Creative set of mind..

I am in a creative mood lately. I finished a pullover that I have been knitting for my daughter. I am nearly finishing a pullover & hat set for a newborn and am planning to sell it :-) I started and nearly finished a sleeveless sweater for my son and made even a hat with the yarn that was left over :-) I have already bought the yarn for making a baby blanket for the baby of a friend that will be born in February. Soon you will find here pictures and maybe also recipes for some of these projects.

On the sewing front: I have to make a dress for my daughter for their annual school theater performance. The paper model and the fabric is ready. I need to buy some ribbon only. There is also a nearly finished skirt for my daughter that is waiting for me to find some free time to do the hem.

But I have other ideas as well. I have a lot of felt at home. Yesterday I found a book that I had bought some time ago, on stuff made using felt. I think soon I will make some felt bags :-) If/when I do realize these projects, I will post here.

So: keep checking this blog for updates and new posts ;-)

PS: Did you notice that I have new pages now? Look up. There is a menu bar. It wasn't there yesterday ;-)

My new knitting course flyer :-)

Help needed

I am helping my husband in organizing a Christmas market. We are supposed to get stuff that can be easily sold like small Christmas ornaments for the house, gifts for family and friends. We would like to get most of these things free since the earnings from the market will go wholly to support Dynamo Camp. I am planning to knit some small things like scarves and hats for kids, and make ornaments for Christmas. I am open to ideas of things that can be made (easy and not very time-consuming stuff; probably with patterns/models/explanations) and sold at such a market. We are also looking for volunteers that would contribute with materials (yarn, buttons, tissues etc) and most important of all time. Would YOU help me realize this project by giving me something that you have made? Would you knit/sew for this market? Or would you have some other things that you produce/sell and give us free for our market? 

Carnival costume: Pippi Longstocking

Yesterday, fat Tuesday, the kids were supposed to go to school in costumes to celebrate the carnival together. This year I didn't want to buy some fancy costume paying a lot of money just to put in the storage room after using it only once. I decided to dress my daughter as Pippi Longstocking and checked all the clothes she had to see if we had everything we needed. We had colorful stockings, a skirt and a matching T-shirt. The only thing that was missing was a sleeveless dress to wear over. So I set down to work. I found some old linen curtain that we had that could do the work. I went through all the sewing magazines I had, but didn't find a model of a sleeveless dress. I transformed a long casual dress paper model instead. I completed it with a huge frontal pocket and some patches here and there, using only left-over tissues I had at home. I do enjoy recycling ;-) Look at the result of an afternoon's sewing project:

And this is how my daughter was all dressed-up and her freckles made darker with a face-coloring pencil :-)

She (and me) got a lot of compliments yesterday. People were especially wondering how I made her hair stand like this. Well, here is the trick:

A piece of wire/cable that is hard enough to keep the shape that you give it. I put it over the head of my daughter, covered the middle part with her hair and braided her hair all around it. Then cut the part that was sticking out at the end of the braids. It was unseen, totally covered with her hair, which made everybody think "how did she do that??" ;-)

Handmade gifts

We still have about 2 months before Christmas and it is enough time for those of us that are able, to prepare some handmade and/or homemade gifts for our loved ones. It is always nicer to receive a gift that has been made for us, carefully worked on, instead of a hastily bought and wrapped thing.

For those of you that need to get a gift for a little girl, be it your daughter, granddaughter, niece or just the little girl next door, I have got some ideas. What about a skirt for which you don't even need to buy any materials but use whatever you have at home? Look at the skirt above that I had prepared for my (then) little girl about 3 years ago. This little skirt is entirely Designed & Made by Yasemin. It is an ecological/recycling product. The main material was left over from a dress that my mother had made. The flowers are cut from some material left from a skirt of mine. The beads used were from some toys of Iris. And the ribbon on the rim was on a gift package that we had received ;-) At the house of someone who loves sewing there is always some material that is left over from a former project. The material that I used for this skirt was quite rough/thick, so I had to introduce some folds at the waist to fit it better. If your material is soft, you can even go for an easier model and place an elastic at the waist instead. Then use your imagination and creativity to make the skirt prettier. I have cut out three flowers and placed them somewhere near the rim as you can see in the photo above. Take a closer look at the finishing of these flowers below.

The flowers are fixed on the skirt by hand. Notice that the thread used to stitch each flower to the skirt has the color of the beads that are put in the center of the flower. The colors of the butterflies also follow the colors of the threads used in stitching... :-) The beads that I used in this composition were from a bead set for girls that was given to my daughter at her birthday. Hey, if you don't know how to sew, you can always buy one of these bead sets for girls and make that little girl happy anyway ;-)

Here is another project for you: a summery dress. You need to find some lace, better if it is handmade, even better if it is old, or recovered from an old dress/night gown. You will use the lace for the upper body. Then you should buy/find at home some flowery material that needs to be fitted under the lace. To cover the stitch that you make to connect the two parts get some nice ribbon. Do not forget to buy more than you need, because whatever is left of the ribbon can be used next year when the little girl grows and you need to make the skirt of the dress longer by opening the rim. You can place the ribbon on the line the older rim would leave after it is opened.

What about knitting? Are you good at that? A hand-knit scarf, a hat, warm & soft mittens, a beautiful pullover... These all can be Christmas gifts. Even a new beginner can make a scarf. All you need is some colorful yarn and a knitting magazine/book full of interesting ideas, instructions and patterns. Check the knitting search results on Amazon. I am sure you will find something ;-) And do not forget the tranquilizing effect of knitting on you during these hectic months right before the holiday season.. It is a lovely pass-time.. (You might consider a subscription to a knitting magazine maybe?)

If you don't think that you will ever manage to learn how to knit, or simply you don't have the time for that, why not buying stuff that are hand-knit? You can find these items online as well. Check out etsy.com. On etsy you will not only find knit/sewn items and patterns to make your own, but also all kinds of accessories, quilts, bags, clothing and gift articles.