Dresses for girls: homemade baby presents

July 30, 2015 ~ Wolves in London ~ 6 Comments

A momentous event occurred a few weeks ago. My sister gave birth to a baby girl.

Of course, every birth is pretty momentous — a life is begun where before there wasn’t one — but this was especially astounding as the baby was the first of her generation to not be a boy…

Between me and my siblings, we’ve so far produced five boys, so the arrival of a little girl into the mix is most exciting.

Also exciting for me was the chance to make some cute little dresses and bloomers. I love my boys (of course, it hardly needs saying) but if there is one thing I miss not having a girl, it’s the chance to sew tiny girl clothes with beautiful Liberty fabrics.

But that chance I now have!

The sewing machine was retrieved from the attic, dusted off and I got to work.

I made two matching sets, both from the same patterns and, sigh, just look, aren’t they sweet?

The dress is from the Purl Bee tiny triangle dress pattern. It’s a straightforward, though slightly fiddly sew, I found. Ironing 1/4 inch seams onto every edge was a little bit of a faff and I got a bit bored of trying to endlessly measure them to make sure they were straight, so, well, some of them ended up a tiny bit not straight.

Do any more regular sewers have any tips for good ways of going about that?

Anyway, other than that, it was very simple to put together and the end result looks lovely. I think my only criticism is that, in the wearing though not so much in the photos, the triangle shape is actually a little bit too extreme — it really does stick right out at the sides. This would probably be fine on a standing-up toddler, but on babies who spend their time lying or sitting, then there’s a little bit too much material in the way.

The bloomers are made from a free pattern by Sewing Mama RaeAnna on Craftsy and I was utterly, completely delighted with these. They look way more complicated than they were to make, just using some elastic round the waist and legs to get that cute gathering, and I sewed them up in no time. If I ever have another summer baby (boy or girl) I will definitely be making loads of these as nappy covers as they are seriously adorable.
The fabric for both is a Liberty tana lawn*. The designs are called Capel L (the green flowery one) and Lola Weisselberg (the purple, more ornate pattern). The first is available on the Liberty website, though I can’t find the second. I have to confess, I bought both from eBay.

To go with the dresses I had to – of course – make some personalised babygrows using my go-to fabric transfer paper method. I made her older brother a set of printed babygrows when he was born (you can see them here: a very important arrival) and I wanted her to have some of her own as well.

(Please excuse the rather crappy photos, I always have difficulty photographing these: invariably, parts of the babygrow are blown out, while the background looks grey and under-exposed. Three years of making these and I still can’t take a decent photo of them…)

The tulips are a Graphics Fairy image; I just couldn’t resist using some more flowers since I rarely have the chance to put lots of flowers onto my boys clothes. (Not that the sproglets don’t love them, actually, so maybe I should break away from all the gender stereotyping.) The As because her name starts with A. The anteater is from an amazing vintage alphabet I first found years ago, but use at every possible opportunity I get. The French A is from a new discovery: a partial vintage alphabet, also free from copyright.

And that’s the complete set: a load of teeny, tiny, flowery little girl clothes. I’m already planning what to make her for Christmas…

*I realised as I wrote this that I didn’t actually have a clue what “tana lawn” meant, so I have just Googled it to find out that the Tana is for Lake Tana in East Africa where the original cotton grew, and “lawn” is used to describe a fabric made with high count yarns; the Liberty tana lawn is made “without the use of crease-resisting chemicals or irritating allergens, the result is a famous masterpiece of fabric technology: fine, cool, comfortable and durable, with brilliant reproduction of colours and prints.” Which all sounds wonderful, but does explain why I found the fabric creased a lot as I sewed it and I had to constantly iron it out. Not really an ideal quality for an item of baby clothing it has to be said. I did also find, as a very amateur sewer, that the slightly silky quality to the fabric made it a little trickier to sew. But will no doubt be lovely to wear…

7 uses for old socks

January 5, 2015January 4, 2015 ~ Wolves in London ~ 6 Comments

Happy 2015 all!

Well, I’ve not written any resolutions yet (or my yearly ideas of things I could…), I’ve not cleaned the house for the new year, or put away the Christmas decorations or even written a list (and I am a big list writer)…

But I did clear out the sock drawer this morning. Whoop whoop.

I freed about 20 old pair-less or holey socks from the confines of the chest of drawers and then wondered what on earth to do with them all.

