Death by Cute...

Just when I thought things in this house couldn't get any cuter, I stumbled upon this tutorial at Twelve Crafts Till Christmas. I was hunting around for some doll accessory patterns and this fit the bill to a tee. Don't tell little A, but I sent a request off to Santa for some doll furniture, and since she's been super awesome all year long, I'm thinking he just might bring it. She loves her baby dolls and I love crafting, so it really was a perfect storm.

Diaper bag and accessories

Can you stand it? Cuz I can't. Seriously. That little pack of diaper wipes took a total of nine seconds to make and it just makes my teeth clench to look at it. And yes, I even overlap-folded the 'wipes' so that when you pull one, another will pop up.



This project cost me a grand total of zero dollars since I had everything I needed in my stash. Have I mentioned before how much I love having a little girl???

It's going to very difficult to sit on this one till Christmas. I hope she loves it as much as I do. Until later...

I'm Forever Cutting Circles...

I think I might have some kind of manic craft disorder. I can go for long spells where I have no desire for crafting. That would be the low end of the cycle. Then I cycle up to where I am now, in hyper craft drive, where I can't seem to stop myself and leave a pile of projects in my wake. Here's what I've been up to lately.

I volunteered to make a cake for my friends daughters birthday. She was having a Halloween themed party this year, and was looking for a witch cake. After a little contemplation (and research on the interwebs) I came up with this;



Yep, that's all cake. Well, except for the hat brim and ribbon. I had a heck of a time trying to make black icing, so I went with a purple hat and what I like to refer to as a copper kettle for the witches cauldron. Hey, it's cake. It's more important that it taste good (which by all reports, it did). I made the card too. I KNOW. Paper is usually not my medium, but a while back I finally bought the paper dolls cartridge for my Cricut Expression machine (it was a gift if you recall) and I gotta tell ya...it's fun. I never thought I would find myself making cards, but there you have it.

I also never thought I would find myself making wreaths, but in the past week I've done not one, but two. I saw a tutorial this time last year at WhipUp for this ruffly felt circle wreath and my initial instinct upon seeing it was MUST MAKE. However, the thought of cutting a billion felt circles with the tools already in my arsenal didn't appeal. Which lead me to buy a circle rotary cutter recently.



Now I'm addicted to cutting circles. I need project ideas that require circle cutting. Any ideas? I need to justify the purchase of the tool for something other than felt circle wreaths (although I could make a couple more of those too. Quite a quick project to put together, and the result is pretty and satisfying. I'm thinking either one in Christmas colours or another in blues and white to go with my living room Christmas decor). The wreath is almost finished, I just ran out of felt last night. You really do need to buy it by the meter for this project. It takes quite a bit more than you think.



I saw something similar to this at one of my local yarn shops and thought 'Ooo, that's charming.' Yes, I say stuff like that to myself. So I picked up a small wreath at the dollar store and hot glued some yarn balls from yarn stash to it and badda bing, badda boom, you gotcha self a wreath. I'm thinking some small knitting needles or double points might be in order somewhere on there as well.



Also for the aforementioned birthday girl, I knit this matching sweater and hat set for her Build-a-Bear friend Bunny (which I guess would make her a Build-a-Bunny, but I digress). I wish I had thought to snap a photo of Bunny modelling her ensemble. She was quite fetching in her new digs.



I've also been stash busting. I threw together this trick or treat bag for Miss A out of stash materials. I inherited this rather hefty orange canvas that I wasn't sure what to do with, but it came in handy. I've also made two of these and two of these but they are going to be gifts, so I'll just leave that as a teaser.



Finally, I finished this quite some time ago and have been meaning to throw it up here, but just haven't gotten around to it. It's a little cloth book that I put together for Miss A and was mostly assembled for her first birthday. It's genesis dates back to, hmmm, 2006? when I cut out all the pages and the letters.



I used the left over material from A's crib set to make the covers and remnants out of my fabric stash for the letters. I wish I had been able to do a little bit better job of outlining the letters, like say machine embroidery or something, but after four years, I just really wanted it completed so the quick and dirty route seemed to fit the bill.

And that pretty much sums it up for the time being. I'm currently caught up in a flurry of Christmas projects that I'll be gobsmacked if they're done on time. Every year I swear I won't do this to myself and then do it anyway. Guess I'll go pick one to work on for a while. Until later...

