Tutorial: Baby romper to Dolly romper!

This is something I've been meaning to do for a while, and whilst Tinydino had her nap today, I decided to go for it. Turning one of her tiny rompers into a romper for her baby doll.

Tinydino was a whopping 9lbs 9oz when she was born, that's just under 4.5kg. But she was all length! Long body, long legs, and a chubby chubby face. Even now she's all length and not much width. But, anyway, dispite being so heavy, she was long and skinny and her 3months clothes swamped her. This was one of the "just in case" tiny baby grows.

Poor 'Baba' is usually naked. He came with a lovely crochet and knitted outfit from Great Granny, and I made him a cloth nappy, but usually he is naked. This romper has lasted a whole day without being removed! I take that as a seal of approval!

So, onto the tutorial. This is my first tutorial, and I am far from a sewing expert, so please keep that in mind :)


Baby Romper to Dolly Romper.

First, gather your supplies: A romper, a doll, some pins and some pinking shears. I used my sewing machine, but you could do this by hand too if you wanted to!

The first step, is to turn your romper inside out and put it on your doll.

Then take your pins and pin the romper so that it will fit the doll on the arms, down the body and down the legs. You don't need to be too precise on the legs just yet. In hindsight, I should have done my legs much baggier than I did, because I lost a lot of fabric when cutting off the un-needed poppers. Remember, you can always make it smaller, you can't make it bigger!

Next, take note of where the crotch of your doll is (mine was just above the fourth popper), remove the doll and cut off the feet of the romper. Trim off the popper band from the leg area too from the crotch area downwards. You can see here how I lost a lot of fabric by doing this which is why I would recommend making the legs bigger than you think to start with!

Pick your neatest looking side, mine was the left as I looked at it, and I chose to add a few dots to keep me lined up when taking the pins out later. You can skip this step if you want to.

Now it's sewing time! My goodness, ignore my nails. I haven't put my newest Jamberries on yet, so I'm sporting the last few chips of my old nail varnish. Ahem. So, using a three-step zig zag i stitched along the line I marked out earlier. If your machine has it you could use a straight stretch stitch. You could even do this with an overlocker if you own one (Soon, my pretty, I shall own one soon!).

When I came to the armpit area, I had more or less a right angle in my sewing line. The way I do it is to stop with my needle in my fabric, lift the foot and turn the fabric, then lower the foot again. I don't know if this is the official way to turn corners or not, but it's how I was shown! Make sure any seams you sew over are laying the right way, it will make the finished product neater.

See, perfect little corner right angle thing, with both my seams laying the same way (You'll have to trust me on that as you can't see it on the other side)

Once you've sewn the first side, try it back on your doll. I forgot to photograph this bit but it's self explanatory! Then, if it's all good, use your pinking shears or scissors to trim away the excess fabric. Don't go too close to the edging. If you used an overlocker, you obviously don't need to do this step.

Next I folded the romper in half and decided to neaten up the other side. As you can see below, I added an extra bit to my sewing line. Sew as you did with the first side.

Try it on your doll. Yey, it fits! Then trim away the excess if you need to.

Next step is to tackle the crotch area. As you can see below, 'Baba's' legs are all scrunchy and Newborn like. If you have a doll who's legs lay flatter/straighter this bit will probably be easier! You can also see just how much fabric I lost cutting out the extra poppers! Erk.

Darn popper bands. I then trimmed the fabric a little to straighten it up whilst trying to keep as much as I could, as you can see it was quite wonky before! I also cut out the back section to make the two legs.

Because the doll needs space to have a nappy and also room to bend at the legs and sit down, I decided to use the excess fabric in place of the little semi-circle crotch shape that's on baby rompers. I matched up the bottom of the bands, with the edge of the fabric. This gives you a baggier back section than the front, making space for a dolly bottom :) 

It was easier to wing it than to pin it. Because of the bulk, I also found it easier to do the corner trick, rather than going backwards and forwards with the reverse button on my machine. So I got to one end, left the needle in the fabric but lifted the foot, rotated the whole romper with the needle still down, lower the foot and stitch back over the original stitches again. You can see below how much of a 'bottom space' it created.

Now time to tackle the legs! Because I lost width when cutting my poppers off, I had to jiggle this about a bit. It was easier to line the edges up as I went, rather than pinning. It does mean the legs are a little twisted sadly, but I don't think 'Baba' minds!

