sew and the city

Pink Chocolate Dress

2012-02-15T15:29:00.008Z

{ three dresses in five days}

What have I done, another dress…I don’t really have an excuse…well maybe because Lovely Little Big Daughter can’t really wear the summer dress so I decided to make one for her to wear now.

I bought this flower corduroy fabric at the Dutch Fabric Market last autumn and it was supposed to be a bag for my Lovely Best Friend in the UK (sorry Lovely BF!). I didn’t mean to combine it with gingham, but one I was looking for a fabric to do the inside part and two the gingham matched the dress perfectly.

I wasn’t sure about the style of the dress. I just started and although I did a few new for me things, I tried not to venture out of my comfort zone too much. Can you spot a trend…I love wide borders on skirts and wide sashes with big bows hence the big border and the bow.

Little Big Daughter has a play date this afternoon so she hasn’t seen the dress yet and I really hope she’ll like it.

Oh, and about the third dress I mentioned at the beginning of this post – I promise to show it to you in the next few days. It is a part of a cat outfit for Carnival next week...more of this in the next post.

It was a rather gloomy day today so I couldn’t really take any good photos, sorry. The dress is much more cheerful that it looks on the photos.

I made the body of the dress using this tutorial from Cool People Sew. I love this blog, what a pity it is no longer active.

Hope you are having a nice week!

Love

Irina xx

Linking this post to:
We Did It Wednesday at Sew Much Ado
Show and Share at Southern Lovely
Lil Luna
Made By Me at JAQS Studio
Whatever Goes Wednesday at Someday Crafts

Happy Valentine's Day

2012-02-14T12:18:00.006Z

{ quick and easy candle holder}

I didn’t manage to resist to all the Valentine’s creativity out there so today I had 20min to spare and I wanted to make something quick. I had this jar on my kitchen shelf with a candle inside and I decided to transform it into something prettier...so here it is - a Red and Pink Valentine Candle Holder.

Here is what you'll need

Step-by-step:

1. Cut a piece of the lacy part of the doily and leave it on the side…it is up to you how much of your jar you’d like covered.

2. The technique I used is called decoupage and it is very simple. Begin by applying one layer of glue around the body of your glass jar. Be as quick as you can as the glue dries fairly fast. Do not worry if it looks white or you feel you might have applied too much – the glue will become transparent once it is dry.

3. Gently apply the doily over the glued jar and start applying a second layer of glue over the doily, making sure you smooth down bubbles and dry bits.

4. Once this was done, I used a towel dipped in warm mater and carefully wiped/ rubbed off any glue that was visible outside the doily covered part.

5. At this point I lit the candle and placed it inside the jar – that really helped with the drying process. The glue dried within 5 min. Warning – the jar became hot. Make sure you handle the jar at the very bottom part.

6. In the mean switch on your glue gun and prepare the ribbons.

Start by wrapping up the ribbons, one by one around the neck of the jar, making sure they overlap nicely. Secure in place with a drop of hot glue. Trim the length of the ribbon. Lastly add a drop of hot glue and attach the heart.

20 min later there is a pretty little candle in my kitchen and my creativity urge has been completely satisfied.

Hope you have a Valentine’s Day full of LOVE!

Love,

Irina

Linkin this post to
Tip me Tuesday at Tip Junkie
Handmade Tuesdays at Ladybug Blessings
Take-A-Look Tuesday at Sugar Bee Crafts
Topsy Turvy Tuesdays at I'm Topsy Turvy

Summer dress in February

2012-02-12T09:59:00.008Z

{ longing for summer}

The weather here in Frankfurt has been absolutely freezing -10C during the day. Don’t get me wrong I like winter but not this type of city dry cold winter with no snow. So I was looking for an excuse, to put some summer thoughts in my mind and to make something summery.

I wanted to make a dress out of an old t-shirt for a while now; I just didn’t have the right fabrics, or a t-shirt which has been worn but still looks good. I stumbled upon a couple of lovely blogs ( links at the end of this post) full of gorgeous girls dresses which provided the inspiration…so here is my Saturday morning creation. Lovely Little Big Daughter is in love with her new dress…and so am I.

I didn’t really use an old t-shirt. I had none witch matched so I got a vest from H&M on the sale for 1 euro.

I love the big bow...it makes the dress ever so girlie...

Summery fabric...

Ruffles…so nice and not so hard to make...

Check out : How to make a t-shirt dress tutorial by Cool People Sew and Dress with ruffeled neckline tutorial by Two Giggle Boxes.

Stay warm and have a lovely Sunday!

Love,

Irina xx

P.S. Linking this post to:

Dresses for Girls Party at Threading My Way
Toys In the Dryer
Nifty Trifty Sunday
Polly Want A Crafter
Made by you Monday at Skip To My Lou
Tip me Tuesday at Tip Junkie
Handmade Tuesdays at Ladybug Blessings
Take-A-Look Tuesday at Sugar Bee Crafts
Topsy Turvy Tuesdays at I'm Topsy Turvy

Unicorn Birthday Party

2012-02-05T10:45:00.000Z

{ Pink, more pink and a dash of purple}

Our little big girl had her 4^th Birthday Party yesterday, and boy, was it fun! I loved making the preparations over the past few weeks and it was very satisfying to see my girl so pleased and happy together with her friends.

I must confess, the Unicorn theme was more of colour set up – it was great justification to go all pink, purple and white. I’ve heard that pink obsession only lasts for a few years so I took full advantage of the pink / purple wishes… Here a few photos…

The Birthday cake took centre point and was decorated with white and pink pearls and a Birthday bunting.

A huge plate with healthy snacks was strategically placed to catch attention and outweigh all the sugary treats – well, it didn’t fool anyone…all the girls wanted was sugary treats.

Popcorn in cones – it was a real hit and really easy to make. The cones where made of pretty wrapping paper and double sided tape ( my send favourite after the glue gun :-)

Marshmallows dipped in chocolate and decorated with a pink smarties (no, I did not eat the rest of the colours and saved just the pink one’s, I was lucky to find some special edition Breast Cancer Research packets whilst in London last week.

I found the Marshmallows idea on Pinterest and here is a tutorial.

Jelly flowers – I saw them and loved them, but completely forgot to use the oil spray and although they turned out nice and tasty it was a but of a night mare to take them out of the little silicone moulds. Here is the tutorial I used – very clever.

White chocolate dipped grissini sticks sprinkled with Hundreds and Thousands, real hit with the girls and soooo easy to make.

Chocolate or pink icing decorated pretzels. Absolutely yummy and fun and easy to make. Tip – use bigger pretzels, it will be so much easier and quicker. Here is the tutorial I used.

We also had a crown decorating activity, with lots of stickers and pink and purple feathers. All the girls enjoyed making and wearing their crowns and happily took them home at the end.

Another big hit was the face painting. I totally forgot to take photos but I used pink and white face paint and made some pretty (simple) painting on their cheeks and foreheads. I gave out numbers, so there was no arguing and each girl patiently waited for her turn.

Whilst waiting the girls did some Unicorn colouring pages. I had prepared four different types and each girl took home the one she did together with one each of the other three to colour at home

And this is what each little girl took home as a favour – a glittery bag, a unicorn rubber band, a magic wand, a balloon,a ring, a hand made rose hair clip and a little bag of sweets. You’ve already seen the tutorial for the magic wands and I used this tutorial to make the sweets bags.

Lovely Husband and I had so much fun playing and dancing with the girls and Lovely Little Big Daughter said this morning “ Mummy, the party was wonderful”…aaahhh.

I am going to have some rest today and dream up my next project.

Have a lovely Sunday!

Love,

Irina xx

Denim Purse

2012-02-02T11:14:00.000Z

{ don't you just love winning giveways}

Wow, look what i got in the post yesterday. An absolutely gorgeous little denim purse, with white lace made by the very creative lady behind Mami Made It...and yes I won it in a recent give away. I am absolutely delighted with my gift and have to find an immediate use for it as Lovely Little Big Daughter already asked " Is that for me, mummy", and I had to say " No sweetie, that is for mummy". You can imagine the disappointed face. Please go over to Mami Made It blog for some wonderful ideas, and lots of creative inspirations. It is one of my favourite blogs!

Also I want to say a huge Thank you to some lovely ladies who have all awarded me the Liebester Blog award in the past three months. Check out their blogs for more fabulous ideas, great tutorials and inspiration.

Simone from Handmade by Simone - all the way from Brazil

The lovely lady from The Domesticated Mama

Amy from A Home, Made - there is a lovely girls Valantines Day t-shirt tutorial

So the Unicorn party is only two days away and funnily enough I am not stressed, in fact I am looking forward to it as I hope my Little Big girl and her friends are going to have so much fun. I will put photos here as soon as possible, so stay put!

Keep warm and have a lovely weekend ( I know it’s only Thursday :-)

Love

Irina xx

Happy Birthday to a little big girl

2012-01-31T10:32:00.001Z

{ 4 today}

Our little big girl is 4 years old today! Wow, it was only yesterday that she came into our lives, a tiny little person, with lots of black hair who made the funniest movements and smiled in her dreams.

We were totally besotted with her; my husband refusing to give her to the nurses for the nights and me completely confused, both scared and delighted with this little person who smelled so lovely.

There have been many surreal moments that I had to pinch myself to actually believe that this little girl, who has her own character, her own thoughts and ideas is our daughter – nobody could have ever prepared me for the love I’d feel for this little person.

And today this little girl is not so little – she proudly announced this morning that she is 4 and now she is a big girl!

She amazes us ever day, draws the most beautiful pictures for us and can write hers and our names, insists that mummy and daddy take turns to read a story each night and gives a big count down before we switch the light off. She loves pretending to be a cat and packs her dolls and clothes and goes on pretend trips with her imaginary friends. She is just so special!

To our little big girl we wish a Fabulous Birthday!

Love,

Irina aka mummy and Lovely Husband aka daddy xx

Birthday party - part 4

2012-01-23T20:20:00.001Z

{ Silhouette Invitations}

I know I should have started with the invitations a week or so ago, but I simply had no idea what to do. I Googled for ideas but nothing caught my eye. So I was getting desperate and slightly worried (I am going to London tomorrow for the rest of the week, so the invitations had to be done today and given to the little people at close of Kindergarten today), and I still had no idea.

