eat! craft! live!

:: photo friday :: sewing!

summertime, summertime

Oh, summer. What have I been up to? Clearly not blogging... Mostly because I've been, well, living.

Started off the season with some gorgeous flowers...hyacinths! (Which, if you've been 'round these parts very long, you know are some of my very favorites.)

There were also (and will always be) some whoopie pies. Oh, the deliciousness. My favorites come from the bakery down the street - Borealis Breads. Yum.

There was some music-ing...

And somebody's very first beach trip...

(Well, the first one where she could actually appreciate it, anyway...) Followed by some more beach trips...

And some more... Love that sand!

There were a lot of hot lazy days spent playing with blocks and baby pools.

There was even some sewing! Here, the lovely E is stacking some rings in her beautiful new handmade dress!

And some more sewing... Love that dress pattern!

I gardened. Quite a bit actually. And I had every intention of blogging about my experience, but...well...maybe I'll get around to an end-of-season recap?

We had play dates!

And parties!

And, of course, I just had to sew a party dress to go to some of those parties...

There was swinging and sliding...

I just had to sew another pair of shoes, before E outgrew the pattern...

There's been a lot of jam and jelly making and other preserving. Like whoa. A lot. Here, vanilla peach oolong. There's also been strawberry lime jam, blackberry jelly, maple strawberry smooch, strawberry lemonade concentrate, salsa verde and more on the agenda...

In addition to all that, I dyed yarn all summer for Picnic at the end of August. My first time vending as a yarnie! (I've done craft shows before, but not with the yarn...)

Finally, at the end of it all, when I was feeling a little stressed out by all that was happening, we went on vacation! A week at the lake, even if part of it is spent with no power or running water (thanks, Irene!) is a wondrous thing.

To top off the vacation, my dear father turned 60. Party! And he got to spend the day with his granddaughter. (Among others...) Possibly my favorite moment this summer.

So I may not have been blogging, or commenting on your blogs, or, honestly, even reading them most of the time, but I'm here. I've been checking in and catching up periodically but I feel like an ass commenting on months-old posts often, so I read, and move on. And live. It's been a good summer for us. I hope the same is true for you!

:: photo friday :: finally got it right

It may have taken me a few previous (equally lovely) tries...

:: photo friday :: pins, no needles

bibs...that work!

One of my pet peeves about most of the store-bought bibs that E received from various well-meaning friends and family members is that they're just too darn small. They might have been fine to protect a drooly infant's onesie but they're hardly sufficient for keeping a growing toddler's dinner out of her lap.

So I made some! I've already shared with you the tag blankie and dress from Lotta Jansdotter's Simple Sewing for Baby. And now...bibs! They are perfect - they're nice and BIG, with a side velcro closure and a pocket to catch all those little bits that tend to fall (or are forcefully ejected) from little mouths.

I bought a bunch of laminated cotton to make these - that way they're waterproof. (And adorable! I had no idea how many awesome prints there would be in laminated cotton.) Had I been thinking about being thrifty, I probably would have just picked up some cheap oilcloth tablecloths to deconstruct. But, as it was, I purchased a slew of half-yards of fabric and after making a half dozen or so bibs, I still have plenty left. Maybe a little raincoat is in E's future?

Now...about sewing with laminated cotton. At first, I was cursing the fabric, my machine and everything else within earshot. It's definitely got some quirks to it and there's something of a learning curve to it! I found some tips here and they helped me better understand the process. I found that with my machine I needed to always sew with the laminated side down or it just wouldn't work. I would definitely practice on a piece of scrap first! The first two bibs I made (and particularly that very first one...yikes) look, well, kind of awful. They function! But they're not very pretty.

