70s Summer Dress

A little while ago I did a swap with the lovely Reana Louise and she sent me a gorgeous 1970s dress pattern and some lovely orange fabric.  Well I finally got around to making the dress and I am in love.  It is going to be perfect for this hot summer we are in for on the Gold Coast.


The pattern that I had was a size smaller than I required so I did some dodgy grading to make it fit.  I have never graded a pattern before and since this dress has such basic pattern pieces I decided to just wing it.  Luckily for me it turned out perfectly.


I also made a minor alternation to the waist of the dress.  Instead of doing a tie waist I did a simple elastic waist.  I did this by sewing thin elastic straight onto the dress and stretching it as I sewed it on.  This way I can wear a belt with it.  I also raised the waist slightly from where it was on the original dress.  I am pretty happy with how this dress turned out.  I wore it this past weekend and it was super comfortable.  There may need to be another one added to the wardrobe to get me through summer.  I am thinking a cool tribal print or maybe a nice kelly green colour to wear with a gold belt and flats.

Handmade Ornament Swap Goodies

I am so excited for Christmas this year! It's Imogen's first Christmas and even though she won't remember any of it I want to make it special.  I am counting down to December 1st when I get to decorate the tree and the house.  I am especially excited to put up my new decorations that I received in the handmade ornament swap.

 

Both of my parcels arrived in the post yesterday and it was very exciting to unwrap them together.  They were both wrapped so beautifully that I almost didn't want to unwrap them.



The first parcel I unwrapped was from the darling Tracey at Sunny Corner Farm.  She sent me three gorgeous felt ornaments that she had embroidered.  They are just gorgeous and I think they will be go perfectly on our tree.  Not only did Tracey send me these gorgeous ornaments but she also sent three button magnets that went straight onto the fridge.

The second parcel was from the lovely Sarah over at Gladys In The Garden.  She made me some gorgeous little bird bunting with the loveliest mix of fabrics.  I can't wait to hang these up!  I am debating where in the house to hang them.  Once they are hung I will take a better picture because this one just doesn't do it justice.

I want to say a massive thank you to Sarah and Tracey for their gifts.  I absolutely love them!  Also, a massive thank you to Christina for organising this swap.  It was loads of fun to take part in and the perfect way to kick off the Christmas season.

Handmade Ornament Swap

Last week I finally made a decisions on what I was going to make for the handmade ornament swap and set about putting my gifts together.  I must say I am pretty happy with how they turned out.

I found these awesome little boxes in Big W the other day and they were only $3 for 2.  I thought they would be perfect to package my baubles.  They are meant to be for cupcakes and I think I might go back and get a few more for cupcakes for people.

To make these baubles I used this tutorial which was super easy to follow.  After the first 2 I was just making the remainder from memory.

These are waiting on our dining room table to be posted and I am just waiting for a day I get a chance to duck to the post office.  It's never a quick trip with Miss Imogen!

I am so excited for Christmas!!! I have a few other projects to share with you guys but I am saving them for December.  I am thinking December will be all about Christmas on Petticoats & Peplums this year.  I feel a bit of a countdown coming on....

Ornament Swap 2012

Firstly I want to say a massive thank you to everyone who has left comments here and on my instagram congratulating us on the arrival of Imogen.  We are settling into this new life pretty well.  It certainly has been a learning curve and there have been a few rough days but we are figuring them out together.  It is all worth it though when you see that little smile and your heart just bursts with love.

Secondly, I am here to let you all know that there is an awesome Christmas swap being organised by the lovely Christina over at Christina Lowry Designs.  It is a christmas ornament swap and it is going to be loads of fun so hop on over here and sign up.  It's going to be fun!

Swap Fun

A little while ago when I posted about this bear hat for Squishy I received a comment from Reana Louise telling me that I should make these to sell.  This sparked a long trail of emails from which we decided to do a little swap.  I would make Reana a grown up bear hat and she would make me something in return.

I was a bit nervous about making a hat for someone else and it being the right size but with the help of Reana sending me her head measurements I found an adults beanie pattern to use as a starting point.  I used this pattern for the hat and then upsized the ears from the original baby pattern.

I also popped in a few little goodies for Reana to enjoy.

And do you want to see the amazingness (yes, that is a word!) that I received in return....

Isn't that picture amazing!  It was inspired by Reana's favourite nursery rhyme "The Owl & The Pussycat".  It is even more gorgeous in real life then this photo does justice for.  I am pretty excited about this dress too! I think it will be a perfect first project for summer after Squishy is born because it isn't too fitted.  It'll be a great dress for summer especially in that gorgeous orange fabric that Reana sent me.  I had so much fun taking part in this little swap.  If anyone else out there is keen to do a little swap let me know. I am always open to sending and receiving happy mail!

Cushion Swap Goodies

I received my cushion in the Punky & Me Cushion Swap last Monday and have been meaning to blog about it ever since. Every time I went to blog about it I realised I didn't have a photo so I would go downstairs to take a photo and get distracted. Finally yesterday I managed to get a photo so I could share it with you this morning.

My cushion was made by the lovely Jemma over at Amityville Boronia. Isn't it adorable! The embroidery is amazing. Try embroidery is on my 101 in 1001 list and I have actually crossed it off because I have started an embroidery project but it is not complete so I have not shared it on here yet. I have finished the embroidery part of the project though so I felt it was ok to cross it off.

I would love to do more embroidery projects though so one day my embroidery skills are as good as Jemma's. I am going to get one of my wisdom teeth pulled out this afternoon. Wish me luck!

Punky & Me Cushion Swap

Today I posted off my cushion for the Punky & Me Cushion Swap. I have not taken part in a swap in ages so when I saw this one pop up I was very excited. I scoured the net trying to find ideas and came across this cushion. I knew straight away it was what I was going to make.

At first my ideas for the print and colour combination were completely different but when I found this fabric in Spotlight I could not resist. It was gorgeous and I found the perfect colour to match it too.

I just hope my swap partner likes it! I posted it off today so it should be there in a few days and we can find out.