My Sewing Blog

I just finished up these two pairs of pyjamas. The top on the first pair is from Kwik Sews Sewing for Toddlers book. I hemmed the sleeves instead of using cuffs. I followed the instructions for the non-ribbing neckline, but I think it has made the neckline too wide. The bottoms are long johns from Ottobre 3/04 or 4/04. They look adorably cute! The hem of the top looks a bit wavy in my photo though. I used a mock coverstitch on my sewing machine instead of switching my overlocker to coverstitch. Its such a hassle to switch it to the coverstitch setting! The second pair has the Kwik Sew top and Kwik Sew pj bottoms. I did buy the brown interlock to make something for myself! But I'm not sure I'll have enough for my project. I'm going to use the rest of it to make another pair of pjs. I think I will try an Ottobre pattern for the top this time. I'm also going to make 2 hooded tops for R with it. The pattern isn't for a hooded top, but I am just going t...

For the first time in ages I have actually been quite productive! Firstly I made another hoodie from the Lil Blue Boo pattern for W. He loves it. I found it a bit harder making one of the larger sizes. The green top was xl size, but the black was only an L so there wasn't as much fabric available. I ended up cutting the sleeves from further up the t.shirt and having to hem them myself. The black band around the hood had to be cut from a piece of black jersey from my stash. The print is terribly squint though! It looked squint and very off centre on the original t.shirt. I thought I'd done a good job of cutting it till I sewed the bottom band on. Argh ! It looked hideous! There was no way I could really fix it. Its going to be on moving child though, so I doubt anyone will notice. I plan on making a few more of these. Then I made some girls pyjamas from a 1970s pattern. They certainly look 70s! Whats with trousers that almost go up to your chest??? I still need to ...

My brother was getting rid of a lot of his old t.shirts. I knew they would come in handy for something! I made this top in the T3 size for R but it is too big still. I never have much luck with sizing! The pjs I made recently from the Kwik Sew pattern were T2 and they're a little bit on the small side. I used two t.shirts to make this, and I think it turned out really nicely. The print on the front is a bit high though. Its not the best photo. I am going to make some more of these soon.

We got some t.shirts from my cousin recently. One was a Harry Potter t.shirt (apparently! I've never read the books or watched the films - its not something that appeals to me). E is the only one that likes Harry Potter, but the t.shirt was a bit boxy and boyish, so I turned it into a girly t.shirt. Ok, the print doesn't look at all girly but she likes it. I used a Jalie pattern and I was able to cut it so I could use the hemmed sleeves and bottom edge which saved a lot of work. Hems are my least favourite parts! Boy t.shirt: Girl t.shirt: I really need to press the seams but my iron is broken! My brother gave me a big bag of t.shirts so I am going to recycle them into some tops for the boys, which will be fun.

I planned to make a costume for R this year. He was going to be a bee, but I thought by the time I buy the pattern (£5) and the fabric (£10-£15) and the other bits and bobs it was going to cost a fortune. So I bought a £7.99 costume. The sewing on it was hideous, and the fabric felt horrible. But it looked effective. Next year... (I say that every year, and suddenly before I know it its Halloween and because its close to Christmas I don't tend to have a lot of spare cash). We did make a costume for S though. I sliced my finger with the tinfoil and it was agony! And burnt myself with the glue gun. Most of the buttons (milk bottle lids) had fallen off by the time we took this picture. Oh!!! I did make the silver trousers he wore. At about 11:55pm the night before.

I spent an evening cutting out fleece nappy covers. I don't even like fleece nappy covers! But I have a lot of fleece just hanging about doing nothing. I also cut out some pyjamas from the Kwik Sewing Sewing for Toddlers book. I always think everything in the book looks very 80's or early 90's, but who cares when it comes to pjs. I sewed up the first pair of pyjamas, and they fit really well. He put them on and went straight outside. If I decide to cut any more out I think I'll do them without the ribbing waist band. The other pair I cut out aren't quite finished yet. I decided to cut out the jumpsuit pattern. It made really cute pjs! And the ribbing I had matched really well. R is helping me by plugging the camera in. Its impossible to get a picture of him these days because he always wants to help. I'm hoping to finish the pjs and start some of the fleece nappy covers tonight. If I sew them assembly-line style then they should be done pr...

I've been doing a little bit of sewing. I'm really in a nappy sewing mood. Unfortunately I've used my very last bit of bamboo fleece, so I can't really make much. I did find some birdseye though, so I used that to make a nappy. I think I'll make a couple more with birdseye. I have on way to me some time soon... some new PUL (greens mostly), some PUL prints and some suedecloth. But no soaker fabrics! I've also got a huge parcel I need to pay shipping on. $80. Gulp. Its mostly knit fabrics and a few patterns. This is the first thing I made. Its a Darling Diapers AIO with a snap in soaker. I still need to get rid of the blue marks, and cut the threads on the soaker. The whole thing needs a wash because both fabrics I used were really dusty. Next I made a sort of t&t/overlocked hybrid nappy. Its knit outer, bamboo fleece hidden layer and bamboo velour inner. I still have to cut and made the snap in soaker, so I used the birdseye soaker in it to give...

