Baby Project: Headbands

I came to the realization early on that this baby girl was going to be stuck in her brothers hand me downs a lot for the first few months. Part of me feels guilty for that but part of me is happy that all of his clothes are not going to waste. I know that we will encounter plenty of cases where people will call her a "he" and I know that wearing some boy clothes are not going to help (and I mean wearing neutral color onesies, not blatant boy clothes).

I wanted to try to make her look more girly and I started looking into headbands. I was going to buy some on etsy but then I started thinking that I could make most of them. I was only going to make 10 or so, just so I had one in every color but then I went a little crazy. Like 23 headbands and 8 hairbows being made in 4 days.

I started out wanting to make some celtic knot headbands with t-shirt yarn. Goodness knows that Ben is always wearing out his undershirts so I knew that I had that on hand. I took one t-shirt of his and it made 14 headbands. I dyed them using moms tie dye stuff.

I first made all of these knotted headbands using this tutorial at Love Stitched.  Once I did the knot, I would spread out all of the yarn ends and sew on a piece of elastic to connect the two sides together.

I really liked them but they were not as wide as I was hoping they would be. I went back and cut some yarn strips to be 2" wide and did those. This is definitely more what I was picturing.

Just for a size comparison. 

I did not need all of these to be knotted so some I braided. These were the first ones that I did so I was experimenting with how to sew up the ends (That is why you see one with a white band around the back). These do not have elastic on them as you can see. They still stretch some but they definitely will have a shorter life span than the ones with elastic since they will not be able to grow as much with her head.

Lastly I wanted to try another method. I made these pinched bow headbands using a tutorial from Sugar Bee Crafts. I love how simple they are!

These I just made a bowtie using the same method that I did for Miller's birthday party. I sewed the two ends of elastic together at a felt circle of the same color as the fabric. Then I hot glued the bow on.

Same concept as above except I made a bow with grosgrain ribbon.

I already had these flower made from a project a few years ago. I just did the elastic with felt circle sewing and glued on the flower.

 

The bows were so easy to make for the headbands that I decided to make a few more just for her to wear when she gets hair (if she is not born with it like her dad and brother). Yep, I already have a Halloween, 4th of July and St Patrick's Day bow in there. I am just being prepared because I know I will not have time for any of this stuff for a while after she is born. The orange one in the top left corner is to put on our UT hat for the hospital. It has a safety pin back.

The rest have a simple alligator clip. 

I am aware that I went a little overboard but I had fun. Confession time- as soon as I made these, I started researching colored elastics on-line. I ordered 27 yds of different elastic ribbon for future headbands. I am not making them all now but if I was going to pay for shipping, I wanted to get all of them for future use. I might be making a few before she comes but I will try to keep it under control.

Baby Project: Baby Cardigans

Right around the time when Miller was born, my friend Lindsey pinned these adorable cardigan onesies and said they seemed like my style. Oh how I fell in love with them but at that point, I had no time to make them. As soon as I found out I was pregnant this time, I scoured pinterest for projects that I wanted to do for this baby. These cardigans were at the top of my Must Do List.

Photo from Diesel in Bloom

I started searching through consignment stores to find just the right onesies to make these from. I wanted 3-6 month size, long sleeve and some sort of basic pattern. I finally found them on a trip with my mom. I believe they were $1 each. 

I pretty much followed the original tutorial. I was a little nervous about how difficult these would be but they were so much easier than I anticipated. I seriously started contemplating turning all Miller's gender neutral onesies into cardigans.

The only different thing I did was that I did not want to have to put a separate onesie or shirt on underneath this. I had just discovered that I had a dozen newborn tshirts from the hospital when we had Miller. I cut one up and made a little faux t-shirt to be sewn into each of the cardigans. 

I wrapped the double sided bias tape around the left side, around the collar and back to where it meets the other side. Then I pinned the right side under the left. Then I pinned in the t-shirt. I swear the scariest part was all the pins. I pinned generously so that I did not mess it up as I was running it through the machine and I think that is what made this project the biggest success. (I added about a dozen more pins to this one after I took this picture).

The biggest pain was hand sewing the buttons on but it is worth it. 

I wish I had a cute picture of my baby wearing these but that will have to wait another few months.

