Play Mat

Another project I did in June is this play mat. I got the front fabric on etsy. The back fabric is from fabric.com, and the middle layer is some Quilters Dream batting (here). I discovered that my grandmothers sewing machine closet (which I inherited and adore) not only has a collection of tons of random buttons, thread, zippers, bias tape, etc, but it also has every presser foot accessory I know of (which isn't really saying a lot..but it also had a lot I don't know of too!). One of which is an even feed / walking foot which is super helpful for machine quilting.

I used safety pins to baste the layers together (after prewashing the the outer layers. The batting layer instructions said not to prewash. I forget why). Then I used the walking foot to sew along the edges of the roads and the airport landing strip. It didn't do a perfect job, (there is a bit of pucker in some spots) but we'll just blame that on my minimal basting and not my grandmothers awesome machine! I used biased tape to finish the edges. I realized that I should have purchased regular width double biased tape instead of quilting biased tape because the tape was wider than I needed. I think the quilting tape is for super fat quilts. Mine was not fat. But other than that, this was great!

Now Ila can play on it with her cars. Or she will someday anyway.

Diaper Cover / Wool Soaker

A few months ago, I was putting a Disana wool cover over Ila at night since she was peeing through her diapers every night. (this is left from my cloth diapering days, before Ila began peeing more than I could handle and resulted in me putting her in disposables). I decided I needed another cover while the other one gets washed, and thought I could try my hand at making one.

I learned to crochet only last April. I have made half of an afghan, but then switched to making this cover. Then I never went back to the afghan because I started the sewing madness. I had a tragic moment while making this cover when I realized I'd done it all in the wrong stitch (one which turned out not even to have a name!) and was not loose enough. So I unraveled it all. Sadness was had that day. But I got over it and finished the soaker. I used this tutorial. And I put it on ravelry! I never knew about that website until I learned to crochet. I called my mom and asked her to decode some instructions on the phone and she was so helpful! Even just sort of describing my problem and she knew how to fix it. Way to go mom!

The silly thing is that by the time I finished this, (end of June), it was SO unbearably hot that we stopped using the wool soaker. THis also coincided with the realization that the soaker wasn't quite as needed anymore. Ever since my friend Libby suggested I use size 5 diapers at night, most of the leaks stopped. Ila wears size 3 during the day. I'd tried size 4 at night and it hadn't stopped leaks, but for some reason trying size 5 never occurred to me. So thanks Libby! You saved our sheets:)

At least I have an extra soaker now. Unfortunately I never really got to test it and see if it stops leaks as well as the Disana one. The weave is much looser, but I lanolized them the same way and they are both 100% wool, so theoretically it should work:) I guess I'll find out on fire hydrant (baby #2!)

Refashion Swap Shirred Maternity Shirt

This is the second shirred top I made from a men's shirt (the first is here). I followed this tutorial.

This was pretty time consuming. I love the final result though, and I learned a lot. I started with a short sleeved men's shirt with an 18 inch neck. It was very billowy. I chose it pretending I was huge and I'm glad I got it so big. (Because lets face it, I get big!) The color was totally coincidental--I didn't choose orange to match the tutorial. I chose it because I like orange!

The tutorial is missing steps on how to do the collar so I had to make up a lot for this shirt. For example, this shirt did have a yoke at the top back with the little pleat at the center which many men's shirts have. The top of the back of my remade shirt begins just below the yoke, which I unpicked and removed partially. So the shirring goes across the extra fabric from the unpicked pleats. Also, I didn't even try and replicate what she did with the collar on the tutorial. I don't know where she got the fabric, and I don't know how to make collars so didn't know how to start. I ended up just making a simple bias tape kind of collar over the raw edge of the cut neckline. It is a little wonky in the back from the shirring, but looks well enough.

