Fattycakes Diapers

I decided to purchase the Fattycakes pattern. I have played around with a few ways of sewing the elastic, and each has produced a slightly different diaper as a result. Diaper Sewing Divas has lots of information and pictures about this pattern. I think I will be making more of these when I have time.

I used old flannel receiving blankets to make the printed diapers pictured above. They are pocket fitteds, so they need to be stuffed and have a cover over them. I don't have a snap press, so I used generic aplix. The white diaper is made from an old cotton t-shirt. It is a fitted, so I used flannel and some t-shirt scraps for the soaker layers. I like the stretch of the diaper, but it takes longer to dry than my pockets. I also made a few wipes from the blanket scraps.

Fattycakes Diapers

Clothes for My Daughter

I found some Tutti Fruiti fabric at JoAnn's a few months ago, and it was on sale for $1.99/yard. I bought a few yards to make some clothes for my daughter because it is a lightweight yet easy care fabric. I had also purchased a pattern last year when it was on sale for $0.99. Anyway, I brought the fabric to my parent's house one day so that my mom could help me cut things out. Well, she helped me cut out three pairs of capri pants. She is a wonderful seamstress, and she just decided to add some pockets to the pants. When it was time for us to leave the pants weren't done. So, she said to leave them and she would finish them. What a great mom! The capri pants were made by three generations of women in my family. My daughter even sewed some of the seams.


I had seen a cool tutorial for turning a button down shirt into a dress. So, I decided to turn a shirt that my mom used to wear (then gave to me) into a shirt that would fit my daughter. I think it turned out fairly well. It was fun to reconstruct the shirt, and I think it fits her pretty well.
Before
After
Shirt and Capris in Action

A few years ago I had purchased some of the patterns from this seller. She didn't have as many to offer back then. Well, I had two bandanas that I turned into a top and a headband for my daughter. I don't have an action shot, but I do have front and back shots of the shirt by itself. It went together really quickly and was a fun project.
Front
Back

Lastly, I wanted to share my daughter's first skirt. She was so proud and wore it two days straight. It is just a simple elastic skirt with only one seam. She has to make a skirt for her first year of 4-H, so we are making some practice ones to get the concepts down. I have been letting her play with sewing at a real machine for a few months. She loves to make little things. It is so cute to watch her work. I do hope that the competitive aspect of 4-H sewing doesn't turn her off from being creative.

Clothes for My Daughter

Recent Crochet Projects

I am sharing a few crochet projects I have recently completed. I have several more that I will be sharing soon. I am so glad that I have taken up this hobby. It is nice to be able to crochet while I am nursing the baby. It is relaxing for me and I love that I can create something out of only yarn and a hook.


The picture above shows a matching neck scarf and ear warmer I crocheted as a Christmas gift. I used Vanna's Choice acrylic yarn which is very soft. The pattern for the neck scarf can be found here, and the ear warmer can be found here.


The picture above shows another neck warmer I made for a gift using this pattern. The yarn is an acrylic that was given to me by someone who had it in their stash for a long time. This scarf is for that person as a Christmas gift. I did add a button and eliminated the flower that was in the pattern.


The doily pictured above is something I crocheted for my parent's anniversary a few weeks ago. The pattern can be found here. It was definitely different working with such thin crochet thread as opposed to a worsted weight yarn. However, I did enjoy the process. I guess my grandma (who passed away when I was 5) made lots of doilies. I even inherited a few of hers. I don't know if the doilies I crochet will ever look as nice as the ones she made, but I am going to keep working to improve.

Recent Crochet Projects

Covers, Bibs, Trainers & Inserts

I recently got some woven PUL from someone on Diaper Sewing Divas. There wasn't enough to make a diaper the size I wanted, but there was plenty to make some other things. Woven PUL (polyurethane laminated fabric) is not stretchy like knit PUL, but it was cute and I thought I would give it a try.


First, I made a Mile High Monkeys cover. The fleece is from a blanket we weren't really using. I have used it a few times for my 3 year old at night over some thick underwear. It works well.


Next, I stitched up 2 bibs for the baby. I didn't really follow any pattern. I just traced a bib that was a size I like. Then I folded over about 1/3, maybe less, of the top. I placed a CD about halfway down from the folded edge. I traced it and cut on the line. This became the neck hole of the bib. I cut a piece of ribbing from an old sweatshirt and stitched it to the bib opening. I did an overcast stitch around the outside. The bibs are good at keeping the baby dry when he is eating.


The photo above shows another project I recently finished. I purchased the Little Comet Tails Stellar Transitions Pattern. I used more of the Dora & Diego PUL to make one pair and some scraps I had left from my KCK One diapers to make the rest. I also used an old T-shirt for the knit fabric requirements. The hidden inner absorbent layers are made from some flannel scraps. This was my first time to use fold over elastic and it gave me some trouble. I think I finally figured out how to use it, and the pattern, by the time I finished the fourth pair (pictured on top of the others).


Lastly, I added some flannel to some microfiber towels I had purchased from the automotive section of a local discount store. I had read that adding flannel to them would boost their absorbency. So, I checked my stash and found some flannel scraps. I used the tutorial I found here to attach the flannel to the towels. I have used these in some pocket diapers and they are working pretty well.

Covers, Bibs, Trainers & Inserts

T-shirt Grocery Bags

I have been so busy that I haven't updated my blog in a few weeks. That doesn't mean I haven't been sewing and crafting. Get ready for a lot of my recently completed projects to start showing up here in the next few days.

I love using reusable products and shopping bags are no exception. The volume of plastic bags we can accumulate in just one shopping trip is overwhelming. As an alternative I have made canvas bags, bought canvas bags, and I have used other old bags I had around the house as grocery bags. My newest bags came from old T-shirts. I am really enjoying them. I made a few out of XL T-shirts and they hold a lot of things. I filled one for our trip with 3 days worth of cloth diapers. Another one held a bunch of food and snacks. They worked very well, and were so fun to make.

Here is how they are made. I cut off the sleeves of the t-shirts. Then I cut out the neck. A suggestion I found was to lay about half of a good sized bowl at the top of the t-shirt and trace it. Then cut it out (go through both layers). However, I just winged it. The only sewing involved is to stitch the bottom of the t-shirt closed (Turn the t-shirt wrong side out first so that it will look better when you are finished sewing.)

The bag in the back of the above picture has 2 large quilts in it. I did that to show just how much will fit into a XL T-shirt bag. The bag was originally an XL T-shirt that I altered using the method listed above. The empty bags in front were XL T-shirts, but I cut the width a little bit to make them smaller. I had to stitch the sides and the bottom of those bags. A good sized T-shirt to use would be an adult small or a youth XL. That size of T-shirt made a more manageable sized bag, and would accommodate heavier items better.

The nice thing about these bags is that they are stretchy, made from shirts that I was just going to give to the Goodwill (so they are cheap), plus they can easily be washed with your regular laundry when they get dirty. I plan on making many more!

T-shirt Grocery Bags