366 project - day 1

30 before 30 - 24hrs to go!

Hello world

 Well my 30 before 30 list is far from finished BUT its got promise, most things are on the way to completion:

1. Get a new tattoo: not yet BUT when my hubby has days off next I will be getting it then (unfortunately won't be until March but that gives me time to narrow down what I want!)
2. Get my hair cut: booked in for Thursday (day after my birthday)
3. Spend some more Jodi time: I think this is a tick, I've been taking some time for me lately.
4. Be a better friend: I hope this is a tick but I can't really measure it myself.
5. Keep up to date with my blog! Ooooops, this one I dropped the ball on, have been VERY slack on the blog front!
6. Read a book: Done, 1 book, cover to cover, thoroughly enjoyed it!
7. Watch a movie from start to finish without interuption: Done, only once or twice but its hard to get without interuption with an almost 1yr old.
8. Exercise 3 times a week: Also been slack on this one :(
9. Have a girls night out: booked for Saturday night to celebrate my birthday.
10. Have a baby free date with hubby: I almost did it but the thought of leaving my baby girl all night was too hard. She is however likely to be having a sleep over at Nannies on Saturday night so it could get a half tick.
11. Take Pie for more walks: done my best in this woeful weather!
12. Take Pie swimming every week! TICK, she is loving swimming lessons and had a great time at the beach on the weeked too/
13. Spend special moments as a family every day: I think we do this, I think we cherish what we have.
14. Kiss my husband (he's helping me make the list): managed to tick this a few times in the past month!
15. Be a better house keeper! I'm doing my best at it :)
16. Do something fun and new together: We went on a family dinner date, just the 3 of us, took a long walk by the river then ate mexican fod in a restaurant (Piper was very excited!)
17. Let Piper have a sleep over at Nannys: maybe on Saturday... maybe
18. Spend a night away/alone with my hubby! When my poor hard working husband gets some time off we will do this.
19. Make something to donate to a worthy cause: Angel baby nappies and cloth pads
20. Hang some of our photos to make this place feel ours! Have put a few more pics around the place now :)
21. Make a meal plan and shopping list every week: Done.
22. Organise my craft space/dining room: Done and redone
23. Buy an external hard drive so we don't lose all our photos! Ooo need to do this.
24. Finish atleast 5 projects from my to-do basket: Tick, tick, tick, tick, tick!
25. Sell something handmade: Yep :D
26. Learn to thread an overlocker: Done a few times now
27. Dye my hair to cover my grey streaks: booked in for Thursday!
28. Laugh more! I hope I've been doing this :)
29. Express my feelings productively :) Doing my best!
30. Complete the 30 before 30 list! Almost ;)

Jodi xo

Paying it forward 2012 - the list keeps growing!

Hello world,

1. Kelly
2. Kate
3. Amy
4. Jade
5. Clare
6. Alison 
7. Charnee
8. Mel

And my people from last year:

1. Naomi
2. Mum
3. Bec Bubblewrap

1 down, now 10 to go :)

Jodi xo

30 before 30 - another update

 Hello world,

Well I'm plodding along - my list doesn't really have near enough lines through it but here it is tonight:

1. Get a new tattoo.
2. Get my hair cut. (No but my mum is getting me a hair cut and colour for my birthday so this will be ticked :D
3. Spend some more Jodi time.
4. Be a better friend.
5. Keep up to date with my blog!
6. Read a book.
7. Watch a movie from start to finish without interuption.
8. Exercise 3 times a week.
9. Have a girls night out. (planned for my birthday as hubby will be working and I didn't want a party without him - girls night out perfect solution!)
10. Have a baby free date with hubby.
11. Take Pie for more walks. (will do this if it stops raining here!)
12. Take Pie swimming every week! (again if it stopped raining but we start swimming lessons indoors next week!)
13. Spend special moments as a family every day.
14. Kiss my husband (he's helping me make the list)
15. Be a better house keeper!
16. Do something fun and new together.
17. Let Piper have a sleep over at Nannys.
18. Spend a night away/alone with my hubby! (working on it)
19. Make something to donate to a worthy cause.
20. Hang some of our photos to make this place feel ours!
21. Make a meal plan and shopping list every week.
22. Organise my craft space/dining room.
23. Buy an external hard drive so we don't lose all our photos!
24. Finish atleast 5 projects from my to-do basket.
25. Sell something handmade.
26. Learn to thread an overlocker.
27. Dye my hair to cover my grey streaks (there are alot of them!) (as mentioned - all covered with my birthday pressie from my mum and dad :)
28. Laugh more!
29. Express my feelings productively :)
30. Complete the 30 before 30 list! 

So the 5 things from my to-do list:
butterfly leg warmers to match Pie's custom nappy from Bubby's Bott: Designer Minky MCN's
make piper an outfit from the camo shark fabric
make piper an out fit from girls tee I bought cheap!
make piper an outfit from boys tee I bought cheap!
finish off my practice mumma cloth pads

I must say it feels really good to get things finished instead of just adding to the pile of to-do things!

Make something to donate to a worthy cause.
For this I've got 2 different things to talk about.

