Handmade baby skirt + the alphabet

Finally I have a bit of time to post this skirt I made for Lily last weekend. It's made from a lovely striped linen I came across in Battersea fabric shop Fabrics Galore. I realise I've called it a baby skirt yet Lily looks like a toddler already! She just turned 9 months and is starting to stand unaided for a few seconds at a time.

I followed a pattern in one of my Japanese sewing books. The pattern had a pocket which I left off for this attempt but when she is older I may add it. I love my Japanese patterns! The diagrams make them so easy to follow for someone like me. I often get confused with wordy instructions in English patterns but give me a diagram in Japanese and I am fine- go figure!

And look what I stumbled across the other day! A year ago I was playing around with illustrating the alphabet for children's rooms. I eventually shelved it as there were so many great ABC posters around that I decided to do something different. I used a few for Joseph's room and the A4 sized ABC prints in my shop but I'd forgotten all about the others. I can see lots of unfinished bits but looking at them together I still like the overall effect so maybe I can rework it into a poster after all.

Handmade: Super Hero Cape + Mask

 I managed to get a bit of sewing done at the weekend. Joseph has been taking about super heroes non-stop this week. Apparently his Dad is a super man, he is super boy, I am super woman and Lily is super baby! With all this talk of super heroes I thought it would be great to make a costume so he can play dress up.

Using blue cotton fabric, some felt and ribbon I came up with this. I realised too late that I should have tried to find a pattern or tutorial but it worked out in the end! I love how quick it was to make, in total it took about 1.5 hours from coming up with the idea + working out a simple pattern to the finished cape and mask.

Joseph was amazed when he saw it and wanted to wear it straight away. We went down to the small playground near our flat and he delighted in jumping around in front of the other kids. The best reaction has to be the 3 year old who on seeing Joseph said "Wow, there's Batman" to his sister!

The only downside to the costume is that Joseph was a bit disappointed that he couldn't fly. He really thought he'd be able to and was asking why it wasn't working. I managed to catch a few blurry snaps of him larking around luckily it didn't take him long to forget the flying part!

For Mother's Everywhere

It's Mother's Day in most parts of the world today! Despite the UK celebrating Mother's Day last month, I am claiming both days as Mothers Day because we aren't celebrated enough in my eyes! When writing my latest guest post for Oh My! Handmade I decided to include a Motherhood Manifesto. There are so many Mums out there struggling trying to balance raising children with work that I wanted to say let's cut ourselves some slack. We are pretty amazing to do all that we do and it's time to live by this manifesto.

I'd love it if you headed over there to read the full post detailing a bit about my life running two small businesses (Noisette Kids + Noisette Marketing) with two small children! You can also download the full size Manifesto to put in your studio or office and framed as a print would make a lovely gift for any Mum or even a nice baby shower gift for a new Mum :)

Royal Wedding fun!

So yesterday was the eagerly awaited Royal Wedding! Joseph loved the Irish Guards, the horses and Royal Carriage and really got into the spirit of things waving his mini flags! In the end we celebrated with a nice traditional British tea party with triangle sandwiches, cupcakes and scones. Joseph has decided he wants to be a "boy princess" so we'll see how that pans out :)

All in all, a day to remember. I loved everything especially all the little details: the embroidery and lace on the dress, Kate's understand veil, her beautifully simple bouquet. I always think it's the little details that make your wedding and other celebrations memorable.

I hope you had a great day and celebrated with your loved ones!

Handmade gifts this Easter

My children are still young enough not to expect Chocolate Easter Eggs and I'm hoping to keep it that way for as long as I can. Instead I made them both some handmade gifts; bowties for Joseph and hair bows for Lily. I started making these a while back and I have to say I am slightly addicted! I love how cute they look yet stylish too.

I've wanted to introduce clothing and accessories to the Noisette Kids range for some time so I'm thinking of making a few more and putting them in the shop. The bows can be worn in the hair or attached to clothing. They can easily be made into headbands too. The bowties are perfect for Summer parties, weddings and celebrations. I think it is nice for little boys to dress like boys rather than men and a bowtie in a cute playful fabric is more appealing to them whilst also being smart enough for more serious occasions like going to Church.

Of course we still had lots of chocolate! My Mother came to visit and she couldn't resist bringing some Chocolate Eggs so I'm not sure if I'll get away with just a handmade gift next year! I made a lovely cake which was perfect with coffee and broke up my Chocolate Egg to sprinkle on top.

I hope you all had a great holiday weekend.