This is what we ended up taking camping with us. At the last minute I decided not to take the Imse Vimse nappies to save space. We made it through 4 nights, with two nappies to spare :-)

Sorry, bad pictures again. It was late at night. I made 4 pairs of these. They did say the sizing was 18-24lbs - but they looked as if they'd fit. The pattern was already cut out on my desk, and I've run out of tracing paper to trace any more. I tried them on the babe this morning and they do fit quite well. They are a bit on the small side, but they'll do. But he says "No! Hate!" lol.

Suddenly it seems like quite an achievement now that I see them all together - and realise that 5 can probably see us through a whole day if he has some nappy free time. Pictures are pretty awful. My camera was on easy shoot mode. Never really had a problem with that before. Maybe the lighting wasn't quite right. I've got a dark brown one, a navy, a baby blue and two print ones. The navy and brown one are front fastening ones, with touchtape. I was rushing so they look as if I've been sewing while drunk! They look bad. But they'll do the job. The rest are side fastening, with touchtape. I realised that I couldn't put fold back laundry tabs on the front of the side fastening ones because I wouldn't be able to get the inserts right to the front. I used free moving elastic in the first ones I made, which ended up looking pretty horrible. You can see in the picture, the car print one - it looks all kind of lumpy. It's maybe not the right techni...

I cleared out my drawers recently and I was going to get rid of all my old grayish whites, but a friend suggested I dye them. At first I thought that sounded like too much work, but then I remembered the tie dye kit I've had for YEARS. It was FUN!!! We all want to get some more dye and dye some more t.shirts. The vest top and long sleeved top are mine, and the other one is a t.shirt of W's that I grabbed out of the washing pile. It turned out really great! We all said "Wow!" when I untied it. This turned out pretty cool too, better than my long sleeved top I think. My top is a bit patchy. This looks so cool! The blue and yellow made green, and the yellow and pink made orange, and the pink and blue made purple. Nice! I didn't like the look of the yellow much when I made the dye up. It did look as if the colours were going to make brown when they mixed together. These are some play silks. They were supposed to be backdrops for our nature table. These co...

We have a nappy emergency! We're going camping in a week and we are very short of nappies. The batch of pocket nappies I made a while back are too small now. I haven't really sewn anything in ages. i never seem to have the time. The baby has a 10:30pm bedtime right now, so it always seems too late to start something. But I'm going to have to make time! I'm going got use the Darling Diapers pattern, large size and make some front closing and side closing nappies. I'm going to make them with free moving elastic in the casings, because I think that'll save time. I was going to make the front closing ones with snaps and the side closing ones with aplix, but I might do some with front aplix to save time. The problem is I only have a small amount of suedecloth (that I didn't even know I had till recently!). And I'll probably run out of elastic. Or maybe I already have run out of elastic. A trip to the fabric shop tomorrow I think! I think the pocke...

I made this today. It was really quick to make. I have lots more cut out, but I've run out of fold over elastic. I had a 100yd roll of it! How could I possibly have used that much? This is made from laminated poly knit fabric and a microfleece inner. The blue fleece doesn't match any of the colours in the print, but I think it looks quite good together. Usually with directional prints I cut two pieces and sew them at the crotch, but since this was a waterproof fabric I didn't want to have a big seam that could leak. I put the print right side up on the back, so it looks a bit odd from the front. I made the large size, and it is a bit on the big side. I did think it was a bit big when I was sewing it. The bigger sizes just don't look as cute as the teeny ones either! If I pull the elastic tighter I would maybe get a tighter fit around the legs. I do like the fit though. Its nice that it is under belly fastening. I've stuffed it with a prefold for the p...

It's yummy! These are the fabrics that Ive been collecting over the last few months. These are what I'm going to make R's new nappy stash from. Can't wait to get started, but I need some bamboo or some other absorbent fabric.

I don't know... not sure I really like these. They're made with a pattern from Oliver+S. I haven't hemmed the legs, or put the buttons on. As you can see there isn't much leg to hem! They're going to look like a thong!!! These are a size 2, and R isn't 2 yet, but they're a bit of a tight fit. They seem long and skinny. His little fat tummy is bursting out! I really liked the idea of some short overalls that had a different fabric on the top, but I think these are just aren't practical for a little boy. There isn't much room for movement in them. I'm thinking I might add bands of the contrasting fabric onto the bottom of the legs, rather than hemming them. I think all that blue needs broken up a bit. I think it'll balance them out a bit with the contrast on the legs too. I'm not really loving the pointy button tabs either. I'd rather have the straps go behind the front. It gives more room for adjustment since you can move the butto...

