My Sewing Blog

This is the sling I made just before new year. I used a Girasol wrap sling. I measured myself and decided on how long I wanted the tail to get the length, then I cut it. It was a bit scary! The wrap originally cost about £40! I over locked the raw edge, then sort of pleated it to fit it through the rings. I just folded along the different lines of colour. I threaded the end through the sling rings then sewed it down. I found a decorative double zig zag stitch, and decided to sew that between the lines I'd sewn for extra strength. The baby changed the stitch when I was in the middle of sewing, so its a bit wonky at one bit. And that was it done! It hadn't occured to me that the wrong side of the fabric would be showing on the tail though - maybe I should have sewed it the other way round, so I could have the right side showing. I think the rings are a bit low on my shoulder in the picture too. I always seem to have that problem with ring slings. The rings slide down when I'm

Some more lunch box pictures! (sorry for the coloured text! My blog is refusing to put a space between my paragraphs and its all just a big long mess) Spaghetti fritata (again) on mixed leaf salad, half a crusty roll and butter, carrot sticks, cucumber sticks and strips of red pepper with guacamole dip and a piece of chocolate brownie cake (yum!). Photography by E. Lentil soup - turned out way more watery than usual, half a tiger roll and butter, mixed grapes, slice of orange and a mini chocolate brownie. Photography by E. Asian style pasta salad, mini pitta, piece of cheese, cherry tomato, carrot sticks and nacho cheese dip, melon, strawberry, grapes and blueberries. The pasta salad came from the Laptop Lunches recipe book. I wasn't sure I was going to like it, but it was extremely delish! It's made with cooked pasta, broccoli, carrot, (any other random veg you feel like!) and bean sprouts. The dressing is made with sesame oil, soy sauce, sesame seeds and some crushed garlic.

I just finished sewing the last one! These are made with the Kayla's Cloth Kits sized pattern. I made the large size. They're all pocket nappies that I plan on stuffing with small sized prefolds. The pattern recommends stuffing with a microfibre cloth, but I've never been able to find any good sized ones around here. I seem to have quite a few in shades of blue. I'd really like to get some green PUL to even up my rainbow a bit! All the inners are made from suedecloth fabric (except the orange, which has a black microfleece inner). I've never used suedecloth before. I'm not sure if I like it or not. It's nice that it doesn't stretch while you are sewing, but it feels kind of synthetic. Thanks to M's help I managed to squeeze 7 inners out of 1 yard of the tan coloured suedecloth. They say men have a better spatial awareness, so I asked him to help me fit as much as possible onto the fabric. I got the suedecloth in a swap. The penguin one I bought

The children got a laptop lunchbox each for their Christmas this year, and I got a book about healthy lunches. Here's what we've come up with so far. A spaghetti frittata (good way to use up left over spaghetti), lettuce and cherry tomatoes, tortilla chips (i made them myself) and tomato salsa to dip them in and a fruit salad. BBQ tofu baguette, carrot sticks and cherry tomatoes (underneath the carrot sticks), apple wedges and toffee to dip them in and a fruit salad with blueberries, strawberries and kiwi. Sausage & barley salad (made with veggie sausage, barley, garlic, tinned tomatoes and oregano), a boiled egg (made star shaped with my egg mold), grapes and a clemintine and some strawberry yoghurt. Pizza calzone - bit too big for the lunch box! (made with veggie mince, carrots, red peppers, onion, garlic and mozzarella cheese), a carrot and raisin salad, chopped apricot and cherries and a mini packet of sweets (not at all healthy!). This one has been partially scoffed!

Just totalling up what I've sewn over 2008... x37 nappies x15 pocket nappies x12 nappy covers x10 mini diapers x3 sets of washable wipes x5 wool soakers x5 pairs of EC pants x1 bag x1 nightdress x4 breastfeeding tops x1 camisole top x2 pairs of pj trousers x2 baby dresses x1 SCC style sling x1 pair of baby overalls x3 felted balls (but they don't count since they're not really sewing) x1 smocked shepherd suit x1 pair of yoga pants and, just before new year x1 ring sling - but no photos of that yet. I don't think I've bought too much fabric this year. What I have bought has been needed to finish off some projects. My goals for 2009 are probably pretty much the same as last year! To sew more! I'd like to make a bit of a dent in my fabric stash. And I'm going to try and be more organised, like starting my mothers day gifts pretty much now! Maybe an Easter dress for E and an outfit for R. And I plan on starting my Christmas sewing some time around August.