Sew Baby Travel High Chair

While E's sitting skills have improved dramatically in the past couple of years, she's still not reliable enough that she can sit at the table unrestrained.  I suspect that would be a head injury waiting to happen.  At home she uses a booster seat and at restaurants we usually just take her in her adaptive stroller.  Most people's houses, though, aren't handicapped-accessible (ours included so far), so we tend to run into issues when we're visiting people at mealtimes and forget to bring along the booster seat.  We're usually about an hour down the road before one of us realizes it's still strapped to her chair at the table.  We also run into space issues when we're taking longer trips.  We are continually putting off the purchase of a minivan, although that day is coming soon.  I saw a few tutorials for fabric high chairs and thought that would be the answer to our various seating and bulk issues, but I wasn't 100% sold on the design of any of them. 

Enter the Sew Baby Travel High Chair pattern, which I happened to see at Joann Fabrics a couple of weeks ago.  While it's more of a fabric-hog than some of the tutorials, I also thought it would work out better for E.  I dug out some ancient stash fabric --  I remember buying this when O. was a baby with the intention of making a pouch sling, but never got around to it.  (Believe me, there was no shortage of baby carriers around here, so that wasn't a big loss. I made at least three other pouches, not to mention mei tais and ring slings.  I was a bit of a babywearing hoarder.)  I think it's a stretch twill.

Cutting out the pattern piece, fabric, and batting may have taken longer than sewing it up.  The only change I made was to use 1.5" hook & loop left over from my cloth diaper making days instead of the recommended 3/4".

I'm quite happy with how it turned out.  It's sized for up to 2T, but E is skinny and can still wear 2T pants as capris, so I decided to just go with it as-is.  She has some growing room, but it would be quite easy to size up for a larger child who needs positioning help.

It folds up even smaller than I'd hoped and fits easily in the side pocket of the Thirty-one bag that we usually use for her things.

Something like this has been on my to-sew list for about a year, so I'm pretty psyched to finally be able to cross it off! 

Rockin' Baby Gowns IV & V: Wisconsin Sports Edition

The Rockin' Baby Gown has definitely become my go-to baby gift.  One of my college roommates is a serious sports fan (they had the most awesome baseball-themed wedding), so as soon as I received an invitation to her baby shower, I knew exactly which shirts I needed to find to refashion into gowns.

Both tees were adult smalls, which weren't big enough to cut the sleeves from, so I dug in my stash for coordinating colors.  The Brewer blue is a closer match to the printing in person than it looks in the photos.

I'm not quite as crazy about the yellow sleeves, but anything's cute on a baby, right?  This was the first time that I just hemmed the neckline with a zigzag rather than finishing it with ribbing.  Generous use of spray starch made it go smoothly -- much better than I'd anticipated.

The Brewer gown was pretty much the same as the ones I'd made previously.  I really like the look of the sleeves and neckline in this color combo.

My friend's husband is a Yankee fan, but he'll just have to deal.  ;) 

Handmade Holidays: Gifts for the Five & Under Crowd

Sewing for kids is one of my favorite things -- I'm sure you can't tell -- so it was fun to come up with things for our smallest nieces and nephews. Both of Ray's sisters had babies this year, whom we finally met this Christmas.  I tried not to hog them too much, but it was tough.  I did get to hold the youngest one, who's just over two months, while he napped.  Is there anything better??

Here's what I made him, to continue on with the football theme.

I used the football softie tutorial from The Train to Crazy, but with football pieces traced from a freebie fleece sewing magazine I picked up years ago from Hancock Fabrics.  I put a cat toy in the middle for the bell. I'm 99% sure that Charlie didn't actually see me do that, but she was quite interested in the football, so maybe it's some special cat sense  Or she's just nosy.

Our other new nephew's mama is a huge book-lover, so I was happy to put a stashed Paddington Bear book panel to good use.

