Sewing Baby Things!

Hello all! Here's post #2 about all the baby items I've been sewing! No tutorials today- just sharing! :) I would say I am 'done' sewing for now but I keep finding more projects I want to try (I'll list the links to everything that is still on my list at the bottom of the post.).

Here is everything laid out on my table...makes me smile!

First I dyed some onesies & a couple old t-shirts (you'll see where I used those in a minute!)

Then I made 4 bassinet sheets for my bassinet that is an odd size & the store bought sheets are $15 EACH! So I took apart an old dust ruffle & used the center part for the 4 sheets! I used the measuring instructions from here to figure out the size I needed then followed the tutorial. They are super snug and I'm confident they will work great!

Then I did some freezer paper stenciling (two different tutorials at those links-both good!) on a t-shirt for Little Man & on a Onesie for the baby. Then I went a step further and used some of the t-shirt I dyed earlier and made a onesie dress using this tutorial. I think they came out SO cute! The font for the words is called 'Pupcat'. The turtle and bird images are from an animal font that replaces the letter with an animal that starts with that letter- sorry I don't have the name!

You've already seen the burp cloths.

I made some baby legs (like I did here) about a week after I found out it was a girl...so I've been hiding these since January! I should go check out the knee high socks at Target again to find some 'summer-y' socks for more baby legs!

Next I used some fabric I had laying around (it's a thick almost outdoor fabric) and a towel to make a HUGE travel changing pad (No tutorial: I just cut the fabric and towel to the size I wanted sewed them right sides together leaving a space to turn it right side out. Next I topstitched all the way around closing the space I used to turn it). My son outgrew the length of the store bought ones really quickly and the width was never wide enough for me. I want to cover the whole icky changing table surface in the restrooms thankyouverymuch.  Anyway the picture above is of it folded in thirds (I fold it in half again to put it in the diaper bag) and the picture below is of it folded out.

Last is my version of the Baby Life Quilt. I saw this tutorial and I knew I had to make this blanket! I didn't do the 'quilting' part- just little tacks of yellow satin stich randomly on the blanket. I also just did a border of scrappy strips- no binding. I sewed this blanket just like I described for the changing pad- right sides together with batting in there too. Turned it and sewed up the opening.  Here's a few closer pictures of the blanket. I LOVE it!

The pink letters were more of that t-shirt I dyed, the white is part of the dust ruffle I used for the bassinet sheets and the yellow is just a bit of the backing fabric that I had left over from when I made curtains for my family's camp. The green background is actually a sheet that I had made into a duvet cover in college but isn't my style anymore so I cut it up for this! :)

So there you have it for now ;) I didn't have to buy much to make all these projects. I bought the scrappy strips of fabric in a 'jelly roll' type thing for the the quilt, the RIT dye for the projects using that, the t-shirt and onesie for the freezer paper stencil projects, the knee high socks for the baby legs and the diapers for the burp cloths. All the other supplies I already had.

Hope you have a good weekend! Starting on June 3rd I have a few guest posts (What I'm calling "Baby Time Guest Posts") because I'm hoping to go into labor any minute and these ladies were kind enough to write some posts for me so that I can recover and adjust to life with two kiddos!




Here is what is still on my 'list' to sew/make:
Baby Tights
Car Seat Tent (using more of that green sheet)
Changing Pad cover  (ditto on the green sheet)
Summer hat
Swaddle blanket  (I'm waiting on making this because Little Man hated to be swaddled so who knows what this baby will like?)

Also: there are plenty of baby girl dresses that I'm dying to make but they pretty much all require you to measure your baby...kind of hard right now since I'm still pregnant so those will come later! :)

Easy Pretty Burp Cloths

So I hope you all will let me go all baby crazy on you for a post or two. I will be 38 weeks prego tomorrow & am in full on "gotta finish making things for the baby" mode.  Today I want to show you how I made some burp cloths that are BIG (because seriously those little ones they sell in the stores don't do crap) and aren't fully covered in fabric (I've seen tutorials where one entire side is covered in fabric or there is a strip down the middle and fabric doesn't absorb as well as the diaper they are covering).
Anyway, I wanted to use those cheap-o Gerber cloth diapers they sell everywhere (12 pack of the kind you need pins and diaper covers to actually use as diapers) as burp cloths but of course I wanted them to be CUTE while retaining their absorb-abilty (is that even a word?).

Easy, Pretty, Functional Burp Cloth tutorial:

Here's what I did:

Supplies needed:
1 cloth diaper, large-ish scraps of fabric (fat quarters are great for this- you'll get approx. one burp cloth out of every fat quarter), iron, pins, scissors, sewing machine & some sort of measuring device.

Step 1: You WILL need to iron your diaper. Trust me. when you take one out of the package you will see this. You might as well iron your fabric too while you are at it.

There nice & ironed!!

