Recently I was asked by Two Blue Birdies; a Melbourne based, online fabric and haberdashery store to review their Stash Box. What is the Stash Box, you might ask? Well, it is like a little mystery box of fabric and haberdashery goodies. Once a month, the girls at Two Blue Birdies select a colour co-ordinated range of crafty things from their range of fabrics, felt, patterns and haberdashery and send it out to you.
The box I received contained the following bits and bobs;
a pattern for a stuffed toy hedgehog, 4 pieces of fabric, 2 squares of felt, two spools of thread, 4 buttons, a soluble marking pen, and a length of mini pompom trim. This last is ultra cute; I’ve not come across this before and it is cute!
It was fun waiting for and receiving the box, and opening it to see what was inside! I took it along to my local craft group to get their opinion and they all agreed that it is a pretty cute and fun way to get a new little range of goodies to play with. If you do crafty things with your children/grandchildren; and/or if you yourself love crafting and fiddling about making cute little bits and bobs then this is a terrific way to get a new boost to the craft supply box each month.
The deal sounds pretty flexible; if you don’t need a box that month you can easily opt out of the subscription as long as you get in touch with Two Blue Birdies before the date of postage. And conversely, if you don’t have or don’t want a subscription but really like the look of the stash box that month, you can buy just a box at a time, supplies permitting and with no need to lock yourself into a subscription.
What did I make with the contents of my stash box? well, since Two Blue Birdies were so generous as to send me the box for free, and I’m all about paying it forward… I really wanted to do something good with it. By that I mean, something unselfish, for once! I know, we seamsters all joke about sewing selfishly, myself included! and heaven knows I sew plenty for myself.
So I hunted about for a local charity and almost immediately found Tiny Sparks WA.
Tiny Sparks is devoted to helping women experiencing a high-risk pregnancy and babies born sick or premature. Obviously donations are welcome, and one way to get involved is to be a part of the knitting and sewing community that work to provide a gift of special clothes for the babies for when they leave hospital and go to their own homes. You can read more about the charity and how to get involved on their website here, and the site is regularly updated to notify items that are particularly low in stock, and currently required. Importantly, the site also has the free patterns for the particular clothing and beanies that fit the babies and their requirements. These four little outfits here are all for size up to 1.6kg. I know, so tiny!!!!! This isn’t even the smallest size!
Initially I thought to make two boys’ outfits and two girls’ outfits; however the fabrics, while they were sorta unisex in colour, seemed to my eye to be quite feminine in style, so I ended up making four girls’ outfits. However! of course I do not want the boys to miss out! so pretty soon I will be making some boys’ outfits, to make up for the imbalance. Because I will be doing this again. In fact, I enjoyed making these so much that I will probably make this a regular project, as long as there is a demand.
I bought baby yarn from Spotlight to knit the matching beanies. The Tiny Sparks website outlines quite specific requirements regarding fabrics; all fabrics must be new, soft, lightweight cotton; and beanies are to be knitted from new, machine-washable yarn preferably the acrylic/wool mix OR 100% acrylic, that is specifically designed for babies’ knitwear. I bought a ball each in white and red, so as to make each one different. The white has a chevron design and the red one is moss stitch. The two-colour ones are plain stocking stitch, one with a Where’s Wally like stripe and the other with a few rows of simple fair isle, of alternating one red stitch, one white stitch.
The dresses do not have closures on them yet, because they require specialised plastic snaps; I’m not familiar with it so didn’t want to risk putting the wrong thing on. In any case, Tiny Sparks encourages you to send in the clothing sans closure so they can finish that bit themselves.
So there you have it: four teeny tiny little baby outfits! I’ve already sent them off… and although I will probably never know, I certainly hope that a parent likes a set enough to choose it for their baby; absolutely nothing would make me happier than for that to happen!
Thank you so much to Two Blue Birdies, for giving me the impetus to get on and do something for a very worthwhile cause 🙂
Also! courtesy of Two Blue Birdies, I am offering up the pattern for the cute little Hollie Hedgehog for a giveaway! If you would like this pattern, maybe to make some little Christmas pressies then please either leave a comment below stating so, OR send me an email; before this Friday, 4th December. and I will randomly select a recipient. I’ve received lots of emails telling me that comments are for some annoying reason not going through on my blog; trust me, I’m working on it! So, if you are unable to comment, then please do contact me by email instead and I’ll still put you in the draw. My email address can be found by clicking on the mid blue “envelope” button, up there with my media icons, at top right 🙂
Obviously, if you don’t want to enter the draw for the pattern but still would like to comment, then by all means, do so. Like everyone, I love comments!
LATER EDIT: Dk’s wife; the pattern is yours, could you please email me with you shipping address? thanks 🙂
Please note; as always there are no affiliate links on my blog
