DIY Nursing Pads & WIP’s

As Willow’s birth gets closer and closer (only about 9 1/2 weeks left), I find myself fretting that I don’t have everything I need in terms of nursing and diapers. Before Harrison was born, I purchased some MegARoo’s cloth nursing pads (the disposable ones are AWFUL) at a steep discount since she was going out of business. I absolutely love them but found myself having to wash them so often because I didn’t have enough. I don’t want to deal with that this time around and after looking at the prices of purchasing more, I decided to make some.

It’s really helpful that I have all the supplies I need as well. The first thing I had to decide was what materials to use and what size I wanted when finished. I was really happy with MegARoo’s size so I knew I didn’t want to change that. The materials I decided on are PUL outer (waterproof), flannel inner, and cotton velour outer (gives the pad the stay-dry feel). I couldn’t find any information on how many layers of flannel to include inside so my first set had 4. The first one definitely didn’t turn out as great as I hoped. I initially cut the pattern to size since my plan was to use my machine’s overlock foot but the layers are too thick to get it into the foot properly. Needless to say, I scrapped it and started over. I added a 1/2″ seam allowance to the next one, straight stitched to hold the layers together, trimmed the seam allowance, and used a close (#1) and wide set zig-zag to overlock the edges to prevent any fraying. It came out okay but you can see some of the flannel through the sides and the edges have a somewhat lettuce effect (the pink pair in the picture above). It took me playing around with my setting to get the lettuce effect to go away and by the 4th of 5 pairs, I finally had a product I liked! The second pair I did was with the pirate PUL. I decided to change the inner layers from flannel to bath towel material since I was using the same thing in Willow’s NB AIO’s. I really thought this was a genius idea because I wouldn’t need as many layers but they would be incredibly absorbent. Um… what I didn’t compensate for is how THICK bath towel is. Even with only 2 layers inside, the pads are so bulky they would definitely be noticeable through a nursing bra. So I guess that’s my night time pair! My third set (the zebra print) I decided to use only 2 layers of flannel and think that will be perfect. At this point, I was still annoyed that my edges still had the lettuce resemblance so I tried moving my width a tad farther apart–to #1 1/2 instead of #1 and that did the trick on the last two sets (the green ones). I’m just so happy to have finally figured it out! Here’s the best of all of them:

Side note: I totally love this PUL pattern. It’s actually an older Thirty-One pattern! I’m still not really happy with how unclean the edges look though. I think I’ll try all flannel (no cotton velour) and see how that turns out and maybe turning and topstitching or turning and overlocking.

I’m still working on knitting items for Willow and am making progress on her layette set. I finished the front left panel and started the front right panel of the cardigan. I’m hoping to complete that today if I have time (thankfully it’s only 25 stitches per row). After that’s finished, I have to knit the 2 sleeves which I’m planning to do 2AAT to save time and ensure they are the exact same length. I’m thinking I should have done that for the left and right front panels too. Once that’s complete, then I’ll start the booties and hat which shouldn’t take more than a day or two and then can finally start her blanket! I’ve been dying to cast on since the yarn arrived a few weeks ago. It’s even prettier in person and incredibly soft.

Switching gears to general crafting–you may have noticed a new layout and tab on the homepage. I’m so happy that I finally got a layout and background I’m happy with! As far as the new tab, I created a bunch of free printables for a project I’m working on and blogged about over on The Kramer Menagerie. You can read more about it by clicking the link. I really love creating things and sharing them so enjoy!

Well that’s what I have for today so until next time, much love and many crafty blessings!

♥Courtney♥

Kid Projects

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♥

Sewing is so not my forte…Yet!

I’ve come to realize since the birth of my son 7 weeks ago that my sewing skills are not as great as I thought they were. In a few of my previous posts, I raved about my excitement to try the covers I sewed for Harrison. Well, none of them fit. Not. A. Single. One. And I have to say that I’m pretty bummed about it. I considered taking out the stitching on the FOE and resewing it, but have had neither the time nor desire to do so (I’ll explain that in a minute). The issue is the leg openings; they’re just too big. When they did finally fit his legs, the waist was too small. Such is life for trial and error.

With all of that, I have to be honest and say I wasn’t very happy with the particular FOE I purchased. At the time, it seemed great since it came from a reputable diaper sewing website. One of the reasons I use prefolds and covers is I love that covers can be reused as long as there’s no soiling. I typically use 2-3 covers at a time over the course of 2 days to allow time in between for drying. Well, the FOE I purchased completely wicks moisture, rendering it not reusable, even though it is supposedly made of 100% polyester. I think I’m going to email the site and ask if that’s normal to see if I possibly got a bad batch. Since I’m such a newbie to this, I’m clueless. Meanwhile, I’ve since purchased other covers to get me through since I only had 1 other cover–definitely not enough for a newborn.

The winged prefolds I made worked pretty well until about 5 weeks. Harrison’s a pretty heavy wetter so they weren’t thirsty enough, even when being changed every 2-3 hours. Next time I make them, I want to try using a different material on the inner layer. We’ll see how far I get with that since time’s been pretty limited.

Here’s a picture of my little man at 1 day old in one of his mommy-made covers and winged prefold:Next time I make these, I will add snaps since most of the fabrics I used on his newborn set weren’t Snappi-able. It’s really difficult to get the wings to stay in place without some kind of closure. Now on to my next fail…

I started a pair of 2AAT socks back in April and put them down the night before Harrison was born. I finally picked them back up last night only to realize that I somehow completely messed up one or both of the heels. It’s my first time doing 2AAT and only my second pair of toe-up socks. I’m still learning the wrap & turn technique, especially since this pattern’s is written differently than my previously used pattern. I somehow ended up with only 18 stitches left on one heel and 32 on the other. Don’t ask me how because I seriously have no clue. It looks like I have some frogging to do in my future. 😦 We’ll see…

The next project I want to start is a shawl. I purchased a beautiful green colorway of lace yarn a few months back when it was on sale and have been dying to cast on since receiving it. I’d like to be finished (I use that term very, very loosely) with it by the time I go to the beach in September. I’m thinking that’s probably too ambitious of a goal.

Well, that’s what I’ve got for today so until next time, much love and many crafty blessings!

♥Courtney♥