Nesting Fabric Bowls

A little while back Nova and I agreed to test each others patterns. She made some beautiful scrappy leaves and now it is my turn, yay!

Nova's latest pattern is Nesting Fabric Bowls. I don't know about you but I can always use more storage around the house, and these bowls are so versatile the possibilities are pretty much endless!

photo courtsey of Nova - a cuppa and a catch up

I can honestly say I love this pattern! It has clear instructions and covers each step of creating your own set of nesting baskets in a way that I am confident even the novice sewer will have no trouble at all whipping these up. But Nova provides so many options for customizing your baskets that if you have made these type of fabric containers before, this pattern still will come in handy!

I made two individual baskets rather then a set because I wanted to experiment with the pattern a bit.
With Easter just around the corner I wanted something cute for egg hunting.
This is the 6" basket embellished with a raw edge applique bunny. I added one long handle so it can be hung from one arm when searching for all the Easter eggs in the garden.

What I found especially helpful was the formula Nova provides for calculating the measurements of your own custom sized container. I am pretty lazy when it comes to maths so any help I can get in that department I'll gladly take :)

My next bowl is made with custom measurements. I used some small patchwork blocks I made with Ayumi's Scrappy Hour Glass tutorial for this one.

The pattern suggests using interfacing which I didn't have on hand. So rather than wait and order some I used fusible batting instead. This makes for a little less firm bowl but mine still hold shape and stand up on their own.

I still want to make an actual nesting set and a teeny tiny small basket ooooh the possibilities! They'd make great gifts don't you think?

Nova has kindly offered to give away a copy of her pattern! Just leave a comment on this post for a chance to win :) I will leave comments open till midnight Sunday and announce the winner Monday morning. Make sure there is a way for us to contact you should you win!!

You can by the nesting fabric bowls pattern here

Thanks Nova!

x Leila

Wordless Wednesday ~ Envelope Clutch

I love my new clutch!!

Envelope Clutch pattern by Anna @ Noodlehead get yours here.
Fabric by Nani Iro.

x Leila

Just a quick post to tell you about Siblings Together a charity that supports siblings separated by the care system. Lynne blogged about this earlier today and has made a group on Flickr for the cause.
The aim is to raise 50 quilts before summer, but I bet we can do much better than that!

I am donating my rainbow quilt.

If you would like to get involved please have a look at the Flickr group for more information.

x Leila

Ringo Pie March ~ Lava lamp fish

It is the first month of a new round of Ringo Pie. Ayumi picked grocery store as her theme which is wonderful because there are so many fun things to make.
There are shelves full of wonderful packaging, tills and scales lovely jars of jam and bottles with labels, dairy, veggies, meat and fish.

I chose fish.

 

 

I am not sure what possessed me! I thought it would be cute I suppose, and at one point I did think it was going to work. But then I had a closer look and all I could see was rockets, or lava lamps! I tried embroidering the eyes and some gills hoping it would help.

But there is nothing that will disguise the true lava lamp nature of these fish. Lets just say they're whimsical ;)


x Leila

Wiksten Tank

After enjoying my Tova tops so much I knew I wanted to sew the tank top as well. By now you have probably heard already that Wiksten patterns are available as a PDF download. Most excellent news for all of us outside of the US!
So I got myself a copy of the tank top pattern as soon as I found out and started cutting and taping all the pattern pieces together. I quickly sewed up a non wearable muslin to check for size measurements and then dove straight into the precious Liberty Tana Lawn I had been saving for just such a project.

I was a little hasty as a day later I got a revised copy of the pattern more suitable for non US paper sizes. The result was a little struggle with the neck binding, but I persevered and it looks nice enough now.

I should have given it a quick iron before the photo but lets just say this is me keeping it real, when I wear the top it creases ;)

I chose not to do the pocket, I think it is cute but I like the top just as well without it. I love the shape and the fit of this top, it is everything Jenny is so very clever at, simplicity at it's best. I like the low cut front and no gaping armholes excellent!

 The only thing that isn't working as well for me is the back of the neckline. Unfortunately I couldn't capture this on photo ( it is tricky taking photo's of yourself!) but it stands up a little.
I may have to take in the shoulder seams but I am worried it will leave me too little room at the arm holes. Or perhaps I should have lowered the neckline at the back a bit...any ideas?
I am not too fussed as I tend to wear my hair down anyway but I do want to improve my dressmaking skills so I know in the future how to fix these little things.

In other news, I am the featured Blogger's Quilt Festival quilter on Amy's blog today! 

The sun is shining, I must go out to play.
Have a lovely weekend,

x Leila