The Benefits of Procrastination...

I know it's terribly un-PC of me to say this out loud, but there are times when I miss being able to throw things in the garbage and just completely forget about them. I spend more time sorting, cleaning, categorizing, bagging, and sifting through recyclables and compost than I ever would have imagined a decade ago. I will admit to you that some days, it really really drives me batty. I miss the ignorance and arrogance of an age long past, when everything from batteries and paint cans to chicken bones and paper towel all went in the same bag and out to the curb and we were all happy little clams that knew none the wiser. This was also an era when dogs were just dogs and no one seemed to care about their 'emotional needs' or 'self esteem'. But that's a rant for another day.

A nice thing happened to me the other day. The fact that I have craft projects from six or more years ago still hanging around unfinished actually came in handy.

My little A is really into flipping through books right now...

Exhibit Little A

...even to the exclusion of playing with other toys, which I have to say, just thrills me to no end. I've been reading to her since day one, so to watch her really enjoy flipping pages and investigating what's inside is just a joy. She enjoys it so much in fact that she likes to have a book in bed with her, which I have no problem with, other than the fact that she might roll over on it etc. while she's sleeping. I couldn't see a small board book doing much harm, though it might prove to be a bit uncomfortable. Then I remembered that at one point in time, I had started a soft fabric book as a project and still had it buried somewhere in my fabric stash.



So I dug it out and as of last night, I have all the pages assembled. I just need to figure out how to do a binding on it. I'm thinking eyelets/grommets. It is unlikely that I'd be able to sew through all the layers on my sewing machine.

My house looks so ghetto without trim on the windows...that's the next project for Mr. Fixit.

I've been able to get back and play in my craft room a little more these days since I packed up the baby swing that was previously occupying the spot that the play pen now is. It's like a revelation. She's quite content to sit and play while we yammer away to one another and I get to exercise some creative muscles.



So I was able to finish a new sleep sack for my sleeping beauty as well. This had been hanging around for months and months, not because it was time consuming or difficult to finish, but more so because I was in sleep sack denial. I don't think I wanted to admit to myself that she had grown out of the other ones I'd made. But the fact that there are bright and cheerful owls on it (and glow in the dark no less) have almost made up for the fact that I've now packed away all the receiving blankets, bibs, burp cloths and baby bath towels.



I'm obviously on a finishing jag at the moment, and because this next project is turning out to be awesome beyond awesome, I'm only giving you a small teaser for the time being. This is my epic Babette Blanket in the process of being assembled, which it now is and I'm just putting the finishing touches on the border. I really couldn't be more in love with it if it were actually Colin Firth (mmm...yummy). I'm quite proud of the fact that I'll have it finished well before little A's first birthday, a baby blanket for my not-so-much a baby anymore. But that's also a lament for another time.

Until later...

Counting Down...

So let's just take care of business right off the hop. There have been requests, so here she is, in all her knitty glory. She's right at the perfect age where all of the wonderful knitty stuff that she received for her shower and some of the items I made many moons ago in hopes that one day someone tiny would model them for me now fit. In the next few A related posts, I hope to showcase these lovely items. First up is this little pink bolero knit by one of my blog-free (and therefore shall remain nameless) Knit Nite compatriots. Adorable.

Little A is eight months now and just so damn smart it blows me away. Thus far, we have mastered feeding oneself finger foods, sippy cup, rolling over, being adorable and infectious giggling. We're moving onto standing. Got places to go people. I think she just got over a bit of a growth spurt too, cuz she was grumpy grumpy grumpy (in addition to not sleeping) and my efforts were all for nought. At some point, the most valuable pearl of wisdom about parenting that I ever heard (which came from my sister-in-law) crossed my mind; just when you think that you can't take it (it being whatever may be going on at that moment) any longer, it'll change. And so it did. That happy, ever laid back and contented baby has returned. All's right with the world again.



Now this. All I can say is Ididit Ididit Ididit Ididit. Little excited. It's my advent calendar. I actually frickin' did it. I started and finished the sewing yesterday, in between naps and feedings and playing-withs and diaper changes and instructing the father-person to keep an eye on the offspring. I even have handmade ornaments, though only about a half dozen or so, so far. I still need to attach some numbers to the pockets, but I have all of the supplies and hope to get that piece of the project done tomorrow.

