The Terrible Tutus!

Christmas 2013.  The girls both wanted the same outfit (oh how I wished they hadn't).  They'd been watching 'Barbie in the Pink Shoes'.

How tasteful?  All pink and sparkly.  And tutu-like.  I wasn't even sure I could get a pattern for a tutu.  Because I was certain I wouldn't be able to make anything up for this!  Turns out you can get tutu patterns.  Mainly made to measure ones.  But I did find a commercial tutu pattern.

Jalie 2915.  The leotard and skirt are separate.  The leotard has a flap running all the way around to hide the waistband of the skirt.  While I was looking for a pattern I started reading all kinds of advice on making tutus.  It all seemed very complicated.  But the girls had faith in me.  Bless them!  It was then that I came across the website for Valorose Tutus.  I don't think these tutus would have been made without the help and advice from the wonderful Suzanne who runs the site.  In fact I know they wouldn't have been made, and they certainly wouldn't have looked half so impressive.  You see, Katie wanted hers to stick out a lot, and I had no idea how much net I would need.  I plagued the life out of poor Suzanne for about two months with questions and updates.  It turns out that you need A LOT of net for a tutu.

I started with the leotards.  I was amazed at how much easier they were than I thought they would be to make.  The only thing was there was a lot of panels in each one and I got a bit sick making two at a time.  The centre panel I made from shiny lycra, and the rest was made from a velvety lycra.

  

The straps were made from white elastic that were dyed with teabags.  Again following advice from Suzanne.  I also added lots of sparkles to the front of each leotard.  It's Barbie.  Apparently things can't be too pink or sparkly.

When I took photos of these I kept making sure I had both in the shot at the same time!  I wanted to make sure everyone knew I was making two tutus!  I do apologise to everyone I know about how much I went on about that fact.

On to the skirts.  When doing research I found conflicting advice about how much net I should use in each layer.  It varied from two widths to four widths, each width being 150cm (approx 5' wide).  When I asked Suzanne her advice was 6 widths for the top layer and 5 for the other layers.  That's an awful lot of net.  It basically meant for the top layer I had to gather a rectangle that was 1'x30'!!  This then had to be attached to what was basically a pair of pants with a waist of about 20".  It was a complete nightmare.  When I was trying to gather, my machine kept having a hissy fit and snapping thread.  Then sewing the gathered layers to the pants was even worse.  A low point was the day I snapped 3 needles in ones afternoon.  It's amazing my sewing machine still speaks to me!  We didn't get on well for quite some time after that.  I also needed regular hugs when it wasn't going well.  My usual threat when a project isn't going well is that I'm going to throw it out of the window, I can't tell you how many times I threatened that.

I added yet more sparkles.  I'd like to say that the wide band of sequins was for decoration, but it was more to hide some very dodgy sewing!

With the skirts upside down it's easier to see the different layers and colours.

Both tutus were completed before Christmas.  They did take a roll of wrapping paper each to wrap though!

The girls were definitely pleased.  Here they are doing some 'ballet'.  I know, I know, but they think they look really good.

You just can't beat the combination of tutus and socks can you?  Unless it's Katie's tutu, socks and red ballet shoes comination!  I think you'll agree that Suzanne's advice made much more impressive (and more sticky out) skirts!  Thank you again Suzanne.

Now I suppose I should go and work on this year's Christmas presents...

More on Gran's 90th birthday

As well as Gran's picture quilt I also made a matching cushion.  The picture quality is terrible, I'm sorry, but, I was literally walking out of the door with it when I remembered I needed to take a photo.  I perhaps shouldn't have bothered!

It does match the quilt, honest!

We also had a surprise birthday party for her.  Normally my cousin Jayne makes and decorates cakes for family occasions.  This time she had the excuse of having just had a baby.  Some people, the things they do to get out of cake decorating!  Anyway, when this was mentioned a few months ago, I foolishly stepped forward to volunteer. Full of confidence.  I mean how hard could it be?  I should point out at this juncture that my usual decorating method is to put chocolate (or chocolate fudge) on top of the cake and if I'm feeling really fancy (i.e. it's a birthday cake) I add Smarties.

I had a vision in my head of doing something with fondant or sugar paste roses.  I've made roses out of paper before, it can't be too much different, can it?  Turns out it can.  We were going for a purple and silver theme for the party, so I used food colouring to dye some sugarpaste.  I spent days looking like I'd committed some kind of terrible crime.  The red just would not wash off.  It was very Lady MacBeth.

We got a topper printed onto icing by the lovely Gill to go into the centre of the cake.  We wanted to go with understated elegance.  I know.  This is the person who usually makes princess dresses and pirate quilts.

Mam made the spice cake and put the marzipan on.  Then we started to decorate.  You've seen nothing like it.  Poor Mam's kitchen looked like a bomb site by the time we'd finished.  I've never covered a cake (or cake board for that matter) in fondant.  It took several attempts and lots (and lots) of patching and smoothing.  After putting the topper on, it was time for the piping.  Can I have a dramatic drum roll please?  I'd practised piping once and it went ok.  I then ran out of time to do any more practising.  You can see how well this is going to go, can't you?  Mam left the kitchen at that point.  She was then unsure whether she was supposed to come in everytime there was an exclamation.  On the whole she thought it wise to stay out of the way.  I can't say I blame her!

