Doe & Mouse

Baby Turban

2012-12-26T19:01:51Z

In December, our little one arrived earlier than expected, so I only had one day off from work before going into labor. I had planned to take two weeks off prior to my due date and get so much accomplished before she arrived. But plans never quite work out the way you want, particularly when you have a long to-do list to tackle. Oh well! And I could forget about making plans at all once she arrived. It was survival mode for the first month or so and we are only now getting into a routine at the two month mark. Still impossible to sew anything at the moment, but I hope that changes soon.

Here she is modelling her baby turban, specially made by Grandma. I saw this knitting tutorial on Pinterest and asked my mom if she could make it since I don't knit. She made this one and a bigger one in the same light turquoise that the pattern shows. So damn cute.

Zip Pouches

2012-11-11T13:21:36Z

These two zip pouches were made for friends. The Blue Owl fabric pouch was a birthday present. She had been using a makeup bag that was very similar to this one in that it had owls as well, but in brown and cream. When I saw this fabric it made me think of her.

Her bag had a tab on the zipper, so I wanted to replicate that, too. After making it, I realized just how much I squeeze the body of my own zip pouches on each side when zipping them, so in the future I might just add a tab to each side of the pouch. The only difference is that I made this one taller than her bag, so that she could fit more inside. It's about 7x5 or so. I didn't measure the finished product.

The smaller pink glasses pouch has been waiting to be made for 10 months or so, mostly just due to laziness. She wanted a small pouch to house cards and money. It's about 5 1/2 inches x 3 1/2. I made this one first as a test before I cut into the blue owl fabric. I had never done a tab on a pouch and I wanted to make sure it would work.

This is an excellent way to use up extra fabric from my coffee sleeves, as I always have a long strip left over after cutting them out that would work perfectly for the size. I have been saving all those pieces, so maybe I'll make some more of these to sell.

Burp Cloths

2012-10-27T12:54:35Z

Nine burp cloths ready to go.

This kind of thing is very easy to make, but before I dove in I did some research. I read a whole bunch of tutorials and reviews about different kinds of burp cloths to get an idea of what is most useful. Here's what I gathered.

1. I found that although the pre-fold cloth diaper based ones are easy to make and cute at first, they can be quite thick and look messy after lots of washing.

2. Some people said that flannel and chenille or terry cloth is a good combo in order to keep the absorbency, but still be thin enough to wipe away messes.

3. And I chose to sew lines down the center like a couple of tutorials in order to keep the fabrics from shifting in the wash and make it nice and easy to fold.

4. For size, I just went with whatever fit over my shoulder and worked with my scrap towel pieces.

These three were made from old towel scraps. The red one was used to make an ice pack long ago and the blue one was made into a bath mat, which I don't think I ever posted on here.

This Heather Ross unicorn fabric is so soft and I only had a fat quarter, so it was perfect. Love it.

These six were made using some black terry cloth fabric I bought a long time ago to make a beach/pool robe, but never got around to. I think I still have enough to do it in the future. The four houndstooth and polka dot are flannel and the other two are cotton and linen.

New pot holders. Bigger and better.

2012-10-15T00:06:35Z

Aww, remember these guys? They are in terrible condition now. Burnt to a crisp with years of use. It was definitely time for some new pot holders.

Behold the new and improved, bigger and better pot holders. I used the same pattern as the Braii gloves in this post.

There are two major changes. 1.) Longer is always better just in case you need to stick a tiny ramekin into the back of the oven. No need to worry about your forearms with these. And 2.) I decided to put the cute fabric on the bottom since the top is most likely getting the most heat. I used a thicker green canvas fabric for top and a normal quilting weight grocery pattern for the bottom.

They match my kitchen, too.

Baby Swaddler

2012-10-13T14:28:12Z

I made this baby swaddler or snuggler, as the pattern calls it, out of Lotta Jansdotter's pattern. It is available free online here. I have the book on my wish list, but have not gotten it yet. The pattern was pretty easy except for the velcro placement instructions, which were extremely confusing. I ended up just looking at someone else's version online to see where each piece should go.

For the fabric, I used a polka dot print on the outside and some leftover flannel on the inside since this little one will be born in winter. I love how cute it turned out. I was thinking of making another one, but another mom I know said that she had a velcro swaddler and in the middle of the night the velcro was so loud that it would wake the baby up. She suggested using it during the day. I guess we'll see how it goes.

