1, 2, 3 Quilt

This is the third year I've made Sophie a quilt for her birthday and this one was my own design.

I wanted to combine the technique of using freezer paper to 'piece' my patchwork design, I wanted to use up some of the special scraps of fabric (lots of rare Heather Ross and Liberty) I've been saving and I wanted to do numbers - something I'd not seen in many other quilts.

I drew out my design, copied onto squares of freezer paper and then split this into sections to piece together. I ironed the templates onto my scrap or white fabric, cutting a cm border for seam allowance. I started with the easier numbers that were angular first - one, four, seven before trying the curves.

I found that matching the two curved section together needed lots of pins, using the needle in the down position to maneuver and determination! There are slightly iffy bits in the 'six'!

I found that using a slightly smaller stitch length enabled me to pull the paper pattern off more easily.

The back was a simple giant zero with an elongated middle on an angle. I like finding interesting mixes of fabrics - favourite knocking up against each other in unusal ways. Although it took such a lot of time it took to make the larger sections of scrap to cut out the template pieces that I'm not sure I'll be replicating this any time soon.

Findlay helped me take these photos with some reluctance - I must make something for him!

A Medieval Headdress!

After a recent trip to Lewes Castle  and much fun dressing up in their tower I decided to create my own headdress to add to Sophie's growing dressing up box.

These images of headwear from the middle ages helped my design.

I started with by making a tube, sewing one end closed with a ribbon attached. After pulling this the right way I then stuffed with toy filling and sewed the other end closed with a second ribbon embedded into the seam. These two ribbons tied to make my circle.

I decorated with a veil of fabric and netting which I gathered and hand-sewed to the back of the circle. I hand-sewed matching ribbon around to cover the veil. 

 Next time (!) I'll add a band of elastic that will tuck under the chin to keep it in place.

Nurse!

Sophie continues to feature heavily in my blog and in my making, the next few posts will be the same as she's turning three and I've used the opportunity for more projects.

 For her new dressing up box I've made this lovely vintage-style nurse outfit.

I designed it without the aid of a pattern. Although you can tell it's homemade because of some of the wobbles, but I think this just adds some genuine 'make-do-and-mend' qualities from the war-time era!

 

I'm really pleased with the cape. It was simple to construct and the tiny blue apple button is the perfect finishing touch.