At long last...

I've finally finished my first crocheted soaker--exactly one month from start to finish. It's a mess. I really struggled to keep track of where I was (front of stitch? back of stitch? which hole? decreasing now, or not?) and it's reflected in its lack of discernible pattern of stitches. And those leg holes? They're two different sizes and loose on her. That seam? Embarrassing! But I'm proud, nonetheless. I did it! And it fits her. And is pretty cute anyway.

And the best news? As soon as I finished it, I began another one just like it (I like to have 2 matching covers when possible, so we can change a damp one and still have her in the "same" outfit)...and it's coming out right! I've figured out how to keep track of where I am (thanks, Julie, for the most helpful tip of a stitch marker!) and am following the directions more accurately and can see and fix my mistakes when I make them. Can it be? Am I actually learning to crochet?

I felt so cocky with my success that I went to class tonight determined to tackle the sweater everyone else was working on (have I mentioned that I'm the only beginner in my class?). Just wait 'til you see...I'm actually doing it!
...
Outdoors? It was scary hot today...nearly 90 degrees. That is just wrong for the beginning of April. But we took full advantage, anyway, spending the morning down by the river. (Don't worry about their layers; it wasn't 90 degrees yet!)





Play along with us during the month of April for Children and Nature Awareness Month by posting a picture of your child(ren) each day enjoying the outdoors! Get outdoors and climb a tree! Visit the other Great Outdoor Challenge players-

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Because there are still cold days to come...

...I finally finished some new longies and a wool dress I cut out weeks ago. (Why, oh, why does it take so long to finish things sometimes? Sewing these together took less than 1/2 an hour, and yet, they'd sat waiting for weeks!) I've wanted to share them with you, but I've been having a hard time getting photos; Lucy is no longer an easy model. Here's what I get instead:

You wanted to take a picture of my new dress and longies?
But there are kids to chase! I can't stand still!


What do you mean, stand up to model my pants?
There's a step to climb!


And what's going on over there?


Come out? Don't be silly, mama. I have to eat this bread I found on the floor! And I like being in here!
(We call this spot behind the chairs "baby jail." Lucy puts herself in there all the time and hangs out there to play.)


You want a picture of my new longies?
You'll have to catch me first!

Bye-bye!

Lucy's handknits

I promised photos of some of Lucy's hand knit birthday gifts. The lighting was pretty poor and my day was hectic, so I did the best I could!

Here's Lucy modeling the hat and sweater from Melissa. The light's not much better than last night, but this is closer to the true color (which is fabulous with her eyes).


I didn't quite get a shot of it, but Melissa thought to include panels at the back that made it wider at the bottom (for her cloth-diapered bum).

(edited to add: Melissa got good pics of it. You can see more detail here if you're on Ravelry.)

This past weekend, we had a visit from Lucy's paternal grandparents. Grandma has made Lucy many wonderful sweaters and blankets and hats. This time, she brought her this dress:

(What a lot of work went into all that edging!)

And this whole outfit:

By request, she's been making Lucy some longies. She made this whole wool outfit to match this pair. How cozy and beautiful is that? (Wish it were my size...)


They're a bit big yet, but I'm sure they'll fit next winter. And that jumper should work as a vest for even longer.

I feel so blessed to have all these crafty women in my life. I love dressing Lucy in clothes someone's made just for her, and talking with her about where they came from. And I love that she wears clothing no one else has; it seems fitting that her unique self should have a unique look!

Cozy cashmere for the Craft Hope Etsy Shop

So, I decided what to make for the Craft Hope Etsy shop (have you been there yet? Such beautiful things! Going so, so quickly! I'm thrilled to hear they've made over $7,000 so far.)

I'm sorry the pictures are so bad; I finished it in broad daylight, but my model was napping! I wanted to get it to them right away, so I hope shoppers can see past the bad lighting.



Lucy likes it, anyway!



My donation was a "Cashmere Baby Dress and Longies Set"

This wonderfully soft and cozy outfit is made from a recycled, felted lavender cashmere sweater. Included are a pair of "longies" (wool diaper-cover pants), which will come lanolized and ready to wear. (If you don't use cloth diapers, they make lovely leggings, too.) There's also a comfy dress, warm enough for winter, but lightweight enough to carry right over into spring. Eyelet trim on the arms and pocket give it a cute girly look. This outfit is made for play--it moves with your child and doesn't get in the way of crawling or walking.

Want a cute, comfy outfit for your baby? Need some more diaper covers? $30, and all of it goes to Doctors Without Borders. It should be in the shop by tomorrow.

