Category Archives: baby

baby, Tutorials

Long-sleeved Tee Becomes Baby Long Johns

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I’m a short-attention-span crafter. Making ten-minute baby pants is like instant gratification. When I found a long-sleeved waffle Tommy Hilfiger shirt being given away, I instantly saw its potential — baby long johns!

I didn’t use a pattern, but I based my creation on this pattern here. I just eyeballed it, but I’ll give you a step-by-step. What’s nice about making pants out of shirt sleeves is there’s already a cuff so you don’t have to turn anything under and you don’t have to sew any inseams.

The material is super stretchy, so I think they will fit for a long time.

Materials:
One adult long-sleeved t-shirt that’s either stretchy or has wide sleeves.
Narrow elastic
Safety pin
Sewing machine
fabric scissors

Directions:
First, cut off the sleeves at the shoulders. It doesn’t have to be exact.

Once the sleeves are trimmed, cut the tops of the sleeves straight across so each sleeve (now we’ll call them legs) measures about 18 inches.

I then cut the crotch part out of each leg, starting about 7.5 inches down from the top of each leg.

I just eyeballed one leg and then laid it on top of the other leg and used it as a guideline for cutting the other.

Then, turn one leg inside out. Slip the right-side out leg inside the inside-out leg and match them up at the crotch.

Now, sew the raw edges of the curved part together. This is the rise/crotch of the pant. Pull the inside leg out so the pants are now inside-out. They should pretty much look like the finished product, but with a raw edge at the waist.

Now, turn down the waist wide enough for the elastic to easily be fed through it, about an inch. Sew all the way around, but leave a gap so you can feed in the elastic.

Pin the safety pin to the end of the elastic and feed it through the waistband area, being sure not to twist it.

When the elastic is fed all the way around, play with the length till you feel it’s good. I didn’t measure the length of the elastic. I just cut it where I thought it seemed best and sewed one end of the elastic on top of the other.

Finally sew up the gap of the waistband.

Ta-da!

Cute Cute Cute

Stylin’

baby

The Best Baby Shower

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My little sister is in town just for a week and she won’t be back till our baby is three months old, so she and I put together the shindig of all shindigs — a Price style baby shower.

I’m pretty much against baby showers. Most of my friends growing up were guys and being surrounded by a ton of women oohing and aaahing at little clothes, stuffing myself with cupcakes and playing games involving bottle sucking and diapers just isn’t appealing to me.

I wanted to spend my baby shower with family and friends no matter what the gender. I wanted it to be a party I’d want to be invited to.

And that’s what came together.

We had good food, cocktails, a craft station, one optional silly game and my husband hosted beer pong in the garage for those girls and guys who wanted to play.

Watching me open presents was optional, as was oohing and ahhing.

We served a cheese platter, hummus and pita chip platter, veggie platter, homemade smoked salmon and cream cheese platter, mini caprese salads, lemon cookies, cantaloupe, homemade unsweetened chocolate chip cookies, homemade Italian and Spanish sausage on the grill, terrific macaroni salad and unbeatable baby back ribs.

We also had a bellini bar where people could mix sparkling white wine with either mango, strawberry or peach purees with fresh raspberry garnish (I had ginger ale mixed in mine, don’t worry).

Didn’t get many photos, but here’s a bit of a montage. Recipes will follow.

Most photos by my friend Priscilla.

Caprese skewers

Bagels and lox spread
Cookies with unsweetened chocolate chips

Veggies with roasted red pepper yogurt dip
Lots of goodies!

Ok, I had to have one photo of me in here

The bellini bar was a total succes, as was the design-a-Onesie craft station. My friends Kelly and Rosey set up paints, stencils, stamps, brushes and I provided the blank shirts. I had acquired about 25 of them over the past month from thrift stores. This might have been the biggest hit of the party. There were girls and guys both making creative designs. Here’s a collage of some of my favorites.

