Weekend sewing

I finally got the O+S Puppet Show outfit finished up.  I changed a couple small things about it that made it easier for me, and next time I know what works and what doesn't, so I'll get it sewn up quicker.

I also found a couple yards of this lovely velour and decided to try and use it up.  I simply forgot how small baby clothes are though, and I barely made a dent in the cut I have after making these two outfits. Both are Kwik Sew 3090 patters, and I can't say enough how much I love this pattern!  It's my go-to when sewing up baby items.  

Back from the dead...

My sewing mojo is finally coming back.  Though I guess that title could also refer to this blog.  I didn't realize it had been so long since I've sewn or posted on this blog, but it's now been almost 2 years since my last post.

Sure, I've sewn a few things here and there, but really, what fun is it to share a picture of a diaper?  Because really, for the last year, that's *all* I've sewn.  Yep, diapers are cute, and I still love to look at them, but who wants to see a hundred posts of diapers?  And who has time to create a post for each diaper?  Not I!  

However, a few days ago I decided to sew something, gasp, non-diaper related.  I saw my lovely woven stash sitting here aging and collecting dust curing to perfecting and wanted to dig in.  So I pulled out an Oliver + S pattern, Puppet Show, and spent an evening tracing and cutting out my pattern pieces.  

It's a lovely looking pattern, see.

A cute little pair of bloomers, and a lovely little tunic.  The bloomers got sewn up without a snag...

but that's where my sewing bliss ended.  I'm not a novice to sewing and not even a novice to Oliver + S patterns, but this tunic kicked my heinie!  In fact, it's still kicking it, because as you can see from my photos I'm not even finished with it.  

Two full days of sewing, people, and it's still not done.  *sigh*  

It's enough to drive a person crazy.  Part of me wants to just put it in the "get to it later pile", which is really the "never touch it again" pile, but I refuse to give up.  I will conquer!  And hopefully I'll even be back soon to post the finished pictures.

Bubble dress take 2....& 3

Here're 2 more Oliver + S Bubble Dresses. I really love this pattern. Goes together fairly quickly, and the finished product is so cute!

Diaper, diaper, wherefore art thou diaper?

We've been heard a time or two....or two thousand, quoting Romeo and Juliet in our house lately. Not that it really has anything to do with this post, only that it might help explain the silly title. ;)

I've been sewing up quite a bit lately, but as is my typical fashion, I rarely get around to taking or posting pictures. Since I have a bit of free time today though, I figured I should get caught up.

Up first are some diapers that I made last week. We were working on an adoption of a little girl, but that feel through a few days ago. Instead of spending the day feeling sad, and decided to spend the day working on my boy diaper stash. Now we're on our way to being a little more prepared for either, or perhaps even both, a boy or a girl.

All but 3 of these dipes are from the Darling Diapers Unlimited (DDU) pattern, the other 3 are from a Very Baby pattern. Some of them are just serged, and some are turned and topstitched. I prefer the look of the turned and topstitched ones, but I much prefer the speed of making the serged ones. lol

Next up, a couple Oliver + S Tea Party dresses. I actually made these about 2 months ago, but I never posted them, so here they are.

Here is my very favorite dress; the Oliver + S Bubble dress. I love, LOVE, *LOVE* this dress. It didn't, however, love me. Or perhaps my tired mind just didn't want to comprehend what I was doing wrong. I took me about 5 times to get the bodice and skirt sewn together properly. I finally had it right, topstitched it....only to realize that I did not, in fact, have it right. So out came all the topstitching, serger stitching, and the sewing machine stitching...again. I did finally get it right though....only to want to throw it in the trash when it came to the bottom button hole. Grr..... My button holer was working perfectly on the scratch fabric, like it always happens, and it even did the top 2 button holes perfectly, but for some reason, it was dead set against sewing that last one. I must have ripped out those stitches 6-7 times before I gave up, and just moved the hole up about 1/2". For some reason that worked (I think the edge of the button hole foot was partly on top of the seam allowance). After all of that, I still love both the dress and the pattern. I plan to make a few more very soon.

And lastly, a few baby girl outfits. All random Ottobre patterns, except the gown in the very last picture; that's a Kwik Sew pattern.

Burp cloths, receiving blankets and onsies

A friend of mine posted a link to this free New Conceptions burp cloth pattern, and I decided to try it out yesterday.....

LOL I *LOVE* simple and quick projects, and this is both simple and quick, so I made up 10 of them and still have 5 more cut out. I used flannel as the top layer and organic bamboo fleece as the bottom layer. There's also 2 receiving blankets I made, one is done just by serging the edges and one done with mitered corners. Serging is definitely quicker, but I like te look of the mitered corners better.

Here's a few onsies I made yesterday as well. The 3 on the left are made using Kwik Sew 2433, and the 2 on the right are from Ottobre 5-06. the Kwik Sew pattern seems to run wide, but maybe I just don't remember how chubby babies can be. ;)

A sweet newborn outfit...

I made this sweet newborn outfit for a very dear online friend of I mine who's expecting a little girl. I'm super pleased with how it turned out, and I hope she loves it.

Gown and hat are kwik-sew patterns, and dipe is a very baby fitted.

Ottobre 3-08 Baby Romper Sew-Along

Hopefully this all makes sense, and helps you make this outfit.

Cut out all pieces, and mark snap placements according to pattern.

There are 2 different front pieces for this pattern. Both are pictured here, though a little backwards, because the one on the right side, with the crotch seam (which I'll call pattern piece "B"), will actually be on the left side and overlap the other piece, without the crotch seam(which I'll call pattern piece "A").

This piece is the one that was on the right in the upper picture (piece B), the one with the crotch seam. Make sure that you remember NOT to sew this shoulder seam until AFTER you're done binding. I learned the hard way the first time I made this, so I wrote it on the pattern, and I also mark this shoulder with a pin so I can't sew it. :)

Sew the back pieces together.

Sew the shoulder seam of pattern piece A (the one without the crotch seam) to the back.

Sew on the sleeve.
*I had already done the binding on both sleeves*

Line up crotch pieces of pattern piece B and back.

Sew together.

Now, sew the side seam closed on the side that you've attached the sleeve to.

Starting at the shoulder on pattern piece B that you haven't sewn together, apply binding to right side of fabric, and go all the way around until you get the shoulder on the back of the outfit.

Fold binding over and topstitch down.

Sew together that shoulder seam now, then sew on sleeve and bind the other leg. Then sew the side seam. (my picture doesn't show the side seam sewn, because I forgot to take a pic of that step)

Now I take 3/4" twill, tape fold it in half, then half again, so it's now 4 layers thick. I sew on a piece to the wrong side of the fabric at each spot where the snaps will go on pattern piece A. This way I won't tear the fabric when unsnapping.

I also use twill tape that I sew onto the seam allowance, as shown, so that I can apply snaps to the inside of outfit and don't have to use ties as the pattern originally calls for. Just make sure that the twill tape sticks out enough so that you can apply a snap to it.

Here's what it looks like on the inside with the snaps.

And here's the outside, all finished up.