The only thing I didn't like about this was that there didn't seem to be any rhyme or reason to the pages.  The directions even said to place them randomly, but I'm not so good with random and spent wasted a lot of time trying to put them in some sort of sequential order.  It didn't work. But the book was cute anyway.  I ♥ Paddington!

For the three-year-old nephew (and partially for his dad!), I made another Snapazoo. I spent a little more time playing with this one and managed to configure it into more things.

Elephant

Turtle

Seahorse

I also made one for E, even though she can't do the snaps.  I didn't topstich hers, and I think I like that a little better. 

Snapazoo times two!

For my five-year-old nephew, we put together a fort kit.  I used cotton yarn for the ties on the sheet instead of making them from a tee.

Flashlight not pictured

He looked a little puzzled when he opened up his [fabric] gift bag, pulled out the tote bag, and then found the drawstring bag.  Poor kid, he may have thought he was just getting a bunch of bags!  Hopefully he and his older sister have built a fort by now.  If nothing else, he had fun with the flashlight.

Rockin' Baby Gown III: Football Edition

We have a new little nephew, so it was time for yet another Rockin' Baby Gown.  I really do love this pattern.  I used a tee this time instead of yardage. It turned out to be pretty impossible to find a Bears shirt here (baby's mom and dad are big fans), but we happened to be taking a trip to Chicago shortly after he was born, so we were able to pick one up there.

I bought a 2XL for maximum fabric and ended up having *just* enough to use the existing neckband, since the navy ribbing I had didn't match well at all.

I also knitted this little football hat on size 7s.  I'm thinking it's around a 3-6m size or thereabouts.

I kind of have a thing for novelty baby hats.  They're so fun!  And the babies are too little to complain that they're "too silly!"  Ha ha.

Thanks to Kendra at Pots, Pans & Paintbrushes for nominating me for a Liebster Blog Award.  We're expecting my dad any minute now, so I don't have time to answer the questions, but I really appreciate it!

Happy Thanksgiving to my U.S. readers!  

Ladybug Baby Carrier Slipcover Tutorial

Do you still need a costume for your baby?  Here's a quick babywearing costume that I originally shared on The Train to Crazy as part of the Handmade Costume Series. 

Look at how little -- and chubby -- E was!  This was her first Halloween costume.

Materials
Baby carrier, such as a mei tai or soft-structured carrier
Ladybug wings
Red fleece
Black fleece scraps
Heavyweight sew-in interfacing
Hook & loop
Matching thread
Tracing paper

Instructions
Cut the elastic shoulder straps off of the wings. Cut a piece of hook the size of the area connecting the wings. If your hook is too narrow, you may want to use two rows so your wings don't sag. Sew the hook to the wrong side of the wings.

Wrong side

Use bobbin thread that matches your wings, since it will show.

Right side

Trace your carrier, marking openings for the straps.

I don't  have the original Honeybunch mei tai anymore, so I'm using a Kanga XT as an example.

Add a seam allowance (I prefer 1/4") to all of the non-strap areas and cut out your pattern.

Cut the front and back (inside) pieces from red fleece with the greater stretch going side to side. Cut one piece from the interfacing.

Decide how many spots you would like on your ladybug -- mine has three 3" spots -- and cut them from black fleece. Applique them to the front piece. I prefer a straight stitch when using fleece. If your carrier isn't perfectly symmetrical, make sure you're applying them to the correct piece!

Take the piece of interfacing and cut away a bit from the strap areas, so that it doesn't show if it gaps when it's being worn. It will look something like this:

Use a glue stick or pin the interfacing to the back of the front piece. The interfacing reinforces the fleece so that the weight of the wings doesn't cause them to sag.

Cut loop the same size as the hook on the wings. Decide where you'd like your wings to attach; the bottom of my hook is just above the center point of the body. Sew the loop onto the front piece and interfacing.

Place the front and back pieces right sides together and sew seams, leaving openings for straps. Make sure you catch the interfacing in the seam allowances, as shown two photos above.

