• Baby Gifts, Volume II •

Whew! It's been a busy week! Between getting back from a short trip to see my grandparents in Minnesota, gardening, sewing, Etsy-shop-opening, and other such goodies, it's been quite hectic!

It's good to be back into the swing of things, however, and today I'm finally sharing the sewn part (part two) of our baby gifts!

(See part one here)

I found a pattern for this adorable stuffed bear in an old sewing book of ours. It is just about the cutest thing I've ever seen, and so easy to make! I can't wait to make bunches of them; the possibilities are endless - plaids, stripes, florals! 

I used some scraps of fleece from a blanket that I made a while back. He's the fuzziest, softest, cutest bear ever.

Technically, you're supposed to make the eyes and nose before stuffing the bear, but I did it once he was finished with a curved needle. I used yarn rather than embroidery floss. 

A pretty orange ribbon complimented him quite nicely.

Oh, and did I mention he's really cute? ;)

My mom made several adorable burp cloths to send along. Aren't the fabrics just darling? 

They seem to be the perfect size and thickness, with two layers of flannel. The nice part is, you can make one out of a fat quarter! The topstitching adds a very nice touch.

Just look at that. Did you ever see anything cuter??!!

Mom was going to make a couple of bibs to go with the burp cloths, but she decided instead to make an adorable little baby robe! 

She used a vintage pattern we have which is actually for a little jacket with an open tie-front, lengthening it into a robe-length, and making slightly longer sleeves.

Impressive seaming! :)

She had just enough of the polka-dot fabric left to make sleeve bands and a belt. It's so cute.

We topped it off with a little duckie tag. Cute? Yep.

I'll be back Monday with a fresh-off-the-sewing-machine 1940s dress that I'm very excited about.

Meanwhile today I am celebrating my birthday! :) Antiquing, lasagna and cake-eating, and present-opening are the plans for the day so far.

And to all of my new followers, welcome! I'm thrilled to have you following along! :)

• Of Baby Socks and Knitted Blocks •

Well, actually, there is more to this post than just socks and blocks, but I couldn't help giving the post that name. I've been plotting it for some time. ;)

I'm going to be an aunt again! (for the 9th time!) My brother and sister-in-law are expecting their first baby in October, so my mom and I couldn't help but whip up a few gifts to send to them.

It was hard finding fabrics and colors that could go either way (boy or girl); everything seems to be starkly pink or blue! The gifts came out pretty cute though, so I'm not complaining. :)

This post addresses the knitted parts of the gifts; next week I'll post about the sewn parts. First off is: the socks!

A few weeks ago I had mentioned the fact that I had been doing some machine knitting. This is what I was up to! My mom decided to make a sweater, so I caught the knitting bug from her for a little while. I found this pattern for machine-knit baby socks, and thought I'd give it a whirl! They came out really cute, and they are in fact very easy to knit! The only hard part is sewing up the side seam, which can be very tricky depending on what kind of yarn and cuff you use.

For these socks, I did the mock rib cuff, and it came out really cute! I made a couple of other pairs using a fairisle cuff and a lace cuff, but they are still waiting to be sewed up.

In any case, I really like the pattern, and will definitely be using it again soon!

These blocks are SO fun and easy to make! I made them on the knitting machine, once again, but I have done them by hand before as well. I used a single strand of bulky yarn or two strands of thinner yarn on our bulky machine. 

CO 6-0-6. K 18 rows in main tension (I did T3). Change tension to 10, K 1 row. Latch off.

Make 6 squares and sew them together, alternating the knit and purl sides if desired.

I stuffed them with poly-fill. These little blocks are so much fun! They are just round enough to roll, but still square enough to look like a block.

I inadvertently ended up making one of the blocks match the afghan really well!

Ahh. The afghan. I wanted to make one that didn't look too boyish or girly, so I decided on this pretty herringbone pattern in a beautiful mint-y green yarn.

Unfortunately, about 1/4 of the way through knitting it, one of the needles on my machine randomly decided to stop working. What that translated into was me having to hand-manipulate that stitch every 4-6 rows. And I knitted 754 rows. Grr. And that wasn't the only bad part - it made a bit of a flaw on that particular stripe of the blanket. Oh well. At least it was the machine's fault and not mine!

I used Baby Bramwell yarn, approximately 13-14 oz.

CO 100-0-100. T2-2. I used punchcard 6G on my knitting machine, a herringbone-type pattern.

K 754 rows, total.

For the edging, start in the 3rd stitch from corner. ch 2, 2dc, skip 2 st, sc in next st. *3 dc, skip 2 st, sc in next st. Repeat from *. This edging has enough "give" to it to go around 90 degree corners.

I like the effect - it's small but noticeable, easy, and it doesn't detract from the pattern of the blanket.

