Quick and easy sewing.

First let me say I am sorry I have been away from the computer for so long. I have had a bad headache for a week. I am not sleeping at night I can't get comfortable my stomach hurts from the baby growing so much. Yes, the joys of being in my last trimester. LOL!

Before I started feeling so yucky I did get to do sew some little things for my daughter. I made her a few very simple summer dresses. They are the kind you can whip up with no pattern in just a few minutes using fabric scraps (kind of like pillowcase dresses). I can't find the pictures of them so I guess I will post the picture of the dress I made up today.

This is the dress I just made.

This dress was just as easy to make as the other ones I made a week or two ago (I will share pictures of them soon as I find the folder in my computer I put the pictures in). The only difference with this one is instead of making it look like a pillowcase dress at the top I used the elastic thread to gather the top part of the dress, I serged a hem, and I added some ribbon for straps so she wouldn't slide it off all the time. I made this from a small fabric piece I had in my fabric box. The fabric was under a yard (might have even been under 1/2 a yard) it came from my MIL so it is very old (vintage). This fabric might even be older than me. My DD LOVES pink so it is perfect for her.

This is a close up of the top of it.

I LOVE using this elastic thread! If you like this style and haven't ever tried it you should! I bought the elastic thread about 2 years ago and everything I have made for my DD with it people always think are store bought clothes. Even my hubby (he doesn't like the handmade look) thinks they are store bought. I love that something as simple as elastic thread makes it look like I know how to sew! I spent around $1 for this thread at Walmart about 2 years ago. It is so worth the money. I just read on the package how to use it. All you do is wind it loose by hand on a bobbin, set your stitch length long and sew. After you make several rows you have a wonderful gather. You can use it for tops/dresses/hair scrunchies/ bags and lots other things. It is only a simple straight stitch and a few minutes of my time. I LOVE IT!!!

This is a picture of Demi doodlebug in her new dress. BTW her face all around her mouth is blue because I had to give her a lolly pop to get her to sit still.

My husband couldn't understand why I wouldn't let him buy me some maternity tops that looked like this dress. They wanted over $25 (sale price) for them. Please forgive my bad grammar and type O's. I am so tired thinking and typing at the same time is very hard. I hope you all can understand what I am trying to write! I hope to find my other dress pictures and post them in the next day or so.

I wanted to make something for my Mom's birthday.

Remember when I said I was taking a break from sewing diapers? This is what I made!!!! What is this????????????Um... I think I will blame this on my nonworking pregnancy brain. I am embarrassed to admit this but I made several that turned out just like this. I don't think 5-10 pictures of blobs like this are needed. After about 6 or more tries I took a break and got my head working again. The reason I was doing this was I wanted to make my Mom a purse for her birthday. I guess all the sewing diapers, blankets, and wipes I was doing I started thinking that I knew how to sew and create things. LOL!


After walking away for a few hours I thought I had figured out the mistake I kept making over and over I tried again. I still made several mistakes after that but I only had a king size sheet to experiment with and it was getting smaller and smaller. I didn't feel like grabbing the seam ripper for this project I was thinking this project would never turn out and I was so lazy I quit cutting out new ones to sew. Instead of using the seam ripper or cutting out a new bag to sew I started cutting out the seams and just making my project smaller every time I messed up I would cut it smaller, mess up again and cut smaller, and again smaller. After many tries I ended up with the bag above. It is about the right size for my 24 month old daughter. It is about 6 inches across. It started out being over 22 inches across. LOL! I guess you can tell I made a lot of mistakes!

After making a toddler sized bag I started feeling very good about my sewing ability again (must be my foggy prego head). I decided to try again and this time I was thinking if it turned out larger (without all the previous mistakes) I would be set. I wasn't ready to start using my good fabric so I used a pillow case this time. I was so sure it would turn out right. That didn't happen (I know you are not surprised). The pattern I made was so wide the purse ended up with the wrong shape. I added in a large tuck to try to fix it but I just wasn't happy. See the big huge tuck in the photo above? YUCK!