(I said I'd share my books with you, and I will...tomorrow. This seemed more pressing.)

Experimenting with Longies

I finally found some time to do a bit of sewing this weekend. As always, Lucy was in need of some new diaper covers, so I did a bit of experimenting with new styles of longies.

First up was this pair:



I'd recently gotten myself a "new" sweater at Goodwill, and promptly shrunk it after two wearings. (Don't you hate that?) So on to the felted-sweater pile it went. As I considered its use for longies, I realized that the big turtleneck looked just about the size of Lucy's waist. So I decided to use the whole thing as the waistband, thinking it could be folded over (as photographed) or worn high to keep her chest warm and eliminate t-shirt ride-up bare belly. I've also been having some trouble with her made-from-sleeves longies tearing at the crotch, so I decided to add a panel there to increase the width. I didn't get the shape quite right, and will have to experiment some more to make pants that actually look nice, but these fit fairly well and surely won't tear.

Next up was this goofy-looking pair of overalls:



I'd come across some beautiful made-from-sweaters overalls on Etsy, and wanted to try a pair of my own. I laid a pair of her current overalls on top of a sweater, cut around the whole thing, and sewed them up. The sides came out beautifully. But those armholes! The sweater hadn't felted very well, and required some reinforcing along the cut edges. I tried a zigzag stitch, and it was a mistake. I don't like the frou-frou ruffly result. It doesn't help that I made the straps way too long, either. Maybe next time I'll try hemming the edges? Any suggestions for how to do it so it actually looks nice? Oh, well. We're putting them on her to wear to bed, for extra protection and warmth over shorties and a shirt. Works to keep her dry, if not fashionable.

When in doubt, make more longies

There hasn't been a lot of sewing going on around here lately, what with the miserable colds we've been having, and lots of company (thus the lack of posting, too). But this week, I found myself with a bit of time. What to do? Well, there's always a need for more diaper covers. Not very exciting, but very practical.

Needed right now: longies. In cold weather, it's much easier to dress Lucy in a diaper cover that is also pants than in diaper, cover, and then pants on top. And the rule right now is dark colors, because she's crawling all over the place, and they get filthy fast.


(She didn't want to stand up for a photo, but these look super cute with this dress when she does.)

So first up, a pair of plain brown longies. Remember that shrunken cashmere sweater from a friend that became a bum sweater? I still had most of it left, so I used the sleeves to make legs. But this time, rather than add an elastic casing as I usually do, I used what was left of the sweater's waistband to make a waistband for the pants. I pulled it very taut as I sewed, so it would be snug. I love how it worked out, because it resulted in pants that come high up on her waist, keeping her tummy from being exposed in the cold. I left these pants very long, because I don't want to waste this lovely fabric; I want them to fit for a long time.



Next up, a beautiful patterned turquoise pair. I found this sweater ages ago, and have been saving it (I think I bought it before she was born). It's too bad it's so grey here today, because this photo does not do them justice. I love these! The buttons at the bottom look so cute (though for the moment, she has to wear them rolled up). And as an added bonus, I was able to use the buttoned neck of the sweater as the waistband, so you can open them to get them on, and then button them up snug. This pair is really thick and warm, and will be great for the winter.

I've fallen in love with the look of a baby in longies and a dress. And I love all the funky, mis-matched but somehow just right outfits that result (for example, because diaper covers get rotated as they get wet, later in the day she wore the turquoise, patterned ones with the purple floral dress, and it looked great!) I wish I could find a super-gigantic gorilla-armed sweater so I could make a pair for myself; they've got to be the perfect winter pants!

Onesie Refashion

We are blessed with an attic full of hand-me-downs for Lucy, so moving to the next size of clothing means opening the next box. But because of her big cloth-diapered bottom and homemade longies, Lucy sometimes needs different clothes than we've got. In the 6-9 month box, I've been wishing I had a few more dresses. So it was time for another onesie refashion.

I pulled out a few long-sleeved onesies that seemed like they'd make nice dresses. One of them was patterned, and I didn't have fabric that I thought went nicely with it. But then at Goodwill one night, I spotted an adult t-shirt I thought would look great with it:



I love the combo, and thought it would be so easy: cut off the bottom of the shirt, gather the top, sew it onto the onesie, and it's done! It would already be hemmed! But then I took a good look and realized there wasn't enough width to gather it. So I cut the shirt into two pieces, split them up the side, sewed them together into a bigger tube, and gathered that. But now the front of the skirt was hemmed, and the back not. And there was glittery serged stitching on the front, not on the back. So I dug through my vintage trims and found white bias tape with a pink scalloped edge, to cover the mess and tie the top of the dress visually to the bottom. And laboriously picked out all the original stitching. But now, I'm really pleased with how it looks:

How to make felted-sweater diaper covers

I had a request for more information about how to make diaper covers from felted wool sweaters. There are several good tutorials out there, so I'll point you in that direction rather than re-write what's already been said. But I've picked up a few tips along the way and combined two patterns last time, so I'll share some of what I've figured out here.