A quick Google later and I have some great suggestions.

For once I haven’t rushed out to start a Pinterest board (it felt like a slightly esoteric topic, even for my great love of Pinteresting absolutely everything) but I thought I’d share a few of my faves with you. Because, surely, clearing out a sock drawer is everyone’s idea of a good new year habit, isn’t it?

1. A sock puppet

Oh yes, you hardly need me to tell you this, I know, it’s so blinking obvious that you can make a puppet. But I just had to share this adorable giraffe with you from Craft Jr. Because, really, this isn’t any ordinary sock puppet, is it, this is more of a work of genius… Check out the full tutorial.

The thing I love best about this (well, apart from the extreme cuteness of the giraffe) is that it uses a pretty boring sock to start with. And, believe you me, with a lawyer husband, we have a lot of pretty boring socks in the house.

2. Sock monkey

Of course, there’s the good old sock monkey. You couldn’t do this with a sock with holes in, but it could be a good plan for a sock whose partner has been swallowed by the washing machine…

There’s a free tutorial and pattern on Craftpassion.com

3. Sock hobbyhorse

Hobbyhorse made of a sock | Wolves in London — © Mummo

If you’ve got a particularly large, woolly holeless sock, then take inspiration from these amazing sock hobbyhorses, found (via Pinterest) on Mummo.

I think these are actually for sale, so there’s no tutorial, but with a bit of wool, a stick and some basic sewing skills, I think I could probably figure out my own version of this.

4. Sock sloths

Sock sloth | Wolves in London — © Lauren at Cut Out + Keep

Need I say more?! Sock sloths. Oh my goodness, just look at him!

There’s something of a sloth obsession in our house; we spend a lot of time watching Youtube videos of squeaking sloths. (Search for “sloth squeak” if that sounds like your cup of tea…) But my, oh my, it never in a million years occurred to me to try and craft one from an old sock.

I’m adding this one to the list of things to make for the sproglet’s next birthday. (It’s in July so there is plenty of time still to ~~make one~~ forget all about it…)

Full instructions at Cut Out + Keep by Lauren.

5. Sock snakes

To be honest, I could go on forever with cute stuffed animals made from socks, but I’m going to resist adding any more after showing you this last one. Surely the easiest sock creature ever to make: a stuffed snake.

There’s a full tutorial over on Craft Foxes, which claims it’s so easy a four-year-old can do it. Not having a four-year-old myself, I can’t verify this information, but I can say it certainly looks easy enough that I could make it even when weary and bleary-eyed with sleep deprivation after a night of combined baby teething and toddler nightmares. (Which is basically most of my days, at the moment.)

So this one is going straight to the top of the sock recycling to do list.

6. A “hard to reach places cleaner”

Sock cleaner | Wolves in London — © Wikihow

I nicked this idea from the insanely long list of ways to recycle socks on wikihow.

Tape the sock onto a long stick (or ruler) and use it to clean under sofas, cupboards and so on. Now, let’s face it, this is by far the least cute and attractive idea I’ve included here, but it is also, without doubt, the only one that I am sure I will definitely, definitely actually get round to doing.

7. Sock blanket

Sock blanket | Wolves in London — The greatest thing ever made from socks?!

This is perhaps my favourite idea of all: a sock blanket (or quilt, really…) Head over to the Flickr picture to find out all the details of how it is made, but apparently these argyle socks were first turned into scarves, which were then all knitted together to make this amazing-looking blanket.

This, my friends, is “upcycling” at its finest!

If my socks make it into some impressive new form, I will be sure to share some pics and info with you. (Well, not of the sock cleaner, I’m not convinced I could spin a bit of cleaning hard-to-reach-places into a fascinating blog post with scintillating photos, no matter how hard I tried…) And if you’ve seen or made anything else with old socks that I need to know about, please do drop me a comment below…

A skirt for all seasons

August 12, 2014August 10, 2014 ~ Wolves in London ~ 10 Comments

Around the time my babies reach three months, I’ve noticed, I start to get a bit of energy back.

Inspiration strikes. I decide not to buy whatever latest baby need has arisen but to make it instead. I start pinning endless craft projects. I start making endless lists.

And so the past weekend was a frenzy of ideas of all the things I am desperate to sew, knit, paint or make in any other way possible.

This time round, though, my free time isn’t quite in proportion with my plans. The permanently unfinished house calls out to me to be painted and any dual naptime that’s achieved is taken up with decorating rather than crafting.

