Sending hugs in the post :: part 2

For my mother, I took an old wool sweater of mine, one she knew well from the time I still lived at home, and cut out a large love-heart. Onto this I hand-sewed some felt flowers (continuing my felt obsession), and machine-appliquéd a smaller love-heart onto the front, made with a scrap of woolly sweater and some fabric (from a thrift-store shirt, the same one I used to make a mini doll shirt out of).

The same thrift-store shirt served as the backing for creating a....cushion. I stuffed it full of polyfill, cuddled it for a few evenings, and then shipped it off to the green isle.

Edit to add ::

Unfortunately the postal company that was in charge of delivering the package within Ireland is a complete joke; I used Track-and-Trace, and although online it stated that delivery had been attempted several times, there was no trace of it being anywhere near my mother's home.

At least the package made it's way safely back to me...I will have to give this heart to my mother in person. An excellent reason for a visit, don't you think? ;)

Sending hugs in the post :: part 1

I don't live in the same country as my mother or my sister. We are spread around Europe, just a few hours away by aeroplane. We can visit the lush greenery of Ireland to see my mother, and we can bask in the hot sunshine when visiting my sister in the south of Spain. They come here (the Netherlands) to marvel at the intricate grid systems of canals and windmills that keep the fields and cities safe from flooding.

The modern world allows us to keep in touch via Skype and What's App etc, but it doesn't replace the comfort of a hug. A real, in-person, hug. Nothing ever will.

But some things can come close. Let me show you what I made as substitutes for hugs for when we are not around each other in person.

For my sister, I made a doll, using the pattern from this wonderful book, De Poppen van Tante Hilde. I love that this book gives you the basics (doll and clothing) and then the sky is the limit. This is my second time making a doll like this (the first one lives in Germany now), and I love the results.

Using an old t-shirt of mine as the body, which I dyed slightly with coffee to darken it from white-beige to a bit of a darker beige, and some interesting gold/green/beige cotton for her torso (I didn't have enough t-shirt material left due to a cutting error! Oops!), this little woman came to life.

I decided to give her a felt hair style, which I machine stitched with a decorative flower-like stitch. I ended up not including the bear ears as depicted in the middle image above...

I upcycled a thrift-store shirt to create a mini-version for the doll (again, using the pattern for the open blouse from Tante Hilde's book). I managed to keep the original buttons, so from cutting to finished product, this little item of clothing was made in a jiffy! For her skirt, I used some left over corduroy originating from an old pair of my husband's trousers. Mini-man and Big Brother contributed to the doll by drooling on, or playing with her before I wrapped her up for posting.

 

I added a box of different tea-bags for my sister's partner, and sent the whole thing...by snail mail (a self-carved stamp, inspired by this lovely book by Gennine; and she has a great online resource if you want to try it out yourself).

And I can happily say that she was well received by the recipient :) Yay! Now there's a little bit of the four of us keeping my sister company even though we are far from each other.

The tale of two pouches

I made these zippered pouches as gifts.

The first one was gifted to my son's daycare teacher who was leaving for another job. He had gotten on really well with her, and she was great at her job. We were sad to see her go. Luckily, her successor is just as awesome as she was! 

The second pouch I made was a birthday gift for a dear friend of mine. I don't get to see her often anymore now that we no longer live in the same country, but this year we paid her and her family a visit to celebrate her day. It was great to be able to give this to her in person.

The outer part of both pouches is made with a thick layer of felt, onto which I machine appliqued some (very simple) felt flowers. I played around with the arrangement beforehand, and I secured them down with a small bit of glue before sewing them on. I lined each pouch with some quilting cotton from my stash.

Nice and quick, and very satisfying to make. I think I should make myself some too. You can never have too many pouches. Hahaha! 

Rawr...

Another birthday rolled around, this time a birthday boy from a few doors down. He's the same age as our mister man and they enjoy each other's company when they're not claiming each other's toy as "mine"!!!! Seeing how 3 year olds can solve disagreements sometimes shocks me (e.g.when shoving is involved) but on the other hand can surprise me with how compassionate each can be to the other.

He's a Dino fan (like our son) and I did think of making a similar t-shirt with a felt Dino appliquéd to the front. But, after a few washes, Dino had shrunk a little (re-felted?) so now the t-shirt is a bit scrunched up in the middle. I guess it's not ideal for clothing that needs to be washed often. Lesson learnt!

