Baby Burp Clothes and a New Skirt

It's finally time to do some baby sewing! I've been so busy working on items for some friends (I will post pictures after I give them their gifts), that I've just now started sewing for our soon-to-arrive daughter, Jaidyn Marie.

I'm working on a couple crochet-edged flannel blankets for her, and yesterday I cut out the pieces for her baby quilt. It is going to be beautiful, lavender and yellow with some green and pink, but I don't have any pictures yet...just baby burp clothes.

Above, these thick cloth diapers got their edges finished with some bits of my favorite stash scraps. Sometimes those little pieces of loved fabrics do come in handy!

Below, I found 6 of these thin diapers at a garage sale. The looked new, and once I decorated them with pieces of random stash fabric, they became the perfect burp clothes for a stylin' baby!

Most of these are decorated with flannel fabric, which I like better than the ones with cotton fabric. Flannel seems softer and more absorbent, but I'm sure the cotton ones will work well too.

I did make another maternity skirt a couple weeks ago. This was an expensive name-brand skirt that I picked up at the thrift store for $7 or $8 dollars. I cut off the waistband, attached a new elastic waistband in a knit fabric casing, and I have a cute skirt that fits perfectly. This will probably be the last maternity sewing I'll do...only 8 more weeks to go!

I found this tutorial to be very helpful in learning how to make and attach a pregnancy waistband.

That's all for now!
Jessica

You guessed it...a jacket!

I've been a crazy sewing lady this past week...and I have lots of pictures to show you, just not all today.

This little jacket is another pattern from Ottobre, the 1/2007 issue. I am so tickled with the way the jacket finished up. It's perfect for the cool autumn weather, and I think it's adorable on Emily. I wrote a review at Pattern Review if you want more information about the jacket.

Oh, and I decided to enter the jacket in my very first contest on Pattern Review. The winners will receive $150 and $75 gift certificates from Sew Baby. I have little anticipation of winning, but am just so excited to enter!

happy sewing,
Ruth

A few recent family pictures...

This morning Elliot had fun doing a simple "bean pouring" activity.

I got the idea from Barbra Curtis's book Mommy Teach Me. Basically the child learns order, carefulness, and hand/eye coordination from carefully transferring beans (or rice, or water) from one bowl to the next with a spoon or scoop. This requires some supervision, but it keeps him in his high chair long enough for me to get the dishes done!

Pretty simple, but Elliot thinks doing this is a blast! When he was done, he helped pick up all the beans he spilled in the tray and the few that fell to the floor.

We took him to a small, local zoo a couple weeks ago. It was perfect weather, cool and almost misty. The animals were very interesting to Elliot...except when they got too nosy, like the goats below. He was worried they were going to eat him!

However, he did get a kick out of petting the skunk. Yes, it was de-scented!

Justin and I just recently celebrated the 3 year anniversary of when we got engaged. It was pouring rain, but we still made it out to the park where it happened and had the identical picnic that we ate 3 years ago...well almost. I forgot the croissant rolls, so we ate chicken salad by itself.

Because of the rain we had to picnic under a pavilion instead of on the grass... but walking around the park, under an umbrella, in the rain....now that was really quite romantic.

That's all for now!
Jessica

Kitties for Em

Sneak Preview....
I've been sewing!

Sewing with a plan

Last week my serger chomped a scrap of fabric, broke a needle, and then jammed up. After the jam was cleared up, the poor serger clunkety-clunked, and nothing I could do remedied the situation. T'was a sad day for me because I was in the middle of sewing myself a T-shirt.

After a week at the repair spa, my serger is now as good as new. :)

Well, instead of sewing this week, I made plans to sew. Little Emily is growing to be not-so-little, and she needs some bigger clothes. What's a mother to do? ---buy fabric! Some of this fabric came from my shelves, but I found the blue corduroy on sale at Hancocks today. Knowing how Emmy's eyes sparkle when she wears blue I just couldn't resist buying just enough to make her a jumper.

I can't wait to get started. This evening I traced my patterns, prewashed the fabric, and made some plans. I don't usually draw things out, but you know, it was rather fun. I may continue the practice....

Unfortunately, I probably won't get to my sewing machine until Tuesday, but that's how life is sometimes. Good things have to wait.

Yes, I'm rambling. :) Time to end.

happy sewing,
Ruth

Maternity Top for Jessica

I made Jessica a maternity top from the 2/2007 issue of Ottobre Woman. The following is copied from my review at Pattern Review.
~Ruth




Pattern Description:
Magazine description: The elastic gathering in each side seam of the maternity top allows for the growing belly. The top has a wrap neckline and cute puffed sleeves.

Pattern Sizing:
I made this for Jessica, and she likes her tops to be long. I made a size 34 lengthened to a 50.

Did it look like the photo/drawing on the pattern envelope once you were done sewing with it?
Yes! But longer. :)

What did you particularly like or dislike about the pattern?
I love the style of this top, and so does my pregnant daughter. She particularly likes that the top is snug under her belly instead of standing away from her body like a tent. The gathers in the side seams is a wonderful design element to accomplish this!

Side Gathers

The instructions called for using clear elastic. I do NOT like using clear elastic. So instead, I used a 1/4" soft elastic in the bodice seam, side seams, and sleeve hems. Oh, and I also used this same elastic in the back neckline---something the pattern did not call for.

Fabric Used:
I used a cotton jersey that I got from a sewing co-op.

Pattern Alterations or any design changes you made:
As mentioned already, I lengthened this top to tunic length. Jessica wanted the top to be longer than the top pictured. I agreed---I like the longer length better.

I also raised the neckline an inch or so. Jessica did not want to have to wear a cami underneath for modesty, and raising the neckline did the trick!

Also, after fitting the mostly-finished top on my daughter, we realized that the back neckline hung away from her neck and back. I don't know if the fabric stretched out while I sewed the neck binding or what happened, but I remedied the situation by unpicking at the shoulder seams and inserting elastic inside the back neckline binding. This made the back neckline lie flat against Jessica. I choose to call this a design element---seriously, it looks planned, and it looks great! I may just do this again on another top. :)

Back Neckline

Would you sew it again? Would you recommend it to others?

Jessica has already requested another top from the same pattern but with 3/4 sleeves. Her baby is due in November, so I better get busy!

Conclusion:
It looks great on Jessica!!!!! She loves the top, and so do I. This pattern is a winner.