Disney Shirts and Autograph Books

We are going to Disney World in the next couple of months, and before  you say it, yes I know that I am crazy. An overwhelming, over stimulating theme park for 6 days with a 2 year old and me being 7 months pregnant. Let me present my argument (because I know you are dying to hear my reasons).

-Ben and I both have holiday birthdays. Celebrating our anniversary was a big deal to us but then 2 years ago we spent it in the hospital having Miller and last year we were prepping for his birthday party. This year is our 5th anniversary and since Miller is a little older, we wanted to make sure we celebrate.

-Why take Miller? Simple, I was not ready to leave him. Plus, I want to go on a trip for our anniversary and want to spend his birthday with him, which is the day after. There is only way way to get it both ways.

- Miller is so young that he will not remember anything. Why bother? At 2 years old, he is still free, so it is not like we are wasting admission on him if it is a bust. Regardless of him remembering anything, we are still making family memories.

- Why put myself through the stress of Disney World? All the other places we wanted to go would be so far away that we would have to fly and that is not something I wanted to do with Miller and all the stuff he needs. Disney World is a 6 hour drive  so we can pack up our car with whatever we need. Plus, Ben has never been to Disney World and I really want to take him.

- Why go when I am so far along? When we started planning, we were trying to get pregnant and assumed that we would be. I booked the trip right around the time we found out we were pregnant so I knew that I would still be allowed to travel. However, I did not plan on how much harder this pregnancy would be on my body than the last one. We are going with a toddler so we will already have to take  things slow and allow for a daily nap break. I will admit that I am really worried about this but we will just play it by ear.

Some people go insane planning their Disney World trips. I am a person who normally plans every little detail but I am trying to go in with a loose plan that has plenty of wiggle room. I wanted to do a few projects for our trip but not go too crazy.

First up, T-shirts. I was only going to make one for Miller but since I was pregnant I thought it would be fun to make one for the baby and I will just wear it. While I was at it, I decided to make my cousin Ally one (she will be there as well for a couple of days).

I went really simple and did a Mickey head silhouette as an embroidered applique. I found a basic silhouette on-line and adjusted it on my computer to the sizes I wanted. I actually did 4 different sizes that varied by an inch each so I could lay them on the shirt first and see what fit the best.

I laid them out on my fabric to see how big a piece of it that I needed. I cut that and then cut a piece of Ultra Lite Heat-n-Bond (the purple package and not the Ultra Hold) that was just slightly smaller. You do not want the Heat-n-Bond being exposed to your ironing board so that is why you cut it a smidge smaller.

Iron that on. At that point you can trace your design onto the back of the Heat-n-Bond and cut it out.

Peel off the paper layer and lay it where you want the applique on your shirt. Iron that on. To place it on Miller and Ally's shirts, I folded the shirt vertically down the middle and pressed my iron there just so I could get the center. Mine was a pain in the rear to place. I had to put on the shirt, put the applique where I wanted it and traced it with chalk.

After that, I ran it through my sewing machine with a zig zag stitch. One good tip that I found on-line was to leave the tails of your thread long so that you can use a needle, pull them back through to the inside of your shirt and knot it there.

For mine and Ally's, I sewed on a bow as well. 

 

I am not even sure if we will do the whole meet the characters thing but if we do, I want to be prepared. I wanted a simple book where the characters could sign on one page and I could hopefully put a picture with him and the character on the other. 

I bought a simple 44 page sketch book from a craft store. I wanted something that had a wire binding so we could flip the pages to make it easier for the character to sign. I also got a piece of red and black foam sheets that has sticky on the back.

This is ridiculously easy so I am not even going to write out instructions. I cut out and stuck the red foam to the front and back covers. Then I just used one of the same templates I had from the t-shirts, cut out Mickey's head and stuck it on the front. Some people do more stickers and personalize it with the kids name but I just wanted simple.

Both projects were majorly simple but that is the way I wanted them. 

Baby Project: Carrier Carseat Arm Pad

So many of these baby projects can probably seem unnecessary to people out there but for me, this is nesting. While I can get overwhelmed with projects and feel a bit bogged down between them and normal daily life, I truly enjoy them. Crafting projects make me feel productive and keep me happy. Being a SAHM has been a major challenge for me because there is no day to day goals other than survive. Crafting gives me that.

