Wednesday, March 25, 2015

Back in the kitchen.....well, the dining room (which is where all the good crafting happens).

Hello blogging world!

It has been a very long time since I have posted anything.  And I certainly have missed it.

We moved and got very busy with house renovations, then morning sickness as we found out we were expecting our third, who arrived in June.  Life is finally back into a bit of a "normal" swing and I can't wait to start sharing some of the stuff that we have been up to.

Because I have baby brain, and babies on the brain, a lot of my recent projects have revolved around little ones.  We are cloth diapering full time and I am always looking for the best and most frugal ways to do things.

We have been absolutely blessed with great deals on second hand fitted cloth diapers and built up a very nice stash slowly for a really reasonable price.  Because we are using fitted diapers, they also require a cover and we have found wool covers to be comfortable, great for our little ones very sensitive skin, and cheap (now that we have discovered making our own!).

So, here is what I have made so far!  I have a fabulous friend who had a wonderful stash of 100% wool sweaters and was happy to share and we are splitting the goods.

My first night of sewing I was able to make 6 pairs of longies!


All these pairs (except for the top center ones) were made using the arms of a sweater.  They literally took me about 15 minutes per pair from cutting to wearing!  I am not one to usually just wing things my first time through so I followed an excellent tutorial at The Sewing Dork.  She added elastic to her waistband, but I just made my waist bands about 2/3 the size of the actual waist and went without elastic.  I also haven't added any cute little embelishments yet, but I think some stars and pockets might be in the works!


These sweet little soaker capris are the ones from the top center picture above.  My friend really wanted some capris for the summer season and I am so glad she thought of it because they are SUPER cute!  I made these ones using Max and Meena's Maxaloone's pattern.  It was also really easy to follow and I love the contrasting color bum patches!  The leg cuffs also roll down to make them full length when the summer evenings cool down.  Cutting and sewing for this took me about an hour - maybe a bit more, but I had to nurse several times in between cutting and sewing.


Sorry for the dark picture but here is my handsome little guy trying out the black pair of longies made from the sweater arms.  The fit is awesome!



The final pattern that I tried was Katrina's Sew Quick Soaker Pattern.  I really liked this pattern because it was easy to sew in an extra layer of soaker.  So both the red and black shorties and longies have this extra layer and they have great absorbency.  




All in all it was a great project and I am super excited to have 7 new pairs of pants/capris for my little guy.

Give it a try!  And let me know how your projects turn out.

Nadine