Cyrillus Robe Bébé Summer 2012

If I had the time to sew a beautiful dress right now, this would be it. Underneath it has a thin, all-in-one, cotton bloomer.

But I don’t have the time. Luckily, someone else [...]

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Cyrillus Robe Bébé Summer 2012

If I had the time to sew a beautiful dress right now, this would be it. Underneath it has a thin, all-in-one, cotton bloomer.

But I don’t have the time. Luckily, someone else did, and I could buy it!

It is rare to find such a gem of construction on the high street – even the French high street.

It’s available online here.

The new season of patterns has come out and McCall’s have catered for a new (and sizable, assuming they know about it!!) market – veiled ladies.

Introducing McCall’s 6521:

She is missing a turtle/polo neck here! Not much point covering your hair with naked [...]

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]]> The new season of patterns has come out and McCall’s have catered for a new (and sizable, assuming they know about it!!) market – veiled ladies.

Introducing McCall’s 6521:

She is missing a turtle/polo neck here! Not much point covering your hair with naked shoulders!

Well done McCall’s! They represent a relatively wide range of hair coverings that fit with ‘modern’, day to day dressing. Nothing fancy shmanzy, but I’m rather impressed!

All photos are screenshots taken from Sew Direct (great for pattern deals if you’re in the UK or EU) without permission. Naughty, I know, but I’m rather excited!

I love starting (and finishing!) new projects. One of my [...]

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I love starting (and finishing!) new projects. One of my last before The Project (that’s the birth, folks!) was this little book. Not totally perfect, but made with a lot of love for a special little boy. It was pretty fun to do too!

Once upon a time there was a pretty little girl. Let’s call her Sophia. Sophia was three years old and loved ballet. She ate it, talked it and every evening Sophia dreamed the same dream. In it, she was light as a feather, glided across [...]

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Once upon a time there was a pretty little girl. Let’s call her Sophia. Sophia was three years old and loved ballet. She ate it, talked it and every evening Sophia dreamed the same dream. In it, she was light as a feather, glided across her stage and soared through the air in her beautiful white tutu.

In her dream, little Sophia was called Odette.

On her fourth birthday, little Sophia became Odette, the White Swan.

Christmas cake

Christmas changed this year. The arrival of a giggling baby is tremendous fun and being stretched out on the floor making silly voices steals more time than it should (because time stands still until the phone rings or I check [...]

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Christmas cake

Christmas changed this year. The arrival of a giggling baby is tremendous fun and being stretched out on the floor making silly voices steals more time than it should (because time stands still until the phone rings or I check the time) – and rather addictive too!

Luckily, I started soaking the fruit for the cake in August and made the cake in early October. Even if I do say so myself, this was the best fruit cake I’ve ever made and one of the best I’ve ever had! There was a bottle of whisky in it, so no reason for it not to be succulent really – not exactly magic! The icing was royal icing, but with slightly less sugar than normal, so it did not fully set. Hard icing, but not fondant and not crunchy. Bit of a mistake in fact, but then most of the best discoveries are! Will see if I can repeat the whole feat next year!

In December, a smidgeon of time was left over for making things. This year’s house was a little more colourful than previous times..although I still managed to eat a few too many of the sweets while ‘deciding’ what colours to put on.

Gingerbread house roof. 

I thought I would save time by buying the biscuit this year. In the end it wasn’t a time saver as I made decorations like last year (no photographs – too much fun playing with baby..). I also sneaked in some time for salt dough decorations. I even squeezed in some extra ones to leave to dry thoroughly before varnishing, thus leaving even more time to play with baby next year! “Genius!” I thought, “I’m super prepared! Yay!” Leaving the drying decorations in the cold oven (out of the way) was also genius, but not mentioning to husband that they were there before he turned on the grill..less bright that move.

Delicious imprints half-way though the demolishing process!

Ahh well. At least this year the house was demolished by various children and thoroughly enjoyed!

Over the past few months I have been searching for nice boys’ fabric. I know there are hundreds of prints out there with tractors, robots, dinosaurs and the like, but there doesn’t seem to be anything else. Girls’ choices are incredibly wide, from hundreds of pink and lavender tones to flowery patterns that range from [...]

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]]> Over the past few months I have been searching for nice boys’ fabric. I know there are hundreds of prints out there with tractors, robots, dinosaurs and the like, but there doesn’t seem to be anything else. Girls’ choices are incredibly wide, from hundreds of pink and lavender tones to flowery patterns that range from the cutsy to sophisticated. And that’s just it: for boys, there is nothing (that I could find) that was sophisticated.

Until now! Amy Butler’s husband, David Butler, is launching a range of “men’s” fabric under his Parson Gray trade name. I am positively salivating at this. I see multifarious blankets, bibs, quilts and clothes from his range. Just think, a sophisticated quilt for baby boy with a cool grey or a chocolate minky backing. How much more gorgeousness can there be for a little man?!

I don’t want to steal any images and I’m in a bit of a rush, so go take a look on his Facebook page and here, the fabulous U-Handbag blog for photos of the fabric and David’s utterly drool-worthy studio.

Well, baby is rather comfortable, so there was time to whip up a play mat.

It’s not as easy finding fabric for boys as it is for girls.

Well, baby is rather comfortable, so there was time to whip up a play mat.

It’s not as easy finding fabric for boys as it is for girls.

This seemed to meet requirements: not froufy, no trucks, dinosaurs, puppies or DIY equipment…

..and not too much blue!

100% cotton with nice, soft, organic cotton filling.

 The bump

 I’ve been working hard on a number of projects over the past few months, most of which have not (yet!) made it onto the blog. The biggest of these projects is ironically the one that has required the least amount [...]

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 The bump

 I’ve been working hard on a number of projects over the past few months, most of which have not (yet!) made it onto the blog. The biggest of these projects is ironically the one that has required the least amount of conscious effort from me: baby bananna!

Baby bananna is due in the next couple of weeks, so I am going to take a little pause from making tutus. In the meantime, there are currently four ready made tutus available:

Lavinia Lavender Puff Puff tutu, size 2-4

Dandelion Clock  Fairy tutu, size 4-6

Apple Blossom Fairy tutu, size 4-6

Pink Lily Fairy tutu, size 4-6

Images of all the tutus are available in the tutu gallery.

If you would like one of these tutus, please contact me and I will get back to you as soon as I can. Perhaps it’s best to keep in mind that it may take me a little time to reply, so if you are in a rush, I might not be able to meet your schedule. These tutus will be sold on a first come first serve basis.

See you soon, lovelies.

Take some pretty hand-painted antique tea cups rimmed with 24 carat gold.

Add a pyramid of lavender mini cupcakes.

Mix together with some new friends and what do you get? A lovely spot of [...]

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Take some pretty hand-painted antique tea cups rimmed with 24 carat gold.

Add a pyramid of lavender mini cupcakes.

Mix together with some new friends and what do you get? A lovely spot of morning tea.

I have a bump. It’s growing every day. Bump needed to have some PJs that accommodate it and Mr S had a shirt sitting in the Shirt Graveyard. A few measurements, some basic drafting and a pattern was created.

I have a bump. It’s growing every day. Bump needed to have some PJs that accommodate it and Mr S had a shirt sitting in the Shirt Graveyard. A few measurements, some basic drafting and a pattern was created.

The shirt was laid on the cutting table for dissection. Side seams were carefully removed and reincarnated as shoulder straps.

The shirt fronts became the bustier front..

..and the back.

The body is made of a soft, thick Egyptian cotton jersey from my stash.