Pink ruffled tutu ballet bag - oh to be a little girl...

My little niece is five years old. She loves ballet and princesses. She is my outlet for all things girl, so how could I resist her request for a tutu ballet bag. This was quite an involved project, which I made up as I went along and took pictures along the way. It is quite a long tutorial so please ask questions if anything is unclear and I would love to see pictures of your creations on my facebook page.

Here is what I did:

Cut four pieces of pink satin 28x28cm with 3x3cm squares cut out of two adjacent corners. Also cut a piece of pink organza (or tulle) 56x40cm.

For the skirt of the tutu, cut a piece of organza or tulle to 40x25cm, fold lengthways and sew up the short sides with a narrow serged (eg. rolled hem) or zig-zag stitch. Then sew a gathering stitch through the two layers on the remaining side, gather tightly and tie ends to keep gathers in place.

Draw the outline of the tutu bodice on to a piece of fusible interfacing and iron it on to your scrap of pretty fabric. Cut around the outline on the interfacing.

If the fabric is likely to fray, carefully seal the edges with fabric glue or nail polish. This would not be necessary for stretch fabric.

Take one of the four pieces of satin you cut for the bag. You will apply your design on the this piece. Remember the bottom and sides of the satin will fold around to become the bottom and sides of the bag, so leave space around your design for this as well as a bit of space at the top for finishing.

Place the skirt and bodice of the tutu on the satin and pin in place. Pin the lower edge of the bodice over the gathers of the tutu so they are hidden. Stitch in place around the bodice using a straight stitch with matching thread. This should be enough to hold the whole tutu in place.

Take two small and three medium sized ribbon roses (you can buy these or easily make them as shown here) to embellish the straps and waist of the tutu. These can be glued on (I used a glue gun) or stitched.

When you are happy with your design, you can sew the bag together. If you liked, you could add sparkles or beads to the skirt or surrounding fabric first. I left mine like this.

With right sides together, sew the bottom and sides of the bag. Make sure the tutu is out of the way of the stitching.

Take each inside corner point and pull apart, then stitch as shown.

Repeat with the remaining two pieces of satin to make the lining.

Next we'll make the gathered top part of the bag. You can see this in the photo below of the finished bag.

Using the large piece of organza, fold in half and stitch the two shorter sides together. Fold in half with the seam inside as shown.

Place flat on the table and mark where you would like the gathering ribbon holes. I did mine in the centre between the seam and the side fold.

Open out the circle of organza and make buttonholes where you drew the lines. Use a scrap of interfacing to stabilise the fabric or it will disappear inside the sewing machine - I learned this the hard way! Trim the excess interfacing when buttonholes are done.

Cut the buttonholes, refold the organza in half, then stitch the ribbon casing.

Thread some ribbon through. 

Place the lining inside the bag, wrong sides together. Then place the organza ribbon section inside the bag, wrong side to the inside. Stitch all six layers together around the top of the bag.

Next make the handles. Cut two pieces of satin 60x4cm. Sew each into a long tube, right sides together and turn right side out.

Trim each to approximately 50cm. Pin to the bag approx 1 inch in from each side seam. The handles should be just inside the upper seam. Stitch in place.

Make a ruffle by stitching a tube of organza and gathering one edge.

Pull the organza ribbon section up out of the bag. Sew the ruffle along the top hem and sew a ribbon on top to cover the hem and ruffle edge. I did this in one step as shown, but it was fiddly and some of the organza slipped out from under the ribbon, so had to be redone.

And that's it! I hope you've managed to stay with me this far and that you've made a beautiful bag for your little princess.

Meg xxx

Ribbon roses tutorial

Yesterday I was immersed in creating a very girly present for my niece (this is a sneak peek, more later) when I realised I hadn't bought any little ribbon roses to put on it. Oh no! OK, deep breath, think....I can make those, surely! They weren't too hard at all. Here's what I did:

First I took some ribbon (this one is about 7mm wide, I also used very narrow ribbon to make smaller roses, see pictures at the end of this post), folded over the end and pinned it as shown.

