Smells like team spirit

We’ve gone far too long without the appropriate apparel to support our favorite team, so I had to correct that.

It was a pretty easy make, what with the Silhouette and its iron-on transfer material, but I wouldn’t do it that way again. The designs are too big and I experienced some frustration with the software/cutter – it wouldn’t cut all the way to the edge of what should be cuttable area. So, I’ve had to do a few re-irons and they’re still not perfect (and the designs don’t lay completely flat), but oh well. I have no access to licensed apparel out here and ordering online from the University itself is way too pricey. I’ll take this alternative.

Baby gifts

Babies seem to come in spurts and lately I’ve had a few friends and acquaintances to give baby gifts to. So, of course, some baby gift making was in order!

For a baby girl:

A ruffled keyhole shirt from a tutorial at Prudent Baby. I skipped the button-up back and made the keyhole a working button instead. The fabric is a simple calico of tossed flowers that I loved and I did a decorative stitch on the bias-bound hems. I love how this shirt turned out, but the Wee One was completely unimpressed and refused to model it for me.

Another Pretty As a Picture dress from Handmade Beginnings. I used up the rest of the purple fabric and didn’t have quite enough to completely frame the panel, so it got a full section of the same calico used in the previous shirt. The last time I gave this dress away, the mama reported to me that she really loved it, so I hope the same rings true here.

For a baby boy (that ended up being born a baby girl – ha!):

 
Some repurposed t-shirts made into 0-6 month baby envelope tees. Pattern was from Growing Up Sew Liberated and worked out quite nicely.

 
And some simple burp clothes. Just terry cloth and some Germania fabric in 10”x15” rectangles.

There you have it. [Hopefully] useful gifts that used fabric I already had on hand and were fun to make. Fun stuff all around!

The great car seat recover

I’d seen this tutorial for recovering a car seat before, then was inspired to look it up again by my friend’s success.

I know there’s debate about recovering car seats, but I mulled it over and felt comfortable with the idea. As the tutorial showed, I used all the original padding and only replaced the top fabric. The previous fabric wasn’t colors that I liked, and it’s “wipeability” meant that it was a super sweaty place for baby. I much prefer the 100% cotton fabric.

I only have one shot of the before:

And several of the after:

  
I was going to do this on the cheap and only use fabric I had in my stash, but then there was a sale… The Erin McMorris bike fabric did me in, and I loved how the grey fabric would look boyish without being too much, and also be dark enough to hide stains. I used nearly the full yard of the bike fabric, but probably only 1.5 (or slightly more) of the 2 yards of grey fabric I bought, including the canopy. I didn’t bother recovering the newborn insert (head and hip support, not pictured), as it’s used for such a short amount of time.

There were several points along the way where I wondered if this project was going to be successful, and the canopy was definitely one of those times. The previous canopy was a total fail – it would flop all over the place and did not stay up to shade the baby at all. It was only a single layer of fabric and the tutorial used a double layer with Heat ‘n’ Bond to keep the layers together. I gave it a shot, but it seemed pretty stiff (and, man, applying that Heat ‘n’ Bond was tedious!). Fortunately, it worked out perfectly. The canopy stays put and is 1,000x better than the original version. I was also proud that I was able to re-create the vinyl peek-a-boo window from the original.

This car seat is on its last leg (stupid expiration dates!), so it’ll only get used through this kiddo’s first year before it’s retired, but I feel like I could tackle the project again someday if necessary. Or just not have more babies. That sounds good too.

Rosette Wreath

Ah, Pinterest. While perusing one day, I came across this wreath. I wanted to make a thoughtful and nice Christmas gift for a friend and, fortuitously, she ended up pinning the same wreath. That means it’s a winner, right? So I set to work.

I started out with 40 sheets of cardstock and made up the shapes in my Silhouette software so I wouldn’t have to cut them by hand. (If you have a Silhouette and would like the file, let me know and I can send it to you. They do sell them, but I’m cheap, so I made my own.) I rolled and glued per the tutorial (skipping the glittering part) and ended up needing another full 10 sheets of cardstock.

The project ended up taking a lot more time and materials than I had counted on, but it did turn out very nicely.

Of course, I discovered that Target has this wreath for $40 and have seen a smaller red one (very similar to the one I made) for about $20. The materials cost on this was over $15 – probably around $18. DIY fail? Maybe.

But, my friend seemed to legitimately like it, so that was fabulous. Gift fail? Nope.

Old project

I made this skirt probably a year ago, but it sat for quite awhile while I waited for a coordinating shirt. I finally acquired a shirt that matched well enough and went with it. The skirt is from this tutorial, but didn’t turn out quite as well as the example. It was one of my first times working with knits (and not just knit, but rayon knit, which is quite wiggly) and my old machine had a hard time with all the gathers.

The problem also arose that I never managed to get a good picture of it. This is as good as it gets (it was taken back in June).

I wasn’t all that happy with the skirt when I first made it, what with the troubled-looking gathers, the fact that it ended up being too long, and the non-existent waistband, meaning it was a bit loose. Plus, that rayon doesn’t hide anything. There’s a lot of prepwork before wearing this thing out – you’ve got to make sure there are NO wrinkles in your underclothing! But now that the belly is big enough to hold the skirt up and at a decent length, and I’ve had enough time to get over the imperfections, I’ve made my peace with this skirt. It’s in the regular Sunday rotation and I even got a compliment on it the other week. Huzzah!

Early Empire Cinch

Aside from a few really cute outfits that a friend loaned me, my maternity wardrobe is pretty lame. I had one dress in particular that I never wore much in my last pregnancy because it was super tent-like and not flattering. Now that belts are so popular, though, I knew that a belt would be an easy solution. And what’s better than a homemade belt made from fabric you already have on hand?

 (image source: The Cottage Home, who, incidentally, made her own lovely cinch)

I was a little nervous about using bright colors or doing the patchwork, as I wanted it to match anything in my wardrobe. So, I went with the cop-out: fabrics with the base colors of ivory and gray, and patterns that weren’t too clashy. The cinch is reversible and can be worn with the ties in the front or back, with the widest part of the cinch in front or back. Quite customizable!

I probably should have taken pictures of it with the dress for which it was intended, but I find myself wearing it frequently, even with fitted t-shirts, so this will do. (And is this collage evidence of what appropriate posing can do to flatter your figure or what? I look so much smaller in some of the shots that others…)

Simple gifts

At church, I serve with three other ladies in the women’s organization and needed a simple (and quick, since I didn’t think about it until we were getting ready to go out of town…) gift for them for Christmas. I haven’t been serving with these women for all that long, so, honestly, I don’t know a ton about them. That meant that personalized gifts were out, so I had to figure out a decent generic gift. This is what I came up with:

Crocheted dishcloths and scrubbers, Bath and Body Works soap, and a treat (a bag of homemade chocolate and vanilla popcorn – not pictured). The scrubbers were a neat design and worked up pretty quickly. They’re on Ravelry here. The dishcloths are a Lion Brand design, found via Ravelry, but the pattern is from their site.

The scrubbies are a great way to use up old acrylic. (I used cotton for the dishcloths, though.) I might have to make a few more of those. All in all, I think this was a successful gift.