presents for my nephew and easy projects

my nephew will be one on thursday, i hope i'll get the trousers and t-shirt to him on time in the post... they are supposed to be combat type trousers but i think i might have placed the pocket a little too low, i didn't think of the hem.
the pattern is burda 9716 it's got a nifty fake fly and the instructions of pulling one leg into the other before sewing the seat and front seam were very handy, i don't think i've done that before but it's been at least 10 years since i sewed anything as complicated as trousers. i'm going to make a simpler pattern, with just one pattern piece for quick to make trousers, i might put a 'fake fly' into that, too.
the t-shirt is appliqueed with matching fabric, using bondaweb and a satin stitch

and here some photos of my new matching sewing machine cover, pin cushion and ironing board... making the ironing board cover was a simple matter of piecing the plain and printed fabric, putting it on the ironing board and going around it at about 10cm distance. then i went around it twice with the sewing machine, creating a casing for the tie that i took out of the old cover.
the sewing machine cover is made from two rectangles (one pieced) and one strip, i measured off the plasticky cover that came with the machine, and i'm actually using both, the plasticky one for sturdyness and the fabric one 'cos it's pretty...
and the pin cusion as you can see is just two squares of fabric sewn together.

not very impressive projects, but quick and fun and instant gratification! and they'll stay in my house, unlike all the presents i made lately. pity it's so much harder to make grown up clothes...

things i've made lately

This is my latest creation, a pincushion for an aspiring designer friend who was getting a lot of hassle - from a ginger person...


A soft and cuddly elephant, made from westphalian fabrics (Westfalenstoffe) that I bought in Germany. The traditional cotton fabrics from this area are mostly blue or navy with white printed patterns, or woven stripes and squares with white, red and green. In the seventies and eighties my sister and I had matching dresses made with their printed fabrics, white with red or blue, must dig up some photos! My granny's aprons were mostly made of their weaves. These days they do most of the traditional and many new prints and weaves, and I think they ship abroad as well.


These two are for P's niece, the clothes are made from 'recycled clothes'.


This 'grab ball' was a lot of fiddly work, 36 separate parts to make into 12 segments, and then those are stuffed, sewn closed and finally all sewn together (very very securely, because it's for a baby). The fabrics are 8 different Westfalen prints and some plain cotton.


This was my first patchwork project, it was supposed to be a cushion cover at first, but then i realised babies don't need cushions, and bought more fabric and made it into a small light blanket (a little on the small side), using flannel for batting and thrifted pillowcases in the softest 1000times washed checked cotton for the back.