.Flannel Sweet Dreams PJs.

These pics have been a long time coming. Mostly because the two pairs of flannel Sweet Dreams PJs I have made for myself are in constant rotation and one pair always seems to be in the laundry basket or drying on the line! Plus, I need Jaron around to take the photos for me and it is always dark when he gets home. I did manage to pin him down to take some over the weekend, but it was raining and we didn't want to get wet so they are horribly dark - but good enough for you to get the idea :)

So, my love affair with flannel this winter just seems to be getting stronger and stronger...it is so cosy and warm. And here are my two new pairs of PJ pants - they are worn constantly and making them was great incentive to get rid of some of old, old, threadbare PJ pants that I have been wearing previously.



And while I'm loving my flannel PJs for winter, I'm also getting myself geared up (e.g. purchasing MORE fabric) to make some cotton ones for summer :)

SUPPLIES:
Make It Perfect, Sweet Dreams pattern
Riley Blake, Summer Song, Summer Dot in Pink (flannel)
Riley Blake, Summer Song, Mini Blooms in Green (flannel)
Amy Butler, Love, Tumble Roses in Pink (flannel)
Amy Butler, Love, Sunspots in Mint (flannel)

.New pattern...BIG Uptown Girl!.

This Giveaway is now closed - feel free to share your comments with us though...we love to read them :)

Remember back in April when I asked for your feedback about releasing Make It Perfect kids patterns in bigger sizes? It seems that the need is out there - I had heaps of comments and emails asking for lots of my patterns to be released in bigger sizes...you spoke and I listened :)

And then when I got an email from my friend and pattern tester, Karen a few weeks ago asking me if I was going to up-size Uptown Girl for this winter because she wanted to sew jackets for her older girls, the pressure was on ;) It was just the motivation I needed to get my act together and do some re-drafting and pattern writing.

So, without further ado...due to popular demand, the Uptown Girl jacket you love is now available in larger sizes!!!

I've tried to keep things as clear as possible and am hoping there won't be any hiccups along the way...this is how the new sizing will work:

The old/original Uptown Girl pattern remains the same, but will now be called LITTLE Uptown Girl - including sizes 6 months - 5 years.

The new pattern, BIG Uptown Girl is EXACTLY the same jacket design, only the size range is 6 years - 10 years.


Little Uptown Girl and Big Uptown Girl are two separate patterns, both featuring the exact same design, for two different size brackets. To avoid confusion about the pattern design, I have decided to keep the same cover picture for both patterns. Got it?!

So, you mothers, grandmothers, aunties and friends with older girls to sew for can get cracking on new winter jacket sewing!


And, yes, I do plan on up-sizing other kids patterns in my range from time to time...if you have any specific requests, please send them my way as I am more likely to up-size a pattern if I get a decent amount of people asking for it.


You can find out fabric requirements for Big Uptown Girl on the website. If you have a store and want to stock this or any other Make It Perfect patterns, contact Creative Abundance to place an order.

If you would like to purchase a copy of Big Uptown Girl for yourself, they should be popping up in retail stores very soon. Ask your favourite store to get one in for you!

As this is technically a new pattern release, I'm going to be giving away a copy of Big Uptown Girl to one lucky winner! Leave a comment on this post to be in the running! For a bonus entry, post about this giveaway on your blog, then come back and leave another comment telling me you have blogged about it. Easy!

(Giveaway will close Friday 23rd July and winner will be drawn via a random number generator.)

.The Art Exchange Project: Art Swap.

You may have heard about the Art Exchange Project: Art Swap that is floating around the blog world at the moment...I was contacted by another seller on Made It and asked if I would like to participate. It sounded like a lot of fun and not too much hard work, so I have accepted the offer and am now looking for six people who would like to join with me. Rather than ask individuals, I thought I'd open it up to readers on my blog and see if anyone would like to join up?

It is a never ending art swap...all you have to do is send 1 handmade package (it can be ANYTHING handmade) and you will receive 36 pieces of art in return! Sounds simple enough and I'm excited to see how it turns out - of course it will only work out if people stick to their end of the bargain, but even if I only get a couple of packages, that would still be exciting!