So this morning I logged into a lovely blog called Nifty Trifty Things in order to link to a party, and there it was, my inspiration, in the form of the loveliest silhouette pictures and I knew straight away what I’ll do.

So one hour later and they were ready - silhouette Unicorn invitations for Lovely Little Daughter’s birthday party, made out of purple glitter paper...And which four year old doesn’t love glitter?

My little girl loved them and proudly gave them to her friends.

Hope you are having a lovely start to the week.

Love,

Irina

Birthday Party - part 3

2012-01-21T21:17:00.000Z

{Simple Birthday Crowns}

I really wasn’t meant to make crowns. Wait, that’s not entirely true – I thought about making felt crowns but than I made the magic wands so I had to do something quicker and easier.

The crown making happened by mistake. What I thought were 6 pink sheets of A4 paper turned out to be 6 pink sheets of paper 50x70cm – in other words huge. Well, I ordered from a German catalogue so that tells you how good my German is.

And since I am struggling a bit with the theme of the Unicorns I thought I would make crowns with a Unicorn, very simple and trust me – you can’t find it in the shops.

Here is a little tutorial for the crowns. It can easily be tailored to fit any Birthday party theme and you can also involve your little ones.

Here is what you need.

Unicorn heads – free printouts from the Internet. Pre-cut.

Stick glue

Glue with a pointy nozzle

Sheets of thick paper (50x70cm) in matching colour – each sheet makes 4 crowns

Glitter – as required. I used purple for the mane and gold (not pictured) for the horn.

A hand made stencil for the crown – you only need a half

Using the stencil, trace out your crowns and measure the middle (sorry for the bad photo).

Glue a Unicorn head on the front of each crown. Use the stick glue.

Here you have three crowns which now need to be cut out. The fourth crown has to be traced “head down”. Make sure you have enough space to do this.

I cut the crowns following the outline, but when I reached the Unicorn head I left some margin. The reason for this is that is much easier to cut around the Unicorn head when the crown is cut from the huge sheet of paper.

Cut around the head and leave about 1mm margin of the pink paper.

Use the glue with the pointy nozzle to “draw” some glue lines mimicking the mane curves.

Sprinkle some purple glitter.

Tap the glitter out on a piece of paper and you are left with this pretty glittery mane – a delight to any four year old (soon to be).

Repeat with each crown and leave to dry.

Once the purple glitter is dry, carefully repeat the same step by using gold glitter for the horn.

Here it is a Unicorn Crown.

Hope you are having a lovely weekend!

Love,

Irina xx

Birthday Party - part 2

2012-01-17T22:31:00.006Z

{ Fairy Wands Tutorial - Birthday Party Favours}

I have been wondering what to do for party favours and since I’ve always wanted to have a go at fairy wands I decided to try.

It was easier than I thought although I got out of my comfort zone, sewing , and ventured into a less known to me area called crafting. Oh it was so much fun…and I simply have no idea how I managed to live without a hot glue gun, and without crafting.

So after the wand design got the stamp of approval from my soon to be 4 little girl, I decided to put together a small tutorial.

So here is what you need:

Felt sheets

Ribbon

Wooden sticks – my sticks came in 1m lengths and Lovely husband cut them into 3 smaller pieces of about 32cm each

Wooden stick for the corker ribbons – about 50 cm in length – big enough to fit in the oven

Plastic glitter hearts or stars

Hot glue gun

Start by covering your sticks with ribbon. I used two types of ribbon to create a fancier look, but you can use only one colour if you prefer.

Cut the end of your ribbon diagonally and attach the end of the ribbon to the end of the stick (so sorry for the bad quality photo), that way the ribbon allows for a smooth twisting.

Start twisting the ribbon around the stick taking care to leave a little gap for your second ribbon.

If you are using a second ribbon than repeat the step.

Finish off the bottom end of the wands by applying a blob of hot glue. Leave the wands to dry.

Now prepare the ribbons. If you are using korker ribbon, you’ll need extra length of ribbon. I used this tutorial. It is always so much fun.

I used three types / colours of ribbon cut in slightly different lengths. The corker ribbon and the purple organza ribbon are almost identical and the pink grosgrain ribbon is shorter.

Attach the ribbon to the top side of the wand using your glue gun.

Prepare the stars. I used a small star template and cut out two stars per wand.

Using a decorative stitch sew two of the stars together leaving a small gap on one side to be able to insert handle.

Insert the handle into the star and use your hot glue gun to glue in place.

Glue a small ribbon to cover the place which has no decorative stitch. Glue the heart or star in the middle and you are ready!

Simple birthday crowns coming tomorrow.

Love,

Irina

I am linking this post to

Birthday Party – Part 1

2012-01-11T20:40:00.000Z

{Gather your items}

Look what the postman brought for me today…a box full of goodies! Lovely! All ( well, almost all) the things I need to start preparing Lovely Little Daughter’s Unicorn Birthday Tea Party – a mere three weeks away.

I always like American birthday parties - OK, I think that sometimes they are a bit over the top but never the less all the colour coordination, and the themes, and the yummy ( not always healthy) food…it is just nice.

So I have thrown myself a challenge – to make a yummy looking buffet style table in white, pink and purple, to create some pretty room decoration, to make some little favours for the girls and…well that’s about it. Did I mention the cake and the food? And did I mention it is all on a budget? I already feel a bit overwhelmed and think I should have started before Christmas, but it is supposed to be fun, so I am not stressing about it.

Can you see my new Hot Glue Gun – I can’t believe I haven’t acquired one of those clever tools ages ago…I mean people have been using it for centuries, right…I can’t wait to give it a try.

Love,

Irina xx

Home Sweet Home

2012-01-10T21:07:00.001Z

{ Fabric Houses}

I wish I’d thought about that...fabric houses! How cute, very easy and yes, so addictive. I saw some fabric houses a couple of months ago and when Lovely Mum requested a key holder for her house keys for Christmas I knew what to make for her. Lovely Mum does not like small key holders, she has to look forever in her bag - so this one was just perfect.

I used a very easy tutorial from Retro Mama, although I made a few changes and actually indulged myself in some freestyle hand embroidery. The house is only 8cm high.

For more cute fabric house inspiration check Mami Made It blog.

Hope you are having a creative start to the New Year.

Love,
Irina xx

Merry Christmas

2011-12-21T21:24:00.000Z

{and a prosperous New Year}

Frankfurt woke up covered in snow yesterday morning but sadly today there is not sign of any snow...well there are still a few days left so I still hope for a white Christmas.

I just wanted to share with you some of the Christmas things I made ( mostly last year).

This year we had two Christmas wreaths - the first one, for the front door, I made this year by wrapping up a shop bought straw wreath with pieces of gingham fabric and adding (sadly also store bought) felt decoration.

The second one I made a couple of years ago and it is simply a thick plait consisting of three fabric tubes filled with toy stuffing. The tubes are attached at the top, hence the big ribbon to cover that. Last year I added florist's wire to make sure the wreath kept its nice and round shape.

I love our Christmas bunting. It was one of the first things I made four years ago when I first started to sew. On the gingham triangles I added and angel, a heart and a Christmas tree, using blanket stitch and it gives the bunting this slightly "country living" look.

It was my intention to provide a tutorial for this patchwork fabric covered bauble ( sorry, maybe next year, or maybe a similar looking Easter egg :-).

Salt dough heart shaped cookies, adorned with fraying pieces of gingham fabric- I made those two years ago and they still look lovely. I will make new cookies next year, as I love how nice they look on the three.

And off course our Christmas stockings - also made last year.

This one is mine - lots of presents...

This one is for Lovely Little Daughter - we were living in London and the time so there are town houses, a snow covered path and street lights...

...there is even light in the street lights...

This one is for Lovely Husband and it was my first ever go at free hand machine embroidery. Beginners luck as they say...i never managed again.

And here is the so much anticipated Advent calendar...i should have simply gone for sweets and chocolate but with health in mind I decided to go for little gifts - honestly now I am not sure it it was such a great idea...my girl loves it...i feel she is getting spoiled. However it looked really pretty.

And now my dearest readers, I would like to wish to you and your loved ones a very merry Christmas and a fantastic and creative New Year!

Love,
Irina xx

Back for good

2011-11-22T17:23:00.000Z

{ I missed sewing)

My dearest readers,

I hope you’ll forgive my (almost) unannounced absence from Blogland… things have happened and I have been left without energy, with no creative vibes to keep me going…All is good, and in the next few weeks I will share more with you, and since my creative energy is starting slowly to flow back I even made a few things and attended a little fair last week.

I made some Christmas cards for the fair, and what a better way to return after all those weeks than by showing you a little tutorial of how to make those easy cards for your loved ones!

Machine Sewn Christmas cards

This is what you'll need for each card. Leftovers from green and red fabrics are really useful.

I find it easier to glue the red squares to the card with tiny drops of glue. I also glued the purple ornament with a single drop in the middle.

Put the squares in pleace and let them dry.

Start making your tree by first sewing the trunk with a single short line.

The back should look like this. Pull the front thread to the back and tie small knots.

Stitch the rest of yout tree pieces and make sure each piece overlaps the previous so you can't see the stitch.

Prepare the ornament by stitching the ribon and the zig zag and than trimming them to the shape of the ornament.

It should look like this...or similar.

Attach the ornament to the card with a single tiny drop of glue and let it dry. When dry simply stitch the ornament to the card as shown below. Sewing surves on paper is not as easy as fabric, so you probably have to reposition the needle a few times to create a smooth curve.

The gift is easy...just straight lines on the sides and two straight lines inside. I forgot to take a photo of making the bow but it is simply sewing and stopping to reposition and make sure you are comming up with a curve. Don't worry if both sides of the bow are not simetrical.

You could finish at this point or if you have stamps just wirte a little message.

Here you have them...hand made cards for your family and friends!

Oh, it is so good to be back!

Happy creating!

Love,

Irina

Creative blogs

2011-10-13T09:41:00.003+01:00

{I hope you'll enjoy them as much as I do}

Hi, today I am a guest blogger at Roca and Co. I am a frequent visitor at Carmen’s blog as she has shared there some fabulous ideas. Please do go and have a look at Roca and Co – you have already seen my Autumn Dress tutorial, but have a little browse and I am sure you’ll find something to inspire you - I am particularly fond of her appliqué ideas.

