My clever Mummy! Get your shopping fingers ready :)

I have a very clever Mummy! She is my rock and is always there when I need a hand or advice or a shoulder to cry on, basically the best mum in the world. So Mum has been busily stitching and decided to give ebay a shot to sell some of her work.

 Heres Emma, the usual perfect super model, modelling one of mums gorgeous T-shirts. The shirts are pre-made, but mum has hand appliqued these gorgeous little cupcakes and Teddy Bears on them.

 It says 'My Little Cupcake'

 This one is my favourite! The teddy is just gorgeous and I love the ribbon on her head.

 These shirts are gorgeous too with the big ruffly (no idea how to spell that) neck. She has these varieties up to a size 2, but she has more coming so if you are after a bigger size, just let her know! Theres is also some cute Giraffe shirts for older kids.

 She also has these gorgeous book covers, that include the notebook too. Go and have a look at the pink one, I just might have to pinch that one ;) or at least get her to make me one hehehe hint hint mum!

And these are the coolest thing, if you know a card player they are an awesome gift! They are really good to help teach kids to hold their cards or for people with arthritis who have trouble holding their cards. We like using them too because you can easily put your hand face down and you don't have to keep faning your cards out every time you pick them up again.

Anyway if you want to have a look, this is Mums shop there is also some japanese friendship dolls and even a Magoo softie made by me :) So go and check out how clever my mum is! She is a perfectionist and you won't believe how cheap her prices are!

Hugs Paula

Oh I almost forgot, I have some awesome new stockists of my patterns, (check out their shops at the links on the left,) and one of them has just started a new swap, its for a zippy purse, so why not whip up one of my humbug bags and join in! Click on the picture and it will take you to the spot where you register. Hugs P

My New Camera!!

As some of my net friends know, I have been saving and saving for my dream camera for quite some time, so when I finally scraped together the last few dollars I needed for my new camera I was just so over the moon!
My new baby arrived this afternoon and I just can't stop playing :)
Here's Princess:

My Super model:

Oh and I have done a little stitching :)

Have you caught the Vignette bug yet? This is the Stitchery in Leanne Beasleys new magazine called Vignette. I decided I didn't have the time to commit to the full quilt, but I really wanted to stitch something, so the 'pin board' project seemed perfect.

I love the design and its been so nice to do some no pressure sewing for a change (plus I've been very crook and my brain was not working well this week, apparently you can develop Asthma at 35, who knew).

The cosmo threads are just a dream to work with, I love them and I have been using it for some time now, but If you haven't used Parlan to back your stitcheries, I highly recommend you try it! Its like stitching through butter, is super cheap and I don't know if I'm imagining it, but my threads seem to tangle less. I get mine from Under the Mulberry Tree, the link is at the top of my blog under stockists.

I'm sure I'll be back soon with more pics ;) until then, have a good one.

Hugs Paula

20% off Sale

Lets have a sale for absolutely no reason at all :)

simply enter '20PERCENTOFF' in the checkout on my etsy site and funnily enough you'll get 20% off all the patterns in my store. Inluding all my new patterns! (doesn't include quilt)

Happy shopping :)

http://www.etsy.com/shop/sewlittlefabric

Oops forgot to mention, the sale ends Friday the 25th at noon. Thanks everyone for your support!

Sit Me Up Donut free Insert Pattern

As you know, I recently started publishing my own patterns. The most popular of these by far has been the Sit Me Up Donut, modelled here by my gorgeous girl Emma.

When I made this pattern I always had the intention of making a round cushion to fit inside it, so that as your kids grow they can still use the donut, So today I got busy and made up my insert and even got time to write the pattern too! (wonders will never cease) :)

I got the cushion finished this morning and each child who has walked into my house today has headed straight for it. :) Jack had a great time 'reading', I didn't have the heart to tell him the book was upside down hahaha.

Anyway as a thank you to all the amazing people who have bought my patterns I have put together a free PDF Tutorial for you, you can download it from here.

Just to let you know my insert looks a bit bigger than the donut. This is because the stuffing in the donut has compressed a bit from everyday use, the insert will level out too over time and will be even with the top of the donut.

