Buttons and Bobs

Now one of our little relatives has her aprons she has put in some requests.  Apparently the tooth fairy is having problems finding teeth so a pillow with a pocket for the tooth will help the fairy. There is some urgency as the third tooth fell out recently.  I am not sure why but two wands are also needed  - one for the nearly six year old and the other for her younger sister. I  made the first wand and concentrated on making it sparkle. I sewed sequins and beads on to felt and ribbon. I wish I had put stiff card in it as it's a soft heart! It will have to be the spare wand. Everyone should have a spare wand! I remembered the stiff card for wands  two and three.

I made the crowns from felt, iron-on medium weight interfacing,  1 inch wide elastic, beads and buttons . Making a Crown : With an estimate of 21 inches for the circumference of a six to seven year old head I drew a crown front measuring 11 inches across on to paper. Cut a strip of interfacing 11 inches wide and as tall as a crown shape. Ironed the interfacing on to a piece of felt  measuring 11 inches across. (Non-iron interfacing would also work. Placed another piece of felt on top of the interfacing. Pinned  the paper drawing  on top. Used a  straight stitch on the sewing machine to sew along  the top and bottom  template lines. (I left the sides open to insert the ends of the elastic later) Cut out the crown shape leaving a quarter inch border. Tore off the paper template. Decorated the crown . Cut a 10 inch piece of elastic  and inserted each end into the openings and the sides of the crown. Sewed down each side edge to secure the elastic.

With thanks to Autumn of "It's Always Autumn" for the free pattern and instructions   four aprons are completed - Minnie, Aurora, Rapunzel  and Snow White. Accessories include crowns and ears. WHOOPS! I prewash most fabrics before sewing. I was particularly keen to test the red with white spots as I know that red dye is notorious for escaping. Some dye did appear in the water but I thought it would be safe to dry the fabric over the kitchen radiator. The fabric looked crisp and as bright as in the shop. The radiator - newly painted only two weeks before - was a mess and needed repainting. Update: The Snow White apron is currently the favourite and inspires tidying up. Magic! 

A visit to the Black Country Museum on 2nd December. I focused on examples of sewn, tatted, knitted and crocheted items though of course there is a lot more to see.  Make do and mend  items were everywhere from rag rugs to the doll on the window sill that was made out of a   ???? Can you guess? The answer is at the end of this post.                       .......and the doll on the window sill was made from an old shoe!