A Stitching Odyssey: The last of my 2013 baby makes

You've already seen the above collage in my 2013 round-up post, but not all of the featured projects had been blogged about then. Even though we're all pretty much done with reflecting on the past, I do think the unblogged beauties deserve their 15 minutes of fame!

With so many friends having babies last year and expecting babies this year, I'm always on the look-out for cute baby patterns. And I struck gold when I came across a sleeping sack pattern in Anna Maria Horner's book called Handmade Beginnings - which I've already reviewed here if you're interested. Not only is the sleeping sack super cute and suitable for both sexes, it's also quite an impressive gift and actually really useful!

I've made two of these to date (with many more in my stitching future for sure) and have lined both with some wadding - even though the pattern doesn't call for it - for a warmer, snugglier outcome. My fabric and other materials (wadding, flannel and velcro) predominantly came from Minerva Crafts, apart from the little chick fabric from Fabric Rehab and the bias binding fabric from my stash. Yes, I made my own bias binding...both times!

Although this pattern is only sized for 0-3 months, it really would be simple to adapt for an older baby by just adding the necessary length and width. I love the pattern's peg-bag shape and the fact that it fastens with velcro...no buttons for babies to potentially choke on! All in all, I had loads of fun picking out fabrics and sewing these up. Better still, I was proud and excited to hand them over to my friends, who seemed delighted to receive them!

I was also asked to make this cute dress for a close friend's little girl as a special Christmas Day dress. My friend picked this pattern from Tie Dye Diva and chose both lengths of fabric from Fabric Rehab. The idea was to have a Christmassy dress that could then be reversed and worn the rest of the year...mission accomplished, don't you think?

One thing that really upset me during the making of this dress was an annoying mistake on my part. As usual I was cutting it out on an evening and feeling a little tired, so I stupidly cut the back on the fold instead of the front! I was gutted because it meant I'd have to piece the front and my poor friend had spent a fair bit of cash on the fabrics and was really excited about this dress. I worked really hard to line up the patterns as perfectly as I could and although I did do a good job, I'm still a little disappointed that this happened in the first place. My friend was nothing but grateful for and complimentary about the dress though, so that was a huge relief!

Anyway, that's it for 2013 makes from me now. I have two 2014 makes to show you next, as well as loads more in the pipeline.

Farewell 2013!!!

P.S. Apologies for the quality of these pictures, they were all taken on my smartphone at home, in the garden, at work...whenever I could fit them in during gloomy days.