The Last Five

Any regular reader will know that I have been working on the Oliver and S 'Little Things to Sew' Cover-to-Cover Challenge set by Bartacks and Singletracks.  Well today is the final day for submissions and I have finished my last five!

First up a set of three bear hand mitts - made in brown corduroy and designed for use in my daughter's puppet theatre.  I used the smallest size mitt for the father bear and then scaled them down to make the mother and child.  I added eye-lashes for the mother, but otherwise size is the only difference between them.  They fit my five-year old's hand just right.

 

I made a circus themed messy-kid's bib using iron-on vinyl and bias binding trim.  This was a simple make but did challenge me with making bias binding go around curves!  We don;t have a baby in the family at present so this will go in the 'gifts to give' collection.

This messenger bag was made in another piece of corduroy - using the green (my girl's favourite colour) as an accent, and with brown straps.  I interfaced the corduroy but it would have been better with more stiffness.

It is a small bag, and if I made it again I would be tempted to add snaps or velcro to hold the flaps down.  A simple and enjoyable pattern to make!

These juggling balls were made with remnants of corduroy (spot the originals above) for my husband's recent birthday.  They were great to sew and not at all fiddly - even in the smallest size.  I gathered up a handful wheat (from the farm's silo) and wrapped it in cling-film and placed these inside each ball, along will some poly-fill.  They are a nice weight to juggle.  I have used the matching bag pattern to make storage for my knitting and card games - so will need to make another for these!

My final sew was a cupcake carrier, using the bento box carrier pattern.  I was inspired by the fabric and used a plastic box I already had as a base, and then adapted the pattern to fit.  Unfortunately it doesn't fit as comfortably as I had hoped, but it does work.  I'll have to try it out sometime soon!

Just to summarize my efforts in the Cover-to-Cover Challenge here is a mosaic of my projects.

1. DSC_0109, 2. DSC_0104, 3. DSC_0111, 4. DSC_0115, 5. DSC_0140, 6. DSC_1201, 7. DSC_0070, 8. DSC_0059, 9. DSC_0056, 10. DSC_0639, 11. DSC_0164, 12. DSC_2213, 13. DSC_2139, 14. DSC_2120, 15. DSC_2112, 16. DSC_2122, 17. DSC_1987, 18. DSC_1645, 19. DSC_1219, 20. DSC_0164

I made 19 items!! Yes there are two puppet theatres there but I did only count them once - and the hat and explorer vest share an image, so I have repeated that one.  These are also items 91, 92, 93, 94 and 95 in my O+S count.

Many of the items have already been very well used, including the backpack, theatres and costumes.  But the favourite is definitely the tutu - worn at least five times a week!  When considering that we live on a farm it has seen more action than even I imagined.

A Sewing Catch-Up

I have been very slack and not blogged for over a month now... so here's a catch-up on some of the projects I have been working on for the Bartacks and Singletracks' 'Oliver + S: Little Things to Sew' challenge.

Firstly I made my niece a bear carrier for her 3rd birthday.

To make it easier for her to use independently I added elastic to the straps.  This was quite fiddly but I think it works.

The two bears are brothers - and both have been loved lots!

Here she is enjoying her present alongside our K - with a bear carrier I made a year ago.

Next up is a baby jaguar costume for K, incorporating both the 'cosy hood' and the 'art smock'.

 

I wanted to make the smock as a neutral costume that would work with other hoods (should they be needed) and I'm super pleased with how easily it sewed up.  I used cotton homespun from Spotlight and made no adaptations to the patterns apart from omitting the pockets.

For the hood I added a front facing of fake fur to the same homespun, as well as making the outer ear pieces from the same.  I used the same pattern a few years ago to make a 'kiwi head' and knew how great it is for costumes.

K's favourite part of the whole ensemble is the tail!  Just a length of the homespun with some fur sewn on the end, attached to a elastic waistband.  Very simple!

The latest item I have completed has been a pair of mittens made from two layers of fabric.  On the outer I used a scrap of waterproof fabric and I lined it with some polar-fleece.  Although I followed the idea from Froo and Boo, I added a separate binding strip between the layers that could hold the elastic.  I sewed it to the outer layer, threaded it with elastic, then inserted the whole inner and edged the bottoms together.

I used a microtex needle to try to keep the mittens as waterproof as possible (small hole = less leaks?) and there is still some more of winter that might provide the opportunity to try them out.

These projects are numbers 87, 88, 89 and 90 in my O+S count and numbers 11, 12, 13 and 14 in my LTTS challenge!  Progress is intermittent, but happening!

I am working on a few more projects from this book, hoping to finish them by the end of this month.  My sewing room is undergoing renovations  at present (very slowly), so craft is mainly in the form of knitting.  And maybe some gardening and chicken watching!