Pixie Hat Pattern Release!

***UPDATE***  This pattern has finished the testing phase and is now available for purchase in my shop.  Click here for the pattern section.  Thanks.

This week I am very proud and excited to announce that I will shortly be releasing my very first e-pattern and I'm looking for 3 test sewers who will receive a FREE copy of the pattern.

It is an easy and enjoyable project and can be finished in an afternoon.  Even better you can upcycle a favourite old sweater which you don't wear any more into a gorgeous garment for a little one you love.

My original Pixie Hat was designed by me to make use of a lovely old woolen sweater which had shrunk in the wash.

The resulting Pixie Hat was such a hit and even made it to the front page on Etsy!

What you will need to do as a test sewer:
1   Email me at thebiglittleshop@gmail.com to receive a FREE copy of the pattern
2   Sew up your own little pixie hat using my pattern.
2   Email me notes of anything unclear with the pattern, so I can adjust prior to public release.
3   Send me pictures of your finished product (these may be used as sample pics in the final pattern:)
4   Enjoy your new pixie hat!

If you would like to be a test sewer for this little cutie, please leave a comment with your email address, or email me at thebiglittleshop@gmail.com.

I would love to hear from you!


***UPDATE***  This pattern has finished the testing phase and is now available for purchase in my shop.  Click here for the pattern section.  Thanks.

Pink Girly Shoes

Since finding out we are going to have a girl - my happiness is spilling over into making lot of girly pink things for my shop.   Today has been shoes.

I generally tend to make little booties, but am branching out into little Mary-Jane style shoes, still reversible and still mostly made from vintage embroideries and recycled fabrics.

Today's effort is a rose embroidered pair.  The embroidered fabric is from an old tablecloth  and the reverse side is a pink floral corduroy - also sourced from my second hand shopping addiction!  As I wanted something very girly, I added glittery princess-like, frothy ribbons instead of the usual plain strap.  Even the soles feature a pink embroidered rose!

I just adore them!  The hardest part is putting them in the shop and resisting the urge to keep everything I make...  I simply tell myself their new "pink and girly" owner will love them too :)

Simple White

I am enjoying the simple white blossoms to be found in the garden right now.
The quince tree in blossom is an exquisite sight, flowers so delicate hinting of the gorgeous fruit to come.

In contract, the chunky waxy citrus blossoms with their heady fragrance so divine.  A carpet of citrus blossom snow lies on lawn and looks so pretty.

We are off to enjoy the Garden and Art Festival this weekend.  Have a lovely weekend all.

Wildflower Baby Cape

My latest creative adventure for my shop has been creating a little wildflower garden cape. I used reclaimed soft vintage New Zealand wool, in a lovely soft yellowy green colour which lent itself beautifully to a little garden theme where I could add some of my favourite critters.

A ladybug, bumble bee and butterfly are to be found enjoying themselves in the garden.

Firstly I stitched the grass and flowers with wool from a bag of odds and ends.  Many hours, including picnics on the back lawn and lots of nights in front of TV were spent hand stitching all the little grasses and flowers waving in the breeze around the bottom of the cape.

Poppies, dandelions, forget-me-knots and little yellow daisies all feature, along with a few different varieties of wild grasses.

With the poppies I went for a bold simple look using back-stitch in red, with bold black centers.

Dandelions were slightly more tricky. I wanted them to look really delicate, as though a tiny breeze could blow them away. I discovered (after much trial and error) that the little seeds needed to be more of a dash rather than a dot, and needed to radiate out from the center.

Daisies and forget-me-nots nestle amongst the grasses around the hem.

With the foliage complete, I slowly added our little friends. A few sketches were drawn on paper first until I was happy that they looked "friendly", then I hand stitched them directly onto the cape with wool. I added a few little flight lines from the bee to show he had been busy collecting pollen from the poppy.

The ladybug is enjoying a sunny afternoon on a piece of nice long grass, and contemplating where she might fly to next...

A happy purple butterfly is resting under the hood. When you put the hood on she flutters out on her own little adventure.

I lined the cape in a happy yellow and white striped cotton. The entire cape is fully reversible, although I don't imagine you would ever want to cover up the theme!

My lovely neighbour's grand-daughter Milly, was nice enough to model this darling little cape for me, and while outside a cicada landed on the embroidered grasses on the cape... I was proud to think my stitching was good enough to fool the real thing!

This cape will be finding it's way to my shop very shortly - and hopefully to a lovely new home.

Winner!

Hello all, and thanks for entering my little giveaway. I love the names you suggested and some of them are in our short list!

The winner of the good luck purse is Widge. Congratulations, I'll be sending it out tomorrow!

Three of my friends are having babies during this month and next, so I have been playing around today with some fabrics and dreaming/deciding what I might create for them. All of them are boys, so will have to put my thinking cap on.

Hope you all had a lovely weekend.

Vintage Journals

It seems I have a bit of a thing for childhood books. Every time I go second hand shopping (which is quite frequently!) I manage to come home with a bunch of them! I just love the beautiful vintage illustrations and simple stories.

My pile of gorgeous books was growing steadily, so a while ago I decided to make them into something a little more functional - and crafted a few into vintage book journals.

I really like my journals to lie flat as they are easier to write and sketch in, so I decided to go for a spiral binding. Secondly I wanted to keep the original pages and illustrations, so I added some lovely thick textured journal pages and scattered the original book pages throughout.

As the books are odd sizes, I managed to source some paper off-cuts from a local printer for some of them, making for a very sustainable item with both recycled books and salvaged paper!

I love the end result, and friends have been asking to buy them for gifts to give to friends and family, as a unique way to capture baby memories or just as a fun journal. My first bundle sold out very quickly so have made a second batch for my shop!

Many of them have lovely hard covers which makes them a little pricier to send overseas, however if you live in NZ and are looking for one - I am pleased to offer free shipping within NZ. Click here for more details and to view journals.




REMINDER! Today is your last day to enter my FREE GIVEAWAY. Click here for details.

Wildflowers

Today I spent a lovely afternoon doing some hand embroidery.

A few days ago, I had made up some little linen purses, and was waiting for a relaxed afternoon to pick some flowers, breathe and stitch.

I love the way that everything in the world seem to stop when you do freeform hand embroidery. There are no patterns or rules - you just stitch where it feels right.


I particularly like stitching botanicals. Today was daisies, cornflowers and forget-me-nots.
These will be part of my shop update tomorrow. Enjoy!



REMINDER!
If you haven't entered my giveaway, you still have a couple of days! Click here to find out how to enter :)