Chickadee

Just one cute little Chickadee purse today... I can't remember where i got the fabric from! But it is super cute anyway!

Cloud Trees

Life has been flying past - counting down the days till we move into our new home, and my new craft room.

A dog de-sexing, a weekend in Sydney, a weekend in Melbourne, getting my ovaries ready for making babies.....there has a lot going on but I did find time to make something finally this weekend!

I present the Cloud Tree Clutch.

I designed the repetitive tree pattern, then cut them out of vinyl and burnt a screen for my Yudu.

Design Laid Out on the Yudu Ready for Exposure

This is the screen just after i have burnt it, before washing out the un-exposed emulsion. You can just see the light green areas.

The Burnt Screen

I screen printed some white cloud trees on grey cotton drill, i love the diagonal textured weave of drill fabric.



I then cut out my pieces, along with a screen printed logo on my pocket, and cut out my own pattern, just a rectangle with rounded off corners. I used a pair of old jeans for the lining, denim is good for lining because it creates some weight without having to use interfacing which i find a bit stiff sometimes.

The Inside Pocket

I am very happy with it and will put putting it in my overly neglected Made It Shop this week.

Things i am looking forward to in our new house...

• My Very own craft room when i can contain my mess (containment, is this just wishful thinking?)
• Having a happy sunfilled wall with a some funky hooks to hang bags on and take photos.
• My lush tropical garden view from my sewing machine.

Only 25 days to go!

Another Great Nicole Mallalieu Design Pattern!

Recently I bought the Day Bag pattern from Nicole Mallalieu Design in Melbourne, and can 100% recommend it to anybody.


As usual her patterns are very clear and thorough, with helpful pictures. It is like taking your own bag making lesson at home. LOVE IT!


I used fabric i bought back from my trip to Thailand earlier in the year. The fabric has a beautiful turquoise and blues and areas that have borders of flowers, so i tried to lay it out and cut it to use these borders as best as possible.


I am even trying for the first time a zipper gusset... i have confidence that i will be able to do it as it is clerarly explained in the pattern so fingers crossed!


I am making two bags... this is the first one... it even has a magnetic clasp! My first ever! Nicoles Patterns give me so much confidence!


I will have the second ready in a few days to pop back to have a look soon..

Hope you have having a happy day!

Meet Petunia the Pig!

After some total brain meltdowns - i was able to finish Petunia the Pig, a pattern by Melly and Me. I am a very visual person and found it a little hard not have pictures to go by for a lot of the steps, i like the "Patterns for Dummies" style, you might say! But the pattern and resulting pig are well worth it!

Look... a flat pig... and a full pig! Love the skirt! This little piggy is off to The Haby Goddess to be donated to Softies for Mirabel. She is made with fabric my lovely American friend, Heather at "This is the Day...".

Check out other very cute Melly and Me Patterns here at their blog, they have the coolest monkey!

My Creative Space - One Finished Dress

Okay, i know i haven't been blogging much lately and i am sorry to the one person that got bored and stopped following me... but i have finished one dress!! Do i look like i am from the 1970's? I cut my head out coz , well... i didn't want to do my hair or makeup. also... we aren't alcoholics, we have just been stockpiling beer for the party/nuclear winter.
I'm very happy with my buttons too... and my finishing is the best i have ever done, topstitching all even, seams matching up, quite professional. The puffy sleeves and white cuffs are super funky. All i have left is the top button above the zip and the hem. see the cheeky little puppy down the bottom, well she is looking guilty coz she just ate out Jenga set.
What's in your creative space - pop over to Kootoyoo and check out the other creative ladies for some inspiration.

2 Haiku Bags... Tick!!

My First wish for my new craft room when we buy our new house is a lovely wall with a very cool hanger on it to take photos of the stuff I make (that is after a proper camera!) But in the meantime this Singapore Liquor cabinet of my Parents-in-law will do!!


I named these"Haiku Bags". One is off to a special blogger....and the other may make it into my shop over the weekend! I am really happy with them. I had been dreaming for ages about being able to screenprint my own designs and make bags out of them... i am a step closer!! Next i want to print my own fabric patterns.

