Saturday, February 19, 2011


Baby Boy is 6 Months Old!!

Yesterday, my little chunk of love turned 6 months old! The day came with a great mix of emotions. Tristan has been by far, my hardest baby, out of our 4. The colic was so bad at times, I really thought we wouldn't make it this far! But along with the joy of now having a happy baby boy, comes the sadness of never having a newborn again. So many changes in so short a time. Babies are just the sweetest!

To mark our 6 month Birthday I decided to make a tee to celebrate. My kids did not get the humor at first and now that it has been explained to them they think I am a dork! Well I think I am just fine with being labeled a sewing dork!

The tee is my new found pattern from the Spring 1/2006 Ottobre issue. I LOVE it!! Let me say it again, I LOVE it!!! Fits pretty well with a little room to grow, you can mix and match, which I love to do AND it's a great way to make use of smaller sized scraps. Not great pics, but you get the idea! Tristan has found out how to suck on his lip or tongue or something! I can hardly take a picture anymore without him doing this newly discovered trick.


I decided to do another, this time with some of my hard to find Japanese scraps. I love this print, so vibrant and fun! I picked two of the pictures from the knit and made up my own little patches to put on the tee and pants. The pants are the crawling baby pants from the 4/2006 issue of Ottobre, I love them too! Very fun to make even with knits! I see more of these in our future, but the next time I will add just a little in the rise for a cloth diaper fit.

I also tried out another pattern this week the baby sweat pants from 1/2006. They fit ok, a little baggy in the width. I used fleece and it made the seams a little thick when serging where they were topstitched. Not sure if I would make these again, but all in all they were simple to put together. The tee was a onesie that Tristan's big sister brought him this week. I cut it off and made it into a tee so it would fit longer with cloth diapers. When she showed it to me, I was so happy that I had saved this knit for Tristan!


And then one more tee tonight, same pattern! Also made with hard to find Japanese knit. I adore this fabric! I only had a very small scrap and now I have a miniature sized scrap left! I wish I had a bolt of it! So soft and yummy and cute too! I am going to search the stash tomorrow for the perfect fabric to make Tristan some pants to match, maybe shorts.


Now I am off to bed! I have found that if I go to bed on time at night, then I usually feel like getting up before all of the kids and hubby. I am really enjoying the hour or so I have of calm before the storm! Good night and happy sewing!!


Wednesday, February 16, 2011

Owl Diaperbag

I can't believe it has been almost 2 weeks since I posted!! Believe it or not, I have been working on mine and Tristan's diaperbag almost the whole time. Diaperbags are pretty intense, at least I think so. I have made lots in the past and don't ever remember it taking so long to cut out, iron, applique, sew, etc., etc., etc...

So I had envisioned a beautiful owl diaperbag made with the twill that I found at Joann's in the Fall. After deciding to use a pattern instead of winging it, which is what I usually do, I settled on Butterick 4560. Not a bad little pattern, the instructions were pretty clear, the size is a little big for me, but hey, what's done is done! I did substitute magnetic purse snaps instead of velcro like the pattern called for. I also extended my flap just a little in the front because I needed more room for my owl to perch upon his branch. Oh, and I did 2 elastic pockets all the way across inside the diaper bag.

I wanted to use applique and I wanted corduroy fabrics too, problem though, I didn't have one that I loved that matched the twill well enough. So I ran out to the store, bought some dye and went about changing the white fabric that I had to a light shade of bluish turquoise. I love the shade!

So many hours later, I have a diaperbag. And hopefully it will be the last one that I have to make. Well not the last, but I don't want to do one for a while! I also did a simple changing pad that folds into the back pocket and a wet bag lined with PUL for those yucky cloth diapers! I am ready to go somewhere now!!

I started with these fabrics
and they became this!
I will end this post with a picture of my chunk of love that will be 6 months old this Friday!! He has 2 little teeth coming in on the bottom, aren't they cute?? And because this should be sewing related, the beanie peeking out was made by me as well as the minky lovee perched atop his little head!


If you want to check out other bags that I have made in my past life as a bag maker, haha, you can see them on my flickr here.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/zootzmomma/sets/72157611735810932/

Thursday, February 3, 2011

Jetro Romper Modification!

I have searched and searched for the perfect romper pattern for baby! I came very close this time with Ottobre's "Jetro" romper from the 4/2008 issue.

I loved that it was simple and there were snaps at the neck and diaper area. Easy to cut out and, and, and, well the good things stopped there. The "placket" they used for the neck area, was not a REAL placket, so it made the binding look either ridiculous or just plain bulky. And the idea of coverstitching binding around all of the legs and the ankle area, well that is just a pain in the you know what! My coverstitcher and I are pretty good gal pals and I had trouble going around all of the curves.

