A Spring Coat in the Fall

I admit it, I'm behind in writing posts.  I have been sewing, sure not as much as I'd like, but I have been.  But everything with two kids is kinda sporadic.  So I think I just need to embrace it, and post when I can!  I have a backlog of a few projects, and this is one of them.

A coat for baby E.

This is Anna Maria Horner's Baby in the Hood pattern from her Handmade Beginnings Book.  You may remember I made for for M 2 years back.  I love the hood and contrast fabric panels, so I thought I'd make up one for E's first spring and fall.

I made his back in April, and Little E did get some wear out of this little coat though in the spring, but lots more this fall as it fit him better.  I made the 9-12 months size, so he some room to grow when I made it for him at 5 months, but sadly he's now to big for it and well, it's about winter anyways!

These pictures are from back in September, and gosh he looks adorable eh?

I did make some changes when sewing this one up though.  One is obvious, I put a zipper in instead of toggle buttons.  I found it almost impossible to get toggles done up on a squiggly baby, and much prefer a zipper.  I didn't change the pattern at all for the zipper really, so it's a bit awkward as it's just attached to the outside edge of one button placket, and sewn into the inside edge of the placket on the other side.  Problem is the way the seam lays on the inside edge means that the zipper teeth are facing the wrong way.  it's not really noticeable when warm, so I didn't care.  It made it way easier to get on!

I also lengthen the coat as I found my previous version a bit short.  I can't remember by how much, but I think about 1.5 inches on this one.

I love little coats on babies eh?  Especially with adorable hoods!

I'm still here! and l've made more hats!

Sorry to be so MIA lately my dear followers!  I don't know where the time has gone!  Ok I kinda do, and I blame my two kids :P  I haven't sewn too much, as I seem to only want to lay on the couch when I have free time these days haha.  

I'm hoping to get more back into it soon, and I have like 10 things cut out (thanks to my lovely Mother), I just need to get to sew them!

In the meantime, I give you two of the measly things I have sewn...   more to follow in upcoming posts (like in a few days or a week, not months, I swear!

Matching bucket hats for my two growing boys (little E is almost 7 months... and M is 3! whhhaaa??)... yay!  Using the awesome pattern from Oliver and S and the no handsewing shortcut from A Little Grey.

First an adorable sleepy picture :)

And another cute baby picture

I added ties to the wee ones as I often back carry him and need to make sure the hat stays on!  just tucked them into the seams at the two side seams, and voila.  Makes it non reversible, but thats ok!

And we can finish off with a pic of the unimpressed with my photo taking toddler in his hat.

And yes, I should have added interfacing, but I didn't, I kinda like the slight floppiness!  And I love this pattern!  so quick and awesome!  I just can't justify every buying hats!

Oh and I also made yet another bonnet, so I'll add a picture here, just cause!

Hooray for summer! 

Tiny Hats

Two former co-workers and friends of mine also had babies around the same time as little E, and so I wanted to make a little something for them that was all kinda matchy (lame but cute right?)

I had wanted to make E, a Snow Pixie Hat from Sew Liberated, so I decided to make three!

The other two babes are girls, so I picked girly colours for the binding, and a boyish green for E's.

They looks ridiculously cute on, but fit a bit small (E has outgrown his already despite the small size going up to 6 months, but then again he has inherited his Dad's giant head!)

They are pretty quick to whip up, I used organic bamboo fleece inside and a grey knit on the outside with different colour ribbing for the binding/ties.

I know winters nearly over, so hopefully they get some wear out of them yet!

38 Weeks

Remember that maternity calendar shirt I made?  It's now gone mini!!

Just like the author of the tutorial I made the shirt from did, I hacked mine up into a little romper for E!  I wasn't ever going to wear the thing anyways, and this way he can get some use out of it, and it'll be a nice keepsake for us (imagine me bringing it out at his wedding? or passing it down to a grand-baby some day?) eek!

This shirt was of particular significance as I had really wanted to make it to 37 weeks with this baby, having had my older son early, and wanting to avoid the extra potential complications/interventions that can lead to and wanting to birth at home (which Midwives here can only let you do after 37 weeks).  I particularly wanted to get to 38 weeks, as that would make things like jaundice even less likely.  And I made it to 38 weeks and 1 day!  And all that work produced one super cute baby (who's now already almost 2 months!)

I used this tutorial to make the romper, pretty straightforward stuff (despite it being in Dutch!)  While I did get my Dutch mother to read it through I didn't really need her too, the pictures and a few quick checks on words with Google Translate were enough.  The only thing it neglects to tell you is seam allowances, but I figure it was meant to be served, so I assumed 1/4 inch.

It came together super quick too, partially thanks again to my lovely new machine!  Hand sewing on the snaps probably took the longest... I really should get snaps to use with the snap press I have lying around!  I had to cut it on an angle to make sure the 38 week number appeared, but it worked!  And he looks darn cute in it.