Argh, all the pink is hurting my eyes! These are for a friend. A VERY late baby gift! The ones on the bottom row are Poquito pants. This is the first time I've made some with a waterproof outer. I hope they'll work ok. I felt that they could have done with an extra layer of fabric inside to give them a bit more stability. The chick pair gave me fits! The colour was very hard to match. I have a lot of pinks, but not anything that is such a bright magenta pink. As I was stumbling around in the half dark, trying not to wake R I thought that the wings on the chicks looked a plum colour. I found a fabric that I thought matched really well. In the daylight I realised that they are not plum at all, they are 100% chocolate brown! Ideally I'd have used white, but the only white I had was really thin and unstretchy. I also seamed the chick ones at the crotch, since its a directional print. That way the chicks will be facing up on both sides. All the really brigh...

Here are all the cloth wipes I've made so far: I think there are about 40-something of them. I made them the same size as a disposable wipe, but maybe they'd be nicer if they were just a little bit bigger. I stacked them concertina like, the way disposable wipes are in the packet, so when you pull one up the next one is handy to be pulled out. But they all stick together and won't come apart when you pull them. Maybe if they were wet it would be ok though. This picture isn't too good. It was getting dark. The ones on the top row are flannel on both sides. The space fabric and dog fabric are backed with hemp stretch terry. I've got a couple more of the dog ones still to sew, but I ran out of the rainbow thread. The cat ones are flannel on both sides. I used pink thread on one side and blue on the other. But you can't see that at all in the picture. These are yummy! They're nice thick interlock fabric. Mostly for nappies, ...

Was just merrily sewing some wipes on the overlocker when there was a big bang. A needle exploded, scattering tiny sharp bits everywhere! Got stabbed in the boob!!!!!! Well, at least it wasn't my eye. I have cloth wipes now :-) LOTS of them! As soon as I have fished all the pieces of needle out of the machine and replaced it I can finish sewing the rest of them. I think I've done about 35 so far. I'm hoping to stop buying disposable products in an effort to be more eco-friendly. I won't need to buy disposable baby wipes any more. I had stopped buying kitchen roll, but M just bought some. To clean the windows he said. But I think flannel fabric will do a better job. I might make some "un-paper towels" for using in the kitchen. And I think i might make a small stack of cloth napkins for the children to use at the table. Not fancy cloth napkins like you'd get at a restaurant. Probably just some flannel squares to wipe their hands on. I'm also working on a...

The end of my weeks challenge... and I did nothing! R didn't go to sleep till 10:30pm and I was a bit tired. I did sort through some things that just need a couple of things done to finish them. And I cut out a pattern. I don't think I did too badly this week. R has a new nappy and outfit and a pair of waterproof trousers for wet days. I've got a new top. And the smocked Ollie outfit is finally finished off (just about 5 years too late!) I think over the next few days I'll work on finishing off a few more things then move on to some new projects. I'm trying hard to keep my sewing area tidy, clearing up after every project. Sewing goes much faster when you know where everything is and don't have to spend half an hour hunting around for a seam ripper or fabric marker. I've bought a "few" more things in a couple of fabric co-ops. I can't wait to have a stack of lovely new knits to sew with. I'm also getting some new colours of PUL -...

Waterproof trousers - well at least I think they are waterproof. They're made with a nylon fabric. Not very good to work with while you have a baby sleeping next to you! Its very noisy. These needed the crotch seam sewn. I'm not sure why I hadn't done it. I think these were from a Kwik Sew pattern, and are a size T2. They fit Mr Fluff perfectly! I was going to put elastic into the bottom of the legs, but I couldn't find a safety pin to thread the elastic with. I can always do it later. Its lined with a light weight micro fleece on the top part. I also finished off a KCK One nappy. It needed sewn together, elastic put in and all the velcro put on. I think I made a mistake with this. I didn't have the original pattern in front of me, so i cut the loop on the outside of the wings to 3 inches. I think it might have been 3.5 inches because it looks a little bit short compared to the others I have. But it doesn't really matter because we don't use th...

Yay! It's finished!!! But one of the snaps is squint. And I just noticed a tiny scissor cut in the cuff of the shirt! I'm not sure if it happened while I was trimming the threads or if it was there when I started working on it. Ignore the little feet in the picture. He was asleep on the bed while I was taking pictures. The arm hole bindings are terrible, and I don't think the front button band is right at the bottom. I couldn't understand the instructions for that so I just did the best I could. The backs - I put snaps on the back of the shirt too. You were supposed to use buttons, but I was fed up with the project and I just wanted to get it done. The very unhappy little boy modelling it! Everyone came charging up the stairs and woke him up so he wasn't in a good mood. E is trying to make him stand up so I could take a picture and he is shouting at her! Huggles with mama made him feel better! We swapped the...