house i knew i wanted to use it - piles of magnificent creations were mounting all around us. this display system allows us to appreciate the master pieces which come home from school and preschool for a little while, before they are put away to keep or discreetly make their way to the recycling bin!

i just used the super inexpensive curtain wires from ikea - brilliant!

flashback friday - reading pouffe

i made this reading pouffe for miss S when i decorated her room. i used this tutorial from living with punks. it was pretty easy to follow and i was super pleased with the resulting pouffe.

my piping technique could use a little refining, as could my zip inserting technique!

i appliqued on little circles of liberty prints, and to make them really pop i stab stitched around the outside.

the main fabric is the leftovers from the fabric I made the blinds for miss S' bedroom. it started life as a duvet cover from ikea. one side was grey with white dots and the other white with grey dots. the white with grey dots will eventually become the backing for her quilt (watch this space!) and it's filled with beanbag beans which have been sitting around in a plastic bag annoying me for the last few years!