Adventures With Oilcloth

Yes, once again I have been a little slow on the craft uptake, but I have finally tried my hand at sewing with oilcloth.  I have wanted to make something with oilcloth for some time now but the impetus for my decision came when I was looking for suitable (and preferably eco-friendly) ways to transport my lunch to work and when I realised that Miss 6's old backpack was a bit small for carrying all her swimming gear to and from school swimming lessons.

The tote turned out to be a little bit on the BIG side, but Miss 6 won't let me alter it to a more suitable size.  That being said, such a large bag is probably a good thing since the kids store their school uniforms and shoes in the bag during their lesson and sopping wet swimsuits and heavy, wet towels after their lesson.  Miss 4 is now asking me for an identical swimming tote and I have told her I will make her one once I've had a bit of time for my sewing machine and me to recover from our struggles with the oilcloth, ha ha ha.

I am really pleased with how well my oilcloth lunch wraps turned out, although I did have some initial struggles with estimating the correct size for a wrap.  My main problem was that I didn't have a sandwich handy for measurements (and nobody was needing any food so I didn't want to go and make a sandwich that would then be wasted).  In the end, I used a stack of sandwich-sized serviettes as my measuring standard, LOL, and I think it worked out pretty well!  And, of course, these oilcloth lunch wraps were so easy to make that I'll be making a few for my girls to use at school and kindergarten too.

I have mostly enjoyed my sewing attempts with oilcloth, but I think it would all have been easier if I had bothered to buy a Teflon-coated sewing foot for my machine or at least bothered to cover my existing sewing foot in masking tape to prevent sticking.  I'm not sure what I'll make next with oilcloth (aside from another swimming tote and more sandwich wraps).  Have you tried sewing with oilcloth?  If so, what did you make?

Simple Button Headband Tutorial

I have been meaning to blog about some cute and simple button headbands I made for the girls in September but I keep forgetting to do so!  This project is so simple that anyone who knows how to use a needle and thread could tackle it.  In fact, you could probably get away with just using your handy dandy hot glue gun for this project, but I am much better at using a needle and thread than a glue gun (LOL) and my kids are so destructive that I have to make things really sturdy!

Cute novelty buttons from Jambo Chameleon

I got the beautiful buttons for these headbands from my lovely online friend Sally, who runs the drool-worthy Jambo Chameleon.  Aren't they just so bright and cheery?  Sally kindly sent them to me as an extra prize from a giveaway she ran on her blog and my girls fell in love with them immediately.  They weren't sure what they wanted to do with the buttons until they started planning their outfits for cheeky monkey #1's rainbow-themed birthday party.  It suddenly became quite obvious to them that what they really needed were rainbow headbands!  So here is a quick little tutorial showing you how I made these headbands while in the midst of cooking and preparing for a birthday party.

Supplies

Buttons in your desired colours and shapes, preferably not shank buttons

Strong ribbon, such as grosgrain or thick satin/polyester

Sewing needle

Thread to match or complement buttons

5cm length of hat elastic

Method

1. Measure your child's head (or your head!).  Cut a length of ribbon approximately 5cm/2 inches shorter than your required length.  Don't worry, you have the 5cm of hat elastic to add to the headband still!  Sort your buttons into your desired order and sew or glue them onto the ribbon.  The easiest way to ensure that you have sewn your buttons evenly along the length of your ribbon is to find the midpoint of your ribbon and sew the middle most button on at this point.  Or, if you have an even number of buttons like I did, sew the two middle buttons on at either side of your mid point.    :)

2. Fold over the ends of your ribbon to neaten the edges and prevent the ribbon from fraying.  You can glue or sew the fold into place if you want.  If you are doing this in a rush, like I was, you can kill two birds with one stone by simply sewing the ends of the elastic over the folded ribbon, thereby securing your elastic and the folded edge at the same time!  (The photo shows a neat and messy version and I am a little embarrassed at how awful the messy version looks, LOL).

3. And there you have it, one very simple, yet pretty and stylish, button headband to adorn your little one's head.  Use some elegant vintage buttons and you could have a funky headband for yourself too!

My Creative Space

Well, I've been back at work as a research scientist for a week and a half now so I am definitely not finding as much time to work on my  handmade creations as I used to!  But sitting on my craft desk this week (and tempting me to get back into my creating) are a stack of pretty saucers waiting to be turned into cupcake stands and some spools of thread ready to match the beautiful, vintage bias tape I will be adding to doily buntings for Domum Vindemia.  What's in your creative space this week?

A Bevy of Buntings

Okay, so it is highly doubtful that "bevy" is the correct collective noun for a group of buntings, but I just couldn't resist because you all know how much I love alliteration!  I have been busily sewing up vintage doily and napkin buntings after my order of vintage bias tapes arrived and after I made a rather expensive trip (care of a little splurge on gorgeous oilcloth) to the fabric store.  I'm glad I found the time to make these buntings as the various bits and pieces that make up each doily have been sitting on my craft desk and creating a total mess for some time now!

