Baskets

I hope you are all enjoying the Easter break, and the lead up to the school holidays. I've been mooching around and getting some stuff done, and heading back to work tomorrow. 

I've managed to get a few things finished, or nearly finished anyway! The zip! In The Dress! I ummed and ahhed for a good while, and finally plucked up the courage- and it was easy! I 'hand picked' the zip, basically a term for hand sewing it in- I used a tutorial from here.

I combined tacking and pins to hold it in place, and then marked the spaces in lead pencil (a bit anal, but that's OK).

I love it! Just a quick peek before it's pressed, which I believe helps it sit flatter. It's been a real challenge using such a different fabric from my norm, I'm learning a lot. Now to tackle the hem.... Luckily, I have nowhere to wear this yet, so there is no hurry, therefore no 'rushed job' to get it done!

 I finished off a few 'orders' for my sister- she cam over for a 'shop in the stash' for these ones! I wanted to try this pattern, and she thought they'd be pretty handy for the bubba....

 I love this fabric, a real fave, lucky I have a ton left over.

I used a combination of medium-heavy interfacing and fusible wadding to get the firmness; empty they are a little soft, but I'm sure they'll be fine full. It's really hard to get a good idea of the size, so here's my rotary cutter to help heehee.

 This has some soft shirting sort of fabric for the lining, and some leftover Lisette fabric for the handles and divider. 

And some more of this fabric, a fave with both of us! Looks great team with grey.

I made these ones a bit earlier, and if you can't tell, my sister likes grey! This was pattern from here, again really hard to tell the size- I think for both of these I needed to invest in a packet of disposable nappies! (or check my measurements, another way I guess). I'm not really happy with this size- they are meant to be big toy baskets for the living room. I made them a bit taller by omitting the fold over cuff and sewing it flat.

 I got to use some yummy fabrics though, Ink and Spindle, this one is Blockprint in Persimmon.

And Linear in Saffron. I even had some old Hollabee (I think) that went well with it. Both should help the baskets stand up to years of play from Master Henry!

This is the little man on a grumpy day! We had some very serious (and not so serious) chats!