"Surf Baby" Sack Gown

Couldn't resist doing one more of these. I really do love baby gowns! Decided to take pictures as I went along, seriously thinking about turning the pattern into a PDF. I want to offer some options though, so I need to make another one tomorrow and see how it works out.

I think the options will include round neck or v-neck, facings(like shown) or binding, and then the sleeves can be binded, cuffed or hemmed(like shown).

Should have the pattern all worked out tonight, hopefully version B will work out well. I will let you all know soon!

I chose a Baby Lulu fabric "Surf Baby" for this gown, added a matching stripe and solid for the back. Couldn't have it boring, so I had to have some orange at the collar to "pop"! Added some cute little metal snaps, which thankfully I am getting better at. Took much less time than before. And of course, a knotty hat to top it off!

I wanted to see how other fabrics worked, last time I used interlocks for the duck gown. The lulu knit was a rib, though not super stretchy, the stripe was a jersey and stretchy! They did fine, but I did have to pay much more attention to not stretch the gown fabric while I serged and coverstitched.

Sack Gown for Baby's Hospital Stay!

I have been looking all over for a great gown pattern and had finally settled on the ottobre version from 5/2006. My one problem was the gown snaps at the shoulders only and didn't look that easy to get on and off a newborn. Then I remembered a gown that my mom had bought the other day for the baby. It snapped up the middle and looked easy enough, comfy too. So I set about trying to eyeball it and draft a pattern without cutting the thing apart. I am hooked!! This was definitely the easiest gown that I have put together for a baby. I did mine a little different than the one that I was trying to mimic, but I LOVE it!

At first, I was going to just grab any old fabric and then I eyeballed the rubber duck fabric. Great for baby, a really soft interlock knit and I just happened to have a striped interlock that matched it well. And before I knew it I had added an applique of the duck with cotton terry because I thought it needed to be gussied up some. Satin stiched the duck applique on my trusty Singer 503(her name is Lorraine), coverstitched the facings down and the ribbing for the collar, and stitched it up! Easy peasy, lemon squeezy! Oh, and then I added some metal snaps with my trusty press(I think He needs a name too!). I sewed up a knotty hat to match and bam! Sack Gown for Baby while in the hospital. I am now debating whether I need a matching diaper.

Now I sit here trying to think of what fabric I can use for another one. I know that I need quite a few because gowns are one of my absolute favorite things on a newborn babe. Nothing like giving the baby a bath, putting on a fresh gown and snuggling!

Doggy "Jamie Jumper"

Someone posted this adorable 0/3 month sized jumper over on Diaper Divas this week and I just couldn't resist trying it myself. I have been looking for something very similar so this almost fit the bill exactly. It's a FishSticks Pattern and you can purchase the pdf in the store below, in the little one Layette and Wee Tot collection.I think maybe the jumper goes up to a 5T or so. Here is her site.

http://www.fishsticksandfries.com/

 

The hat is a preemie knot hat that I found online and downloaded. I wish I could tell you where I found it. I know it was by blesseddesigns.net, but I can't find a link anymore. Super easy on a serger, really only takes a minute or two to sew up.

This fabric was really special to me. I had just heard of ottobre and downloaded their free tank top pattern off line. I went to JoAnn's and there was the cutest little doggy knit for Noah. I bought some material, ran back home and got busy. Sewed the tank top on my sewing machine and when I was done I thought I was the "cat's meow!". Looking back I bet it looked horrible on the inside, but I was so pleased with myself. Made a pair of matching shorts with appliques and a quickie visor to keep the sun out of his face. Looks like my tank top was too short and my shorts too long, but I was just happy that I had faced my fear of knits. I'm so glad that I saved some of this for our new little boy!

I think I may have to do another one of these today. I hadn't tried out my snap press with metal snaps until this morning and now I have the hang of it, I think I will have another go!

I used my coverstitcher and added a .25" or so onto the pattern to allow for the binding.

My Munki Cheese Toast Story!

I am posting this on my blog hoping some poor mama that has this in her stash will feel maybe just a little sympathy for my plight and sell me just a couple of really small squares!

Long ago, okay maybe 3 or 4 years ago, I was lucky enough to purchase a full yd of Munki Cheese Toast cotton/lycra knit by Heather Ross!! I know I paid an unreal price, but I was on cloud 9. It felt like a dream, and I stalked the mailman for several days and finally it was there, I could touch it! Seriously, it was one of those fabrics that I put on my fabric wall, in plain view, so I could walk by and just pet it!

Soon after I bought an embroidery machine. My first task was to go about digitizing a piece of cheese toast so I could make my Noah a tee. It was my first attempt and in my opinion, I didn't too bad of a job. Here is a pic, yes, I saved this on one of my albums. I have went to delete it several times, but just couldn't make my finger hit the button!
Now for the horrible part! I showed Noah and he didn't like it! Didn't want it made into a tee for him!! When I showed my mom(another avid seamstress), she said great embroidery, but why would you want to make that, it's horrible! Horrible??? Did she not see this great piece of fabric, with the coolest color combination ever???? And so my fabric sat, just curing on my shelf.

