Chilly mornings just got cosier!

Well, for one small person anyway 😉

Big brother has been in need of a new dressing gown to keep him warm on chilly mornings. As in, he was still squeezing into one meant for a 1 year old… So ages ago we chose a lovely beach towel from IKEA (when it was in the sale, obviously 😉 ) and I intended to turn it into a new ‘big boy’ dressing gown.

But then the towel got put away and it slipped down the to do list. Until this week that is! I actually intended to start on Wednesday but I forgot I hadn’t prewashed the towel, so that had to come first. No point putting in all the effort of making something, just to have it shrink or warp in a strange way on the first wash.

So by Friday I finally had that magical combination of prepared fabric, the desire to sew, and little brother napping. Project dressing gown was a go!

I drafted a quick pattern based on big brother’s measurements, with some growing room to ensure it lasts him a while. I also used every shortcut I could think of to make it as quick and easy a project as possible.

For example:
* there are no side seams as I cut the whole body from the width of the towel with the arm holes cut out

* the loops to hold the tie are the offcut pieces of the selvedge edge, just trimmed to the seam line.

* I used the hemmed edges of the towel for the bottom hem and the sleeve ends so there was no hemming needed.

So with minimal sewing we ended up with:

One very grown up looking little man! And it must be comfy because he said “mummy, I really love my new dressing gown. I’m going to wear it all day till bedtime!” Which, I think, is about as big a compliment as you can get from a three year old 😀

Now, I haven’t included a copy of my pattern here, would you be interested in it? Comment below and let me know, and if you ask really nicely I’ll try to find the time to do it! 😉 haha

IKEA Bargains!

Oh my goodness, is anyone else in love with the IKEA bargain corner? If you’ve never visited it I can highly recommend taking a peep the next time you’re there, in my local store it’s located in a corner beside the checkouts.

A lot of what you’ll find there is damaged, but if you have the time for a rummage, and you look at the potential in an object, not necessarily it’s original function, then your creative side will be as happy as mine is! Today I found these two beauties:

The white one is supposed to be a glass door for a bookcase, and I’ve no idea what the little wooden thing is supposed to be! But for a total cost of £1.30 I thought I’d have some fun and give them a new and different purpose!

I’m currently thinking that I’ll use the wooden piece as a little shelf on my craft table to give me extra storage space. So I’ll need to find something to raise it up on.

And the door will become a picture frame for above our bed. I just need to decide what will go in it and buy some heavy duty picture wire as it is quite heavy.

So when I get my projects done, I’ll let you know! And hopefully it will inspire you to see the possibilities in the random things you find 🙂