Nursery sewing

Hello!

I thought it would be nice to share some of the sewing my mum and I did to decorate our little ones nursery.

Its a small room, so we wanted to keep the walls white and add some bright accents.  When we started, we didn't know if it was a girl or boy, so its all bright and unisex.

My mum is my chief curtain maker and I just love this cloud fabric I bought and she sewed.  Its from Just fabrics, here cloud fabric

I then decided to make some kites to decorate the walls - I bought some contrasting fat quarters and made 2, one larger one for over the cot and one small one.  I just drew a template and. made it, stuffing with a bit of wadding.  I made little bows and put a loop at the end to pin them up.

I only recently finished everything - a cushion with the same fabric for on our red chair - I spend many hours sat in this chair, feeding.  The lovely throw was hand knitted by my friend Claire's mum. Its stunning colours.

Our bed and changing table are from Stokke, bought second hand and have already served us well with our first son.  I love the cot in its smallest shape, its so dinky and cute.  My mum made a cot bumper with animals on it and the mobile is from Mamas & Papas, bought a few years ago.

To finish off, I bought some wall stickers from Etsy (chocovenyl store) which were expensive but are just gorgeous!  You can see the squirrel, rabbit and birds above, and here are a few more.  Plus a wonderful woodland themed blanket that my mum made.

And  my favourite thing my mum made- which my first son also used- a lovely personalised blanket, which lives on our lounge floor for him to lie on.  And a picture from when he was tiny.

So there we have it, our lovely little nursery which our little man seems very happy in.  Not sure he will be so happy with how small the room is when he is bigger, but we will deal with that at a later stage :)

and to finish off, sharing a few outfits I made for him too.  So cute, though always sad that he only fits them for a matter of weeks!   I used the brindle and twig cross top pattern and the free baby tights pattern from Made By Rae, plus a few other things which are just cut from ready to wears.

My #refashioners2016 kids choo choo jacket

After my first refashioners project I had lots of denim left over and a thirst for more! It was my little ones 2nd birthday coming up so I decided to make him something special. He had started to get very particular about clothes and very stubborn too (no idea where he gets that from ;) ) only wanting to wear certain colours and clothes with his favourite vehicles or animals on. Coats are always a battle as his are all dull. So mummy decided it was time for his first denim jacket, with a twist. 

His absolute favourite thing in the world right now are trains. We have been known to go on a day trip into London and never even leave  Waterloo, he gets that excited. And when I was working with denim I started seeing engines (or do I now see Thomas in everything that I m so indoctrinated!!).   I decided on a bomber jacket style and bought the Ollie pattern from Sew A Little Seam.  I cut out the pieces basically working around which big, intact and solid pieces I had left. I decided on a few modifications. First jeans buttons, not a zipper.  I would also use stretch denim for the collar, cuffs and waist not the usual ribbed Jersey so I needed to cut those pieces bigger as I had way less stretch than the patten intended. The big job was crafting my masterpiece on the back!!!

I firstly drew the train I wanted on paper and cut them out for templates.  I then sorted through the fabric bits to choose what to use where.  I already had plans for some pieces.    I had a darker jean with a nice double stitched inside leg seam with 2 colours which were perfect train tracks!!

I had  a pocket with ridges down it which was perfect for the body of the train.  I also had plans for some belt loops for the chimneys on the train.  And finally, I had some pocket insides which have a cool gradient on them, which I thought would be perfect carriages!!  When I started putting it together I realised it needed a pop of colour & decided on buttons for wheels. 

I played around with placement and changed my mind on the colour of the carriage a few times.  When I was happy, I  went about attaching pieces.  I did this in different ways.   Some pieces I stuck the pieces in place with wonder web to hold them in the desired spot before top stitching.  Some bits I just oversewed the edge with a zig zag stitch, others I turned the edges under & top stitched.

For my smoke puffs I wanted a frayed edge so I frayed around them, then sewed inside of this a little.

Once the back choo choo was done, it was a simple construction job.  The instructions are great, I just simply followed them.  The cuffs are a bit fidly as they are so small  ( and I was using stretch denim rather than ribbing).

On the front of the jacket, I put a leg seam down the front for a bit of a feature then used Prym pliers & jean poppers down the front.  It required a bit of scary hammer work to get the holes in, but putting the poppers in was a breeze with the pliers - I highly recommend them and I love how they look.

I wanted a detail on the front and I found a little pocket on one of the jeans I really adored, so I cut around it and simply sewed it on with a tight zig zag round the edge.  It will fray, but I kind of like that look.  I found some great cheek fabric in the pockets of one pair of jeans- turquoise in one pocket & red in the other!  I used the turquoise to create a '2' on the front pocket (given it was for his second birthday, it felt apt!).

I then decided I could incorporate the checked fabric on the back too- as little triangles in the carriages.

The only parts of the jacket that isn't from the original jeans is the buttons, popper & lining.  I wanted it to be cosy for him and wanted a bit more colour so I picked a cute jersey fabric to line it with:

And there we have it, this is the finished jacket!  

And of course a cute picture or two of him wearing it...

So thats it- my second refashioners project- another one I m really happy with.  I could get really hooked on this denim thing....

Thanks for reading....
Messy Essy Makes
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