Roll up roll up! Crayon rolls are complete

I have finished the first 5 crayon rolls, thanks to the tutorial here at Skip to my Lou.

They're all a tiny bit different. All (except the velcro one) have elastic and grommet for fast clean up. Seriously, who has time for ribbons and bows during clean up?
I bought just one set of 'large crayons' from Kmart to be sure of sizing, but didn't put them in rolls 2-5 for time saving reasons. My 8 month old isn't keen for me to post this blog, he'd rather be carried around all day haha.
They all have padded inner (pellon).

First one has a cute mushroom trim around the outside. The yellow ribbon keeps the grommet in place so you only need to loop the elastic around the rolled up roll and yank the elastic with the other hand. No need to hold the grommet (the plastic springy bit)

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Second one has ric rack around the edge. It's a small size ricrac though, so it's not very noticeable in real life. The dark blue was my choice for the inner seeing as I read a post about crayons making a mess of that section if it's a light colour fabric

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Third one. Cutie cupcakes! This fabric was too cute to leave just on the outside so I put a panel of it on the inside. You could use this to write your child's details in texta or just leave it as a decorative panel.

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Fourth one. Another cutie cupcake. The only two differences between this and number 3 is that this one has a green ribbon to keep the grommet close to the roll, and number 3 has a black one. And the inside cupcake panels are different sizes.

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Fifth one. This one is SOLD





Please let me know which you'd like (by commenting below or contacting me any other way). They're $10 this week seeing as that's the price I gave on online opshop, but $12 at the market on Saturday if there are any left because the $10 comparisons do not have the same quality trims and fastening, and I think they're certainly worth $12.

Crayon Rolls Ahoy

So I began a crayon roll selling business by accident on facebook LOL. Someone was interested in buying one and I said "hey, I can do that" and then 3 people were keen to buy.

I'm posting this blog to show some recently completed projects and give you an idea of the quality you can expect ...plus I love showing off some wicked gifts I made hehe.


Bought the pattern for the above "pocket with love" from Geta's quilting studio, and the item below is a free tutorial at the same site.




Please select from the fabrics below and advise what number fabric you want on inside and outside.

I included fabrics 4 and 5 because you may want the outside to look like something that belongs in your handbag, and the inside can have kid-like fabric for when it's unrolled. Just an idea.
PS There is a fabric with atom kind of pattern on it, above #7 which I forgot to label. It goes with the owl fabric number 3 - just call it atom fabric if you want it ;-)

How to make a breastfeeding top

I wanted more breastfeeding clothes because any breastfeeding Mum knows you quickly get sick of the minimal stuff on offer, unless you have a money tree and can simply buy a whole wardrobe of $70 tops ...which I don't.

When I went to buy the clips, I thought I'd find them 'at every corner' online but could only find them for sale from ONE single site, in Canada with AU$20+ postage! (Let me know if you hear of anywhere else that sells them and I just had a bad-search-day!!) So I bought a whole bunch of them, making the postage worth it, and thinking to myself "These 'ill sell like hotcakes!". Sadly, I seem to be the only person outside Canada interested in them? Nevermind, when I get time to make 24 more tops, I'll have all the clips I need haha.

So part of my plight to get breastfeeding Mums into something other than singlets, I want to share the How-To of making a $5 top into your very own $70 top ...kind of :-)

Start here

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So I bought this top on the Supre clearance rack for $5 (I know, sweeeet!)


You kind of need to have the inbuilt/shelf bra part in your top. Unless you don't mind going bra-less, or wearing your maternity bra with your new top.
However, I tried this a few months ago, and I was clipping the bra to the shirt and getting all confused, so now I avoid it, personally.



You'll need some knit fabric for the inserts (so your top holds together when you're feeding) and whatever you're going to use for straps if your top is strapless. I only needed about 10cm of the red knit fabric for the inserts.
Make sure you have the stretch going left to right as you would for normal clothing, otherwise your top will droop


Cut out a piece roughly this shape to go under your armpit and at the side of your breast. Mine was two fabrics thick.
I traced this shape from an existing feeding top.
You can't go wrong if it's "too skinny", but there is such thing as "Too wide". Too wide means it may be difficult for your baby to access your nipple, and it's also not a good idea to have anything blocking your milk ducts too much.

If this becomes too confusing, you can do a simple strap instead of a nice shape, and the strap doesn't get sewn into the under arm seam at all.




I sewed together, clipped the corners and turned out. If you use just one layer it simply wouldn't be as cushy - it's up to you.


Sew the inserts to the under-bust part of your top, and the side seam.


FYI The yellow head pins are where I'm sewing, other pins are just to hold in place. I do this because I'm a tired new Mum and need to alleviate errors LOL


Below I demonstrate how the sewing didn't go to the outside of the top, just through the shelf-bra part

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Well done, first part done. Now you need a clip for when you're not feeding.

Now, the elusive clips... There are two pieces to each side. I hope I have demonstrated clearly enough throughout the tutorial.




I just made a little strap, threaded through the clip, and sewed to the very top part of my garment




Once again, just through the shelf bra part.





And for the other part of the clip, you have two sides to sew it in:
The top of the strap/insert, and the bottom part of your shirt's strap





I just sewed as close as I could, using my zipper foot



And this is what it's like when it's done!



Have you made a breastfeeding top? What was your experience with a feeding wardrobe?

I also made this one (three times) which doesn't need clips, and looks nothing like a feeding top!
Rostitchery Nursing top with a twist

My Block of the month

After a few years of patchworking, I finally found a block of the month project that I liked enough to actually buy into long term, and it turns out my good friend Ally was also under its spell.
As we're both Mums of new babies this year, it's a huge challenge we accepted together. It has been a lot of fun racing the clock to both get the blocks progressing, and I can't believe our boys will be about 1 year old when we finish this quilt. It's one with a lot of love sewn in!

She has shown her progress at her blog Sunshine and Stitching, and I thought I'd better share my progress with you too!

The design is by Lenora Jenkins and is supposed to look like this in the end...

Cute Huh?
From Gum Valley Patchwork, Australia

Block one.... from humble beginnings:

came completion of this:

Block two is coming along slowly, I've still got about a week til crunch time when block 3 is expected to pounce into my letter box :-)

The embroidered words this month are "Love" and "Hope".
Love is done, Hope still has half a dove to go, but on track.
I cut a piece of fabric off which APPARENTLY was needed to frame "hope" ...I think I still have the scrap of fabric which didn't look important at the time, and I'm just waiting for the universe to give it back ;-)

So far this quilt has enabled me to learn two new skills: Needleturn applique and chain stitch embroidery stitch.
I also used a clever way of getting a perfect circle SUPER easy to applique that I stole from http://youtu.be/8ChE9UBWA8A