Bedding & Bibs

Not a lot going on lately, fatigue and my inability to sleep through the night has caught up! An old wive's tale states that if you're having a baby girl, she makes you drowsy. I think having a baby makes you drowsy :)

Anyway, my guilt caught up with me as well. Well not exactly guilt, but more of an itch - things that I wanted to make that were still not made!! So I smartly took on easy projects and knocked out a few, hehehe!!

I made a self binding blanket - white chenille paired with the purple chevron flannel that I found in the red-tag aisle. This was really quick. But I did learn that the chenille stretched a bit cross-wise so pin closely along that edge the next time.

Then there is this crib sheet, seersucker in hush tones, because bedding should not stimulate the child. Some more crib sheets and "half-sheets" are on my to-do.

And some bibs. or Baprons :)
I like that name - bapron!
You've seen all these fabrics before. I just can't throw away fabric - no matter how small the scrap. Its a sickness, really! So its not a bad thing that they come together quite well for small items like these -

The one thing I modified from the tute was that I used snaps instead of ties. Uses less tape, and won't tangle up in the dryer. To get an idea of how large the neck opening should be, I used the bib the nephew forgot to pack :)

I'd never used snaps before, so this was a learning experience. The pliers that I splurged on proved pretty useless - the two pieces never aligned and I wasted two sets! Then resorted to this method except I used an old empty spool and a mallet. Then it was easy, and I must say, I like snaps!! I got to get me some of those kam snaps every one talks so fondly of.

Those were my exploits over the last few weeks!
Now the hubs and I are counting down weeks. 2 weeks and the sister will be here, yayyy!! 2 weeks after that, my mum! yayy yayyy! And two weeks after that... yayy yayy yayy!! But as they say the EDD is the "expected" date, there is nothing certain about it!

Ohmigosh!! There's so much more I want to make before the baby gets here!... get to it girl!!

The bib with sleeves

So it turns out the bib with sleeves is a hit :)
You may or may not remember it from the frantic sewing that I did for the nephew during his last week here.

I did not have a pattern to begin with, but had a general idea of how I wanted to go about it. So I used one of his shirts that fit him well for measurement. I added an inch to each side so that he can get good use out of the bib.

On paper, the idea was to make it in three pieces - the body and two sleeves.

This is what the finished product looked like, front and back -

And with the cutest nephew wearing bib #2 (this one is a little shorter, and without the brown cuffs) -

If you wish to make one, you can find the PDFwith pattern pieces (and very amateurish instructions as well :)) here.

Frantic sewing

In the last couple of months, sewing has taken a back seat. To family. Before the nephew got here I made him some goodies and coz that wasn't enough I crammed in some late night sewing in his last week here.

Following Jess's bapron pattern I made him a bunch of these -

I made them with 1/4 inch and 1/2 inch bias tape, I think the thinner tape looks better. The one above is 1/2 inch, and is crumpled from washing. I know that is bad photo etiquette but with 18 month olds you've got to click when you can - I had a pressed bapron in the 1/4 inch tape variety on him one night, but he was so cranky that none of those pics do justice to the happy boy that he is.

So, the bapron was a lukewarm success. That is because when he sits at the table with us, he wants to feed himself (won't open his mouth when we'd try to feed him) and in the process gets his hands dirty. So I thought of making him a bib with sleeves. Basically a backless raglan sleeve shirt. Here is half of it. Please, pretty please, ignore the fact that the elephant is upside down. That is result of late late night cutting. And Jatan points out - It'll be the right side up when Aarush looks at it ;)

Rinku didi liked how this came out. Now she does not have to change his shirt three times a day :)

The back -

A binky strap that I felt like making 'cuz Aarush is a chatty baby; and while he is pretty good at holding the 'tutoo' between his seven teeth while he talks, he sometimes does drop it while we're talking up a storm. And perfect as Dana's timing is, she posted this about ten days ago.

This was super easy to make, and I love that the binky matches the ribbon :)
Rinku didi was very happy to see this and had it hanging on her purse at the airport - no more fishing in the bag when Aarush asks for his tutoo.

I also made a diaper cover a matching pouch. The pouch is the right size to fit the cover and two diapers in it. I used this pattern, also from Dana, what would I do without her blog :)

I wanted to make a couple more of these, but Aarush likes wearing pants better.

I hope to begin spending some time at my sewing table, lets see how that comes about.