Crib Sheets

2012-10-01T11:21:17Z

I've been meaning to post this for months now, but have been putting it off. Anyway... I'm pregnant and due in December with a little girl.

A lot has happened to me in the last two years that had just put me off sewing for awhile. Some of it included losing weight and feeling lost as to making clothes for my new body. I just didn't even know where to start. Then this happened and my body changed again.

This is finally starting to sink in that it's really happening. Took seven months, but part of me still can't believe it. I can put off sewing for myself for a while and now I feel invigorated to sew again.

I now have a very long and ambitious sewing list to accomplish from now until December, so I started with something easy: crib sheets. I've always been a procrastinator, so I guess I'm right on schedule.

These three sheets were made from the Dana Made It tutorial. I made a pattern like she suggested and it really was quick. Best of all, they are so much cuter and cheaper than anything else I was seeing online. I love the variety compared to store bought sheets.

The baby's room is no where near complete, but at least the crib is up and the furniture is bought. And we do have this cute little guy above to keep watch. My in-laws came to visit this summer and brought this little monkey with them. The best part is that my husband made him back in second grade and his parents kept it. How cute is that?

Blue Zoo Baby Shower Gifts

2012-08-18T23:01:00Z

This is a little baby shower set I made for a co-worker back in November of 2011. Her friend was having a boy and she wanted to giver her a cohesive present. Of course, I used the ever popular Blue Zoo Alexander Henry fabric once again. I'm surprised I still have any left!

The blanket is pretty simple with a white rick rack edge that I thought would be nice for the baby to touch. The backing is a flannel green and white star or hounds tooth pattern. It would make a great stroller blanket or play mat.

And who can resist a minky backed taggie blanket and some cute elephant pacifier clips.

Forgotten Projects: Placemats

2012-08-18T22:42:45Z

Place mats. Oh, so easy, but very satisfying to complete. I made these place mats for my friend's sister about, umm...a year ago! Geez. I never really meant for this much time to go by, but oh well. Might as well catch up now with all of my unposted sewing.

I hear she liked them very much. We made them double sided, so that she could switch up the look of whenever she wanted.

Business on the outside...

2012-02-25T21:54:40Z

I got an ipad for my Christmas/birthday present. Probably the only good thing about being born so close to Christmas is that if you need something expensive you can justify it as counting for two presents. Sort of. You'll need something to do anyway when no one, not even YOU, wants to go out to celebrate your birthday. It's too cold. We just had new years eve. Etc., etc.

Anyway... I made myself a little sleeve with some super cute tree fabric and flannel gingham. I love it! It pays to hoard the cute stuff for yourself.

I can't say that I made the ipad cover because I really, really needed it right away. I made it because I was way overdue on the kindle and PSP covers I promised to make months and months ago. Thankfully, E is ever so patient.

E wanted something that would look businessy and adult on the outside in case his co-workers caught a glimpse, but that also had some fun element to it. We decided on a brown herringbone wool and navy blue owls.

If I ever made these again I would be much smarter about it, particularly for the smallest PSP case. I sewed all the fabric pieces together and then flipped them inside out, but forgot that topstiching around the edge is very difficult when the opening doesn't even fit around the sewing machine. Hard to explain, but lesson learned.

Beetle Bag

2012-02-01T13:00:26Z

This bag was also made in September right before my vacation. I used the Go Anywhere Bag pattern by Noodlehead because I was too lazy to make a pattern myself that I had been contemplating for so long. This pattern was similar enough to the one in my head, so I bought it.

I loved the abundance of pockets and the deep strap opening allows for easy access to the bag without taking it off your shoulder. The back pocket above is supposed to be one big one, but I divided it into two. One side is actually bigger than the other so that I could fit a book into it. I also added two interior cell phone pockets.

This was my first time using piping and adding in a magnetic snap. I love the piping and am glad I learned how to add in the snap, but in reality I never use that snap.

Overall I love the bag, but I feel that the outside pockets, when filled with a book and water bottle, take away from the interior space of the bag. I only use the outside pockets for small things now. I guess I will have to make that pattern in my head someday.