So the lists remain lists, for now, but I plan to prioritise finding time soon for the very first item on the very biggest list: a few more maxi skirts following the Versa skirt tutorial by Delia Creates.

Home sewn maxi skirt | Wolves in London — Why hello! This is me wearing my maxi skirt in casual mode…

I have one of these already in my wardrobe, you see, that I made myself shortly after the sprog was born. I’ve barely stopped wearing it ever since.

It’s a skirt for all seasons, yes. And all occasions, shapes and sizes.

I wore it throughout my pregnancy with the latest babe. It looked great at six weeks and when I was nine months preggo it was about the only thing I could fit into.

I wear it in winter with tights and in summer with flip flops.

I wear it to slump around the house, as comfy as if I’m in my PJs and I wore it, with a glorious floral jacket to a friend’s wedding.

I’m wearing it right now, sitting here writing this…

In short, I wear it whenever it’s not in the wash…

So, it’s high time for a few more, I think. I dream of a nautical blue-and-white striped one, Delia style, and a really bright and vibrantly coloured geometric print one – Aztec / 1980s style.

Oh, and I forgot to say the absolute best thing about it: to make one, you just need to sew three straight lines. Which makes it, in my book, the best sewing project ever!

Does anyone have any other suggestions for super simple but super useful sewing patterns / tutorials? Drop me a comment as I’d love to expand my repertoire…

I think this is about the only thing I’ve ever sewn for myself to wear, but I have blogged about a few other bits and pieces, like these egg cosies, this quilted teapot cover, these amazing dog draught excluders and some super cute baby trousers and bibs.

The original ickle trousers

June 6, 2014June 2, 2014 ~ Wolves in London ~ 3 Comments

Sometimes you come across a craft pattern so great you can’t help but make it time and again.

Sure, you think you to yourself, I could try out a different pattern this time round. I could make something new that I’ve not made before. In fact I probably should try out something new. Who knows? It might be better.

But you know, all along, that you’re going to whip up another version exactly the same as the others because you just can’t resist its charms. And you’re only likely to be disappointed if the new pattern doesn’t turn out as well…

Home sewn baby trousers | Wolves in London — Very very little baby trousers

So it is with the Made by Rae pattern for newborn baby “pants” (or trousers, to me and all other UK folk). Quick, simple and oh-so-very cute when finished, I made three of these for my friend Laura’s third baby and then another pair for my sister’s son.

Unpacking the sproglet’s newborn baby clothes a few weeks ago, in preparation for the new babe’s arrival, I came across the original two pairs.

Sewn almost two years ago now, these were my first foray into sewing with a sewing machine for many, many years. They were also my first time of making something that I had found through Pinterest, back when I used to pin craft projects imagining I actually was going to get round to making them all.

Sewn before the sproglet was born (and before this blog was born too) they almost seem to represent a different lifetime.

The grey stripy version was from an old shirt of my Dad’s, which I then appropriated at the age of 16, when wearing old too-large men’s shirts that you most likely bought in a charity shop was, briefly, the height of fashion.

Grey stripy baby trousers | Wolves in London — Ah this fabric brings back memories!

The blue striped version was made from my old primary school shirt, that was knocking around in a cupboard for some reason. (Ahem, that reason being that I am a hoarder.)

Blue stripy baby trousers, home sewn | Wolves in London — They look a bit like chef’s trousers, don’t they?

So, all in all, lots of memories stitched into these tiny trews. I can’t wait for the weather to improve so I can put them on the new babe too.

Homemade baby presents; a quandary

April 10, 2014 ~ Wolves in London ~ 10 Comments

Can you give my weary brain a little help this fine spring morning?

I’m having a quandary about what to make for the imminent arrival of my future niecephew (tbc) and could use some advice…

When my sister had her first baby, last summer, I put together a lovely little box full of homemade goodies: a blanket that I’d been knitting for the previous four months or so, some homemade baby trousers and some homeprinted babygrows.

In five weeks or so, my brother is having his first baby and I’d like to do something similar for them. Only problem is, in, oooh, two weeks or so, I am also having a baby (yeah, yeah, I know I’ve mentioned it a million times before) and my recent knitting has been dedicated to a blanket for him. (Which is, as of yesterday, finally finished. I’ll share some pictures after the weekend…)

So, I’ve got (probably) a few weeks of late pregnancy brain fug and lack of crafting mojo to work on something now, followed by a few weeks of new baby brain fug and, I suspect, no time at all for any crafting, mojo absent or otherwise.

