Faux Chenille Blanket

Last week I finished another blanket for baby boy #2, somehow it's taken me all week to get around to posting it.

It is a faux chenille blanket based on Dana's tutorial that you can find here.  It was a bit time consuming, but I finished it in a couple of days, and I'd definitely make one again.

I purchased all of my fabric at Joann's.  The back is a fine wale corduroy, and the front has three layers of broadcloth.  The top layer is a bright green, the center layer is a jade green, and the bottom layer is a turquoise blue much like the binding.

I've only washed and dried this blanket once.  I'm sure that the more it's washed the softer the "chenille" rows will become.  I have a feeling that using flannel rather than broadcloth would cause the blanket to fray up even more, but I wasn't in love with any of the flannel that Joann's had to offer.

Itty Bitty Remix at Me Sew Crazy

Today I'm joining a wonderfully talented collection of bloggers and sewists for a fun little series called Pattern Remix, at Me Sew Crazy.  Jess is our gracious (and extremely talented) host,  and today it's my turn to show off my itty bitty remix contribution.

Hop over to her blog to check out my project, and don't forget to check out the past entries.    

The Piped Pocket Infant Skirt Pattern and Tutorial

I was glad to hear that so many of you were interested in a tutorial for the Piped Pocket Skirt.  I've done my best to create a printable pattern, and hopefully it will be helpful. This pattern is for an infant skirt, and I've tried to size it to be about a 3-6 month size, but you could easily adjust it to fit a larger or smaller baby by adjusting the length and the amount of elastic gather.

The Partly Cloudy Infant Sun Dress

So you're probably assuming that I'm pregnant with a baby girl, seeing that all of the sewing projects I've done lately have been baby girl related. The truth is that we still don't know.  Hopefully by early next week we'll have some news.  I had this idea for a little dress recently, but I only had enough fabric for an infant sized dress, so that's what I made.  I guess that by next week I'll know if I'm going to be keeping it for our baby bump, or giving it to one of the many baby girls that has been born recently.

The dress is simple in design, and has three pintucks on the bodice, and two at the bottom of the dress.  I used two different widths of ric-rac to have add a little peek-a-boo of color.

The raw edges of the dress are finished off with a coordinating bias tape, which also serves as the shoulder ties.

I did my best to match up the pintucks and ric-rac on the side seams.  I was pretty pleased that they matched up as well as they did.

I left the back of the dress bare, with exception on the two pintucks and row of ric-rac at the bottom edge of the dress.

I still haven't tried the dress on an actual baby.  I'm guessing that it will probably fit a 9-12 pound baby, but I'm not positive on that.  Once I figure out the exact sizing I'll consider doing a tutorial with pattern for the dress.

On a related note, I'm hoping to have a tutorial and pattern available for the piped baby skirt later this week.  I have the photos taken, I just need to scan in and prepare the pattern.

Thanks for reading, and happy sewing!

Sweetie Pi Baby Onesie and Piped Skirt

One of my favorite sections of Etsy to browse is the section labeled "Geekery".  It's not that I am necessarily drawn to anything from the section, but I love to see what others add.

I recently attended a baby shower for my cousin's wife and baby.  My cousin just graduated from college with a degree in mathematics.  I thought that it would be a bit fun to make a onesie that was just for dad. Who knows if Mama will actually let the little girl sport the onesie, but I had fun coming up with the onesie, and finding my own little spot in the world of Geekery.

The ones itself is freezer paper stenciled.  If you happen to have a math geek in your family, and want to make a similar onesie, just email me, and I'll send you the file. Obviously the reference to mathematics comes from the Pi symbol.  I had originally planned on stenciling on "Daddy's Sweetie Pi", but I thought I'd make it as simple as possible.

I wanted to make a skirt to go along with the onesie.  I came up with this little number.  It has actual pockets with piping around the edges, and several buttons set inside.  I used the same white pom pom trim that I used on this shirred sundress.

One of the things that I really like about the skirt is the fact that the front is flat, and the elastic gathers the skirt between the pockets.

I can't wait to try out this skirt again.  I still have some gray corduroy left, so I may do a gray and yellow version a bit later.  Anyone interested in a tutorial? 

Thanks for reading.  I'll be sharing a few other simple baby shower gifts a little later.

Happy sewing!

Comfy Kids Pants

If you've been following Celebrate the Boy on Made, then I'm sure that you've seen Dana's fantastic tutorial on Kids Pants.  Clark seems to run out of pants before anything else, so I decided to make up a pair for him. Normally, I don't like plain pants, but I love the slightly flared leg, and wide hem on these pants.

I ended up shortening Dana's pattern a bit, though I wish that I would have left the length for a wider cuff.  Dana says that the pants fit a slim/tall 2-3 year old.  My son is not quite two and a half, and normally wears a 2T in pants.  These pants were a bit snug through the diaper area.  If he were just wearing undies, they probably would fit a bit more comfortably.  

To be quite honest, I didn't read her tutorial, and I took the liberty of using a 5/8 inch seam allowance.  If I'd used 3/8 of an inch, they would probably have fit better through the behind.

 Clark loves these pants.  They must really be comfortable.  I did sneak one small pocket on the back of the left side of the pants, unfortunately I wasn't able to get a clear shot of it.

Dana recommends doing two stitching lines on the hem of the pants.  I recommend finishing the raw edge of the hem, turning the hem up, and then using a twin needle.  Using a twin needle ensures that your stitch lines are uniform.

Never used a twin needle before?  You can find more information on twin needle stitching here.

Baby Girl Cords and Babushka Onesie

I thought that I'd let you take a better looks at the newborn cords that I made for my niece.  They are the same basic pattern as the boy's version, but I added a ruffle to the bottom, rounded the pockets (front and back), and added some pom pom trim.

I think that I need to go back and add a faux fly, and a ribbon bow at the top of the waistband, but those are just little details.

I needed a top to go with the cords, and I decided that this babushka applique from Ottobre fit the bill.  I love the bright colors, and think that it is a cute little image for what is bound to be a cute little girl.

I hope that you all have a fantastic weekend.  Monday I'll show you a few of the things that I've been working on for my booth.

For tips on making rounded pockets read this post.

I'll be linking here.

Hip for the Holidays: The Toddler

Hip for the holidays is winding down, and I hope that you've enjoyed a few of the things that I've shared.  I'll pop in tomorrow with a tutorial for a simple hair accessory, and Friday I'll feature some of my favorite projects from the Hip for the Holidays link party.  If you have any projects that you want to share, please feel free to link them up.

This is somewhat of a repeat from yesterday, but I am pleased with the results so I thought that I'd share.  Before I made the newborn baby cords, I made this pair of black cords for Clark.  He seems to be growing like a weed, and his Sunday wardrobe is seriously lacking.  I decided that he needed a new pair of pants, and that I was going to make them for him.

I had some medium weight black corduroy that my mom picked up at a garage sale earlier this year.  It was a very nice weight for a pair of pants, and should hold up well.  I picked out Clark's best fitting pair of pants from his closet, and used them to draft a pattern.  I'm not very experienced in sewing pants, so this was a whole new experience.  I had to make my guest guess at creating the fly, and the pockets, and the belt loops, but these are all details that I feel "make" a pair of pants.