Beginner Sewing - Baby Clothes

Back in 2009 when I lived in Guam I bought myself a really nice Brother XL2600i sewing machine. When I came back to the states to live in San Diego I had a bunch of my stuff shipped by boat, including the machine. Let's just say that Guam shipping stores don't have the same standards as a UPS here in the states, so it wasn't packed as well as I would have hoped. When it finally arrived there were some pieces broken off. I completely thought it was busted! It ended up in storage while I lived in Missouri and Alaska for four whole years. When I finally got it back it stayed in a closet until my mom got here. I don't know the first thing about fixing sewing machines so I had my her check it out for me. It turns out it was totally fine and works like normal! Sweet.

I used the tutorial for the knot baby hat below. I love it! I didn't use a tutorial for the leggings, which is why they came out a little wrinkled between the legs. I was hoping for a harem pant look, but I think I still need to work on it.

Upcycled Leggings - Useful if you already own a pair of baby leggings in the right size.

Baby Headband - I've been in love with these forever but I didn't want to pay $13 for just one little headband, especially considering how easy they are to make.

Top Knot Baby Hat - This pattern by Pretty Pruden is awesome!

Onesie Dress - From Smile and Wave. If I weren't saving those plain white onesies for the next baby I would have made a bunch of these!

Fitted Cloth Diaper - This looks like a pretty decent tutorial for a cloth diaper, but this is supposed to be only a liner. I wouldn't spend the time sewing a liner like this when I can just fold up a flat cloth diaper and put it into the cover. I think you could still use this idea for a diaper cover if you made the inner layer with waterproof fabric or with wool.

Toddler Yoga Pants - I'm in love with these!

I'm also in love with this:

Have fun sewing!

DIY Diaper Cover... Whales!

How cute is this? Joe and I plan on using cloth diapers. It's what my parents used, it's cheaper and less wasteful. Of course, since Babies R Us doesn't have ANY cloth diaper covers on their website I decided to make some of my own instead. I used Sew Baby, Snap Happy Diaper Covers pattern F704. I highly recommend using velcro instead of snaps, it's WAY cheaper!

I love the cute whale pattern! I have a woodland creature pattern I'm going to use next. It was hard not to buy ALL the fabrics since there were so many cute ones! Mushrooms? YES! Owls? YES! I used a water resistant nylon for the lining inside. I hope it holds up! I could find any officially "waterproof" fabric so I took a gamble on the utility nylon.

Peter Pan Collar Dress

This was such a quick project! I actually sewed the whole thing in a day and a half! The only reason I needed the half day was because I hand sewed the zipper on, otherwise it would have been a one day project. 

I found this fabric at a thrift shop (it's an Ikea design, probably meant for curtains) and used Simplicity 1873 for the bodice pattern. I ended up not having enough fabric to do the skirt in the pattern, so I just used a rectangle to make one instead. That was a good idea, I think, since I wanted the stripes on the bodice and the skirt to be perpendicular which wouldn't have worked out as perfectly if I used the curved skirt pattern. I also took the scalloped collar from Simplicity 1609 and redrew it to fit this bodice.

I actually wore it today to the DMV and got my Alaska drivers license photo in it. The lady at the counter complimented me on it. Isn't it nice when you make something yourself and someone says "I like your dress" instead of saying "Did you make that?" I think that means you've moved on from sucking to actually being good at it!

Linking up with Friday Fab Favorites and Casual Friday Link Up!

The Perfect Pattern

I really want to design and sew a lot more dresses. I'm sure there are many people like myself who go on sites like Modcloth and just melt looking at all the pretty dresses, and then cringe over the  price. I don't do much clothes shopping because it's hard to find things that I like enough to spend the money on. Online shopping is always iffy as well. I'm also not the type of person who has "shoppers remorse" that buys something and returns it later. This makes online shopping annoying because I don't want to end up returning something in the mail.

My problem lately is that I haven't been able to find the perfect pattern. I want something that is simple and basic that can be altered to look different each time I use it to make another dress. It also needs to require a reasonable yardage of fabric so that I don't have to spend $50 on materials (I might as well just buy a ready to wear dress!)