Instead I decided to make a Dino softie! I drew out a pattern on paper, cut the pieces out from felt, and starting sewing. A few stitches here, a few there. It's nice to have a quick and easy project within hands reach. I glued the decorative parts to the main body before blanket stitching them on so that they stayed fixed as I sewed them. I stuffed him with some polyfil until he was nice and squidgy!

And after a few evenings...Mr Dino was ready. And I was told that the Birthday Boy did not let go of his new Dino softie until he was fast asleep that night. It's always nice to hear that your handmade items are well-appreciated, isn't it? :)

Tah-dah!!!

Upon returning home, my almost-3-year old put in a request for a Dino of his own. Seeing as his birthday is just around the corner, I'm now busy stitching another T-Rex. The pieces are cut...and now for some hand-sewing...

Something girly

I've had this Lillestof organic cotton jersey in my stash for a while, never really knowing what to make with it. However, a day-care friend of my son is celebrating her 3rd birthday this weekend, so I decided to make her a little something.

This t-shirt is made using Rae's Flashback Skinny Tee pattern, cut out in size 3T. I really like this pattern, it's definitely becoming a staple go-to pattern for me. And it's easy to modify...I added 2.5cm to the front on order to create gathers along the front neck line but they're not that obvious. Ah well, perhaps my next attempt will turn out better! An old t-shirt of mine provided the fabric to create the cap sleeves and to bind the neck line. As you can see from the *beautiful* stitching along the neck-line, I have to improve my patience when sewing the final touches on a garment ;) I added a ribbon "label" so that it's easy for the little Miss to determine the back/front of the t-shirt.

To complete the gift, I wanted to make one extra thing, a little pouch or bag, but before starting I decided to check my IG feed, and noticed the lovely felt pouches my sister-in-law had just made and posted a tutorial for...what perfect timing. Thus, a little matching pouch was sewn, and hopefully the birthday girl will fill it with her treasures.

A belated birthday gift...

It was the birthday of a good friend of mine a few weeks ago, and I wanted to make her something to mark the occasion. We don't see each other very often, and months can go by between chats. However, I think about her often, and every now and then we exchange hand-written letters or a long phone call. It's the type of friendship isn't affected by silence or distance...we can pick up exactly where we left off.

She loves getting dolled up for nights out. I remember many a Saturday night getting ready at her place, chatting and giggling as we anticipated dancing the night away! She had (and probably still has) quite a collection of make-up, and I remember the "hundreds" of bottles of nail varnish in every colour imaginable. So what better than to make her a Snappy Manicure Wallet by Anna of Noodlehead (free tutorial here). I filled it with some new bottles of nail varnish, some new nail files and some hand creams. I wrapped it up in some happy polka-dot paper and posted it off. 

Happy belated birthday, dear friend! xxx

Another type of doll...

I promised myself that I would only start a new project, once I had finished one on my Work-in-Progress list. Well, my little man got his doll, after months of it sitting in my WIP box. So time to start a new project...

I bought this book for myself for Christmas. My sister-in-law had made a beautiful Princess doll for her daughter for Christmas, and so I wanted to give this style of doll-making a try. My experience with doll-making being limited, I found the instructions of Tante Hilde straightforward and clear. You should check out her blog and marvel over the amount of lovely dolls this woman has created...

With a clear deadline in mind (visiting friends whose daughter would be the recipient of the doll), I started tracing and cutting the fabric for this doll 5 days before we had to leave. Stuffing a doll isn't as boring when you're watching a hilarious comedian, so after two short evenings the doll was stuffed and ready to be given hair and a face. In one evening I had given her dark brown eyes, and a soft pink mouth. Her hair is two-toned, brown and cream, and gathered into two pigtails on either side of her head. She was given a batik-like torso, because I didn't have enough skin-coloured fabric for the entire doll ;)

I made her a plain khaki skirt, trimmed with orange-blossom bias tape. Now she was ready (or at least we had to leave to visit the friends whose daughter was getting this doll). Into the car she came with us as we travelled north, through Friesland and over the border into Germany, where she was well received by her new owner!

However an outfit isn't complete without a jacket and shoes, so upon my return I made her a little fleece cardigan, trimmed in the same bias as for the skirt, and completed the look with a pair of green felt shoes. 

And now there's a little package in its way to Germany. 

I've learnt that there's nothing like a clear deadline to get my creative bug rolling. Now, to instil that sense of deadline for other projects...