I did the shirred back first, then the pintucks in the front. I don't know how the girl in the tutorial did pintucks first and magically guessed the right number to do so it matched the shirred shoulders in the back. I tried this shirt on a lot while making it. I had to lengthen the pintucks and add a couple inches more of shirring in the back as the last step of the shirt because it was all too short looking Also, I did not change the men's shirt sleeve except to taper the underarm seam. I added a hook and eye in between a couple of the buttons too since it pulled across the chest.

Maternity Skirt

I did not follow a tutorial on this one, but I used some of the ideas I garnered from my first project for it. I made this last April (but the picture of me is from July). This fabric is ITY jersey knit, which turned out to be very lightweight but also very cool (and not see-through! woo!) so it has been great for summer. It was tricky to sew with. I had to use a straight stitch presser foot so the fabric would stay put for stitching (less room to flap around with that foot), and also had to adjust thread tension which I can usually ignore. Also definitely used a stretch needle for light fabric.

Striped Knit Maternity Dress

This was the very first maternity thing I made this pregnancy (early april). It is sitting back on my sewing machine table, waiting to either have the sleeves let out or to remake the fabric into something else. I did not like the look of it much. I guess sewing has a learning curve, and this was my first project after years of doing zero sewing at all (and I was never much good to begin with).

I was trying to follow this tutorial, which looks really cute but mine did not turn out. I didn't have enough fabric for it, and so the skirt is too clingy and the sleeves are too tight. Also the material is too see-through when pulled tight (it was a smocked fabric I got online). Buying fabric online is often hit and miss, but Joanns just does not have any sort of selection of knits. They are all solid interlock jersey from what I saw. There is a small knitting & fabric store in Provo called Harmony which does carry a few knit fabrics, (one of which I bought for the Rie Top which I will post soon), but they are so expensive that ordering online is just so much cheaper.

Full Panel Maternity Pants

I wanted to make some full panel maternity pants based on this tutorial. It was a trial and error process, but the finished product looks like this:

 This is one of the earliest projects I did (early may). These pants sort of work, but are not very practical because the panel fabric I chose was interlock jersey which only has 4 or 5% spandex (not nearly enough!) and the fabric doesn't rebound. The maternity panels I've seen in stores have something much higher, like 18 or 20%. The fabric just gets stretched out and doesn't spring back. So then the pants end up falling down when walking, which is the problem I had with below belly elastic maternity pants. But they are very comfortable for sitting, which the low cut pants are NOT. So. I guess I'll wear skirts if I want to walk very much, or I'll wear my pair of store bought ones.

Ruched Maternity Skirt - Megan Nielsen

This review is for pattern MN1008 from the maternity survival pack, by Megan Nielsen.

I had some serious problems with this skirt. I made the correct size based on my hip measurement (XL). But the skirt was SO BEYOND TIGHT that I tried letting out the seams. That was no where near enough, so then added 3 inch strips of fabric to each side. Then I decided it was too short, so I added a ruffle. I really love how it turned out, but I had to unpick that thing SO many times it was beyond irritating. I used 40% stretch fabric just as recommended but was really tight, so if you are making this skirt then be prepared for something to go wrong if you are the type to get big. I'm only 27 weeks or so in this picture. 

Unpicking zigzag stitches is such a pain. I made notes for next time to only baste the skirt together before doing zigzag stitches on the sides so I could try it on and have an easy time unpicking if necessary. Also I made notes to add an extra 3 inches to each piece when I cut it out next time. I did make another skirt, which came together much quicker. To get the extra 3 inches, I pinned the pattern for front and back 1.5 inches away from the fold. That way I kept the same side shape and added an extra 3 inches down the front and back center. This next one I added extra length too--as much as the yard of fabric allowed. 

I left the ruching off both skirts. I was worried it would make it tighter than I wanted, but I also had the issue of where to put the elastic on the purple one because I added extra side panels. The tulip one I may add the ruching elastic later, or for another pregnancy. I plan to use clear elastic for the ruched sides (as I did in the ruched maternity shirt) since it is so stretchy.