Easy Peasy DIY Bunting

First of all, I’d like to congratulate Lauren and Matt on getting hitched – Yay! And secondly, I want to show off the super cute bunting I made for their wedding.

It was a good ol’ fashioned country wedding, so I went all out ‘barn dance’ with my fabric choices.

This bunting really is easy peasy to make! Not a lot is needed just some good-sized scraps of material, twine, a ruler, card, and scissors or, if you’re looking for precision, rotary cutters. To assemble I used a sewing machine, but you could probably use a glue gun if you don’t sew.

My first job was to decide which size bunting I wanted, I then made a flag template using a cereal box and used it to cut out all my fabric flags.

Once everything was cut out, I started sewing the flags on to lengths of twine using a zig zag stitch. To do this I placed each flag right side down on the machine, laid the twine over the top edge of the fabric, folded the top edge over and stitched. Simples, right?

Till next time x

Upcycle: Cot bumper to mini tote bag!

Carmen has finally outgrown her cot bed – hooray! So I upcycled her cot bumper into a fab mini tote bag – perfect for the library or playing shops.

Fancy making your own? Here’s a great how-to from the peeps over at Crazy Little Projects.

Yo Ho Ho – I Made a Pirate Hat.

Avast, ye scurvy dogs! Are ye ready to see it?! Here be my homemade pirate hat.

Okay, okay. Enough of that silly pirate talk. Henry has his first Summer Fete and Sport Day next week and the poster reads:

Just for fun, come dressed as a pirate!

As a wannabe homemade mum, this is the stuff my dreams are made of – yesss people, I’m talking homemade kids costumes here! My first stop was the library, where I picked up a book on Sewing for Children by Emma Hardy. It has 35 step-by-step projects, one of which is a pirate hat. The hat was easy peasy to make – read my lips: e a s y  p e a s y – super quick and no sewing machine required. All you need is some embroidery floss, a needle, two buttons and some black and white felt for an instant fancy dress costume.

And here’s Henry reading his pirate book whilst wearing the hat. Maybe I’m biased, but doesn’t he look cuter than a bugs ear in it? All that’s left to make now is a little necktie to complete the look… ‘n I be havin’ just th’ perfect scrap ‘o fabric from ’tis project here!

Sssssssnake Make!

Meet Cecil – George’s new favourite snake! Thaaat’s right my friends!!! I made a sssnake!

Cecil was a quick present whipped up for a one year old’s birthday! I didn’t use a pattern, just kind of winged it. Inspiration struck me when I saw Henry playing with his snake and my only thought was ‘how hard can it be to cut out a snake shape?!’ Well – turns out it’s really quite hard when you have no drawing skills.

Ummm yes George, of course snakes have square heads!! Anyway, forget about his square face for a minute… Let’s talk about his minky soft belly and those shimmery eyes? Cecil is the ultimate toy, he pulls off incredibly snuggly and scary at the same time! Here he is slithering through the grass before his trip to North Devon.

Soooo cute. I had an absolute blast making him and I’m pretty happy with the way he turned out. Simple and fun, I want to make lots and lots of snakes… Do you want to make one too? Of course you do! Then watch this space for a Cecil snake how-to.

Fist Pump Tuesday! #vintagepledge

Last January I made a pledge to sew up my first ever vintage garment this year… And *fist pump in the air* I did it! Given my total lack of sewing skills and inability to follow directions, I opted for this Butterick #4731 because it said EASY in capitals on the pattern envelope. No really, it has nothing to do with the fact that the dress is so cute it hurt my eyes!

I made View B Dress and it wasn’t that difficult; apart from Step 3 which had me in a bit of a muddle. Don’t look at the bias binding on the arm holes, it’s uglier than a Bazilian Treehopper. There are also some, ahem, fitting issues but I’m hoping she’ll grow into it by Winter.

 

So, would I sew vintage again? Uh huh!! Vintage rocks my friends!! I hope the next time you see me, I’ll be wearing one of these…

I Made a Dress!