Fast forward a few years, we buy our first home and hubby loses his job. Desperate to make ends meet, I start selling off prized fabric from my collection. My mom(I do love her by the way, she is my best friend), says have you sold that ugly fabric?? Ugly fabric, I didn't know there was such a thing. Yes, she says, that toast fabric that is so hideous! Well no, I was holding onto that one. Why? Don't know, I just love it.

So you guessed it. I went to my shelves and sadly sold off my entire yd to another mama. I even threw in the tee front that I had embroidered for Noah, that sadly he didn't want any part of. The thought of it going to someone whom I knew was going to appreciate it helped me get over my withdrawal and made me feel a little bettter about the situation.

So that brings me to today. I can not get this fabric out of my dreams. I know I'm sad. Dreaming about Cheese Toast fabric! I can just imagine the cutest diaper cover with an embroidered piece of toast on the bum and a little lap tee with a square of Cheese Toast sewn onto the front.

So I am begging from collector to collector, mom to mom, woman to woman, anyone out there have just 2 squares of Cheese Toast they could spare? They don't need to be big, just 1 square w/cheese toast, 1 square of the toaster. 3, maybe 4" squared, really little, you want miss it.

I will sew for you, trade with you, paypal you, love you for life! Anyone??

Space Invaders!

I totally forgot about this little set! This was sewn the day before we found out what we were having.

I wanted to try out the Darling Diapers free newborn pattern, found here

http://www.darlingdiapers.com/version.html

It's a great one to serge and so tiny! Not sure one of our 8 lb babies will fit in this one! I highly recommend her diaper pattern too, lots of diaper versions and great instructions.

I did a knit outter using this great space invader fabric, some terry hidden and a suedecloth inner. Still need to make a soaker for this one. Matched it up with a fun lap tee sewn from ottobre. So cute!

Going on Safari for Baby!

This set was based solely on one of my favorite PRR(painting red rhinos) fabrics. I tried to sell this fabric last year, thinking Noah was too old for it. I'm so glad that it didn't sell because I just love this print! I dyed it using the tropical green with a little sunflower yellow mixed in, both Dylan dyes. I like how the color came out, almost exactly the shade I was going for. Picked out a cute seersucker plaid out of my stash along with a few other solids and stripes that I thought coordinated well.

I did some of the same patterns from ottobre that I used on the froggy set. I did make a few changes as I went along.

For the jon jon pattern(3/2007), I made the facings smaller this time around and they fit perfectly now. I think for the next one, I am going to add extra fabric at the crotch so I can add in snaps for easier diaper changes. I paired this up with a red tee with a monkey appliqued onto the sleeve. I had a great applique drawn up of the safari truck to add onto the jonjon, but then I noticed how well it goes with my all-time favorite PRR print with the sea creatures. So I have left it plain and plan on using it for mix and match with my next set. I love how easy this jon jon is to sew up!

I couldn't resist doing another striped romper! Same pattern as the froggy striped one(1/2009), modified at the shoulders and this time I added extra length to the back of the crotch. I think it worked much better where the snaps meet up. I have decided the next time I do this to omit the binding at the crotch. My coverstitcher just doesn't like all the layers, so I am going to add plackets the next go around.

The diaper is a QSFW that a mama over on Diaper Divas created the pattern for. She has a great tutorial and pattern over there. http://diaperdivas.proboards.com/index.cgi

Great site to join if you are interested in sewing your own cloth dipes! This picture is of the inside when the diaper is all laid out. Really fun to sew and easy to dry I would think!

Then I decided to make some quick mix and match tees and shorts. Both tees are the ottobre pattern that I cut down to fit a smaller little guy(3/2009). The shorts are the baby ahoy shorts(3/2009), with all the pockets left off this time around. Just plain and simple!

Now I think I'm ready to dive into something else. I have a few more patterns marked that are a little trickier and time consuming. I may have a try at those in the next few days. I also have a diaper bag pattern that I have been wanting to have a go at! I think I will go West!

As Oprah calls it, my Ah-Ah Moment

So all of this sewing brings me up to last week. We had the sonogram on Friday at 27.5 weeks along, and found out this new one would most definitely be a boy. At first, I think I had a little sense of loss. I really did think that I was carrying a girl and I had already given her the name Clara, after my grandmother that passed 12 years ago. But one look at my 7 year old, who was smiling from ear to ear, told me that I was so glad this was a boy and he was getting the younger brother he wanted so much! He is so thrilled at the idea of teaching his younger sibling to ride a bike, swim, go down a slide, build legos and so many more things! I hope this little guy realizes what a great older brother he will have.

So back to my ah-ah moment or an epiphany as some would call it.

Sunday morning we had our usual waffle breakfast. I cleaned up and decided to steal a few minutes on the computer. I came across a photo that my oldest son had pulled up last week and posted as the screensaver. One of my favorite photos of Noah at 22 months, wearing his Gymbo froggy tee w/matching hat and the shorts that I talked about earlier. Those shorts that I had to make myself because I couldn't snag the real ones.

