Baby Beanie Hat Tutorial

A friend of ours gave birth a few weeks prematurely recently to a beautiful 4lb 9oz baby girl. I have a feeling her surprise early arrival (she is doing well though) will mean that she won't be able to fit many of the baby clothes her parents have prepared for her and so decided to make her a little hat for starters and perhaps this will be joined tomorrow by a matching baby outfit... depends on how my little munchkin is tomorrow :)

Supplies:
scissors, thread, sewing machine
approx 40cm x 30cm of stretch cotton knit fabric - eg t-shirt fabric

I considered doing a refashion of an old t-shirt for this as I am currently on a re-fashion high but I didn't have anything girly or pink enough (go figure!).

To create a template either model it off a baby hat you already have or use a saucer to trace a semi circle and then add about 4 inches of straight fabric at the bottom as you will be turning it under. Place it on your fabric making sure that the fabric is able to be stretched sideways rather than up and down. This is important - it will help your hat stretch to fit bub's head. When your template is placed as it is in the picture your fabric with stretch left to right. Cut out 2.

Now you have your two pieces....

Place them right sides together lining up all edges.

Sew around the edge with a 1/4' seam leaving the bottom straight edge open.

At this point if you like you could overlock your seam. I don't really deem this necessary on this project as you are working with knit fabric and it won't fray. Fold up the open edge to the mark as indicated in the pattern.

Sew around where you folded your straight edge up to. This will keep it in place. NOTE: This is not the bottom of your hat but rather about half way up where your previous edge now has been folded up to.

Turn inside out. You can see where my stitching from the previous step is part way up the hat.

Fold you bottom edge up to the sewn line making sure to fold towards the outside of the hat.

Almost done! Iron your little fold rim to make sure it sits flat and perfect.

With a needle and thread stitch a few stitches over top of each other at each side to hold the rim in place. I managed to make my stitches so small I needed an arrow to show you where they are (that and the fact that my camera seemed to be having trouble focusing!)

And you are done! Since I don't have a newborn model at the moment (here's hoping the stalk will bring one soon!) James' teddy has offered to do the job - although he wasn't too happy about wearing pink....

I plan to embellish my little hat with a fabric flower (stay tuned for the tutorial!). You could also do a nice button (making sure its sewn on nice and tight so little hands don't pull it off) or sew some ric-rac around it... the possibilities are all there for you to imagine!

Enjoy!

Easy Maxi Dress Tutorial

My dear friend and neighbour, Karina, turned 30 today! She is an amazing woman who I love dearly.

Karina is also 29 weeks pregnant with her first child. She is naturally cute and petite and so she absolutely looks stunning with a bump! I wanted to give her a gift that would be practical and celebrate this stage in her life but also be just for her and not for baby (I'm throwing her a baby shower in 3 weeks anyway when I get to bring out all the cutesy baby stuff!) As her bump continues to grow, so does the need for clothes that fit - and coming into the beautiful Spring weather we have been having, she needs some cooler clothes. Ta-da! I'll make her a dress!

I found this wonderful tutorial over at bored and crafty and knew it would look great with a bump for an accessory!

So without further ado - here she is!

I hadn't yet hemmed the dress at this stage and I decided not to make the rosettes.

As you can see she is totally rocking the bump!

As Karina prefers halter-neck style straps, I have just not criss-crossed the straps at the back.


