Saturday, August 30, 2014

Tiny Little U of L Fan!

I've been waiting for a long time to show you this little project. One of the first projects I made for Baby Hayden was a pair of University of Louisville baby shoes resembling Toms. His parents are fans since the dad-to-be went to school there. However, with every little baby item I make, I think of several more pieces to go with it. So the project never ends. After finding a couple of free patterns on the internet, I ended up buying the shoe pattern from this Etsy shop. It includes sizes from newborn to 12 months.

University of Louisville baby shoes



 I had some U of L fabric left from an old project which I used to line the shoes. I still had U of L fabric scraps left so I went to Hancock Fabrics in search of red cotton knit to make a gown. No luck at Hancock's so I went next door to Rugged Wearhouse and bought an XL T-shirt from the men's department for $2.50. This provided plenty of fabric to make a gown, bib, and hat.



I cut the little logo squares from the fabric, turned under the edges and stitched to each little piece of the outfit. 

Kwik Sew 2433 baby hat

I used the coverstitch machine to finish the neck ribbing after stitching and turning it to the inside. I trimmed off the extra as seen often in R-T-W to avoid bulk.

coverstitched neck ribbing


The bib is doubled and the edges are bound with bias binding. I added a snap to the back. I don't use Velcro because it sometimes snags other items in the washing machine.

baby bib with snap


The gown is Kwik Sew 3090. The hat is Kwik Sew 2433. For the bib, I traced a bib that I already had. I guess I'll have to stop adding to this little set now. I plan to take it to a baby shower today!

Wednesday, August 13, 2014

JanMade Labels

I have had this little project spinning around in my head for a few years. I've googled, and pondered, and analyzed, and tried to decide what kind of labels I need for my sewing projects. I knew that I wanted the labels to match the font on my blog header. I also wanted them to be simple. I finally decided to create a sheet of labels on Microsoft Word and print them on fabric sheets. I experimented with spacing so that I could fold the labels and insert in a seam, or, press the edges under all around the label and stitch directly on my sewing project.

I used June Tailor Sew-In Colorfast Fabric Sheets For Ink Jet Printers. They were about $10 for 3 sheets at Hancock Fabrics and I used a 40% off coupon. That is over 100 labels for $6! There are instructions included for making the labels colorfast. 

June Tailor fabric labels

I did a little stash-busting and made my son-in-law a pair of shorts with the fabric he picked out last year in Hawaii when I promised to make everyone something if they would let me stay a while in the fabric shop. I inserted my tag in the back of the waist. The shorts haven't been laundered yet. I'm hoping the little tag doesn't fade.

fabric sewing labels

Hawaii shorts




Wednesday, August 6, 2014

Hayden

In a few short months, I'll need to update the "About Me" on my blog. I can hang on to the 50 something for just a little while longer, but wife and mother will need to be changed to wife, mother, and grandmother!
Woo Hoo! Yep, a little grandson is on his way!

My sewing room looks a little different now. Minky, ribbon, flannel, cotton chenille, etc. One of the first things I pulled from my stash was this Tiny Toon fat quarter pack which I bought a few years ago just because I thought it was cute. I've pulled it out over the years, stared at it, and put it back in the closet. Finally, a project came to mind for Baby Hayden and this is what evolved.

Tiny Tunes baby quilt

I used the stitch in the ditch method to quilt the floor mat sized quilt, stitching around each block. For the binding, I cut the backing fabric larger and brought it to the front, turning under the edge and stitching.

Tiny Tunes baby quilt

With the leftover scraps of fabric, I made little soft blocks and balls. I added ribbons to the football because, apparently, taggie toys are good for babies.

Soft baby toys

Then, of course, we had  to have taggie blankets. This is just a small blanket, about 15" by 15" for Hayden to hold and feel the different textures and grasp the ribbons. The black fabric is minky and the print is flannel.

taggie blanket

My grandma sewing is somewhat on hold now because I still don't have my Bernina embroidery system back from the Bernina repairman. I drove 75 miles last week to pick it up, brought it home and it still doesn't work. I drove the 75 miles to take it back and now I'm waiting for my phone to ring with the message that it is working perfectly and I can pick it up. Needless to say, I'm getting a little frustrated!