Sewing project, Tutorial

Cloth wipes!

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I may have failed to mention recently that I have added cloth wipes to my Etsy store!

A few years ago, I used to make and sell them on eBay, but family commitments meant I no longer had the time. They were very popular, and I would even get emailed to make special orders. I still now, get friends asking me whether I can make them some cloth wipes.

Here are the ones I have up on my store at the moment; just click the picture to get taken through to the listing 🙂

5 x blue rose cloth wipes - Oak Tag Designs

5 x blue spots cloth wipes - Oak Tag Designs

A while ago, I made up  a tutorial on how to make cloth wipes. They are very simple to make, so if you find yourself handy with the overlocker…

Cloth Wipes Tutorial

Enjoy!

Knitting project

A petite knitted pigeon

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Knitted pigeon

I made a knitted pigeon from a knitting book I picked up at a local book store. Its has all different knitting projects inspired from London.

The little pigeon was gifted towards my sister in law for her birthday. They have Pepper, the cat…

Knitted pigeon attacked by cat
Argggghhhhh!! Save me!

The book has lots of cool knitting projects in it. It has ones that I would never bother with, like a book cover and a bag bovver (yes, I was as confused as you).

But the queen and her corgis and all the little people and animals are very cool, and presumably very quick to knit up.

The book came with nearly everything needed to make the pigeon (minus the yellow thread for the beak).  It was smaller than I expected, but still cute and reasonably pigeon-like.

So for now, Ive hidden the book from my daughters who had taken up nagging me to make the queen and corgis.

I’ve snuck it out of hiding.. here it is…

Stitch London - Lauren O'Farrell

Fun musings, Sewing pattern, Sewing project

I got LABELS!!

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So really, I want to put about 10 exclamation marks on the title of this blog post. I’m terribly excited that I now have my own clothing labels. I have been sussing them out for a while, and finally ordered them.. to discover they take 2.5 weeks to come. The people at Gang Apparel Accessories were great though; quick to respond, answered all my questions, and delivered a perfect product.

So I waited patiently next to the mail box,  and eventually they arrived. Hooray!

Here are the brand labels. They were made as a cotton weave.

Oak Tag Designs labels - cotton weave

Here is the care instructions label.

Care instructions label

Can anyone guess what I will be selling soon??

Sewing project

Flowery circle skirts!

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Floral circle skirts

I have seen some lovely circle skirts on Pinterest, and thought hmmm….

Well, the time had come to make some. One daughter owns about 2 skirts, neither are the right size! The other, despite being a size 6, regularly wears a particular size 4 skirt (no need for the elastic, really!) and a tie dye rainbow skirt that has seen better days back when it was a dress. So I decided I would make the skirts as a surprise for them.

I picked out a floral weave fabric that I had in my fabric stash. It worked perfectly to fit both of the girls skirts. I decided to finish the bottom edge with bias binding. I thought it would be easier, but really, it took about the same amount of time as pressing and sewing a hem. It does look nicer though, and brightens the skirt up. For the elastic at the top, I made it exposed (like all the cool kids are doing with their skirts), and used black to match.

I love them, the girls love them, and bonus.. ! They think they look great as capes and decided to wear them like that all day. Well, you just never know with kids!

And although I didnt actually use a tutorial for the skirts (because goodness, I should be able to pump out some simple math after all that university math I’ve done!), I do recommend that those with fewer math skills, or sewing skills should follow one. The skirts are as simple to make as others rave. And they turn out great.

Here is a tutorial that explains really well how to make a circle skirt.

So good luck, all of you, because I know you are going to rush off and make one now! Vroooommm…

Crochet project

Stashbusting brown crocheted blanket

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Brown crochet blanket - stashbusting!

In a never ending effort to get rid of yarn that I have been given while also making lovely things, I made this crochet blanket!

I had a large amount of 5 ply yarn in 3 different browns. I also had 400g in a cream colour, and 200 g in a white. After some deliberation, I decided that I would start with the darkest brown, and work towards the lightest. In between changing the browns, I would put stripes of cream, getting larger as the blanket went on. After I had finshed all the brown, I used the cream until it was a length that worked well on the bed.

I used a 7 mm crocheting hook, and put all the yarn double, which meant it was quicker to crochet up. In truth, this is the first blanket I have ever crocheted. Im hooked!! Haha! (Seriously, I am using a lot of self control not to start another crocheted blanket, lucky my husband doesn’t read my blog!)

I made it very simple doing rows of double crochet. I am tempted in the future to try something a little more complicated. But admittedly, I dont want it to be too complicated. That blanket helped me survive through Moshi Monsters at the movies with the kids. That was an interesting movie!

This blanket is for my eldest daughter (after I knitted this blanket for my youngest daughter). It seems a little drab for her creative flair and style, so I am thinking about crocheting flowers to put on it. Originally I was just going to use a lovely purple. But now Im thinking I will use up scraps in all different colours. We will see what she says!