We had people stay till 11 p.m. Truly a wonderful, successful baby shower.

baby, Crafts

Paper crane mobile

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I was a crafty kid, believe it or not, and one of my favorite kid hobbies in addition to lanyard making, collages and friendship bracelets was origami. I could make a paper crane in about a minute. I thought a mobile of paper cranes would be a colorful and simple addition to the baby room.

I have to admit, my origami skills were a tad rusty and when I first attempted a crane I somehow inadvertently made a balloon, so I found a link on Google to use as a refresher course. Reading and understanding origami instructions can be a challenge as it requires you to think outside the box once in a while, but paper cranes aren’t too tricky once you figure it all out.

My husband and I went on a walk the other day and found a nice birch tree branch as the mobile base. I used silver thread and with a long needle, poked up from the bottom of each crane, through the top of the back and then just played it by ear in terms of crane placement.

It wasn’t hard to balance the branch. I tied two pieces of string on either end of the branch and brought them to the center so it balanced just right and tied a knot. Then my 6-foot-2 husband used a lightweight hook to affix it to the ceiling.

I hope my baby finds it enjoyable!

baby, Crochet, Knit & Crochet, Knitting, Patterns

Jazz Baby Hat

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My friend Blaze is about two weeks ahead of me in her pregnancy. She had a boy last year she named Lyric and she’s getting ready to have a girl whom she is calling Jazz. Can you guess she’s a singer? 

With a name like Jazz I thought I should knit her a baby hat with some real flair. None of this pale pink stuff — I’ve got to go purple and red!

And I’ve finally learned to crochet a flower. This was the original reason I taught myself to crochet and that was almost two years ago. I now have the skills to make one without referring to a pattern. I will try to write out how I made it.



Materials:
Worsted weight yarn (I used Vanna White yarn)
Size 8 double point needles (or a really long circular if you know the Magic Loop method)
Size H crochet hook (it could be smaller, but I only have two sizes)
Darning needle

Directions for hat:
Cast on 64 stitches. K1, p1 ribbing for 5 rounds
Knit in stockinette stitch for 25 more rounds, or till piece is about 4 inches tall.
Decrease as follows: *K2tog, k6*, repeat till end of round.
K 1 round
*K2tog, k5*, repeat till end of round.
K 1 round
*K2tog, k4*, repeat till end of round.
K 1 round 
*K2tog, k3*, repeat till end of round.
K 1 round
*K2tog, k2*, repeat till end of round.
K 1 round
*K2tog, k1*, repeat till end of round.
*K2tog*, repeat till end of round.

 
Cut yarn leaving a 12-inch tail. Weave ends through remaining eight loops using a darning needle. Weave in end yarn.
 
Crochet flower: 
I apologize for my poor pattern writing skills. I hope you are able to figure it out! Maybe tomorrow when I have daylight again I’ll take step-by-step photos.
 
Abbreviations:
SC = single crochet
HDC = half double crochet
DC = double crochet
Round 1: Make a magic ring and SC 10 stitches into ring. Join with slip stitch to first SC. 
Round 2: Chain 5, skip a stitch, slip into next stitch. Repeat four more times and join to first SC again. You should have five loopy things.
Round 3: SC once into first loopy area, then 2HDC, 1DC, 2HDC and 1 SC into same loopy area. Repeat with four remaining loops. Join to original SC.
Round 4: Skip one stitch from the first round and slip stitch into the stitches between the ones you single chained in round 2. Chain 8, skip stitch, slip into next stitch, chain 8, skip stitch, continue around till you have five new loopy things. Join with first slip stitch you made in this round.
Round 5: 2SC into first loopy, 2HDC, 3DC, 2HDC, 2SC into same loopy thing. Repeat with the remaining four loopy things. Cut yarn leaving a ten-inch tail and draw through the last loop. Weave in ends to back of flower. 
Using a darning needle sew the flower in place.

 

baby, Sewing, Tutorials

Make Your Own Fitted Crib Sheet

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My husband and I are putting together the baby room. We’ve got shelves, a bassinet, a comfy chair, a cradle and as of last week, the crib that all four of the children in my family used. It’s a gorgeous maple crib made in Sweden in 1971. My father bought it in England when he was going to school there before my brother was born.