Cake complete.  We did debate whether or not to put some silver balls on.  Mainly to try to distract the eye from the piping.  But it was decided that less was more.

It wasn't too bad in the end.  Jayne's job is definitely safe though!  I'm not sure I can handle the stress levels for one thing.

For around the cake table at the party I made some personalised bunting.  The idea was that Gran could keep it afterwards as a memento.   No prizes for guessing Gran's name.

In the picture the bunting isn't quite finished.  I also stuck some purple bows onto the pegs.  Just because I could!

Now where are those Smarties?!

Happy Halloween!

I thought I'd leave the nieces' Halloween outfits until tonight to post, but with hindsight I'd probably have been better off posting sooner.  Ah well.

First up, Katie.  She knew that she wanted to be a vampire.  To start with we thought we'd get away with letting her wear Charlotte's old vampire costume.

It fitted alright, but Katie doesn't like things rough on her skin.  She didn't like the velcro attaching the collar or the spider web tulle sleeves.  We should have known better.  I remember when she was a toddler hunting around for seamless socks for her!  We couldn't find a design that she was totally happy with.  I was hoping that we could persuade her into some kind of Goth get-up.  We did find a picture of a 'grown up' vampire, with a very short ruffled skirt.  We liked the ruffles, but the rest of the outfit was not appropriate for a seven year old.  I drew a beautiful (I'm sure you'll agree!) picture of what I had in mind.  I was thinking Victorian/Goth, with really long sleeves and a big collar.

I used the basic bodice from Simplicity 2569 (the infamous witches dresses)

With the sleeves from Simplicity 5520 (Merida and Elsa).  

For the skirt I drafted a basic A-line skirt and added lots of layers of ruffles.  I was very sick of gathering layers of fabric by the end.  Actually that's a lie, I was sick of gathering by the end of the first layer.  The collar I drafted myself, and may one day do a tutorial for it.  I know, you just can't wait, can you?  To eliminate the problem with the scratchy velcro, I put buttonholes in the back of the dress and sewed buttons onto the collar itself, so that the buttons would point outwards.  I will give credit where credit is due at this point, that bit was Other Half's idea.

While making this dress, the ruffles did look a bit unfortunate.  That is to say, it looked like something a barmaid in the Wild West would wear, or, as my Mam said, Nancy from Oliver.  I think it looks better finished, so here you are, one Victorian/Goth/Lady of the Night Halloween costume!

  

And from the back

I have to say, I think this is one of my favourite dresses I've made.

On to Charlotte.  Charlotte wanted to be a witch.  We trawled the internet looking for inspiration.  Nothing was right.  Until we found a picture of a GOOD witch.  It turns out she wanted to be Glinda from 'Oz The Great And Powerful'.

Oh dear.  It's got a crown!  Which was, of course, vital to the outfit.  In a reversal of Katie's costume, I used the dress from Simplicity 5520 and sleeves from Simplicity 2569.  The sleeves and front panel were made from a two-tone chiffon, decorated with some glitter glue.  The crown I made with gold painted corrugated card and a clear plastic hairband.  I know, so hi-tech!

During the making of Charlotte's outfit, I did look suspiciously like a nightie, although now it's done, I actually really like it.

Poor bairn did spend a lot of time at the school Halloween disco explaining who she was!  She seems to have learnt from this experience though.  When I asked her last week if she wanted a princess dress for Christmas she said she would like to be...

"With the horns and wings please Auntie Sandra."  Oh dear!

Gran's Surprise Quilt

I've been frantically crafting for the past few weeks.  Several projects have been kept secret.  Unless you know me in real life, in which case you're sick of hearing about them, sorry.  There was a very good reason for this.  Yesterday was my Gran's 90th birthday!  Happy birthday Gran!  What do you get as a present for someone who is 90?  After racking my brain I came up with an idea.  A memory quilt.  Or in this case, more of a family quilt.  That is, a quilt with photos of the family on it.

Remember this fabric roll up?

Well this is the project it was bought for.  I had a vague idea that I wanted some kind of shading across the quilt and this fabric seemed to fit the bill.  And it's really pretty!  I particularly like the greeny-turquoisey colours.  I have to say, I was a bit daunted by making a quilt from strips of fabric like this.  I like to draw things out first, however badly, and I wasn't going to be able to do that with this project.  I also had no idea how big the final quilt was going to be, or even how big it should be.

First thing I did was lay all the strips out across the dining room table, trying to put them in some kind of order.

The terracotta type colours all had two strips the same.  There were some repeats in the others, but only the odd one.  I took out the other duplicates and one or two other strips to get eight strips of each of the four colours (cream, green, terracotta and brown).  I then sewed these strips into groups, from the lightest of each colour together, through to the darkest shades.

These were then cut into square blocks, each approximately 8 1/2".  All except one.  Which I managed to cut half an inch too small.  In the photos of the final quilt try to spot which one.  It's a game the whole family can enjoy.