One thing about laminated cotton - the manufacturer's tend to say not to put it in the washing machine. I threw caution to the wind and machine-washed all my bibs. Partly because I didn't want to wipe them all down (though really that's pretty easy) and partly just to see what the machine washing would do to them. The results varied widely. Some of the fabrics looked just the same before and after washing. Others, namely several (though not all!) of the Michael Miller prints, didn't fare so well. (This one and this one, specifically.) They are my favorites, except for the washing issue - the fabric is a little stiffer than the others, which would be bad for some applications but is perfect for a bib! The laminate seemed to detach from the cotton, so if you're at all concerned about that, definitely follow the manufacturer's advice and just wipe clean with a damp cloth! They'll certainly last longer.

Little E enjoys her stylin' bibs!

cloth diapering :: make your own!

That belly! Those little legs!

That little cloth-diapered bum!

I can't help it. She's just so darn cute.

Oh, right. I'm supposed to be talking about diapers? This, possibly the last, post is one of an informal series on cloth diapering I've been doing for the past, oh, while. The last one I did was on where to buy cloth diapers but if you're feeling extra crafty and/or thrifty and/or tree-huggery, you can make your own! There are a ton of resources for making your own cloth diapers and I'm just going to to briefly go over my own experience.

First of all, I am no seasoned seamstress. But even I found sewing diapers to be not all that hard! With a small amount of fabric and a bit of elastic, you too can have cute, custom made diapers for your wee one. I used the free Rita's Rump Pocket pattern with no real modifications. It's a fairly simple pocket diaper with elasticized legs and no closures, unless you add them. If you use the right material, they can be closed with a snappi, or you can just use pins. The first few I did in cotton flannel, as seen above.

Then I made a big stack of the same pattern using flannel for the inner and fleece for the outer. A nice cotton flannel inner keeps baby's bum soft and absorbs all the...what you need it to absorb. The fleece outer supposedly is water "resistant" but I always find that it gets pretty wet. No matter - you'd have a cover over it anyway, generally speaking! For the absorbent liner, I sewed a three-layer rectangle of hemp fleece, sized to fit in the pocket.

Above you can see the diaper with the liner outside of it. Easy peasy! The main (well, only) modification I made was to add velcro closures. I originally left them off and intended to just use pins. How hard could it be, right? Well, I don't know if we got stuck with some very dull pins or if I'm just too afraid of poking that cute little babe, but the pins never really worked for us. Thus, well after the fact, I added velcro on the two large tabs. If I had it to do over again, I'd add velcro to the main body of the diaper so the tabs could stick to it, but this would have to be done before the diaper is all sewn up, otherwise you'd be sewing shut part of the pocket that holds the liner. Ask me how I know. *ahem*

They are a "one size" diaper so they should fit your baby for a while. That said, they certainly didn't work for our little string bean until she was no longer a teeny infant. Now, though, they are perfectly functional and I suspect that they will continue to be for a good long while.

the first of many, I'm sure...

Baby dresses, that is! I whipped this up recently for E after I saw this lovely fabric a while back. It's a super soft corduroy fabric and that print! So sweet.

The pattern is from this book and, even for a novice seamstress like myself, it's quite easy. It's a simple A-line dress with a sweet little pocket (and optional pocket friend!)

I've always had a fondness for dresses and tunics over pants and I see no reason why my little girl can't dress the same - it keeps her warm in the cold Maine winter and she gets to wear all her wonderful little summery dresses that were generously passed along to us and have the unfortunate fact of fitting her in the dead of winter. While this particular dress is a wee bit warmer than the hand-me-downs, it certainly still needs a pair of pants underneath. Come spring and summer though, I suspect I will be making a bunch of these in varying fabrics, with some lovely little bloomers to go under! In fact, there's a whale print fabric just waiting to be stitched up into a birthday dress for her...

bathroom sink skirt

From a small pile of fabrics to...a bathroom sink skirt, for one! I have a very small fabric stash, partly because I just really started seriously (heh) sewing only recently and partly because I only buy fabric for specific projects, and only what I need - no more! Which is good for my wallet...and the state of my craft storage.

