Pillowcase Dress Tutorial

I made this pillowcase dress a year or more ago and was instantly a fan - simple to make, and very cute. Mia wore it in summer with a Tshirt under and in cooler months (it never really gets that cold here in Brisbane) with leggings and long sleeves underneath. Now that she's grown a lot in height, she could probably wear it as a little summer top.

Anyway, I've had this beautiful Japanese style butterfly print sitting in the cupboard for a while and thought it perfect for another of these little dresses, just in time for winter. Here's how I made it...


1. Measure the length needed. I measured from the neckline down to just below the knee. Allow an extra 5cm for seam allowances and casing. So if your measurement is 45cm, you would want a length of 50cm.

2. Measure the length around the chest and halve this measurement. Add 12cm. So if your measurement is 50cm, you would need a width of 37cm.

3. Cut two rectangles of the main fabric to fit these measurements. In my case, I cut two rectangles 50cm x 37cm.









4. Cut a small rounded piece out from all top corners. For mine, I made a snip with the scissors 8cm in and 15cm down, then cut a rounded piece out between the two snips. Either fold the fabric over, or use the cutout piece to make sure all arm holes are the same size.







5. Place the two pieces with right sides together. Sew down both sides, allowing a 1cm seam allowance. Press the seams open.







6. Use the main fabric or a contrasting fabric to cut bias binding. Here's a good video showing how to make your own bias binding.

7. Bind the armholes of your dress. Open the binding and place the right side of the binding on the wrong side of the dress, lining up the edges of both. Sew around the armhole, close to the first fold. Fold the binding back up so that it sandwiches the main dress fabric. Turn over to the right side and sew around 1-2mm from the edge of the binding.



8. Make the casing. For both front and back, turn over 1.5cm and press. Then fold over again and press again. Sew along the bottom of the casing, 1-2mm from the edge.







9. Get ready to hem the dress! Turn inside out and fold the hemline over 1cm, then press. Fold over again 1cm and press again. Sew 1-2mm from the edge. Or you could use a blind hemming stitch to make an invisible hem .



10. Thread ribbon (I used 1m of 4cm wide ribbon, but this will depend on the child's size and your preference) through the casing.






There are a lot of variations to experiment with here. You could use binding in place of ribbon, tie on one or both shoulders, bind along the hemline, add a contrast fabric to the bottom of the dress......and so on.

Happy sewing!

Play dough

Another of the homemade craft supplies we love at our house is this play dough. So easy to make and it lasts  forever. And just like with the cornflour paint, if my little artist decides to do a taste test, all the ingredients are edible.

I found the recipe at http://www.bestrecipes.com.au/recipe/Play-Dough-L926.html, but the cream of tartar container also comes with a similar recipe on the side.

Ingredients:
1/2 cup salt
1 cup plain flour
2 tablespoons cream of tartar
1 cup water
1 tablespoon oil
food colouring

1. Mix all ingredients together in a medium sized saucepan.
2. Stir over heat until dough is pliable.
3. Allow to cool and store in a well sealed plastic bag or container.

I divided ours into two and made two different colours. Ours has been stored in the fridge in zip loc bags for quite a few months already and is still fine to use.

I bought a junior cookie set at a discount store that has cookie shapes and different cutters, as well as a rolling pin. We've had hours of fun - Mia especially likes making snakes and balls and instructing me on what animals I should make for her.

Coloured pasta

We made this coloured pasta about six months ago and have gotten so many hours of fun out of it.

Although I originally made it for threading, Mia has spent more hours pouring it between plastic cups and sorting colours than anything else, as it's thin and a bit long for her to thread with still.


This is one that the kids need to keep out of their mouths though, as hand sanitiser is used to make the colours stick to the pasta.

To make:

• Place pasta, a squirt or two of hand sanitiser, and a few drops of food colouring into a zip loc bag.
• Seal the bag and shake well.
• Lay it out on paper towels to dry.

Enjoy!

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

Cornflour paint

This is a picture of my daughter's first artwork, done when she was not even three months old (she's now 2). We're about to do our second attempt now with her little brother, and the memories of my partner and I sitting on the kitchen floor in the apartment we were renting back then, trying to control those little hands and feet that could not stop moving, all flood back. We were all covered in red and yellow after that!

At our house we love using homemade art and craft supplies as much as we can, and this paint is a real favourite. Not only do you know exactly what the ingredients are, but if the little artist samples it, you know that they're safe (although possibly a bit loopy from the food colouring).

To make it, mix one tablespoon of cornflour with one tablespoon of cold water until flour is dissolved, then add a cup of boiling water. Stir until it thickens. If it doesn't thicken enough, either put it on the stove and bring it to the boil, or add some more cornflour (don't forget to dissolve it in cold water first). Then stir through a few drops of food colouring.

The paint works well on blank canvas and good thick paper, but because it's water based it doesn't dry as well on thin paper. If you make a really thick batch, it's great for fingerpaint.

Missing finger and all, out of all my daughter's paintings this is my favourite.

Maternity leave projects

This time around I made it to maternity leave (yay!) and so I thought it would be nice to complete a few sewing projects. There's probably going to be little time for sewing for a while after No. 2 arrives.

I found this simple little pattern online for a reversible baby hat and made two, because I thought the monkey/helicopter design might be a bit loud for a young baby. On finishing the two though, I think it's the one that I prefer.

Sadly I can't find the website again to refer to it here, and it was in Dutch anyway. With lots of help from google translate, I worked out the main parts.

