Sweater Bum

So I have been searching Goodwill and other thrift stores in search of 100% wool sweaters to make some wool diaper covers. Unfortunately, it is Summer and wool sweaters aren't exactly filling up the racks. We had a church yard sale and there was a bunch of leftover stuff that my hubby was taking to Goodwill, and lo and behold, a 100% wool sweater from J. Crew nonetheless! I wish I had taken a picture of the sweater before I cut it up, but I was so excited that I forgot. But anyway, here is the finished product.

And just so happens that I have an adorable t-shirt that matches perfectly. Thank you Sarah!

And by the way, he was SO worth the wait! (And the weight!!!)

Nursing Cover

I could not live without my nursing covers. I absolutely love them! They make nursing in public discreet and fashionable. They seemed fairly easy to make, so I gave it a shot, and am pretty pleased with the results.

I used this pattern, but made some changes as I went along. If I make another one I will try to do a photo tutorial. Here's a close up shot of the interior pocket made of chocolate brown minky. It is great for holding your nursing pads or to use to wipe up milk on baby's face.

So, I know you are wondering...why did she make it with pink camo fabric. I lived in the mountains when I purchased the fabric and supplies. It was the mountain mama trend! It just took me a while to get around to making it and now I'm back in the city. I'm going to sell it so if you know anyone interested...

Update: I sold it! Here it is all ready to be mailed. I hope she likes it!!!

My Spring Line...

Maybe someday I can launch a line of baby clothes, but for now, I will just clothe my precious little one. My goal has been to make Little Man an entire outfit consisting of knitted shorties, an appliqued shirt, cloth shoes and a matching bib. Well, here is my first outfit. Ta-da!

I found the cute chocolate brown fabric with green, orange and blue polka dots at JoAnn's. I decided this would be my color scheme.
 
I found green and orange wool yarn for cheap also at JoAnn's. It is a little scratchy, so I decided to just use it for my accent stripes. I splurged and bought Malabrigo Merino in Chocolate Brown for the main body. It is so nice and soft!


I used the polka dot fabric to make an applique in the shape of an elephant on a white t-shirt. I then used the same fabric to make cloth baby shoes following this pattern. I used 2 layers of brown felt for the soles.

And lastly, the bib. It is made with the polka dot fabric on the front and chocolate brown minky on the back. It has a matching brown snap closure.

Here are a couple modeling shots of Little Man...

T-Shirt Pants

I have been making a lot of stuff for Little Man lately, and I didn't want Buddy to feel left out, so I decided to make him some t-shirt pants to wear around the house. I found an old gray t-shirt of mine to use for the fabric. I traced a pair of his pants to use as a pattern. I kind of messed up on the waist band. I originally was going to use elastic, but the thread was too loose when I sewed the jersey so it didn't look good on outside of the pants. So instead I did a hidden seam waist band. I had to curve in the top of the pants to make the waist fit, so it kind of looks like there are pockets. The gray was a little plain, so I appliqued a star on one leg.

And he absolutely loves them!

If you want to make your own pants, here is a great tutorial!

Super Soakers!

Now that I felt more comfortable sewing fleece soakers, I tried to get a little more creative. I purchased blue, red and green solid colored fleece and decided to do a little bit of mix and match. I also tried my first attempt at applique following these great instructions. I am really pleased with how they turned out.

My husband said they look like Superman undies, so he nicknamed them Super Soakers. I think it's the perfect name!

My first fleece soaker!

I bought some adorable dinosaur fleece from Hobby Lobby the other day and made a cute soaker for Little Man using this pattern. It took me several attempts to get it right, but it was well worth it. Little Man wore it over his prefold and hemp double last night, and the sheets were perfectly dry this morning!

I purchased a 1/2 yard of the anti-pill fleece from Hobby Lobby. It is normally priced $9.99 per yard, but was 30% off. I think I can get about 2 more soakers from the fleece. That comes to less than $1.25 per soaker. Awesome!

A tip I'd like to share...the pattern instructs for you to sew the waistband and leg cuffs on the outside of the main body, but because they are so much smaller, it creates a wavy seam. I like to sew them from the inside and stretch them to the size of the opening when sewing. That way I can have a smooth seam. I can't wait to make a bunch more and maybe even try some applique on the bum.

Sewing Diapers 101

I found a great free diaper pattern online and thought I'd attempt to make a few diapers. The pattern is for a flannel fitted pocket diaper. It can be found here. The first one I did turned out pretty good. It is the light blue with cars. The blue flannel is actually an old receiving blanket. Way to recycle! The second one didn't turn out as good. I had issues with the elastic. I used terry cloth for the inner fabric instead of flannel. I think I like the flannel inner better.

I'm glad I made them. It was a good learning experience. I have now purchased a pattern and will be making some sized fitteds and pockets soon. I'll keep you posted on the progress!