Grey-Green Party Dress

This is the first dress I have made since Casper was born. The bodice is made from a hugely modified vintage pattern and the skirt is just  gathered. I used a really light printed cotton and hemmed it with orange velvet ribbon. The belt is this bright red elastic that has been kicking around for a while. Somehow it just showed up at the perfect moment and ended up as a belt.
The buttons are pearly pink and that's Casper in my arms with one shoe on and one shoe off.

Casper's First Cords

I whipped these up the other morning with powder blue corduroy. They have embroidered dogs on the cuffs and a button for easy nappy changing. Socks courtesy of Laura Spelbrink. Photos by Steve.

Grey Booties

I made these when I was 17 for Studio Arts, they're a little too big for Casper at the moment, I guess my gauge was out! They are pure merino wool.

Flip Doll

I made this rabbit doll in Montreal from an old gingham skirt and some fabric from my friend, Eloise's dress.
I made the pattern up, it's the same as the other rabbits that I posted a while ago but joined at the waist. One is happy and the other one is crying. I have a flip doll that was my auntie's that is Little Red Riding Hood, Grandma and The Wolf all together, which gave me the idea to make this one.

Bed Sheet Clothes

I made this shirt for Steve to wear to my Dad's opening a few months ago. The fabric is a bed sheet and the buttons are plastic amazing square ones.


The picture below is of a maternity dress I made from another bedsheet. The collar is detachable and I use it as a breastfeeding dress now.

Look what I made!

His name is Casper, born on 19.10.2010 weighing 7lbs exactly.

Violet Baby Cape

This is a baby cape, made from a cardigan I was knitting when I was about 18, but abandoned- due to the size 12 needles and 3 ply wool.

I used a button that my grandmother gave me, from my uncle's pajama shirt when he was a child.

It is quite small, so I hope it fits the baby for at least a month before it goes into the hand-me-down pile!

Ladle Rat Rotten Hut

This is a hooded cape that I knitted for the baby that Steve and I are expecting in about a month!
I used a nice alpaca merino blend and started using a pattern but ended up just rubifying it with some stork fabric and making up a hood pattern as I was a bit sick of knitting garter stitch.

Return of the Jedi Shirt

This is a shirt I made for Steve for Christmas. I made it out of a bed sheet I found at the Op Shop near our house. I made up the pattern (the same one from the blue shirt I made a couple of months ago) and used old bakelite buttons that my Dad gave me, they are a lovely deep red. It's a bit crumply because we took it out of the washing basket to photograph it.
Background mess courtesy of the D.S.Ls, photo credit to Samuel J. Davison, Salty Sea Dog credit to Steve Lynch.

Rainbow Dress

I made this dress for a final project in my painting class in first year. It is a full circle skirt, that has been painted, or even dyed with very diluted acrylic paints. The bodice is of black velvet.
I was looking to achieve an effect of overall colour, and was more concerned with the process of dripping the paint onto the fabric than what the end result would be- we were studying abstract expressionism at the time...

The closure is a zip at the back, that wasn't the right colour, so I painted it black.

Photo credit to Samuel J. Davison.

Googly-Eyed Monster

I made this Hallowe'en costume by commission wayyy back in October, but I only remembered to put it on here just then. It was really great fun to make- I created an interior skeleton, to give the monster some shape and then stuck googly eyes all over it with superglue!

The noise that those googly eyes make when somebody moves around in the costume is great- like shells rattling.

Thanks to David for the photo

Walking

Another shot from our trip to the Botanical Gardens in Montreal, doesn't the winter light look beautiful?

Rag Quilts

I was commissioned to make these quilts by a woman for her two daughters. Half of the squares on the patchwork are cut from the girls' old clothing.
I think they turned out very nicely, I embroidered their names onto each quilt and included tiny trimmings from the clothing, like bows and flowers!

The backing and binding is a gorgeous soft pink satin and I used a tying method for the actual quilting, as the patchwork was a lot more difficult and time-consuming than I had anticipated.
I prefer the pink and white quilt to the pink and green one, it just seems cleaner and more aesthetically pleasing.

Ballon Pour Nicolas

This is the Christmas present I made for Nicky, Ellie's little brother. I made it out of scraps from dresses that I have sewn.

I think it's always lovely to give old-fashioned gifts to children, because now those garish computery-light-flashey toys are cheaper than a rag doll!

Cat Doll

This is a Christmas present for Ellie, the little girl I nanny. She was delighted and noted that the dress is made from the same fabric as my Penny Dress a few posts down!

I embroidered the face with some 1940s silk that I bought at an Op Shop in Pie IX.