Kid Shorts

As I have mentioned previously, having a child who is quite slim means I can't just rock off to the shops and buy him new shorts and trousers.

This Summer, I have been trying out the Kid Shorts pattern from MADE.  This comes in sizes 12months to 10years.

This is a super easy pattern to put together, and the website has loads of excellent tutorials for changing them  - add pockets, flat fronts, piping, bias bound racer style, knee length boardie or shorter 'girl' style.

I have made these in various sizes, with and without pockets. I have also successfully turned it into a one piece pattern, so as not to break up a large scale print.

Mr School boy wanted skulls and orange shorts.

Mr Size 3 likes the Octopus fabric- More Octopus's Aunty Wendy!!!!

Mr 4 wanted tiger shorts.

Tablet covers

My children were fortunate to have been given tablets for Christmas. Both were the same, along with matching cases.
To tell them apart, and also to provide them with a little more protection, I set out to make them covers.

I used a free tutorial from Create Kids Couture, which offers instructions for cases in several different sizes for different tablets.

My only change was to replace the elastics with cotton/lycra fabric I sewed into a tube. The elastic I had on hand was either too firm or much too narrow.

These work quite well, and my only addition will be to pop a velcro dot on the back of the tablet for added security.

Simple Skirts

For a number of girly gifts lately, I have made Simple Skirts using the tutorial on the DanaMadeIt blog.
In simple terms, you use the full width of fabric - sew a side seam, hem and casing for elastic. Done!

These are a quick project, and are a nice way to showcase some pretty fabric.

Teacher gifts - Infinity Scarves

As we reach the end of the school year, I needed to come up with an idea for a teacher gift.

After to-ing and fro-ing on a few ideas, I settled on infinity scarves. I considered doing a lightweight cotton one as we are coming into Summer, but then decided I would go with a wool one and have it as a Winter gift that actually gets used!

I found a fairly straightforward tutorial on the H is for Handmade blog. The only change I made was to make the initial width 20" rather than the suggested 22", and was thus able to get three scarves out of my length of fabric.

I came across a really nice suit weight 100% wool in nuetral tones that seemed to really suit the styles of both teachers I was gifting to.

Modelled by 'Fred the Head'