This is the first tutorial I came across for making wool "longies" (long pants that serve as a diaper cover). I've followed this basic design for most of the longies I've made. They are really cute and useful. (Lucy's modeling a pair, above.) As she gets bigger, I'm finding that these are sometimes too short in the back. I'm going to experiment with some different waistbands. I loved these--how smart to use the cuff of a pair of pants as the waistband! Other tutorials I've seen use some of the waistband of the sweater to make a waistband for the longies--a great idea I want to try. And I've never tried this pattern, but it looks very promising; I like the fitted bottom.

*edited to add: How embarrassing! I was looking at Lucy's diaper peek above her too-short-waisted longies tonight and realized what was wrong with them. My own stupidity; I forgot to allow for the casing when I was cutting down the side of the sleeve! I just cut it to match the pants I was using for a "pattern," so when I added the elastic casing, I lost nearly an inch. I'd still like to try those other ideas, but now I'll also be able to make these and have them fit! Can you say sewing while exhausted?

I also love this pattern for a "bum sweater". Here's the first one of these I made. Super cute shorties (short pull-on diaper cover), and nice and trim. It fits well under clothing and also looks cute under summer dresses. I don't put in the recommended drawstring, and so far, haven't needed it.

When I made the pink pair, I followed the suggestion to use the cuffs of the original sweater as the leg bands. But that meant that when I later made longies from those sleeves, they didn't have a nice finished edge. For less waste, and a more finished product, for the brown pair I made next, I cut the neck of the original sweater in half and used those strips to make the leg bands. Much better.

The bum sweater is also the pattern I started from to make her latest cashmere longies. Rather than sewing on legbands, I sewed on long legs made from the sleeves of the sweater. The sleeves were long enough that I was able to cut them in half and make two pairs. However, I'd cut the top of the sleeves off the sweater following the angle of the shoulder--so they came to a point--and I decided to try to incorporate that into the design, to see if it would give her more space around the diaper. You can see how the legs come to a point at the top in the pair on the right, below:



I like how they fit, but they come down a bit too low in the front; I think this pair would benefit from an added drawstring.

To make any of these diaper covers, you'll want to start with a largish, not-too-scratchy, 100% wool sweater. I use no special techniques for felting--I just throw the sweater in the washer and the drier and let them do their thing, and then decide what to make out of it based on how big it ends up! Once you've made your cover, you'll want to lanolize it to help it absorb water. I dissolve a few drops of liquid lanolin (from the health-food store) in a bit of hot water, then fill my bucket with room-temperature water, let the covers soak for a while, rinse, squeeze out the extra water by rolling them in a towel, and then hang to dry. It takes forever for them to dry that first time, but don't worry--you only have to lanolize them every month or so.

Well, now, that was wordy! Hope it's helpful! Let me know if there's anything I should clarify or add.

She keeps growing, and growing...

...1 1/2 pounds in the last 2 weeks! Time for more diaper covers.



I made the two pale-pink pairs from one cashmere sweater. It was only a women's large to start with, and once it was felted, it was pretty tiny. So I got creative and combined the two diaper-cover patterns I've used so far. The sleeves were so long, I was able to cut two legs from each one. They look really strange hanging on the line (like upside-down sweaters), but as you can see in the top photo, they're pretty cute on. (You can also see Lucy's face is almost cleared up after Friday's incident.) The darker pair is my standard cut-off-the-sleeves-and-sew-them-together style, except that I'd already used the cuffs of the sleeves for this pair. I'm hoping the ends will be fine as is. If not, I'll add some trim to the bottoms.

We're finding that we much prefer the homemade covers to the store-bought ones. They sometimes look a bit goofy, and they definitely look homemade (not in a good way), but they're easier to put on, harder for her to take off, slimmer under clothing, much more affordable, and cute! Some of the covers we've bought cost $30 a piece. These two sweaters probably cost me $8, and I got four covers from them--that's $2 a piece. I can't imagine that I'll be buying any more. (Except maybe some more of the totally adorable custom-made crocheted ones I bought on Etsy. I love those!)