What have you been creating?

Old Jeans = New Creation

A new creation! I have found a way to use my Lotus Prints i printed with my Yudu Screen Printer. I took an old pair of jeans and cut out my pieces, i made up the pattern myself! I cut out the lining with one of the back pockets on it to use as a bag pocket, why sew one when one is there already!....

I printed my label on the pocket with the Yudu, i love how i can print on uneven surfaces, it had no troubles with the pocket seams sticking out.
And then i sewed my bag.... this is the lining.


and the exterior..

and one finished Lotus Bag!!
I am very happy for my first one, there are a few things i might change or add in the future, maybe a wider bottom, maybe some larger versions, maybe some pleats on one version.
I am also making two in black with a Japanese print panel which i have then printed the lotus image over the top.

The fabric has gold detailing and the black ink doesn't cover it as well as the fabric design so it shows through a bit which i really like.

I also printed my label on the inside pocket too. Stay tuned for the finished bag...

So there you go Jo, some sewing for you (she was getting sick of all the Yudu posts, hope i haven't bored you too!!)

Myrtle the Turtle

The reason i haven't been able to get elbow deep into my new Yudu obsession is the fact that both my Parents, My Mother-in-Law AND my Step-Daughter are staying with us at the moment.

As always, i made Matilda a toy (see others here). This time is was Myrtle the Turtle from this months Sew Hip Magazine, you can sew their Myrtle the Turtle at the bottom right corner.

I have to say, the pattern was not the best - the main problem was the head gusset. It just didn't fit! Usually i would think it was because i am retarded, but even my Mum, the sewing legend said it was wrong. So after a few heads looking like ET the Extresstrial, we decided to alter it, and got it looking a bit less alien.


It features a heart drawn by Matilda, and Screen printed using the hand-cut stencil method on my Yudu. Myrtle has a little b0nnet with some flowers attached, and stars for eyes.

One Happy Daugther :-) Mission Accomplished.

Off to screen print some shirts!!

Shrinky Dinky Day

On Friday night i played around with my Inkjet Shrink Film i bought from Over the Rainbow. So i whipped up a few little things in Adobe Illustrator and printed them out on the film, making sure to print on the rough/sticky side.

I then cut around the shapes and punched out any holes i needed. I then placed them on a piece of Vellum paper and then placed another piece over the top, this helps to minimise the curling that happens as they shrink. I then placed them into the oven at around 150 degrees Celsius.
And in about 3-5 minutes....this......
Turned into this....!!
and this....turned into this...
I am thinking about making little tags to sew inside of my purses instead of cloth tags. I am going to make some of the little things into necklaces too. They didn't turn out clear as i though they would, but more of a frosted white. I am going to use my Dremel tool to sand the edges smooth too. Overall, it was interesting and definitely lots of fun watching them shrink down. They would be great for kids, because you can draw on them and then shrink them down to little keyrings for them.

Anyway - it was fun!

Study Hall Skirt with Birch Fabric

Here is my completed Study Hall Skirt using some of Lara Cameron from Ink & Spindle's Birch Fabric. Sorry for the bad amature photos but i was home alone and i had to hop up onto my bed to take the photos (NOTE: train my dog to take photos).


As usual with my sewing, there are a few problems.

First issue - using denim - i can't get the pleats to sit down nicely - i believe it is because the denim just wont iron into a nice crease - a lady at work today did suggest some starch but i have never used that before... eecck!

Second Issue - the red inserts - my intention was to make the Birch fabric the feature - but i decided to get all tricky and add in the red inserts but i think they have taken the emphasis away from the feature panel. The fabric i used in the red inserts is also a bit low quality so it crushes really easily - so doesn't help with my "ironing the pleating nice" issue and also from the back the red inserts make it look like a cheerleader skirt ! GOOOOOOOO KATY! (said in a cheerleaderey way)

Third Issue - i am sticking my bum out in this photo! Overall, i am wearing it today and it is not completely a lost cause - i still have enough Birch fabric for round two. I am not using denim, and i am not using coloured inserts next time - i think i will try a black fabric, maybe twill? - I can't find linen near where i live so any suggestions anyone one may have to suitable fabric would be greatly appreciated.

