New baby gifts

So I'm (as usual) catching up on blogging, in some cases long after the gifts have gone out.  That's okay, right? ;)  Two babies were born earlier in the summer, and these are baby gifts that I made for both.  The first was born to a friend who, along with her husband, practices martial arts.  So naturally I wanted to use that as a focus. First, I used scraps leftover from their wedding pillowcases to make a set of burp cloths.  Then, I pulled out the ninjabread appliques again.  This time, I used one on each onesie.  Add in a onesie with the baby's first initial, and the end!

This picture was taken before finishing each gift completely.  I had made a bunch of burp cloths and showed one of each print, plus the nursing pads I'd finished.

And a closer look at the nursing pads.  I'm now out of the microfleece that I had bought for this ages ago, so the next ones will use Cuddle Dry Microfleece that I bought through a coop.  I'm also now out of PUL, I think, so I'll have to buy some more.  These don't take much, but they turn out really nicely, especially with the lace overlay.  I've had great feedback from some of the people who have received these, so I'll continue to gift them.

This is from a book panel that I bought and stashed probably at least ten years ago.  The new mom loved Care Bears, so I was saving it for her first child.  I'm kind of impressed that I remembered and dug it out! :)

And then a baby sling!  This baby's gender wasn't known ahead of time, so I wanted to make something that could be gender neutral.  I purchased an olive linen blend from JAF and went to work.

I went with the black print for bias binding - both because I thought it'd be fun to have the music print, and because my remaining nylon sling rings were black.  I do think this really sets off the olive, so it was a good choice.  And I have a bunch of the bias tape remaining for future projects.

I sent this along with a print out of instructions and helpful websites for babywearing....I hope that she uses it and likes it.  My sister-in-law told me (much later) that she had LOVED her sling and used it almost daily.

Slow sewing

Yep, the broken finger is still slowing me down. :( Oh, well...it's not the end of the world. I followed up the amazing success of the Jeff Gordon nursing pads (wow, that sounds creepy!) with another set of 4 pairs, this time totally in tasteful white. This is a gift for a first-time mom whose baby shower is coming up in just a couple of days. Hopefully I'll make it there to give these to her!

I also finished the second pair of Halloween pants last night, but Thing 1 has not yet tried them on. These were cut from the KS 3042 (pajama) pattern. I want to see how the fit compares to the KS SFC ghost camo pants, and I'll probably post pictures. At any rate, I was glad to finish them in plenty of time for Halloween (though I'm sure Thing 1 will wear them after Halloween).

This time I cut and sewed the outer and lining pieces separately, then put them together to sew the leg hems and waist elastic. I'm pretty happy with how it turned out! I think I'll do this again! Not that every pair of pants I sew for Thing 1 needs to be flannel-lined, but he'll probably outgrow some of these so fast that it's not a bad idea. And then the only serging I do is the waist and hems, prior to turning down and sewing. The rest of it is lined, so it doesn't matter.

I still need to work on the new shoes for Thing 2, and I've got more pants on tap for both of them.

A UFO completed

Contoured washable nursing pads, customized for the recipient with an inner layer of Jeff Gordon fleece (leftover from the trim for this blanket). I had cut these out to have done for the baby shower last April, but didn't have time to finish sewing them then so ended up just leaving them as they were. I really felt that the cut pieces had been mocking me, so I took a few minutes to stitch them up last night. And it really only took a few minutes. Grrr....why didn't I just stay up a little longer in April and get them done? These are so quick and easy, and other than the fleece or the PUL (and lace, in my version), you can use thrifted materials for the absorbent inner layers and still be able to give them as great gifts! And the outer layers are small enough to potentially be scraps from other items!

This is a Make Them Yourself pattern, with two sizes of pads (I made the larger size) and a free bonus of an added delicates washing bag, which I have not yet made. Now that I've seen how easy it is to make these, I think I'll make a set or two for the baby shower that is coming up at church later this month!