Then I began to wind the ribbon around the pin, sometimes twisting it to give it more bulk and interest.

When I was happy with the size and shape, I cut off the ribbon and glued the end in place with a glue gun. I removed the pin and glued the base of the flower too so it wouldn't unravel.

Then I got a piece of green ribbon and made it into a figure of 8 shape, glued it in place on the base of the flower and that's it. You could also use PVA glue or sew the ribbon in place, but if it doesn't need to be washed, a glue gun is super fast and easy.

Hooray! On with the pink and frilly creation. Can't wait to show you...

Metalicus knock-off polo bodycon top

I LOVE Metalicus, their easy to wear styles and fabrics, but it's generally out of my price range. The answer...make a knock-off of course!

I found this picture of a figure hugging polo top and drafted a pattern in about 20 minutes by copying a top of mine that had the right fit. The neck was a bit of a challenge and took me a couple of attempts. It's still not quite right, but I'm pretty happy with the way it turned out.

I used some stretch velour fabric in cream that I'd bought at the op shop (thrift shop) for $3. Not bad considering the original version cost $180!!

We wandered down to the river this morning to take some pics (thanks hubby). That's Perth city in the background. I love this spot. I was warm in my top, despite the cool and windy winter weather!

Please let me know if you are interested in the pattern. If people are keen I might draft it up properly with some instructions. I'd love some comments and blog followers. Meg xxx

Sew your own party bags

My big boy turned 8 last week and we decided to have sleepover party for four of his close friends. I was far more relaxed about the party this year than last year when we had 25 friends for a pool party at a fantastic kids leisure pool nearby. So relaxed that I forgot to buy party bags when I was out shopping for the party food. After a quick think and a search in the garage I found some thick brown paper that we had some items wrapped in when we moved here from the UK. Yes, I've been storing it for four years, but I just knew it would come in handy!!

I cut out paper in the size I wanted for the bags and cut out some thick strips for the handles. These I folded in thirds lengthwise and stitched. I sewed the handles on the bags first, matching the position on each side of the bag as I went. Then I sewed up the sides of the bags, stuck on some labels I'd printed on the computer and they were done. I liked the rustic look of these bags. Much nicer than plastic ones from the $2 shop! They could be embellished with stickers or flowers for girls.

These were filled with treasures from Bali that we bought on our recent holiday. Very happy :)
By the way, in case anyone is wondering, despite our best efforts for an early night, the boys stayed up until 2am. They had a ball though, so all worth it.

How to make Greek-style set yogurt with the Easi-yo

I make this delicious yogurt all the time. It is cheap, delicious and incredibly easy. Hubby and I have it every day on our cereal and even my 5 year old loves it. My 8 year old has yet to be convinced, but you can't have everything.

I use an Easy-Yo for this, but you could easily use a Thermos flask, or even a container placed in a well insulated cool-bag or similar.

Start by taking 1.25 cups milk powder (I use full cream) and a couple of tablespoons or so of plain yogurt (I use some left over from the last batch, but you can use shop-bought yogurt - you might need to experiment with one or two brands to find the one that sets best). Put these into the 1 litre Easy-yo container, which is partially filled with cold water. Fill the container to the top with water, put on the lid and give it a good shake to mix.

Fill your kettle and boil approximately 1.5 litres of water to place into the Easy-yo insulator to the top of the red line.

Leave for approximately four hours or overnight.

And voila, perfect set yogurt. By the way, set yogurt contains more beneficial bacteria than other kinds of yogurt. You can add fruit or other flavouring at this stage, but I prefer it plain. Enjoy.

PJs for boys

Winter has arrived in Perth, so I whipped up some warm pyjamas for my fast-growing boys. I got the dog print stretch fabric from Textile Traders and did the dog appliques on the front from a picture I found on the internet. It is ironed on to interfacing and the detailing done with black wool stitched on with zig-zag stitch. I like putting cuffs on the bottom of the pants as then you can make them a bit longer  for growing room but the kids can't trip over them. I also like the slimmer fitting pants design for boys. I made each pair different so it's easy to tell who's is who's!