FINISHED! Bird Wings for Alice

I put my head down this morning and finished these bird wings for my beautiful niece Alice, for her 5th birthday.  I really hope they make her fly -  she is starting school in February!  

The pattern is based on this tutorial from Llevo el Invierno.  Eri has lots of amazing things on her blog so do check her out.
You might remember I made wings last year for another little girl, Hannah, but this time I made a few adjustments to improve the wearing (I hope).  I added a collar with velcro (rather than just ribbon) and also wrist cuffs with velcro. It's not super classy, but I hope it will help the wings stay on and also remove the choking hazard that Ben is always so worried about.

Just like last time I used some gold leatherette for the back.  I really tried hard with the sewing at first to make it look nice but then decided not to worry too much as I think the uneven-ness adds to the charm.  (I would say that !).

This would be a good project for anyone looking to stashbust!!

On the cutting table

We got back from Thredbo today and I was hoping to catch up with the Charlotte Skirt sewalong (I have fallen a little behind - woops) and also make some progress with the bird wings for the birthday of my niece, Alice.  But, there were more important things in the household.  Oliver wanted to make an invitation for his birthday party - a Harry Potter party and as has been a bit of a tradition with him, he wanted to do a little scene with his lego.  When he was 5 it was Toy Story lego, 6 was Star Wars lego and now it's Harry Potter (in lego). But...we couldn't find Harry's lego hair.

Now we have a lot of lego in the house (a lot!) and I'd like to say that it is all neatly filed away, and it sort of is but the hair wasn't where it should be.   After quite a few hours of looking I finally found the hair, after tipping one of the buckets out along the hallway to sift.  Yikes.  Notice in the photo, that Elliot is just sitting and playing and Oliver is nowhere to be seen!!! Mmm.

Anyway, and to the point, hours later I finally managed to cut out pieces for Alice's wings.  The last time I made these wings, I managed to get a spectrum of pinks but I couldn't find that prepackaged goodness anywhere so I've had to go a bit mixy matchy. I think it will work out.  I think the ordering just needs a bit of tweaking.

Top 5 'other makes' for 2012

I posted the other day about my top 5 clothing makes but I feel a bit self indulgent so thought I'd also post my top 5 other makes for 2012.

1. The super easy lo fi blanket

I am not a knitter, so this took me ages to finish, but I loved doing it.  The make coincided with a few trips to the snow so there were a few missed stitches while I knitted in the car, but I'm still proud.  It was a present for on the birth of a little baby girl, Stella.

2. Roxy Longsocks

This is a bit of a cheat as the doll comes as a kit from the Red Thread, well only the face does, so it's not such a cheat.  It was a present for a little girl Lily for her first birthday.

3.   A bag with zippers

In September I took a Saturday course by Nicole Mallalieu on putting zippers into bags.  Unfortunately since the course, I have only finished this bag, but the course was great.  I gave this to my mum, who I am very happy to say uses it.. and it looks stylish in the process.  Next year I'm taking another one of Nicole's courses in March: Frame Purses! Yay.

4.  A lunch bag!

This little bag has revolutionised my eating habits at work.  Everyday I now take a salad!  It is the perfect size!

5.  Bird Wings

I made these wings as a present for a little girl Hannah for her 4th birthday.  There were a few wearability issues that I have now worked out.  I really want to make these for my niece Alice for here 5th birthday, but I haven't been able to find the exact fabrics again nor the energy.  Her birthday is at the end of January so I hope I can find my wing mojo as these wings truly are beautiful.

FINISHED! Bird Wings

Finally!  I have finished the bird wings I started a few weeks ago using this tutorial.  For some reason there was quite a bit of unpicking happening and so as the 'lucky' recipient is flapping their wings, no doubt a whole lot of cottons are going to come flying out.

Ben thinks the way it sits on the top part of the back and then ties at the front is a choking hazard and he is probably right, so for the Christmas wings I have lined up to make when I regain some enthusiasm for the project, I change the top to add a collar (with velcro probably - or maybe press studs if I'm really motivated) rather than the ties.

What I thought was a brilliant invention (the buttons at the bottom to thread elastic or ribbon through for the fingers/hand is probably not as great as I thought it was and I will probably add a cuff like attachment.

All in all, they took way more time than I expected but despite being particularly handmade, 

they are pretty cute.