I found this image and it looks like the perfect pattern! I think it is a Burda pattern. Hopefully I can find it this weekend. 

Do you have any "perfect patterns" that you use over and over?

Dia De Muertos Hoodie

I'm so happy I finished up this hoodie! I am excited to start on Joe's bear print hoodie next. It's too bad that the hoodie material is so expensive because I have so many ideas for more. I would love to make one with a lace back for summer. I can probably find some used fabric at a thrift store an make another one fairly cheap.
I really love the heart shaped elbow patches - I cut out a Catrina for one elbow and a sugar skull for the other. The green zipper is a nice detail too.

The pups in the background was sitting happily on a snow pile, haha!

I used the lining fabric for the inside of the pockets too.

Yellow Dress and a Makeover Party

Today we had a fun girls day! We watched Clueless and our friend Mandy did our makeup. I wore my yellow dress I sewed today, but with this sexy makeup I feel like I need to wear a little black dress. I played with little Jeremiah too. Babies love to pull hair!

Weekend Sewing Project

I finished up my Simplicity dress Friday afternoon and wore it out on Saturday. I wanted to get a picture but I'm very shy about taking photos and I couldn't get one that I liked. I'll get one next weekend though, since I'll be at my friends wedding! 

Other than that we spent the weekend baking cookies and picking out fabric to make hoodies. We were probably in the fabric store for a good three hours picking out fabric and patterns. Joe picked out a grey sweatshirt fabric with a cool wild animal print for the lining. I picked the same color fabric with a Día de Muertos print for the lining.

I almost finished up my hoodie today but it turned out the size was a little too small. I'll have to take off the zipper and the bottom hem to fix it. I added heart shaped elbow patches that I'm pretty happy with.

Mrs. Peacock loved playing with the scraps from the pattern. Silly kitty.

Joe loves to make Cookie Monster impressions while we bake cookies :)

Yellow Dress

I've been working on this dress for a few weeks now. Well, more like I worked on it for about two days and then let it sit around for two weeks before I picked it up again. From the looks of it I think I might make this same dress again with different fabric! I'm doing version B, with the sleeves, which is coming out really cute so far. 

The sleeves were a little tricky because I couldn't understand what the pattern was trying to tell me to do. By far the most annoying part was trying to put in the pockets! I made the mistake of using a french seam on the curved pockets instead of a mock french seam, so things got a little funky. Trying to figure out which parts needed to be sewn right sides together or wrong sides together was tripping me out as well. Eventually I figured it out and the pockets turned out okay. Luckily I discovered that I could place pleats strategically over the pockets so the seams that got a little messy wouldn't show.

I'm happy with the colors I picked out as well. I'm already scheming which fabric patterns I will use for the next version of this dress!

Autumn Plaid Skirt

This Saturday I used my Burda Young 7229 pattern to make this Fall/Winter skirt. I really love it! I feel like this is the most "finished" piece of clothing I've sewn yet. I tend to get lazy and I take short cuts, which I regret later. I think I will use this pattern again once I find some good fabric.

I wish I had the motivation to take some nicer photos outside, but it's chilly here in Alaska (it snowed yesterday) and I don't feel like driving out to place where there are no other people just to take pictures. 

I found a few great vintage pieces on my trip home that I will have to take photos in. I am also anxiously waiting for my wedding photos to arrive in the mail! I know I'll be doing another blog re-vamp once I get my wedding photos. I cant seem to get a design I love, because I can't come up with something personal enough that is also pretty. Wedding photos will do the trick! Everything was so beautiful and pink! 

Linking up with: Meet Me Monday @ You Are Talking Too Much, Sew Darn Crafty @ Sew Many Ways, Craft-O-Maniac

Red Dress

I made this dress today and I'm pretty proud of it (ignore the awful background!) It's a little big I think, but I still like it. Sewing turned out to be a lot easier than I thought. I will have to get myself an ironing board so I'll have more work space and an easier time ironing the hems down. I think I'll make this dress again with a different fabric.

I love the red polka dot print.