So...anyone out there want to join me? I need 6 willing participants - feel free to leave a comment with your email address or send me an email if you want to take part and I'll send you the details. If I happen to get more than 6 responses, I'll be sure to pass your details onto other people who are looking for participants.

Thanks guys :)

.Playsilks.

Lil's birthday is coming up in a couple of weeks and I am trying to make more of an effort to only give the children things that I KNOW they will get great use out of and will not end up becoming clutter in our house.

After talking with my sister about it she convinced me that playsilks were the way to go. It made perfect sense. Out of everything that gets played with in our house, my fabric stash is always getting pulled apart and used as blankets, dress ups, picnic blankets, roads. I think I spend more time folding and putting my fabric away than I spend picking up toys at the end of the day! This website gives some great ideas and uses for playsilks.


So, I could have gone an purchased a set (these ones look great!) but after doing a bit of research, I discovered that plain white silks could be purchased online and then dyed with Kool-Aid. I'm a do-it-yourself girl, and if I can make it then I won't usually buy it. Plus, it ended up heaps cheaper this way.


You can find instructions for dyeing playsilks lots of places on the internet, but I thought I'd share my "how to" with you.

First of all, you will need to buy some plain white playsilks. I ordered mine from here. They came really fast too. I was only planning on buying 7 or 8, but shipping was about $10 so I kept adding extra silks to my shopping cart until the shipping increased. I bought 19 silks and only paid $10 shipping. There are heaps of sizes to choose from, I got the 30" x 30". I know I don't need 19 playsilks but I figured I would hang onto them for presents or something - my friend came to visit last week and bought a few off me, so that was an easy solve!!


You will also need Kool-Aid. I bought mine of Ebay as it is not readily for sale in shops in Australia. You will need THREE of each colour/flavour you wish to use.


To prepare your silks for dyeing, they need to soak in a bowl filled with boiling water and about 1/2 cup vinegar for half an hour.


In a large glass or microwave-safe plastic bowl, mix together 2 cups boiling water, 1/2 cup vinegar and 3 packets of Kool-Aid. Place silks in Kool-Aid mixture to dye. I found that the dye clung to the silks really quickly and seemed to get sucked out of the water (it was pretty cool actually - can't believe people drink the stuff!!!). Most of my silks ended up being a bit patchy in colour...I don't think you can avoid this unless you are using a lot more Kool-Aid/water and a huge bowl. I did find that I could make it as even as possible by trying not to fold/scrunch the silk up and getting as much surface into the liquid as I could at the beginning. I actually dyed 2 silks each colour. For this ratio of Kool-Aid/water you couldn't dye more than two 30" x 30" silks - there wouldn't be enough liquid.

Put some plastic wrap over the top of the bowl and place in the microwave on HIGH for 3 minutes. Take out and rest on the bench for 3 minutes, then stir. Repeat this process two more times.


Place in a sink of cold water to rinse out any remaining dye.


Hang on the line to dry and you are done!!!


I ended up with a lot of red silks because the set of Kool-Aid I bought had a few red coloured mixes in it. I thought some of them might come out more pink, but they all looked pretty much the same.

These are going into hiding until Lil's birthday - I know she is going to love them though and will be sure to share later on :)

If you want to have a go at doing this yourself, I thought I'd share which Kool-Aid mixes I used to make each colour playsilk - hopefully will help to take the guesswork out of choosing which flavours to buy!

BACK ROW L-R:
Strawberry, Grape, Ice Blue Raspberry Lemonade

MIDDLE ROW L-R:
White...I didn't dye this one, Cherry, Orange

FRONT ROW L-R:
Tropical Punch, Lemon-Lime, Lemonade, Pink Lemonade

.Advertising on Make It Perfect.

Hi there!  If you are looking for more information on how advertising on this blog works, please read on...

It is my aim that through offering money-free advertising on my blog, you will have the opportunity to advertise your store/product in a way that is not going to be a great financial commitment to yourself.

Traffic to the Make It Perfect blog grows every day. We have over 1000 subscribers to the blog and average 4-5 blog posts per week.  Our current average visit per day is over 1000 visits. 

Here's how it will work:
Look at the right hand sidebar of my blog...I would love to put your button/logo under the "Cool Shops!" heading.  Each month, I will have a maximum of 4 stores to advertise on my blog.  The buttons for these shops will rotate weekly so that each store has a turn at being at the top of the list.  Your button will also remain on the Make It Perfect Cool Shops! webpage forever.