 I finished this bag this morning. I've been trying to decide on a new bag to make, one that's a bit summery. Now that it's finished I'm not sure if the colours are that great for summer, but it's cute all the same and good practical size for carting around those toy animals, snacks, drink bottles etc. I got the pattern from this blog: http://machenmachen.wordpress.com/2007/08/31/free-pattern-for-the-wasp-bag/. and I have to say that the adding the buttons completely lifted the look of the bag. I was actually a bit disappointed in it when I was done with the main sewing last night, but now that the buttons are on, I love it.

 Now to the felt food... Mia was given a play kitchen a little while ago and although being quite young, she was happy for a while to use anything to put into and out of the cupboards, I thought some felt food might be a nice addition. She had some plastic fruit and vegies, but these just look so much better. I found some great pictures online, but made most of the patterns myself through trial and error - there's also a steak to go with the broccoli and potatoes (the orange thing is fish, not an over-sized carrot!)




I'm also part of the way through adding to my backpack collection - just waiting on some supplies to arrive to finish them. And I thought I'd make myself a few new dresses for after this baby comes, but being disappointed in the choice of fabric in the stores around here (and the price), I'm waiting on some fabric to arrive by mail for those.

Spring is near

Continuing on with trying to be crafty with Mia, we tried out threading with the coloured pasta. Although difficult still, Mia loved sitting together and threading. Then she just went mad for pouring and putting coloured pasta all over the place. She loved it and could have played for hours like this.

Then we made a sheep. Mia's a huge fan of sticking - I think her childcare centre has been teaching them about sticky stuff recently. We kept to using clear contact because it's just so easy and I can sit back and watch her create without worrying that she's going to eat any glue.

And then a Father's Day present. I'd seen this idea months ago on Pinterest and thought it was very cute. So we made some homemade paints again with water, cornflour and food colouring. I thought I'd try this recipe and see if it lasted longer than the last time we made paints - the last recipe had a lot of sugar in it too - but it lasted much the same time. Actually I think I prefer the paint with sugar in it, because some of this crumbled and fell off when it was dry.

Finally I finished the smaller version of the quiet book - these ones have been made as gifts and for sale. The hours and hours of work that goes into one of these babies can never be set at a price that anyone's willing to pay, so I tried to keep it simple and limited myself to 6 activity pages - the best six. These have been Mia's favourites so far in her book.

            

Quiet book cover

Monkey with snap fasteners

      

Tie the shoe

Barn and animal finger puppets

                    

       

Count the beads

Tent, sleeping bag and doll with zippers

       

Mr Potato head with velcro

Pocket for all the pieces, plus some pieces for a Mrs Potato Head 

     

And some sewing for our baby who's now only 10 weeks away - a hanging wall storage and some wall art for above the cot.

I quilted the back section of the wall hanging and then made the pockets with square corners, lined with a very stiff interfacing. I'm still not sure if the pockets will sag after a while, especially if they're not stuffed full at the bottoms and have heavy stuff in them.

I found the idea for this one thanks to Martha Stewart, although the original idea was three larger frames. I bought a cheap white frame and a bunch of scrapbooking card stock and chose my book: Dr Seuss' Oh the Places You'll Go! The finished product looked quite effective - I especially like the black section with white writing and the orange giraffe. It stands out a lot more than the other two sections.

I made this one a while back, but never photographed it until now. I had made one as a birthday gift for a friend's baby, and had a second shirt so I thought I'd make one for Mia also. It turned out really cute and is an easy way to brighten up a plain t-shirt. I used heat and bond paper to attach the circles to the t-shirt fabric and then just sewed a tight zig zag stitch around each one to secure it on.

July and August

I recently looked back over my posts and found that a year ago, I'd finally started again on the blanket I had started making for Mia when I was pregnant with her. Going through a knitting phase back then, I had started knitting a multicolour striped blanket, but of course ran out of time (I couldn't stay awake long enough in the evening during pregnancy to get anything done on it). For this baby, I decided I wanted to make something that would be finished before the birth, so I found some ideas for a baby quilt online (I'm now addicted to Pinterest - it's awesome for finding craft ideas). Late in July we found out that our November baby is going to be a boy, so I chose some fabrics from my leftovers pile and powered through making this simple quilt (http://befickle.blogspot.com.au/2011/04/you-can-make-quilti-have-proof.html). It's not huge, but it's the perfect size to fold up and take with you to put on the floor at a friend's house for bub to lie on, or to keep baby warm in the pram.

Another find that I was keen to try out when I found out we were having a boy were these pants (http://www.made-by-rae.com/2010/10/free-raes-basic-newborn-pant-sewing-pattern/). Super easy, but so cute. There are some great free patterns at this site - my sister made the little premmie dress for Mia after she was born 4 weeks early and very small. It was so cute.

And I made a couple more backpacks. This time to add to my Etsy store which was looking a bit empty. I'm still working on a couple of quiet books to add too.

Recently, I've also been putting together a craft box for Mia with lots of different supplies. In the process of trying to work out what to include I've found some really great ideas, like the coloured pasta for threading and using contact (clear adhesive) as an alternative to glue. I had searched everywhere to find beads large enough and with big enough holes for Mia to use for threading and all I could find were really expensive ones from educational supply shops. It should have been obvious, but I didn't even think of using pasta. A much cheaper alternative and we had a fun craft lesson just doing the colouring.