Playing and Eating!

Enough talk about babies sleeping (or not sleeping...)! Soon enough they grow out of their swing chairs and you need a high chair so they can sit at the table together with the rest of the family. 

I must admit that we enjoyed this moment so much that we splurged on a new Ikea baby chair, instead of hunting a second hand one.

The chair was a bit too big though, so I made a cushion for our daughter to sit more comfortably.

It's made out of a beautiful cotton and I filled it with some special soft filling, used for cushions. I used four buttons on each side, to keep the filling in place.

Now that Lily doesn't need the side wings anymore but still likes a soft cushion, we fold the wings backwards.

So what did I do with the fabric scraps, left over from this project? I made her a cool clipping toy which she absolutely adores, using this tutorial!

More Sleeping Sacks!

My daughter really loves to sleep in sleeping sacks and I love making them. Talk about a perfect combo :-)

 

We've really got quite a collection in the meantime! I suppose though that the last one I made, will be the last one she wears. We're planning on buying her a duvet in the fall, when she's old enough. But who's said that I can't switch to making duvet covers?

 

These two were made for the cold winter months. They consist of one cotton layer and one fleece layer. 

One has the cotton on the inside because I loved that colourful fleece too much to hide it!

The other one has the softest white fleece I've ever felt on the inside.

The last sleeping sack is made out of two layers of cotton and some fusible interfacing, used for quilting.

 

It has the most lovely cotton fabric on the inside. The pattern reminds me of waves or even dragon's scales! What a great way to begin a bedtime story!

And one last picture with a roundup of all the sleeping sacks I've made so far :-)

Crib Bumper

Babies sleep in cribs. Everyone knows that! But what comes after the crib?

Lily spent her first months in a crib that we borrowed from one of my aunts. When she got too big, she spent some months in a second hand baby bed. Our backs soon began to hurt until we were kindly given a baby bed by another aunt. It's a bed my grandmother actually bought for my aunts, uncles and my mom. It's a real 50ies number and is called vintage nowadays! One of the sides opens, which is great for people with bad lower backs! (And let's be honest, who hasn't?)

The bed, however, came with a 14 year old mattress and without a bumper. We've had a new mattress made for the bed, which hasn't got modern standard dimensions. I, then, made the bumper myself, using some lightweight denim fabric with white stars on it and some white fabric with grey stars on it.

I attached some bias binding to the top and bottom of the bumper to tie it to the bed. That way you can turn the bumper upside down (and change its appearance from denim to white).

I had some fabric scraps left after making the bumper and decided to use them to sew another baby sleeping sack.

I actually copied another sleeping sack that we were given when Lily was born. It's proven to be a really useful design! I lined it with the same fusible interfacing I used for her first baby sleeping sack. Just fine, not too hot and not too cold for a typical Belgian summer.

Here's a pic from the back, which I like best. I had to patch it together like this, because I hand't got enough fabric left to cut it out in one piece. Sometimes working with scraps can really stretch your creativity!

Baby Peasant Blouse

Are you ready for the second post in my baby sewing series? I know I am!

The second item I made for my little girl was a baby peasant blouse. I used this tutorial and found it a nice pattern and very easy to follow!

I used a beautiful Liberty fabric. It was actually a leftover from a dress I made for my sister (pictures coming up!). As I've told before, she's Lily's godmother and was very proud carrying her niece around in matching outfits. Hehe!

I lined the blouse with a light and soft cotton batiste. Perfect for a hot summery day! Lily loved wearing it (read: she didn't protest when I put it on!)

The First Few Weeks

So, what actually happened between my last post back in September 2011 and now, August 2013? Was I abducted by aliens? No, no! But you're close ;-) I got pregnant and had a baby. She's a lovely one year old girl, named Lily Kate.

I didn't do much sewing while pregnant, apart from the traditional how-to-turn-your-jeans-into-a-maternity-jeans kind of thing. However, I started sewing again when my daughter was born.

I mostly altered my clothes into nursing friendly garments, but I've sewn a couple of things for my little girl too. So, let me introduce to you, the first of a series of posts about baby sewing. 

Spoiler alert: if you're not into baby stuff, turn away now, while you still can!

One of the first things I made was this Baby Sleeping Sack, from the book Homemade Beginnings by Anna Maria Horner.

 

We didn't know if our baby was going to be a boy or a girl during the pregnancy, as we wanted it to be a surprise. So, when sewing this sleeping sack I had to choose 'neutral' colours. I still do love the colour scheme though and would choose these exact colours again.

The sleeping sack is made from several cotton fabrics. I made the patchwork front from remnants of a (too big) duvet cover, the fabric of two dresses I made and an old pair of my boyfriend's pyjama pants (so soft!). It's not perfect, but I love the way it looks.

The inside is made from some fabric I had still lying around and that I used before to make a wallet for my sister (Lily's godmother). The back is cut from the aforementioned pyjama pants and I lined the whole thing with some fusible interfacing, a leftover from a winter coat I once made. Talk about stash busting!

But what I love most about this sleeping sack is that is made out of different fabrics, that make me think of all the people who love her!