I decided that I wasn’t going to invest money in summer pajama’s for Elise, but rather I could make some pants easily enough. For a 9-12 month size pant I used the pattern from Amy Butler’s Little Stitches book for the kimono pj pants.

The fabric is a cute pink giraffe/polka dot knit that I bought from The Fabric Fairy. The only alterations I made to this pattern were to not add the trim fabrics, instead I made the entire length of the pants out of one fabric. I think this helped keep the construction of these pants to an hour.

Up close of the fabric, so you can enjoy its cuteness!

The finished product! I’d show them on my little model but they they are a bit big on her right now. However, she does seem to love the print.

I thought I had posted this a while ago, but apparently not…so here it is, the car seat cover #2. This time I cut it to 36 x 36 and it fits my daughter perfectly. I used Henry Glass Jungle Jubilee with the same lavender fleece from Jo Anns.

I used the same pattern from Amy Butler’s Little Stitches for Little Ones, just a larger size. I again added the 2 inch buttonholes for the straps to fit through. Overall I am very pleased with how this one turned out. Plus, it always feels warm and toasty when we unwrap her. I will admit, I really messed up the trim on this one, but it’s  the part that gets folded up by her feet and since she doesn’t seem to mind, I decided not to either.

I decided that baby coats and snow suits are more hassle than they are worth, so I decided that I would make the Snuggie Wrap from Amy Butler’s Little Stitches for Little Ones and instead of making it a swaddle wrap, I would make it a car seat blanket. It actually turned out awesome, except for the part where I made the wrong size and thus it won’t cover Miss Elise’s feet. Sigh…this only means there will be another car seat cover in the making.

I didn’t want to spend a lot on fabric in case this didn’t work out. I chose the softest flannel I could find in the nursery print section at Jo-Anns. In case you aren’t aware, most of the flannel at Jo-Ann’s doesn’t really qualify as soft, however this elephant print was really cute, and only like $2.50 a yard. I then picked a nice lavender fleece. I added a fusible fleece lining for extra warmth as suggested in the Little Stitches book. I intended to cut out the 3-6 month size, but ended up cutting my border strips to the 0-3 month size, which meant the entire thing had to be changed to the 0-3 month size. Yay for sewing at 4 a.m.

Overall this is a really simple project. I recommend following the directions when Amy says baste. In general, I don’t like to baste because I find it a waste of time and wasted thread, however in this case it really helps to hold everything together. Instead of the two buttonholes in the back for the Snuggie Wrap tie, I chose to make five 2 inch buttonholes for the straps of the car seat to fit through. They worked perfectly! Other than the shortness, I am VERY pleased with how this project turned out and can’t wait to make the larger one.

This is quite image hefty, I would apologize but let’s be honest, if I was really sorry I wouldn’t have included so many pictures. Quite frankly, I add the pictures in to show you how awesome I really am. That being said, I spent a few hours this morning making more blankets for this baby. Again, I make blankets because they are easy and I like the near instant gratification. Unless my fabric grain is off, and then I roll my eyes and remember that A) I’m not a perfectionist and B) it’s a blanket for a child who really doesn’t care about said blanket as long as the diaper is clean and the tummy is full.

Here’s blanket #1 – Made from the Michael Miller Disco Dot – Citrus, purchased on Ebay and some yellow minkee fabric purchased locally. Allow me to reiterate this fact, if you are going to fall in love with a fabric, do so before it is discontinued. Unlike other items, when fabric is discontinued the price goes up exponentially. I just happened to get lucky and be the only person who bid on said fabric and actually got it for less than it was retail. YAY! Specs on this blanket are approximately 42 x 42. The Pimpo (aka George from the “George & Martha” series) enjoys this blankets larger size.

Blanket #2 is essentially a baby shower gift. After receiving the greatest gift of a fabric store gift card, I headed to the store for something involving hippos. Indeed there was a flannel with baby jungle animals, including hippos. I fought the overwhelming urge to back this with green flannel and chose yellow instead. I believe you’ll approve. This is only about 36 x 45, still slightly larger than the average receiving blanket and wonderfully soft.

An up close and personal shot of the baby animals….awwwwww

Finally, blanket #3, made from Heather Ross Lightening Bugs blue and yellow polka dots (again, discontinued…see rant above), and blue minkee with a star pattern purchased with the aforementioned gift card. Now a new fabric rant, minkee fabric is wonderfully soft but is sometimes a nightmare to work with. More of a nightmare than my constant need to end a sentence with a preposition! (Like you even noticed). I’m not sure if it’s the nap of the fabric or what, but I had the hardest time getting these to line up..eventually giving up and embracing imperfection. That’s one of my more attractive qualities anyways. Specs: about 36 x 45 again, I hadn’t intended to use the Heather Ross as a blanket, but it is honestly the softest cotton I’ve ever felt and I couldn’t resist. Off grain or not, I love this blanket. I think the bear approves too.

An up close picture of the details.

Honestly, I just don’t sleep very well anymore. I’m not particularly uncomfortable or anything, I just wake up at random..or to go potty and then I can’t get back to sleep. So after 30 minutes of looking at the ceiling this morning I decided to get up and make a receiving blanket. I had pinned and prepared my fabric yesterday, in a way of procrastinating making baby room curtains. I’m terrified to cut the hippo fabric!

So anyways, I made a receiving blanket out of some Happy Hippo fabric I bought at Jo-ann’s probably about the same time I found out I was pregnant. It’s been waiting for the perfect match fabric to come along. I backed it with a polka dot print flannel I bought online at the Fabric Shack. Finished dimensions are 34 x 40, which is a little smaller than I would have preferred, but the blanket turned out really well anyways. I chose to use only a 1/4 inch seam allowance and finished with a 1/8 inch top stitch. I actually like the blanket more than I thought I would, and it’s nice to feel I did something productive with my time.

This is the Amy Butler Nappy Bag. I saw this pattern and immediately loved it. Here are the pros: this bag is nice and big, simple to make, and is not just a diaper bag. Cons: It would be a terrible diaper bag, and the inside pockets don’t make much sense, also the pattern doesn’t call for any sort of closure to the bag so you have to choose your own adventure on that one. However, it’s a great tote bag and could be useful if you didn’t have to carry a lot of small items that might fall out. For those wanting to make their own diaper bag, might I suggest the Amy Butler Weekender Bag or the Favorite Things Annie’s Tote?

Oh, here’s the finished product:

I have several projects cut out right now, just trying to decide what to start on next! My husband will tell me to finish the couch cover I started first and worry about my wide leg pants later. This is because all of his clothes still fit….

Since I love hippos, and I am pregnant I decided to make a baby blanket out of some great fleece fabric I found. It’s a fairly simple project, it takes longer to pin the blanket binding on than it does to actually sew it. By the way, we are decorating with hippos, so it will work well.