So for every problem there is a solution, here are two that I came up with. Follow these and I think you will love sewing up this romper and it will be your go to for baby!

NOTE: You will need to have the Ottobre 4/2008 issue to follow this modification tute. I did not write the pattern, it isn't mine, just modified it slightly to make it easier to sew.

Option A: Romper that snaps all the way down even through the ankle cuffs.

Option B: Romper that snaps all the way down, but not at the ankle cuffs.(MY favorite!)

Step 1: When cutting out your romper(A or B) you are going to cut 2 of the front, adding a 1/4" seam allowance to the inside of the pattern. Do NOT cut on the fold, but rather cut 2 out.
Step 2: Cut out the back of the romper, gusset and the sleeves from pattern. Your binding will need to be a little longer than what is suggested in the magazine. I cut a 2" wide strip across the whole width of my rib knit for the piece that goes up and back down the front. For the back of the legs I cut another pc 2" wide and about 13" long. Keep in mind, I made a sz 68, so it will vary a little with the size.
Step 3: Cut 2 cuffs out of rib knit for the ankles.
For Option A: I cut (2) 3" wide by about 10".
For Option B: I cut(2) 3" wide by about 8".
Step 4: Go ahead and put together your romper like the instructions say. First the gusset, next the shoulder seams, then sleeves and lastly the sides of the romper. NOTE: The instructions used binding for the sleeve edge. I chose to hem my sleeves for ease, but you could also add cuffs if you wanted to.
Step 5: Bind your romper. Starting at the bottom of one leg with your longer binding piece, go up, around the neck and back down the other side to the bottom of the other leg. With the smaller length of binding you will start at the back of the romper up one leg, gusset and back down the other leg.
You should then have this.
Step 6: Option A only, for Option B skip to Step 10. Take your 2 rib knits for cuffs, fold right sides together(lengthwise) and serge both ends.
Step 7: Turn cuffs out and press. I added a small square of fusible interfacing to each end and tucked it inside my cuffs for extra support for the snaps later on.
Step 8: Serge each cuff to the bottom of your romper, right sides together, flip down and then press.
Step 9: After pressing stitch a small straight stitch on your sewing machine, just to keep those pesky edges from rubbing against baby and sticking out.
Now go ahead and add your snaps! I started at the bottom of the legs(1 snap on each leg cuff) and worked my way up. Measuring my romper and adding snaps every 2 or 2.5 inches. At the crotch where the gusset meets I like to have 3 snaps pretty close together so there is no gap there. I dislike a gappy gusset!
Step 10:For Option B only! After my bindings, I went ahead and added my snaps for Option B. I just thought it made it easier to work with the legs this way. Some may choose to add the snaps last and that would work fine too!
Step 11: Before adding the cuffs, I overlapped my bindings at the bottom and sewed a stitch to keep them together while serging. Trust me, it may be an extra step, but if your binding slides when serging it's not pretty!
Step 12: Now serge your cuff ends together and then add your cuffs right sides together to the bottom of your romper. Just like you would a sleeve cuff. Pulling your ribbing gently, but not your fabric.
Step 13: Flip down and press! Your done!!
Now add your precious baby and you have a happy romper for the both of you!! These have both been baby tested and they work great for diaper changes!! I think Option B is a little less time consuming and was just as easy to take on and off as Option A.
I hope this will help! Happy Sewing!!

Tuesday, February 1, 2011


Quick Post, The Stash Game is On!!!

Just a quickie today. I wanted to show that I followed through and not only did I get my sewing studio in tip top shape, I also sold about 20-30 yds of fabric from my stash!! Yeah!! It hardly put a dent in my HUGE tubberware container in the garage though.






AND stash game starts today!! Over on sewingmamas, we like to try and see how much we can sew from our stash without buying anything during the month of February. I have played before, but never finished out the month. Something always got in the way! This month I am making it my personal goal to follow through and at least post my points. I can't wait to get started!!


I did sew some this weekend! I finished 2 katrina soakers that needed to be sewn up. Tristan really needed them too! Unfortunately the argyle one,my favorite, is too small. Luckily I have more of that one! I also got around to sewing the Jethro romper from Ottobre. I love how it looks on my little man, the fit was great, BUT did not like putting it together. I am working on modifying the pattern today and I will post the finished product this week with more details on the pros/cons of this pattern.

OK I am off and running to my cutting table!! Happy February everyone!! I can't believe January is already behind us!