Big Button Flannel Jumpers

Posted: December 22, 2011 | Author: | Filed under: Sewing | Tags: , , , , , | 1 Comment

One of the patterns that I bought when my whole sewing craze began was the McCall’s M6193. I’ve been dying to try it. It’s so simple but completely adorable! The pattern seems to be intended for fleece, but with a huge snuggle flannel sale at Joann’s on Black Friday, I went with my small stash of less than $2 a yard flannel to create some winter themed jumpers for the little one. Is she not completely adorable in this Christmas jumper and matching headband?! I love how the headband is basically across her forehead in the top pic : )

The headband was sort of a last minute thing. It’s amazing how far one yard of fabric can go with a 5 month old, so I was trying to find ways to use up as much of the fabric as possible since it’s Christmas themed. Obviously a matching headband was necessary : ) The whole red and green thing is a little over the top, I know, but why not for baby’s first Christmas?

The amazing thing about the headband is that I found it in the Target $1 isle in packs of three. What a steal! I bought a few packs of them but was a little bummed that they were too big for her. Oh well, I went for the oversized headband look anyway. I think she pulls it off well.

I also made two other jumpers, which are very cute. So far no matching headbands for these. We’ll see if I have time before Christmas travels to pull something off.

The one gripe I had about making these jumpers is that creating button holes and sewing buttons on is a pain in the you know what! Hopefully it will get easier and quicker with practice.

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Christmas Memories Preserved in Clay

Posted: December 22, 2011 | Author: | Filed under: Crafts | Tags: , | Leave a comment

Andrew and I have been thinking that we need to get a baby’s first ornament. I looked at a couple of stores but wasn’t wowed by anything, especially for the prices. I just can’t justify spending $20 or more on an ornament! When browsing on Amazon, I came across some DIY kits to make an ornament with a baby handprint. Since I’m an aspiring crafty mom, I figured I could make the same thing with some Crayola Air-Dry Clay for less.

It was a little more complicated than I thought it would be, but with Andrew’s help, we were able to get a hand and a foot! The clay was much tougher than I thought it would be, so water to soften the clay and a lot of baby manhandling were necessary. I had to really squish her hand and then later her foot into the clay. She was a good sport! I also had to make the slabs of clay much thicker than I thought, so I guess the ornament thing is out the window.

The fun thing about this whole endeavor was that today marks her 5 month birthday and so it’s kind of sweet to have Christmas mementos on this mini milestone day.

In other exciting little one news, today she pulled herself up for the first time. I was holding her hands while she was in a sitting position and she spontaneously pulled herself up. And then she did it a bunch more times. What a special day!

Elephant Softie

Posted: December 21, 2011 | Author: | Filed under: Sewing | Tags: , , | 1 Comment

When I saw the tutorial for the Layla the Elephant Softie on the blog, Cutting Corners College by Riley Blake Designs, I couldn’t resist. I thought that it would make a perfect Christmas present for the little one, especially since I happened to have the gray with white polka dots fabric. I think it’s adorable! I’m also thinking this is a good gift idea for friends who have little ones…I find myself making excuses to make more of these. They are just so darn cute!

Circle Felt Garland

Posted: December 20, 2011 | Author: | Filed under: Crafts, Sewing | Tags: , , | 2 Comments

Christmas is my very favorite holiday! Every year my husband has to tell me to be patient and to wait until Thanksgiving is over before putting up the Christmas tree. I love everything Christmas. I even abandon all forms of music except Christmas music for the entire month of December. This year, though, has been a total change of pace for me. Instead of putting up all the decorations as soon as Thanksgiving dinner is over, or the next day if it’s a year where I’ve somehow mustered enough self control to wait, with a new baby, I’ve been putting things up a little at a time.

Lately I’ve seen so many variations on felt garlands in the blogs I follow, so I decided to give it a go with some extra red and green felt I’ve had lying around for years from a holiday project I completed long ago. It was super easy! All you do is cut out the shapes you want in the colors you want and start sewing, adding one shape after another until you reach the desired length. Luckily, I did a pretty good job eyeballing it and got the right length with my first attempt. I think it definitely dresses up the windows in our living room and adds some extra holiday spirit.