Then it's time to hem! They were SO fiddly and I think next time I do this, I will hem the legs and sleeves before I sew the edges up to make it easier. But just take it slow and be careful not to stitch the sleeve together (Trust me, it's not fun!)

Not my neatest job ever sadly, I couldn't help but stretch it slightly because of how tiny an opening it was. Oh well.

I don't think Baba minds at all though! I could possibly take a little bit off the length of the body by shortening the crotch bit, but it fits well and looks adorable!

And I finished literally just as Tinydino woke from her nap too. She loves it and spent the rest of the day playing with 'Baba', he even got to come with us to pick Dinogirl up from school :)

I have a second romper that came in this set to make and put away for Christmas. But I'm not sure if I'm going to make it fit 'Baba' or make it to fit a waldorf doll. I also have a pair of leggings with a hole in the bum, a tiny teeshirt and a tiny vest to repurpose. And I kept the feet that I cut off this romper to make some little booties for him, so maybe I'll make another tutorial for those! We shall see.

If you make anything from this tutorial, please post pictures in the comments or on the Facebook page! I'd love to see them.

An almost handmade Christmas

Money is tight for us this year, as it is for a lot of people. We refuse to get into debt with credit cards and loans for the sake of one day. I've also been reading about Kon Marie and the whole downsizing/decluttering/minimal thing. So I've decided to downsize what the children get this year and to make as much as possible. I discovered a box of toys under the eldest's bed which had been given to her for Christmas last year. Forgotten and un-played with. We already have a tiny house filled to the rafters with things, the last thing we need is more stuff! So, a few key presents, a couple of stocking fillers and Santa's bag (In our house, Santa brings the girls a bag full of gifts and the rest is bought by us ;) ) is all we're giving them this year.

Now, the eldest, Dinogirl, is a hard one. She's 9 just before Christmas, and isn't a huge player of toys. She loves her craft supplies, of which she has ample amounts! She likes books, so she'll get a couple of those. And she loves her computer games. She's desperate for the new Pokemon and Yokai games, and her 3DS (which was second hand anyway) is on it's way out. So there isn't a lot I can make for her. I do however have some Pikachu fabric! So I think she's going to get some Scrundies. If you haven't heard of Scrundies, check them out! They're the most comfy pants you'll ever wear! I might be able to squeeze a teeshirt from the fabric too. We'll see!

The youngest however, is a different story. Tinydino is 2 in February. Like any toddler she likes all toys, any shape, size or colour. But she LOVES her baby dolls. She has a couple already, and they're mostly naked. When we've been in hospital with her she has loved the doll cots and prams, so we're going to get her a wooden doll cot and a wooden doll buggy. I LOVE wooden toys. They look so much more...wholesome? I can't think of the word. But we prefer them over plastic.
To go with the cot, buggy, doll thing, I'm going to make her some nappies, clothes and a blanket for her dolls. The blanket I have already started. It was meant to be a sock yarn blanket for me and I wasn't happy with it, so I've squared it off and I just need to finish edging it.

I'm also hoping to make gifts for family and friends where I can! Dinopapa has a big family and we need to post their gifts, so little items are best.

I've spent nap time today browsing Pinterest for patterns and ideas. Here's a link so my Handmade Christmas board for anyone who'd like to have a look :)

Chicken Pox and Etsy

That is quite the mixture isn't it?! But those are the two things my week has been taken up by. The week started off with me finishing up a batch of crafty makings and taking photos for my Etsy shop. Dinogirl had been off school as she wasn't feeling well, and on Wednesday afternoon asked me if she had something on her neck as it was sore. Yup. Chicken Pox. Darn it. It is doing the rounds at her school, so I was expecting it at some point! So far, Tiny Dino doesn't seem to have caught it. I'm not sure if I'm happy about that or not.
So the house smells of camomile lotion, all sense of routine has been lost as Dinogirl keeps sleeping LOADS (Which is very unlike her!) and she's hardly eating anything. Poor grumpy girl. We decided to cheer her up a little today. She's been asking for Minecraft on the PS3 for a while now, as her best friend has it on the PS3 and not the Xbox. So, not only did I buy her the game and two texture packs, but we moved the PS3 into her bedroom in place of my old PS2. She is now a very happy, if spotty, hatchling!

