She Who Sews

It's been a while, but a holiday, a loss of sew-jo, and a heavy cold have put a dampener on my sewing activities. I finally sat down and got on with it to try to get out of my sewing funk that I'd gotten into.



After buying the remaining length of orange wool from a since closed down online fabric shop, I've wanted to make a Fox coat for a year now. As with many projects, it's been pushed to the back burner repeatedly. But I gave myself a deadline of one day to make and photograph the coat.



I think I may have given myself too strict a deadline, but I got on with it. I printed and stuck the pattern together, then cut the fabric, then got on with sewing the coat together. By just before dinnertime, I'd completed the coat entirely. Then I had to stop to cook dinner for the kids. By the end of dinner, the rainy day had made the evening draw in really quickly and I'd totally lost all natural light for photographs. So I didn't quite complete my self imposed deadline. Thankfully it wasn't actively raining the following morning and little boy was more than happy to model the coat so long as he could play with his remote controlled car!



The sewing itself was pretty easy. The coat has a boxy design, purposely cut a little large to last a couple of winters. The ears gave me the most bother as the wool, the fleece and the black velour actually ended up being quite thick to sew through. I followed the instructions, mostly, but changed up the way I sewed the sleeve hems together, and also didn't leave a hole in the bottom hem to topstitch. I used the bagging out method to attach the lining and the outer together.



With the lining and outer right sides together, I sewed as per instructions, around all the edges of the coat (including the full bottom hem). But before turning out, I sewed each sleeve hem together too. This leaves you with what looks like a complete jumble that will never turn out, but it works! I'd left a hole in one side seam of my lining to turn the coat out. This meant I didn't have to topstitch the turning hole shut in the bottom hem, instead I hand stitched the lining closed. Maybe this might seem like extra effort, but I prefer it as no matter how precise I am, the hole in the hem edge is always a little uneven to me.



My son coloured in a picture of a wild things coat. He chose the fox, and added his own details. He specifically wanted red pockets, black tipped ears, and the letters FOX on the three buttons.



So I made his picture come to life. I had some thick red cotton that I used for the patch pockets, and self-cover buttons which I also covered in the red cotton. I then found some glittery green felt I had in the kids craft box, and freehand cut out some little letters. This meant he could have his FOX buttons, just like his picture. He was also very specific on not having a tail. I wonder whether he's getting a little old for a full dress up coat?!



I did omit the claws at the end of the sleeves. I knew that the sleeves would need turning up, and thus the claws would disappear. I also thought they'd get soggy and muddy in all his adventuring. I quite like the green lining fabric peeking out of the turned up cuffs!



This coat pattern is part of the Wild Things range by Twig and Tale. My girl has requested I make her a bunny coat next, which I'd love to do, but she already has far too many winter coats this year.... hmm... decisions, decisions!

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*Disclaimer: Some of the links in the post are “affiliate links.” This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission (the price stays the same for you) which will help me in the future to buy more patterns to share them with you!*

I am so thrilled to be included in this new Cosy Toes Footwear Tour for Twig and Tale! It's my first time being in a blog tour, so I thought I'd be easing myself in with a small item like footwear. The sewing itself was easy and enjoyable, but photography of feet I have found out is not so easy. You can read more about the tour over at Twig and Tale. An additional discount code is in this post.



I have owned the wayfarer shoe pattern for some time, and made up several pairs of slippers for my own kids and as gifts for others. So for this tour I wanted to try my hand at the boots.



I had so many ideas floating around my head, ranging from full leather slip on boots to be worn as barefoot shoes (I still think I'll attempt this at some point in the future), to unicorn based wild things boots, to appliqued fairy boots for a truly girly look for Layla. But when it came to it, and I looked around my fabric stash, I settled on a simple pair of denim boots that I could enhance.



Inspired by the flower boots, I was now going in a very different direction to one I'd originally thought. I started looking through the internet for inspiration. I love paper origami and it got me wondering if I could create some origami flowers out of fabric? The google image search for origami using fabric brought up a few pages for butterflies which piqued my interest.



I found a couple of different tutorials online, and decided on one in particular (origami Matthews butterfly) and set about having a go with paper first to see how easy or hard it would be. My paper butterfly was easy and a success, so I tried it out on some floral and butterfly fabric. Again, this was actually really successful!