The Alice bunting combines mint green bias tape and hand embroidered vintage napkins

I should mention that, because of the vintage nature of the doilies and bias tapes I use, each bunting is absolutely unique, one of a kind.  I know this can be disappointing for the brides wanting multiples of specific buntings, but I think this is the beauty of using vintage, and therefore limited, supplies.  And I can always try my best to make a collection of similar-looking buntings if the doilies I have used are not too rare or hard to find.

The Adele bunting features a strip of ruffled pink ribbon sewn over the bias tape

So what do you think of my new buntings?  Which style is your favourite and do you have any colour suggestions?

I love the vibrancy of the Florence bunting

The Meredith bunting is so summery and cheery

The autumn-inspired Theodora bunting

My Creative Space - The Letter D

When my dad passed away several months ago, I was overwhelmed by the love and support I received from everyone.  Many of you sent me cards and sweet gifts, and the artwork pictured above is just one of them.  It came as a black and white print from Mel of wiccked, who is our hardworking admin guru for the DUST team on Etsy.  Mel sells the most amazing artwork, including PDFs of her illuminated letters which you can purchase and colour in yourself.  I haven't finished working on mine (it is amazing how hard it is to find the exact shade of colour I want in a house full of texta and marker pens!) and it certainly doesn't do Mel's artwork justice, but head over to her store to see her beautiful versions of the alphabet.  What's in your creative space this week?

DUST Craft Swap

It has been a while since I participated in a DUST craft swap (DUST being a group of Australian artists, crafters and supply sellers who sell on Etsy); I think it has been over a year, in fact.  So when I saw the latest swap being organised, I jumped at the chance to participate.  And let me tell you that I practically squealed with delight when I found out that I was being paired with Mich of michvanetta and koot!  Mich creates gorgeous vintage-inspired jewellery as well as pretty tags, cards and beaded accessories.  Just look at the multitude of pretty items she created for my girls and me!

Vintage button magnets

Beautiful tags, stunning cards, a gorgeous doily and the sweetest bookmarks for the cheeky monkeys!

Since Mich is a fellow jeweller, it made sense for me not to send her jewellery, but to send some Domun Vindemia creations.  She mentioned that she liked to host little get-togethers with other mums so I made a dessert stand and a bunting to add a vintage look to her functions.  If you look carefully at the bunting I made, you will notice that the bias binding has been adorned with a strip of delicate, blue lace.  Thanks Mich for the great swap and for inspiring this new style of bunting!

Althea (III) dessert stand

Augusta bunting

Funding a School in a Needy Community: Can You Help?

It is sometimes so easy for me to take for granted everything that I have been blessed with in my life.  Sure, my family and I have been through some really tough times, especially recently, but when I look at the big picture, there really isn't much, if anything, in my life that is lacking.  I have cars to take me where I need to go, I have a nice home which only seems small because of all the excess belongings we own, I have access to relatively good health and education systems, I can attend church without wondering if the government will have us arrested for holding a church meeting, and I have so much food in my pantry that I struggle with overeating issues.

Lydia's List: helping impoverished women.

When I opened the doors of Two Cheeky Monkeys I decided that I wanted to use some of the profits to benefit those who do not have access to even the basic things many of us take for granted in the developed world.  (Let me hasten to add that I'm not some super holy charity-funding saint.  I simply believe that we should use what we have been blessed with (and I've been blessed with a lot) to help others.)  I decided to support TEAR Australia's Lydia's List project, which was involved in women-focused community development projects in countries such as Nepal and Bangladesh.  Sadly, this project has come to an end so I have been thinking about new projects which I can support.  Since I have been blessed with the opportunity to undertake more years of study than I care to count (honestly, don't make me count, you'll probably run away screaming!), I decided that I would like to use Two Cheeky Monkeys and Domum Vindemia to support the development of community schools in developing countries.

School children in Zambia

So comes the point of this rather lengthy blog post.  Firstly, I should say a big thank you to those of you who have helped me to support the Lydia's List and community school projects so far through your support of my online stores.  Your committment to handmade living has not just benefitted me, but has also helped women and children in far away lands.  Secondly, I would ask if you are able to help me further by contributing to a once off fundraising auction I am hoping to set up on Facebook.  There are several ways in which people can be involved: you can spread the news via your preferred social media (Twitter, Facebook, etc), you can donate a handmade item (or gift certificate to your store) for the auction, you can bid on items in the auction, or you could do all of the above!
All proceeds from the auction will go to TEAR's community school project.  And due to the far reaching benefits of education, this should hopefully help not just the current generation of children, but the entire community and many generations to come.  If you would like to find out more about helping the Community School auction, please leave me a way of contacting you in the comments, or you can email me directly (see the "contact" tab).  Thank you so much in advance!