On Thursday I sat and uploaded a load of things to my Etsy shop (Which you can find here or if you're viewing this on a computer you should see the little Etsy widget on the side of the page!) I've already had 5 sales! it's fabulous! I've also joined Instagram to help network a little bit, so check me out there too if you'd like to (@corasclipsandknits)

Knitting wise, I've been busy working away on a pair of Rose City Rollers with the Poison Ivy Vs Harley Quinn yarn I got from The Yarn Tree comic book yarn box last year.

I don't think I would ever have picked this yarn if I had been looking at it in a shop, it's just not colours I would go for usually, but it's one of my favourites! If you haven't, check out Mel at The Yarn Tree over on her Facebook page.

Sorry for the super duper short post this week! But I must go and run the girls a nice bath with a sock full of oats!

A month?!

My word, how has it been a month since my last post?! The hatchlings' Christening, then poorly children, meetings/appointments and my anxiety and depression have gotten in my way for the last few weeks.

So, I don't have any finished objects to show yet. I do have a couple of new yarn purchases though and a new project. Let's start with new yarn! Nothing like a new yarn purchase to cheer you up!

Firstly some Definition Sock yarn from Artesano, in colourway Kimono. It's a gorgeous bright bright fuchsia which is looking a little washed out by my rubbish phone snap.

And some gorgeous Muddled Rainbow from Rainbow Fusions on her sock yarn base.

I also got two yarn boxes from The Yarn Tree! 

I got the first of her Sock Yarn Boxes, which is a skein of yarn, a stitch marker and a project bag with a theme. This box's theme was The Big Bang Theory. The yarn is called Bazinga! Here's a better photo of it.

And the second box was her January yarn club which was Game of Thrones themed

With some gorgeous sparkly self striping yarn from British Bea Knits, a yummy kitkat and some stitch markers which include a wolf, a sword and a "winter is coming" charm! Adorable!

Next, projects! So I had started some socks with my Flash yarn blank from The Yarn Tree, but I wasn't happy with how the texture was working up on the pattern, so I ripped it all out. I then decided to start a pair of tube socks for the Tinydino. Which I don't appear to have a photograph of! They're pink and turquoise striped, two at a time with a turquoise toe and I plan on giving them turquoise cuffs too. I'm doing 8 rows pink, 2 rows turquoise.

I also started a For The Love Of Rainbow shawl, by Mina from The Knitting Expat Podcast. She's currently running a couple of KALs (That's a Knit A Long for anyone who doesn't know the lingo) in her Ravelry group and one of them is the #KESHAWLKAL (or Knitting Expat Shawl KAL!). It's a really fab pattern! Good for a beginner shawl knitter like me, anyway! 

I didn't have a gradient so used my Bazinga yarn, along with some Jarol grey sock yarn. (The funny face is just to cover the pattern that was visible as it's not a free pattern!)

I'm currently on row 102 or over 300 rows and the KAL finishes at the end of the month. Hopefully I'll finish in time to enter it and might win a little prize!

If you don't already, you should give Mina's podcast a watch! I've almost watched all of her old episodes now. Her and her husband live in the Middle East, hence the Expat, and they do so much travelling! Makes me jealous. She's so lovely to listen to and her podcasts are always so interesting. Such a talented knitter too, especially considering she's only been knitting for a couple of years! You can find her on youtube, here.

Non-knitting crafts, but still knitting related, I made myself a little chain row counter to use with the shawl. As you can see on the photo above, I have a traditional number row counter. But I kept forgetting to turn the numbers and it was confusing me. I've wanted to have a go at making a chain counter for a while so decided why not!

Because I have to slip it across the needles whilst I'm knitting, I'm remembering to change it with each row. Love it! Think it will become another little item for my shop too. Just need to work out some pricing for it.

I also made Dinogirl a bookmark, as she keeps using scraps of paper as bookmarks. Used my last little dino charm! But more are on the way! Hehe

But now i must get myself to bed. We have an important meeting tomorrow about Dinogirl's statement at school (A statement decides how much one-to-one help she is entitled to) so must get myself off to the land of nod early and try and get a good night's sleep!