There is a beautiful new community on facebooks, its called Angel Baby Nappies and it was started by a wonderful lady named Tania who sadly gave birth to an angel baby 2 years ago. Tania's tiny daughter was born 18weeks before her EDD and was given a chux cloth to use as a nappy on her precious little girl. This never sat well with Tania and so now she (and all of us who have joined the community so far) is organising for cloth nappies to be made or donated for angel babies. We are making them in all sizes to fit babies from just a few 100grams in weight to full term babies.
Mine aren't finished yet but I've got my first 4 cut out and itll be an ongoing make because sadly there will be an ongoing need for these :( But I'll upload a picture of the finished nappies in the next few days and if you have any new or excellent used condition small or newborn nappies OR can sew then please join the community to find out how to get involved <3

The second thing I've made to donate is cloth menstrual pads. Yep, its a topic alot of ppl cringe about but I'm going fulltime cloth and I've been making different types, practicing my skills and all the 'practice' cloth I've made and some of the ones I've bought will be heading to some very worthy causes.
Did you know that "For many girls living in poverty, life comes to a screeching halt when puberty is reached. Instead of going to the store to buy pads, too many girls and women resort to whatever is available for free – old clothes, leaves, mud, newspaper. To avoid leaks and stains in public, they stay home and miss school or work each month. Without resources to catch up in school, girls get further and further behind in classes, fail, get discouraged and drop out of school." Doesn't that just break your heart? Imagine being a young girl (I was 12 when I got my first period) having to use old clothes or newspaper or leaves whilst staying at home to avoid humiliation. How heartbreaking! Missing education and money to stay at home using unsanitary products, risking infections etc. My practice pads aren't perfect but they are functional and washable and reuseable which is what counts - for a young girl to recieve them would make such a difference to her lifestyle. To me I see the bumpy stitch here, or the wings aren't as wide or are wider than I would have prefered or they are too short or too long for my tastes but to a young girl they will make the world of difference and are a step in conquering the gender divide in 3rd world countries (a small step perhaps but every step counts!). Check out this info here for a list of places you can donate to (if you have any info on Australian places to donate too please share it with me x)

So what u need to know?? Cloth nappies for angel babies and menstrual pads aren't that hard to make but they will make a big difference in ppls lives so if u can sew give it a go!

Tee vamps! Kids tee to baby romper!

Hello world!

Do you want to turn some big kids t-shirts into some adorable rompers like these?


Its easier than you'd expect - and seriously I've made 4 in the past 2 days - they are super quick - the perfect nap time project :)



Ok so first you need to find a tee that you want to revamp. You can do what I've done, found a small tee so I've left the existing side seams in place or you can cut your front and back peices out of a larger tshirt (or some fabric) and sew the piece together. This is the tutorial for making a romper from an existing tee keeping its side seams in play:

Size 0 romper on the top - the tees are wider but not wide
enough that they will be too big - as I said before, if you need
to just take the side hems in the make it the right width.

The blue shirt is a size 2 and the white ones a size 4.
I'm using the size 2 cos I like the cute print but the 4
would be a great fit for this pattern too!

So first you're going to need a nappy cover pattern - if you've
got one you like then use it, I used this one from made
Its copy-right and for personal use only but you can use
whatever works best for you - if you're clever enough you
could just trace around an existing romper - I'm not :)

Figure out where to put your paant pattern depending on
the length of your tee - if you've got more length than you
need then line up the back part of the pattern first - I don't
have length to spare so will add extra into the butt region.

Once you've got the pattern in the right spot, trace around
it and then cut along ur pattern lines
(be careful to cut thru one layer only!)

Front done!

Back done and because I forgot to unpick the hem
first I did it after cutting to shape :D

Now as you can see, its not long enough in the butt....

But with all this spare sleeve fabric thats no drama!

Pinned the cut up sleeve to the romper bottom
(make sure your fabrics are facing the same way!)

Overlocked it together

And hey presto - I've got plenty of length! Cut out the pattern
piece with ur extra panel and then finish your 'pants'
according to the pattern your usings directions.

Bottom is finished (will do the elastic all at
once later) so now on to the top!

Cut the sleeves off making sure to cut the seam off as pictured

Looks like a boy romper now - If you want to make a boys
romper you could add extra to the crotch and put snaps
in rather than finishing them like I did.

Now cut the top of the romper into a nice neat curve at the right
rise to fit the size you need.

Fold it in half just to double check things are even

If you want to make a backless romper (like the purple one)
Then you'll need to cut the back off along the line I've folded
in the pic - I put a bit of paper behind it hoping you could
see the navy fabric better!

Double check you've got the rise right (and ignore the
messy to do basket in the background!)
Mines a little shorter than I planned but its later and I could
not be bothered up picking the pants and putting more length in
- note to self, check it before sewing up the pants ;)
Fingers crossed it fits!

Then its time to finish off the project - edge the arm/arm back
edge, you can hem it, use bias binding (be sure to add elastic
in the back under the bias binding if you're making it backless so it gathers it nicely!)
or you can use FO elastic like I have.

If its backless you will finish the 'back' from the top of one
side to the top of the other in one piece.

Edging (check out my chipped nail polish!)

When the arm holes or the back is finished gather the
top to be the right width of babies chest and if its got
a back gather it too - I like to make the back tighter - racer
back/muscle tee style but you can make them evenly gathered!

Then use bias binding (with enough excess on both sides to
tie up into cute little bows!) and finish off your project!

Now for the best part!

Find a cute model and put her to work : (comic romper pics to come tomorrow when my model wakes up!)

Neighbourhood watch time!
Back view of the purple romper!
The tee I made it from had cute little ruffles
on it which worked really well in romper form!

Posing with her zebra for a side shot
I really wish I hadn't trimmed the ruffle around
the leg hole!!

And a front view - such a gorgeous tee, so
glad we didn't have to wait til she was big enough
to fit into it!

Comic geek? Try comic chic!

Clearly just a little short in the body, ooops!

And away she goes, leaving no item untouched,
reacking havock on the towns people!

jodi xo