I convinced myself that if I made my pattern a bit smaller it would be perfect. I got tired of playing with sheets so I got out my nice fabric. I was convinced I would be able to make my Mom a purse. Now looking back it has to be my pregnancy messing with my head! I should know better than to think I could make something for someone! Anyway, I did end up making what looks like a bag this time. I made a lame attempt at stitching the inside up by hand. I convinced myself that it would be OK because my Mom would never use the inside as the outside because she isn't a polka dot kind of person (I wanted to make it reversible) I wasn't thrilled with the way the straps connected but with the texture of the fabric it didn't look that bad so I thought I could live with that. Then I ran into another problem. LOOK at how tiny and lame my buttons look in the 2 pictures above! GRRRRRrrrr! I couldn't live with that! I would have ran to the store to get larger and nicer buttons but my car is broke so I couldn't go out! After a bit of thinking I came up with the bright idea of making my own button out of fabric. I remember seeing something like a button made from knots in rope or something on TV many years ago. This is funny because I could not remember my children's date of birth or my due date at my Dr appointment last week but the memory of seeing rope knot buttons on TV years ago pops into my head. lol! This pregnancy is making me a bit goofy I guess. I did a bit of searching online and I found a thing called a Chinese Button Knot. It took me tons of tries to figure out how to do this! To be honest I am not sure I even got it right! It looks enough like a button for me and below you can see it! I felt bad that the bag didn't turn out perfect but I think I will be able to make her up a better one when I have my car fixed and I can get some more fabric.

I did make another try at one for a friend and that one didn't turn out any better than the one I made for my Mom. I could make another post as long as this one telling you all about all my mistakes with that one but I am sure you get the idea. I think I need to go back to making diapers and other baby stuff and I will try again at sewing something for adults after I get a bit better with sewing. LOL! I love the idea of making some nice bags for people someday but I think I might do a better job trying to do this AFTER the baby is born and hopefully I will be able to think better after the baby is born.

Snap happy!

A table full of fitted diapers all WITH snaps! I am getting very excited about having this baby and getting to try out all my diapers!

A basket of burp cloths.
Tomorrow if I get computer time I will try to post the story and pictures of my big sewing mess ups! I laugh just thinking about it. I made some HUGE mistakes! My mistakes are not on baby things it was on something else but it is a very funny story. I have no excuse for how it all happened except for being able to say my prego head doesn't think anymore. I guess this baby is sucking what little thinking ability I had right out of me.

Pregnancy update.

I have had a wonderful pregnancy this time (I know it is still early a lot can change). I have been so busy chasing my very active 2 year old I haven't had any time to sit and think about being tired, aches, pains, swelling, and all the problems most pregnancies bring. I feel like I have a TON of energy and haven't had any problems this time. I was very worried when I first found out my pregnancy was labeled high risk. I now feel good about it all. All my test look good and no signs of any problems. I talked over delivery options and I am OK with them saying they will not let me deliver natural. My son and daughter both arrived c-section so I am not upset at all with the advice I got from the Doctors. I have just ran into what might become an interesting adventure with the birth of this baby. My son was born at 36 1/2 weeks (scheduled c-section). My daughter born at 38 weeks (another scheduled c-section). The hospital I had both my children at now requires you to go 40 weeks (or more) to have the baby. I could have picked the earliest date they would allow me to go but I didn't like not picking the Dr. I wanted. I guess because this pregnancy is going so smooth I am OK with staying pregnant. LOL! I am going to see if this baby wants to cook a bit longer than we planned. The scheduling lady wanted me to know that I need to be aware that I might go into labor before I hit this date. At first I was uncomfortable with this but I didn't see any good options to work around this. I will talk it over with the doctor who is doing my section when I see him but that will not be for almost a month from now. For right now I have a date set (Sept 24). I know I might go into labor before that date. If I do I know I will have an hour drive to the hospital. I know it will take me longer than 1 hour to get to the hospital because I have 2 children, no babysitter, and a hubby who works out of state (1 hour drive the opposite direction of the hospital). I am not going to stress out with this. I am putting it in God's hands and I feel that he knows best. I know I might end up having or trying a natural birth or I might get rushed in for a c-section before the date I have scheduled. I will wait and see what happens. I am going to be OK with however it ends up happening. I am going to plan on having my baby on the day scheduled but be ready to adjust if the baby doesn't hold out that long. I think I might need that extra time to get ready for the new baby anyway. I have been thinking about the difference from giving birth Sept. 15 (what I first thought I would do) and Sept 24 (the new day I am planning on) is not that big of a difference. I guess if this was a hard pregnancy I would be singing another tune (I still might do that when I get closer to having the baby). For now I am feeling well and doing fine being pregnant so I guess a week or so difference is no big deal. I know many Moms go past a due date. I think this new twist might make it all that much more exciting not knowing what will happen. I guess I will let you all know if something changes but for now it looks like I will be pregnant a bit longer than I planned. I wonder how large a baby will grow in that extra time. T and D both weighed 7 lbs 11 oz at birth. This baby will have 4 weeks more to bake than my DS did and over 2 weeks more than my DD did. I think the baby should grow to over 8 pounds easy maybe even get close to 9 (I am just guessing I know I can be way off with this). I guess I will enjoy the extra sewing, spinning, and learning to knit time I think I will have before the baby arrives.

