Baby Gift Basket

Baby are such fun to sew for! I have a new great nephew and had lots of fun putting together a gift basket for him. I found the cutest fabrics for a baby gift at Whittle's Fabrics. (I went to the actual store in Chalybeate, Ky., not sure if they are available on the website) The tutorial for the structured fabric basket can be found at Sew4Home, one of my favorite websites for sewing project ideas.

I couldn't find cotton chenille or a good quality terrycloth for the burpcloth/towel. I bought a nice, soft towel and cut a generous size which can be used as a towel or to cover Mom and Dad's shoulder for burping. The appliques are from Planet Applique. I love their appliques, so well digitized and easy to embroider.

Check out the little snap on the bib. I once bought these colored snaps in quantity from Snapsource when my girls were babies for all those little outfits that snapped in the crotch/leg area. I just happened to have a bright yellow that matched perfectly. Snapsource has a handy little tool to make attaching super easy.

I found a tutorial for this flannel-lined changing pad here.  It has a little pocket for diapers, wipes, etc. and fits in the diaper bag for travel.

The changing pad fastens with a button and a ponytail rubber band. Be sure and use a flat button so that it doesn't poke baby!

 

The new mommy knits and sews beautifully and blogs about it here.  Check out all of her adorable baby blankets, sweaters, knitted toys, etc.

Last Minute Halloween Costume

It's been a few years since I had a request for a Halloween costume. I got a very last minute request this year from my 21 year old for a Captain America costume, female version. She loves Marvel movies and especially Captain America. The Halloween Express tent that comes into town every year had a few poorly constructed, and very revealing costumes for $39.99 and up. We decided to challenge ourselves to come up with something more tasteful.

We found a royal blue dress at Forever 21 for $9.99, a shield in the toy department at WalMart for $9.99, and a mask for $2 at Target. I bought red sparkly lame type fabric at Hancock Fabrics from their costume selection for the belt and gauntlets. I used a heavy decor bond interfacing for both, lined them and fastened with Velcro. To add the stripes to the belt, I used a wide ribbon from my stash.

A little tip for sewing with the lame which ravels faster than you can sew it! I sprayed the heavy interfacing with my machine embroidery adhesive spray and then laid the red pieces on top. This lightly fused them together. I serged around the edges just to make sure there were no ravels when I stitched and turned the pieces.

 
My daughter really wanted a white star on the front bodice. I stitched out a star with my embroidery machine on the heavy decor bond interfacing, carefully trimmed around the edges, and hand sewed it to the front.  

With the black boots that she already had, it all came together and she had a great time at the party!

Ruby's Bloomers

A few months ago, I checked out Weekend Sewing by Heather Ross from the library and traced a few patterns. One of my favorites is Ruby's Bloomers, a cute little bloomer pattern which comes in 6-12 months and 18-24 months. I cut the pattern down to about 3 months. I sewed up the bloomers and put them away. My mother recently asked  if I had an idea for a baby gift for her new neighbor. I pulled out the bloomers and the leftover fabric and had fun putting together a set of personalized baby items for the new baby.

I picked up a few onesies at WalMart when they were on clearance for $2. I had purchased a soft, white bath towel a while ago to make burp cloths. The bib is from The Sewphisticated Stitcher. I always have baby embroidery blanks in my stash to make personalized baby gifts.

The "B" applique and the flower patch for the bib are from Planet Applique, one of my favorite machine embroidery websites. May is Customer Appreciation month and Planet Applique is giving away a few great gifts.
 

I'm taking the baby ensemble to my mother this weekend so that she can give it to Brooklyn, her new little neighbor.

By the way, I ran across Weekend Sewing at Tuesday Morning last week for $9.99! Now I don't have to go to the library when I need to trace more patterns!

Baby Gift Update

Update to the previous post......I decided to add a little burp cloth. I bought a nice, soft towel and cut a 10 x 20 rectangle. I rounded the corners and made a bias binding from another of the cute cowboy prints from Hobby Lobby. Okay, I'm done now. I must get back to Christmas sewing.

Little Buckaroo Baby Gift

I've been working on a baby gift for a little baby boy. His parents like horses so I thought this cute little buckaroo fabric from Hobby Lobby would be appropriate. The blanket is a 45 x 45 square of fleece. I made a blanket binding with the cotton horseshoe fabric. I used the same fabric for the cute applique which I found at PlanetApplique.com. Their machine embroidery designs are very detailed and professionally digitized. They have a few free downloads and sale items which you can try out.  I had a little fabric left over which I ripped into strips, gathered, and stitched to an inexpensive denim tote bag for baby's big sister to carry her little books or other treasures in.

Now it's back to Christmas sewing.

22 days and counting.