Sunday 29 April 2012

Name the Evil Organisation these new Little Sew & Sews baddies belong to!


CAPED CUDDLERS VS (Insert clever Evil Organisation name here)

EVERY Superhero needs a nemesis, even the Little Sew & Sews Caped Cuddlers!  So here they are! Not one, but two different styles of 'baddies' to create havoc in the world of the Caped Cuddlers & their Super-kids.  I have a Samurai style 'Boss/Mastermind' and his henchmen/ninjas just waiting to have their Evil Organisation officially named! And this is where YOU come in! 

 Here are a few guidelines, hints so you know what type of thinking hat to put on!

* Little Sew & Sews is about FUN (and I love a good pun/play on words)
* Avoid at all costs licensed terms from other brands
* I am seeking a name for the RANGE not individual baddies/bosses - the ideal name will be unisex as I am more than happy to make some girlie baddies too!
* These are VILLAINS, so think accordingly!
* The INSIGNIA (as per the Boss' helmet) is a sword crossing over a star

How will it work? The nitty gritty rules! By commenting with a suggestion, you indicate you have read this bit!

* You can suggest as many different names for the range as you can think of, but please use a separate comment for each suggestion just to make it easier to review.   
* Please use your full name when commenting, sorry anonymous comments will not count
* Suggestions made that are the same or very very similar will count towards the first person who commented
* All suggestions must be made by 6pm (Perth time) on May 5th, 2012.
* Little Sew & Sews admin (myself and two friends) will then each select 2 unique suggestions that we think are suitable to go to a voting process.
* The final 6 suggestions will be uploaded into a Facebook Poll on the Little Sew & Sews page with voting to then finish on Tuesday the 8th of May at 6pm (Perth time)
* The winner will be the suggestion with the most unique votes.  In the event of a tie, I will cast my vote to decide the winner.  The announced winner will be final and no amount of bribery, pleading or extortion attempts will be considered (sorry).

Now for the fun part, WHAT DO YOU WIN?

Other than the glory of seeing your suggestion attached to the Villains? The winning suggestion will win a complete set of Little Sew & Sews Caped Cuddlers vs (Insert clever Evil Organisation name here) softies! That is ONE Caped Cuddler, ONE Ninja Henchman and ONE Boss Samurai and even better - YOU choose colour themes :)

Now that you have got your thinking caps on - suggest away!

Friday 27 April 2012

Customer Creative Showcase #1: Softie Tool Sets


Towards the middle of 2011, I started to think more about what I wanted to happen in 2012 and beyond.  Having made the Softie Tool Set a signature Little Sew & Sews product, widely known through-out Australia, I decided what I would really like to do is see Softie Tool sets in the hands of babies, toddlers and fun loving parents ACROSS THE GLOBE!  I couldn't possibly achieve this monumental task by myself, and so was born the Softie Tool Set Sewing Pattern much earlier than I ever anticipated getting into the world of selling my patterns. The response has been awesome and incredibly overwhelming.   I would love to share with you, just a sample of the softie tool set creating that is already happening!  Keep sewing, keep loving and keep laughing as you try your hammers out on your husbands :D (What better way to test how much more stuffing you need?)

Softie Tool set - Jodie S
Softie Tool Set - Lyndall C
Forever Happy Set - Tina from The Sewing Fairy
Softie Tool Sets - Jodie from Zahley Rose
The first person to show me their finished set! Tracy G

Softie Tools made by Jo S.

Rockin Skulls Set - Tina from The Sewing Fairy
 If you have made products from my Softie Tool Set or Toddler Softie Handsaw Sewing Patterns and would like to be featured in my Customer Creative Showcase series, just post a photo on my Facebook page or email them through to me at littlesewandsews@hotmail.com.  If you are a business don't forget to include a link to where people can go to buy your creations too!





Wednesday 25 April 2012

And the Winner is ...

The winner of the Toddler Softie Handsaw PDF Sewing Pattern giveaway is ... comment 29! 



Comment 29 belongs to Peta

"Ohhh Hi my name is Peta and I'm addicted to patterns :D  "

So am I Peta, so am I :)  Check your email as you have something from me awaiting you!

