Crochet crazy and frugal crafting

Good Morning Lovely Readers


Whilst I have been busy sorting frugal menus and cooking, I haven't neglected my crafting. I have finished my first scarf (took me 5 days) and I am thrilled with it - really thrilled - I am going to have to go for a walk in the snow today just so that I can wear it. It is crocheted using the 100% wool I told you about that was on offer in Lidl a while ago. It cost me £1 per ball and the scarf took 5 x 50gram balls, so the total cost was £5. The pattern is from Cute and Easy Crochet by Nicki Trench (same as the cushion and the cafetiere warmer). There are so many lovely patterns in her book. Please do tell me what you think..... I only learnt to crochet about a month ago and this scarf has double treble stitch (UK) in it, so now I have mastered that. The pattern calls for 7 x 50gram balls, but it was plenty long enough after 5, so I stopped. So, here is my very own ta da moment......

Cuddling with awesome cushion

Ready to go

In detail

So come on all you awesome crocheters, tell me how I'm doing

And now for a very different craft.

Take one T-Shirt costing £1.29 from Approved Foods (I swear they don't give me commission).

Cat to watch proceedings not essential.

Go to This Mama Makes blog and find pattern for turning T-Shirt into new-born gown.

http://thismamamakesstuff.com/

Tutorial here:

http://thismamamakesstuff.com/2008/08/tutorial-t-shirt-to-newborn-gown/

And then start sewing...... 

This Mama Makes Stuff gives you the 

pattern as a pdf file which can be 

printed off easily.

This is my first go, and I am not over happy with the neckline, but This Mama Makes Stuff

says this is the most difficult bit .. so I'll keep practising it.

Don't you just love the fact that the song lyrics are on the back?

I still need to thread elastic through the bottom to finish the gown. This  garment is so quick and easy to make and so cheap too. I have already stashed all the boys old T-Shirts away ready to be adapted. 

The only alteration I made was to sew all the seams wrong side first and then the right side, so that there are no open seams on the inside of the garment to rub against baby's skin. The other lovely thing about T-Shirts is that they are usually 100% cotton. I only ever use Fairy Non-Bio to wash our clothes and so even used ones won't have been subjected to harsh chemicals. If you are using old T-Shirts and have washed in biological detergents, I would put the garments though the machine without detergent and then run the rinse cycle 2 or 3 times to get rid of detergent residues.

Have a lovely day - I will - it's half-term xxx