One of my daughter’s best friends, “Prince H.” as my daughter calls him, turned 4 on Halloween. For his birthday, I made him a O&S Sailboat top using Michael Miller plaid fabric. I added an applique pattern from the latest Ottobre Designs using leftover thin-whaled corduroy.
I love the way it turned out and want to make one for J. too.
Every year I seem to go through my fabric scrap drawer and make a bunch of patchwork bibs and burb cloth sets. I have a number of patchwork bibs and white flannel already cut out, but only have managed to sew up two. These two sets were made for two new baby girls. The first set was made using leftover Amy Butler fabric. For the second set, I used Jay McCarroll fabric. I have yet to use these to make an actual garment. I just couldn’t want until the leftovers hit my scrap drawer.
I’m hoping to get more baby bib and burn cloth sets made in the next week of so.
I’ve been silent for the past few weeks, but that doesn’t mean I haven’t been busy…perhaps a wee too busy to post, yes.
There are soon to be two new baby boys in our lives–no, I am not pregnant with twins. These are for friends’ babies. For one, I made a raglan sleeve sweater using cotton fleece and leftover cotton cashmere yarn.
The second baby sweater also used cotton fleece. I used the Child’s Placket-Neck Pullover pattern by Joelle Hoverson.
I’ll be post a few more other projects I managed to finish in October.
Just a few three more Star Crossed Slouchy Berets…I love working with Malabrigo Yarn.
I made the brown one following the pattern directions. For the one in blue, I added an extra set of the 12 row pattern before doing the increases.
H. saw me making yet another beret and asked if she could have it. She loves it and wore it to school today.
Like the blue one, this mustard-yellowish/orange one has the extra 12 rows added to make it a bit more floppy.
The fall birthday season is in full swing. For some reason so many of our loved ones have birthdays in September and October, so I have been spending most of my free time making presents.
A while ago, my friend Nan, sent me a wonderful link which showed a tally shirt (I have since lost the link). I loved the brilliant idea to add appliqué a shirt which had a tally mark to denote the child’s age. Since it would only work for kids 5 and over, I have been waiting for our group of kids to pass the 5 mark.
I. turned 5 in September, so I made her a Lazy Days Skirt using some striped corduroy fabric and trimmed pink and brown ribbon. My sewing machine was acting up a bit, so her tally shirt didn’t turn out as well as I would have liked.
I made two other tally shirts and another numbered shirt, but I accidently deleted the photos when I was transferring data from my old laptop onto my new one.
During H.’s time in the NICU, I knit so many things from Erika Knight’s Knitting for Two (since it was the only knitting book I had with me at the time). One of my favorite items I ever made for H. was the Lacy Bonnet. H. wore this hat for such a long time.
For little baby N., who was born the day before my birthday, I decided to make one for her. I used one a half balls of Rowan Wool Cotton, and used some of the left over yarn to make two mini bunnies.
One bunny is for N.’s older sister, and the other is for H. H. has been heart broken since she lost Pom Pom, so I made her another little bunny. I still have some left over yarn used to make Pom Pom (which was left over from H’s lacy bonnet, now that I think of it), so I’m hoping to make her a new pink mini bunny.
Using the leftover fabric from J’s raincoat, I broke out my copy of Heather Ross’s Weekend Sewing and made two weekend travel bags. With Liesl’s amazing advice, I purchased a walking foot for my sewing machine which made it so much easier to sew the Etsuko Furuya’s Echino cotton laminate.
This travel bag was given to one of my most beloved friends and previous roommate, Scott. The pattern said to hand stitch the side panels. My hand sewing is pretty lack luster, so don’t look too closely. Hand sewing with this fabric was quite a challenge.
I made another one for me with the remainder of the leftover raincoat fabric, but I opted to use my sewing machine to attached the bottom side panels.
These bags are so fast and easy to make that I have churned out a total of 5 weekend travel bags (this photo only has 4 since I already had given Scott his travel bag when this photo was taken).
Main fabric is Mocca by Alexander Henry.
The main fabric is Amy Butler’s August Fields Fresh Start in Seafoam and the lining is Chestnut Branches by Joel Dewberry.
The main fabric is Bright Buds in chocolate by Amy Butler and the lining is orange canvas.
The only downside of the pattern is that you can seen the seams inside of the bag. I think it would look a bit nicer if those seams were hidden. I’m planning on making more of these for holiday presents.
J. turned 2 today. It seems like only yesterday he made his early entrance. We had a little family celebration this evening complete with Indian take out and my favorite cupcakes–made from the Magnolia Bakery cookbook.
H. helped him open his gifts which included the elephant I knit for him last month.
I was able to finish a school days raincoat for J. just minutes before his birthday late last night. I used Etsuko Furuya’s Echino cotton laminate for the outside and baby blue flannel by Robert Kaufman for the lining.
I must admit, this project had to be my most challenging sewing project to date. Sewing with cotton laminate for was tough given the stiffness and the stickiness. So please don’t look too close at the edge stitching since it turned out a bit wonky. I was covering the right side of the cotton laminate with tissue paper from a recent Anthro purchase to help prevent it from sticking to my sewing machine. Towards the end of the project, I was able to find thin tissue paper which allowed me to see through to the fabric a bit better. I was able to put my old OED from my days as an undergrad and grad student to good use. I used it as a weight to help keep the cotton laminate pressed after I had ironed it.
I made the raincoat in a size 3 even though J. is only 2 (but a large 2). Given all the work that went into this, I hope J. can wear this for 2 years. Since he dislikes wearing jackets, J. refused to try on his new raincoat, but his sister jumped at the chance. I have fabric to make her a new raincoat as well.
Now we just have to wait for rain…
I think we all had a wonderful little birthday celebration. We’ve formed so many amazing memories over the past two years with baby J., and I can’t wait for more to come.
In my early days of knitting about six years ago, I knit my husband a hat. At the time, I thought I did a fairly decent job which was probably true given my beginner knitting skills. Every winter, when my husband pulls out the hat, I just cringe noticing all the mistakes.
Since I’ve been on a knitting hat spree, I thought it high time I make a replacement. Using less than one skein of Berroco’s Ultra Alpaca, I knit my husband a brand new hat using the Seaman’s Cap hat pattern by Brenda Zuk.
One bonus my husband discovered which I didn’t even think about is that he can wear the hat under his bicycle helmet. I think this excited him the most. This will totally help keep his head toasty and warm on his bike commute to and from work.
With all the sewing I have been doing these part two years, I haven’t really made much for myself. In fact, I can count the items I have sewn for myself with two fingers. Now, I can add a third to keep the other two company. The first dress I have ever sewn for myself is now complete.
I’ve had this pattern and fabric for quite sometime, so it was nice to finally be able to get it actually sewn. This Built By Wendy pattern (Simplicity Pattern 3835) is the same one I used to make this top when I was pregnant with J. It was fun to sew darts in the back of the dress. I have never sewn darts before. It was also nice to be able to hone my zipper sewing skills (which still needs a bit of work). Overall, I think it turned out quite nice. I think my favorite part of the dress are the two front pockets. Since having children, I have become a huge fan of anything with pockets. Now, I just have to remember to empty out all the junk that ends up getting stored in those pockets.
The only pattern adjustment I made was to make the sleeves a week bit longer, so they hit right above my elbow.
I think this dress would look wonderful in a solid fabric since any of the details get lost with the busy print. The upside of using such a colorful fabric is that it hides my mistakes.
I would love it if Wendy came out with patterns for her fall line. There are so many beautiful items!