Carmen also has a weekly linky party each Thursday, which is gaining more entries by the week and it is also a source of many nice ideas.

And just to tickle your curiosity here a few of my favourites from Roca and Co.

Another lovely blog I would like to tell you about is Coconut Collier – it is written in Spanish but you don’t need to speak Spanish to feast your eyes on the lovely little creations that Núria makes ( and you can always use Google Translate :-).

I totally heart her miniature felt broaches and key rings. Also Núria was very sweet to gave me an award a couple of weeks ago – thank you Núria, you are lovely!!!

Please forgive me for not posting so much lately. I have a little project in the making and I can tell you more about it soon.

Love
Irina xx

Recycled Jumper Felted Dress

2011-10-11T10:14:00.002+01:00

{loving autumn leaves}

We have been going to the park regularly to collect conkers and leaves– conkers are very important in the life of a three and a half year old, you know. The more the better, they are used to cook with, as form of payment and even as treasures hidden in secret places, especially pockets.

The leaves we collected were so lovely that I decided to make leaf appliqué. An old felted jumper from my husband provided the fabric, so I decide to make a felted dress. This is the second piece of clothing that I have made from an old jumper. I love the fact that something which initially was heading for the bin can be reused; and also all those felted jumpers are made of 100% wool, so are sure to keep my girl nice and warm on cold days.

The dress was really fun to make and I can’t believe how easy it is to sew with felt. I am yet to clean my sewing machine – apparently felt fluffs a lot, so a regular clean is a must.

1-3 You’ll need – an old jumper, or other wool felt fabric, pattern, and scraps of autumn coloured fabric (I chose browns) and a nice selection of leaves to use for your appliqué.

4. Make your pattern – fold and existing dress that fits in half and trace around it (adding seam allowance) to create a simple A line dress pattern.

5. Place the pattern on your jumper / fabric and trace with magic marker or water soluble pen. Cut the dress shape.
6. Pin and machine stitch the dress on the sides (I later wondered if it was better to stitch the shoulder bit – like in photo 9 and add the bias tape around the arm hole first and than sew the sides together – YES it is better)

7 - 8 Trace a selection of leaves onto paper and cut. Use Vlisofix or freezer paper to trace and iron the leaves onto your chosen fabric (photos 18 -19)

10-12 Add he bias tape – I first stitched one side of the bias tape to the back on the garment, and than fold it and stitched on the front – photo 11 – it gives it a very nice neat finish

The button closure at the back was absolutely easy to make. I followed this tutorial – its fool proof.

Here it is - a very easy, recycled jumper dress!

Happy sewing!

Irina xx

Late summer and fat free cupcakes

2011-10-04T19:51:00.000+01:00

{ or a lot of appliqué}

As a general rule I try to keep my bloging as a Monday to Friday activity, so at the weekend I tend to keep a low profile. And this weekend was the last long weekend before Christmas and we were really lucky to have a very warm and sunny start to October.

Here are a few photos taken in the park yesterday.

Can you spot the little dragonfly patiently waiting for me to take a photo?

Lovely Husband and I were lucky to sit in the park, guilt free, for 3 whole hours on Sunday afternoon while Lovely Little Daughter was enjoying herself at her best friend’s birthday party. I didn’t know that even three year olds have best friends…

As a gift for the lovely birthday girl, I made a name cushion. Names cushions are hugely popular here in Germany and people really love them. I was told that the birthday girl liked colourful pink so here is what I came up with.

I enjoyed making the cupcakes so much that when I finished the cushion I had to make a cupcake appliquéd t-shirt for Lovely Little Daughter.

And as it turned, one t-shirt was not enough so I made another one….and here is the verdict…I absolutely love appliqué embellishments.

Off to read blogs now...

Wishing you a creative week!

Love,

Irina xx

House shoes

2011-09-29T20:02:00.001+01:00

{and enjoying the weather}

Autumn is really here, but it actually feels more like summer…warm sunny days…the kind of days we should have had in the summer but didn’t really have. I am not complaining but actually enjoying the Indian Summer despite the fact that Lovely Little Daughter is sick and off course I will be the next to get that cold.

Well before the weather warmed up I decided to make some house shoes. A certain little person in our house loves to walk barefoot but with the cold days just round the corner I though I’d make something she might actually like wearing in the house.

I made a pair of slippers from and old issue of Ottobre magazine. And although I even reduced the size the slippers turned out huge.

Well, I am sure they’ll fit next year but what about this year…so decided to make a pair of sock slippers, and making my own pattern by drawing around her feet.

I am not completely satisfied with the outcome, so I guess a third pair would be in order.

I saw this lovely idea for a hand print autumn tree on Pinterest and knew we should try it. So Lovely Little Daughter made it especially for daddy. She used wine corks dipped in colour to make the leaves.

Hope you are enjoying some warm weather too!

Love

Irina xx

Twenty ways with piping

2011-09-23T21:20:00.006+01:00

{ a collection of piping ideas}

There are two reasons as to why I decided to write this post – first, there is a common belief that piping is not easy to use and second, people seem to relate piping mostly with cushions and nothing really exciting. So I am on a quest to show you that piping is not only easy, but versatile and beautiful and there is no limit to the ways it can be used. I for sure will be using more piping in my projects.

So to tickle your imagination and in the hope that you might find some inspiration and courage to use piping, I have collected a few lovely projects all made with piping.

I won’t bother you with words; photos work better for me so here are no less than 20 fabulous ideas including piping, all made by fellow bloggers.

For the home

1. Piped cushion – this is a little set I recently made for a birthday present for a little boy and it will go all the way to San Francisco. I love the way the contrasting piping complements the light gingham.

2. Floor cushions – so fun to have around the house and I will definitely be making some of those. I love both styles - there is a round one I found on a great blog called Living with Punks

And also a square with a nice tutorial from Sew Mama Sew.

3. Here is also a great idea about a piped bench seat by The SCI Project…the white piping looks so lovely with the blue fabric.

4. Off course there is no limit when it comes to cushions so here is a star shaped cushion by Sew A Straight Line - lovely...

And the letter shaped cushion you have probably see in one of my prevous posts.

5. You didn’t think it was all cushions did you – how about a kitchen utensil cover. Check out this lovely toaster cover by T Party. I know I have a mixer in my kitchen that needs covering.

Something nice for us

6. Include piping in your project and make a lovely weekend bag like the one below from Done Well

7. Threat yourself to a gorgeous clutch – also with piping. Check this beauty from Titus 2 Homemaker.

8. Invite your friends around for tea – and show off with a beautiful tea cosy like this one from My Creative Eye. It's so sweet!

9. If you have never attempted clothes – what better excuse to make some new trousers and to add contrasting piping like these from Scruffy Badger Time

10. And if you like a very girly and not too complicated project to try piping than have a look at this lovely sleep mask by Roubidou…adorable!

11. Look at this - a piped cover for the sewing machine…I would love one…this one comes from Pammie and The P's

For the little person in your life

13. For the tiniest person in your household – why don’t you give the old car seat a new look – I am completely amazed by this tutorial by Make It Love It – fantastic!

13. The baby boy cot bumper also uses piping and I think it is amazing from Sew Dang Cute.

14. Check out the cutest Ladybird baby bottles ever – with piping…sooo sweet! From Is Five

15. If you fancy trying out piping but you need a simple project than have a look at this lovely bib with piping – so clever! By the lovely Soule Mama

16. For girls the options are endless – piping is a lovely way to embellish a dress – check out the gorgeous Pipe Dreams dress from Me Sew Crazy – now isn’t that adorable!

17. And what about this lovely piped skirt from Leafy Threetop Spot – OK, I realise there are more piped ideas for girls…sorry mums of boys!

18. Oh, here is something for the boys…an absolutely lovely idea how to make piped pockets by I Kat Bag…I think it is adorable – red gingham combined with denim!

19. I loved this brave idea by Me Sew Crazy to use piping to make a butterfly!

20. An absolutely fantastic Back to School idea from I Kat Bag - pencil cases at Sew Mama Sew – I love the colours!

And now I would like to show you two very interesting ideas – have you heard of scalloped piping? No! Neither did I until two days ago when I found this tutorial by Sew Blessed – the piping is absolutely gorgeous!

So you are familiar with piping now, but have you heard about cording…check out this tutorial about how to make this fabulous bowl made by Ooops I Craft My Pants…you can choose any colours for any ocassion – I can’t wait to give it a try!

I hope you liked this collection of piping projects and soon you’ll be trying it for yourself!

If you make something using piping that please leave a comment with your blog link – I would love to have a look!

Have a lovely weekend!

Love

Irina xx

Playmais miniature pumpkins

2011-09-19T11:26:00.006+01:00

{ a rainy day activity}

We recently bought some playmais in preparation for less warm days and more days spent indoors with a slightly bored three and a half year old.

If you have playmais at home you can help your little one make some mini pumpkins for decoration or garlands for Halloween.

To make one pumpkin you’ll need three orange, three peach and one brown playmais pieces.

Squash each of the orange and peach coloured pieces on once side only. Wet on of the sides and stick together to make the pumpkin. Roll the brown piece between your fingers until it becomes half size in length and width. Wet and stick on top of the pumpkin.

Love,

Irina xx

Being frugal

2011-09-19T08:35:00.001+01:00

{and the felted jumper}

I bought this jumper a couple of years ago for Lovely Husband. It is 100% merino wool and I quite liked the colour. Only after a few months in shrunk in the washing machine and became mine. Well it shrunk again and than it found its self in the pile of clothes destined to the local charity shop.

I have been wanting to make something using felt for ages and so I decided to recycle the jumper and make something for Lovely Little Daughter.

I found the inspiration between the pages of Marie Claire Idees – I love those little cardigans…

I wasn’t sure about the quality of the felt and how it is going to turn out, so first I made a jumper for my girl's little teddy – which in her case is a giant mouse.

Well, you know I am not good at making clothes but the result was actually not too bad.

I made my own bias tape and if you haven’t got a bias tape making tool than I suggest you to get one – it is easy to use, the tape is done in no time and I love the fact that I can use any fabric…in this case some Liberty prints would have been great but sadly I had none left.