It was so easy, maybe I’ll make garlands for other holidays–hearts for Valentine’s day, shamrocks for St. Patricks day….the possibilities are endless. If I get inspired, I could even use a variety of shapes. A Halloween garland could have pumpkins, ghosts, black cats, etc. I wouldn’t ordinarily do this, but with a little one, holiday decorations are so much more fun!

Baby Headband

Posted: December 17, 2011 | Author: | Filed under: Sewing | Tags: , | 2 Comments

With the leftover fabric from the nursing cover I made for my friend, Charlene, I made a flowered headband for her cutie pie daughter who is only 6 weeks old. My little one has so kindly modeled it in the picture above. Please excuse the puddle of drool. I’m pretty sure we’re in teething mode now. It looks like she might be working on both bottom teeth. We shall see how things go.

Nursing Covers

Posted: December 16, 2011 | Author: | Filed under: Sewing | Tags: , | 1 Comment

Usually nursing and pumping are not a problem for mom’s at home, especially if you have only one little one, but when you go out into public, when you have visitors in your home, or when you visit someone else’s home, a nursing cover is definitely a good idea. Since my husband and I are traveling to see his parents for the holidays, I thought it would be the perfect time to use a wonderful nursing cover tutorial that I found on the blog, made by the mama monster.

Since I’m a fan of black and white–it matches everything and could work for both a boy or a girl–I went with a white with black vine print fabric for the main part of the nursing cover. For the straps, I used a black with white swirling dots fabric. I think it turned out really well. The only thing that I’m not so crazy about is that the straps seem a little limp. I wish that I would have used interfacing to give the fabric a little more form. It didn’t say to do this in the tutorial and I didn’t think to do so until I was done. I could redo the straps…we’ll see if I can find the motivation to rip a bunch of seams and resew the entire top of the nursing cover….somehow I just don’t see it happening ; )

I made a second nursing cover for my friend, Charlene, who recently had a baby girl. I decided to use a brown with white dotted floral print fabric. Like black and white, brown matches most things and could work for a boy or a girl. I couldn’t find a coordinating fabric I liked enough to use for the straps so I just used the same fabric for both the main body and the straps. I really like how it turned out! Also, I used interfacing for the straps on this one. Much better!

*Please excuse the shadows and strange lighting in the pics. The lighting in our apartment is florescent and since my blog pics are usually taken in the middle of the night when the little one is fast asleep and I have time to sew, there is no natural light : (

Baby’s First Christmas Dress

Posted: December 15, 2011 | Author: | Filed under: Sewing | Tags: , , , , , | 7 Comments

With Christmas fast approaching, I’ve been thinking a lot about all of the cute little outfits and accessories I should make for my little one for her very  first Christmas. At the top of the list was, of course, a Christmas dress. My husband and I agreed that a white dress with red accents would be really cute.

With the color scheme picked out, I went in search of a dress pattern. I really liked the Party Dress–a guest blog from The Cottage Home on the blog Ucreate–when I first came across it a couple of months ago. When looking through all of the possibilities on the different mommy blogs I follow, I felt like this was perfect for a first Christmas dress. I didn’t actually use the pattern from the blog, though, as the patterns are too big for my little one. Instead I modified my McCall’s M6015 pattern so that the bodice wouldn’t be too wide for my petite little girl.

I used a white on white patterned calico fabric from Joann’s  for the dress and a red charmeuse fabric for the sash and covered buttons. It was amazing how easy covered buttons were to make! I think that they definitely add a little something extra to the dress. Sometimes it’s the little details that really make something nice.

Please excuse the wrinkles : )

After I finished the dress, I realized that I had a bunch of the red charmeuse fabric left and decided to make a headband and matching shoes. The headband and bow were from the McCall’s M6015 pattern. The shoes were made from the Mila Shoes pattern on the blog fleeting thing.

I think this Christmas outfit is by far the best thing I’ve sewed for the little one so far! Her Christmas pictures are also completely adorable!