Turn the slipcover right side out. It's done!

Slip it over your carrier, stick on the wings, and enjoy!

If you'd like to make your little one a simple costume to wear when out of the carrier, start with a basic a-line jumper pattern. I used the Ottobre 4/08 Nasta Pinafore, sewing shoulder seams instead of using buttons and finishing the neckline and armholes by turning them under 1/4" and using a zig-zag stitch. This was also the base of E's bee costume and her owl costume. Sew some dots to the front and back. If your little ladybug is walking, you could also sew some loop to the back of the dress and stick the wings on when she's out of the carrier.

Round out the look with a black onesie and tights. I also made some ladybug slippers from the free Darling Diaper Minimoc pattern (bottom left of the page).

KCWC Day 1: Rockin' Baby Gown + Cupcake Hat

My Day 1 project has made it safely to its recipient, so now I can blog about it.  The lactation cookies that I also sent were eaten by some local wildlife before my friend got the package!!  (I assume it was on her porch or something when the incident took place.)  Fortunately the critters were less attracted to my handiwork than my baking -- even though there was a cupcake involved:

This is the Cupcake Baby Hat from Itty-Bitty Nursery. I made E the 1-2 year size when she was about 18 months old, and she still wears it three years later! Since this is newborn sized, and my friend says it fits perfectly now, I imagine this one will not have such longevity.

It was accompanied by a Rockin' Baby Gown.  Such a great pattern!  I've made it before and loved it just as much this time around.

I used yardage again instead of upcycling, but the next one I have tentatively planned will be from a tee.

Mitt folded over on the left, folded back on the right.

Tiny Suspenders

A few weeks ago, Ray and his mom were talking about how our newest nephew is the spitting image of his dad (the baby's dad, not Ray's dad), who always wears suspenders.  My MIL told him how she thought it would be hilarious to give him baby suspenders, which led to us saying, "Oh, we can find those online!"  Turns out you can't find them for kids under 9 months, probably because it's kind of silly to have a baby who's just laying around all day wear suspenders.  Are his pants really going to fall down?  I think not.

Fortunately, there's a tutorial for everything, suspenders included.  I asked around on Facebook for someone with a 4-6 month old to get some measurements for me, and sewed up some itty-bitty suspenders.

In the off chance that you should ever need to make tiny suspenders yourself, I cut the elastic pieces 21" long.  I know my SIL thought they were funny, but I'm not sure if he's actually worn them (those buckles seem uncomfortable for a baby!), so I can't vouch for the fit.

Newborn Gown & Hat

We welcomed a new nephew into the family earlier this month -- yay!!  I'm so excited, but very bummed that they're too far away to visit in the near future.  I'd love to get in on some newborn snuggles, but since I can't, I sewed and knitted up an outfit in which he could be snuggled.

I love, love, love baby gowns (and soaker sacks) and was looking forward to trying out the Rockin' Baby Gown tutorial.  I used yardage instead of upcycling a tee, but the only difference that made was that I had to hem the little foldover mitt flap. 

I also used the ribbed neckline variation, but didn't think the exposed serging was really my sister-in-law's style, so did it the regular way and top-stitched with a zigzag.

This may very well be my new go-to baby gift.  

I also knitted a wee hat.  Both things seemed impossibly tiny!

And then I got geekily excited when we found this perfectly matching card.  *sigh*  I do adore all things matchy-matchy.

More Owl Hats

Remember that tiny newborn owl hat I made for a friend's baby this spring?  She asked me to knit two more, and I was happy to oblige.  You guys haven't noticed that I have a thing for owls, have you??

The one with brown trim is baby-sized, roughly 6-12 months.

The orange-trimmed hat is more of a toddler size.

 

I'm still thinking E. needs one, especially since her winter coat is brown with cream around the hood, but I may be going overboard on owl things for her.  We'll see if I'm burnt out on knitting owl hats or not...