Merry Christmas 2010

Merry Christmas 2010, originally uploaded by MandyMade.

Have a great Christmas and a Happy and safe New Year.

TTFN

Mandy


Half-Eaten Gingerbread Man design by Meg Spaeth
Handmade by MandyMade

Gift for Little A's teacher and Big Buddy

Lily's Fabric Toadstool

Lily's Fabric Toadstool, originally uploaded by MandyMade.

Another Christening gift, this one for my other niece. You may remember the toadstool I posted about back in May. Well when thinking about what to make Lily I couldn't go past this fabric toadstool to match the toadstools at her house. The original idea was for Little A to help me make it but it didn't end up that way, he chose the materials but we ran out of time (and maybe patience). It was quick to make and I ended up putting an empty thread spool in the stalk, worked great. I could see a whole forest and maybe some little visitors in the future.

Pattern by Amy Adams from Sewing Calendar 2010. Handmade by MandyMade

Girl Robot

Girl Robot
Originally uploaded by MandyMade

I made this Girl Robot for my niece for Christmas. You may remember the one I made for my son for his birthday. They are very nice and quick to make. I added buttons this time instead of cutting out felt and sewing them on, it looked like it needed buttons. Other than that I made it in the same way as I did my sons, except I drew the seam allowance onto the fabric for the arms, I think it gave a better result for the claws.

TTFN

Girl Robot design by Audrey and Maude, handmade by MandyMade

Christmas Birds

Christmas Birds
Originally uploaded by MandyMade

I Made 6 of these birds to give as Christmas presents. I found the pattern in Homespun 9.9 Designed by Lara Cameron.

I experimented a bit with the seam allowance which resulted in each bird being a bit different and unique.

I also used them as a table setting. See my other photos on flickr for more pics.

Coffee Cuffs

I was stuck trying to find a present for my KK this Christmas. I didn't think any of my softies would be his thing, then I noticed he was a take-away coffee drinker. So it got me thinking. I saw in a craft mag a little while ago something you could make to go around a disposable coffee cup, lets face it, they can be still a bit hot, and who wants to advertise whats on the cup?! So I decided to come up with my own.

After having a search on the internet for some patterns, I found some and tutorials but I decided to try and make my own. How hard can it be?

After a few trials and errors I came up with what you can see here. I even found some material from spotlight with an environmental message!! So there you go, even if he doesn't end up using them, i had fun making them, and they were a bit of a talking point when opening the KK's. I just have to make one for me now.

I also found others on flickr, do a search for coffee cuffs or coffee sleeve.






Stitching comments: Machine sewn

Lessons Learned: I can do it myself!!

Pattern: My own :-)

Little Chick

Stitching comments: all by hand

Pattern: softies kit, Therese Laskey

Babushka doll

I made this little friend for my sister for her birthday

Stitching comments: There was a lot in this one that was supposed to be done by machine but I liked hand sewing it.

Lessons Learned: My sewing machine doesn't have blanket stitch!!

Pattern: from the magazine Homemade Vol25 No 10 design by Jhoanna Monte Aranez

Little Robot

I made this little friend for my husband for fathers day. It was very difficult hiding the fact I was making it, our son was a bit excited and wanted to tell Daddy all about it.

Stitching comments: I couldn't find any wool in the shops (I didn't try that hard mind you it is the end of the season) so i had so small corduroy left over from a jacket I made so I used that instead. He was a little bit fiddly to make but worked out in the end. I need to work out how to do weighted stuffing a bit better, I just used a bag of rice in the bottom.

Lessons Learned: It is very tricky to poke bendy wire through a tight seam!!

Pattern: softies, Therese Laskey, design by Hillary Lang

Treeling

I made this for no one in particular. When my son sore it he loved it, so now its his.

Stitching comments: I did the entire top of the tree by hand, next time i think i will use the machine. I didn't stuff it enough either!!

Pattern: softies, Therese Laskey, design by Lunda Lye

Travel Diary cover

Photo to come.

I wanted to cover a note book I bought for us to go on holidays with. I have so much left over material so I used that.

Stitching comments: I had no pattern to do this so I made it up. My first attempt left me with not enough material to go around the book, the second I had too much. I also sewed too close around the edge then couldn't fit the book into it. So after a lot a trial and error I ended up with this.

Lessons Learned: Attempting something you want to do but don't have a pattern for is always worth while.

Pattern: Mandy Made

ipod pocket

I told you this was dangerous. I made my very first design!! Very bold of me :-)

Stitching comments: I cut a rectangle of felt and a piece of linen the same size. I made one end into a triangle to fold over. I edged the linen then sewed it to the felt. This is the lining. I then hand stitched it together with thread and blanket stitched. Attached two buttons and some ribbon, and there you go, somewhere to put my ipod shuffle and the ear phones.

Lessons Learned: Diving in is sometimes the best way of getting over any phobias of not being able to design yourself. This wasn't too great a leap, but it was a step.

Pattern: Mandy Made :-)

Blue Booties

I bought an embroidery book called easy stitches, just to get myself into some simple embellishments, nothing too fancy. As a result I made these blue booties.

Stitching comments: I didn't cut the embroidary thread long enough to go all around the part of the bootie that need to be. As a result you can see the join, better luck next time. I'm quite happy with the cars though.

Pattern: easy stitching, Inspiration books

Lily's monkey

Front

Back

I made this little monkey for my niece for her second birthday.

It was very easy to make, turning the tale was the most time consuming, will have to find a better way of doing that!!

Pattern: softies, Penguin Books