I'll be putting together some of the pictures that I have been sent of others donuts too, so if you have already made one, please send me a picture I love looking at each and every one!

 My blog is also getting a bit of an overhawl in the next few days, so please come back often :)

Hugs Paula xxx

New Patterns available now!

I'm very excited because today is the day that I have released my new patterns.

First up is my Pin the tail on the Donkey Wallhanging Game.

 My kids have had so much fun playing with this game, its definately not just for birthday partys! They love putting the blindfold on and spinning each other around.

 The Donkeys tails are actually weaved together. My girls have had a great time weaving the donkeys tails, but they also used the same technique to make friendship bracelets for their school friends!

 The blindfold also has little ears, so cute.

 Next up is Twiga, Twiga is the Swahili word for giraffe.

 The Twiga pattern also includes the pattern for a baby twiga chew toy. These toys have been my biggest seller at my market stall. Babys just love to chew on these little cuties. Their legs and neck are the perfect size for babys to grab hold of.

 Why not make a whole bunch! They make great baby gifts!

Twiga has legs that stay upright, so they won't splay out to the sides. He is just adorable with cute little ears and horns.

All my patterns include full size pattern pieces and following my Sew Little Fabric motto, I make sure to not over estimate fabric! I hope you love them as much as I do!

Patterns are available now from my etsy shop or visit some of my awesome stockists! The list is at the top of my blog on the left hand side.

Hugs Paula

Owl Softie free Pattern/Tutorial

As you may have heard the City of Christchurch in New Zealand has been devestated by an earthquake which caused such sadness and loss of life. So when I found the blog post from 'Kiwi at Heart' collecting Softies for the kids of Christchurch I just had to be involved.

I have been wanting to make an Owl Tutorial for ages so this seemed like the perfect reason to get in and do one, my hope is that you might make one or two for the kids.

So here we go, this is my Owl, I've tried desperately to come up with a cute name, but alas I can't think of one... any ideas?

Anyway if you'd like to make one you will need:

Fat Quarter of Main body fabric (you will probably get at least 2 owls from a Fat Quarter)
scraps of fabric for the wings and eyes
Wool felt for his beak.
Vliesofix
Stuffing
General Sewing Supplies.
Pattern pieces Download the PDF here

Directions:
Trace the Owls wings, Eyes, Pupils and beak onto the Vliesofix and iron onto your chosen fabrics.

Trace the Owls Body onto folded fabric and cut out on the traced line so you have 2 pieces. This is what you will have, plus an extra back piece.

Overlapping the eyes slightly, iron all the pieces onto the front of your owl. The wings should line up with the outside edge of the green fabric, but the eyes should be in at least 3/8" so they don't get caught in the seam.

 Take this to your machine (or you could do this by hand) blanket stitch around all the raw edges of the appliques.

Once you have finished your applique you can either just place the back piece on top of your finished front and stitch around the whole thing leaving a gap for turning through between the wings at the bottom, or you can add the centre gussett, I'll explain this at the end of the tut. Reduce your stitch length to 1.0 and make sure you use polyester thread. Cotton will just break as soon as you stuff your owl.

You need to snip into all the sharp points so the owl will turn through nicely, take the top off the ears like in the picture, this will give you nice sharp points. Make sure to get close, but not too close when snipping, you don't want to cut through your stitching.

This is an owl without the centre gusset using minky on the back.

 If you want to add a gussett to make your Owl like the Blue one at the top of this Tutorial, cut out the 2" x 22" strip and carefully stitch it all the way around your softie being careful not to pull it too tight. Start at the bottom of your owl and leave at least 1" tail. You can pin it all the way first if you like, but its not necessary on the first side. When you get close to the where you started stop and stitch your tails together, like you would join the tails of binding on a quilt. Finish stitching the seam.
Repeat this step and join the back of your owl, but this time pin the piece into place. Leave a 2" hole for stuffing and stuff and ladder stitch the opening closed.

I hope you understand all this and I will try and get pictures of the gusset making stage, but unfortunately my camera battery died and I wanted to get this up as quickly as possible,

Hugs Paula