I do not want any monetary payment for having you advertise on my blog.  Instead, I would love to receive a product/service from your store and try it out for myself.  As part of your Cool Shops! advertising package, I will write a review on my blog about your store and the product.  If you would like to offer a giveaway at the same time as the review, I would certainly welcome that.  You may alternatively like to offer a special discount or offer to my blog readers.

If you think this is something that you might be interested in, send me an email or leave a comment on this blog post and I can let you know the next avaliable spot and give you more information.

To check out some of the Cool Shops! reviews I have written so far, click here.

(Please keep in mind that products/services advertised on this blog need to fit into the niche of the blog and will need to be something that my readers/myself will be interested in...if you're not sure - ask!)

And because I like a blog post with something good to look at...aren't these pink stairs unreal?!

image source

.Leanne's Awesome FREE Art Prints.

I know this super cool girl and her name is Leanne. Last week she sent me an email telling me that she had stayed home from school one day to work on an assignment but got sidetracked doing creative stuff instead (oh, I know EXACTLY what that is like - she is my kind of girl!!!). In her time of distraction she started designing and putting together some awesome art prints featuring inspiring quotes and sayings.

Leanne doesn't have a blog (but don't you think she should!) and told me that she wanted to share the love asked if I would be interested in popping them on my blog so that you could all have them for FREE! I told you she was cool!

So, here are my favourites...from Leanne to you.

There are so many things you can do with these...
Print them out and make cool greeting cards
Stick them in pretty frames (wouldn't a wall display featuring a number of these together look cool?)
Use as desktop wallpaper on your computer
Make into a calendar for 2011 - awesome Christmas present you can make now!
Print them out in postcard size and use as postcards or add to your inspiration board

I'm sure you can think of a gazillion more things to use them for! I'll be printing quite a few out over the coming months and will be sure to share my creations with you.

These prints have been tested and print out great in A4 quality - we haven't tried any bigger yet, but I think they would be fine. To get the image ready to print, click on the print and a slightly enlarged version will come up. Drag that to your desktop and print!

We would love to see what you do with these prints...feel free to email through any pictures or ideas.

Oh, and leave a comment to tell Leanne how very cool she is :)

{PLEASE respect Leanne's effort in making and designing these prints. She has been generous enough to share them for free with us - that means no selling or claiming them as your own. If you blog about or want to share them with your friends, please link back to this post so that credit can be given to Leanne.}

.More Pretty Necklaces.

So, you can tell when I've been watching TV at night times because there is less sewing and more crafting going on! I can't watch TV without doing something else...usually it is hand-quilting but I don't have one ready to work on at the moment so this week has brought a few more Citrus pOp necklaces to the store.

I'm going to be using my Made It store as the main Citrus pOp outlet. I'll leave what I have on the Etsy store for now, but new items will be listed on Made It. It seems that is the place I am getting more interest and traffic and I don't want to be keeping track of two stores! If you prefer to shop on Etsy though, I'm more than happy to set up a custom listing for you over there for any items you see in my Made It store.

This week I've had a few requests for, and sent out a few wholesale orders to boutique stores across Australia. I wasn't really sure how to respond when I was contacted - I started Citrus pOp as a little hobby because the hairpins and necklaces are pretty and fun to make. I didn't know if I wanted to go down that road but I'll give it a try and can always say no later on if it's not working out!

Anyway, I do love these necklaces and want to keep them all for myself...if you see one or two mysteriously disappear from the shop then it is highly likely that they have made their way into my jewellery box ;)

.she's done it again.

And she thought it was funny until it wouldn't wash off in the bath. Then she started crying and saying over and over again, "Oh Mum, this is terrible! What are we going to do?"

So vain...

.Flannel Slumber Party Jammies.

I think sewing pyjamas must go hand-in-hand with winter! After making a few Sprout dresses I realised how lovely flannel is to sew with and wear when it is chilly.

So, without wasting any winter time I chose some flannel to make Oscar and Lil a pair of Slumber Party Jammies each.



