A Birthday Present for a little friend

One of Madeleine's friends turned 7 yesterday and she is having a party this afternoon. Her Mum, Stephanie,  is a great friend of mine and crafty too. She is making her daughter a sewing kit (including one of her gorgeous felt pincushions) as a birthday gift so we decided to give Olivia a kit too. A Kitty Kit.

The gift is everything she needs to make the cute kitten bag in the picture.

I cut everything out for her, ready to make. The instructions came from my favourite book at the moment Emma Hardy's Sewing for Children.

I tucked it all into a little box and stuck a picture of the bag on top.

The present was wrapped in some recycled tissue paper and I used this tutorial from MADE to make the paper napkin flower. I once made about 200 of these out of toilet paper to decorate a ballroom. How I had the patience to tease out all those tiny paper layers I don't know!

Maddy is busy making her a birthday card as I type.

I think a few of Maddy's friends will be getting gifts like this over the next few months!

Hope you have a lovely day to day.

Model behaviour - My Creative Space

With two sickies in the house this week, we haven't been going out much. Both girls have had tummy bugs. As they go, this one has been really tame so we've just been staying it home and taking it quietly.

I had a chance to do some baking on Sunday. These were the blueberry friands from the March issue of NZ House and Garden. They were delicious but used up incredible amounts of eggs and ground almonds so just for special occasions I think!

I did some sewing with Maddy on Monday when she was off school. She chose the biggest project in  Emma Hardy's Sewing for Children. I'll be sure to post a picture when she has finished.

I love the look of concentration on her face.

I managed to make Maddy a new outfit yesterday with the help of Eloise who sat in a corner threading scraps from my rubbish bin onto a needle threaded with wool. She then cut the rest of the scraps into tiny pieces. She had a ball and kept saying "Look Mummy, I'm knitting!" (I still can't get her to use the word sewing instead!) The huge mess was well worth it for the hour's sewing I got in and the look on her face when she had made something!

I made the top from scratch which was a bit of a nightmare and makes me realise how much practice I need to learn to sew with knit fabrics! I used New Look 6639. The top sizing is really small so I grabbed one of her tops to use a size guide and extended the body and sleeve length. The skirt is from Simplicity 4895  and has a zip in the back which again tested my sewing skills. Of course, it is too big for her so I have some unpicking to do!

We were treated this evening to a fashion show from the usually reluctant model.

I think she got quite into it, LOL!

I finally got her into the dress with the doily pockets!!

Yes she is meant to wear leggings with it but those little brown knees are pretty cute!

I think she likes this one!

The hat is one I knitted for her on Monday night. It needs a flower on it too before it is finished but she insisted on wearing it for the 'show'.

Check out more Creative Spaces over at Kootoyoo

Sewing for Children by Emma Hardy

When we came back from the school run this morning, Eloise and I were extremely excited to find a Fishpond parcel waiting on the doorstep. It was Emma Hardy's latest book: Sewing for Children. I have all of her other books and love the way she explains things. Her books are beautifully illustrated too and full of gorgeous things to make so when I saw she had a book aimed at children I had to have it for my girls.

It's aimed at 3 and above and Eloise (aged 3 1/2) was desperate to get stuck into learning to sew as soon as the book arrived. She chose to make a spoon dolly, which was lucky as it was the easiest project in the book and this was her first time handling a needle and thread. The only sewing involved was a running stitch across the top of the dress to gather it, but she just loved it!

The button is her nose in case you hadn't gathered that!

As soon as she finished this one, she immediately wanted to make another. Could you resist this face?

Needless to say we now have to go and buy some more wooden spoons to replace the ones that are missing from the kitchen drawer.