It's cold out there and what better way to send your small child off on their Arctic journey to school than with a giant snake wrapped around their neck? There's nothing like that 'just attacked by a wild beast' look which will make them the envy of all their playground friends in their boring everyday scarves.
The Child's Snaky Keyhole Scarf is the work of Carson Ellis who may be better known for her artwork on the album covers of rock band The Decemberist. She's also turned her hand to children's illustrations of the creepy kind such as one of the Lemony Snicket books.
The snake in this free pattern from Carson's blog is more soft, sweet and squidgy than sinister. A lovable child-squeezing reptile for the small ones or big kids who demand you knit them something for the cold.
If you've got a little lady at home who wants to be 'just like Mum' then cute as they are, those knitted booties just aren't going to cut it.
Vickie Howell decided to have a go at re-creating all of her own footwear favourites in her daughters diminutive shoe size - and while the results aren't exactly show-stopping, they are kind of fun. Here's how she did it - they're modelled on Steve Madden styles, but there's nothing to stop you having a go at re-creating your own!
Related: Geek Craft: Baby Space Invader hat | Felt applique patterns for original baby clothes
To celebrate today's beautiful weather, we thought we'd bring you this lovely summer dress from Pattern Making.
Doesn't she look cool and happy in her dress? It makes me wish I'd had more faith in the weatherman and wasn't wearing jeans today.
If you want to replicate it there's a very simple tutorial here, and there's a world of opportunities for customizing it. Different colour materials, changing the straps, embellishments or even - if you want to follow an upcoming summer trend - tie dye (go here for a how to by our resident fashionista, Catwalk Queen editor, Isabelle)!
Related: Tuesday Trends: Ruffle-mania - how to add volume to aprons and skirts | Wednesday Wearables: very easy Vogue
Ever bought a one-off garment you've loved so much you had no other choice than to make another? That was the story behind this cute child's sun dress, by Stand and Deliver.
The original dress she'd bought for her daughter is here, but since it came from a thrift shop, it couldn't be replaced. She did a very good job of replicating the pattern, and you can find instructions on how she did it here.
Related: Felt applique patterns for original baby clothes
Over on Hippyshopper we've been looking at how you can offload your old tights without sending them to clog up landfill. Happily, there are now specific recycling schemes set up to deal with the ever-growing mound of holey hose, but here at Crafty Crafty we like to be a bit more creative about our recycling solutions, and I was totally 'charmed' by this snake toy made from little girls' tights.
Read on for some mind-bendingly simple instructions.
Related: How to make a dog or snake draught excluder and save energy
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The 'pitter-patter of tiny feet' is becoming almost deafening among my friends and colleagues just now, so I'm thinking some baby clothes will soon be in order. I'd like to make sure that any garments I send as gifts will be original (but am not the world's most talented seamstress) so I've come round to the idea of buying some basic babygros and t-shirts then decorating them with some simple felt applique. Easy but so effective!
Make Baby Stuff has some great ideas for appliques to jazz up baby clothes here.
Here in the UK, any child of the 80s with a frustrated dress designer for a mother will be aware of Clothkits; a Sussex-based mail-order company that provided patterns and materials to make up the dresses, quits and rag dolls detailed in its catalogue. The fabric itself was printed with cutting lines so that the size could be chosen; it was then straightforward to follow the lines when sewing the garment.
The company was wound up in 1988, as mass-produced kidswear won out. But I've just learnt that the company is making a comeback as today's Mums get out their sewing machines: it's launched a new website, and is open for business offering both pre-assembled clothing and DIY kits. The clothing has been brought up to date to suit the whims of noughties kids, but still retains some of the charms of the original patterns. [Via Whipup]
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