As my some of my original ideas included fairy wings on the back (in a similar fashion to the wild things dragon wings) I still wanted that wing effect. And a big butterfly on the centre back seam of the boot was a perfect fit. It looks a bit like wings from the front, but from the back is obviously a butterfly.



I used pale blue denim as the outer, silver leather as the sole, and lined the whole thing in butterfly print cotton poplin.



Between the sole and the lining, I added a piece of cotton batting, just to add a bit of cushioning and an extra layer for warmth. I did the same on the toe section. I chose not to add it to the main leg piece, but I'm slightly regretting that as it would have made them warmer, and also added a bit more support to the large butterfly on the back.




This tour coincides with the release of the new Ladies and Mens tie-back boots which are on sale until midnight (PST) Friday 9th June. The pattern is discounted already but the following code will then take the price down to just $7 (USD)!
CODE: COSYTOES for an ADDITIONAL 15% off the entire footwear collection. (This includes the new Tie Backs for Grown-ups, Wayfarers, Tie Backs, Flower Boots, Wild Things Shoes and Wild Things Boots).

Don't forget to check out the other bloggers in the tour:

Tuesday: Fliegfederfrei - Createnic - Sew Snippet - Sew Many Adventures

Wednesday: Sew Shelly Sew - She Who Sews - Life in our busy household - Inspinration

Thursday: Skirt Fixation - Sprouting Jube Jube - Needle and Ted - Just Add Fabric 

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*Disclaimer: Some of the links in the post are “affiliate links.” This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission (the price stays the same for you) which will help me in the future to buy more patterns to share them with you!*

I was approached by Lisa from Twig + Tale in the New Year to ask if I'd like to test a new pattern. I must admit I felt a bit honoured that I had been approached, but I'm sure it was more to do with the fact I'd just tested for her with the Evergreen Bonnet!



Lisa sent over a picture of the pattern and I agreed to give it a go. There was a strict deadline for this one as it was going to be released into the upcoming issue 14 of One Thimble magazine. How exciting!!



So the pattern came together easily. The first one was far from quick for me, but I wouldn't say I'm an expert at machine applique, and even less so on my new sewing machine that I was still learning how to use. I used cotton corduroy as the main body piece in a pale blue. The face, tail, ears and paws were made from a bright pink cotton corduroy that I had scraps left over from making toddler clothes (I'm a hoarder, so I keep scraps for years!). The eyes, inner ears and inner paws were made from floral scraps I had left over from making the lining of my son's blazer last year. The floral fabric was from Fabworks. I bound the back raw edges with shop bought bias binding that I had in my stash.



The pattern sewed up into a super cute cover. I chose to put snaps on the paws, which Layla absolutely loves. It means that her hot water bottle Kitty can now give her a hug! She loves to unpop them, hug the kitty, then hold it's paws before popping them back down. This is a genius bit of the pattern! It was just what we needed to cheer us up on a miserable January day.



But then we got struck down with a nasty illness. My daughter fell first, then two days later my son, then a day later I succumbed to it and finally my husband. I'm not sure if we had full blown flu, or just a nasty virus, but we all had heavy fevers, shakes, muscle aches and my son got sick too. We all spent at least 3 days each pretty much unable to do anything at all. So in all, with my nursing the kids, and getting it myself, it was a full 11 days that I didn't leave the house.



Sadly, it meant that I simply couldn't take the photos I needed to show off the hottie cover. I felt so ridiculously guilty that I couldn't complete the pattern test, and that I had failed Lisa, and to some extent, even One Thimble magazine. But life is never simple with kids, and these things simply couldn't be helped.



I still felt terrible about not getting photos, so towards the end of the virus we had, I set my daughter up in her bedroom with my camera on a tripod and attempted to take some indoor photos. The light was terrible as we had grey rain for days on end, and my daughter wasn't in the best of moods. I snapped about 30 pictures, and of all of them, only one was passable after editing. Lisa was very good about it, despite the fact that her own son was also very poorly, and several of the other testers also got struck down with illness, she had enough photos for the pattern to be released.



Towards the beginning of February Lisa approached us again to see if we could get some photos for publicity purposes. This I could do! So I gladly took photos of a much better feeling Layla with her Kitty hot water bottle cover.



