I put this together real quick for a friend’s birthday who likes the colour purple. I wanted the zipper to be perfect and I’m very happy with the end result. The bag is made of interfaced (iron-on) cotton twill and a lovely deep purple patterned wool. The bottom is boxed and the lining is upcycled from some old (washed) pyjamas.

This could have a strap a function as a little handbag as well but perhaps my friend doesn’t want to walk around announcing her name to everyone!

My friend had a second baby and after scouring the shops for something original that she wouldn’t already have I decided to make something personal and a little more unique than what I could find in our local shops. Here is what I came up with.

Some felt embroidered stars and moons to spell out Reuben attached to a ribbon ready for handing on the cot or buggy. I digitised the shapes and let the embroidery machine do the work using the hooped embroidery stabiliser and felt. First the letter was embroidered for each shape then I attached some wadding and the backing felt to the back of the already hooped felt. I used a tack-down stitch in matching thread, then the machine performed the blanket stitch for the edging beautifully using a contrasting white embroidery thread.

Considering it wasn’t too much effort I think they look quite spectacular. I could do this again.

For any triathlete (mainly my darling hubby) who wants to be warm and add a little colour and extra visibility on the winter morning bikes and runs. I thought the fleece might be a bit warm but not only does it stay up well, it also wicks away the perspiration. Lovely!

I am really pleased with how the embroidery turned out on the fleece. And I had to try not to go mad with the colours. I’ll make a pair for anyone who’d like one, just contact me.

I’ve never made a bag before so this was a big learning experience making use of interfacing and stiffer materials. My machine coped with it all like a breeeeeeeze.

I wanted to make something for a teenager to reflect the personality and the age. Something relaxed, with colour and asymmetry and something personal as well. So this is what I came up with.

The name on the front in bright colours that can be hidden by turning the bag around and there are brighter colours on the other side. A fully lined bag with inside pocket and a clasped quick release cover to keep things in whilst skateboarding, or whatever.

An little dress, two pairs of jeans and some other trousers went in to this with material to spare. I’m really pleased with the end product, I hope the recipient is too. In fact, I wonder if she’ll use it.

I made a small, lined corduroy pouch from some cute little dresses with some digitised indian letters. It turned out really well.

Handling stretchy cotton knits is not that easy with embroidery. So for a challenge I tried some appliqué on a new t-shirt. Its nice and colourful (spot the same fabric in the previous blog post on the scarf) and I hope Andy won’t mind wearing it.

A relative needed a colourful scarf, so what better than to create something cosy out of some old memories of the kid’s sleep and body suits. They are not easy to patch as they are cotton knits and stretchy in both directions. So, I used cotton tape in all the seams to keep it as stable as possible. I cut up some velvet trousers for the back and it turned out nice and colourful, totally reminiscent of the kids and pretty cosy too. Its not totally rectangular but when its wrapped around you that doesn’t matter that much does it? I hope it gets some wear.

So here it is. All Upcycled except for the strip of Organza embroidered with a heart. The wings are made from an old white box and the feathers are ripped up used paper glued on to the card.

I’ve started shirring some muslins and embroidered a heart on some organza to go on the front panel of the dress. We’ll be using some tinsel for the halo and looking for a large box, preferably white for the wings.

Some dresses and shirts were transformed into these pencil cases with the names of all the little guests and so my daughter would be remembered as long as the cases, I added her name on a tag as well. Needless to say, all the little guests were thrilled along with their mothers. They are available now on etsy.com.

The next project is turning a pile of redundant muslin cloths into 2 angel costumes for the nativity play.