My Tips:

1. Unless you are making this dress for a 5 foot, size 6 person (measured on Karina under the bust so excluding the belly), make sure you buy more than 2.5m of material. 112cm width material is ok for size 6-8 but anybody in sizes above that really should aim for at least 140cm width. Also - if you are taller than 5feet - go for at least 3m of material.
2. I made Karina's dress cinch in just under the breast in order to make it flattering for her bump. However the pattern suggests to make it at the natural waistline. Choose whichever style you prefer :) 
3. Use a safety pin to turn your strap through to the other side and make sure you fold your strap in half and iron it before sewing. Do this also with the elastic casing... 
4. Karina's measurement under the bust was 75cm. I made her width at the bottom of the dress 2m. It worked out to be a good proportion. 
5. I used a non-stretch cotton but this would work really well with a knit fabric. I plan to attempt one for myself once I conquer my fear of sewing with knit...
6. Another great idea for this dress which seems to be all the rage right now is to have a slip dress as the lining and then a longer, see-through chiffon or similar fabric for the top layer. Simply cut your lining shorter (at the moment the "in thing" is to have it just above your knees) and once you have sewn the lining pieces together attach them to the top of the dress just below the neck casing. I'm sooo going to try this!

Hope you enjoy making this fantastic versatile dress!

Pintrest

For awhile now I have been a faithful "stumbler". I have enjoyed putting in my interests and having random websites selected for me to view based on what I enjoy. I have found so many wonderful websites with all sorts of crafty tutorials and also funny websites with all sorts of animals and humans doing silly things.

However - I have now discovered Pinterest! How awesome is it to be able to have a virtual pinboard to be able to post photos of my favorite things and ideas from websites to be able to easily access them whenever I am ready to do them! You can "pin" things from politics to crafts, music to photography, kids ideas to weddings. It is really awesome!

So I now have a new addiction to manage...

Follow me!

Imagine

**WARNING - CONTENT MAY SHOCK AND UPSET. UNSUITABLE FOR CHILDREN TO READ**

Imagine.

You take your 2yr old overseas to a country such as Thailand, Bali, Cambodia, India on holiday. You are having a fantastic time seeing all the sights and meeting the wonderful locals who are always smiling and friendly, willing to go to extremes to make you comfortable.

One day you head out to visit a busy crowded place. Being a crowded place you decide not to take your pram so you take turns carrying your 2yr old. While looking at wares in one stall, both you and your husband think the other is watching your child. In the blink of an eye - he's gone.

For you - this equals terror. Panic. Sickness.

For your child - it's much worse.

The man who grabbed your child has covered his or her mouth with a cloth with some sort of chemical on it to put them to sleep. They jump into a car and ride off with him.

He wakes up awhile later, finding himself in a tiny room - no bigger than most walk-in closets. It's dark and he's scared. He starts to cry.

"Mum! Dada!"

He doesn't know where you are but soon his cries attract attention.

The door opens and in walks a talk figure who smells like beer. He hits your son, making him cry even more for you. The man starts to speak roughly in a strange language. Your child can't understand why you aren't there to comfort him and protect him.

Then the man starts to undo his pants...

What follows are several hours of your child being brutally assaulted by several people. All get sick pleasure from your child's cries for help, his cries for mama and Dada.

Your child falls asleep, exhausted from fighting back and nostrils full of mucus from his numerous tears. He hurts in places he shouldn't hurt. His eyes are swollen shut from the punches and the tears. But it doesn't matter - it's so dark in his tiny hole that he wouldn't have been able to see anything anyway.

Several hours later, the door opens again to a tall figure. He starts to cry for Mama again...

And that's where you wake up... to hear your child, safe in his room, crying out for Mum to get him a bottle.

How do you feel? Are you crying? What would you do if this really happened to your child? How would you cope? How would he or she cope?

Yes, it was just a dream... at least it is for you.

While in Cambodia 3 years ago, I had the privilege of meeting 5 young girls aged between 7-14 years old. Each of these young girls had been rescued from the sex slave trade.Snatched, stolen, sold by poor families in order to feed the other 8 children, sold by relatives who didn't care about them as long as their own children were safe.

One particular young girl, the youngest at age 7, caught my attention. She was the most beautiful young girl. Gorgeous long hair, happy shy smile. She was rescued 3 years earlier. That's right. She was 4yrs old when she was rescued. I didn't catch how long she had been a slave but for many of these girls it is from when they were toddlers, even infants.

