Busy Me

I have been super busy with sewing lately. Well I can’t really say that I have only been working on sewing, because I have really only spent about 10 hours in the last two weeks sewing, I have just managed to get a lot done in that time period.

I made a total of 18 burp cloths. These are super easy to make. They only require some scrap flannel and the pre-folded diapers. I bought the Gerber 3 ply diapers because I wanted them thick and white otherwise I would have just bought the organic diapers from Simple Cloth.

• Wash and dry the diapers 3-5 times on hot before using.
• Measure the thick section of the diaper length and width and add 1/2” to the width (mine was 14”x16”)
• Cut your flannel pieces to that measurement
• Iron the seam allowance on width sides for easier sewing
• Sew the flannel down so that the pretty part is all showing (there is no turning involved here)
• Finally serged the ends of the diapers to even everything and protect it all from fraying (the ends are typically serged already, your just making sure your flannel doesn’t unravel)

See wasn’t that super easy (if not, let me know and I will make a real tutorial, but you can always Google it and find lots of great burp cloth tutes out there). These were fun because I was able to use up lots of scraps of flannel from all the jammies I make myself.

 

I also made a crib sheet to go with the awesome jungle bumper and dust ruffle I found at Value Village. I found this great fabric at Joann’s that matched all the colors in the bumper, but it was $7/yard. I am normally not picky about prices for fabric, but I needed two yards and $14 for a crib sheet is ridiculous. I decided to use my 40% off coupon to help with the price. When I got home I realized the lady at the cutting counter only rung me up for 1 yard of fabric rather then the 2 yards I had gotten, so I guess this sheet only cost me $4. I was going to call and let them know, but from working at Home Depot I know that they would just say ‘thanks for letting us know, but there is nothing we can do’. So I just accepted my stellar deal. The sheet was easy to make, but still a little annoying, because the tutorial I used wasn’t super accurate. I finagled it and made it work though. I probably won’t be making anymore sheets, because they really aren’t that cost effective, I just got lucky.

 

 

 

I broke out my WIP basket and decided that I wanted to make everything in it before starting any new projects. Here was the first of that endeavor, a brown corduroy market tote with butterfly fabric lining. I made it with brown polka dot ribbon for the size adjusters. Nick said this was my ‘grandma Mary Poppins’ bag because it is so big and the fabric reminds him of an upholstery bag.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The next project in my basket was this Hawaiian print and denim bag for a friend. She had tons of fabric to make various things with, but she doesn’t know how to sew, so she gave it to me to make things for her. She didn’t really like this bright fabric so I decided to ‘hide’ it as a lining to a very simple tote bag. This bag would be great for groceries or a trip to the lake. 

I also needed to finish the Tortilla Warmer that I had started at an ASG meeting back in April. My mom and I were sharing a sewing machine so rather then finishing mine I let my mom work on hers mostly and I would finish mine when I got home. Well I just finished it!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Another 3 projects in my basket were these singlet shopping bags. One of them is for a friend, but the other two have been cut for well over a year just waiting for me to tackle the handles. The handles on these are very cumbersome to make and I dread doing. Well I figured out a really quick way to make them (as long as you don’t mind a little serged edge showing. The original has a gusseted bottom, but I didn’t like that because you can’t put as many groceries in the bag, so I excluded that. Apart from the Hawaiian print for my friend the fabric is from $0.50 bandanas that I had found at the store. I love it when I can make things, and they are actually cheaper and better then what you can get at the store.

The final project I finished from my basket is this super easy tote bag with a log cabin square in the center. I had intended to send this off with a swap package, but ran out of patience with the colors. I can only handle so much of the same fabrics. 

In addition to all of this stuff I finished, I completed 4 baby washcloths, 1 bib, and 3 swaddling blankets. I didn’t take any pictures because there is nothing spectacular about them and I put them away before getting around to it. I still have 3 projects in my WIP basket to work on, and I want to finish those this week so I can complete a total of 100 projects for the year so far. It is so hot here right now that I don’t want to really do anything, but sit in front of my AC unit in my bedroom, so we will see what all I get done this week. So, I sew.