How it'll work is that there will be an ornament and a treat in each pocket, (and as wee one gets older, a little card with a Christmas related activity on it, ie. baking cookies, going sledding, make hot chocolate, read a Christmas book etc.) and the ornament will go on the little tree there (the one with the green lights on it...the other is a salt and pepper shaker. There is a top and bottom half. It's wonderfully cheesy) and the treat will, of course, get eaten. For now, the treats are purely for the constable's enjoyment. He is a big kid himself, after all.

The greatest thing about this project? I had all of the supplies in my stash. I've had the Christmas fabric for years and have been waiting for the perfect project to break them out on. The canvas backing I bought with another project in mind, but never got around to it. And the empty wrapping paper roll...well, that's pretty self explanatory. Actually, it's only temporary. I've misplaced the wooden dowel that I know is around here somewhere.

Anyhow, I'm pretty pleased with myself. It's very Christmas-crafty, but I'm okay with that. I think I may be entering that phase of my life. My most immediate phase needs to be sleep though, so I'm off. Until later...

She Can Tackle Anything up to Twice her Size...

I knew that daylight savings time was going to mess with me somehow, and I was right to assume that it would include the baby. We forgot to change the clocks back last night, so when I heard her cooing away and saw a six at the head of all of those numbers on my bedside clock I thought awesome, lets get up. But the DVR is smarter than the rest of us and when I saw a five, I knew I had a long day ahead of me. After about 45 mins, even little A was like, what the heck, why am I up? and asked to go back to bed. Who can blame her. So it's just me and the coffee and the blog.



For someone who swore up and down that she wasn't going to make anything for Christmas this year, I've been diligently working on a number of things that I intend to give away as presents. Go figure. I probably shouldn't post them, but I'm nearly certain that the intended recipients never read my blog. Anyhow, I Cricut-ed a memory game here for a little person which would've taken an afternoon if I had a full one to myself but took nearly three weeks instead. Ah well.



I also tried my hand at making some marble magnet thingies. This is the tutorial I used. You can't see it very well in this photo, kinda blurry, but I used all kitchen themed pictures. Some food, some appliances. Very cute. Important lesson learned; do not handle until the glue is totally dry. I have dried glue finger prints all over the front of these, which is very unattractive. I'm hoping a little Windex might clean things up. Anyhow, these with a little decorative tin box are a super cute gift.



I finished a cabled ear flap hat for another little person, plus my Yarn Harlot Pretty Thing cowl. I'm very yeeha about the cabled hat and meh about the cowl. I think meh because this really does need to be knit in a lighter colour to show off the lace. Nothing wrong with the pattern, just that I don't feel mine has any pizazz. Now there is a word I need to put into more frequent rotation. Pizazz. Pizazz.



I started and finished a We Call Them Pirates hat for a person in my life who enjoys skull wear (knit with Patons Kroy in a striped and a solid). No FO photo of the hat as of yet, probably will only post that to Ravelry. One thing became clear to me while I was knitting this. I really really like doing colour work. When there's only two colours involved. I don't think intarsia is for me, but I'm all over fair isle.



And saving the best for last, for those of you not on Facebook where she is plastered absolutely everywhere, my amazing little crustacean, little A the lobster. I had her costume made back in September, then had a mild panic attack this week when I couldn't remember where I had put it. I had patterns kicking around for a hoodie and a hat, which I made out of red fleece and used another book about baby costumes for the claws and the tail. All the add-ons, like the antennae, eyes, tail, claws are all hand sewn so that they can come off very easily and she'll still have a nice cozy hoodie and a hat. The rest of outfit was just one piece red jammies. Why? Cuz she's my lobster :) (yes, that is a Friends reference). I had hoped to make the rounds with her to all my knitty friends houses, but we hit two (one knitty and one non-knitty friend) and she was very much over the whole experience, probably because it was dinner time, followed closely by bedtime. Still pretty good for a seven month old I think. She also got to wear the costume to our weekly story time hour on Friday, which really was a hoot. Being in a room full of little people in costumes is my idea of a good way to spend an hour.