Both Lovely Daughter and Lovely Giant Mouse were very pleased.

Wishing you all a lovely week!

Love

Irina xx

P.S. Off to clean my sewing machine now as felt leaves so much fluff, it’s unbelievable.

A post in between

2011-09-16T21:02:00.004+01:00

{ Goodbye summer, hello the 'Bers}

Well it is official …the summer is over…until next year! We went to the park last weekend to collect conkers and acorns and the ground was covered with yellow leaves…

We had a nice summer! Not as many sunny days as we would have hoped for…but many nice days spent in the park, meeting friends, enjoying the little girl who is growing up by the minute, turning into this amazing little person, and trying to take pleasure in life and see the world through the eyes of a three and a half year old…

So here it is…in as fewer words as possible…our German summer…

At first we were all anxious and waiting for it…

Than it was suddenly here…but not as we expected it…Lovely Little Daughter didn’t seem to mind…only her mummy did...

We had lovely time at the Baltic Sea ( Ostsee) with the parents in law and we had the most delicious home made smoked fish…

We enjoyed nature…

Than the summer was suddenly back in all its sunny glory…

Back in Frankfurt we attended our first craft fair…the whole family was there…

And than there was more summer…

Lovely Mum visited from England ...and we also did the tourist bit and went to Heidelberg to meet some lovely friends from London...we also had a surprise visit from Lovely Best Friend and her husband…

We had a fabulous summer…

Hope that you all had a great summer...

Welcome autumn...

Love

Irina xx

Home Made Craft Labels

2011-09-09T17:14:00.000+01:00

{ or labels on a budget, or in the last minute}

I would like to share with you a great idea for DIY labels that I found many months ago. It is so creative and clever that I wish it was mine, but I actually saw it here, at the lovely blog Patchwork and Pottery.

You’ll need the following:

T-shirt transfer kit

Twill tape

Printer

Sharp cutter and board (this one is optional)

Scissors

Iron

I used the Avery T-shirt transfer pack, and I bought the one for white t-shirts, as my labels are white. I know that they have a kit for dark t-shirts. I am sure you can buy a cheaper version. I bough mine on Amazon and also Avery’s website has the necessary free software to reverse your document.

Yes, you will need to reverse your image, so when you iron it, it will show from the right side!

Here are the steps you’ll need to follow:

Prepare your document in Word. On one page I got 23 rows with 3 labels per row, but yours may vary.

Download the free software from Avery. Reverse your image and print out a couple of test pages. Once you are happy with the colour or the spacing than print it on the transfer paper from your T-shirt transfer kit.

Now use a sharp cutter, board and a ruler to cut strips of your labels. If you do not have those, than you can use paper scissors.

Once you have cut out your strips, you’ll need to iron them on the twill tape. At this point you will have to follow the description of your T-shirt transfer kit – but basically use hot iron, no steam and leave the labels to cool off completely before peeling off. A tip from me - try to press your labels, it works better than ironing.

When completely cool, peel off the paper and cut your desired labels. Ready – your very own, hand made labels in less than an hour!

What I love about this way of making labels is the variety - you can choose any colour of twill tape, use colourful writing, personalize your labels or even have little images like flower or butterfly. Or you can make a continuous label tape.

And while I was waiting for the labels to cool down, I made this absolutely delicious Italian herbs and parmesan bread. OK it took more than 5 min, but the bread is very quick and easy to make. I found the recipe here. I also cheated and used a packet of brown bread mix and the flavour is still amazing.

Have a lovely weekend!

Love

Irina xx

Letter Cushion

2011-09-07T16:01:00.001+01:00

{ P for Paula}

Just wanted to share a letter shaped cushion I made for a little girl called Paula. I haven’t made P before so I am quite happy as to how it turned out. I hope Paula will like it too! Her mummy gave me the fabrics but I am not sure the photos do justice to the lovely denim, combined with white stars on the side and the contrast with the pink piping – oh, I love using piping…it gives an object this slightly more sophisticated look…

Hope you are all having a creative week!

Love

Irina xx

So exciting

2011-09-07T11:34:00.003+01:00

{ a blog award}

Oh how exciting, the lovely Angela from Bingecrafter has decided to give me an award…thank you so much Angela, you are so sweet!

I am not entirely sure what to do, but I guess I can use the occasion and answer a few questions to help you get to know me a bit better:

1. Favorite color: anywhere between brown and tobacco green (although lately I have gone out of my comfort zone and ventured into reds and yellows)
2. Favorite song: Oh, so many – my husband and I spend endless evenings in front of YouTube, taking turns to select favourite songs and to ask “Remember this one…?”
3. Favorite dessert: Pavlova anytime
4. What upsets you at the moment: rudeness and ignorance
5. Favorite pet: that would be my mum’s cat Richie
6. Black or white: black
7. Biggest fear: that something bad might happen
8. Best feature: I am quite straight forward ( not sure if that is not worst feature actually)
9. Everyday attitude: positive
10. What is perfection? Something that gives me a lot of hassle…I wish I was less of a perfectionist
11. Guilty pleasure? Champagne
12. When I'm upset... I call my mum or my husband or my best friend – and usually feel much better afterwards

And here are my nominations:

Rachel at Four Wise Monkeys
Astird at Red Red Completely Red
Janine at Heidi in Lederhosen
Suzitee at Stitch Scrap Sew
Gabi at Good luck - its me

Love,
Irina xx

Classic Cheesecake

2011-09-05T08:50:00.001+01:00

{ an attempt at German baking}

Before I moved to Germany, I never came across a baked cheesecake. I love blueberry cheesecake, strawberry cheesecake, even tried making a chocolate and raspberry cheesecake ( very nice!), but they are all no-bake-leave-in-the-fridge varieties.

So I really wanted to make a baked cheesecake and after finding what seem to be (and indeed is) a very easy recipe, I gave it a go. Well, I used quark rather than creme cheese – note to self: stick to cream cheese; and I think I could have separated the eggs to give it a more fluffy texture. One thing is for sure, I will make it again, and hopefully one day it will reach the ultimate stage of cheesecakeness (that is not really a word, is it), and also that golden brown colour usually featured in the nice cook books. Some how mine turned a bit more on the brown rather than on the golden side.

Flipping through the pages of the latest issue of Marie Claire Idees definitely added an extra flavour to the cheesecake.

More on food - Lovely Little Daughter usually eats well, but even she has her phases, and sometimes I am not ready with dinner until 6pm, by which time I have a tired toddler and I need something quick and nice for here to eat. So lately she has been dining on cocktail type food, with a lot of colours and always featuring some of her all time favourite foods like olives, feta cheese, bread, tomatoes and eggs…

Wishing you all a lovely Monday!

Love

Irina xx

iPad cover

2011-09-02T20:27:00.022+01:00

{and the unlimited world of online subscriptions}

Lovely mum is now back in the UK and I have an amazing toy to play with – my belated Birthday present! All my family contributed (Thank you, thank you, thank you!) and with the final gift voucher from my mum, I made my way to the Apple store and bought myself and iPad2… Once I had a motorbike, and now I have a lovely sewing machine but this is easily the coolest piece of machinery I've ever owned.

And off course I had to make a cover (I only bough it to make a cover, just kidding). I immediately knew it will have an appliqué and I wanted it to be quite girly…so flowers seemed the perfect choice. I picked up the red fabric in Ikea a few weeks ago and the petals were made out of scraps given to me by a lovely fellow blogger mum. It is made in a very easy way, and I hope to be able to post a tutorial very soon.

So do you know what was the first thing I did? I purchased an online issue of Mollie Makes. Don’t get me wrong, I love a nice paper magazine on a quiet afternoon, but Mollie Makes is simply not available in Germany and I have been eyeing it ever since it came out. Well the digital issue did not disappoint, in fact every web site or blog has an actual link to it so I just click on it and it takes me straight to the site. When I want to go back, I just close the link and I am back at the same page in the magazine …I can’t stop telling you how cool it is.

Finally, and to follow with the Mollie Makes cover, I wanted to share Lovely Little Daughter play strawberries which I made last year, hence the played-with-a-lot appearance. I made them from felt, stuffed them with toy stuffing and used yellow thread to make French knots for the pips. One thing, I should have only left one layer of leaves as now it resembles a bit of tomato. A long tomato.

Wishing you all a lovely weekend!

Love,
Irina xx

Linking up to -

A visit from England

2011-08-25T19:21:00.001+01:00

{and my dilemma}

Lovely Mum is visiting from England and I am completely spoiled with all the nice magazines she brought for me. I had a subscription for the BBC Good Food magazine but when we moved to Frankfurt in January I had to either cancel it or change the name, so I changed it over to my mum and every few months when she comes I get a lovely bundle of magazines to keep me occupied for at least a few weeks.

Oh, I have a dilemma, and I don’t really like having dilemmas – I find it so hard having to choose between two equally appealing things…

Well my dilemma is about what event to attend on the 25^th of September. On that day there is the Race for the Cure, which I would love to join. The thing is that I have signed up to run the Frankfurt marathon at the end of October. It is a team run and my part is 10K. Oh dear, what was I thinking…so I thought that if I make the Race for the Cure run, which is only 5 K it would be like a little training for the big day. I was very excited until I looked in my calendar to see that the day was already booked – can you believe it… the Dutch fabric market which happens only once or twice a year will be in Frankfurt on that day and I might have to give it a miss.

So here are a few photos of the last market and I still can't choose…

After seeing the photos I am even more uncertain.

Hope you are having a dilemma free week!

Love

Irina xx

Another Rainy Day

2011-08-22T19:55:00.001+01:00

{ Another Cake - Upside Down Apple and Cinnamon Cake}

The weather surprised us a bit yesterday so instead of going to the local park we ended up staying at home, sheltering from the rain. A few apples somehow ended up in our fruit basket so I decided to make an apple cake.

Lovely Husband was very pleased and saw his way through a quarter of the cake; I however did not find the cake so appealing. It tasted much better with a dollop of vanilla ice cream.

Never the less it was easy to make so I guess I will try out a few different recipes to see which one works best especially as Apple time is fast approaching here in Germany.

Wishing you all a lovely week!

Love

Irina xx

P.S. And is it just me or does the cinnamon looks like its burnt.

