Slippers For My Gal

I've made these slippers before, for myself.  I love them and wear them whenever it starts to get cool inside (when it gets very cold I go straight to my ugg boots). 
The pattern is Simplicity 2278 and I chose View A.

The instructions are great and I follow them right up to inserting the inner sole.  The pattern asks for a separate piece that slips into the shoe, but I prefer it attached, so I sew it on inside out and leave a gap for turning and then slip stitch the gap on the inside.  (Hard to explain, but if you've ever made hats, you may know what I mean).

These ones are the Small size and they were perfect for my daughter's foot (she's in a kids size 2).  The final sole of the shoe measures 23cm.

I lined them with a warm, soft fleece and the outer fabric is a sweet beige cherry blossom cotton.

On the first test run, it was apparent the strap was way too long and wasn't going to serve any purpose.

 To solve this, I ran two rows of gathering elastic and "shirred" the strap. 

 It worked perfectly!  I remember when I made mine last time, I shortened the strap to fit my foot, but I think I like the shirring effect better.

 

I put Jiffy Grip at the bottom to ensure no slipping around on the kitchen floor.


And lastly, and most importantly, my little gal of 8yrs just loves them!

A Very Cool Cardigan

Recently I was lucky enough to win a competition from the great blog Alida Makes.

One of the prizes was being able to have my choice of three gorgeous patterns from Blank Slate Patterns.

I love visiting pattern shops online, especially those that offer pdf (instant gratification!) downloads, so my visit to Blank Slate Patterns was lots of fun!  I had such a hard time choosing, I really loved the girl's dresses, especially the Pristine Swing Dress:

 But this time round, I decided it was time I bought more patterns for my boys, especially when such cute ones were on offer!  I got a nice selection of Winter clothing.  First up,the Basic Blazer.

The Cool Cardigan...oh how cool is this!

And lastly, The Prepster Pullover

I couldn't wait to get started on these and I chose the Cool Cardigan as my first victim!  My 9 year old often misses out on handmade items, due to most patterns cutting off at size 6 or 8.  He is between an 8 and a 10.  So I made the 8 in this pattern and hoped for the best.

Luckily the best occurred and we had a perfect fit.

I used a stretch terry towelling in a gorgeous rust speckled with black flecks that I picked up whilst op shopping recently.  The contrast fabric is a stretchy wool blend that I also scored second hand.

The pattern came together nice and easy, with very clear instructions.  No hard bits, except for trying to get perfectly neat buttonholes, I'll keep working on that.

Thanks again Alida Makes and Blank Slate Patterns!

Lovin' Blogs

Just a bit of blog maintenance here, I hope you all had a lovely Easter!

In the meantime, I'm moving over to Bloglovin while Google Reader sings it's Swan Song and you can follow me over there too by using the link below.

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I hope you are enjoying the long weekend, we sure are, even with the drizzly weather, nothing can stop a good old fashioned Easter egg hunt!