The pattern is exclusive to One Thimble magazine at the moment. But you can see the other animals that are included in the pattern over in the Twig + Tale chat group on Facebook.

Does anyone else have problems taking pictures indoors? I find it so hard to get enough light to not need the flash, and using the flash just washes everything out? Any indoor photography tips will be gratefully taken on board, just leave a comment below!

*Disclaimer: Some of the links in the post are “affiliate links.” This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission (the price stays the same for you) which will help me in the future to buy more patterns to share them with you!*

I was so excited when I happened across a testing call in the Twig + Tale Chat Group on Facebook for a new bonnet pattern. A bonnet was something that I really wanted to try ever since I bought the Twig + Tale Pixie Hat pattern. As much as I like the Pixie hat, and how cute it looks on, I wanted something a bit more fitted with the option of different closures, which this new bonnet featured.






Having never tested for Twig + Tale before, I applied not expecting to get picked, but was pleasantly surprised to find an email inviting me to the testing group when I woke the next morning. Twig + Tale are based in New Zealand, so the time difference to me in the UK was pretty much as big as it could possibly get!



This pattern testing was extensive. Children's heads are all different shapes and sizes, so finding a happy medium in the different sizes was a long process. You can see the first version test shots where the fit wasn't right for either of the sizes on my two children. After this first round it became obvious that the sizes needed contracting into larger size groups. I skipped this second round of testing as the group was split so that we weren't all making loads of versions!



As you can see, the next version I tested we were toying with the idea of adding elastic to the chin strap and having a more one size fits all approach. Now this worked for larger sized heads, sort of, but definitely not for smaller sized heads like my daughter. It swamped her.


On the third version above you can see we were almost there with fit. Adding a small piece of elastic to the centre back really helped draw the bonnet in to look more fitted. But there was still a fair bit of excess in the centre back piece. So a final, and fourth version was drafted.


This is the final test version, and the fit was spot on now over all the sizes. Through the testing process it was found that the bonnet could even be worn without any straps, as you can see pictured above. I like this idea, and for my final bonnet, one was without a strap, and one with a chin strap.


Here you can see my two final versions. The pink bunny bonnet was strapless under the chin, the orange fox bonnet had a chin strap fastened with a velcro tab.

The children and I had fun with the photoshoot. My son played a Fantastic Fox, whilst my daughter played the hunted bunny!







In the end, the Fox caught the Bunny and strung her up by the ears!

My pink bunny bonnet was made with an outer of hot pink 100% cotton corduroy fabric. I then lined it with a 100% floral cotton bought from Fabworks which I quilted to wool batting for winter warmth. The bunny ears weren't quilted, but did use the same floral fabric as a contrast lining. I made this version without any strap or ties, but did include the small piece of elastic in the back to help it stay put. I can honestly say, that through the whole photoshoot of running around, the bonnet didn't come off at any point!



The Fox bonnet was made with a Italian Wool Plaid fabric bought from the new closed Fabric Rehab website. Because the wool is very thick, I didn't quilt the lining on this one, instead just used some scraps of Art Gallery Denim fabric. I believe it was this linen/cotton blend that I won in a competition. The ear tips were made from scraps of stretch velour. This is the chin strap version. You can close the straps with snaps, or a button, but I chose a simple velcro tab. It's quick and easy for the child to do themselves, and safer if the strap got snagged as the velcro would give quickly.



I took so many pictures on this shoot, I thought I'd add some photo spam here:






You can pick up your own version of the pattern here, Evergreen Bonnet. It includes all the different closure versions, self ties, chin strap, diy ties, strapless etc, along with a peak option too. You get to choose from the following animals too, Fox, Bear, Bunny, Panda, Kitty, Mouse and Puppy.

I got requests from my children to make them more bonnets, so you can see a further Kitty, Reindeer and even Sherlock Holmes inspired bonnet in a blog coming soon. Which version would you choose? Let me know in the comments :)

Did you know you can follow me on Instagram and I'd love for you to give me a like on Facebook.

*Disclaimer: Some of the links in the post are “affiliate links.” This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission (the price stays the same for you) which will help me in the future to buy more patterns to share them with you!*