Tuesday, June 10, 2014

Recent baby makes

I've actually managed to get some sewing done over the last month!  Mostly items for the little guy, because they work up relatively quickly. It is starting to get easier to do some craft than blog while he's awake, so some of these items have been finished for over a month.

Bibs - I was given a few handmade bibs as a leaving/baby present from one of the customers at work. I didn't really use bibs at first - I just let N. drool and spew over clothes. I had way more clothes for him than bibs.  When he started solids I knew I'd need more but was very time crunched so just decided to buy some.
And I hated them.
About the same time, my sister gave me a lovely Poppy and Belle bib which reinvigorated me to make some of my own. I bought a metre of terry towelling at Lincraft and went to work. My first three are backed with some lovely tales of Beatrix Potter fabric, and unfortunately they turned out a bit wonky. The next three have some cottons from my stash that are less interesting and turned out much more even. Possibly better this way, as the cute print distracts you from the flaws, whereas the plainer fabrics are more unforgiving!
The bibs draped over his high chair - vintage, as it used to be his father's!
Then I used some of the extra terry towelling to make some simple square face/hand cloths for post-meal clean up.


Jackets - many months ago I wrote about UFOs in our old blog, Jupiter Hollow. (And by "many months", I mean "back in 2012".) Listed as 'still want to complete' was a child's cardigan. Finally finished that! I needed to get some extra wool for the collar and while it isn't an exact match I think it is barely noticeable and blends well.
Finally, finally finished!

I made Nate another jacket from a falling-apart dressing gown (handed down to me from my grandmother) consisting of gorgeous narrow woven panels of fabric, Japanese I think.
The lovely fabric I reused for the jacket. 

The pattern I used, from Making Baby Clothes by Robert Merrett (a long ago present from my sister) used a zipper, but I wanted buttons. I ended up using wooden toggle buttons and created buttonhole loops with detached buttonhole over a magic ring.
A close up so you can see the detail of the buttonhole loop. 
The sleeves are too long, but they show the dark lining when rolled up, and this way the jacket should take him all through this winter.
N models his new jacket. 

I have also made a pair of fleece pants (just visible at the bottom of this photograph) but the pattern needs a lot of tweaking - the pants are wearable but I'm not sure I want them to be 'outside' pants yet and I definitely don't want to blog about them yet.  The jacket however I'm very pleased with. He's fascinated by the drawstrings for the hood, and I hope my grandmother will be very happy with the new life of the dressing gown. I've got a small amount of that fabric left, and I'm trying to think of something else to make with it. Any suggestions? I had thought a little clutch purse, but then remembered that I am not a clutch purse type person!