My inner sewing goddess is jumping up and down, clapping her hands like a six year old! It’s a navvvvy dress with white polka dots and… I MADE IT!  The fit is horrible. It makes my shoulders look slopey and my boobs look saggy but I still LOVE it anyway. It’s a Colette Dahlia pattern. And here’s what I learnt:

1. I’m not in proportion

2. Making a dress is kinda complicated

3. Invisible zips aren’t as scary as you think

4. Kick pleats are a nightmare to hem, expletives were uttered and no, I won’t post a photo of my derrière

Would I make this dress again? Probably not. The fit is really baaad on me! Maybe it’s time for another peg bag?

Liebster Award | Nomination

Nominated for a Liebster award…. (Again!)

The Liebster award is a chain nomination that was created by bloggers, for bloggers. It’s passed around the blogging community to those that have fewer than 200 followers to encourage connection and support for new and upcoming bloggers. I was kindly nominated by Zoey at Cherry & Mint. Thank you for the nomination! This is actually the first time I’m doing anything like this.

The Rules:

– Link back to the person that nominated you.
– Answer the questions given by the nominator.
– Nominate 11 other bloggers with less than 200 followers.
– Create 11 questions for the nominees.
– Notify all nominees via social media/blogs

 So here are the questions and my answers below:

1. What is your blog about?
   I have a lifestyle blog. I post about all the things that I like which include thrifting, DIY projects, cooking, art… loads of things really.

2.  What made you…

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Thou Shalt Sew Vintage

For those of you who don’t know, the vintage sewing pledge started last year when Marie from A Stitiching Odyssey realised that she had been buying vintage sewing patterns faster than she could sew them, so she pledged to use at least five of them during 2014 and invited us all to join her. She’s too nice! The response was overwhelming with over 100 peeps taking the pledge.

This year it’s happening again and promises to be even bigger and better. There are no strict rules, it’s essentially your own personal pledge outlining your plan for vintage sewing in 2015, and I can’t wait to be a part of it!

So let’s do this thing my friends, here’s my pledge:

During 2015, I, Kellita of Kellita Makes, will sew up my first ever vintage sewing pattern.  

And this is it, a 1960s Butterick #4731 pattern. The pattern is for an adorable little “Turnabout Dress”. How groovy is Carmen going to look in it this Summer?! I was SO excited until I opened the envelope to look at the pattern and instructions… Yowzas! That’s some seriously cryptic 1960s sewing verbiage. I’m definitely going to need help.

Are you taking the pledge this year?

Drawstring Travel Bags

These little beauties are for a family planning a mega-marvelous holiday to America. They are perfect for keeping dirty shoes in or using as a small laundry bag while you’re away. Simple but stylish, with a serious dose of all-American awesomeness thanks to the funky star fabric.

Fabulous, right? But can you guess what’s going to make this gift that much more fabulous? (Wait for it!)

Yes my friends…a matching zipper pouch!

And it’s lined too. Fancy, eh? The lining material was hacked from a piece kindly donated to my stash by a friend. Thanks Emma, I’m getting new life from your old clothes!

If you fancy making your own travel bags, you might want to check out this post, it contains five different ways to make one.  For some zipper pouch action, here’s the how-to I followed by The Purl Bee. If you have a question or something isn’t clear just ask! I hope you find the posts I’ve shared helpful and I promise you won’t stop at one if you do decide to make any.

What Do You Make a Hairy Biker? (AKA Dad)

It’s my Dad’s birthday soon. The thing is my Dad is no ordinary Dad. My dad is seriously cool. He is 65, lives in a house he built himself from salvaged materials and cruises around on a Triumph Bonneville. Thinking up handmade gift ideas for men is usually hard but I knew exactly what I wanted to make for this dude…

I found an excellent free tutorial and pattern for a half face mask, which I adapted slightly to make the perfect biker’s mask. I used a skull and crossbones cotton for the main fabric but, instead of using a flannel or cotton for the lining, I used a black fleece. That should keep him nice and warm on the bike during the cooler weather. And there you have it, a brilliant gift for a bad-to-the-bone biker dad…

Have some great gift ideas for hairy bikers? Let me know in the comments.