Extra Baby Sewing

Despite all my pattern sampling even I think theres a limit to how much of a huge baby wardrobe its reasonable to sew in advance... Got to give myself something to look forward to in the future, right?!

So some time has been spent on other baby related sewing, mainly for the nursery:

Cot Ruffle, change mat cover and lamp shade are all "thrifted" from a K-mart bedding set. The change mat covers are made from the pillow cases, which magically fit nicely over our mat once the edges were squared off. 

The ruffled skirt can hide any extra storage we need, and is simply 2 long strips of fabric (its only present on the two visible sides) the same height as the drop, ruffled/pleated using my pleat foot and sewn onto a rectangle the same size as the base board. I figure once we need to drop the base down I can quickly tack the hem up again so it doesn't pool.

The cot sheets are made from some heavily reduced kids bedding sheets, using Danas tutorial. While buying them would be easy enough, I could never really find any plain and cheap. Being time rich this was the best option!

The curtains were an Ikea doona cover... Seeing a trend here?! Made into hidden tab top curtains using a similar method as described here. The lining I picked up doesn't do much to block the light (though these are unlined in this pic, and what we have does help a bit), so for the time being we've left the vertical blinds up too. Next summer we'll look into proper blackout...

Fabric baskets for keeping all those extra bits.

It still needs some finishing touches and neatening up, but I think we're ready!

I've also finally just got my act together to finish a liner for the pram. I've loved this Spotlight whale print for ages, and this way I get to show it off! Its 100% draped, using lots of pins and air-disappear markers to get all the openings in place. I think I'll trace it now though, as it will make the next generation a bit easier! Its nice and soft thanks to some polyester wadding, and should be a bit nicer to sit on than the black plasticy seat!

Being modelled by one of many rattle/squeak/taggy toys I've been making out of scraps as inspiration has taken hold.

Its also crazy on the other side, should we fancy a change!

Whenever you're ready, Baby!

I don't think I'll ever be a quilter, but...

I wont say I hugely enjoyed the process of making this quilt. I cant imagine making them on a regular basis. 

I managed so sew some of the blocks the wrong way round, which threw the balance out a little. And it probably could have done with some plain fabric to tone it down a little. And the two afternoons I spent hand sewing the binding with a sore finger because I apparently somehow don't own a thimble of any description? Don't ask.

But I'm pretty happy with how it turned out, especially for a first try. 

I have no idea what the pattern would be called. I just knew that I didn't want plain squares but I also didn't want anything too complicated so I fudged my own pattern after some googling.  The quilt is roughly 90 x 120 cm which will be perfect for a play mat and sofa snuggling. 

I had a pretty hard time attempting to baste it. I used warm and natural batting inside, which handled pretty well and was eventually easy to quilt. But the basting felt like it took forever and despite using tape and the spray and some pins I never quite got it to sit right. Its worse on the back than the front though, so its not the end of the world. 

The actual quilting wasn't too bad. Free motion quilting was asking a bit too much, so I stuck to outlining each shape, and adding an extra square inside the larger shapes too make sure the batting was sufficiently held down.

I followed one of the myriad of internet tutorials for the binding and ended up with some OK mitred corners and a join that is solid yet not obvious. As much as I didn't much enjoy the hand sewing (seriously, how do I not yet own a thimble?!) I do like the clean look. I would never have managed to keep my machine stitching neat enough to be happy with it.

Now we just need the baby to go with it! 

Hopefully he knows its in his best interests not to be born over Christmas
(but doesn't hang around too long after!)

A little sewing dare

So, this dare was set unknowingly for me by The Boy.
I saw this fantabulous surfing space robots poplin in Spotlight, but the Boy said it was too Boy for our neutral baby, so I decided to girlyfy it. Regardless of what the baby turns out to be I'm sure it'll find a home somewhere.

So Voila!

A teensy tiny 0-3 month Geranium dress in the top length, and some of SeeKateSews Baby Bloomers to go under. I'm sure that this will get worn at most once, if ever, but I really enjoyed the process of making it. 

To add to the included ruffles of the bloomers I added an extra orange bias tape ruffle across the bum.

I didn't close up the elastic holes and cut on the extreme side, so they can be let out or taken in as needed once I have someone to try them on!

I think these might be boyish enough to work regardless of gender, though I'm sure The Boy will disagree! I will admit that the other pair I made are a little too far on the girly side due to the massive rufflebum:

This will be a summer baby, so will probably live in singlet and nappy covers or onsies for the first few months of its life, so thats where My sewing focus will lie.

But sometime you just have to give into the dare!

I finally sewed something!

Using this tutorial from SpaceFem. I reused an old t-shirt, making the most of the already finished neckline and the hem for the sleeves, which left me to simply bind the bottom opening. It went together like a dream, despite my bit of hacking to be able to use existing features.

I've made some baby clothes before, but never onsies.

Who is this one for, you ask?

Well... 

Me!

Hence the lack of sewing for the last few months. I didn't want to jinx my self by sewing maternity or baby stuff, just in case, and I didn't want to sew clothes that may never fit again depending how much damage this baby causes to my body shape on a long term basis!

What have I doing instead? Mainly sleeping.

But a couple of weeks ago we finally went on a road trip I've been wanting to do for a long time, all the way down to Esperance- 2000km all up. But you can see why it was worth it, even if it was a bit chilly.

And we finally stopped in a Wave Rock... the most underwhelming tourist destination in all of WA.

Cue surfing the rock photo.