Baby in a Gown

After cutting out in October, I finally got to the last thing on my to do list for fall's KCWC.  What can I say, I'm always a bit ambitious.

I love Growing up Sew Liberated and wanted to make something for the new babe from it.  So I thought I'd try my hand at some more knits (now that I have my new machine with all it's fancy knit stitches!  yay!) And made up a baby sleep sack (or a sleep gown as I like to call it) hehe.

It was super quick and easy (thank you new machine!) And it was actually my first time making a shirt with those cross over shoulders.  They always intimidated me for some reason, I think a fear I'd sew it backwards, but nope, super easy!

The smallest size is a 0-6 months, which on my 5 week old, is just about perfect in length (I'm not sure how tall he is but I'm guessing taller than I think!)  The neck is a bit wide, so I think it I make another, I'll lengthen this size and I figure he'll grow into the neck!

As I suspected, the sack (while a bit of a pain to put on) is super handy for quick diaper changes at night (boy do I look forward to the day when I don't have to change him multiple times at night!)

KCWC Days 1-2 - Robot Pants!

My KCWC plans are slowing actually becoming things for once!  First up is a lil pair of Quick Change Trousers from AMH's Handmade beginnings for the new bebe.

I had a bit of deja vu making these, as I seem to like to only make them in red and in crazy prints (as seen with last falls KCWC when I made little M these red pants!  Hey, what can I say, I really wanted to use some of this robot Kokka fabric I had, and well, there's red in them!

The other side is some soft cozy flannel fabric left over from this dress.  And the but panel is a bit from Sarah Jane's Children at Play collection.  I have a bunch more of this which I should make something else for my boys from soon!

Tiny pants are cute!  Although I suspect these will be huge on my little one for a good while as I seem to not make particularly huge babies, but that's why you roll up the bottoms right? :-)

So be sure to check out the Elsie Marley flickr group for inspiration, and I'm on to the next item! Here's hoping I make all 5 things by Sunday!

KCWC plans and some other bits

As usual, I have lots of plans for the Kids Clothing Week Challenge this fall.  Will I meet them? eh, who knows, but at least I'll try.

Here's a little photo to give you a very poorly lit (I do generally sew at night these days after all!) sneak peek.

Quick run down from top right.  Striped shirting will be an Easy Linen Shirt from Sewing for Boys (finally I make something from the book!)  The three fabrics under it, will make up a teeny pair of 0-3 months Quick Change Trousers from AMH's Handmade Beginnings (I seem to like to make these pants in red tones, as previously seen here).  Next up from the light blue is a Baby Sleep Sack from Growing Up Sew Liberated for the new baby.  On the right is a pile of fleece to make a dinosaur costume for M using Jessica of Running with Scissors Woodland Animal Costume (plus one of her dino tails).  And last is the car fabric which will be a pair of Easy Pocket Pants for M also from Growing up Sew Liberated.  And this just touches the surface of my list of things I want to sew for my boys!

For any of you who don't know about KCWC, check it out! link above or on my side bar.

In other news...

I think I never told you all that I'm having another BOY?  Maybe my colour choices above might have hinted, but well I am! And this time I have plans to sew all the things I never got around too with little M!  I always figured I'd be a mom to two boys (my husband is one of two boys) and so here we are!  And M loooves the idea of a little brother, kisses my stomach and asks to hug it all the time, while asking me if he's coming out next week (ha).  This was me last weekend (29 weeks), for those that are curious :)

And last, but not least, it looks like my city is FINALLY getting a fabric store with potential awesomeness.   It's called Fabrications, and it opens in November.  I'm already drafting them up a nice long e-mail full of suggestions of things I think they should carry, but from their description, I think it will be awesome regardless!

December Delivery

So the announcement I mentioned?

That's right, December will see our family of three become 4! (or 5, with the kitty)  We're very excited, little M claims to love babies, so we'll hope that continues!

I didn't do a great job of recoding my pregnancy with M (aside from a picture or two every month or so) so I wanted to do something a little more organized and fun.

And in the last few months, I discovered the awesome DIY Maternity blog!  Started up by Megan Nielson, designer extraordinaire, it has tons of tutorials for making your own maternity clothes!  So there I found the tutorial for the Maternity Calendar shirt designed by Miranda of One Little Minute.

It's pretty simple, although a bit time consuming on account of all the cutting out required.  But I like the slightly rough look my numbers ended up with.  The only things I changed was to just use a fabric marker to cross off my weeks rather then fabric paint.

So, what's next?  Well, I've had to abandon my dress a month project, as most of my planned patterns don't accommodate a bump!  A few do, and I've got some maternity projects planned that will likely include a dress or two!  I scooped up a couple of Megan Nielson's maternity patterns on a recent trip, and once the end of July gets here and I know if this munchkin is a boy or a girl, more baby clothes must be made!   Oh the possibilities!

And yikes, my bump looks big in these photos!  I actually like that I'm showing a good bit, makes it all seem so much more real!