Serger Fun

I got a new serger (where's the happy dance smilie?) any day I can play with a new toy...err I mean tool is a good one! I have been sewing (or is it serging?) away and after figuring out the tension and looper stuff, I've managed a fair number of projects!



Preflat diapers. Like prefolds but the absorbant layer isn't just in the middle, it's the entire width and length of the diaper and much easier to sew. Also, easier (for me at least) to use because the materials I use are knit and are stay snug even when I do a terrible job snappi-ing.

ETA: 17 Nov
The preflats were fairly easy to make. I used my existing prefolds as a template for size. The most important part is the rise, my little guy has a rise of about 17 inches so I decided 14 x 17 would be an ideal finished size. I cut 3 layers of fabric 18 x 15 along the selvage (so the stretchy part is side to side when worn, like a t shirt). The next to skin fabric is either cotton velour or bamboo velour, the absorbent middle was hemp fleece, hemp jersey (did two layers of jersey as it's a bit thinner) and i think one was bamboo fleece. I surged the side seams inside out making sure to catch the inner layer so it wouldn't bunch, then turned and surged to top and bottom. I have found that knit fabrics snappi really well but the bamboo velour is a bit more difficult to snappi but works with pins. I got the idea from PB & E on hyena cart. The doublers on the top part of the stack in the picture where just made from left over material and are about 17" long by 4-5" wide. :)


My attempts at low immersion dyeing on bamboo velour. (Also preflats).


Ten minute Petchy pajama pants. I used a pair of beat up no elastic left pj pants as my pattern. Really only about 10 minutes of cutting and sewing with inturuptions much longer of course!


A two seam shirt, I got the idea from a one skein yarn book the shirt is cut with the center front and back as the seams.



More 10 minute pants for myself and little i :) That's all I have pictures of for now!
Love Annmarie

Dye and Cut

Nothing like a good dye job and cut to make a girl feel better. What? Haircut? No, no, a baby wrap of course! I am on a wrap dyeing and cutting kick. It's very fun; I can see why people love wraps turned into mei tai, they are super comfy! :)


Before cut and after dye. This was a silver waves wrap that I dyed avocado. In case you are curious wrap cutting is not for the faint of heart. After I made the first cut I had a minor freak out and felt I needed to lay on the couch! But i did finish the job and ended up with:





It's lovely, soft, lightweight and supportive. Oh and I made a detachable hood! It is sweatshirt style, meaning I used one of my sweatshirts as a pattern!


No action pic with the hood, we tried, we really did, but baby n was not liking the hood at all (i only use them when he is sleeping) The hood attaches to snaps that are hidden in a shallow 'pocket' (it's about 1.5 in deep) so they don't annoy us when the hood isn't in use :)


Okay I have more projects to post but getting the pictures situated is annoying me so I will do a new post!
Love Annmarie

A very special baby wrap

I am so excited to have finished this project! I have been plotting and planning this for months and finally got up the courage to order the items needed to make this project happen.

So silly me, I didn't take a before picture of baby n and me snuggling, ah well, so is life. Anyway, I bought a woven baby wrap to try out wrapping, I did okay with it but ended up tearing the fringe on it, I thought it would be okay, but the tear kept getting worse.


Here's the tear and the coloring of the wrap, it is a very plain khaki/greenish color (the company calls it Aloe) that looks terrible on me (but is snuggly) and has a torn fringe. Bummer. Then on thebabywearer.com, mamas were posting wraps that they had made into mei tais and podegis. An idea formed for me! So I decided to give this poor wrap a bit of a makeover :)


First, I popped it into a dye bath of Carribean Blue (from Dharma Trading Company), absolutely georgous color of greeny aqua blue!


Here's the drying in the sun picture, but that didn't take care of the tear or the fact that I couldn't use it in a back carry (my prefered method of carrying baby n). So I hit the sewing room and...


Emerged a lovely podegi! I added some fabric I love (and I have a matching handbag you might recall) to spruce it up a bit.

No baby carrier sewing session is complete without an 'action' shot! So my special to me wrap is in use once more- yay for sewing! :)

Love Annmarie

Anna Tunic

Been doing a bit of sewing. :) Decided that since I was complaining about not having clothing that fits I should do something about it! This week I sewed up the Anna Tunic pattern by Amy Butler, have used a few of her other patterns and enjoyed the results and I think this pattern is (for the most part) another winner. My only complaint is in the actual paper pieces. I cut pieces left to right, (being left handed has something to do with that I think) and managed to get confused cutting the back body of the tunic as the size lines were not marked close to the edge. I ended up having it about 1/2 an inch too short (I fixed the pattern after, but unfortunately could not fix the cut fabric) and it really affected the fit of the tunic. It sits a little higher on the neck and under the arms. So I guess what I am saying is, double check before cutting!!

I used some lovely fabric from Heather Bailey's Freshcut Line. The belt matches the top and the hem is bias tape made from coordinating fabric from the line.