So, what I’m after is a quick make, but still of something really special. Does such a thing exist?!

I trawled my Pinterest board, I could make that, to see what had inspired me in the past and this is the shortlist. Does anyone have any advice on these projects? Or any suggestions for something completely different? I’ve been pondering over this for so long now, I could have made something really nice in the meantime!

Seven homemade baby presents

Click on any of the photos below to go through to the tutorials…

1. Purl Bee big bottom baby trousers

Purl Bee baby trousers — The cutest thing ever?

These trousers from the Purl Bee are just too adorable, aren’t they? I have some really lovely fabrics in my stash so I could almost certainly make these without having to go to the shops. In fact, I think I must certainly have a go at these, irrespective of anything else I decide to make…

2.Rainbow blanket from the Purl Bee

Purl Bee baby blanket — So colourful. So perfect for a boy or girl…

I am still tempted to go for a knitted blanket, but making sure I pick something simple and quick. I’ve long admired this simple block colour blanket, also from the Purl Bee, and am tempted to try and make one with four rainbow colours (red, yellow, green and blue) and then add a border around the edge in cream.

But, two concerns: is knitting that much garter stitch going to be so boring that I can’t bear to pick up the needles? And, am I simply setting myself up for a sure and certain failure in trying to knit in a blanket in two weeks? Hummmm…

3. Fabric stacking blocks

Homemade stacking blocks — Every baby needs a lighthouse

These stacking blocks from the Shabby Home blog have been sitting on my Pinterest board for about two years now I think. I absolutely love them: the long teetering lighthouse, the nautical stripes, the hint of Italian (“mare” means sea) that every cultured baby should surely have in their toybox…

Potential issue: is this one of those projects that looks quite simple, but actually takes a long time to make? I have a sort of feeling that I could be spending hours trying to get the perfect pointed corners.

4. Squishy bunny toy

Homemade bunny — He’s squidgy, he’s a bunny, he’s red and striped. What’s not to like?

Then, of course, I could go for a homemade toy (or two). I love this little squidgy red-tummied bunny from Chez Beeper Bebe. Why haven’t I simply started making one already? I’m just never quite convinced that toys are the perfect new baby present. I know the sproglet has accumulated a lot of toys over the 21 months of his life so far and maybe it is better to give something a little more useful???

5. Little puppy

Then again, this little scrap fabric puppy is almost irresistible, isn’t he? And would surely keep a child company from babyhood all the way through to… …well, who knows how old?

6. Yoked knitted cardigan

Yoked cardigan — Love these big red buttons

Back to the knits though. Maybe I should still aim for something with the knitting needles (easier to pick up and put down and work on little by little when I have time and energy in the evenings) but just focus on something a bit smaller than a blanket? This cardigan is really gorgeous, and if I knit it in a neutral colour like grey, I could always add buttons to make it more feminine / masculine after the baby’s arrival. Again, I already have wool in my stash I could use for this too. And the pattern is available on Ravelry as an instant download.

7. Homeprinted babygrows

This is the only one I am sure about. I will definitely be making some homeprinted babygrows, with an appropriate picture on the front, once the baby has been born. (I’m kind of hoping they have a girl and call her something like Rose or Violet, so I can use some lovely botanical images…) Check out my tutorial for how to print on fabric for more info.

Well, even as I’ve been writing this, I’ve been vacillating wildly between all the different choices so, please, any suggestions to help my indecisive brain would be much appreciated!

Various other baby projects I’ve made are:

This easy baby bib, with free pattern and tutorial
These super cute little baby trousers (hmm, yes, I am feeling tempted to whip up another pair of these too…)
A quilted baby burp cloth
And more knitting projects over on Ravelry: baby booties, lovebug booties with matching hat and a really very sweet baby shrug.

A last minute present: the plastic bag stuffer

October 31, 2013 ~ Wolves in London ~ 7 Comments

It was my Mum’s birthday a few weeks ago and, being the disorganised daughter I am, it got to the evening before and I realised I hadn’t yet bought her a present.

I rang up to apologise in advance that her present was going to be a bit late this year and the disappointment in her voice was tangible down the phone line.

I felt bad.

