Hope in the mail

Two hats and a quilt, on their way to Texas, and then on to India. Doesn't look like much, but a lot of love and time and yes, hope, is in that package.

Waiting for the sun

It hasn't been feeling much like summer around here (not that I'm complaining; I like spring!), but if it ever does get hot, I've got just the thing for Lucy to wear. I made another pair of "Ruby's Bloomers" from Weekend Sewing (boy, do I love that pattern!) to go with the Little Brown Bird Smock, and what a cute outfit it made! I'd made the smock from a pink polka-dot skirt. There wasn't enough fabric left for the bloomers, so I used the plain-pink lining fabric from the same skirt, and to tie it all together as an outfit, I edged the legs with the brown bias tape I'd used on the top. I love how it looks, and imagine I'll be using bias tape on many more pairs of these bloomers. In fact, I imagine I'll be making more of this very same outfit--the two patterns work beautifully together, and each is simple enough to finish in an evening.

Little Brown Bird Smock

Little Brown Bird Smock
Originally uploaded by mcghol

My mother gave me some money for my 40th birthday, and I used it to buy sewing books. One of them was Bend the Rules Sewing, which I've thought about getting since it first came out, but couldn't decide whether it would be worth it. After checking it out from the library, I'd say it is definitely worth buying! This is the second pattern I've tried from the book, and it went as smoothly as the first, with equally satisfying results.

This is the "Swing Swing Smock," which I re-sized to fit Lucy. I couldn't guess at what percentage to copy the pattern, so I googled around for a bit, and found someone who'd made it for a 6-month-old at 150%. My printer has a 157% setting, so I used that. It looks like it should fit 4-month-old Lucy just fine, for quite a while.

I replaced the pocket with an applique, which seemed more appropriate for a baby to me (pockets being essential, however, for stuff-toting toddlers). I used pink polka-dot fabric from a thrift-store skirt, and brown fabric and bias tape from a tag sale. I'm planning to make some bloomers to match.

Orange Polka-Dot Bitty Booties

orange polka-dot bitty booties
Originally uploaded by mcghol

I finally finished the second of three pairs of "Bitty Booties" we'll be giving as baby gifts this spring. These had the potential to be my favorite pair so far, but they gave me fits making them, so now all I see are the flaws. Here's a hint if you want to make some: don't use cashmere! (The purple dots are from a cashmere sweater.) It doesn't felt well, and gets all misshapen as you try to applique it in place. Argh. And why did my sewing machine suddenly decide it can't sew on the elastic hair bands for the button loop? The last pair worked fine, but this time, it only pretended to sew, leaving no stitches attached. So, these are entirely handstitched. Probably better that way anyway, but still annoying. Oh, well. They're still pretty darn cute, I guess.

Bitty Booties, take three

We know three babies who need gifts this week. I decided to make them all Bitty Booties from Heather Bailey's free pattern. The first pair had to be made quickly--tonight--to get into the mail tomorrow. So I went for a mostly-machine-sewn design, decorating them with some cute berry trim I got recently from a thrift store and some big white vintage buttons. I'm thrilled with how they came out!

Shades of blue

Finally getting around to writing about some older projects...

First, I made myself a third skirt using "Sew What! Skirts." I'm getting a little better each time. This one fits me more closely, and I like the way it looks, though it's a bit snug when I sit. I love this fabric (vintage sheet--used in Lucy's kimono, too) and didn't want to waste it on a badly-made skirt, so I was waiting until I got a bit better! I'm pretty happy with it overall, although after wearing it once, I realize I'm going to have to undo the waist to tighten up the elastic. I love the vintage curvy trim I used, which you can see on the photo of the pocket detail (please ignore the marking-pen lines--hadn't washed it yet).

Next up is my second try at transforming a onesie into a dress (I've complained before about how onesies get damp with our wool diaper covers, although that problem seems to be lessening over time--are we getting better at cloth diapering? are the covers getting more absorbent?) I sliced off the bottom of the onesie with a rotary cutter and sewed on a gathered skirt made from a vintage pillowcase. I added vintage rick-rack and buttons, and then made a matching pair of bloomers, again from "Weekend Sewing."



And, coming soon...violet jelly (from a recipe here). Here's the first step, which I did today with the kids...gathering the violets.