Yet still, she smiles. We hand her a pretty doll with a special sparkly dress on. Her eye's light up and she spends the rest of the time with us just stroking the pretty dolly's hair and hugging her. She's just 7.

She's now safe. They all are.

No, they will never be innocent again. No, they will probably never fully heal. Yes, they will struggle with memories and the knowledge of what has happened to them for the rest of their lives.

But hey, it's not your child right.




But in case you do care...
Do something about it.

Frugal Food Challenge - Day 1 - Spaghetti and Meatballs

Having only decided to create this challenge at about 2pm today, I headed off to the supermarket to get our groceries - you can read about it here.

I must say - I was pretty excited with the grocery bill and I am very enthusiastic to complete this challenge with great recipes made on a low budget.

Tonight I decided to try a meal I have never made before - Spaghetti and Meatballs. After having a quick look in the Edmonds Cookbook I decided that I would base my recipe on this however with several changes.

Ingredients:

2 cloves of garlic

1 onion

500g minced meat (I used mince beef but pork or turkey would work as well)

1T oil

2 carrots

400g linguine pasta

700g tomato puree

1 egg

3/4C breadcrumbs

1/2T mixed herbs

salt and pepper

Ok here are the steps....

My ingredients.

Preheat oven to 200* Celsius. In a mixing bowl combine mince, breadcrumbs,  1/2 the onion finely chopped, 1 finely chopped clove of garlic, 1/4C tomato puree, 2 carrots grated. Mix well. 

In separate bowl whisk egg and then add to mince mixture and mix well.

REMOVE ANY RINGS! VERY IMPORTANT!

Using a tablespoon, scoop out some mixture and use your hands to form a ball shape. Now you understand why you need to remove your rings! Not pretty if you ignore that step! 

Cover 1 or 2 baking trays with baking paper and place balls on top. Place in the oven for 20 mins or until cooked through.

Take two pots. In a large one, bring approx 1L of water to boil. Once water is boiling, add the pasta.

In smaller pot, add 1T of oil. Once oil is warm, add remaining clove of garlic finely chopped and remaining half of onion, also finely chopped. Cook until clear and slightly golden. Mmm smell the yummyness!

  

Add to the onion and garlic pot the rest of the tomato puree and 1T mixed herbs. Bring to boil and then simmer for 8-10 mins. 

Take a quick break, find a cute kid and watch them play with the cat while stealing kisses and cuddles...

Back to the kitchen. Place cooked pasta in casserole dish and top with cooked meatballs. 

Cover with your pasta sauce...

Top with some cheese if you have a cheese loving family like mine and place in the oven for 10 mins before switching to grill for another few minutes until cheese is nice and grilled.

Now you can replace your rings - Doesn't my hubby have good style? I love my wedding rings :)

Ohhh doesn't that just make you want to eat right now! I already had a huge bowl and now want some more just looking at it!

Dish up and enjoy! 

Note: If you choose to make this dish - be prepared to eat it all in one night - there will be none left for tomorrows lunch!!

The Frugal Food Challenge

I promised awhile ago (I think it was my first post over 6 months ago!) that I would post on how I manage to feed a family of 3 on $50 or so a week. Well, with times as they are, this week I have set myself a challenge....

THE CHALLENGE: To feed our household of 4 adults and 3 children for $80 for 7 days.

THE HOUSEHOLD:

The Money-Saving Mum - Me

The Handsome Husband

The Ticklish Toddler (comes with mouth full of mandarin...)

Our boarders:

The enthusiastic eight year old

The spunky six year old

Their Mum - the camera-shy sweet-heart

Our friend - the also camera-shy chicky-babe

Ok - time to head off to buy the groceries!

Ticklish Toddler and I in the car at Spud Shed - our supermarket of choice for this challenge due to their warehouse style premises and low prices due to absence of fancy fitting etc... 