So, I scratched my little head and racked my little brain to try and think of a nice temporary present I could make her while watching X Factor that evening. Something small, quick to put together, that would give her something she could open “on the day”…

(My family are big fans of “on the day” presents: something small to tide over the birthday boy or girl til you get round to actually buying them a proper present. This chronic lateness and disorganisation is genetic, you see, I can’t fight it…)

And what did I come up with? This plastic bag stuffer!

Plastic bag holder — Utilitarian, but pretty

Not, I’ll grant you, the most exciting present in the world, but I knew that my Mum has a dark, dark cupboard in her house which is absolutely overflowing with hundreds of plastic bags, and she had admired my (ridiculously expensive) Cath Kidston version before.

The fabric was the last remnants of some glorious Japanese butterfly fabric that I bought when living in Hong Kong a few years back.

Butterfly fabric from Japan — Oooh, I love this butterfly fabric

(You might recognise it from the business card holders I made earlier this year.)

The construction was pretty simple. I cut myself two rectangles; the bigger one, at approx. 45cm x 35cm for the main bag holder, the smaller one, approx. 40cm x 10cm for the handle.

On both rectangles, I sewed the two long sides together to make two tubes.

For the rectangle that was to be the handle, I turned the fabric the right way round and ironed the tube flat.

On the large rectangle, I then folded a small hem at both ends, ironed this in place, before folding once more to create a second, bigger hem, of approx. 3cm. I pinned the handle into position at the top end of the bag and then sewed round the two large hems, leaving a gap to feed the elastic through.

I cut two pieces of elastic, approximately 20cm long and, using two safety pins, threaded them through the holes and sewed the ends together. Finally, I sewed the gaps shut and admired my work.

Of course, since I was also busy watching X Factor and it was night time, I didn’t stop to take any photos of anything along the way, so if you’d like to make one of these and any of those instructions didn’t make sense, do leave me a comment below and I will explain further if needed!

My Mum was really pleased with it and, as you can see, it is already in use. Now, I just need to figure out what to get her for her actual present. Hmmm…

You can see more of my sewing projects in the sewing category

A very important arrival

August 20, 2013August 26, 2013 ~ Wolves in London ~ 21 Comments

Last week I became an Aunt for the very first time.*

One of my sisters had a baby boy and I can report, completely objectively of course, that he is one of the cutest little babies ever to be born.

I’d been knitting a blanket for the new arrival for a ridiculously long time, but of course it still wasn’t finished when he arrived, so I did a bit of frantic knitting while we were staying in Shropshire and managed to finish the second half in approximately one hundredth of the time I did the first half.

Together with the blanket, I put together a whole little new baby present pack. Here’s a photo of the whole thing.

Homemade baby present box — A bunch of homemade clothes for a very special baby. (Not the shoes, though. I bought them. Though I have always wondered how hard it would be to make some of those little leather slip-ons…)

I made three little babygrow tops, in the same style as the baby carrot set I made for my own sproglet, and using my tried and tested method of iron-on transfer paper. (I’ve got a step by step tutorial for doing this, if you’re interested: how to transfer images to fabric.)

homeprinted babygrows — Good lord, it’s hard to photograph white babygrows, please excuse this over-exposed shot. Does anyone have any tips? I don’t think the white background helps, but when I put them on other colours, the contrast is too strong…

I used a vintage bicycle image (which you can find at the Graphics Fairy: vintage bike) because the baby’s Dad loves to cycle. I love the caption underneath: “the dandy horse.”

For the second babygrow, I found this lovely balloon image, with the word “TOYS” emblazoned across it (also from the Graphics Fairy: toys balloon). Perfect for any child, really…

And the third babygrow reads, “D is for the dirigible, a motor driven balloon.” The baby’s name starts with D, as I’m sure you guessed, and this was far more appealing to me than “D is for dog”…

Then I made another pair of the baby trousers in the same elephant fabric I used recently for Laura’s baby. I’ve said it before, but I’ll say it again, I can’t stand the persistent blue-for-boys and pink-for-girls, so I always like to use any other colour that I possibly can.

Homemade baby trousers — Stomp, stomp stomp

And, in an amazing instance of learning from my own mistakes, I lined the elephants all up in a straight line this time, so none of them were diving off a cliff. Look, look!

Hem of elephant trousers — All in a straight line, yay me!