A post in between

2011-08-18T17:31:00.003+01:00

{Today…}

…we enjoyed the return of the summer…

…Little Daugther played ballet and got a bit silly…

…I made a little gift for a little baby girl…

…we did some butterfly painting (you try telling a three year old those are not butterflies)…

…we folded some paper boats while being asked “Is that the boat now, but is it ready?”

…was a great day!

Hope you all had a great day!

Love

Irina xx

Spice Rack Book Shelves

2011-08-16T09:34:00.002+01:00

{ or kids room on a budget}

Lovely Little daughter has a lot of books and I have been looking for cute affordable storage ideas for a while, so when I saw this great idea on another blog (or ten) I knew I must give it a go. I managed to persuade Lovely Husband to go to Ikea on Saturday (we don’t particularly enjoy going to Ikea, let alone on a Saturday morning) but some things just need to be done.

So here are said spice racks transformed into book shelves. The bottom one even has little hooks for all those little bags. And we got a little organiser which I painted and stamp labelled and now holds about one thousand Alice bands and one million hairclips. It is needless to say that both Lovely Husband and I are very pleased.

And here are three of my favourite spice rack book shelves I found on the web:

Gorgeous and clever idea from Katie @ On The Banks of Squaw Creek
Cleverly painted at Domestic Charm
Orderly positioned by Brittany @ Sew In Love

Love,

Irina xx

Linking to

Ladybird Fabric Toy

2011-08-15T21:36:00.000+01:00

{ Unintentional taggie style}

A few days ago, I was making the ladybird toys and they were supposed to resemble the fabric boast I made earlier, hence being filled with toy stuffing. However, as I had a one month old little girl in mind when I was making this, I realised that maybe that was not so suitable for a small baby, so I skipped the last step and so the toy is not stuffed but you could do that if you prefer.

And here a few steps of how to make one ( I wouldn't dare call it a tutorial).

Prepare your pattern - use two small plates

It should look like this.

You will need fabric for the wings, for the top and for the bottom plus a selection of matching ribbons. I decided to use felt for the tentacles but changed and made them from fabric instead.

When cutting the wings do not forget to leave enough seam allowance for the middle.

Machine stitch the wings.

Pin the wings to the narrow part of the upper body fabric.

Machine stitch and press.

Pin the ribbons to the front part of the bottom body fabric. Sew in place.

Sandwitch the wings between the top and bottom fabrics and machine stitch.

Trim with pinking shears.

Turn back to front and slip stitch the opening.

Press and here is a lovely Ladybird taggie style toy.

Wishing you all a nice week!

Love
Irina xx

A Few Little Ideas

2011-08-12T22:18:00.003+01:00

{ or how to prepare for a Carft Fair}

This week will be known as the week of the long posts, but I promised you a craft fair guide, so I must keep my promise. For those of you who are not attending a fair soon (no need to read) here is a little sneaky peek into tomorrows tutorial.

As some of you know last weekend I attended my first craft fair - hence still a begginer. It was fun and also a great learning experience. I researched the internet struggling to find tips of how to set up a table and what to think about, and so after the event I decided to put my findings to paper ( i.e blog), so here it is the beginners guide of:

“How to prepare for a Craft Fair”

1. What are you going to sell – this is the most important thing and it might take you mind from other things in the preparation process.

Make a list with all the items you would like to sell – those that are ready and those that are in the making, so you do not forget anything. If you are going to make things in the last few weeks be as realistic as possible. Make sure each item bears your label ( if you have one).

Make sure you have enough items to spread around your table. However do not overflow the table with staff or it will look too busy and actually be overwhelming for your customers.· It is likely that the fair will last for the whole day ( or maybe two) – so make sure you have enough staff to sell ( yes, I know it is hard to predict your sales)

It is a always a good idea to make small “easy-to- make” items like key chains or fabric bracelets as people would probably like to buys something but not necessarily spend a big amount. That way you are likely to have people stop by your table, possibly buying the small things and at the same time looking at your bigger items.

If you are selling things for kids, it is not a bad idea to have something to catch kids attention – you can either have a large ( vintage) glass jar with lollies, or small packets of sweeties that you can give away for free ( I am always mortified when my daughter gets a lollie so I leave the choice of sweeties to you)

2. Your display –you are likely to display your items on a table so:

Make sure you get a nice table cloth or a big piece of fabric which is either in a neutral colour (white or cream) or one complementing the colours of the items you’ll be selling. Some other kind of catchy decoration is always a winner as it will get the attention of the people (for example bunting, pin wheels, small flags).

Find out where your table will be – if next to a wall than you can benefit from this wall as it is the perfect place to display a nice banner with your label name or even some of the things on sale. Maybe you can come up with some sort of hanging display (check if you can use hooks or nails, often that is not allowed so use some sort of removable hooks). If there is no wall near next to your table than think of a nice- maybe vintage- frame where you can showcase the name of your label. Make sure it is positioned strategically so people know who you are.

Use items like rattan boxes, old suitcases, cupcake racks, and wooden bowls to display your items. That way your customers have much more organised stand to look at.

Last but not least dress yourself in a neutral colour ( you don’t want your lovely new dress to clash with the colours on your table)

2. Other important points

Label your items – make sure you have nice paper labels / price tags to attach to your items. It will make them look more professional, it will display your name and you can write the price on them– people seem to like priced goods as they get bored asking for the price all the time. If you sell a key holder for example, it is a nice idea to create a small label (in Word or find some free software on the web) and attach the key holder to the label. Also attach all labels before the fair; it will save you time and nerves.

Business Cards - have enough business cards and display them strategically on your table. I wouldn’t say put them everywhere but just make sure that they are visible. It will be not a good idea to run out of business cards in the middle of the fair as some potential orders may actually come after people have gone home and thought better about what they need. You can print some lovely business cards at Moo.

Bags - think about bags. When an item has been bought it is very important that it leaves your table looking lovely. You can order bags with your label on it (quite pricey, possibly not worth at the beginning), you can buy some simple brown paper bags or you can even use brown packing paper and string to make it look like a little parcel. Also you could look up a free online tutorial of how to make some simple paper bags. I even say white food wrap paper being used to wrap up small items. It was pulled straight out of a box (behind the table of course) and it actually was very quick and easy. As a more personal touch you can invest in some stickers saying ” Name of your label – thank you for your custom / purchase/ etc.” A choice of labels can be found on Moo or other online suppliers.

Box with money – start your sale with a box containing say £20 in small change. I saw some people who had boxes with little plastic cups inside containing the coins separately from the notes.

List of your items - a useful way of knowing exactly what you sold is to make a list of all your items and than just thick them off as they sell.

Tools box – have a little box containing spare labels, scissors, cello tape, cloth pegs (small and big), safety pins, some extra string and a pen. It is better to have those things and not need them, than to need them and not have them.

The unnecessary necessities (don’t laugh) – nail file, small mirror and a fan. You don’t want to spend the whole afternoon trying to chew off that broken nail, or be totally unaware of that little piece of salad ( the one you scoffed in five min while your friend managed your table) stuck between your teeth. Also it gets pretty warm in those big craft halls so a fan can keep you nicely cool. There is a lovely idea on Just something I made.

So I hope all of this makes sense, and once again - it is a beginner’s guide! In a few years time I might come and review this guide but for now I felt it was a good starting point.

If you think this guide could benefit from some suggestions or if I have forgotten something important, please let me know in the comments, and I will add it.

To everyone using this guide I wish a stress free preparation and a very successful Craft Fair.

Love,

Irina xx

Ship Ahoi

2011-08-11T16:29:00.003+01:00

{ Fabric boat for a budding captain - in no time}

I made these little fabric boats for the fair last weekend. They are absolutely easy to make and you can make one in less than an hour. I think they make a perfect gift for a little boy, and can be attached to the buggy with a plastic link, used as a mini cushion or as a rassel if you decide to put a bell inside.You can use up those little pieces of fabric which are two big to throw away, but too small to use in a bigger project.

And here is a quick tutorial of how to make a fabric boat for the little man in your house, or whip up one quickly as a last minute gift.

Start by preparing your pattern. Here is how mine looked like, but you could make it bigger or smaller . My boat is about 25cm high. Use cardboard, it is easier to draw around on the fabric. ( And NO, i have not used my precious Fiscars to cut the cardboard, they just somehow made it on the picture).

You will need five different fabrics and three or four pieces of ribbon. Cut your fabric according to your pattern and press. NOTE: make sure you apply the pattern corectly so that you get two left sails and two right sails. The first time I got 4 left sails.

Machine stitch each pair of sails together.

You should now have two triangles for the sails of each side. Press the seams open.

With right sides facing each other, pin the bottom part of the boat to the sails and machine stitch. Press and it should look like photo 5.

With right sides together, pin and machine stitch. Do not forget to add your ribbons. See photo 7. Your boat should look like this. Now you are ready to sew.

Start sewing the boat at the bottom. Make sure you leave an opening big enough to turn the ready boat inside out and to fill it in with toy stuffing.

Fertig ( german for ready), your boat is ready; now you just need to turn it inside out out and press it.

Stuff the boat with toy stuffing and slip stitch the opening. Now you are ready to watch the eyes of that budding captain light up with delight when presented with this little boat.

If you make this project than do come back and post a link in the comments as I would love to see it.

In the next few days I'll have a similar tutorial for a little girl.

Love,

Irina xx

The First Day of School

2011-08-09T20:13:00.012+01:00

{ The SchultüteTradition}

I usually do not write long posts but as today is the first day of school in Hessen (different regions in Germany have different vacation times and hence different starting dates) I would like to tell you about a wonderful German ( and I believe Austrian) tradition which all Schulanfanger (School goers – applies only to first grade students) are looking forward to – the Schultüte (Schoolbag), easily the symbol of the 1^st day of school, possibly the most important day in the life of any six year old.

This morning on the way to our Kindergarten I saw many little people, with proud faces and school bags as big as themselves…a lovely reminder of my first day at school many, many, many years ago ( although not in Germany) and also a less lovely reminder of how quickly time flies and how quickly our kids grow.