Anyhoo, I think I might take advantage of all this quiet to catch a quick nap myself. I need a little more time to come to terms with the fact that it's November already. Until later...

Round Up...

Hope everyone had a nice Labour Day weekend. We did a whole lot of nothing around here at the homestead. Yesterday I spent some time in the craft room, experimenting and working on tidying up other projects. I was listening to CBC radio and heard quite an interesting piece on The Current about over parenting, something which is on my radar even moreso these days. I won't bore you with the details, other than to relay that the interview included a personal anecdote about parents who had bubble wrapped their entire hotel room while on vacation with their 3 yr. old. (Click on the link if you want to hear the interview, it's in part three called Nation of Whimps).



Since I missed last weeks photo, I'll slip one in here of A wearing a sweater I knit a while back. I wasn't that enthralled with it at the time, but sometimes the model helps bring out the cute in anything.



My sister-in-law and I went fabric shopping when I was home visiting and picked out some funky new fabric for some new sleep sacks for our respective winter babies that are rapidly outgrowing their beginner ones. This is the one that she picked out for me to sew up for her, since her hubby is big on skulls and flames. I think it's awesome. Mine is glow in the dark owls, just waiting to be sewn together.



Finished some socks...



...started some new ones.

That's about it for now. Until later...

Multiplicity...

No baby yet.

This is my 304th post. That's insane. I've filled 304 blog posts with not a whole lot to say about yarn and fabric and occasionally, my dog. Or the weather. And yet still you read. Bless you.



Still doing a little sewing to keep myself entertained. I've been on a bag jag the last little while. I inherited a bunch of quilting fabric from the constables grandmother a while back, when she was clearing out and downsizing. Nice stuff, but some of it...well, I wasn't sure what I would do with it. I like to quilt, but they are the kind of 'few and far between' projects. Anyhow, I'm continuing my efforts to de-stash a bit and lighten my load, at least with respect to craft room if nothing else. And it's been really fun to turn inward and challenge myself to making stuff from materials I already have...this is what I keep telling myself when the reality is I can't manage to be upright for more than five minutes at a time, so going out and procuring said materials is, like, a righteous pain in the ass. Anyhow, four bags so far and yesterday I found a few more remnants that might do well for this particular pattern. These make nice little knitting project bags so who knows...some lucky knitters out there might be in possession of one at some point.



On one of my Frenchy's sprees, I picked up a couple of pillowcases, intending to try out the whole pillowcase dress thing, and seeing as it's simple and fast, I managed to bang out three of them. The faded blue paisley one was from a set of my own sheets, ones that I loved dearly (strange how you get attached to stupid things) and for some reason, I hung onto the pillowcase. Anyhow, it was my tester. It is the 12 mos. size, the orangey-ish one, 18 mos. and the one with the blue roses, 2T. I was thinking these would make really great beach cover ups or just bumming around in the sandbox kind of wear. Things that I'm not going to get too fussy over if they get incredibly dirty. They really are quite cute. There was enough pillowcase left over that I was thinking of making little draw-string bags. Ya know...for shell collecting or the like.

No knitting to speak of really as I've sorta lost my mojo. But I did wake up this morning feeling the urge to cast on a new project, which was a delightful change of pace. So who knows. Two projects that I had started have bitten the dust. A grey (what was I thinking?) sweater I started for my nephew is now in the circular file and a pair of socks that I started for myself just weren't doing it for me, and have since been frogged and re-caked. I feel very good about these decisions. Sometimes deconstruction is as satisfying as the construction.

It's a beautiful day and of course I'd love to be able to take the Hankster for a nice long walk. Alas, we are cloistered. What did they used to call it? Confinement. Yeah, they kinda weren't kidding. He's been such a good boy for the most part. He tolerates all the napping very well. Thankfully it's staying lighter much longer and the hubs can get him out a bit if he's home from work early enough. I just keep telling Hank that pretty soon, things will get better for him and I promise to get him out more often. That first walk with the stroller and a freaked out, holy-snappin'-crap-Lou-I-haven't-been-for-a-walk-since-summer-of-'08 German Shepherd should be interesting. Poor guy.

Anyhow, that is all. Until later...

Just Keep Sewing...

Yep, still here. No baby yet. 39 weeks and 1 day pregnant.

