Baby Series Round-up

Wow what a series. So many great projects and tutorials, I know I don't have time to try all of them. Here is a summary of my favorite projects we featured over the past two weeks:


Ruffled Romper from Melly Sews (I wish I was having another girl when I see tutorials like this).

Self Binding Blanket from Sewing Mama RaeAnna (a simple finish to an adorable blanket and her embroidery machine might be on my Christmas list!)

Cotton Gauze Blankets from A Couple of Craft Addicts (swaddle that little one up in these all year long).

Pacifier Clips from Naptime Crafters (keep those soothers clean with a few of these)

Embroidered Headband from Mama Says Sew (adorable for little girls from newborn to child)

Thank you to all the amazing crafters that participated and to all our viewers out there. Without your support and comments this blog would not be possible. 

With a little over a week to go before baby arrives I'm not sure how much I will get done from my ever growing list but this week has inspired many future projects.

Gauze Swaddle Blankets

I have a confession. I originally wanted to host a baby series on the blog for selfish reasons. I knew that if I set a date for baby related posts I would get done all the baby projects on my to do list.

One of the projects on my list was to make some gauze blankets. These are all the rage now, for swaddling and the light weight is perfect for little ones. I checked out the blankets in the store and most charge around $35 for 4 blankets. RIDICULOUS to me. These blankets are so easy to make I honestly don't know why anyone would buy them. So I ordered some cotton gauze from Fabric.com for just $3.98/yard. (you can also find this at most fabric stores but fabric.com has amazing colors and is really cheap). Each blanket takes around 1 1/4 yards fabric.

I cut each piece to be 49"x49". This can be tricky because the gauze is stretchy so make sure you are lining it up correctly and going with the grain. Then iron 1/2 inch all around the edges. Next fold over another 1/2 inch and iron flat.

If you want to take the time to get really nice corners here is a trick:  Make a triangle at the points of each corner. Then fold over to get a nice angle seam.

 Sew down all around the edges and you are done. SO EASY!

 

 A set of 5 blankets for just $30. Still cheaper than the store and more blankets then the package at the store. What a deal! I can't wait to swaddle my little buddy in these comfy wraps.

Ruffle Romper from Melissa @ Melly Sews

Hi A Couple of Craft Addicts readers!

I'm Melissa, 

and I blog over at Melly Sews. 

I'm also the author of Blank Slate Basics, 

My latest endeavor is Blank Slate Patterns, 

where I sell PDF sewing patterns that are designed to give you a "blank-slate" so you can skip the pattern-making and go right into expressing your creativity through fabric choice and embellishments. 

I'm also mom to two boys and wife to a football coach (and a former theatre teacher myself)

Sometimes I get to sew for girls, mostly for my adorable niece, who is modeling this outfit. She's a little peanut, so this romper is 6-9 month size and today I'm going to show you how I made it. 

To start, I used the Ruffled Bloomers pattern for the bottom. If you haven't made these before, you're going to want to take a look at that tutorial. If you have and you just want to get the pattern, you can download that HERE. (Please note: my patterns are licensed for personal use only. By downloading you are agreeing to this license. You may not use this pattern to make items to sell or redistribute it by any means. Thanks.) 

You'll also need the pattern for the top of the romper, which you can get HERE. (Again, please note: my patterns are licensed for personal use only. By downloading you are agreeing to this license. You may not use this pattern to make items to sell or redistribute it by any means. Thanks.) 

I used 1/2 yd of fabric for this whole outfit, plus some 3/8 inch elastic. 

This outfit is for size 6-9 months, and the original ruffled bloomers were only size 3-6 months. However, all I did to size up was add 1/8" to the side seams of the bloomers. Easy peasy. 

Cut out the pieces according to the bloomer tutorial and the instructions on the romper pattern. Use all extra fabric to create ruffles for the bloomers. I did 4 rows instead of 3 like the original bloomers, and finished them with a rolled hem instead of making tubes to ruffle. That way I maximized my fabric usage. 

Sew the ruffles onto the bloomer back, and sew up the side seams of the bloomers, then set them aside. 

For the romper top, sew the two back pieces right sides together around almost all 4 edges, leaving a hole to turn right side out. Clip the corners. 

Turn right side out and press, pressing the raw edges in, and topstitch all around, closing the raw edges (my raw edges aren't pressed yet in the picture below).

Sew the straps into tubes right sides together, matching the long edges. Turn them right side out and press so that the seam is on the center back. On one end of each tube, turn the raw edges to the inside 1/4", press and stitch closed. 

Sandwich the raw edge of each strap between the top edges of the two front pieces, with right sides of the fronts together. Stitch as you did for the back piece, clip corners, turn right side out and press. 

Pick the bloomers back up. Mark a line 7/8" down from the top raw edge all the way around the bloomers. In the picture below, my line is just above the top ruffle. 

Turn the bloomers inside out. Press the top raw edge toward the inside 1/8".

Turn bloomers right side out again. Sew a basting stitch right on top of the line you marked on the top edge. Use that basting stitch to gather the bloomers to the same width as the front of the romper. 

Pin the bottom edge of the front of the romper just over the basting/gathering stitch line. 

Pin the back of the romper the same way - EXCEPT that the back romper piece will overlap the front romper piece at the side seams. My back piece is on the right in the picture below, and you can see it overlapping the romper front. 

Sew around the top of the bloomers, right on top of the basting/gathering stitching. 

Turn the romper front/back pieces up and press. 

