Amelie's Rompers

Ok, so it took me a while to get these rompers finished, and almost as long to get around to blogging about them. It's probably time for me to show off more pictures of my beautiful little girl, even if they are over a month old.



I started these before Amélie was born, and since I didn't know I was having a girl, I went gender-neutral. The fabric was left-overs given to me by mum, the binding was cut from my stash. The pattern was the turtle baby romper from Ottobre 3/2008 which I have made before. There is a girlie version, with puffy sleeves, I might make that version next time. I made four rompers altogether.



My mum kindly loaned me her cover-stitch machine to put the binding on with. It has a binding attachment, but I found it easier to operate without it. I'm thinking if you are going to do a lot of binding (and I mean HEAPS) then it may be worthwhile learning how to use it, but for me it was too fiddly. I think next time I make these, I might stretch the binding a little more around the legs, they do seem pretty loose.

I've Been a Bit Slack...

...updating my blog lately. I have been sewing, and I have been doing other things too. I just uploaded my camera to the computer, I did it because it was FULL. There were three different birthday cakes in there, and I made one of them, so I haven't been sitting around.

Anyway - the item I was photographing when my camera said "enough's enough" is this little romper that I have made as a present for someone who had a little baby boy (in December - I really have been slack!). She is going to be so surprised!

It's the "Turtle" baby romper from Ottobre 3/2008. I used the Robot fabric from Spotlight. I also used the red size 14 snaps that I got from Snap Source (last year? - I hope not the year before..) I actually finished this a week or so ago (even though I started it last year), I put the snaps on today, so the garment was finally finished. Sadly, snap setting using the Snap Source tool and a hammer makes my baby cry. :'(

The edges are finished using Ottobre's technique of binding. I cut a length of red fabric (a lycra blend) and sewed to the edge with right sides facing. The binding was 4/5 the length of the actual edge, so a little stretched. I then folded it back over and to the under-side. I pinned, and then I stitched it down using a twin needle. I then cut away the excess fabric from the back using my little snips as I don't have a pair of duck-bill scissors yet.

I have heaps of blog-catchup to do, so I will be back in soon.

Sewing For Ethan

On June 3, 2008 at 3:45pm, my newest nephew, Ethan arrived.

I had some nice soft polar fleece in a very pale ice blue that I thought I would make a pair of overalls and a hoody out of.

I have been meaning to line overalls for a while, so I made a special trip to Spotlight to find some fabric to line the overalls and hoody with. I found some interlock in cream with a fine baby print on it in a pale blue. I got a metre, figuring it should be enough.


It was enough, I made the hoody, and the overalls and also a romper suit (long sleeves and legless) to go underneath. The overalls are very cosy, so I figured he really wouldn't be needing legs in the romper as well.

I appliqued a bear on the front of the overalls, to cover the front seam. I usually place a pocket here, but I photocopied the interlock print, enlarging it 300% to make my applique pattern. So the bear matches the print.

UP, UP AND AWAY

LIAM'S STRIPY BODYSUIT

I made this body suit using Kwik Sew Sewing for Baby by Kerstin Martensson.

When I make "grownup clothes" the underarm seam gets sewn before the sleeve hem. When sewing clothes for little people, I sew the hem first, as the sleeve will not fit around the free arm of the sewing machine. The pattern assumes that there are cuffs on the end of the sleeve. In both of these cases it would be okay to just overlock from the end of the sleeve, all the way down to the leg hole. Because the end of the sleeve is already hemmed though, the end of the overlocking is exposed and can come undone. So when I did this one, I pre-sewed the sleeve seam right past the underarm, tapering off near the green stripe. I then overlocked the seam.

I had a bit of trouble deciding what colour to do the cuffs. I plan for this to be worn with red, orange or green overalls, so I was going to match the green, as I could put that with red or orange. There wasn't any suitable green in my stash, so it was being "procrastinated" until I decided - why not do white? It's so obvious, I don't know why I didn't think of it earlier.

With the "Up, Up and Away" bodysuit, I did two popper-studs on each shoulder. This time I only did one on each side. This allows me to attach Liam's dummy clip here if he isn't wearing overalls. Also, he wriggles so much, its a bit of a challenge trying to do up extra poppers! It seams to close quite nicely, it lays nice and flat, and if I change my mind, I can add more studs later.

Anyway, Liam seems pretty happy with his new bodysuit!