I feel like Dory, the forgetful fish from Finding Nemo wherein I keep chanting to myself, 'Just keep sewing, just keep sewing...' (instead of swimming obviously). So I have been. Here's s'more stuff I've made.



Finally got around to making the dust ruffle for the crib. I thought since the matress was at the highest level that a dust ruffle might look goofy, so I wasn't in too much of a hurry to get it done (obviously, since I left it this long) but I think it looks rather sharp. You'd think at 39 weeks + 1 day pregnant I wouldn't have any disillusions about the contraints of my body, but it really is facinating how much in denial one can be, even at this point. It was quite a chore trying to get this damn duster ruffle on the crib at all. I still need the constable to straighten it out on the back side. It's all bunchy. Anyhow, I'm quite content now that the crib set is complete. Again, not something I had anticipated getting finished, but am pleased that it's done.



Here's a remnant of the animal panel so that you can see it more closely, cuz, well, it's uber cute. See the theme? An alligator wearing argyle carrying apples; an elephant in earmuffs eating...well, something, can't quite make it out. Anyhow, you get the idea.



Also made a hat for the little sunsuit. It's too big, but whatever. It's also cute.



Eons ago, fellow knitter and fabric enthusiast Heddy and I were out and about doing some fabric shopping and she stumbled upon a whole heap of Mountie themed fabric, which I promptly cleaned the store out of. The intention all along was to make a crib sheet and matching receiving blanket, shown above, and I still have enough of this particular one to make at least a little pair of toddler pajama pants.

And I've started a little sweater for my new nephew Nolan (say that three times fast) which I neglected to photograph. Just picture grey garter stitch. No really, it'll be cute when it's done.

So yeah...I'm running out of things to craft. This kid better show up soon or I'll be forced to start on the window dressings I've been saying I'm going to get to for nearly a year now.

I'm off to nap now. Until later...

Quilt Guilt...

...has been exercised from my system. Granted, the actual quilting part has yet to take place, but it is all put together and could be put into use if need be. It's one of those quick turning type quilts, where you sew the top and back together with the batting sandwiched inside out and flip it, if that makes any sense. I forgot to note the pattern info, but I'm pretty sure it's a Simplicity pattern called something to the effect of Aunt Edna's Pinwheel Baby Quilt.



Close up. I'm very pleased with how it turned out. I love this pattern and as I mentioned in the previous post, have used it a number of times before. I think the end result (really wish it showed up as bright and cheerful as it is in real life, but it's a dull day and the flash made it look too yellowy) is sweet and springy and for me anyhow, surprisingly traditional. In terms of fabric choice anyway. All of the fabric came from fat quarters I had in my stash, which I've collected over the years thinking, 'these would make a sweet little baby quilt someday.' And so they've fulfilled their quilty destiny.



Back. I've been carrying the backing fabric around with me for years and years and years as well. It came from my mom who never got around to using it. When I done growed up, I inherited all of her sewing apparati like the sewing machine, serger, sewing scissors (Henckels no less...ma didn't mess around with her tools) sewing box etc., only ever misplacing her pinking shears which makes me sad, cuz they were a really great pair. She wasn't a huge crafter when I was growing up, certainly not to the scale of obsession that I've taken it, but I distinctly remember her pulling out the old machine (back then, an ancient brown and cream Singer that weighed about as much as an anvil) at Christmas time and going to town. She was no slouce. She was good at what she did, and was all about the details.

I have this memory of standing beside her at the kitchen table while she made little felt doves that I was allowed to help put glitter on. Even at that tender age, I remember thinking 'I wish I knew how to do that'. She used to let me just rifle through her sewing box, which I would do over and over and over again and I would look at everything and touch it all as though it was great and important treasure. Badges and labels and appliques; beads and buttons and pins; thread on wooden spools, a hook for rug hooking, tailors chalk. Now when I open up the sewing box, I still see these things and it brings about a wave of nostalgia. When I finished the quilt this morning and was sewing up the opening I used to flip it right side out, I thought of these little treasures.



I guess the 'Mom' would be me now.

Until later...

Retail and Fabric Therapy...

First up, the retail therapy.