Oscar was cute. After he had worn them to bed, he got up the next morning and told me that they were so warm and comfy that he wanted to wear them all week and then I could wash them. I sewed up a pocket to embellish his top which he has been putting little pieces of lego in to go to bed with!



Lil got a big flower applique on her top. I wasn't sure how well the flannel would applique, but it is great - kind of feels velvety against the stretch fabric for a nice contrast. Its comforting to know that my kids are going to bed all warm and snug.

I still need to share my flannel Sweet Dreams PJs and then maybe I will be finished with my pyjama craze for a little while? Or maybe not...


SUPPLIES:
Make It Perfect, Slumber Party Jammies pattern
Michael Miller, Haul It in Turquoise (flannel)
Michael Miller, Polka Dots in Ocean (flannel)
Riley Blake, Summer Song, White Songbird (flannel)
Riley Blake, Summer Song, Orange Bloom (flannel)

.A little birdie told me... .

I've got a couple of cool things that I'm sure will interest most of my readers to fill you in on today...

#1. Happy Birthday to Patterns Only!


One of my Make It Perfect stockists, Patterns Only, is celebrating it's first birthday. They have heaps of promotions (including free postage Australia wide) and giveaways going on for the month of July so head on over and take a look at what they have on offer.


#2. Janelle Wind's Week of Giveaways!!!

Who doesn't love a good giveaway? One of my favourite fellow Aussie designers, Janelle Wind is having a week of giveaways to celebrate the release of her first book, Pieces of Me. She is only up to day 3 so head on over and enter away (I know I have!). Her book is just gorgeous, I've ordered my copy and it should be here any day!

.Citrus pOp...in my hair.

I am a very visual person and find it hard to picture what things are going to look like unless I have something concrete in front of me to focus on. We were having a play with the camera yesterday and took some photos of Citrus pOp hairpins in my hair. I finally made myself a selection of favourites to wear in my hair so that I am not tempted to open every set in the shop and keep them for myself!

So, if you are wondering what they look like in someone's hair...wonder no more!

Oh, and I have decided to reduced the prices of the hairpins to make them a little more affordable too so take a look!

P.S. Citrus pOp is now on Made It!

.Sweet Dreams winner.

Thanks guys, for your lovely comments about Sweet Dreams.

Congratulations to Skipping Daisies! I don't have an email address to contact you on, so let me know your postal address and I'll send your copy of Sweet Dreams to you!

.For the library.

For once in my life I am organised when it comes to the kids birthdays. After my "I'm sick of toys" episode I realised that another way to be toy-smart is to make sure I plan what the kids are getting for their birthdays AHEAD of the actual day rather than leaving it until the last minute and ending up getting something that they don't need or won't care about in a month.

You can never go wrong with books and when I discovered Book Depository with competitive prices and FREE SHIPPING I couldn't help but stock up for Oscar and Lil's upcoming birthdays. As well as a few to keep me happy also :)

Actually, I'm really impressed with Prints Charming's new book...these girls have style like no other and, thanks to them, I think that we have finally decided on how we want to decorate our bedroom...just have the difficult task of deciding on fabric and getting onto it now!!

Speaking of bedrooms, I decided to get stuck into Tommy's room yesterday and pulled his cot apart and started painting it fire truck red. After 1 coat I just wasn't feeling right about it and now we have decided to use the same charcoal colour as the exterior of our house instead!!! Poor little guy...he slept in a half-painted, barely put together cot last night and we have moved him to the portacot in our room tonight with hopes of getting it finished. I think I am going to be happy with the end result - if not, I don't think I'll be making changes any time soon!

.Sweet Dreams take 2.

I promise this isn't turning into a pyjama blog...but it is such satisfying sewing for me at the moment. Quick to cut and sew and cosy to wear on a cold evening :)


I knew I wanted to use these Heather Bailey prints for the Sweet Dreams cover but didn't know if I wanted to use the blue or pink version. The only way to find out was to make them both! I do love these blue ones but thought the pink shabby-chic look suited what I was looking for in the cover better.


I have also made Sweet Dreams PJs in some gorgeous flannel prints but haven't taken any photos to share yet - will do it soon though because I think you will love them.

If you are looking for some extra Sweet Dreams inspiration, check out my tester's blogs:
Karen
Rachel
Yvonne

Thanks girls - you definitely make my life easier :)