Well let me tell you about the school bag – (no it is not the actual school bag), this one is a very big cone made out of cardboard and embellished in some kind of way. They are sold almost everywhere in the last few months before the new school year. According to Wikipedia the tradition goes back to 1810 and the only thing that seems to have changed since than is that less and less sweets can be found in the bag. Well, that is only partially true as the bag is still seen as a treat although many parents try to reflect in its contents the step towards independence with the start of the new school year.

Kids say that it is not fun if the Schultüte contains only the items necessary for school and therefore inside one can find anything from a car shaped alarm clock, watch, water bottle, a compass for the great adventure that school is, to the first nail polish, glitter glue, key chain pendant and little stuffed animals. And always there is a fair amount of lollies, chocolate and other kinds of sweeties.

Enough reading, now I would like to share with you some photos of some absolutely unique and cool hand created Schultüten I found on the web. The themes of the bags could vary greatly from football and unicorns, to fast cars and cowboys, to nature and planets, to princesses and pirates, believe me I even saw one which came with a matching dress:

Lovely themes Planets and Space and Bees and Nature – photo courtesy of Anke Lilli

One for the polka dot lover – have I ever mentioned I love polka dots? Photo courtesy of byFranca

Of course one with horses, how could I forget the horses – lovely! The little girls' face says it all! Photo courtesy of Bab's Bumblebee

A very cool one for the dinosaur lover or the budding explorer - I love the name detail, it makes it so much more personal! Photo courtesy of 3@12

And my favourite one - a real rocket Schultüte – and one very pleased and proud boy! Photo courtesy of Bab's Bumblebee

If you had the patience and the time to read through than I hope you enjoyed this little story about how German kids start their school life.

Hope you are having a lovely week!

Love

Irina xx

Frankfurt Calling

2011-08-07T22:00:00.007+01:00

{ Fräulein Zuckerminz’ Designgesellschaft}

Wow, wow, wow! Hamburg, Berlin and Munich say hello to the new kid on the craft block – Frankfurt!

Frankfurt showed its creative side this weekend as the “Fräulein Zuckerminz’ Designgesellschaft” ( Miss Sugarmint Fair) took place, and I had the privilege to be part of what was a fantastic event, where I met some lovely, lovely people, received the most amazing feedback on my creations and had the most fun I’ve had in a while!

The Fair was organised by the lovely Kirsten from “Obst und junges Gemüse” – a kind of a hero mum who (together with her two year old, who was on Kindergarten vacation) managed to put together over a number of weeks the best craft fair Frankfurt has ever seen!

There were twenty five designers and craft people and the attendance of the fair exceeded my expectations and I heard that people simply described it as fabulous or as the Germans say “ Unglaublich”!

I am still full of a mix of positive emotions and it was such an amazing learning experience, actually being out there selling my things and feeling part of such a fantastic creative community.

Here are just a few photos of how my stand looked and needless to say I was very proud!

And in a typical German Fair tradition everyone donated a hand made cake to a little cake stand which in the duration of the day sold coffee and cake to raise extra money. My Chocolate cake had a little marketing twist to it as I decided to decorate the cake with some little flags bearing the name of my label “ Horstman and Little” – each one embellished with a small piece of fabric – in my two favourite patterns - polka dots and gingham!

Here are just some of the lovely creative people I met, so do have a peek at their blogs or websites when you have a minute:

Obst und junges Gemüse – gorgeous kinds T -shirts decorated with happy fabric embellishments

Ellis and Higgs – a fellow mum who makes some absolutely beautiful kids things – in her very own unique style.

Lili’s Loft – lovely handmade purses and my favourite of all summer shoes – espadrilles, in this case beautifully embellished.

Gold Kaetzchen – some really cute hand made fabric buttons and magnets and trendy bags – and we all know there is no such thing as too many bags.

Tassen . tv – the loveliest cups and breakfast bowls, with super sweet smiley faces in 3D – for a change designed by guys, yay!

Tia Emma – they actually have a shop selling really quirky things like vintage stamps and cards amongst other funky finds and also stock some of the “oh-so-hard-to-get-hold-of ” German creative magazines.

Zialee - lovely cream printed cushions, bags and T-shirts. Clever.

There were also jewellery stands and hand sewn clothes to mention just a few – something for everyone!

I learned a lot from my first Craft Fair and although I am still a novice I now know a lot more about how to attend a craft fair than I did a couple of days ago – so suitably my next blog post will be titled “A beginners guide to preparing and attending a craft fair” – so please do came back and have a look!

Have a lovely week!

Love

Irina xx

Some muffins and more sewing

2011-07-28T20:13:00.004+01:00

I have been a bit busy sewing for the forthcoming craft fair, and I can’t wait to show you photos but I am afraid you’ll have to wait a little bit more.

Today I decided to make some Yogurt and Honey muffins to put in the lunch boxes of Lovely Little Daughter and Lovely Husband. They turned out well but I should have put a bit more honey or maybe a bit of brown sugar…and maybe a bit more butter would have ensured the smooth removal of the paper…

A good tip I found in the BBC Good Food magazine if you are using honey, is to spread a bit of oil on the spoon you’ll be using. Wow, it works really well, not a drop of honey was left on the spoon. However I should have greased a bit the little pot I was using as I noticed at the end that some honey was left on the bottom.

I don’t actually know why I have the brown sugar out! The recipe did not ask for any brown sugar.

Have a yummy evening!

Love

Irina xx

Miss Sugarmint Design and Craft Fair

2011-07-27T20:01:00.000+01:00

If you are going to be in Frankfurt the following weekend than why don’t you come and visit Miss Sugarmint craft fair. The fair has been organised by a lovely lady who is a fellow crafty mum and makes some absolutely cute little t-shirt embellishments and other kiddie things. However it won’t all be for the kids, there will be jewellery, home inspirations and off course coffee and cake! Oh and guess what, I will be there with my label Horstmann & Little.

It is so very exciting ( it is my first fair, well apart of the Wimbledon Park fair in London last year, which was very much in it's infancy and really just a trial), and I am thinking about what to sell, how to prepare my table, how to make everything look pretty and nice.

Off to do more sewing…

Love,

Irina

This moment

2011-07-22T19:37:00.004+01:00

{this moment}

Inspired by Soulemama

A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

Summer Fruit Lollies

2011-07-22T16:09:00.002+01:00

I wanted to make some fruit lollies for ages and these Watermelon, Organic Vanilla Yogurt and Cherries lollies are so sweet and absolutely yummy…

I only had red fruits this time but will try them again with other fruits as they were so easy to make…

Love

Irina xx

In The Bottom Drawer

2011-07-21T16:01:00.004+01:00

A recent post from “A spoonful of sugar” prompted me to look for my own UFO’s…oh dear!

I never start a new book, before I finish the old one so I simply assumed that this rule will somehow subconsciously be applied to my sewing and creating projects…and I managed to keep up with it for a while until I discovered my UFO’s drawer. I didn’t really know I had a UFO drawer, but it is there, the very last one in my wonky metal cabinet and through the holes of the mesh I could see things, long ago started but never finished. Yes things, not one, not two but many big or small sewing attempts which for one reason or another were never completed.

Whole nine UFO's were patiently waiting to be rediscovered:

A slice of cake waiting to have the "chocolate" stick sewn back

A duck I made a couple of years ago who's leg needs repairing

A soft ball, otherwise ready but missing the final stitch

A robot cushion I started before Christmas

Train cushion started at the same time as above

Oh dear, remember this one...still unfinished

After I made six letter cushions I got a bit bored hence the unfinished M

I was going to make continuous bias tape but never got round to doing it

Baby bed decoration...

Let’s see which one to start first!

Do you have UFO's lurking in some bottom drawer?
Love,

Irina xx

Mini muffins for little fingers

2011-07-18T15:34:00.003+01:00

Lovely Little Daughter and I made some Mini Banana Muffins yesterday. Banana muffins are a big thing in our house as we always have bananas for porridge and I no longer throw them in the bin when they turn brown, now I make muffins. What did I do before I discovered banana muffins?!

The idea for muffins came when our daughter started to eat different foods and I wanted to give her something sweet but I really wanted to give her something a bit better than the different things I can buy from the bakery. Everything there seems to be made from wheat flower and surely uses white sugar. Making muffins for / with her is fun and it also allows me to make them a bit healthier by using brown flour and brown sugar and even add oat flakes. I always put less sugar than the recipe calls for and haven’t had a complaint so far.

We never tried mini ones, but they are perfect for little fingers and are gone in three bites…

Ingredients for 12:

Group 1:

2-3 tbsp melted butter or raps oil

1 tbsp milk

2-3 very ripe bananas – mashed

1 egg

Oat flakes – optional

½ cup brown sugar OR ¼ cup brown sugar + one tbsp spoon Golden Syrup

Group 2:

1 cup wholegrain flour

½ tea sp baking soda

¼ tea spoon baking powder

Preparation:

Preheat the oven to 200C. Mix all Group 1 ingredients in one ball. In another ball mix all Group 2 ingredients. Add group 1 to group 2 and mix well. If needed add a tbsp of milk. Spoon the mixture into the paper cups and into your muffin tray. Bake for 25-30 min.

Hope you are having a nice Monday!

Love

Irina

I love new fabrics

2011-07-17T14:42:00.002+01:00

I got lovely comments on my post “Delicious cake for a rainy day”, so before I show you the little pile of new fabrics that I acquired during our holiday in Northern Germany, I would like to share the recipe for the cake – it is fool proof, seriously tasty and easier that I ever thought! Try it!

From the book “Frame by frame – baking” purchased at Marks and Spencer’s and given to me as a Christmas gift by Lovely Mum two years ago…

Blueberry and Passionfruit Drizzle Squares (makes 9 squares)

Ingredients

150g butter, softened, plus extra for greasing

2 eggs

175g golden caster sugar

175g slef raising flour

90ml milk

finely grated zest of one lemon

225g blueberries

Syrup:

4 ripe passionfruits

115g icing sugar, plus extra, sifted for dusting

Preparation:

Preheat the oven to 190C and grease and base-line a 23cm cake tin.

Whisk the butter, eggs and sugar until pale and fluffy. Fold in the flour lightly and evenly.

Stir in the milk, lemon zest and 175g blueberries. Spread into the cake tin.

Bake in the preheated oven for 25-30min until firm and golden brown. Remove from the oven and leave in the tin.