Saturday I decided to venture to that little travelled place called 'outside' and made my way to Mahone Bay with birthday money in hand. I'm glad I picked a day that was warm and sunny, although I anticipated that my little lone excursion would be way more fun that it actually was. Turns out that I am just way too pregnant for anything to be tonnes of fun at this point. I couldn't stand for long, I certainly couldn't get down to some of the yarn and oh my stars (to borrow an expression) was I warm :) Have a Yarn is warm on the best of days. Throw in nine months of pregnant, a winter coat and sun streaming in the windows and you have a nuclear meltdown on your hands. I had hoped to avoid wearing my coat in, but I couldn't park quite close enough for that.

Anyhow, I managed to do a fair amount of damage anyway. Behold...(ignoring the mess in the background)



I now have a swift. I've been wanting one forever and yet when I finally did purchase it, I thought it kind of silly since my yarn buying may be slowing down considerably in the next little while. Meh...ah well. It's purdy. That is some Fleece Artist mill end, sock weight I think. It didn't have a tag. It was on sale. Whee.



What would a yarn shopping trip be without more Tanis? This time in the Spearmint colourway. Well on my way to having the whole collection. And so nice to be able to cake it up and use it right away now.

Which is where the fabric therapy came in today.

I was reading Chicken Betty's blog yesterday and she was playing with fabric that was just so pretty and fresh and, well, springy. Made me realize that when wanting for spring and cooped up (no pun intended I swear) cuz of the cold, a little infusion of colour can be a wonderful thing. So off to the fabric stash I went. Well, to be honest, I had visited it a little prior to my yarn shopping trip and here's why...



It may be kind of hard to make out, but the greeny-blue yarn matches the greeny-blue fabric bang on. That came out of the stash. The yellow fabric I picked up on the way home from yarn shopping (sheesh, almost forgot about that). The purpose? Pinta needs dresses. We're hoping to make a trip home to Ontario in the oppressive (a word I do not use for dramatic effect in the least) heat and humidity of late summer where central air reigns supreme. Solution for small babies? Light cotton sun suits with lightweight little sweaters, that's what I think.



Ta-da :) (I have to use smileys instead of exclamation points...while I've discovered another avenue for a 1, there has not been a similar solution for the exclamation point on my broken laptop keyboard...arg). Having a fabric stash is a good thing. Didn't quite have enough for the bloomers so I used a co-ordinating fabric for those, as well as the ruffle on the back of the top.



See? Too freakin' cute. And easy. I made a couple of these for my niece way back when she was a wee babe (all of two years ago) and heard that they went over well in the humidity of Florida on vacation, which, honestly, is comparable to my hometown in August. I get the biggest kick out of pattern sizing too. That is the 'newborn' size there and it looks to me like it would fit a six month old or older. So I think I'm good. I plan to start the little sweater tonight sometime (no, not taking my own 'stop knitting' advice...I'm too fidgety without the knitting, sore hands be damned) and hopefully get the yellow dress sewn up tomorrow. I petered out around mid afternoon and lay down for a nap, thinking I'd only been out an hour or so, only to wake and discover three hours had disappeared (and that my husband had the same idea and conked out on the couch downstairs...with the dog. My no couch rule undermined yet again).

I feel much refreshed after my little fabric therapy. I'll likely be rummaging through the stash again to see what else I can come up with. Until later...

Lame Duck Pregnancy...

According to my ticker, there's one hundred days left. One hundred days to that rather arbitrary number of a due date. Whee.

Some drive-by blogging coming up...



Hat. Skull Isle pattern from Son of Stich n' Bitch. Knit this in like, two and half days. Haven't picked up the needles since. But I love my new hat.



Two more sleep sacks. I love these things...they're so sweet.



Doing some more onesies as well. I was hunting around at Frenchy's for some and it was just more of the same of what I've already picked up. Then it dawned on me that I could scour the bin of men's t-shirts for usable material, most of which wasn't worn at all. So I've got a stack to work on, some of which I'm thinking might be good for gifts.

And that's it. I'm starting to tire easily again, getting back in the habit of napping, which I must admit I'm not all that upset about. The fact that they are more like three hour complete and total black-outs is a little bothersome, as the better part of my day has disappeared once I regain conciousness. Sleeping at night is getting complicated...just not comfortable. I suspect, like everything else, this will no go away or improve. *sigh*

Anyhow, I'm trying to blog and watch Dragon's Den at the same time and I must admit, Dragon's Den is winning. Until later...