Find them here.... 

Time to get a trolley... 

The reason I love this place is their insane cheap prices and no-frills policy. I can usually get all my groceries here including toilet paper (although only one brand available), meat, fruit and vege, milk products, frozen food, canned food, bread.... About the only thing I need to go to the 'real' supermarkets for are dish washing liquid, soap, shampoo etc and cat food!

5KG bag of carrots = $1.50

2KG bag of onions = $0.99

2L milk = $1.69 - granted I usually pay much more for it here - $1.79! Gee it's hard.... LOL

Great special this week - Pasta of many kinds = $0.69

Ticklish Toddler with our load - plus a bike and car toy - gotta have the car toy!

So here are our purchases! 

TOTAL: $66.45 !!

YES!!!!

So I have $13.55 left in the kitty for extra milk and bread as we need it this week. 

Woohooo!

Here are some of the standout buys:

• Milk 2L - $1.69
• Pasta - macaroni and linguine - $0.69 each for 500g
• Cabbage - $0.99 each
• Tomato Puree 700g - $1.49
• Mince meat - $6.99kg
• Carrots 5kg bag - $1.50
• Bread - white, toast, wholegrain, multi-grain - $0.99/loaf

I will be posting one post per day telling you all how we are coping and giving you a 'recipe of the day'.

Child's Pencil Roll Tutorial

Well, well, well... It's about time I posted a new tutorial!

So here we go - first of all - much thanks to my hubby who took some lovely photos of my un-manicured hands during the process of making this pencil roll in order for me to document this tutorial for you!

I was asked to make 8 pencil rolls for a friend's 8yr old daughter's birthday party as presents for the guests. Gladly I jumped at the chance to finally work with some real girly fabric after making things for my little boy! Kelly provided all the materials and my job was simply to make them up.

Kelly chose a rich purple drill for the inside and a gorgeous cupcake fabric for the print! I love it! Add some ribbon with love hearts on it and its time to get girly!

In total you will need:

19" x 13" of print fabric
19" x 13" of a thicker fabric such as drill or broadcloth
20" of ribbon (about 1cm wide works best)

scissors, complementary thread, sewing machine, ruler, self-healing mat (to cut fabric on), iron and ironing board.

First thing to do is cut your fabric. I cut one from each of the materials of a 9" by 19" rectangle and a 4" by 19" rectangle.

Make sure to iron out your fabric after you cut it to remove all fold marks and wrinkles - it's much easier to sew with flat fabric!

With right sides facing, sew along all 4 side of the smaller rectangles leaving a small gap wide enough to put two fingers in to turn the piece inside out.

Top stitch all the way around once you have turned your material right side out, making sure to turn under the edges of the gap as you do so to include them. Set aside this piece and take your other rectangles.

Complete the same steps as above with your larger pieces without top-stitching. Iron both of your newly finished rectangles.

Take your smaller rectangle and place it on top of the larger rectangle - plain sides facing each other. Top stitch the entire way around joining the rectangles together.

Starting at the long top-stitched side, sew straight lines approx 1.5cm (wider if you plan to put wider pencils or crayons in the roll) to the end of the printed fabric. Make sure to secure your stitching either by back-stitching at each end or if you are lucky enough to have a fancy machine that will do it for you :)

 Take your ribbon and cut approx 20". Fold it in half and stitch it down on the right inside of the roll.
NOTE: if you have ribbon like mine which has a pattern only on one side - make sure you stitch it down inside out unlike mine otherwise when you tie it you won't be able to see the pattern when you tie it up.

And ta-da! You are finished! Look how pretty!

Now insert some kiddie coloured pencils - I only had boring adult pens :( ...

And roll up and tie and you have a fancy pencil/crayon roll ready for any little girl (or boy) who loves to draw!

Well there it is. One pencil roll. Now to complete the other 7...

If you would like to check out Kelly's blog, head on over to her site.