I shall sign off with a photo of the cake my amazing mum made for the girls' Christening (Which was on Valentines day, we thought the hearts were fitting for the Tinydino given her heart defect). I hope everyone's had a lovely Mother's Day :)

Yarn post!

So since my last weekly update, I have had some of the most fantastic yarn post ever!
I asked in a craft selling group a while ago if anyone had any sock yarn scraps they no longer wanted, and if I could buy them for my sock yarn blanket and my scrappy socks. Two ladies and a friend of mine replied saying they could send me some bits, free for postage! Amazing!

My friend sent me the most adorable little recycled truffle box full of mini yarn balls. Yarn truffles!! Just adorable!

And one of the other ladies said she would "send me a little parcel". A few days later, a MASSIVE parcel appeared. In fact, it was so large I thought it was a bundle of clothes for the Tinydino that I'd purchased online. I opened it up.....

...and promptly died and went to heaven in a fluffy pile! The most amazing collection of 'scraps' ever! I dare say there's actually enough yarn in some of these 'scraps' to combine them with a contrast heel and toe and do a full pair of socks! You can tell how big the pile is by the partial sock that the lady also included for me to frog back and reuse.

I can't wait to get knitting some more scrappy socks! And just think of how much my tiny blanket is going to grow with all of these beauties! 

What was your most recent yarn post? :D

FO: Pair one! Rose City Scraps

Pair one is finished! Hurrah! At about 9pm on the 31st January I finished the second sock of my first pair for 2016. So I actually managed my first pair in less than a month. and that included finishing a pair of socks before starting these too. Woohoo!

They are the Rose City Rollers pattern, knit on my tiny 2.5mm circular needles, which I LOVE. And of course, knit out of sock yarn scraps.

I did make a couple of modifications to them. Firstly, I did an extra 8 rows to the heel flap for the medium size. So I had 20 slip stitches instead of 16. I then gave them the Anatomical toes, by Persnickety Knitter.

I'm not happy with my SSK stitches on one side of my decreases. They don't look as neat. In  fact, looking at the photo above, I can tell which side is a SSK and which is K2tog. So I'll be spending the evening reading a few blogs and articles on SSK alternatives!

I've printed the pattern and selected the yarn for pair number two. Wish me luck! :D

If you'd like to look these socks up on Ravelry, then have a look here

Pair one progress

So, just over half way into the first month I finished my first sock of pair one! Woohoo! I do so love the mini circulars, I can't wait to get a second pair because I am very much suffering from the dreaded Second Sock Syndrome!
As I mentioned in my last post, I cast on the Rose City Roller pattern with my mini circulars and a bag of sock yarn scraps. I did the heel flap from the pattern, rather than my usual afterthought heel, and I did extra rows on the heel flap to make them fit my giant feet better, so 20 instead of 16 slip stitches for my size. And instead of the normal toe from the pattern, I decided to try out the Anatomical Toe on recommendation of my friend, who is the queen of sock knitting options! On the quest to find the perfect fit for her own socks she has tried lots of different techniques, and is one of my go-to people for advice on altering to fit!
Anyway, I did an Anatomical Toe on the first sock and I LOVE it. The smaller needle size (2.5mm instead of my usual 2.75mm) has given the socks a tighter fabric, and the deeper heel flap and anatomical toe has just sealed the deal in my eyes. They fit so well!

I'm almost turning the heel on the second sock now, so hopefully I'll finish it by the end of the month (Or not long after!) I need to decide what pattern to cast on next!

I've also realised that I never posted a photo of my finished 'Prequel' socks. The pair of socks I mentioned in this post, that had (embarrassingly) been on my needles since 2014! The shame! I tried a new heel and hated them, throwing them in my knitting bag in a strop and grumping at them periodically over the next almost 2 years. So I resurrected them around New Year and finished them off before I started my 12 in 12 challenge. And here they are!

I must admit, I'm not overly in love with them. They need some altering I think. The feet are too long, meaning the heels are too deep. I think I need to rip back the heel by about an inch! Probably two inches so I can play around with the decreases. And for some reason the toes twist a little too. But that one is more aesthetic than anything else, when they're on my feet I can't tell. The yarn is their saving grace! It is just divine!

But for now, the baby is having a nap and Dinogirl is at school, so I'm off to turn Peppa Pig off the tv and get on with some knitting with a few chocolate digestives  a cup of tea! ;)