I just whipped up this little pair of jeans for Juliette out of some left over denim I had.  I was inspired by this really cute pair I found on flickr and found the perfect green and white striped jersey here to match.

Here is how to make them!

Step 1:  Find a pair of pants that fit your child and turn them inside out.  Place one leg inside the other and position on top of folded denim (back shown first).  Trace around shape with chalk - making sure you pull pants down to fabric around crotch area so as to get the correct shape.  Allow for 1-1.5 seam allowance and hems.  Don't trace right up to top of waistline as this will be added when you attach the stripe.  I added a bit of lenght to these pants too as they are getting a bit small for Juliette.

Your traced outline should look something like this...

Step 2:  Flip pants over and repeat process for front of pants (ensure tracing and cutting on folded layers of denim so you end up with two of front and two of back).

Step 3:  When put on top of each other, difference in back and front legs should look something like this (back is underneath)...

Press leg pieces and set aside

Step 4:  Cut two pocket shapes - I chose rectangles with a rounded bottom.  My rectangles were 13 cm in width by 15 cm in length before seams.  Overlock or zig zag around edges and press side and bottom edge under 1cm.

Step 5:  Turn pocket top down approx 2 cm and sew two rows of top stitching approximately 6mm apart. 

Step 6:  Also top stitch around sides and bottom of pocket 1cm away from edge and pin both pockets into a position roughly like this.

Step 7:  Top stitch pockets to pants approx 1-2 mm from pocket edge.

Step 8:  Pin front and back of pants right sides together along side seam.  Sew.

Step 9:  Overlock or zig zag this seam, then open pants up and overlock or zig zag bottom edge.

Step 10:  Pin and sew along inside leg seams and turn one pant leg right side out. 

Step 11:  Place right side out pant leg inside other pant leg and pin around crotch edge.  Sew and neaten this seam.  Press.

Step 12:  Cut jersey/ribbing piece.  Decide on desired band width, then double and allow 2-3 cm for seams.  Measure your child's waist and subtract approx 5cm from this length to work out your length of fabric.  (Juliette was 50cm waist so I cut a piece 45 cm long and approx 20cm wide).

Step 13:  Double over width wise right sides together and stitch along edge seam.  Turn right side out and fold halfway down so wrong sides are facing.

Step 14:  Place a pin at each quarter of ribbing piece then match these pins up with front, side and back seams (ensure seam in ribbing matches up with back seam).  Pin to pants - it will look wobbly but ribbing will stretch as you sew.  Sew along waistline and neaten ( I also top stitched along denim 1mm from ribbing).

Step 15:  Hem jeans 1.5 cm from bottom edge (not pictured).  Press again and you have a cute little pair of jeans!!

I'm sharing today over at Kootoyoo.

Mamma bear was the first softie I made a few years ago when I was a softie making virgin.  I didn't now a lot about the best materials to use for softies then and made her from acrylic felt.  Over the years, she became very 'bitty'.  I also had a bit of a softie making urge this week so here is my new and improved version!   The pattern comes from the original Softies book (published by Penguin) which I was given by two of my good friends after Isabella was born. It is such a great book - the best one I've come across so far for making cute softies.  I like most of the patterns and have made six of the softies for my girls and for friends.

This Mamma bear is made from a recycled wool jacket (bought from the op shop for $7), which has morphed itself into five soft toys so far, including this donkey and this yellow dressed Poppy doll.  Her body is also from an op shop find - leftovers from the lining of this jacket.  I love recycling!!  Her eyes and nose are suede (no bittiness there!).  Her apron is fun to make - even the smallest scrap will do.  My girls are fighting over her already....might have to make another one!

Here is my second little deers spring dress.  This time in the red floral. 

I love them and they are a delight to make and see come together.  I am excited to hopefully be selling some in my shop...

I scaled down the pattern to include sizes 1 and 2.  Juliette is pictured here in a size 1 - it still has some length in it but she is on the smaller size for her age and it should last her right through to autumn next year.

You can check out the pattern and fabric details in post below!

I am excited to have made this dress for Issie and to now put this lovely spring piece into my little deers shop.

I fell in love with this pattern (Simplicity 2909) when I saw it on Sew Tessuti blog a few weeks ago.  I eagerly went down to Spotlight to find the pattern and get started.  To my disappointment, the pattern was out of print!  Why would they stop printing such a cute design??  I searched online for almost an hour and finally found it on ebay... Yay!

The dress features a sweet bib with simple lace and navy ric rac trim.  This trim also frames the pockets and hem.  The sleeves hang delicately over the shoulder.  The back features an elasticated piece to allow room for growth and a little tie.  The dress is available in sizes 1-5 (made to order) and you can buy them in my little deers shop!!  The design will also be available in a shirt style - which is simply a shorter version (still with pockets and hem trim).

I am just finishing off another one now for Juliette in the red floral below, which I will post in my shop soon.  I will also make the dress in the cottage garden colourway pictured.  The fabrics are all my Denyse Schmidt and are super sweet and perfectly feminine - I love them all!

                                                Red floral                              Cottage garden

For more creative inspiration, check out Kootoyoo.

I saw this idea in a magazine recently and thought it was cool and that I would give it a go.

Step 1:  Begin by carefully removing the top ring from the lantern.

Step 5:  Wrap circle around base fo lantern and overlap ends so that circle sits flat against lantern.  This will cover up the raw ends of the scraps  underneath. 

Step 6:  Carefully fit top piece back onto lantern also (no pic).

And here is the your lantern!  I tried taking some pics of it at night with light on but the photos didn't look any good - the lantern did though!  Very pretty.

Isabella loves to dance!  Her usual uniform is a pink tutu but I think I can persuade her to wear this skirt as it has good frills on it!

How's the pose?!!

A little stretchy muscle top I whipped up for Juliette.  I hadn't intended it to be a firm fit but I was working with scraps so this is all I had fabric for.  The top was a little short so I added a wide ribbing at the bottom. 

One of these kids is doing their own thing...

Made from some scraps from some bathers I  made the girls over summer.  I just traced this from another of Juliette's tops and adjusted the neckline.  I think this will be a handy one to wear in the water too.  The stripe is from Spotlight and the top is edged with pink ribbing.

Step 1: Draw your design on scrap paper to establish sizing and placement of your applique.

Step 2: Cut ironed pieces of scrap fabrics in rough shapes of your applique to minimise wasting vilene.

Step 3: Iron fabric pieces onto vialene (furry side against fabric, paper side against ironing board).

Step 4: Turn vialene over and draw shapes on paper side.  Ensure non-symmetrical shapes are drawn in reverse.

Step 5: Using a pair of small sharp scissors, cut around your drawn shapes.  I used pinking shears for my flower shapes.  Do not remove paper yet.

Step 6: Using 'fray stoppa', run a line of product around all the edges of the cut shapes (except where pinking shears were used).  Wait approximately one hour for fray stoppa to dry.  If you iron on when tacky, a white film will appear around edges. 

Step 8: Top stitch around the outside of each shape, approx. 2mm in from edge.  I leave my needle in the fabric and lift the foot only when turning corners and to ease around curves.

Bird detail....

Flower detail...

After...Voila!

Juliette's is a simpler design using only pinking shears so no drying time.

These tops were lots of fun to make and would make a great little gift!

I'm sharing today over at Kootoyoo.