Turn the romper inside out, and pin the folded edge of the bloomer down to form an elastic casing. Stitch casing in place, leaving an opening to put in elastic. Be careful as you stitch over the gathered fabric and go slowly so that you catch all of it in the stitching. 

Thread elastic through the waist casing you just made. Sew the ends of the elastic together and sew the casing shut. 

Add snaps to the sides of the romper, the straps, and the back. I used a total of 6 snaps (two on each side, one on each strap/back combo). 

Finish the leg casings as in the Ruffled Bloomers tutorial. 

And then revel in the cuteness!

Self Binding Blanket-RaeAnna from Sewing Mama RaeAnna

Self-binding blanket and machine embroidery!!!!

First, I want to thank Jess for the opportunity of coming over here to her blog today!!!  I'm very much a newbie to blogging but it's given me a "job" since I began to stay home with my kids last year!  I love the outlet that blogging provides!  And I love sewing blogs!!! I find so many through guest posts - I found the lovely ladies here during glitter week!  I'm so glad they're hosting a baby series!  I can't believe my baby will be 1 in December!

To start, here's my tutorial on a really easy and quick blanket! There are quite a few tutorials out there if you're interested in other variations - this is just how I prefer to put a blanket together!

First, you'll need 2 squares of fabric.  One square will need to be 1"-2" bigger on all sides.  So if you wanted a blanket to be 30"x30" you'll need one square approximately 30"x30" and the other square 32"x32"

Lay them WRONG sides together.  My version doesn't have you turning the blanket right side out.


First, pin all the edges together

Then, iron down 1/4" on all sides

Take each corner and fold down a triangle

Fold down the remaining of the side another 1/4" or bigger depending on how much bigger the big square is.

Pin the corners and all around the edges as you're ironing. 

 

Sew close to the folded edge all the way around the blanket!

Add any labels or embellishments!  

 

There you have it!  A quick and easy baby gift or a keepsake for your little wee one!

Now, if you're still interested in hearing about machine embroidery, here's the continuation......
When I got my new "toy" I really didn't know how machine embroidery really worked.  There are a lot of different machines out there, but here's a pictoral glance through what I do on mine to create a cute applique and embroidered project!  (And by the way - if you're looking into purchasing a starter machine, check out Prudent Baby's review! She is so fun!)

I have a Singer Futura 200CE - it's several years old and I'm the 3rd owner.  The girl I bought it from sat down and showed me how to work everything before I took it home!  She was such a great help!!!  After researching I decided I really liked the Singer over any of the Brother/White/Janome because of the price and functions.  This has 2 hoop sizes - approximately 4x4 and 5x7 and it came with the software "Hyperfont" which allows you to turn any font on your computer into embroidery!!!  I LOVED the sound of that!!!  This is also a machine that needs to be plugged into the computer at all times.  You open the computer program to design everything and then send the design to the machine.  More about that later!!!! :)

OK, so here's what I do first.  Prepare the fabric.  You'll need your project fabric, any complimentary fabric for applique, your embroidery hoop that comes with your machine, and stabilizer.  There are several kinds of stabilizer - I've heard tear-away is good but I just bought whatever I could find at Hobby Lobby.



You're going to place the large part of the hoop on the bottom behind your fabric and sandwich the stabilizer inbetween the fabric and the bottom of the hoop.

Then, you'll press the top part of the hoop into the bottom of the hoop, stretching the fabric taught.

You want it to be as tight as you can make it so while you're tightening the screw on the hoop, make sure there are no puckers in the fabric and stabilizer.

The next thing you'll need is all the thread you plan to use.  One thing I learned AFTER I had already started using my machine is that when you have an embroidery machine you use BOBBIN thread - not just regular thread in your bobbin!!!  And when you're doing projects, you never switch out the bobbin - only the top thread!!!  Once I learned that I was able to finish projects a lot quicker!  I thought the bobbin thread had to match the top thread!  Not so! :)

OK, so you'll hook the hoop onto the arm of the machine and tighten with the screw driver that came with your machine.  Make sure it's on nice and tight!  The machine will recognize if you've put the small hoop on or the large hoop.

Now, here's a screenshot of what I'm looking at on the computer.  The design is ready to go and you'll see at the top there's a button that says "transmit to FUTURA machine" - that sends the first "block" to your machine.  Each "block" is just a step in finishing the design.

The little green button on the machine is what you press when you're ready to go!  All you have to do is sit back and babysit to make sure nothing goes wrong! (And you'll probably always have to play around with troubleshooting when you first start - "Birdsnesting" in the bobbin is very common!!!)

The first block is an outline for the blue section of the applique.  This stitches out where I'll need to put my blue fabric.

 

I put my blue fabric over the outline and the next block stitches the blue fabric to my main fabric.

I trim around as close to the edge using embroidery scissors.  You can also take the hoop off to get a better angle.

The next block stitched out where to put my pink fabric, and then here's the picture of stitching the fabric to the project.

 

And here you have your complimentary fabrics ready to finish - use a lint roller to pick up any threads after trimming the edges.

Now, the machine does the bold stitches all around the edges, encasing the raw edge.

When you need a new color, just change the top thread!

 

This is another computer shot of the last block on the duck.  You can also see at the very bottom of the computer all the "blocks" involved in the design.  I think this design had 12 blocks.

After the duck, the machine works on the embroidered letters!

And now you're done!  (It does take a while to finish - from start to finish for a normal project of applique and embroidery on a 5x7 hoop is 60-90minutes)  Here's the front and back view.

 

Trim or tear away the stabilizer, use the lint roller, and iron!

 

Ta-da! Just like magic! :)