At It Again...

Pumpkin spice muffins are yummy.

So the whole refashion/recycling sweatshirt project was so much fun that I thought I would see what else I could do. I don't recall whether I mentioned it in the sweatshirt post, but I thought that I could crank out a few onesies out of some old t-shirts that I had lying around. Just so happens I have a pattern for onesies.



This isn't really a tutorial, but if you happen to have a pattern lying around for onesies or want to try this yourself, you'll want t-shirts that are a) big enough (these are men's large and extra large) and b) t-shirts that don't have seams on the sides. The front and back pattern pieces are meant to be cut on the fold of the fabric, so as you can see here, I've placed them on the sides of the t-shirt where the 'fold' is. I know the photos are a little dull, but I've just not been all that enamoured with my flash lately. Weird lighting this time of year. I'm also doing the small size in the pattern. It goes down as far as xxs, which would also be fine, and I may have been able to eek out a medium, but small was fine for my purposes. (In my amateur estimation, the resulting size is about a 3-6/6-9 month size, compared with some other store bought onesies I have already).



So yadda yadda yadda, I get a little into what I'm doing and forget to take some 'in progress' photos. But here is the the onesies all sewn, or rather, serged, together. If it wasn't for my serger, I don't think I would bother with these projects, since sewing with t-shirt or jersey material on just a sewing machine is a fast track to insanity. For the crotch area, I made sure that my pattern piece went as far down as the bottom hem of the t-shirt. The pattern called for cutting out pieces for the neck bands and for bands around the leg. Again, since I wanted fast and easy and not so much on the insane part, I opted just to serge around these areas. It gives a less finished look, but whatever. These are clothes that are likely to be barfed on. I'm not that fussy.



The t-shirt I used for this onesie was a little worn and thin, so while likely pretty comfy, would only be good for very warm weather or perhaps at night for sleeping, in a sleep sack. Anyway, I remembered that in purging a lot of his t-shirts, the constable was a little bummed out that some of his favourite logo's would also be lost to the rag pile. So I cut out one of the smaller ones, went and got some stuff called Wonder Under (or Heat n' Bond as I knew it), which through the magical process of ironing, creates a nice iron-on logo or patch. Ta-da! Funkified.



That is until I went to finish the process, which requires that you put a damp cloth on top of the logo for the final ironing which bonds the logo to the project and used a red cloth that bled all over my white onesie. DAR! Ruination. So I'm gonna wash it and if it doesn't come out, try and peel it off and do it again on another onesie or take the cursed cloth and do the same thing all over the rest of the outfit to get a mottled/tie-dye effect.



Not satisfied to stop at one, I did it again, this time with one of my own old t-shirts. I got this for volunteering for the conservation authority in my last county of residence. Does anyone ever wear these things after the fact, other than for painting houses or doing yard work? Neon orange just isn't my colour. Needless to say, it's never been worn. This time I flipped the shirt over and cut out the pieces on the back, so that I could avoid getting any writing in my cutting.



And this is how I did the sleeves; cut the sleeves off the t-shirt and through the underarm seam so that they would lie flat. Placed them wrong sides together, centered the pattern piece and cut away. The hem of the t-shirt sleeve becomes the hem of the onesie sleeve. Easy peesy, lemon squeezy.



This time around I wanted a more finished/less homemade look, so I cut the neck band off the shirt and used it for the neck band of the onesies, topstitching on the right side to secure the seam. Same with the leg bands, although this time I had to salvage some neckbands from two other white t-shirts, but I think it looks rather cute! I also added a Simple Knot Newborn Cap like the ones Carrie made, which are too cute for words (link to pattern via her website if you're interested). I thought about adding the logo from the front of the shirt to the onesie, but it was too heavy to bond well and I didn't care for it anyway. So in the garbage it went along with the scraps of the shirt and I am quite pleased to see the end of it, knowing I've at least given it a second life. The only thing left to do on both onesies is sew or hammer on some snaps in the crotch and at either side of the neck. El finito.

Isn't this orange onesie now just screaming for some matching socks? And I have just the yarn in my stash too. Stay tuned...