Tiny baby sewing

One of my dh's co-workers had a little baby boy; and I mean little - 4 lbs 11 oz and 19" long IIRC. I have never sewn little baby stuff from Ottobre and I've heard it's not only expensive to buy tiny baby clothes but that they're hard to find. So, I decided to make a present or two. Here is my first garment. It is from Ottobre 6/07 #1 "Wrap-around jacket for premature baby", size 45. I lengthened this to 19" and made it a wrap-around kimono instead of a jacket. I think it is so adorable. In the picture it looks incredibly long as I took the picture at an angle so you could see the fabric instead of a white glare.

I made the sleeves the length of a 50 and they can either fold them back until he grows or let them go over baby's fingers to keep him from scratching himself. Cuter than the little foldover mittens IMHO. On the bottom I sewed clear elastic into the hem folded it over and coverstitched it. I had fits when coverstitching the sleeve ends but after changing to a larger needle size the coverhem not only handled the binding around the neck and front edges but it did a great job around the hem too. I added Snap Source snaps instead of ribbons on the front as baby went home today so isn't in a warmer any more.

I'd make a couple more of these but I don't know how many clothes they have in tiny sizes. I think I will make a little overall and wrap-around jacket in a size 50 next. I have some other cute fabric that I didn't have enough yardage for this. Stuff I bought for N but never used.

Create-a-purse

In November I decided to make M a new purse. I had shopped and hadn't found anything that I thought she'd like. I ended up designing the purse myself using ideas from things I liked in RTW (is it really "ready to wear" when it's a purse?) and some tips from u-handbag.com. I took M to the quilt store to pick out some fabrics that she liked. Wouldn't let her know what they were for. I even "waited" until Christmas instead of making the purse for her birthday to throw her off the scent. LOL. This is the final product.



Front - I drew the lines on my pattern and then copied them to the sew-in interfacing that I was using. I essentially "paper pieced" the fabrics onto the interfacing rather than cutting them out individually and sewing them together. Much easier.


Back - the batik fabric is actually a pocket. The brown is piping along the pocket edge. If I were to do it over, I would put piping on the front side too but it looks fine without it.

You can't see it but I used a gold magnetic clasp to hold the purse openings together. It works very well.

I think she likes it. I made sure to make it big enough that she can still fit a book in it like she does with her current purse. Forgot to check if she can fit a knitting project in there. LOL.

Children's achievements

I am a mom. Therefore, I have to brag over my kids' achievements. Since M took pictures of her projects, I can post them here.

The first two pictures are of things she made for a teacher at school. Her teacher is hoping to have her baby soon. Mikayla designed and made the quilt using leftover pieces from a quilt project I had made. She did all the stitching and even hand stitched the binding down. She made a little hat and scarf and a tote bag too. As you can see, she is very proud of her quilt.

The next picture is a clock that she made in Industrial Tech. She plays the cello so wanted her clock in a cello shape. At home her dad gave her some guitar strings and helped her drill holes so she could add strings. She has also made a hearth lamp but I don't see that she has taken pictures of it yet. It is really neat too. She broke one of our Santa stocking hangers so she put it in her hearth so that Santa is coming down the chimney. LOL. Iwill post pics when we get them.

The next achievement is from K. She was recently in her school community choir and they sang before and during a play. Here is a video of the group singing in the hallway. K is the tall red haired one who sings the first solo. It's a little hard to hear with no microphones. I didn't want to be too pushy to get right in front of her so I sacrificed a little clarify. You get the idea. I took this video with the camera I got for my birthday. This is the first time I've watched a video from my camera and I'm impressed. Now to go look for one I took of N.

K will be singing in an Honors Choir performance come spring. Now I know I can easily save some snippets to share with relatives.

Here's the one of N while he was singing. I'm not sure why I turned the camera sideways partway through but it's still cute.

All in one post I've conveyed the creativeness, goodness, pursuits, and silliness of my children.

Better watch out or they'll be posting videos of mom's reaction when they aren't doing all of the above! LOL. (wha wha wha wha wha - remember on snoopy movies adults alwas sounded that way)

Getting caught up

I'm finally getting around to blogging my most recent sewing projects. As you can tell from one of them it's been a while since I worked on these. Just didn't seem to get the time to get them into my blog.