52 to go

On the twin bed in Lucy's room, we have a beautiful vintage quilt that I found at a thrift shop for only $2. It's what inspired the turquoise and red color scheme, and looks gorgeous on the bed. Unfortunately, every time someone sits on it, it tears a bit more, and several of the patches are simply disintigrating: not the best choice for a baby's room! Before she was born, I'd been collecting fabrics to make her a crib-sized quilt, but after 2 baby showers and many visitors, she'd received so many blankets and afghans and quilts, it was clear she had no need of more. So my little crib quilt project turned into a much bigger replace-the-twin-bed-quilt project.

So slowly, slowly, I've been piecing together blocks in a crazy log-cabin style. I have four now--only 52 more to go!

Clearly, I'm still learning. Sometimes the pieces end up too wide; other times too narrow. But overall, I'm pleased with it so far.

The fabrics are mostly a random collection of things I picked up used: sheets, shirts, dish cloths, etc. There are a few bits of new things I picked up at Jo-Ann's to round it out. Then there are two really special fabrics. Sweet Dreams, which I bought from Reprodepot because I just couldn't resist its adorableness (perfect for a household with chickens), and a beautiful yellow fabric with gnomes, which is just the softest, loveliest cotton, given to us as gift wrap on a shower gift (edit: I see now it's from Heather Ross' "lightning bugs and other mysteries" line).

In the works...

quilt block 1
Originally uploaded by mcghol

I'm working on a quilt for Lucy's room, 1 block at a time. Here's a preview... Will post the others I've done as soon as I have a few spare minutes.

Refashioning for a cloth-diapered bottom

Our newborn baby, Lucy, has an amazing wardrobe full of tons of wonderful hand-me-downs and gifts.  At first, I thought it was far more clothes than one baby could ever use.  But then I discovered something--cloth diapering requires a completely different type of clothing than disposables.  We're using cloth diapers and wool diaper covers.  From the beginning, we struggled with wet clothing.  It seemed like every time we changed her diaper, we had to change her whole outfit.  It was exhausting, for us and for her.

Over time, we've figured some things out.  For example, if the clothing is tight against the diaper cover, it's more likely to get wet.  This--plus the fact that we wanted to use the wool longies I've been making as diaper covers--made her drawers-full of onesies nearly useless.  We found that we were always digging through the drawers trying to find long-sleeved shirts that didn't snap, so we could pair them with her longies or another wool cover and not have it get wet.  We also found that many of the snap- or zipper-legged outfits we'd been given just didn't fit over that big cloth-diapered bottom.   We wanted long tops or wide dresses.

As nice as her clothing was, it was going to be wasted sitting in the drawer.  I finally decided that I'd try to refashion some of them to suit her diaper needs.  It was scary cutting into perfectly good clothing!  But I worked up the nerve, said a silent apology to the person who'd given her this lovely outfit, pulled out my rotary cutter, and sliced away.  I added some rick-rac to finish it off, and voila!  A long top to cover her belly without interfering with her diaper cover!  Can't wait to try the next one...

Bitty Booties, take two

Turquoise flower bitty booties
Originally uploaded by mcghol

As soon as I finished the first pair of Bitty Booties, I knew I wanted to make another pair. This time, I used bits of a turquoise wool sweater whose sleeves I'd used to make a pair of wool "longies." So now she'll have shoes to match her pants. I wasn't happy with how wonky my first pair's edges were, so this time, I decided to use top stitching and pinking shears rather than sewing and turning. I'm much happier with how they came out, although clearly, I need a new pair of pinking shears! I will definitely be making more of these, and can't wait for the next baby shower so I can give some as a gift!

Here's the dress that goes with the shoes...

green/orange dress and longies
Originally uploaded by mcghol

This is the dress I made using the free "Itty Bitty Baby Dress" pattern from "Made by Rae." She'll outgrow it before it's warm enough for naked legs, so under it are some wool longies made from a felted sweater. The dress is made from a vintage sheet, and the lining is from a thrifted men's shirt. Because I'm a dork like that, I made myself a skirt to match, following the A-line skirt pattern in Sew What! Skirts.

Finally succumbed

Well, it seems I've become a blog-reading addict. It started with green bloggers, then recipes, then crafty mamas...now I'm hooked. Suddenly, I can't make something without taking a picture of it for my imaginary blog. I guess it's time to make it real. So here it is, my first crafty post.

I've been on a sewing binge ever since I set up a sewing closet in my bedroom a few months ago--just in time for the birth of our daughter. Here are the first pair of shoes I've made for her--not perfect, but I'm happy with them as a first attempt. I used the free pattern for "Bitty Booties" from Heather Bailey. They're made from a felted wool sweater. I used yellow rick-rack and yellow and green buttons to coordinate with a dress and bloomers I made recently. Warm, but with springy colors--good for spring in New England.