3. What a lovely little Poppet

There is something about making a purse-frame purse that has always made me feel a little bit clever. This Poppet purse (from You Sew Girl) is no exception. I've made this one with all the recommended support materials, meaning it is very structured. Whilst it is quite awkward managing it around the sewing machine, it is totally worth it for the result. A cute little purse, for which the name "Poppet" is very apt.



I wouldn't recommend it for the beginner, but if you've put together a few purses, and would like to try something a little trickier, then this is something I would recommend. As usual, Nikki's pattern provides you with lots of little tricks that you can apply to other bags and purses as well.

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2. That's what little boys are made of

Before the dead-line, I managed to scrape in two more hats. There is nothing like leaving things to the last minute! Of course, I once again used Nicole Mallalieu's (You Sew Girl) Kids' Hats Pattern. I should mention that if you are looking for options, this pattern has them. You have three sizes, small, medium and large. Then added to that, you have a range of different brim sizes and also brim finishes to make your hat just how you like. I personally like to go large when it comes to brims and give my boys lots of protection from the sun, so my brims are the second largest brims and the boys are wearing medium sized hats.



My favourite thing with these hats, I wasn't really sure wasn't going to work. I love the appliqué. I applied some Steam-a-Seam 2 to the back of some left-over lining fabric and then cut it out a couple of frog motifs, really carefully. I then peeled off the backing and ironed them onto the (already interfaced) crown pieces. I lowered the feed dogs and used my free-motion foot to stitch them down.



I was really worried about those long, skinny toes, but it seems to have worked. I did three laps around each frog, matching the main colour of the frog on each one. When I did the toes, I didn't so much go around the edges as I did kind of meander along them.



I have made these hats before using corduroy, which has really stood the test of time. The boys hats have been through the ringer and so abused, yet they still look really good. The lining in the old hats was a Kokka cotton-linen, so it will be interesting to see how well the quilter's cotton holds out.



I'll be back here very soon to do the wrap up from the sew-along...

1. Blogtoberfest 2012

I was in two minds about joining in this year. Should I? Shouldn't I? Am I too busy this year? So I wrote a list of things that I could blog about and whilst I didn't come up with 31 blog posts, I figure I have enough to get a jump start on the month and maybe I'll figure the rest out as I go... So I'm in!

My goal: 31 blog posts in the month of October.


I will be back in a couple of days to do a wind up post for my hat sew along. It went really well. There are still a few people who haven't come back and told me they finished their hats, though. So if you managed to get a hat finished (or even close to finished) in the month of September and it isn't on the list, please let me know. If you need a little extra time to finish your hat, that's okay too, let me know. I managed to scrape in two more hats before the deadline. I will be back with those, too.