The first two are turtlenecks that I made for M. She likes to layer so requested these. They are both from Simplicity Lizzie McGuire 4390 size 16. I changed the mock turtleneck to a regular turtleneck and lengthened it. I made some mistake on the heathered one and ended up having to lettuce the two layers of the turtleneck together and I like this one much better. I forgot to add as much length on the heathered one too so I lettuced the hems to keep as much length as possible. The sweater knit was hard to lettuce as the stitches wanted to come apart when I stretched it but it is passable. I got both of these fabrics at S.R. Harris.

For the next one K wanted to be a pop star for Halloween. You might want to look at the enlarged version to see it better but I just had to put in the modelled view. It is a cap from Ottobre 4/07 #25 in size 56. It is a little big but looks great on. On this one I forgot that I had plans for the day before she needed it and I ended up working on this from 11PM to 3AM. Boy was I tired that next day!

The next project is a favor I did for a friend. She ended up cleaning my carpet in exchange. I do think I got the better end of this deal. She had purchased some knit pants that were too short but oh so comfy and cheap. I added cuffs to them using an assortment of fabrics from my stash. I ripped the hems out and added about 2" length total to each pair. The project ended up being quite easy once I got the measurements figured out. She loves finding shirts to match the colors in her new pants.

The last project is actually something for *me*!! It is the gathered neck tee from Ottobre Woman 2/07 #4. I when I was going through fabric for something else I was wearing the pants in the picture and realized that this fabric would go perfectly with them. Finally something to give me the impetus to sew for myself. I had made a pj top (that I didn't photgraph) to check fit. From that I decided to add an 1" to the center folds to give a slight bit more width to gether into the neckline. I also added some width at the shoulder, about a half inch?, that I graduated into the existing armscye. I didn't want the armscye any lower. I still could use a smidge more ease through the bust because it kind of pulls in a line straight across the bust if it's not pulled down all the way. I might have to do an FBA to accomplish this. I've had trouble with that in the past so have avoided doing it. This has some gathers at the side bust and I moved those down about a inch too.

I changed the sleeve on this to use the sleeve from #6 in the same issue. Was going to make it long sleeves but forgot that when I cut the pattern out. Was wondering why I left so much room in between pieces on the tracing paper. LOL. Next one will be long sleeved, although I like the 3/4 length sleeves too.

I used my new coverstitch machine to hem and stitch down the binding on this shirt. It was SOOOO nice to use it. It took awhile to get the tension right since I used regular thread from a spool and bobbin for the outside threads. Don't have the right colors in big cones. I made a boo boo on one of the hems and decided not to fix it, I'll bet no one can even find it. Overall, I'm very happy with this shirt and want to make some more. Recently I was wishing I had a red shirt. Wonder if I have the right fabric for it....

Ottobre Hooded Sweat Jacket 1/2005 #26

I just finished this Ottobre jacket. It is made from a sherpa fleece on the body and sweatshirt fleece on the sleeves. The elbow patches, paw prints, and hood linings are from a cotton woven fabric from Sewzannes (I love this fabric and think I have enough left for a shirt); note the little row of paw prints in the stripe. I got the idea for the paw prints from another Ottobre pattern that used frog prints for front pockets. I decided the paw prints wouldn't work as stand-alone pockets so sewed them onto the pockets and stitched a paw print on each of the elbow patches. To help keep the woven fabric from getting too wrinkly and ravelly I interfaced the paw prints completely and the elbow patches to within 1/4" from the edge. I have a puppy applique I could put on the front chest but N vetoed that idea. So, we'll stick with paw prints. I made this in a size 128 and didn't make any other pattern changes except I don't think I was supped to add seam allowances to the elbow patches and I did. I topstitched in reverse colors but the blue kind of got buried in the nap of the fleece. Of course the ribbing doesn't bury it so I hope that looks like a design detail. LOL.

New Family Photo

We just went to get family pictures taken today. Here's the best one we've seen so far...