The picture brought me back to all of my kids. Ever since my oldest, now 16, was about 3 we had been a Gymboree kind of family. I loved their clothing and felt giddy in their store staring at all the mix and match combinations. My daughter had worn mostly Gymboree and she loved going into the store with me and picking out matching purses and shoes. And when Noah was born, I loved shopping for a little guy. I even learned how to resell on Ebay and I think I actually made money on his things in the long run.

A sadness slowly came over me. I knew it was silly, but I couldn't help feel sorry for this little guy growing inside me. This past year has not been a good one for us, and I knew that I would not have the money to shop in Gymboree or any other trendy place, like I had done with all of our previous kids. Tears were coming down my face and I felt a dark mood come over me. But that is when I remembered those little shorts. I remembered how excited I was to create something for Noah with my own 2 hands. And even though they didn't fit him as they should have, to me they were the cutest pair of shorts ever.

Ah, ah.

My mood instantly lifted. I could sew anything my little one would need and it would all be special because it was from mama with lots of love. What could be better than that?

After all, I had the machines, more fabric than anyone could ever use and a creative brain with some talent that God had gifted me with. I didn't need big brand names with flashy price tags or sale signs that tempted me with their deals to be had. I had me, a sewing mama. I would sew everything for the new baby and not buy anything from the retail stores. Our baby could live on mama made for at least the first 365 days of his life! Really. I could sew all the cloth diapers, all of his clothing and well thankfully I even provide the milk!

So I grabbed all of my ottobre magazines and thumbed through them, marking pages as I went. I gathered my tracing supplies and began tracing cute pattern after pattern, mentally noting what a baby might need.

And then I remembered the froggy fabric. The fabric that I had purchased for Noah, but sadly didn't use until he was over his frog phase. I had saved just a little of that fabric, hoping one day to be able to use it for someone special. This was my chance. I chose another few fabrics that seemed to coordinate well and set everything on the cutting table. It was late and I could not wait to get up the next morning and begin!

Monday morning I cut everything out with a smile on my face, my family thought I was a little too happy! I started with the striped romper first, a cute stripe that was overrun from Chez Ami.

The pattern is ottobre 1/2009, #3, modified to be a lap shoulder style, so that I could omit the zipper in the back. I really don't like zippers on little baby clothing. I appliqued a cute frog that matched my fabric and added a hat too. The hat was a free tutorial, I can't find the link but it was from blessdesigns.net I think. The ottobre pattern looks to be true to size, maybe a little big. The one thing that I noted was the front crotch where the snaps go, is longer than the back. Something to change before I sew the next one.

On Tuesday, I decided to dive into the tees. I had cut 3 out using the ottobre sign tee from 3/2009. Note to all: It runs huge! I traced the size 62 with no seam allowances and it still looked like it would fit a 1 year old if not 2! I stopped and recut the pattern using the chest and length measurements from their lap tee pattern and went back to the drawing board. Luckily I was able to recut from the mess up tee,not wasting my precious froggy fabric. I then made another one in white with a frog on the front and one in black with the frog on the sleeve.

Tees sew up quickly, so I was still able to sew up a diaper from the froggy fabric. This one is cut from the free darling diapers newborn pattern, although I highly recommend purchasing her diaper unlimited pattern. Loads of diapers, great instructions, very visual, if like me pictures work for you! You can find it here and somewhere there on her website you will see the free download.

http://www.darlingdiapers.com/buyddu.html

For this diaper, I used a knit on the outter, 2 layers of knit terry for the hidden and a layer of suedecloth for the inner. I really like how it turned out and think I need to make a couple of more to match the other pieces.

On Wednesday, I set about sewing up the shorts and romper out of a cute striped seersucker. I love seersucker. Something about newborns just makes me think about jon jons and seersucker!

The jon jon is from Ottobre 3/2007 and I traced it with no seam allowance sz 62. Please note on this one, ottobre messed up when doing the facings. They cut them out of the fold which is great, however they didn't account for the seams that the outter fabric uses down the middle. So when I got to the last part and sewed the facings on they were to big for my jon jon. I made it work, but noted next time to make sure and cut them smaller to allow for the s/a on the outter.

The shorts are the baby ahoy shorts ottobre 3/2009. These sew up very quickly and I ommitted the back pockets on mine. Very cute and easy too!

The last thing I did was to sew up the terry pants from ottobre 3/2006. I don't care for these at all. I traced a sz 62 with no seam allowance, but really your baby would have to have one big bottom to fit in these. They look cute with the tee, but I think I will cross them off my list!And here it all is together. My first collection, all for my little boy. It may not seem like much, but to me, it is a new way to look on life. I have realized that sewing from the heart is one of the best gifts I can give to my new one. One day I can tell him the story about how I realized that having all the money to buy things for him would not bring me happiness. But being able to give him all of my love would bring me the greatest joy in all the world!
Now I am off to sew! I picked out another fun fabric from the shelves yesterday and dyed it a fun new color. I have already started planning in my head and can't wait to begin cutting!