I love being able to use family heirlooms. Our family doesn’t go very far back so means even more to me to keep things that have history.

I soon discovered the downside to this priceless piece of furniture when we tried to find a sheet at Babies R Us. Looks as though the crib mattress (which thankfully is in pristine condition) is an irregular size and stores just don’t carry a fitted sheet in its dimensions.

So let’s sew one! It was pretty easy. The hardest part was cutting, honestly.  Here’s how to make a fitted sheet for your crib mattress.

Materials:
Two yards of 100 per cent cotton fabric (length depending on dimensions of mattress)
36 inches of 1/4-inch wide elastic
Iron

Directions:

Prewash your fabric to make sure it’s preshrunk.

Measure your mattress’ width, length and depth. Ours was 23″x48″x4″. I decided I wanted the sheet to wrap around the mattress by three inches, making the depth of the sheet 7 inches. I didn’t take into account seam allowance and hem, but it seemed to work out just fine for me. You may want to consider adding 3.5 or 4 inches to the depth to compensate.

Since the depth on each side of the sheet will be 7 inches, I added that length to each side of the sheet, or rather, added 14 inches to the width and the length, thus making the dimension of my sheet 37″x62″.

Cut your fabric to the proper dimensions.

Cut 7″x7″ squares out of each corner of the fabric. Discard the cut squares.

Turn under and iron the edges of the sheet. Turn under and iron again so you have no raw edges. Pin and sew hem on all sides.

In the areas you cut out the squares, pin the fabric right sides together where the raw edges still are. Sew each corner. You should now have a somewhat baggy fitted sheet.

Place on the mattress to make sure it’s a good fit. If it’s too baggy, increase the seam allowance of all four corner seams.

Next, cut your elastic into four 9-inch lengths. Find the center of one piece of elastic and line it up with one of the corner seams. Pin or hold in place. While holding or pinning the middle part of the elastic to the hem, stretch the elastic on the right edge as far as it will go and mark where the end of the elastic hits on the inside of the hem. This is where you’ll start sewing the elastic.

Sew elastic in place and backstitch. Now stretch the elastic along the edge while you’re sewing. The fabric should ripple up behind the sewing machine foot as you sew. Sew the length of the elastic, stretching it all the while. When you get to the end, backstitch in place.

Repeat this for the three other corners.

That’s it! It’s not quite as snug as a store bought sheet, but it does the job and you can pick whatever fabric you want.

baby, Thrift Finds

Thrift Find 8

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I love Craigslist!

We’ve been putting the nursery together the last few weeks and I’ve decided if I were to pick a theme it would be “Vintage Circus.” I just love vintage colors like rust, aqua and dandelion yellow. I also don’t want an overly cutesy nursery with one or two colors dominating. I want to be able to live in the room and love it too.

I found some vintage Fisher Price toys today on Craiglist. I was surprised they hadn’t been scooped up yet, considering the low price. I got the toys as soon as I got off work. I know our boy won’t find them useful for a long time, but at least they will look perfect in his room till he’s ready to play with them. The woman who sold them to me was really happy they were going to a family that would get more use out of them as her kids did.

I think the toys are from the ’60s. One of them has a copyright of 1961. They are in great shape and are ready to be played with!

Tippy clown. Our child will be terrified of clowns!

Putt Putt Plane. Head bobs when it’s pulled 
Tractor. The wheels wobble when it’s pulled

Musial Chime and Wobble Dog
baby, Sewing, Tutorials

T-shirt Onesie — A Tutorial

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I’ve been in full baby crafting gear lately. Last night I sewed a couple of little pants and I’ve been tinkering with the idea of making a onesie out of an old T-shirt. I have a special one in mind, but I thought I should test it out on a junker first. Success!