Ottobre Knit Jacket 3/2004 #12

I finished this jacket up about a week ago and am finally getting around to blogging it. It is a knit jacket made out of sweatshirt fleece I ordered from Sewzannes. The pattern called for front outside pockets and K wanted them at the side seam. I used the pocket pattern piece from #36 and added a pocket. I also added an interlock lining to it to make it a bit warmer for our cold fall weather. Basically I sewed the same jacket in turquoise and inserted it with topstitching visible to the inside. I stitched the sleeve edges right sides together, then I wonder taped the bottom and stitched it, turned it right side out, and Wonder Taped the front edges together. I added the collar before adding the zipper. Then I covered the inside of the zipper with the collar so you can't see the zipper on the outside of the collar like you can if you follow Ottobre's directions. Next I pinned the collar over the inside lining at the neckline and topstitched it down. I had the most trouble with this part even though I thought I pinned it accurately. The pocket is completely enclosed within the lining so you can't see it on the inside. This is made in a size 140 with no size modifications, not even length. Will try to get pics of dd modelling it before school tomorrow.

I am happy to report that K LOVES this jacket and is wearing it. I finally made her something that she likes as well when completed as she does in the planning stages. Of course now I wonder why I thought a fabric with a white background would be a good choice for a jacket. LOL. I keep finding it on the floor. Of course I mind this much more than I would a RTW jacket.

My new favorite game

Previously my favorite game was Blokus. Tonight I played Keesdrow for the first time and I love it! It's like the old word finds I used to do as a kid but better. Using the letter tiles on the board you find a word and mark it with pegs. The letters can be forward, backward, or diagonal all in the same word. You can use each letter tile up to three times; either in one turn or separate turns. It wasn't so much fun for a 4 yo but the rest of us enjoyed it and our word geek (my dh) actually lost so the kids enjoyed it that much more. Not only is it fun to play but it helps the kids work on both spelling words and addition for scoring. This just might be my new suggested kid gift for birthdays.

More cute comments

I'm trying to remember the most recent of my favorite comments of N's. They were made a while ago.

5. "Does God make police cars?" I tell him "no, God gives us the intelligence and technology and man makes cars." His response. "Or girls. Maybe bad men make race cars."
4. "I think we should get a green golf cart" (the neighbors have a golf cart that they drive around the neighborhood in). "That way we could go hunting in the woods." When asked what he wants to hunt he responded "we could hunt for bears!"

How does a 4 yo's mind really work?

Will a 4 year old think of anything just to not fall asleep? N asked me these last two in bed before going to sleep at night.

4. "Why does God give morning breath? Why doesn't he just give regular breath?"
3. "Why does God make Tornados if he wants to take care of us?" When I responded "I don't know" N suggested "let's dream about it."
2. "Can we see when we're dead?" Not having any idea where he's going I respond "no, we can't see or hear or eat or anything." His next question is "Then how can we see God when we're in heaven?"
1. "Is the sky God's floor?"

N's Questions

The newest of N's inquisitive questions.

3. "Why does God make Tornados if he wants to take care of us?" When I responded "I don't know" N suggested "let's dream about it."
2. "Can we see when we're dead?" Not having any idea where he's going I respond "no, we can't see or hear or eat or anything." His next question is "Then how can we see God when we're in heaven?"
1. "Is the sky God's floor?"

Mom and Grandma would love these

This spring I attended a baby shower only to find out that I would get showered with flowers myself. My aunt brought along several African Violets. Reluctantly, because I tend to forget to water plants, I took a couple home. M jokingly asked me "what have those flowers done (to deserve a slow death from you)." Ever the comedian. I decided I had to prove her wrong. What better proof than all these flowers and buds? I guess they like the rainwater I'm feeding them and the northeast window they are in to get a bit of early morning sunlight. My mother and grandmother both loved African Violets and always had several varieties in their care. I'm sure these are decendents from one of Grandma's plants As they are kind of finicky (the plants, not mom or grandma) I wasn't sure I'd ever see them bloom. So, each time I water them, turn them, and admire their blooms I think of mom and grandma. Some things we just don't appreciate about our loved ones until they are gone.

You'll notice I liked this picture enough to add it to my side bar profile.

Let's celebrate a half-Christmas

Last Christmas I bought lots of flannel and made pj pants for Christmas gifts. I couldn't get it all done so I gave my friend fabric for Christmas and promised her a pair of pj pants. I also bought some fabric to replace the ones I split out about a year before. So, just a little late for half-Christmas I completed these UFOs. Mine are the striped/floral and my friend's are the polka dot/cupcake ones.