The Toddler Softie Handsaw PDF Sewing Pattern is now available to purchase from my website - with the first 20 purchasers getting it for a special price of only $5.

Sunday 22 April 2012

GIVEAWAY TIME! - Toddler Softie Handsaw PDF Sewing Pattern

The pattern pieces are finalised, the fabric is chosen, the camera battery is charging and my computer desk is clear for a typing frenzy! - this all means that the Toddler Softie Handsaw PDF Sewing pattern is OH SEW CLOSE (like maybe only a few days away!)

If you would like to be the crafty lucky ducky that gets the first emailed version of the pattern for FREE, then simply comment below this blog post with your name and email address by Tuesday the 24th of April at 8pm PERTH time.  A comment will then be chosen at random as the winner - announced on this blog on Wednesday the 25th of April.


Stay tuned to my Facebook page as I will keep updating the progress on the pattern and other upcoming news!

Thursday 19 April 2012

What's new in the Little Sew & Sews World?

 Two years in the making, I shared the Softie Tool set loving by releasing my very first PDF Sewing pattern!  Find it here! http://littlesewandsews.bigcartel.com/product/pdf-pattern-softie-tool-set-includes-photo-tutorial-electronic-file
 I went back to my pattern designing roots and launched my superhero softie range, with the name CAPED CUDDLERS being chosen by my Facebook likers as the perfect name!



 




I shared a sneak peek of the next softie range - every group of Heroes needs someone to battle right? Stay tuned as I will be revealing the 'Boss' and once again putting it out in the world to help me name the range!










What is the next pattern due for release? 
The toddler Softie Handsaw!  Hopefully hitting my store by the end of April!

Wednesday 18 April 2012

TUTORIAL: How to make a double ended spanner with the Softie Tool Set Pattern

I love making my own soft tool sets with the double ended spanner - it gives extra bits for babies to chew on, grasp and for toddlers to have another end to 'fix things' with!  Here is how you can change the standard spanner pattern piece from the Little Sew & Sews Softie Tool Set sewing pattern into double-ended play-time fun!

First off, you need a ruler.  Take your spanner pattern piece and measure up from the bottom approximately 10cm and mark off a line on each edge of the pattern piece.  





Now it is time to trace as per the tutorial steps in your pattern BUT only trace from one line on the edge of the pattern piece around to the other one and stop.


To finish off the tracing of your double ended spanner, all you need to do is spin your pattern piece around, line up your lines with where you are up to and keep on going until you have a spanner with two ends.  HINT: It may be easier to make sure you straighten the lines up to make sure you have a nice smooth finish to the handle (the photo below shows how it would look otherwise).

Continue following the steps in the pattern to finish off your tools and voila! you have a softie tool set with a double ended spanner!


You can purchase the Softie Tool Set PDF Sewing Pattern from my bigcartel store (if you haven't already that is!): http://littlesewandsews.bigcartel.com/product/pdf-pattern-softie-tool-set-includes-photo-tutorial-electronic-file

Stay tuned, as by the end of April the Toddler Handsaw add-on PDF Pattern will be available for purchase!

**CALLOUT**
Have you made softie tool-sets from my pattern?  I am doing a pictorial showcase blog post next week of all the wonderful customer creations. I would love for lots of tool-set photos to come flooding in to me! Please email your low-res photo to me by Tuesday 24 April - littlesewandsews@hotmail.com - don't forget to include your name,state and website link if you have them for sale!




Friday 13 April 2012

And the winner is ....

Congratulations to Holly McO for her winning suggestion of "Caped Cuddlers" for the Little Sew & Sews Name the Superhero Range Competition!  With a whopping 69 votes too!


Congratulations also to Amy Klein Medeiros for being chosen as the random voter that voted for the winning suggestion! If you could please email me at littlesewandsews@hotmail.com and I will send through details of your $10 Little Sew & Sews voucher you have won!  

Thank you to all the creative folk that suggested names for the range, and to all the people that voted as well!  Stay tuned, as there will be another naming competition coming VERY soon for the Heroes nemesis range!  Caped Cuddlers vs (insert something clever here!)

Thursday 5 April 2012