On another note - check out this fabric!! I bought it on Ebay for $30 bucks it's the length of my queen bed.
I love it soooo much. I couldn't bring myself to chop it up into pices for bags or anything like that.I am having a 70's dress up party for my 30th in August so i am going to make a wall hanging with it for that and then i think i am going to make it into a cool table cloth or doona cover.
On another note - it has been brought to my attention by my mother and also my self appointed blog quality control expert, Jo, that sometimes my spelling and my sentence structure are less that acceptable quality. If you know me - i always have things going around in my head and i do most of my posts at work (SSHHH!) so i am a bit off handed with my spelling and sentences - so just like my handmade goods - all faults are part of the charm of the product!

A Little Pouch Giveaway!

Well, i hope everyone is having a good day. Not much happening around here, a boring job...a puppy that likes to licks my feet when i come out the shower, totally defeating the purpose of going into the shower to come out clean.... but anyway.....

There is a new site starting up in June called Sewn.

"There will be interviews with all your favourite designers, quilters, patterns makers and authors. There will be tutorials with me and with other sewers from here and overseas, podcasts and coverage from shows and articles about all maner of exciting things."
They are having a giveaway-a-thon until the launch. Have a look here for info on how to join and and all the other giveaways. So......

Time for a Giveaway!

This little pouch, made with Japanese Kokka Fabric and Canvas material needs a home!

The gray fabric is a heavy weight canvas so i haven't used lining, but finished off my edges nice and neat with a zig zag over the edge.

If you would like this little pouch just pop a comment on this post. You have until next the launch of the new website on the 8th of June and then i will randomly select a lucky lady (or lad) to send it too! One entry for each comment + 3 more entries if you post about it with a link to my page and leave me a comment. Good Luck!

It was a really simple pouch to make. I think i will try one with lining next and then maybe do a tutorial for everyone.
There are probably a million tutorials for something similar but i figure if i came up with it myself, one more can't hurt! What do you think?

Also Ellie the Elephant is now in my shop.

One Finished Ellie the Elephant Purse

Am I strange for getting up at 5.30am in the morning to drive my husband to the station, then getting home and deciding I wont go bed to be for another 2 hours but I will stay up and finish my Ellie the Elephant purse?

For someone that luuurves their sleep, i think i am a bit strange! But i had the Puppy to keep me company - but she even thought it was too early and went back to bed!

They are really bad shots, i will be taking shop photos tomorrow but i had show you guys coz i couldn't wait!

I had to quickly stitch my own label as i had run out of printed ones (WKD for What Katy Did), i am going to carve myself a stamp to use in the future.


The purse will be one sale in my shop on Sunday Morning, but if there is anyone out that reads my blog that would like to buy Ellie for a special blog price of $15 + $5 postage, just send me an email and i will create a listing on Made It just for you only! You have until Sunday morning.

p.s. i have also made a special surprise for the buyer!

Little Birdies on a Chair

Newly listed in my shop is this purse I made a while ago and it has been sitting around wrapped up in cellophane waiting for a home!

Little Birdies sitting happily on a chair.
One handmade purse.
Made from "Birdies on Chair" cotton fabric with feature embroidery and a cats-eye beaded zipper-pull.
Inside fabric is a happy yellow.
Width 17cm x Height 12cm x Bottom 6cm.


Get in quick as there is only one for sale! ( I may make more in the future:-)

The fabric is from Scarlet Fig and the pattern is from Nicole M Design.

Sewing Madness Monday

All this in one monday!
One Monster for a charming young boy i know... he drew the picture and i created a toy in it's likeness. It's legs are a little bit gangly though :-)

One little Swing top for a certain lovely little lady i know, from a $1 piece of fabric from the Op Shop (or as they call it - the "Treasure" shop, sounds so much more exciting!)

And one finished 8" x 10" design for my swap at 6 O'Clock Stitch. I'm very happy with this!

What have you been creating? Leave a comment and a link!