Finally, the blanket. It’s called the baby chalice blanket and is a free pattern by Karen S. Lauger. You can see full details on my Ravelry page: baby chalice blanket.

chalice blanket close up — This is a close up of the pattern

The pattern is really beautiful, when finished. Intricate, but yet quite bold too. I found it less pleasing to knit than my previous shale baby blanket which was exceedingly simple to remember, but the overall result is really lovely.

chalice baby blanket — Believe it or not, this is the photo I took after trying to arrange the blanket in a perfect rectangle. Perhaps I really needed to block it once more!

I used a Debbie Bliss baby cashmerino yarn, which is just lovely to knit with (though not cheap…) I think I could have used a slightly smaller pair of needles, actually, but it’s never worth worrying about that sort of thing at the end of the knitting.

Chalice blanket — Just one more so you can see the pattern repeats again

She was pretty happy with the box, I think. Lots of things to dress my tiny nephew in, when he gets a little bigger…

*If that wasn’t exciting enough, I’ll also become a double Aunt in a few weeks. When I get married, my partner’s niece will officially become my niece too. (I already call her my niece, in fact, but if I do so in his earshot, he always says to me, “She’s not your niece, she’s my niece…”)

It’s been a little while since I’ve joined up with any link parties, but I’ve just seen a new one that’s started on one of my favourite blogs, Dream a Little Bigger, so I’m joining up there this week. Also back to my old favourite, Brag Monday at the Graphics Fairy. And finally remembering to link up with Handmade Monday, A UK-based link party (hooray! they are few and far between) on Handmade Harbour run by the very lovely Wendy Massey who I met earlier this year at the Pinterest party.

If you’re looking for something to make a new baby, I’ve got a free tutorial and pattern for a baby bib
Or take a look at my tutorials page for more projects that use lovely vintage images

A photo a day: August 13th

August 13, 2013August 14, 2013 ~ Wolves in London ~ 7 Comments

Liberty quilt fabrics — Beautiful V&A fabrics

For my photo today, I thought it was time to introduce you to the famous quilt. Well, to its constituent parts anyway.

I think I’ve mentioned a few times before that I am working on (ahem, really, failing to work on) a quilt for my sister and her husband. It was to be their Christmas present last year. Except my old sewing machine broke a week before Christmas and I had barely even started sewing the pieces together.

Okay, no problem, I showed them what I had done, they loved it, and I thought it would take me a matter of weeks to finish.

Then I decided that it was too small. So I ordered more of the stunning V&A quilts fabric. (Sounds like a quick thing to do, doesn’t it? In fact, that part of the whole venture took me about four months…)

By this point, the old sewing machine had given up the ghost and I’d got a lovely spanking new sewing machine.

Should be easy from now on in. Except… I couldn’t for the life of me work out how to create the same seam allowance that I’d done on the old machine. (I’m slightly embarrassed to tell you this, but I’d decided that the perfect way to make the seam allowance I wanted on the old machine was to sew the whole thing with the needle aligned to the right. Which created a very unstandard seam allowance. Ah well, you sew, you learn.)

I’ve been pondering this problem now for, oooh, probably about another three months and have finally decided, what the heck, I’m not about to undo everything I’ve done and start again, so the new rows will just have to not fit perfectly with the old ones, and I’ll trim down the edges where I need to. I’m sure my sister would rather have imperfect quilt sometime before next Christmas, than a perfect one in a decade.

But since it just might take me a little while to get to the end result, in the meantime, I thought I’d just show you this picture of the beautiful fabrics I’m working with.

Take a look at my pictures for each day this month: August break photos
I gathered together a collection of tutorials for homemade Christmas presents last year, along with links to things that I actually did manage to make in time: homemade Christmas presents

Doggy draught excluders

July 26, 2013July 26, 2013 ~ Wolves in London ~ 4 Comments

You know how it’s scorchingly hot at the moment?

Dog draught excluder — Brrrr, feel the breeze from under that door…

Well, in a moment of topical genius, I’ve chosen today to talk about cold weather. About draughts, to be specific. Remember them? The whistling cold wind burrowing its way under your doors to negate any good your central heating is doing…

Sounds quite pleasant right now, in this sticky, muggy weather, but, no, dragging my brain back to wintertime I can just, just, remember that draughts are no fun whatsoever.

Draught excluders, on the other hand, are very huge amounts of fun.

