Some Birthday Sewing

It is my niece's birthday on Friday. Some sewing was needed post haste so it could be posted and arrive in time.
My niece lives in Melbourne and I do not see them all that often. But on a recent visit, I noticed she was playing with her Barbies and they were stored in a cardboard box. Ah ha, Barbie tote definitely required!

 The sewing area (AKA the dining room table) was set up and the pattern found in my pattern crate. The birthday girl's favourite colour was determined - aquamarine blue. 

I made the tote in the bottom right corner with a few adjustments. I did not have any vinyl and am not a huge fan of sewing with it anyway. So the pockets were made with fabric as well. It also used bias tape for the pocket bindings, but I had heaps of lovely ribbon to use instead.

 I really like the pleated pockets - very clever and simple to do.

 Finished tote. Three smaller pockets on the front and two larger on the back for the Barbies. Heaps of room inside for all their clothes and gear. 

Miss Ballerina decided this would also make a great beach bag, with pockets for sunglasses, sunscreen, etc.
And of course, I am looking at it as a great bag to take to Crafternoons once a month.
So you may be seeing this bag again in different forms!

The Barbies also needed some accessories from this pattern. So I made two sleeping bags - one for Barbie, one for Ken!

 Living in a household of little boys, there were no Barbies on hand to model the sleeping bag. So a lion had to stand in. 
I love how you can roll it up like a real sleeping bag and that it has a sewn in stuffed pillow.

I think this gift should be a hit with my niece. And as an added extra, I didn't buy a single thing to make this gift (hence the substitutions). Yay for stash busting!

Next sewing project - and I am really looking forward to this one - is an apron for this swap (this link has some great links to apron tutorials). 

I very nearly missed the deadline to join. My partner lives in Texas and my clues to her style are 'red, floral and retro'. Sounds exactly like the clues I gave! I will have to keep this under wraps though until after the deadline, just in case she visits here!
And if you love vintage embroidery, you really need to visit Jenny's blog. There are some lovely freebies, in particular the vintage kitchen series that is happening this year.

And it was a gorgeous sunset last night. We are looking at a warm week this week, but probably the last before the autumn starts to really cool down.

Linking today with Frontier Dreams for KCCO.
Look forward to seeing all the crafty goodness this week.