Skull Hat

Here's yet another Christmas present, a knit Skull Hat. Loved the pattern, although the yarn is a bit too stretchy. I had to add an elastic to the first row... (Prym actually makes one called "knitting-in elastic", and it's really nice to use).

Tunturi Hat

I just realized that all my Christmas presents are going to be handmade, and that they are all hats! It’s a theme I’m happy to follow :) My brother who is the outdoorsy type is going to get a Tunturi Hat. It’s a free pattern by Shelby, so go ahead and download it for your own projects. "Tunturi" means a mountain or a fell, and I believe the hat will be used on one, too. I made my version from two types of fleece, a micro fleece for the inside and a thicker fleece on the outside.

Cap for Dad

Another version of the Summer Hat, this time it became a cap for my dad. We both have big heads, so finding a cap that would stay put even on windy days was an issue for him (and he loves sailing so you see that it is a problem).

The hat part is made from corduroy, and the sun brim and lining from an Ikea cotton fabric. Backside has an elastic to improve the fit and make the cap a bit more snug. Dad's using it so much that I think you could call this project a success!

Japanese Reversible Dress

As a mother of two boys, I'm always crawing to make girls' clothes, but rarely have the opportunity (I know, I could make them just for fun, but I prefer to make them for someone real, matching the fabrics to the personality). My friend's daughter just turned one, and I made a little reversible dress for her.

The pattern comes from a Japanese pattern book that I bought from ureshi's etsy shop. The book is all in Japanese, but the sewing instructions are very well illustrated and include clear how-to make diagrams for each step of the way. I'm not too sure how the sizing matches up with European, but I do think the patterns are on the smallish side.

Phoebe Bag

I had a Björn Borg shoulder bag for over five years but it was slowly starting to fall apart (or disintegrate, more like!). So it was time for a new bag, and it just happened that I had a small piece of a lovely mod fabric that I had saved for a special project.

I salvaged the shoulder strap and the zipper from the old bag, and made myself a brand new Phoebe Bag. Loving it. I didn't make the magnetic snap, but used the old zipper instead. In retrospect, I maybe should've used interfacing to support the mid-weight fabric, but then again, I didn’t want the bag to be too rigid either.

The Phoebe Bag pattern is by Rebeka Lambert of Artsy Crafty Babe, and I can recommend it highly.  Great pattern, well written, and it’s free, too!

Bean Bag

Here's one project that I should've made double right away - the bean bag. It's the favorite TV watching spot for my boys and something that is fought over quite often.

The bean bag is stuffed with small styrofoam beans (about 1 cm in diameter) which tend to be very static and fly all over... Here's the best tip I got for handling them: cover your hands with a fabric softener, at least up to the elbows. It reduces the static and makes filling the bean bag a lot easier.

I also made a second bag from an old sheet inside the cover, so that curious little boys can't just open the zipper and spill the beans, so to say ;) There are also two loops for handles for jumping around like a Hippity Hop. The pattern comes from Moda magazine 1/2008, and fabric is from Ikea.

Summer Hat

It's sometimes difficult to sew something for yourself, but now I had a good reason to do just that. My head is pretty big so it's kind of hard for me to find store hats that would fit well. So I made a dark greyish hat for the summer with some Ikea cotton fabric with a leaf motif. The original pattern comes from a magazine, but I made so many mods that it hardly resembles the original anymore.

Striped Pants & Teddy Hoodie

One of the lovelier sides of being a crafter is definitely the joy of making presents for friends and their kids. One of my best friends has a little boy who is only five months younger than my boys, and I often sew him the same things I sew for my kids (just because I know that his mom will declare her love for all things hand-made she sees my boys wearing!). So this time it was his second birthday, and a pair of striped pants and a "furry" teddy hoodie were the presents.

The pant pattern I drew myself, and the hoodie pattern comes from Ottobre (4/2007). It was a slightly tricky pattern, but let me say that after the third time it got a lot easier ;) I really like the round pockets in the front, and how they accentuate the striped jersey.

Grab Bag

I saw this pattern a while  ago and immediately thought it was something I just had to make. However, once I'd finished the bag, the first time I used it was in the funeral of my dear uncle, and now I always tend to think of him when wearing the bag. It's kind of a bitter sweet reminder of a good person.