Meanwhile make the syrup. Scoop the pulp from the passionfruit and rub through a sieve. Discard the pips.

Place the icing sugar and the passion fruit juice in a saucepan and heat gently, stirring, until the sugar dissolves.

Prick the warm cake with a fork and spoon the syrup evenly over the surface.

Leave the cake to cool completely in the tin and cut into 9 squares. Enjoy!

And now back to sewing and fabrics…I picked up a few fabrics at the Dutch Fabric Market, a bought some in a shop called Charlotta’s in Hamburg and I discovered some lovely prints on sale at the Alster House in the centre of Hamburg.

Below are some simple combinations and I am still wondering what to do, but I really love the cars fabric and maybe I will cover some little buttons to sew onto a jumper or to use for some other decoration…

Off to make mini banana muffins...

Enjoy your Sunday!

Love,
Irina xx

Wall frames

2011-07-14T13:05:00.010+01:00

That’s it; I am finally converted into using glue with fabric. It took a very long time as I always tried to avoid gluing fabric, but I tried it for some wall frames I made for Lovely Little Daughter and her little friends.

I picked up this set of stamps at the local Idee shop in Hamburg and they are just so cool. The right font I always wanted with a little bit of vintage twist (just a shame there are no numbers included).

I had to try them and I decided to make a room sign for Lovely Little Daughter’s room. She thought it was very nice but I wish I had made the bunting out of fabric and not out of paper. The little fabric rosette is very easy to make although I had to do it a few times but here is the tutorial I followed – it is very well explained and includes colour photos. But beware – the rosettes are highly addictive!

A few weeks ago when asked who her best friend is, our daughter quite cleverly got away by saying that she had a Girl Best Friend and a Boy Best Friend - how sweet!. So at her request I made some wall frames for her friends!

I loved making the frames, it made a nice change from sewing!

Love
Irina xx

Delicious cake for a rainy day

2011-07-13T19:20:00.002+01:00

Hello everybody, we are back in Frankfurt after a lovely, although a bit rainy holiday at the Baltic Sea! It was the first proper holiday for Lovely Little Daughter and she was absolutely amazed by everything - she did a lot of sand digging, wave splashing, shell collecting, beach running, getting spoiled by Oma and Opa and generally exploring and expanding her little world. For us it was a pure pleasure to watch our little girl in her innocent quest of discovering!
Unfortunately the weather in Frankfurt is quite rainy, which is actually a very good excuse of staying at home and reading favourite blogs or making things - boy I missed sewing!

As you probably know Germany is the country of the gateau and there are hundreds of delicious sweet creations. It is not very easy to impress a German with a new cake but my Blueberry and Passion Fruit Drizzle Square is a sure winner, or so says Lovely Husband! Maybe he's just being kind...

Well the cake was deeelicious and I will post the recipe in the next few days.

And now off to crafting and making...

Love

Irina xx

Mail Organiser

2011-06-25T21:39:00.006+01:00

It will be a bit quiet on my blog for a couple of weeks as we are going away on holiday tomorrow. But before we leave I will be popping into a fabric market. It happens once or twice a year in different parts of Germany and tomorrow will be in Frankfurt. I hope to buy some nice fabrics and make some photos to show you.

Together with the washing and packing today, I managed to find an hour to make something for Lovely Husband. The idea came to me last month as I dutifully “filed” a couple of bills under a big pile of Country Living magazines and somehow managed to forget all about it. So the unopened letters were finally discovered by Lovely Husband who suspected I had mislaid them, and I decided to make a mail organiser. It is strategically hanging in the corridor so theoretically letters should be placed in each pouch straight away.

I took photos while making it and it and it took just over an hour.

So here is what you need – 4 square pieces of outside fabric, 4 square pieces of inside fabric and 4 big and 4 small rectangular pieces for the straps. You can choose any shape for the pouches; I made squares simply because I did not have more space to hang it. Oh, and don’t forget a nice twig carefully chosen by your little one (preferably on a dry day) to hang the mail organiser.

I appliquéd each pouch with our initials.

I used the simple method of sewing the inside and the outside pouch face together, leaving a big bit open on the back side to turn it around and so to be able to insert the straps.

When both pouches were ready and attached to each other, I added the top straps before finishing it off. Don’t forget the twig!

I hope there won’t be any more lost letters in our house!

Wishing you all a nice summer break! Northern Germany here we come!

Love
Irina xx

German Handmade Culture

2011-06-21T21:10:00.002+01:00

It’s been a while, but I haven’t deserted you, I’ve just been busy … I wish I could say I was busy crafting and making but unfortunately, that would be a lie.

A surprising meeting a few weeks ago resulted in a most unusual acquaintance as I bumped into one of our old neighbours. We didn’t have a lot of time to talk, or the means to exchange numbers, so as we parted I handed over one of my “business cards” as it contains all of my contact details. Little did I know that I was going to get a lovely comment on my blog as I had no idea that my former neighbour is a fellow sewer and maker, passionate about fabrics, colours and making things – from girl’s clothes, to stuffed horses, to cute tea cosies, to name a few. We have since seen each other a few times and it seems the time is never enough to discuss fabrics and designs, pattern making and bias tape tips, English sewing books and German handmade sites. I have had my first taste of clothes making – only theoretically so far, as clothes making is something which I have always avoided as it is so hard to make clothes, isn’t it?

So Lovely Former Neighbour has since opened up another world of fabrics and ideas. As my German is so poor, I hardly ever attempt to browse German sites, and although I suspected it, I was quite stunned to see all the creativity to be had among German fellow crafters, a truly inspirational community!

I would love to share a couple of sites which I hope you'll find interesting even if you don't speak German:

A new craft community website has been launched recently called Handmade Kultur, it is full of projects and information, ideas and photos. It even prints its own magazine! Oh, how I wish I spoke better German, must learn!!!
Farbenmix – translated Colourmix, is a shop crammed with tutorials and photos of items made using their fabrics and trimmings. By the way it is especially famous for its very beautiful colourful trimmings
Sewing Cloths Kids Love - simply the cutest kids clothes book I have come across- lovely Dutch inspired fabrics combined together to create the happiest and colourful kids clothes

I hope you enjoy a bit of German inspiration! I know I do!

Love,
Irina xx

Free Motion Embroidery

2011-06-06T12:17:00.000+01:00

Anyone who has ever attempted free motion embroidery on their sewing machine would know that it is quite tricky! Yes, believe me…quite tricky! In my case the bottom thread often gets chewed and creates lumps which stop me from moving the fabric. And since the stitch size has to be set to zero, it is all in the hands of the sewer, and despite the fact that my knuckles go white from gripping the embroidery hoop I always fail to follow the line I have pre drawn. What can I say, it is annoying…and what makes it even more annoying is that a man (OK, I am being a bit feminist here) has managed to master this not-so-easy-to-master technique and without any drawing or the use of a embroidery hoop is able to create the neatest free motion sewing!

I was pretty speechless the first time I saw this video. The man in question, Paul Nosa, is an American artist who creates his own label and with the help of his solar powered sewing machine tours the world to show his skill – if only I could do it too! The sewing not the touring, although having said that, sewing touring is actually not a bad idea!!!

Love,
Irina xx

Love letter

2011-06-01T21:07:00.001+01:00

Just wanted to share with you a photo which Lovely Mum sent me of the letter shaped cushion I made for her last week. It's the letter D, and mum requested that it was made in soft shades. She quite likes light browns, creams and pale greens. So I made it in beige gingham and chose linen fabric for the side. I also choose the dark brown piping to compliment the light colours and make the shape stand out! My mum loves it!

I love you mum!

Irina xx

Busy week

2011-05-23T23:24:00.005+01:00

As you might have guessed already “T-shirt challenge” is officially cancelled! I will be making more nice tops for Little Daughter, no doubt, but in the mean time my inspiration is flowing in a different direction.

Well I am busy sewing patchwork balls and letter cushions. I will tell you why and show you photos as soon as I can…

I also wanted to share a blog which I found a while ago, and who has just won the Dorset Cereal Blog Award for April...and absloutley great read...it reminds me that at one point of life everyone could be / has been an Accidental Londoner!

Love,

Irina xx

A post in between

2011-05-17T21:55:00.011+01:00

I have been thinking a lot since I read a post on another blog about what makes us read blogs. It has been quite an eye opener and it kind of really left me thinking, about a lot of blog related things. And I’ve decided that I can’t just get away with making average photos and post average posts, so I have been searching the internet for help on how to make good photos. Obviously I only have my camera – a Sony Cyber shot 7.2 mega pixels, which is great for “average, a bit blurry, but who cares” holiday snaps, but absolutely ( or maybe not so ) useless for lovely detailed photos in vivid colours ( or maybe I should research Photoshop instead).

Lovely Husband on the other hand has his Canon bladi-bladi-bla with two different lenses and who knows how many features. Well I have been gently asked not to use it and even if I did, he is the only one who has the software for downloading the snaps and also I think he still has all the photos since he first got the camera, a good couple of thousand.

So I have just found out how to take close up photos, and although the light isn’t perfect and there is still a lot ( a lot, a lot) to be desired, I had to share my latest project or at least bits of it. I hope to show you more very soon.

Also I would like to share the link to the blog Zuhause in Germany, where I read the post about 5 Reasons Why I Read Your Blog – a very thoughtful and actually funny read.

And here is a video I recently watched called The Story of Stuff, on a blog written by the husband of my friend Gingerbread Dough Mummy. This is a video about consumerism and although a tad long it is absolutely worth seeing ( if you haven’t seen it already on youtube).

I wish I could change the world!

Love
Irina xx

T-shirt Challenge - Part 2

2011-05-16T14:58:00.007+01:00

So here is T-shirt No2 - Strawberry Jam.

I chose this one because I think Little Daughter will be too big for it by the time she will wear long sleeves again, and it is not too ruined, only slightly less red, from too many washes. Red is Little Daughters favourite colour and it actually suits her really well.

T-shirt before

So here is what I did. First I removed the sleeves. Ironed one of the sleeves and used it as a pattern (no surprise here). Initially I wanted a short puffed sleeve, but since I am not a seamstress, and don’t really know what I am doing, I cut it way too long and it ended up being sort of three quarter length.