Independence Days challenge, week 16

snapping beans, baby style

Time again for Sharon's Independence Day's Challenge:

1. Plant something:
2. Harvest something: Eggs.
3. Preserve something: Dried 1 qt. apricots, 2 pt. corn. Froze 2 qt. corn, 4 lbs green beans, 1 1/2 lbs broccoli. Canned 16 qts. dill pickles.

We tried a new pickle recipe this year: inspired by Melissa at All Buttoned Up, we tried this recipe. They look good; will report on the taste later. Here's a scene from my life lately--doing everything, even hot canning work, with a baby on the hip (or in the sling):


(Please ignore the hideous outfit: it was in the 90s, and I was canning. That'll ruin your look any day!)

4. Waste not: Made diaper cover from shrunken sweater. Talked about EC to probably too many people. Lucy went a whole day in one diaper, even as we ran around on errands all day (She peed in three public restrooms. How cool is that?)
5. Preparation and storage: Nope.
6. Build community food systems: Nope.
7. Eat the food: We are horrible! We ate out far too many times this week.

Another bum sweater

I made Lucy another "baby bum sweater" from this pattern. Again, where the three points came together, I ended up with a weird little peak, despite efforts to avoid it, so I hid it all behind a vintage button. This one is made from the softest cashmere. Our good friend Tim once had a lovely cashmere sweater, but it met with laundry disaster, so he donated it to the cloth-diapering cause (lucky Lucy!)

This style of diaper cover is my new favorite for summer--cute enough to show off under a dress, slim enough to fit under pants or a onesie, easy to put on and take off.

Bum sweater

Lucy's been desperately in need of some new diaper covers. She outgrows them so fast (and it doesn't help that we're prone to shrinking them. Particularly the totally-adorable custom-made one I just got from Etsy, darnit!!) I had made her several pairs of wool "longies" this winter, but hadn't yet made any "shorties." Yesterday, I gave it a try, using this pattern for a "baby bum sweater."

I had a little trouble with the waistband--where all the points come together, I ended up with a peaked-up piece. I'll have to figure that one out for next time. But otherwise, I love the pattern. They came out so cute! (Well, yeah...they would have been a lot cuter if I'd had the right color thread. But we were going for immediate results, here, people.) I can see a lot more of these in her future.

One adjustment I'll make next time that I learned from this pattern for a "butt sweater": rather than use the sleeve cuffs to make the legs, I'll use the neckband, cut in half. I was sad that in cutting the cuffs off the sleeves of this beautiful pink sweater, I ruined them for the longies I'd planned to make from them. Hmmm...maybe I could cuff them instead with trim or fabric? Will have to think about that. But first, some more shorties!

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.

Springtime Sewing

It's hot; I have tons of plants to put in the garden; my house is a disaster; my clothesline is full of things waiting to be folded...so, naturally, I spent the afternoon sewing (some might call it procrastinating).

First, an Itty Bitty Baby Dress for an itty bitty baby. A friend of a friend has had a very difficult pregnancy--10 weeks on bed rest--and just gave birth to a 4-pound girl 8 weeks early. Mom will be out of the hospital on Tuesday. I remember how touched we were by all the lovely handmade gifts we recieved for Lucy, and how excited we were when we actually found teeny-enough clothes to put on her when she first came home. So I thought another Itty Bitty Baby Dress was in order. This one is made from several different thrift-store treasures--a tablecloth, a sheet, and some rickrack. I hope she likes it.

Edited to add: she wore it home from the hospital! Yay!





Next, I decided it was time to finally finish Lucy's Kimono I started from "Weekend Sewing." I'd started it a while ago and was really unhappy with how it was coming out--unfinished seams inside and puckery armpits showed just what an amateur sewer I am. I'd gotten some advice on Flickr (duh! clip the seam allowances! Why didn't I think of that? Thank goodness for helpful Flickr viewers!) Finished up, I think it looks pretty cute. I haven't tried it on her yet. We'll see. I'm worried it'll look like scrubs (it's a bit stiff, like them, I think).



Last, I tried an experiment. I wondered if I could use the Ruby's Bloomers pattern from "Weekend Sewing" to make a wool diaper cover. I used more of the felted cashmere sweater I'd used for the Easter bunnies. I had to piece it together to get a large enough piece for the pattern (because I'd already tried to refashion it into a cardigan, but gave up). I wasn't sure if I'd be able to steam-iron the elastic to shrink it up in that cool way it does, but it worked fine. The bloomers are thin and lightweight, which I thought would be perfect for summer--she can wear them over a diaper with a sundress on top. We'll see if they'll be absorbent enough to work.

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...