Sewing tutorial: Boys Romper (6-12 months/Size 0)

1. Print and cut out the paper pattern pieces, joining symbols and taping pieces together.

2. Place along the fold and cut out two romper pieces and two neck facing pieces.


3. With right sides together, sew the two sides of the romper together down the middle front and middle back. Iron the seams open.








4. Prepare the neck facing. If using a light fabric, you may want to use a light iron on interfacing to make the fabric heavier. With right sides together, sew the top facing pieces together down the middle front and middle back. Overlock or do a zig zag stitch along the bottom edge.

5. Attach the neck facing. Pin onto the romper with right sides together, matching seams. Sew around the top edge to attach the facing to the romper. Trim seams and corners. Turn out the right way and iron flat.

6. Hem the legs. Fold over 0.5cm and iron flat. Fold again another 1 cm and iron flat again. Sew along the top fold to hem.

6. Prepare the inner legs for attaching the snap fasteners. Fold over 0.5cm and iron flat. Pin cotton herringbone tape along insides of the leg openings. Sew close to both edges to fasten the tape to the romper.

 
 7. Attach snap fasteners evenly along the leg openings. For a romper of this size attach up to 8 snap fasteners.

 7. Sew button holes on the back shoulder flaps where marked on the pattern and sew buttons on the front flaps where marked on the pattern.

Sewing tutorial: Pre-walker boots

1. Print and cut out pattern.
2. For each shoe cut sole, top and side in main fabric, lining fabric and interfacing.
3. Iron interfacing onto the wrong side of the main fabric.







4. With wrong sides together, baste the sole main and lining pieces together.

5. With right sides together sew around the curved edge of the side and flat edge of the top.


6. Turn the side out the right way and top stitch along the curved edge. Sew 1cm in from the edge.

7. Turn the top out the right way and top stitch along the straight edge.




8. Put the shoe together. With the main fabric together, line up the centre back of the sole and centre bottom of the sides. Sew from the centre back in one direction, then starting again at the centre back, sew the other direction.







9. Match the centre of the top flap with the front centre of the sole and attache, sewing from the centre out in one direction, then in the other.







10. Turn the shoe out the right way. Attach eyelets evenly to the inner edges of the sides. Thread with short length of ribbon or cord.

Sewing tutorial: Toddler pinafore dress

1. Print pattern . Match up the numbers and join with tape. Place along the folded edge of the fabric and cut out. You should have two dress pieces and two facing pieces from the fabric. If using a light fabric, you could also cut two facing pieces from a light iron-on interfacing and iron these to the wrong sides of the facing fabric before sewing.








2. With right sides of the dress pieces together, sew down the side seams of the dress, leaving a 1cm seam allowance. Press seams open.








3. With right sides of the facing pieces together sew down the sides with a 1cm seam allowance. Press seams open.


4. Use a zig zag stitch or serger to sew along the bottom edge of the facing, to prevent fraying.






5. Place the dress inside the facing, so that right sides are together. Sew right around the arm holes, shoulders and neck, joining these two pieces. Trim corners and turn out the right way. Press.









6. Fold over the hem 1cm and press. Fold over again 2cm and press again. Sew along the hem.

7. Sew buttonholes in place on the back shoulder flap and buttons in place on the front shoulder flap. Check positioning by trying the dress on before sewing.

Sewing tutorial: Easy baby pants

1.  Print pattern. Match numbers and join pages with tape. Cut out the pattern. Size 00 should fit a child aged 3-6 months and size 0 should fit a child aged 6-12 months.

2. Fold fabric in half and place the pattern along the fold. Cut out 2 pieces.

3. Open the two pieces up and place them with right sides together. Sew from the waist to where the leg begins, using a 1cm seam allowance.


4. Keeping right sides together, open the pants up so that each leg is folded together (as in picture on the left). Iron the seams flat. Sew along the inside of each leg, using a 1cm seam allowance.








5. Prepare the waist casing and the bottom hems. For the waist casing, turn the top over 0.5cm and iron flat. Turn over again 1.5cm and iron flat again. Starting near the centre back sew around, leaving an opening of about 4cm.







6. For the bottom hems, fold over 1cm, iron flat and then fold over again and iron again. Sew around near the top of the fold.

7. Using a narrow elastic (around 0.5cm), measure your baby's waist and cut elastic around 2cm longer than the measurement. Fasten a safety pin to one end and thread the elastic through the top of the pants. Overlap the two ends by about 2cm and sew together using a zig zag stitch. Sew the opening in the casing closed.

Felt snacks: watermelon, strawberries and cupcake

Watermelon

For each watermelon:

1. Print and cut out the paper pattern. Cut out two red pieces for the watermelon flesh and one green piece for the rind.
2. Sew the two red pieces together along the straight edge with a blanket stitch. I used three strands of a green embroidery thread.
3. Line up the edges of the rind with the curved edges of the watermelon flesh. Sew along one side with a blanket stitch and then two-thirds along the other edge.
4. Fill with polyester filling or felt scraps and close the seam.
5. Use three strands of a dark coloured embroidery thread to sew seeds randomly on the watermelon.

Strawberry

For each strawberry:

1. Print and cut out the paper pattern. Cut out one red piece and one green piece. Fold the red piece in half. Cut the tip off from one end, to make a flat tip as right. Sew together along the bottom and side with a blanket stitch.
2. Sew a running stitch around the top. Fill with polyester filler or felt scraps and pull the running stitch tight. Fasten to close the top.

3. Fasten the thread to the top of the strawberry. Place the green piece on the top. Sew in a cross to hold the green part to the top of the strawberry.
4. Using three strands of a light brown embroidery thread, sew a small, well-spaced running stitch on the strawberry to represent seeds.

Cupcake

For each cupcake:

1. Print and cut out the paper pattern and felt pieces. Using a blanket stitch sew the cake top to the cake side.

2. Sew the edges of the cake sides together.

3. Sew a running stitch along the bottom edge of the cake side. Fill with polyester filler and pull the stitching tight to match the size of the cake base felt piece.

4. Sew the base to the cake side using a blanket stitch. Pull out the running stitch.












5. Sew sprinkles or other decorations onto the top of the cupcake.

Felt breakfast: egg, sausage, croissant tutorial

Sausages

For each sausage:

1. Cut a rectangle 7cm x 9cm from dark brown felt.
2. Fold the rectangle in half lengthways.
3. With needle and matching thread (I used three strands of embroidery thread), use a blanket stitch to join the edges.

4. Fill with polyester filling or felt scraps.

5. Use a long running stitch around each end of the sausage. Pull tight and fasten to close the ends.

Eggs

For each egg:

1. Print and cut out the paper pattern pieces. Cut out two egg whites from white felt and one egg yolk from yellow or orange felt.
2. Place the yellow egg yolk on top of one of the white pieces and sew two-thirds of the way around the yolk. Fill with polyester fill or felt scraps and continue to close the circle.
3. Place the second egg white underneath and sew around 1-2mm from the edge.

Croissants

For each:

1. Print and cut out the paper pattern pieces. Cut two crescents from light brown felt and a wrapping each from light and darker brown felt. The larger piece of wrapping should be from the darker felt.
2. Use blanket stitch to join the light brown crescent pieces, leaving a small gap. Fill the crescent firmly with polyester filling and close the gap with blanket stitch.

3. Sew the wrapping pieces together using a running stitch.

4. Place the widest part of the wrapping along the outer edge of the croissant and secure together using blanket stitch. Secure along the sides, wrapping the main croissant piece as you go. Finish off by sewing along the narrow edge of the wrapping.