I LOVE THIS!

TAKE A LOOK AT THIS!!!!!




First let me say I did NOT make this! My wonderful friend Vicky made me this. She took some of my sadly spun and dyed yarn and made it into something beautiful for my baby! I am learning how to knit (still just learning to do the knit and purl stitches). I can't read a pattern or make anything yet. I am not even very good at spinning yarn (but it is the hobby I enjoy doing the most). I dream of the day that I will be able to make something from a knit or crochet pattern with yarn I spun myself for my children to wear. Vicky made this dream come true (except I didn't have to learn to do the knitting work LOL). My yarn looked very uneven and sort of ugly when I made it. I then used food colors to dye it I just wanted it to be done with this yarn so I rushed along when I dyed it. She somehow turned that into something beautiful!! I think it is called a sleeper soaker sack (I might be wrong about that). I think it is WONDERFUL! It is my most treasured baby item! I can't tell you all how excited I am with the thought of putting this on my baby! OH! Wait! I should give you the link to her stuff I keep forgetting she set one up.... Vick's esty shop She also owns a coop that sells all sorts of wonderful fabric and stuff. I guess you all now know how I am able to get such a large fabric stash without having a car most of the time. LOL! She delivers to my house (she lives right down the road). She ran me over something like 25 yards of elastic so I could keep making my diapers last week. She is the the type of person I want to become (I am sad to say that I still have a long way to go with that but I will keep trying). I just had to post a picture of this beautiful baby item! I can't wait to have my baby and post a picture of my little on wearing this!

fitted newborn diapers

This is 2 dozen of my newborn fitted diapers. I have lots more diapers made up I need to buy a new basket put them in. The baskets we used to hold all our diapers and stuff on our changing table when DD was a baby are now all being used holding her toys. My hubby offered to get me all new baskets but I told him we should just get one at a time as I make stuff. I feel better treating myself to a $10 basket AFTER I have worked on making enough stuff up to fill the basket. I would feel bad if I had a bunch of (about 9) empty baskets when the baby is born. I would feel that I wasted a lot of money on baskets. I guess I am a person who would rather waste money on fabric and fiber than baskets. LOL!

baby sewing wet bags and cloth wipes.

Wet bags for dirty diapers when we are away from home. I didn't think this pul would make a baby looking diapers so I used it up making some nice size wet bags. I can't imagine needing 4 of them but I guess having more than I need is better than not enough.


cloth wipes. I guess you can see I went crazy making them. I have a lot more than this made up but they don't fit in the basket. It was so easy to cut and sew them and watch my DD in the little pool at the same time. I guess I didn't ever think to look at how many I made. Making them all helped me learn how to use my serger. I think I have close to 100 baby wipes now sewn up. I will probably even make more up because I like having a way to use up fabric scraps.

I am a sewing nut!

I don't have a car it is still at the garage being fixed so I can't go out at all. It is HOT (90 deg) in my area. My children have been busy playing in the inflatable pools, sandboxes, sprinklers, and such. I have to keep a close eye on them because even with only a few inches of water in our inflatable tiny pool my youngest (wild child) can slip and drown (a huge fear of mine). I started putting my sewing machine out on my porch and I set up the pool in the yard in front of the porch. I am right next to her (less than 3 feet away) and I can see and hear her when I am sewing. The things I have been sewing only take a few seconds to sew so keeping a very close eye on the children is very easy to do. She spends a few hours a day playing in the sand (a safer activity). This setup is working out to be a win win situation for me and the children. I would rather be inside in the AC (fat prego me feels more comfy in the ac) but my children want to be outside all the time. The hot temps don't bother them at all. When we are inside they seem to need me more than they do outside so I am getting lots of time to get stuff done by moving it all outside. I am slowly figuring out how to use my serger. That has increased my sewing speed a lot! Anyway I have TONS of pictures of the stuff I made over the last several days. I will try to post a few at a time. I feel very good about all I have done. I no longer worry that I will not be ready when the baby comes. I think I am a lot more ready for this baby than I was with my other two. My next several post will be of all the stuff I have done. Once I have that done I will try to take the patterns I am using and turn them into a PDF file to share. I hope my life keeps going this smooth! I am loving this summer!


Below are receiving blankets I made from 2 layers of flannel (they have the same prints on the other side of them). I just serged around the sides. Took me longer to cut the fabric than to sew them. I would have made more but I ran out of fabric. My hubby picked out all this fabric for the baby. He dose a lot of my fabric shopping for me. He knows his way around the fabric stores much better than I do. He works close to a fabric store so he likes to surprise me with fabric. If he brings me home some more I will add more blankets to the basket.