Oh for the love of sewing! An Easter Bunny, some cute pincushions, a dress and a neon pompom loop scarf

Hello again!

I mentioned previously how much I loved watching The Great British Sewing Bee! I found it so inspiring!

At Easter we went to England to visit my family. I came back with a huge load of craft magazines. In one of the Mollie makes magazines I found an adorable Easter Bunny made from felt. I decided that I just had to sew one myself! I made mine smaller than in the instructions (basically the same size as the .pdf printout).

A Bunny Plushy

Here is the free template to download and print out:
molliemakes bunny plushy templates

Some cute little pincushions

This was another project I always wanted to try out. I used a jam jar lid as a template to cut out 2 fabric circles that I sewed together. I stuffed them with the cut off ends collected from various finished projects, a great way to recycle yarn ends! (Incidentally, I also used them to stuff the bunny!) Then I sewed some embroidery thread through the middle several times and cinched it tight! I added a pretty button to finish it off! I made some smaller versions as brooches!

2 tiny Brooches and 1 pincushion

My first dress

On monday afternoon after finishing my Minty Shawl, I decided that I wanted to have a go at dressmaking! I took a basic T-Shirt Dress and used this as a template. I spent half the afternoon on the floor! Cleo was my helper!!! I didn't like the outside of the fabric, I preferred the plain side which looks more woven. I managed to find this large piece of material (2x2m) in one of the charity shops (Kringwinkel). It was a bargain at 3 Euro!

By the evening my first ever dress was finished and ready to wear. It feels incredibly comfortable and is lovely to wear in this spring weather. I made it very long, it's a sleeveless Maxi Dress!

creating a paper pattern from an existing dress

Using this pattern to cut fabric

Cleo my little helper

Wear it as soon as it's finished!

Ta-dah! My first dress

Finished Maxi Dress with inserted Side Panels

A Neon Pompom Loop Scarf

Yesterday I did another sewing project - A loop scarf. I had bought a remnant piece of material in England in Aqua  Blue with thin Coral Red Orange Stripes. I cut it in half and attached the two pieces lengthways.

Adding the pompom trim (2m long bought at Veritas), proved to be a challenge, I needed to take the sewing foot off! Overall I'm very happy with another funkycrochet original! It's nice to know that I made it myself and nobody else will have an identical piece!

I loved the colourful threads

Here are some photos of my combined efforts!

Hope you had fun reading this post! I just saw it will be my 50th blog post, woohoo!!!

Do you sew? What was your first ever make? Looking forward to reading your comments!

It's a small world

Welcome back!

How was your week? Did you all have a good one? (I hope so). Are you looking forward to the weekend? Have you planned in some crocheting or knitting in your spare time! Great!!!

Here is a little look back at my week so far:

It's a small world

I wanted to push my skills into a new direction, so I went SMALL. I was inspired by Japanese Crochet Books which feature many cute and tiny little projects.

This is my own take: A doublesided Sunflower, crocheted together in the middle with shell stitches to make the petals. Add a loop to attach a cord - Voila! A new pendant on a necklace which also doubles up as an useful pincushion!!! (The inside is filled with lots of toy stuffing!)

13.01.15 Finished Sunflower Pendant/Pincushion

My oldest daughter left early this morning. She had brought her own (and first big) crochet project along! She made this Bender hat for someone as a present!!! (I only gave her some small tips when it came to crocheting the eye balls and attaching the arial at the end!) I'm really proud of her!!! (Own pattern!)

14.01.15 My oldest daughter finished her Bender hat!!!

Yesterday we recovered after having gone to Brussels the day before. My daughter carved some stampers (more of that later).

First I crocheted a tiny teacup (with saucer). Then I decided I wanted to make an animal! I had come across this adorable small elephant via Pinterest. So I started making one without a pattern! My elephant is barely 3cm long (5cm including the tiny tail and the trunk!) I think the original one is most likely more than 2 or 3 times as big!!!

Last, not least, I saw this - an octopus, so I made one, too! My little octopus is only 1.5cm small in the body (and 3cm with all tentacles spread out!)

For all this projects I used a tiny hook size (1.5mm) with wool that normally needs 3-3.5mm (Mille Colori).

15.01.15 Finished Tiny Elephant Amigurumi

It's a small world!!!!

15.01.15 Elephant, Octopus and Teacup Amigurumi

Here you can see a 5.5cm spool of Guetermann thread for size comparison

10.01.15 Fingercrocheted Rubber Necklace and Fabric Brooch

Knitting WIPs

1. My second Black Alpaca Boucle Shawl

Thankfully Julija's Woolshop finally received their shipment of new DROPS yarn, yay!!! So I continued with the shawl.

16.01.15 My second Black Alpaca Shawl

2. My knitted 'Stripy Thing' (which will probably become a sleeveless jumper/pullover)

16.01.15 My Stripy Thing WIP

2 colourways of Invicta alternating

A visit to Rotterdam

Last saturday we had a family trip to Rotterdam (NL). We wanted to visit a museum and went to Het Nieuwe Institut (Architecture). We walked around the exhibits which showed various solutions to the housing situation in Rotterdam. It was fascinating! I loved looking at the models and sketches!

Crafting in the Museum

Then my oldest daughter found the workshop corner!!! We were in heaven!!! There were plenty of materials to make things with. The idea was to contribute any 'artwork' to the exhibition.

We decided on carving our own stampers out of erasers!!!! This proved so much fun that it was a revelation!!! We printed some of our designs onto sheets of paper (see mine below).

I then made a white fingercrocheted rubbernecklace and started on sewing a fabric/felt hexagon brooch which is not quite finished yet (see photo above). I also made some 'eye' magnets using printed fabric!

Het Nieuwe Institut, Rotterdam

 

10.01.15 My finished sheets of selfcarved stamper printing

Because of this experience we have been making stampers since Monday!!! I managed to find a good supply of large plain rubbers. These were mostly made by my daughter (hers are amazing!!!), I made the squiggly one, the snowcapped mountain, an abstract one and a little house (only half seen).

You can find a lot more images on my brand new instagram page!

 I found this inspirational (outside the museum):

Don't worry, everything will be alright!

Sunset in Rotterdam

A Day trip to Brussels

On Wednesday we went to Brussels by bus! I took my knitting for the journey! :) We wandered around the 'touristy' bits, such as the Grote Markt, saw Tin-Tin and a million chocolate shops!

Tin-Tin

14.01.15 Brussels Grote Markt (plus following photos)

Two (of my 3) daughters leading the way (and wearing my knits!)

Today is a Good Day!

Last night I spent with my oldest daughter, crocheting, laughing, instagramming together. We went to bed really late (and she had to get up only a few hours later to leave for the airport)! I really loved having her here, I hadn't seen her since her graduation in the summer which is a very long time indeed. We cooked some fabulous vegetarian meals together and we both got stampermania now!!! I miss her already, of course I do!

I thought today would be a difficult day to get through. However, this morning I woke up with energy and decided to get out for some errands. Later in the afternoon I went into town (Antwerp). This is what the weather looked like! No, I didn't alter the photos, they are completely unedited! What a wonderful blue sky!!!

16.01.15 Schelle 3pm

Our street

Schelle Church

Schelle Main road

Well, I hope you have enjoyed reading this post about my week. Let me know what you think, what your plans are for the weekend, etc. I love hearing from you all!