Why is it that it can take so long to finally get up the gumption to put in elastic in something as simple as pj pants? I picked these up several times and just didn't want to do it. My friend's have been hemmed for several months, while mine needed elastic and hemming. So, in less than an hour they are both done. It's been so long that all I remember is that they are from a Simplicity pattern, lengthened a bit. I decided to put drawstring elastic in them so I didn't have to worry about length of elastic so much. This time I realized I could pull the strings through the casing about an inch from the end so I could put the elastic in, in the round. Worked great! Now to put them away again for cooler weather. LOL.

Now I can work on a t-shirt for me and some school clothing for the kids without any guilt about these UFOs.

Jalie 2447 Swimsuit

M wanted a new swimsuit but couldn't find anything RTW that she liked. She had tried this suit on at Kohl's but didn't like how it fit.



After emailing Anne at Needlenook Fashions I found the perfect fabric with black and white hearts to make a similar suit.

I took some time to test the fit of a top before cutting into my good fabric. That meant, however, that Saturday I spent the whole day making the suit so she could take it to camp on Sunday. I used Jalie 2447 with modifications. She wanted a wider strap going around the neck, so I doubled the width of the strap and then didn't fold it over and topstitch it down. She also likes the bodice to overlap farther than the pattern does, so I increased the overlap by 1" and tacked it together so it wouldn't pull apart. I lengthened the top so it would hit her mid-hip and added a flounce on the bottom. It was interesting getting the top all put together as although she measured a size Q I made the body a size Q, bodice right side a size R, and left side a size S so it wasn't too revealing. I matched the outermost notches and pinned to the innermost notch on the body and just gathered the rest of the bodice to fit in between. The elastic under the bust wasn't tight enough to her body so I took the sides in 5/8" on each side at the elastic with it graded to the existing outer edge on top and bottom. If I were to make another suit of this size, I would probably just reduce the length of the under bodice elastic by 1 1/2". The bottoms on this suit run small, so although she measured a size R I made a size S and the fit is perfect. I fully lined the bottoms and will probably do that again.

Great suit for going to Bible camp, if I do say so myself. ;)

Bedroom Makeover

A while back N told me he no longer liked his room. "I don't like the purple or the angels (on the border - which are really fairies but what does a 4 yo boy know about fairies)." When we switched the room from K to N I decided I'd wait to re-do the room until he cared about what was in it. So, 4 1/2 years later it was time. Here's the room before and during the transition. As you can see K helped me take off the border. I was amazed at how much help she was. You can see me washing the extra glue off. Oh Joy!

Replacing purple with light blue and fairies with a camping scene, here's N's new room! It's a good thing we don't have pictures of dh and I actually putting the border up. We had glue going everywhere. The second picture is the most accurate color blue and no the border isn't crooked, it's just the angle I took the picture.

As you can see N LOVES his new room. We re-made the bed and tomorrow we'll put all his toys and dresser and everything back in. The hallway and our closet will seem so spacious again. Now, with a nice newly re-done room, you'd think he'd be excited to fall asleep in his room. Here's where I found him when I walked up the stairs tonight. Notice his hands curved just slightly over the top stair.

Locks of Love: Part Deux

On June 1 we had another donation for Locks of Love. This time was K's turn. She's been waiting quite a while for her hair to be long enough to donate; just in time for a cooler haircut for summer. Here she is right before walking into the salon.

And here she is after all is said and done. She has even been patient enough for me to blow dry her hair on several occasions. The new cut looks so nice on her. I think that she really likes being able to put her hair in a headband while still letting that little bit of bang stay loose like all the big kids do.

Snowball in June

Our neighbor's daughter had an American Eskimo puppy (5 months) that she didn't want to keep. Our current dog, Shortcake, loves to play with other dogs. So, we decided to see how Shortcake likes having another dog around the house. If things don't go well, we have a friend who wants a small dog and she would take him (actually, she has begged us just to give him to her already). So far, Shortcake hasn't seemed to care much about the new puppy except when M was going to let it on her bed. Then Shortcake nipped him to let him know that's Shortcake's territory (Shortcake sleeps with M every night).

Here's a picture of Snowball (re-named from Peter).

