Washing Sorter

Ages ago when I was coming up with ideas of what shelving to have in the office, I decided I liked this idea:

Once I'd built the boxes out of plywood and painted them all, I decided they looked a bit cheap and nasty and it wasn't the look I was going for! The boxes ended up languishing in the cellar, while I went on the build this shelving instead:

I recently decided that I needed a washing sorter in the cellar, as I had just been throwing piles of dirty clothes on the floor (whites, colours and sports stuff) until the pile was big enough for a load and then they got bunged in the washing machine!
My thrifty self decided to take apart all the boxes that I had made and repurpose them into one big box with an open front and shelf brackets for holding 3 washing baskets.
This actually took quite a lot of time and next time I'd just pay the money for new wood!
Anyway, aren't things always easier in hind sight?!
So, I took all the boxes apart, made my measurements for the washing sorter to fit 3 washing baskets and then played a bit of Tetris trying to fit the pieces of wood I had into the shapes needed for the 5 pieces of wood needed for my washing sorter.
I then cut some pieces to size and fitted them all together using wood glue and screws.
I then attached the sides, top, bottom and back of my sorter together, spent an ages filling in all the holes and sanding it down and painting it!
I used scraps of wood and screwed them directly to the sides of the box to act as gliders for the washing baskets to rest on.
Not bad for a free project but a bit too time consuming for my liking!

Repurposing a Top into a Dress

As with the other dress I made for E, this one is also made from a top that was too short for her but still fit her otherwise.
I cut the top to size and decided to make a tulip hem dress instead of one that was just gathered at the top.
For this, I cut my material double the circumference of the waist and then folded the material in half and cut off an arc at the bottom of the skirt through both bits of material.

I then pinned on some ric rac all down the side of the skit matial and the bottom (everywhere but the waistband section.
To do this, I pinned it on the right sid of the material, then folded the material to the inside to make a hem, so that only the bottom wavy bit showed on the right side of the dress.

I then sewed along the bottom of the skirt making sure to catch both the material and the ric rac.

Here you can see what it looks like on both the inside and outside:

I then changed my sewing machine setting to the loosest stich setting and sewed a row across the width of the skirt material at the top where the t-shirt will be attached leaving a long thread at the beginning and end so I had lots of space for size adjustment.
I then gathered the skirt from one side, gradually moving the bunching material along until I had gathered the skirt to be the same length as the t-shirt opening.
I then attached the skirt and top together by stitching round with right sides facing, making sure that the tulip part of the dress would be at the front of the dress to one side.

Here it is finished and a very unreluctant model modelling it!!

Prisoner Toddler Top

When E was younger, I made her this super cute "Been inside for 9 months" body that was blue and white stripe (apparently black and white are not baby colours... I searched high and low for black and white stripes!). I stiched the letters on by hand and it took quite a while to do, but I loved it!

When I was in H&M and saw they had black and white tops, I jumped at the chance to make a new one. E is now getting on to 2 year's old, so obviously needed something a bit more appropriate written on her top. I decided to go with her date of birth so that it looked like an inmate's number.
I cut a small square of black material, programmed in my sewing machine to sew the numbers and then pressed "go"!! I attached the material with interface on the back and ironed it to the top. I then stitched around the edges in a white thread so that it would pop a bit.
I give you prisoner number 280513:

Felt Food

For E's new kitchen I made her some felt food to go in her stocking at Christmas.

Eggs
I cut out 2 circles from white felt and 1 smaller circle from yellow felt. I used my sewing machine to sew the yellow circle onto one of the white circles. I then stuffed a bit of cotton wool inbetween the two white circles and sewed them together one of top of each other.
I bought some plastic eggs that open from ebay so that E can crack her own eggs and fry them up in her frying pan!

Tea Bags
I cut out 2 tea bag shapes from white felt and sewed them together one on top of another leaving the top section open. I then filled the bag with green tea, slipped a length of ribbon in the top and then sewed it closed. I also cut 2 little squares in various different colours for the tags and sewed them together, enclosing the other end of the ribbon inside.
I made a simpe felt box for holding the teabags by cutting out a quick square box shape and then sewing all the edges shut.
They go perfectly with E's singing teapot and cups!

Comfy Toddler Trousers

You can make these trousers using any material, as long as you have some nice stretchy material for the waistband and ankle cuffs. I chose to make mine with a fine black cord and some stretch jersey purple material with white stars the same material I used to make E's dress).
Here are the material pieces ready and waiting:
4 legs (2 left/2 right) length 40cm, width top 17cm, crotch 21cm,bottom 14cm
2 ankle cuffs 27x17cm
1 waistband 43x17cm
4 pockets top 8cm, side 13cm, formed into 2 arcs

Pin the pockets right sides together, then sew the top and bottom arcs using a stretch stich and stretch needle. Turn right way out.

Then pin trouser legs right side together and sew down the outside leg.
Open out the trouser sections and pin the pocket on and sew along the longest outside arc.

Then pin the trouser sections together at where will be the front and back down to the crotch and sew together.

Pull the trousers sections so they are still right sides together, but look like a pair of trousers lying flat. Then pin the inside leg and sew it all together in one go.

Turn them the right way round and they are starting to look like a pair of trousers!
Fold the ankle cuff lengthways and sew along the longest open side. Then fold the material into itself so that you form a little cuff that has 2 folded sides at the top and 4 open sides at the bottom.
Now slip this onto the trousers and pin at the opening and sew together.

Flip them down and you now have your ankle cuffs done.
Do the same for the waistband, except make sure you fold the material in half widthways instead, join together and then pin to the top of the trousers and sew. Then just fold it back the right way when you're finished.
There you have it ... a simple pair of trousers!

 And here's my model who won't stay still modelling them!

Repurposing a T-Shirt into a Dress

Have you ever bought a t-shirt for a toddler and then got annoyed when said t-shirt shrinks in the wash or their little tummy is just too pot-bellied to fit into it properly or they spill food on it and stain it, or any of the above?! Well, I decided to take that t-shirt, cut it up and make it into a dress.

I cut the t-shirt to the length I wanted it (leaving an extra couple of cms for the hem).
I then measured the width of the opening at the bottom of the t-hirt where I had just cut and multiplied that by 2. This then gave me the width of the fabric for the skirt section. I wanted the skirt to finish below the knee so there's growing room, so I also measured that length.

Measurements for Ella (19 months old):

I then changed my sewing machine setting to the loosest stich setting and sewed a row across the width of the skirt material at the top where the t-shirt will be attached leaving a long thread at the beginning and end so I had lots of space for size adjustment.
I then gathered the skirt from one side, gradually moving the bunching material along until I had gathered the skirt to be the same length as the t-shirt opening.
I changed my sewing machine back to the normal setting and sewed a row of stitching just below the gathers to set them in place.
I then attached the two width pieces of skirt right sides together and joined them using zigzag stictch to close the skirt.
I then cut the material so there was only 1cm hem at the top and matched the t-shirt to the skirt, pinning it so it lined up together.
I then sewed zigzag stich to join the two pieces of material.

I then folded the hem up and folded that over again and then used a double needle to sew a quick hem around the bottom.

The belt was made by cutting out a rectangle twice the length of the width of the skirt and 12cm wide. I folded the material lengthways and sewed down one width side and one length side. I then turned the material out the right way and sewed the final width side closed.
I attached the belt by sewing a line all along the top and bottom of the belt but stopped at the sides so that it's only attached to the front of the dress.

 Here's E modelling the goods!