S

Step 2: Lay your diaper out & position your fabric wrong side UP on top. Determine how much of a 'wrap around' you want. Mine was about 3" so I put my fabric 3" away from the edge. (See how I oh-so-accurately measured it? It's a BURP cloth people- RELAX your perfectionism!) Ok now you can pin your fabric to your diaper if you want or just pick it up and put it on your sewing machine (guess what I did....).

Step 3: Sew a straight stitch from one side of the diaper to the other. This is just to secure the fabric to the diaper at your 3" line.

Step 4: Leave your diaper where it is and just flip your fabric over. Iron to make a nice crisp hem/seam/whatever.

Step 5: Flip the whole thing over (diaper and all)

Step 6: Your fabric will be wider (or it should be...did I not mention that? hehe hopefully you read the whole tutorial BEFORE starting to sew!) than your diaper on the sides so you need to fold down & iron the little side pieces to get that hem that was created on the front of the diaper when you flipped the fabric over and ironed. See that picture up there? Not perfect! Just fold and iron. Seriously.

Step 7: Fold in the sides & iron them.

Step 7: This is where it gets hard to explain. Take the bottom raw edge of your fabric and fold it up bring it up around the back of the diaper. See the arrow? That is my seam from the front. I had a large piece of fabric so I just folded the fabric back on itself until I saw the seam. I ironed the fold. (If you pre-measured your fabric- or measured at all -you can just skip the next couple steps until I get to the sewing again haha)

See? All ironed and the fabric is about 1/2 inch higher than the seam. (That is the wrong side of the fabric facing up because it is pulled around from the front of the diaper then folded back on itself-make sense?)

Step 8: Un-fold the fabric and cut along the ironed crease which should be 1/2 inch right above the front seam-make sure you are only cutting fabric & not the diaper!

Step 9: Welcome back if you are a pre-measurer and skipped those last few steps! Fold the raw edge of the fabric under (the opposite direction) Iron it under & pin in place, line up your hem with the seam!

Step 10: Put your fabric wrapped end of the diaper into your sewing machine as shown above. You will start topstitching at the left top corner and sew up the side of the diaper. When you get to the corner (I'm coming up to it in the picture above) ....

Step 10a: Stop with your needle down (see arrow in picture above? it's pointing to my needle being down still), lift the presser foot....

Step 10b:Turn your diaper (arrow in above picture is still pointing to the needle but now the diaper is turned), put the presser foot back down and keep sewing down the fabric. Do the same thing at the next corner until you reach the right hand corner. There is no need to sew along the bottom where the fabric wraps from the front of the diaper to the back because it's just a fold not a seam. You can if you like though.

Step 11: Repeat steps 1-10b for the other end of the diaper. You're done! Make a bunch!

 Aren't they cute!? These make great baby shower gifts or you can also do this with plain dishcloths to dress up your kitchen or give as gifts! (See not just for babies!)

Have a good weekend!




I am linking to:

DIY Topsy Turvy

Hi all! Quick little post today to share with you how my hubby & I made our own "Topsy Turvy" tomato planter.
I really wanted a tomato plant & liked the idea of the topsy turvy but totally did not like the look of the plastic-y bag (plus I've heard it's hard to re-use it every year- it rips/breaks easily?).
So frugal little me did a little searching online and found this neat little tutorial (which is actually about a self-watering system-a little too high tech for me) and decided to steal the container idea.
I went to Wal-mart (where I really thought I had seen the trash can I was looking for awhile ago) but they didn't have what I was looking for. So I ended up at Bed, Bath & Beyond. Found the trash can & it was $6, marched right past the MOUNTAIN of Topsy Turvy's (for $15 thankyouverymuch) on my way out.

Alright so now you have one of these (in whatever color you like):

Image credit: Bedbathandbeyond.com

All you really need to do is drill a hole big enough for your tomato plant to slide down through (about 2"-3" in diameter if you buy a baby tomato plant) in the center of the bottom of the trash can (if you put some tape over where your spade bit will start the circle it'll help keep the bit from 'skipping' across the surface).
Then buy some chain (we got ours at Wal-mart one night because Lowe's was closed already- boo!) and S hooks and string it up! You could also just tie some string around the handles on the trash can and hang it that way too! I don't remember how much the chain & S hooks were (really cheap though!) and the wall mounted hook I have it hanging from I bought 2 years ago for $3.

Here's ours: 

The best part? It's sturdy ('cause it's plastic ha ha) & we can re-use it year to year! Plus it looks so cute!
I'm hoping to make some yummy homemade salsa later this summer! Anyone have any good salsa recipes that are mild to medium heat? (I am not a lover of super spicy)





P.S. Anyone care to make one out of the pink trashcan & send me pictures?? :)

Linking To:
The Shabby Nest: Frugal Friday
The Inspired Room

Blog Button!

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Just a quick little post to let you know I created my first blog button (it's a little addicting I might make many changes lol) & I'd be oh-so-happy if you grab one & post it on your blog (let me know if you do!!)
So there it is, just copy & paste the code in the box below the picture into an html widget on your blog! Thanks!