Always one to overstretch myself, when I learnt to knit three years ago, one of the first things I made was not the obligatory scarf, but a dog draught excluder for my dog-obsessed sister. Did her doors have draughts? I neither knew nor cared when I came across the knitting pattern.

knitted dog draught excluder — Guarding the door like any good knitted dog would

Project details on Ravelry, for anyone interested: Dog draught excluder.

She has since got a real dog, but the draught excluder still has pride of place on her bed (he was never allowed onto the floor, he was too nice for that, she said…)

Then, a few months later, I found that my flat had a genuine draught under the door of my sitting room. It was like the arctic was entering the room under that door and the little tiny radiator could do nothing in defence.

The draught excluder had, of course, taken me a very, very, very long time to knit. (I think this was my introduction to all my homemade presents always being late.) So I decided to have a crack at sewing for the first time since I was a teenager.

I bought what I believed to be a legitimate vintage sewing pattern on eBay, which arrived and turned out to be an illegally photocopied pattern, with some greaseproof paper pattern pieces drawn in pencil. I would complain, but boy oh boy did I love the dog it made…

His body is from some gorgeous V&A quilts exhibition fabric (sadly no longer seems to be available online). Then I used an old red top to make the underside of his ears. It took me an hour or so and I couldn’t believe how quickly and easily I could rustle something up compared to the hours needed for a knit project.

The little dog got lots of compliments, including one from a friend who had always been tempted by a Cath Kidston version but never wanted to pay the money for it. When she got married last year, I made another dog as a wedding present, just the same as this one, but with the bride and groom’s initials in felt stitched under one ear and the date of the wedding under the other…

And I’ve just completed a third doggy too, this time for my niece, another fan of the original mutt. This one is made from a different pattern from the same V&A quilting fabrics collection (this brown leaf design). He looks a little more genuinely doggy with the brown fabric, but I’ve put that lovely red under his ears as well.

Here he is snuggling up to a radiator.

Here is a glimpse of his ears:

And here he is with his older, wiser friend…

Two dog draught excluders — Two friends together, just hanging out…

They’re cute aren’t they? I don’t think he’ll be my last one…

I wish I could even point you in the direction of the genuine pattern, but my photocopy is so bad I can’t tell where it is from. If by any weird and wonderful chance someone knows the answer, please do post a comment!

I’ve got to say, I think this is my favourite sewn thing ever, but if you want to take a look at some others, there’s a whole bunch of things in my sewing category

A horse for the wall

July 25, 2013July 25, 2013 ~ Wolves in London ~ 1 Comment

There’s nothing nicer than knowing that a handmade present was well-received, so I was delighted that this horse T-shirt was such a hit that the recipient’s Mum requested a bigger version for his recent third birthday…

Horse wall hanging — Another horse, what will he be turned into I wonder?

I’m such a dab hand at the iron on transfer paper by now that I actually – regular readers, hold onto your hats – managed to have the new T-shirt ready in time for his birthday party! (Okay, the party was about three weeks after his actual birthday and I had seen him in between times as well, but let’s ignore that trifling piece of information.)

As the present wasn’t exactly unexpected, I also thought I’d try and make something else as a surprise. The whole family recently moved house, so I thought an equine-related something-or-other for his room might be a good call.

Since my love for Spoonflower is yet to wane, it seemed like a good idea (theoretically, rather than financially) to get some fabric printed with a horse picture and turn it into a nice wall hanging.

And this was the result:

He’s rather glorious isn’t he?

(Please excuse the floral wallpaper as the backdrop. As I mentioned recently, we have not a single bare painted wall in the house at the moment, but this horse does look especially incongruous against such a chintzy background…)

I made a couple of other Spoonflower designs at the same time, for yet another ridiculously late birthday present, so as soon as I get them seamed and made up, I’ll write up a little how to for making a present like this. It’s very straightforward to make, but a nice idea, I think. (She says, modestly…)

I’m in a frantic making mode at the moment, since we’re celebrating the sproglet’s first birthday on Saturday and a few of the guests are yet to receive presents from me for birthdays already been (oh dear, honestly, how can I be so utterly, utterly useless?!) so there’ll be a couple more makes up here over the next few days…

Til then, happy end of the week everyone.

A few more T-shirts I’ve made
And a how to use transfer paper
And some more Spoonflower fabric

Wolves in London

Making stuff and pootling in the garden

Sewing

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1. A sock puppet

2. Sock monkey

3. Sock hobbyhorse

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5. Sock snakes

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