Dress Ups

As a Costumier (lurv that word - it is just a fancy pants way of saying "costume maker") I have strong opinions about costumes, even dress-up fun costumes for little people. Our grandson has lots of commercial SuperPerson outfits, most involve a cape but what disappointing capes they are. Mean, thin rectangles of fabric that velcro to the shoulders - HURRUMPH! you can't play with that - all they do is flutter behind when the child runs (something the child can't even see!). A Cape HAS to be at least 3/4 of a circle it has to be generous so that you can swish it about and fly with it and hide your face with it like Zorro ... a Cape should be a gorgeous garment that you can be imaginative with.

A Cape like this one! it is a whole circle :-) fully reversible, with disco fake sequin stuff one side / silver satin the other. I decided to avoid the traditional SuperPerson / cartoon character colours (bue, red, black) because I'd like my grandson to invent his own character ... here is the back with his initial.
Granddaughter is getting a costume too - seems we can't avoid the gender stereotyping (super-hero for boys, tutu pretties for girls - hmmmm I could do a rant but I'll spare you). At least this is an Australian prettiness - a May Gibbs style Gum-Blossom Baby - I got carried away with the tulle, less would've made a good Ragged Blossom.


I dyed a cotton body-suit (Americans call them Onesies) it went nice and blotchy - squares of nylon tulle (the soft type so she won't be all prickly) bunched and hand-stitched, mini pom-poms stitched at random to represent the pollen.

I'm chuffed with the way these turned out - hope the little ones like them too.

Sewing for Little People

Well the Christmas / New Year break was nice and productive (could I have another one please?) here is some sewing I did before Christmas and during the time off.

Granddaughter is walking now which means dresses no longer get in the way (I like to keep frocks very short - or make rompers for crawling bubs) This is from a vintage pattern - McCall's 2244 (copyright 1958)

Big inverted box pleats front and back with ribbon down the middle of the front ones, more ribbon over the shoulders with bows. Cotton fabric with a lovely print of irises (?) but it is a one-way design because it is actually intended for patch-work quilt making ... I like using interesting and fun fabrics for kids' clothes but those one-way designs keep me on my toes!

More "patchwork quilt" fabrics for shirts and summer PJs for our 3yr old grandson. PJs in this aeroplane fabric and I got aeroplane buttons too !




This chook print became a shirt and because the print is quite busy I kept the styling of the shirt plain and simple (no pocket, no yoke ...)

On the other hand, this beige plaid, really boring fabric became a long-sleeve shirt with lots of detail just like a grown-up business shirt and I'm planning to make a vest (and perhaps trousers) to "go with" this shirt.

A is for Ant - plus a fuzzy Starfish

Another letter in the ongoing Alphabet project is done - only 19 more! This is another wonderful pattern from "Amigurumi Knits" by Hansi Singh, quite difficult to knit but beautifully detailed - very closely observed.


Makes a very large Ant - at your next picnic just be thankful that real ants are not this size!

Ant looks a lot better with wire in the legs but our grandchildren are too young for toys with wires - so this ant is a bit floppy!






And I couldn't resist making the Starfish from the Amigurumi book but I already have toy critters for the letter S (there are a lot of animals with names that start with S!) so this will be a late Christmas pressie for a friend's bub. Used a mohair blend yarn (I'd dyed it myself) so this is a slightly fuzzy, fluffy Starfish ... Asterias mohairii perhaps??

J is for Jellyfish & O is for Octopus

More Alphabet knitting - an ongoing project for our grandchildren.

And thanks to Hansi Singh's "Amigurumi Knits" for some great knitted toys for some of the difficult letters of the Alphabet :-) In fact, I've plotted all the alphabet now except for the letter V. V is a problem - vulture and vampire are rather scary for very young children and they are not Australian critters, same applies to viper. Vixen might be the best idea - unfortunately we have plenty of feral foxes. If you can think of a good knitted toy for the letter V - please leave me a comment ... it doesn't necessarily have to be an animal.

Meanwhile, here are J and O ...

Roses for Rosie

I've a friend whose name is Rosie,
she said that she would like a Tea Cosy ...

OK I'll stop right there with the - umm - poetry (?) but honestly I did not realise until this was over 1/2 ways knitted that there was possibly some sub-conscious nominative determinism in my choice of Tea Cosy pattern for Rosie. This is called "Rosie Posy" - a lovely pattern by Loani Prior. Knitted body, crochet roses.













I have Loani Prior's fabulous book "Wild Tea Cosies" but "Rosie Posy" is available as a free pattern.

Just sew sew ...

Have been doing quite a bit of sewing for the grandchildren in the last few months - I've given them these items and there's more to come. I think there will be twelve days of Christmas this year :-)

I like to use cute and/or unexpected fabrics for childrens' clothes and this year I've indulged in some fun prints intended for patchwork quilts. Here's a Christmas shirt with shiny buttons for our grandson -

and a close up of fabric and buttons on his new PJs.

He likes fun buttons (don't we all) and likes to do them up himself - so I've made larger than normal buttonholes to make things easier.



Our granddaughter has had her first ever birthday :-) and I'd made her a cute play-suit from a vintage pattern. Lots and lots of frills especially across the ample bottom (designed to be worn over cloth nappies)


Well, it is not just the bottom that is large - seems that sizing was just as unreliable back in the 1950's as it is now - the pattern says it'll fit a 6mth old and I knew it was large but I think this playsuit will be a nice fit next year !!!

Alphabet Knitting - B, D and G

Am slowly knitting my way through the alphabet - for my grandchildren when it's all finished. A great excuse to knit lots of little toys :-)

SO - B is for Bat ... a "Boo the Bat" from Mochimochi Land

Very sweet and quite easy to knit - I did change the ears and used slightly thinner yarn and needles than suggested which has made this Bat just the right size to fit in my hand.





here he is with wings unfurled ...
so cute!







D is for Dragon - well originally, and in keeping with the attempt to make this alphabet as Australian as possible, D was going to be a Dingo, but I couldn't find a suitable pattern then I was thinking of a Drongo which is a bird (as well as Aussie slang for a somewhat silly person) but then I rediscovered Norberta, on knitty.com a very cute baby dragon. Again I used 8ply (DK) and so this one is smaller than pattern suggests, and I used lots of different yarns including bright metallic for her "fairy wings".

Well, I'm not knitting these in alphabetical order - so skipping right along to G for Gecko - another clever and cute pattern by Cheezombie on Etsy. Self patterning sock-yarn made for some good banded effects and I just love the goggly eyes!