2016-September: Forest Flowers Shirt

Here is a shirt I made for a friend's daughter for her birthday:

front

back

Pattern is the Moto Maxx by Love Notions -- love this pattern!! It's got those nice shoulders to sneak in yet another fun fabric print.

2016-September: First "School Diaper" velcro AIO

Here is the first of many!  School diapers!  I talked with C.'s school about using cloth diapers, and they were on board.  I knew I was going to sew up a stash to use at school, and I ordered supplies.

After a couple days sending a mix of velcro and snap diapers (mostly BumGenius), they told me they prefer velcro.  I set about making a rainbow of EASY TO USE velcro AIO diapers! I don't prefer velcro, but I want to make cloth as easy as possible for them. (They seem a bit more hesitant than E's old school.)

Here is my rainbow of PUL

Here's the first finished diaper! The velcro is black because white was out of stock when I bought it, ha ha ha!

This particular diaper has a sewn-in soaker of Zorb and bamboo, plus a snap-in insert.  I simultaneously made another copy out of the rainbow zigzag you see above.  Ultimately I don't prefer any absorbency to be sewn in (drying time, ease of stuffing), so my subsequent AIOs had just snap-in inserts.

2016-September: Owls AIO cloth diaper

I drafted this diaper pattern myself, and it's . . . . not ideal.  It's cute and it works, though!

Here comes a rainbow of snaps!

The wings are strangely long

snap-in insert

I mostly put my label on it to practice putting labels on!  This is totally not my final design!

2016-August: Woodland Magic Shirt

I wanted to make another nice shirt for E., and she chose the fabrics and wore it on her first day of school!

Pattern is again the Patrick curved raglan from Fishsticks Designs.

I adjusted the pattern with my own colorblocking -- yay!

This is the first shirt I put my Dorybird label on! I don't really like it up at the top of the back, but I had to start somewhere, right?

2016-July: Night stars hybrid fitted cloth diaper

I made a hybrid fitted diaper for C. for nighttime (Monkeez XL pattern) with hidden Windpro and a stay-dry inner sleeve.  It wasn't super successful (it's bulky and inserts don't agitate out), but it does the job!

I didn't think the microfleece inner stay-dry part through very well, and the openings are too small.  Oh well.

I also kept off that pesky third snap setting! That third snap just makes the diaper too tight, or if you leave it unsnapped, you need a hip snap cover or it will leave ouchy marks!

2016-July: My Little Pony Panel Raglan Shirt

I bought a My Little Pony PANEL and wanted to surprise E. with a fun shirt!  It's the Fishsticks Patrick curved raglan pattern.

I had to adjust the panel size before sewing it all together.  Meaning: I added those stars up top AND added strips of the back fabric to the sides of the panel, to make it all fit the pattern.  It was a bit of a pain, but ended up looking cool.

The only thing I wish I did differently is cut the TOP of the panel more so the ponies sit higher on the shirt.  There seems (to me) to be more "dead space" of the sky than there should be.  And more of the stars would have been good, too. My artistic eye is displeased!

Love this back fabric, though. Riley Blake Vintage Floral, Mint.

Despite any aesthetic pickiness, guess who loved it?

And that is what matters!

Note: I'm "over" panels, at least for now. I tried it, and it would take a MAGNIFICENT panel to make me want to buy it and sew with it again. Just seems a bit fussy!

2016-July: Hedgehogs and Pennants AIO cloth diapers

Two more diapers -- I was still fine-tuning my Dorybird design on these.  I was also using up some old cream-colored microfleece I had!!

This one was needlessly complex inside, but the cut was nice.

This one came out a bit big -- excess material here and there.

I added snaps to a DiaperRite bamboo prefold for a quick insert.  It was a bit short, though!

2016-June: Nautical Baby Layette / Outfits!

UPDATE: Look how cute!

This was my gift to that same sailing family the nautical baby quilt was commissioned for.

I used a bunch of different patterns to make some little sets of small-size clothes!  They range in size from 3 months to 18 months.

This shirt was from a free lap tee pattern online

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This was Stitchwerx Designs Lane Raglan

This was Anna Maria Horner's free baby knickers pattern

Here is a pair from Made By Rae's free baby pants!

This shirt is made with the Fishsticks Wee Tot Collection pattern

These are some Max Joggers (and so soft!!)

I hear they were a hit!  Hooray!

2016-June: Nautical Baby Quilt

When I got my sewing area going again, I had some huge projects going on!

This is a quilt that was commissioned as a baby gift.  The theme was to be nautical because the family loves sailing. (Hi, guys!) ;)

It's a "crib size" quilt, so maybe 4'x6', with quilting cottons on the front and a border and back of delicious double gauze.  I wanted it to be super soft for the baby to hold!

I had a lot of fun picking out fabric just for this project, and even more fun arranging the squares just so. I used my "half and half" technique on the back, expanding it to size. Since the back is pieced, too, it's really two quilts in one! Once again it's turned and topstitched (I have yet to bind a quilt!).

I quilted it with big wobbly stitching to suggest ocean waves.  I love how it turned out!!

SO COZY AND PUFFY!!

While I was making this quilt, I thought ahead and cut out double of each fabric piece -- if you love this quilt, know that there WILL BE another of (almost) this same piece, in my shop.  I "just" have to assemble it!