It was about a 45-minute project. And here’s how I made it:

Materials:
A small adult T-shirt, or a child’s size shirt
A store-bought onesie (to use as a guide)
Velcro (the kind you have to sew on, not stick on)
Stretchy materials needle (recommended, but not required)

Directions:

First, turn your T-shirt inside out and fold it in half down the middle. Fold your store-bought onesie in half down the middle and lay it on top of the T-shirt so the collars line up and the shoulders/sleeves run along the top. Cut around the onesie leaving about 1 inch of a border on the sleeves and sides but about 2.5 inches at the bottom crotch area. You should end up with one piece of fabric where the front and back are connected at the collar/shoulder/sleeve area.

Trim the sleeve edges how you prefer. The sleeves just happened to end up right where the big shirt sleeve began so there was a sewn edge that made it easy to trim.

Turn under the edges of the legs (there should be four of them) and sew in place. This looks pretty rough since I didn’t have a mini screwdriver to install my stretch needle. When you sew jersey be sure you stretch it out as you’re sewing it so there is give to the seams.

Sew along the sleeves and sides of onesie using a half-inch salvage.

Turn right-side out and turn under the bottom crotch flap of the front twice over. This will add extra thickness to better stabilize the velcro. Pin and sew in place.

Next, turn up the bottom crotch flap of the back, but just once over. You want the back flap to be about two inches longer than the front flap once the edges are turned under. Pin and sew in place.

I chose to use three squares of velcro, but a strip would work also. Sew the softer side of the velcro to the wrong side of the back flap. Sew the rougher strip of velcro to the RIGHT SIDE of the front flap.

And there ya have it — a make-your-own onesie. This would be a fun project if you had a sports team T-shirt or a TUXEDO T-shirt, which is the reason I wanted to try this out. Stay tuned for my tuxedo onesie in the next couple of weeks.

And, as always, please contact me if part of this tutorial isn’t clear.

baby, Sewing

20-minute Baby Pants!

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I was nearly devastated the other day when my 8-year-old hand-me-down pajama pants ripped in the rear. They were my favorite. As you can see, they have little wiener dogs on them.

too much booty in the pants!

So instead of throwing them out, I stashed them for a rainy day. Well, it’s not really raining today, but it’s cold enough that my car won’t start. So I decided to make some tiny pants out of larger pants.

I used a super simple pattern from make-baby-stuff.com and they turned out splendidly. Here’s my childhood bear, Bosh, modeling them.

They sew up in a flash so I used some leftover baby material from a quilt I made a couple of months ago and made another pair. Lickety split! They are even quicker to sew when you use the hem of the big pants as the hem of the small pants. It’s basically six seams if you include the leg hems, inseams, rise and elastic casing. It’s really a great beginner project.

I can’t wait to put them on my real child.

baby, Crochet, Knit & Crochet

Granny Blanket for Baby

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Finally, after more than a year of teaching myself to crochet, I have made something substantial. All it took was being pregnant!

Baby Blanket pictured with Beary, my older sister’s favorite bear

I crocheted a blanket using the classic granny square technique. I used Lion Brand Vanna White yarn. I love the colors and it’s super cheap at JoAnn Fabrics, although I had to go to Michael’s for the blue color. They have better baby yarn selection with the Vanna White yarn.

I think the blanket cost about $35 and it took me just a week to make. My granny squares were about 6 inches so I didn’t need to make too many to make a substantially sized baby blanket. Just 16 squares, four rows of a border and a simple trim and it was done before I knew it. Joy!

I had never stitched together granny squares, although I’ve made quite a few in a failed attempt to make a blanket last year.

I just love Attic24‘s colorful, detailed instructions on all things crochet. Her blog was my inspiration to learn crochet.

Click here for a great tutorial on stitching together squares.

Click here for simple border and trim instructions (she uses UK terminology but translates it for us Americans).

I think the trim will be good for when baby is able to grab things because it feels nice between your fingers.

Overall, this blanket was a success, but I think I stitched the squares together too tightly because they poof out in the middle and doesn’t lie quite flat.