Mamu Designs - Emily

So I thought I would run through how I made it, as I was a little confused myself. These how to are only brief as I'm flat out at the moment, I'll expand them as i make more in the set.

I'm making the dress, with the ruffled back.

Cut two front tops on the fold - one focus fabric, one lining. Decorate the front bodice before anything else. I interfaced mine, as I didn't want the threads etc to show through to the right side. Mine is cut from watermelon pink.

Cut one front skirt. Mine is cut from pale pink.

One back skirt - I used the large ruffle piece, again in pale pink.

One back skirt - small ruffle piece - I used a stripe.

One waistband - I cut it in half, as I was only gathering up the back skirt. So where it had cut on fold, I made this my other cut edge.

Finish the bottom edge of the small ruffle, lay over the large ruffle piece and baste together at the waist.

Fold waistband in half and press.

Gather the back to skirt to fit the waistband. Stitch together, press and topstitch, I like to topstitch the top edge of the waistband as well. Insert elastic to fit (there are no measurements that I can see, so I guesstimated to fit a size 2) Baste ends of elastic in waistband so they don't go anywhere, whilst you work on the front.

Once front is fully embellished to your requirements, it's time to attach the skirt. Attached your bodice front to your skirt front. Pressing all your seams.

If you are going to add a trim to the bottom hem like I have, sew one side of your skirt back to to your completed front. If you don't have a hem trim you can attach both sides. So attach your skirt back to your front, from the hemline up - hopefully they will be the same on either side. Press the seam to the front - yes that's right the front - that's because I'm lining the bodice and we want it to sit flat at the waist. Don't' forget to finish your seam, I just used my overlocker.

I've added a hemline trim, so I sewed one side, added my trim and then matching the sides sewed up the other side, pressed my trim up and topstitched it.

Now to line your bodice. Lay right sides together of your bodice and stitch all the way around, leaving the skirt waistline seam unattached. Clip and trim seams, turn through and press. I made sure that I turned up the bottom edge of the bodice by 5mm or so, when I attached them at the sides, so that I had a neat edge to hand stitch down onto the bodice so no seams showed on the bodice.

Ta da all finished, it was pretty easy to put together, just the instructions that were confusing to my fried brain, once I had the pieces all cut, I knew what I had to do.

And the finished article, it turned out beautifully I think

and of course it has a matching nappy.

Monkey Magic

Some monkey dumplings for the lottery giveaway on Gossamer Dreams.  Request was monkeys or dinosaurs, I'm still working on embroidery for a dinosaur, but I think the hanging monkey with his bananas worked well.  Thanks for your patience Renee!

Christmas sewing

Just some of the Christmas sewing I've done.

Sew Serendipity Lunch Pail Bag, but I converted it to a Project Bag.  Bright and funky black and rainbow colours.  It's a lovely bag, and I don't think I'd change anything on it.

For my gorgeous niece.  Garden Wristlet by Keyka Lou - I love this pattern, so good for

little gifts for tweens.

Of course this one had to have a CK snap, this little doodad will hold your keys.

Noodlehead 241 Tote.  I didn't have enough of the focus fabric, that i just had to use for this mama, so I improvised on the reverse side and made it a feature.

And this is the front, I love the fabric colours, I really, really wanted to keep it lol!!

More pics to come.

Merry Christmas!!!

Well ladies, I'm signing off for a couple of days to get ready for Christmas and take a breather, this week has been pretty busy lol!!

The Cherub's wish you a Merry Christmas and a safe and peaceful New Year. We'd also like to thank you for all your wonderful support throughout the year. We will be taking a break towards the end of January, to revamp the sewing studio and have a bit of down time, but will be back bigger and better than ever, with lots more gorgeous stock on a more regular basis and more of the next day turn around customs as well. Who could ask for more?

But of course what would the Boxing Day Sales be without a bit of fun, so we'll see you then :)

Cheers Shane and Lesley and all the little Cherubs.

I'm blaming

some gorgeous mamas for posting a link on FB and then I just HAD to follow it lol!! And then of course I had to make it.

It's the Tabitha Bag from Flossie Teacake

Now I really shouldn't be sewing because

a) it was black
b) the antibiotics and painkillers, do not lead to perfect sewing

But sewing nappies is not an option when I'm not on top of the game, there is no room for error when I sew for paid work. Plus I get bored easily, being told to do nothing, doesn't really work for me :(

I'm sure my sister's friend who this bag is made for will forgive my little oopsies. Not that there were many but it's not as perfect as I would have liked.

Anyways I found the pattern relatively easy to follow, though I do like actual photos rather than diagrams, but she was pretty clear on her pics. A couple of things I would change, would be a few more markings as you really need to have a straight edge at the top of the bag, I think I oopsed there and used the wrong piece, totally my fault I am sure but a couple of extra markings would have been good.

I used black - BIG MISTAKE - I need new glasses, and marking on black is always a pita, so remember to mark the wrong side of your fabric with the markings if using black.

I would use a slightly heavier interfacing next time, I don't think the pattern stipulated, but even a layer of iron on pellon on the lining might be enough to give it a wee bit more body - but then again the designer did use linen, which I didn't.

I would have liked a mark for the magnetic catch, it's easy enough to do at the end, but a mark would be awesome.

I oopsed on the handles cause I forgot to leave an opening to insert them, but that wasn't necessarily a bag thing, as I found unpicking and inserting them gave a neat finish.

Oh and I made the trim 1 1/2 inches wide instead of just the inch.

Other than that, I think it's a cute bag, now I just need to work out how to put a zip in is, as i'm more a zip girl than magnetic clasps :)

End of the school year

Well the school year has nearly finished. Both W and K have had a fabulous year.

W's teacher is just a doll and has really made W shine. He got an excellent report and he's very excited to be moving up to year 3.

K had the most gorgeous Kindy teacher and assistant, they know her so well and she's had an absolute ball going, she's really going to miss them, but she's very excited to be going into prep. We've met her divine prep teacher already and have a uniform ready to go, she was a little disappointed it wasn't pink, but once she realised everyone wears the same, she submitted to wearing royal blue and school green.

As a thank you to the wonderful teachers, I did as always do some baking, shortbread, red and green M&M bikkies and some dark chocolate coated cherry and pecan biscotti. Plus a wee tote bag from Kekya Lou, they went together really easily and suited the teachers down to the ground.

All 3 bags with goodies.

For William's teacher Mrs B - pinks and blues.

For Katherine's Kindy Teacher Mrs M - she loves green

And for the funky Mrs F - Kindy assistance, red, yellow and black.

Next time I make them I'll leave the opening a little bigger, I think I gathered a bit too much, but it's a super quick and easy bag and it looks great.

Of course it was pouring rain yesterday, so inside photos it was as we were rushing out the door.