I then had to decide how to arrange the blocks in the final quilt.  We had a couple of options.

To be honest, in my head I'd always pictured the first option, and that's the one I went for.

Once the blocks were sewn together I had to decide on the placement of photos.  Getting the photos together in the first place was a bit of a nightmare.  When they were all assembled I printed them all on paper first.  I made them sepia with a black border so that they all tied in together and looked like they belonged with the quilt fabric.

I made sure that all the photos would fit once printed onto fabric.  When I've been talking with people about this project I kept being asked how I would get the photos onto the fabric?  The answer is really boring.  You can get specially treated cotton that will go through inkjet printers.  It comes with a backing paper on it.  The type I bought is iron on, so all you do is print the photos, cut to size (I put two on a sheet of A4), peel off the backing and iron into position.  I also put a zig-zag stitch around each photo, just to make sure they were secure.

When deciding on where to put photos I did wonder about changing the quilt to portrait rather than landscape...

... but I preferred landscape.  On the bottom photo you can probably see some pieces of tape (not pieces of eight, however).  They were just there to hold the photos in their final position before I ironed them on.  That part was scary, after that there was no going back!

After pressing and sewing the photos into position I just(!) need to add the backing, quilt the whole thing and bind it.  I did have to buy extra fabric for the backing and binding, but the rest is from the original roll-up.  The extra strips I took out weren't wasted either, I cut some (what felt like hundreds!) circles to make 'yo-yos' to attach to the corners of the photos.

And here it is, the finished quilt!

It's about 64" X 40".  The family is scattered around randomly otherwise it would have looked uneven in places!  Gran's great-grandchildren are all on the quilt twice, apart from Kyle who made an appearance after the rest of the photos were taken.  Kyle is the (proud) owner of the pirate quilt.

And here's a close up of the birthday girl herself

It being Gran's quilt she got more yo-yos than anyone else.

A close up of yours truly and my other half.

I won't embarrass the rest of the family by posting close ups of the rest of them.  Unless they want me to of course.  Just let me know!

Gran was given her quilt yesterday on her birthday.  It seemed to go down well, especially with the family, all desperate to find the picture of themselves, and to make sure I hadn't chosen an awful one of them.  Gran had no idea she was getting this.  Well done everyone for keeping to yourselves.

You may be seeing this quilt again.  It was suggested that I attach some tabs to the top so it can be hung from the wall.  Watch this space.

Repairing Elsa

I'll get my excuses out of the way first.  I'm up to my eyeballs in projects at the moment, including a few secret ones.  These will be blogged about eventually, but in the meantime I'm afraid I'm just doing a quick update on Elsa dresses.  There will also be posts on Halloween costumes for the nieces when my parcel of fabric arrives.

So.  You may or may not remember that both Charlotte and Katie wanted Elsa from Frozen dresses for their birthdays earlier in the year.  Along with every other girl of Disney princess age in the World.  I couldn't figure out how to attach cloaks and zips, so ended up making them from lycra.  Charlotte wanted some red on hers.  As you do.  Exhibits A and B.  Two beautiful and clean Elsa dresses.
 

Then I gave them to the girls.  And they wore them!  I know, anyone would think that's why I'd made them!  

Last night they went to see 'Disney on Ice'.  This meant (I'm told) that they had to dress up.  Guess who they wanted to go as?  I dread to think how many Elsas were in that audience.  So, a couple of weeks the dresses were returned to Auntie Sandra for running repairs.  I think the kindest way to put it was that the dresses had been loved to death.  They obviously get plenty of wear out of them.  

We had grubby marks...

Torn under arm seams...

Ripped bodice net...

And then there were the cloaks...

I had had doubts about using net, but this proved it.  I did hear a rumour that at least one of the tears in the cloaks was from a bike riding incident, but we won't dwell on that.

I thought the best way forward would be to change the net for something more substantial.  When searching for ideas I kept coming across organza.  If you've been reading for a while you may recall how much I detest organza.  Then I found this

 and I fell in love.  I NEEDED it.  Sooo pretty.  I ordered 3m.  You can't have too much fabric in a cloak right?  I also ordered some thin, semi-transparent lycra to replace the bodice and arm net.  

I traced the pieces of the dresses I needed to replace.  That was harder than I thought.  Of course, for once in my life I'd actually thrown some traced pattern pieces out a couple of weeks before, and yes the Elsa patterns went with them.  D'Oh!

Anyhoo, here are the final dresses.

Charlotte's still with her red bows.

How pretty?!!  The fabric actually wasn't too bad to work with.  It didn't fray as much as the last stuff I used and it seemed a lot more stable.  I wouldn't say that it's made organza my first choice in future though.  I even attempted a couple of rolled hems, as witnessed above.  They're not brilliant, but I figure no one's going to be paying that much attention.

And here are the girls in action, so to speak.

There may have been lots of Elsas, but how many of them had such pretty cloaks?

On a side note, I was devastated when I started looking for fabric for the dresses.  There's now a McCall's sewing pattern out!