Crafting have been pretty scarce since Harry’s birth and I have a feeling it’ll be even less so once Willow makes her entrance. BUT, I have had a little time recently, so I’m working on projects for the kids.
I made teething pads for our Ergo since Harry is teething and chewing on them like crazy. They are made from one of Harry’s burp cloths and a receiving blanket. I cut the burp cloth so that each pad would have a height of 5 1/2 inches with no seam allowance. I sewed a strip of the receiving blanket to just the center, most absorbent part of the burp cloth using a small zig zag stitch to prevent any frays (and it’s a little more decorative than a straight stitch). I then used my overlock foot and sewed around the whole outside of the pad. I added 3 sets of snaps for easy attachment (but hard for little hands to get off). And that’s it! Super cute, functional, and no more chewing on the Ergo straps! The finished pads measure 5 1/2″ x 9 1/2″. I may make a second pair so that we have a spare set if these are being washed.
Next up is Willow’s NB diapers. After a lot of discussion and thought, we decided to use only AIO’s with her instead of covers and prefolds. Trin isn’t showing any interest in potty training so having 3 in cloth is going to be a challenge. AIO’s will be easier for not only us but also other caregivers because there’s no worrying about all the different parts or forgetting the closures (which I tend to do)! I’m using a combination of Darling Diapers Free Fitted Pattern and Rocket Bottoms NB Fitted Pattern. They are both comparable in size, but the Rocket Bottoms pattern seems to sew up a little larger. They’ve turned out great so far! The 5th one (green with blue circles) definitely turned out the best and I’m so happy I figured out the easiest way to do the elastic–casing while topstitching. It’s definitely giving cleaner lines in the legs and back. Here’s 4 of the 5 I’ve completed so far:
The next diaper I want to make is will have a Steelers emblem on black PUL and the gold cotton velour. I haven’t found the emblem yet but am hoping to soon! I’m planning to make at least half her stash (12-15). I may also try a different pattern just to have some variety. I was looking into Arfy’s Square NB pattern. My thinking is sewing will be faster because I won’t have to go so slow around curves, which I’m not as good at yet. Plus, I like having options. For all the diapers, I’m using a PUL outer, cotton velour inner, and each sewn-in insert has 2 layers of upcycled bath towels sandwhich between 2 layers of flannel. I’m hoping they are absorbent enough but just in case, I’m going to make some NB sized inserts to lay in.
I want to sew at least one non-diaper item for Willow so I scoured Pinterest and found an adorable baby dress upcycled from a men’s button-down shirt. Andy has a million of them so I may commandeer one of his to do it.
Upcycled baby dress
Moving on to knitting… I started knitting a shawl a few months back from Knitty called Oceanspray. I fell in love with the simplicity of the center triangle and border of this pattern. The knitting is coming along slowly as the increases are only 4 per RS row and it’s knit on 2’s. I’m using Misty Alpaca Lace in Mauve Melange. I finally got that part finished and finally got to start on the lace section! It’s turning out beautifully so far. I’d really like to use it as a nursing cover (I’m not sure how feasible that is but we’ll see) so I’d really like to have this finished by the time Willow’s born.
Well that’s about all I have for today so until next time, much love and many blessings!
♥Courtney♥
On My Needles 