HOW TO MAKE FELT SHOES FOR A BABY

I came across a tutorial on Pinterest that shows with photos an easy way of doing cute felt shoes for a baby.
After an intensive search through my archives of fabrics, I found some lovely shades of felts and decided to surprise one of our friends, who has just given birth, with little felt slippers for her baby. I wanted a different look to the shoes than the slippers shown on Pinterest, so I made a pattern and a tutorial of my own (see below).

The measurements are naturally different depending on the size of the baby's feet. You will need to add half a centimeter to the length of the foot for extra space and the same for seam allowance (so +1.5 cm). If you don't have the baby's foot handy, below an average guide to baby foot sizes:
0 to 3 months - 9 to 10 centimetres
3 to 6 months - 10 to 12 centimetres
6 months to 1 year - 12 to 13 centimetres
1 year to 2 years - 13 to 14 centimetres

They are so simple and fun to make, I ended up making several pairs, all in different colour combinations. I have few pairs for sale in Etsy.

VALENTINE'S DAY CARDS

It is Valentine's Day today, and here in England every shop window is full of hearts and "retail" guidance on how to display our affection towards our sweethearts. Strangely, in Finland, 14th of February is not so much a lover's day but a day to remember our friends. We don't even call it Valentine's Day but A Friendship Day (Ystävänpäivä). Maybe it is the reserved, introverted nature of Finns, (also mentioned in the Guardian article by Michael Booth, who seems to make his living by writing not so nice articles about us Scandinavians) that has made it easier and less exposing for us to celebrate friends as well as lovers.

Anyway, I have been crafting hand-made cards for some time now, and I sell them in few shops around England. The cards feature an illustration of a boy or a girl. They have hand-printed cheeks and eye shadows, hand-drawn hair and face, and clothes cut from patterned paper. Each of the cards is unique with different colours and styles of hair and clothes. One of the shops, that sells my cards, Appendage in Brighton, asked me to make a special edition version of the cards for Valentine's Day, see above. The original cards, see below.

ETSY SHOP IS OPEN

I love going to charity shops and flea markets. They are full of forgotten treasures waiting to be found. For a long time while walking around these shops and markets, I admired many abandoned cross stitch works and felt a bit of sadness about all the effort that had gone in them and how they were no longer wanted. Then one day I decided to do something about it and give them a new lease of life. This cushion above is made from a cross stitch picture rescued from a charity shop. I removed it from its frame, gave it a good wash and made it into a cushion cover. Quite lovely, in my opinion. This cushion cover and a few other things are now available from my Etsy shop.

VINTAGE CURTAINS

Some days ago, I was rummaging through some drawers and came across my old curtains, pictured above, from my childhood room in the early eighties. A good reminder about the fact that I wasn't exactly born yesterday, as they had a very vintage feel to them. How about you Dear Readers; can you still remember your childhood curtains?

Anyway, as we are planning to go camping this summer, I decided to turn some of the fabric into a little sleeping bag for my daughter, pictured here above. Originally, on my wish list was a rabbit print sleeping bag from a British brand called Anorak, but this is a more affordable option. And as it has rabbits on it, which my daughter loves, all the better.

Talking about vintage curtains, I recently found this lovely pair above from a vintage shop in Hebden Bridge, a charming little market town here in West Yorkshire. They were manufactured in the sixties by a company called Duro. I am usually devoted to Marimekko curtains, as I use to work for the company quite a few years, but as these vintage curtains are so pretty, they ended up in the window of my daughter's bedroom. I wonder if she will remember them 30 years from now ...

BABY RATTLES

I just realised that I might have been admiring the subject to my previous post, the Daisy and Ulla plates, a bit too much. Take a look at these baby rattles I have made, flowers with smiley faces, just like the plates. Only now do I notice that I must have been influenced by the plates subconsciously when I started sewing these rattles.

Good friends of ours are having a baby and that made me start thinking about all the nice things you can make yourself as a gift. I made one of these rattles and just couldn't stop. Now I have quite a few of them. I love doing cross stitch. To me it feels like drawing, just a needle as your pen and a thread as your ink. These rattles have a face made with cross stitch and petals that need just a little piece of fabric with a nice pattern, something I have plenty in my cupboards. A good way, moreover, to use those little scratches of fabric that one ends up having from other sewing works and can't really bear to throw away. The handle is a wooden ring covered with solid coloured fabric and finished with an edge string. Inside it has a padding with a little pouch of gently playing jingles.

In a short while I shall be opening my own little shop at Etsy. Since I have more than enough of rattles now, I will have some on sale there as well.

A COAT FOR MY DAUGHTER

Handicrafts have always been a huge attraction for me. Already as a little girl I was making clothes for my teddy bears, for example a quilted jacket with cotton wool stuffed inside and finished with rather large and uneven stitching. My maternal grandparents had a big influence on me, my grandmother made beautiful embroideries and my grandfather knitted striped woollen socks faster than anyone I know.

This knitted hat in the picture, above, I bought for my daughter from Cos, a Swedish clothing brand that sells quite charming and timeless children's wear, among other things. It reminded me of a bobble hat my grandfather made me when I was little. I couldn't find a matching coat for it so decided that I needed to make one myself. Perfectly matching blue woollen material I found from Fabworks in Dewsbury. The plaid lining is flannel and the detailing, zippers, buttons and piping on the back are red to match the bobble. I also added a Mickey Mouse patch to make the coat more attractive in my daughter's eyes, but I did sew it inside the coat to keep the style as I wanted. It won't be forever that I am able to unanimously decide her fashion statements, so I may as well enjoy as long as it lasts.