An Easter Treat.... A Baby Bunny Romper suit anyone?

Hi all,

I am back today with a little Easter treat for you, a Vintage inspired knitted baby romper of the bunny variety!

As I have mentioned before I love knitting, but I am not the quickest of knitters and most of the time just enjoy having a small project for the evenings to keep me busy. I usually try and knit with a purpose but on the odd occasion I like to knit things for little people, and while I don't have any of those of my own right now, or know too many people that do I usually figure that if I knit something up, it will hopefully never go to waste.

A little while ago I knit up a vintage style romper, (you can read more about it here) and well I fell in love! I adored the style and knew I would need to knit more, they are so quick and easy that it doesn't even take ME more than a couple of evenings to knit up, and maybe another night for the final sew up.

My first romper was in a neutral tone of grey with thoughts in mind that were it ever to be gifted it was gender neutral, but ever since I finished my first romper I wanted to make another.

I have had some fuchsia pink yarn stashed away for a little while and I figured it would be perfect for another romper and would let me have a little more fun with a theme.

So here we have it...

My knitted Bunny Romper suit.

 

I used a pattern by The Daily Knitter called Lesley which is a lovely pattern and is really simple and quick to knit up.

 

 

 

I initially started with just the plain old romper, but I just couldn't resist adding one last touch.....

 

 

A little Bunny tail... I mean this isn't usually my thing, I don't go for overly cute baby things, I totally blame these buttons for my decisions.

 

 

I bought these wooden buttons on a birthday fabric shopping trip to Grace and Favour and, well things just went hopping out of control from there. ( I mean, I bought smiling cute bunny button faces, huh, so unlike me, but I challenge you to resist these guys in person)

 

Here is a final shot of the Bunny tail which is a small pom pom made from acrylic yarn which is pale pink with blue and fuchsia flecks in it, I made it kind of large to begin with, so I clipped it down a lot (which I have to say was immense fun, who knew) so it is now a super dense pom pom tail and I loooove it!

 

 

I fairly loosely followed the pattern this time around as my yarn didn't swatch the same, so I decided to go by measurements, I also changed the depth of both the rib on the waist band and the leg cuffs to be slightly deeper than the pattern called for. 

 

The other main change for this romper was I deciding to use a moss stitch for the bib edging, last time I did a rib stitch and I just wasn't happy with the finish and I thought it looked kind of scruffy so I was keen to find something that would give me a cleaner look. I decided on moss stitch and I think I am fairly happy, although I think next time round I would drop my needle size my a half to give a firmer finish with a slightly less open look.

 

I think I am hooked on knitting these little rompers, they are so much fun to knit up and I think they would make a lovely gift for a new baby. I am currently resisting the urge to knit a nautical inspired version in a navy and white cotton yarn I have.....

 

Thanks for stopping by, I would love to hear any thoughts you have on my knitting projects. 

 

What small projects do you like to knit? 

Is there a project you like to knit repeatedly, or have a favourite pattern?

It would be great to hear all about it!

 

~HJF~ 

 

 





 

 



Motivational Banner

Today I would like to share with you a project I have been working on for a couple of weeks.

I haven't done much embroidery in my time, I have done a lot of free machine embroidery, but not much by hand. I think it such a skill and something I have admired for some time, but, alas, I am really not very patient. My mum and grandma have made a wonderful variety of embroidered tablecloths with a fantastic array of delicate stitches on them, that really are beautiful. 

For my first real piece I decided to keep it simple, with a back stitch. 

Here it is, finally finished. My motivational banner.....

I would just like to say this project was a little out of my comfort zone, I am not usually very fond of using "quotes" but I really like this one. I know quotes and slogans are very in right now, but I don't think it is something I will be indulging in too often. 

I typed up my quote, printed it and transferred it to calico using my lightbox.

I then used my watercolours to create a background so my banner wouldn't seem to plain. In hindsight I think using a patterned fabric might have been a better idea, but I will learn.

(Would you just look at those pom poms!!!! They are easily my most favourite part of this project)

After I had stitched my design i marked my banner and cut it to size. I stitched my pom pom trim into place and I then cut a back piece from some mint linen, this would enable me to 'bag out' my banner.

After I had finished my machine sewing to neaten all of my raw edges I hand stitched the top edge down to create a channel for my dowel to go through. (My dad helped me cut, shape and drill the dowel....it was too cold in the garage for me today ;)

I threaded a few lengths of grey thread through the dowel to give my banner something to hang from and I was done!

I really love the overall look of my banner, I am still slightly unsure about my use of a quote, but maybe if I let it hang a while I will get over it.

On another note, I ironed my fabric pre embroidery and after embroidery - twice! And would you just look, the creases are worse since I finished my embroidery, I was hopeful they may drop out while hanging, but now I am not so sure. I think I will have to live with it. 

Thanks for popping in, if you have any thoughts on the fabric banner trend or use of quotes I would love to hear them. 

~HJF~