Our house was built in, from what I can tell, the 1920's and the sink just might be original. If not, it's not much newer. It's the old-fashioned kind that is heavy and enameled and has a separate spigot for hot and cold and they barely stick out far enough to get your hands under the stream of water. Not only that, but it looks old. The underside was all exposed pipes and nearly a century of dust and other people's living. It's the sort of space that no matter how well or how often you clean it, it just never looks pretty. The cats were always getting into the toilet bowl cleaner and whatnot and once E got mobile I could see her eyeing all the goodies under there too. What's a mama to do? Sew an ever-so-fashionable skirt for the sink!

I found the cute fabric at Z Fabrics here in Portland and just loved it. Our bathroom is an odd mixture of disjointed design in yellow and blue and this fabric, containing both, seemed like it just might tie it all together. I saw it on one trip, didn't buy it, then went back and couldn't find it. But I described it to the owner and she knew exactly what I was talking about and right where it was! How awesome is that? Two yards later, here we are!

I just sewed a simple rectangle sized to fit the area I needed to cover over with a wide elastic at the top. At each end, at the top, I sewed a piece of sticky-backed velcro and stuck it to either side of the sink. The velcro makes it easy to remove for washing and the elastic keeps it in one place, but easily pulled away to access things like toilet bowl cleaner. It keeps the cats out but the baby is a little smarter - she likes to pull it off but luckily can't remove the velcro (yet!) so it still keeps everything hidden away from tiny hands. (Anyway, we use only very limited amounts of all-natural cleaning supplies, but who wants their kid chewing on the toilet plunger? Ew.) It adds a great dash of color to the bathroom and makes it all look just a wee bit tidier. Yay for simple fixes!

tag blankie

If you're anything like me, you may never have heard of a tag blankie before you had kids or your friends had kids or you became an aunt or uncle. And then (if you're anything like me) you maybe looked at said tag blanket and thought...what? And if you don't actually know what I'm talking about - tag blankets are these little tiny blankets with tags (ribbons, really) sewn into the sides for kiddos to play with. And they love them.

So I whipped up this little tag blanket for E a while back and it's been a big hit. She loves to grab it and throw it around, tossing it behind her and then turning around to find it. Also, chewing on those ribbons is way cool. We can play peek-a-boo with it. It's hard to drop in the car so it's a great diversion while driving, one she can't easily toss to the floor and then cry about. The ribbons are great to munch on. It makes an adequate last-resort burp cloth or nose-wiper. And did I mention the ribbons? Yeah. The ribbons. They're like baby crack.

I used the simple pattern from Lotta Jansdotter's Simple Sewing for Baby and it only took me part of an evening to throw it together. (And I'm no seamstress, so that's saying something.) I used a lovely, soft cotton flannel and some ribbons I had been saving for who knows how long, with the intention of using them for something eventually. Well, that something finally emerged! The only thing I would do differently is leave out the satiny ribbons. They did not hold up well and, despite being sewn in securely, all but one have fallen off already. The grosgrain ribbons, however, are nice and secure. The blanket measures about 12 inches by 12 inches and the ribbons vary in length - probably between about 1-3 inches. What a fun, quick project!

long time, no see!

Whoa!

It's been a while!

Well. There's been a lot of this:

Leading to a bunch of this:

(Plus, we've all been sick for the better part of the past three weeks...*cough*)

But! I have been doing a bit of sewing! I recently got a new-to-me sewing machine (finally!) and have been very pleased to have sewing capabilities just in the other room, instead of an hour's drive away... I haven't made much yet, but I'll share with you one project that had been on my to-do list for ages - a curtain for the door-less closet in little E's room. For the past 7 months or so, I've been staring at the entire contents of her closet and wishing I could cover them up and close it off. I bought the owl fabric a while back with the intent of sewing up a curtain but the enormous length of it kept putting me off... So, finally, I gathered the courage to tackle all several yards of it and did some ironing...some pinning...some hemming...and voila!

You can see a bit of our diaper stash there in those square shelves...

I'll try to update you on my various crafting endeavors, because I've certainly been knitting and sewing away in what little free time I have these days! I hope everybody is having a great holiday season so far and enjoying this longest night of the year...