I hope they enjoy the gifts, and I can't wait to see that new little one!

I'll be back Monday with a Mother's Day-related outfit post. See you then! :)

· Make Do and Mend · Baby Dress ·

*Note: I will have the 1860s gown pictures up here tomorrow. Thanks for bearing with me!*

A friend of mine who has a little 3-4 month old gave me the sunshade off of her baby carrier because it had broken. Naturally, I had to make something for the baby out of it!! I had a couple of fat quarters in the stash that matched quite nicely, so I combined them with the ruffle to make a pint-sized pillowcase dress. I have yet to make something out of the pink chevron from the sunshade, but I'm sure I'll find something to turn it into. 

The body of the dress is from just one fat quarter, and I used part of the other one for the facings and the ties. 

I wished I could have turned the fabric into something vintage-y, but between the lack of material and the chevron pattern, it wasn't really possible. I was able to practice my pattern-matching skills on the side seams, however. I only wish it would be so successful on other garments! :)

I'll be back tomorrow with the 1860s pictures!

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DIY Baby Gift Set

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The last baby project of the week! Actually, this is pretty much just a combination of all of the projects, wrapped up in a nice little bundle. 

First, make a 15 Minute Fat Quarter Burpcloth....

Then, make a DIY Bib.....

And lastly, a Crocheted Baby Headband (if it's a girl).....

Or a DIY Pacifier Clip (courtesy of The Chronicles of Ruthie Hart). 

I had never made a pacifier clip before, but her tutorial made it very easy! I used a Riley Blake chevron cotton (a scrap, incidentally), and it worked great.

Fold it up, tie on a ribbon, and you've got a cute gift for a boy.....

or a girl!

(or twins)

Thanks for stopping by!! Come back soon for some great projects! I have plenty of them in the works, including another vintage dress!

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DIY Bib Tutorial

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Yesterday, I posted the Fat Quarter Burpcloth Tutorial, and today, I have a bib tutorial for you!

I thought that making a bib would be a tough job, but there's really nothing easier.

First, you need a bib to trace, or you can make your own pattern. If you are tracing a bib that you have, be sure to trace the whole thing about 5/8" bigger than it actually is. This will allow you to sew the seams, and have the final result be the correct size.

You will need:

flannel (about half a yard)

sewing machine

thread

scissors

needle

snaps

Trace your bib onto kraft paper, or whatever you have handy. I used some blank newspaper-paper.

Pin the bib pattern onto a double layer of flannel, and cut it out.

Remove the pattern, and pin the bib pieces together, with right sides together. (see picture below)

Look at the back and make sure you don't have any puckers or wrinkles.

Sew all the way around the bib, leaving a 2-3" gap for turning. It is a little tricky to sew around the curves, but if you just go slowly, lifting the presser foot every few stitches, you'll get a nice, smooth curve.

Clip the curves (aka almost the whole bib!!) I highly recommend the Fiskars Micro-Tip Scissors (available at JoAnn). It is the sharpest, most amazing little scissors you have ever seen. It cuts curves amazingly well, and SO much better than a normal sized scissors. 

Make sure you do not clip too close to the seam.

Turn the bib right side out and press. A metal ruler works great for poking the seams out fully.

Pin (or just press) under the open edge so that it is even with the other edges. 

Put your needle in the left position and stitch around the entire bib at about 3/16", backstitching when you get to the end.

Hand sew on a snap for a neck closure, and you're done!

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Tune in tomorrow for another baby project. Thanks for stopping by! Visit the blog live to leave a comment.

The Fat Quarter Burp Cloth

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A friend at church is expecting a baby, so I wanted to come up with a little gift for her. I came across a flannel fat quarter at our local fabric shop, and I knew I had to have it. It turned out to be the perfect size for a burp cloth! The flannel is super-duper soft, and the perfect thickness for it. (And, it's such a cute pattern!!)

 You can have this little burp cloth done in less than 15 minutes, even if you've never sewed a stitch before in your life!

You will need:

a flannel fat quarter (I used Riley Blake chevron)

thread

sewing machine

scissors

Cut the fat quarter in half.

With right sides together, sew all the way around the edges at about 3/8", leaving a 2" gap for turning.

Clip the corners. This makes it easy to turn out the corners. Don't clip too close to the sew-line.

Turn right side out and press out the seams. 

Fold and press under the open edges, so that they are even with the rest of the edges.

Sew the gap closed, and continue stitching all the way around the burp cloth. 

Backstitch (sew almost to the edge, turn around and sew over your sew-line an inch, then turn back around again and sew over the edge) when you get to the end, so you don't have to tie the ends. (I just tucked them in with a needle)

Done! Didn't I say it would be easy?

View of the topstiching

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