The T-shirt after

I did puffed sleeve yesterday so today I wanted to make something different. It is funny how checks and dots shouldn’t really work together! I grew up being told that mixing colours or prints doesn’t work. I actually took this for granted, and never really tried! But today as I was playing with the different fabrics I realised that this is not completely true…and I think that the red gingham works lovely with the red polka dot!

The hardest part for me when making something is when to stop…should I just leave the sleeves, or should I add a collar or a cupcake appliqué, pockets or yo-yo’s or maybe some other kind of embellishment. Well as Little Daughter tried it I decided that sometimes less is actually more, so only sleeves!

"Yawn, oh mummy, can I go now!"

Another one on Wednesday!

Love ,

Irina xx

P.S. I have just received a permission from Lovely Husband to use his Canon camera, so I really hope I can produce some better photos.

T-shirt Challenge - Part 1

2011-05-15T21:49:00.004+01:00

I went to a little Crafts Fair on Saturday and I was absolutely pleased to see so many mums (and not only mums) who are into sewing and making lovely things here in Frankfurt. It was very nice to see what other people have made and I was thrilled that finally I found some like minded people ( a very good incentive to work on my Deutsch).

Everything was very nice and I quite liked the embellished kids T-shirts by „Obst & junges Gemüse“ and the dresses made from Daddy’s old shirt by Papas Hemd, very cute… I have taken some old shirts out of the box and hope to have a go at this soon.

But first I decided to set myself a little challenge and see what I can do with the old (and possibly stained) T-shirts of Little Daughter before they end up in the bin. I have decided over the next week to transform five old T-shirts into cool “new” T-shirts. How? I don’t know yet, but I’d like to try! However all T-shirts will be for girls so I hope mums of boys will excuse me!

And here is T-shirt No1 – Candy Floss.

I bought this T-shirt for 1euro at a flea market last year and it took a lot of wearing. No wonder it is quite stained and also it has a couple of small holes on one of the sleeves. Well rather than throw it away I decided to have a go at it and see if I can make something nice out of it.

T-shirt before

What I did was to remove the sleeves. I ironed one of the sleeves and used it as a pattern to make new sleeves out of pink gingham. If the sleeves are in good condition I guess they can be kept and added to another T-shirt. Mine are going in the bin.

I decided to make them a bit girlie and made them puffed at the end.

Sleeves done, I had to cover the stains. I love fabric yo-yo’s. I haven’t really made or used yo-yo’s before but they took only 5 minutes each to make. I added a button to cover the thread and make it look like a flower. The steam design came out of nowhere, in fact the whole design just happened as I was making it.

And here is the result:

Little Daughter loved it!

Another one tomorrow!

Love,
Irina xx

Letter Shaped Cushions

2011-05-06T21:50:00.010+01:00

I have been busy sewing letter shaped cushions for gifts. No special reason, just thought they would make a lovely present. I first saw one last year and ever since I wondered how to sew a letter, inside out, which had a whole in the middle – like A or D or P. For some reason I can’t really imagine things and it took me ages to try and picture in my head how I could possibly attempt to make the letter A. Well two A’s, one S, one J and a half-done D, I think I sussed it. Each one looks better than the previous one so there is a lot of truth in the saying “learning through experience”.

I did my first letter without piping and stitched the light fabrics using brown thread as I wanted to see what will go wrong – it wouldn’t have been so visible with white thread. It wasn’t too bad, although sewing the little whole in the middle was harder than I thought.

My second letter was S, and I personally think it was harder than the A. At least the A has some straight sides, compared to the S which wiggles and curves in different directions. In fact the first time I stitched everything together, the front and the back did not really align properly, so I had to do it again ( boy, how I hate unpicking). For the piping I used bias tape which was not cut on the bias and that was not perfect.

Rule: all bias tape should be cut on the bias, that is why it is called bias tape, isn't it?

The J was also a bit tricky, and what I’ve noticed is that the letter curves slightly to the front. I believe this is due to the piping, which pulls the fabric a bit. I decided to make some blue bias tape, actually cut on the bias, for the piping and I am pleased to say that it worked lovely. The piping just followed around the curves during sewing and the letter looks much better.

I heard that such cushions could be made using a guset, but I don't even have an idea what guset is let alone how to use it! Any idea anybody?

I also found a great tutorial of how to make meters and meters of continuous bias tape – it is actually very clever and really handy if you need to make lots of fabric strips.

So I know there are lots of online tutorials but here is how I do it. I used 50cm x 50cm square which made just over 5m of bias tape.

Fold one corner of the fabric to create a square. Off course I forgot to take a photo of this. Iron along the fold to create a line. Use this line to cut the square in half, creating two identical triangles. Place the pieces one on top of the other and stitch together.

Press the seams open. It should look something like this.

Using a ruler, make long lines along the fabric. Be as precise as possible, as these lines will guide you when cutting the bias tape.

When you are finished drawing the lines, fold you fabric so that the lines meet each other. This is the tricky part – make sure you first line from one side meets the second line from the other side. I know it sounds confusing, just try it.

Pin together and machine stitch. It is very important to press the seams open, before cutting. Once you are ready start cutting from that first line which is on its own.

When finished trim your bias tape and roll together. Easy peasy lemon squeezy!

Happy sewing!

Love,

Irina xx

Summer dress

2011-04-28T14:37:00.003+01:00

I have always known that I wanted to have a go at clothes making...i just never had the courage to do it! And I know why…it is not so easy! Well the sunny weather at the weekend made me dream about a nice pink dress for my little one. In fact I had something lying in the cupboard...it was meant to be a tunic, attached to a cut T-shirt, but for many days I tried to feel OK about the fact that probably the tunic will get stained the very first time...so such tunic never materialised. However a dress is a whole other story, and after Little Daughter called it Butterfly dress, and said that some pink wings would go well with it, I knew I did right!

Here is Little Daughter looking for said wings in her dress up box !

Love,

Irina xx

Happy Easter!

2011-04-22T10:28:00.007+01:00

In preparation for Easter, Little Daughter and I decided to make and decorate some Easter cookies! To help us have fun I invited my friends and their little ones. The lovely mummies made the most delicious cookie dough, which made the yummiest cookies ever! Special points go to ginger bread cookie dough mummy! Also big brownie points to “Best Baker Mummy” (no surprise there) as we all loved the short bread cookies!

It was not easy to keep occupied six little people sitting and waiting in anticipation to cut, decorate and most importantly eat cookies, but they all enjoyed colouring the colouring sheets which I printed off from Cupcakes for Clara. They are all characters from Laura’s new book “ One Stitch At A time“.

And here are the cookies…and yes, they were absolutely delicious!!!

At the end everyone took home a little bag of cookies...

Now we are going on a car trip, somewhere outside Frankfurt, possibly along the river Main or is it the Rhein ( I am never sure) to enjoy the nature and the environment as today is Earth Day!

Have a Happy Easter!

Love,

Irina xx

A yummy bag

2011-04-17T19:17:00.014+01:00

There are lots of beautiful rucksacks or bags to buy here in Germany, but the problem is that there isn’t much choice, what I mean is that the same bags are in all the shops. And again, everything, well almost everything is made in China. So I had a piece of red polka dot printed canvas which came with the UK edition of Home-style Sewing, some time last year. It was meant to become a bag but I decided to keep it, although I had no idea what to do with it. So a trip to the high street last week prompted me into digging it out and looking at it for a very long time - wondering what to make. My daughter had a little rucksack for the Kindergarten but it was rather old so there was the opportunity, and it was a real challenge, a proper sewing project, as I have never made a bag before. I mean a proper bag, with straps and front pocket. So there it is…a little red polka dot bag for my little one to take with her every morning.

As you know I love cupcakes and also free hand embroidery so there was no question what to make on the front pocket. The first time that I saw this kind of outlining the appliquéd object with free hand embroidery stitch, I immediately fell in love with the style and have used it many times since.
And it has proper shoulder straps too…

So off to tend to my sick husband and to dream about my next project - a fabric baby book, or something similar...
Love,
Irina xx

My poor blog

2011-04-15T14:28:00.002+01:00

If anyone out there wonders why my blog has suddenly gone all plain, it isn’t, it is just a stage of transformation, or so I would like to think. Everyday I see blogs which are absolutely gorgeous to look at, without even reading the posts, so I will not rest until I have a blog which is not simply a chosen template from blogger but a true representation of what I like and what I believe crafting and sewing is all about! So please bear with me and my blog until it reaches the ultimate stage of bloggness!!!
In the mean time crafting and sewing will continue as usual.

Love,
Irina xx

Under the weather

2011-04-14T20:01:00.012+01:00

I haven’t been feeling very well since last week, so I spent the days laying in bed feeling miserable for myself. I think I caught a virus from my daughter and of course she is fine, just a running nose, while I ended up in bed.

Well had a lot of time to think so hopefully it was not all that bad as I am full of ideas.

I haven’t got much to show you but since it is Easter next week, I would like to share my simple egg decoration. I used a tutorial which has photos of some perfect, gorgeous looking eggs…well, what can I say, I guess I need many more years of stitching practice to be able to recreate those…

I am also making something for my daughter, a bag, so here is a little peek…I am trying to combine some of my favourite things…cupcakes, red polka dot and gingham fabric…here is a sneaky preview…

Also a few things I would like to share:

- The lovely tutorial by Retro Mama to make above mentioned Easter eggs

- I just love those “End of the rainbow cupcakes”…so yummy and complete with a recipe for anyone who dares

- “A dress a day” - a bit like Julie & Julia

- Liberty prints and Nike trainers – pure genius or horribly wrong?!?!

- “Melly and me” – an Assie blog about fun things and lots of fabric toys

- Make a crown for your little ones…very sweet

Love,

Irina x x

Joining in the Easter spirit

2011-04-06T19:59:00.011+01:00

Every shop I go to these days is full of Easter decoration, so I decided to make some of my own. Well, at least experiment. Some fabric Easter eggs are in the making and photos will come soon, but I wanted to make something more kiddie like so this is how little chick came about.

It was fun to make, and I must say I love its cute little feet...but it is somehow not what I imagined...expected...had in mind...Well I had to finish it and I took some photos to share, but I must admit it looks more like a hot pot holder that a sweet decoration.

Hope I'll have better luck with the fabric Easter eggs.

Love,

Irina x