Crafty Monday!

I'm feeling rather pleased. I've made a start on the fabric Easter eggs. You can find the 'how to' in the brilliant book [Crafting Springtime Gifts], which I can thoroughly recommend. A word of warning though. They are very straightforward to make, and quite quick to do (I timed myself making the larger pink polka dot one from start to finish, and it was about half an hour, handsewing), but, they are pretty fiddly. So if you are an impatient sewer, or just can't be doing with fiddly little projects, you might find them too much faff to make. I am delighted to have made a start. I'd like to make another 5, I think a total of 7 will be plenty for an indoor Easter Egg tree. I always have one outside, on the veranda of my daughters playhouse, Gingerbread House (photos of last year's snow covered egg tree can be found on Flickr), but I like the idea of having fabric eggs inside.

A word about the fabric I use. My little girl is now 2 years old, so I have a stash of her baby clothes. I have been pretty good at giving lots away to charity bag collections, but there are some that I just could not bear to part with. Rather than leaving them to fester in a drawer somewhere, I cut them up (usually trying not cry as I do it!) and use them for my projects. It's a superb way of recycling, but also of having beautiful memories dotted around the house. My favourite craft projects have been the Union Jack cushions, most of which are made entirely from her old clothes. The blue egg in the picture is made from one of her old dresses. The pink one however, is made from a tea towel. I loved the tea towel, but it was rubbish at drying! So if you want to make something but think you have no fabric and need to buy some, think again. Have a rummage around the house and see what you can find. An old dress, a tea towel, even old sheets. Recycle, reuse, revamp!

The second crafty thing I've done today is customizing my new plimsolls to make them 'girlified'. I live in my plimsolls in the summer, and normally try to buy pretty ones. No such luck this year, so I ordered a plain white pair, thus: Nice, but quite ordinary. I took a few pink satin ribbon roses and stitched in place. After about 40 minutes (I started to stitch some on the 'inside' which I thought was a waste of time, as they will just catch and pull off), I had a lovely girly pair of plimmies! Once I'd stitched the roses where I wanted them, I made them more secure with the addition of a blob of fabric glue underneath. I didn't add the glue earlier on, so I could be certain I had the roses in the right place and move them easily if I hadn't. Considering I started to sew some in the wrong place, I am very glad I left the glue part until last!
I love this idea. Such an easy thing to do, and it just makes them a little bit prettier and unique. :O)
I'm looking forward to wearing these with my cropped jeans and a pretty floral top.