One project I wanted to do but did not have to, was to make an arm pad for our carrier carseat. Yes, we managed to survive Miller's infancy without one but I thought it could be a fun project. Plus, that darn carrier can be a pain to lug around so why not make something to try to make it more comfortable.

I saw them in the store and knew that I could easily make one. It was not as super easy as I thought it would be, but I like small sewing challenges. It can only help me get better!

I looked at some other blogs on-line and while they were helpful to see the basic method they followed, ultimately I could not use their measurements because that is dependent on the thickness of foam you have and your personal preferences. I knew that I had  to make my arm pad fit between the two handles of my carrier cover that I made for Miller. I also already had some 1/2" thick foam that I planned to work with.

I sketched it out and planned on starting with two panels that were 6.5" x 8.5" with the finished product being about 4.5" x 6.5". I used the underside fabric from our carrier cover. I wanted a strip of minky running along the outside so I sewed up one panel like this.

I sewed on my velcro to each panel. One gets the hooks and one gets the loops. I made sure to do this about 3/4" in to allow for 1/2" seam. 

Lay the fabrics together so they are inside out (the fronts will be touching each other) and that the velcro strips are on opposite ends. Pin and sew around three sides. I also went back and did a zig zag stitch just to make sure they were super strong.

Turn it right side out. On the one end that you already did sew, sew seams, about 1/4' to each side of the velcro so that it lays flat and that you now have a little pocket started for the foam.

 

I waited to cut my foam until I got to this point, just in case I made any huge mistakes and needed to adjust the size. I ended up with a piece that was 4.25" x 4.25". Since I only had 1/2" thick foam, I doubled up and attached with some spray mount in between the layers. 

Once you insert the foam, make sure you have enough room to have a 1/4" seam allowance away from the velcro like you did on the other side. You can always snip off more foam if you need to. Sew that foam in.

Fold in the open end and pin the heck out of it. Sew that closed along the top.

 

The one thing I am disappointed in is that you can see the green foam through the white minky. Once you get it on the handle you can not really tell though. Besides that, I am quite pleased with it. 

It is not a big round tuft like I saw in the stores but I did not want it that way. We grab the handle with our hands so much and this one being thinner allows for us to grip it that way. It is much more comfortable for our hands which is what I wanted, but we will see how it holds up when he have a baby in there. 

I really like how it looks with our carrier cover that I made last pregnancy. Little things like how they coordinate make me happy.

Baby Project: Pacifier Clips

With Miller, we definitely valued his pacifier clips. I am not germophobic by any means. In fact I am the mom who, when the paci drops on the ground, as long as it was not in dirt, I would wipe it off and give it back to him. I really hated getting looks from people who thought that was disgusting. Well a paci clip pretty much eliminated the problem. Plus, it stopped the pacifiers from getting lost.

For the past year, we have weaned Miller to only have the paci at naptimes and in the car. I had a trusty paci clip for the one on the car so when he would get mad and throw it, he could find it again when he realized he wanted it back. A few months ago, the velcro gave out on us and he could pull it off. I knew I could just change the velcro to snaps or make a new one but I kept getting sidetracked.

I finally tackled them and ended up making 6. I was only going to make one or two but once I started going through my fabric remnants, I wanted to make some to go with other outfits that Baby Bug might have. Once I got the hang of it, these things only took a couple of hours to make.

I cut a remnant that ended up being 2.5" by 8". I ended up varying the lengths by an inch or two just to try them out. One trick I have learned in sewing lately, iron everything!

Fold the fabric over so you are seeing the backside and sew a small seam.

Turn it inside out, which is a pain because it is so narrow. I used a clean chopstick to help me out.  Iron again and then sew a small seam on both sides so that it will lay flat.

Double fold it over and sew up the end. 

On the other end, pull the strip through the clip and do another double fold over (I have no idea what  the correct term is but this seems appropriate) and sew it down.

I have tons of snaps leftover from converting our cloth diapers so I installed those where they need to go. You could sew on velcro but it eventually wears out and I think the snaps are more child proof.

Aren't they cute? I like that I have options this time around with the baby.