I have always thought this kind of dog is so cute. His paws are pretty small so I don't think he'll get a lot bigger than he already is. He's pretty timid though because the previous owner wasn't always nice to him. So, we have to help him work through that. I don't think he's ever been on a lead before either, so we have to teach him to use one. I tried to take him for a little walk tonight but he just wanted to go back home to the neighbor's house so we had to carry him home. He's in his crate now and yelping a little. I'll bet he's never been crate trained before either. He'll get used to it.

Can't blog about the dogs without including a picture of Shortcake. Here's the most recent half-way decent one I can find. It's Shortcake getting his new Christmas present.

Saving N's comments for posterity

N is so inquisitive lately that I've decided I'm going to start a list of the best ones (meaning the one's that are hardest to answer from a 4 yo's perspective). Where better place than my blog, can't misplace it there. Here are the two most memorable so far.

2. Can we see when we're dead?" Not having any idea where he's going I respond "no, we can't see or hear or eat or anything." His next question is "Then how can we see God when we're in heaven?"

1. "Is the sky God's floor?"

Ottobre Women's Blouse

This is the Women's Blouse from Ottobre 4/2004. M asked me to make her a couple of blouses late this winter. I finally found a nice fabric in my quilting stash. I started this at the end of February, beginning of March. I stopped to work on K's Easter Dress and finally got around to finishing the cuffs, buttons, and buttonholes yesterday. Just in time for the weather to (hopefully) start warming up. I made this in a size 34 and it barely fits her. She is now only 1/2" bigger than the bust size for a 34 but it is still snug.

If you click on the pictures for a close-up view you can see the princess seams on the front and back. This makes for a beautiful fit. Hopefully I can find some nice fabric to make her a couple more in a larger size come fall. I could hope that she doesn't grow any more over the summer but I don't know that I can guarantee that.

The background for the pictures is the newly painted yellow wall of my bedroom/new sewing room. Hopefully I'll finish moving the rest of my sewing stuff into my bedroom soon and will post pics of my newly arranged space.

Ottobre Rose Dress for Easter

This is the Ottobre Rose Dress from 1/2008. I finished this dress for K just in time for Easter. I graded it up one size to ensure a good fit on her. Was glad I did or it would have been too tight through the shoulders. I also added about seven inches to make it come right to her knees. It would have been extremely short on K's ever growing long legs if I hadn't done that. Was supposed to make leggings to go underneath but didn't get those done.

I found it hard to sew the gathers onto the ribbon and it poofs a bit above the ribbon where the gathers are. I used a pique from Sewzanne's Fabrics. I may have stretched the fabric a bit causing the poofiness. The pattern called for a woven but Kyra loved this polka dotted fabric so I used it anyway. Maybe washing and drying will shrink it back up a bit.

Diva Essential Designer Bag

It's been a while since I finished my "new" purse but I just got around to taking pictures of it. It's the Diva Essential Designer Bag. I've been able to use it for a while and must say that I'm really liking it; especially since I've gotten several comments in the last couple of weeks from people saying they really like it. It's been good for my ego; especially when they find out that I made it.

The pattern called for fusible interfacing but I have so many scraps of Warm and Natural that I just used that. I used quilt fabrics for the rest of the bag.

One of the things I like best about this purse is the many pockets on the inside. I can put so many things in the pockets that I can easily find what's on the bottom of the purse. There's even a hidden pocket on the inside on one end. I would do the pockets a little differently if I were to make this purse again. If I put tall things in the inside side pockets it raises the sides on the outside too much and makes it hard to close the velcro. I'd add some pockets on the outside of the hidden pocket (still on the inside of the purse). I might also put two on the inside where the inside cell phone pocket is.

There are two outside pockets, one is the full width of the side and one is the width between the handles on the other side. The pattern calls for making the handles the same fabric as the purse. I opted to use a different fabric and didn't realize this would look a bit different since the handles on one side are sewn under the large pocket and on the outside of the pocket on the other side. Someone commented that I could just sew the handles onto the outside of the larger pocket and it would look more symmetric. It would also hold that large pocket closed more when I have my car keys and cell phone (there's another cell phone pocket inside that large outside pocket, which I added a little velcro flap to ensure my cell phone stays in it) and sunglasses in it. Wish I knew how to label pics, I could point out all the pockets.

You're supposed to be able to open up the velcro and wear the purse as a backpack if necessary but I've never tried that.