I have a close up pic of the buttons, but I am not sharing as I have a crooked line of stitching I need to fix! Covered buttons in same material as hem tape :)


Okay I changed my mind, no laughing at the crooked stitches!

On a whole a very easy pattern to sew, I think it definitely needs to be lined as the lining helps the underarm seam lay nicely. If you have never sewed a curve it may prove challenging to turn and top stitch the yoke. :)

And that is basil in the colander, I made pesto last night! YUM!

Just for fun, (yes my eyes are closed my darling husband said this was a great picture and need to take no more, sigh) a pre-walk picture. The new addition is Ginger, we adopted her from the animal shelter, she is a very sweet 5 year old Russel Terrier mix that the boys adore. (and for the babywearers that is Girasol Peacock that baby N is wrapped in. :)

That's it for today, have a super project I am working on and should finish in the next couple of days!

Love Annmarie

Summer Fun

Been busy busy last month, nothing like a tornado, hail storms and power outages to keep life interesting. Oh and a canceled vacation (due to the van breaking down on the side of the road an HOUR from home! :( It's fixed now :) I did manage to sneak in some sewing before we embarked on our failed trip, so now I just get to enjoy everything at home!






First, I gotta brag a minute. This is the first house we have lived in that I can have a garden and well I am excited to say it is moving along quite nicely!

My lovely hibiscus Mother's Day plant. Fab huh? There has been too many blooms to count!


hmm looks like I didn't upload the garden pics I will have to do that later, but you can see part of my herb garden in the background of the hibiscus picture :).






First up is my mess of needles, oh it was bad bad. Couldn't even zip it up!
























Much better, all of the knitting needles are nicely nested and organized :D














The crochet needles and project bag. Four skeins of yarn fit in that bag!
















Another Amy Butler Barcelona skirt. I picked up this fabric on a whim in a coop thinking it would be lovely and summery. It was perfect for the 4th of July celebrations! I also altered 2 other skirts smaller so I have a few more clothes that fit!














A super HUGE diaper bag, fits everything and then some, and matching wristlet. The beige fabric is linen; the inside (which I didn't take a picture of) is Amy Butler Full Moon Polka dot in blue, coordinates nicely :)


























Wetbags (for cloth diapers, wet clothes, etc) the blue owls is hanging and hold at least a day and a half of diapers! the orange is minkee (and the stitching is wonky durn PUL, but it works), the skulls is wipes and spray bag and the blue is for cloth pads :)








That's it for now got a few knitting/crochet projects going- ohhh I gotta take pictures of the yarn swift Kev made me! It's awesome! And I am hoping to make some clothes that fit (lost all the baby weight- yay! ALL of my clothes are too big and falling off of me -boo! and embarrassing!)

Love Annmarie

What Fun:Tag!

I have been tagged by Made by Petchy! I am feeling the blogging love :)

So Here are the Rules: I answer 6 questions about myself. At the end of the post, I tag 6 people and post their names. I then go to their blogs and leave them a comment, letting them know they’ve been tagged and asking them to read my blog. Finally, I let the person who tagged me know when I’ve posted my answers.

Fantastic really, however, I don't know 6 bloggers so I am going to have the break the rules, and I am okay with that!

What was I doing ten years ago? I was in HIGH SCHOOL! So uhh... I think about this time 10 years ago I was applying for jobs and finishing up the school year, ended up working at a retirement home as a waitstaff and picked loads and loads of strawberries.


Five things on my to-do list for today? It's the end of the day, so I will do the list for tomorrow:
1. Pay bills.
2. Sweep and mop the kitchen.
3. Call Bro and congratulate him on graduating from High School.
4. Check the strawberries to see if any more are ripe (and hopefully beat the rabbit to them!)
5. Do something I love... work on the turquoise shorties for the boys.

Snacks I like? Chocolate, cherries, biscuits (ate them all today for snacks) and i have a really hankerin' for biscotti but I don't have any in the house.

Things I would do if I was a billionaire? Buy a home! Visit all of our family, travel, go to Norway and visit the place of my (maiden last) namesake

Places I have lived? Better sit down this could take a while!
Billings, Montana
Cheney, Washington
Fort Polk, Louisiana
Albuquerque, New Mexico
Columbia, South Carolina
Manhattan, Kansas

I know, y'all haven't heard of half of them huh? :)

Six(err some) people I want to know more about?
Kristin of see mommy sew

Mummybuttons of sewing in my sleep

and Denise! Yes I know you don't have a blog yet but I KNOW you read this and you NEED to start one ;)

off to do my tagging duties!

Annmarie

Birthday Zen

Tis Birthday season around here. We have, I think, 10 birthdays in 2 months between our families! We all know how birthdays can get: easy to go over the top, worry about everything being perfect and not really enjoying the day. Last year we were forced into simple due to the fact we were living in a hotel room! But it was really nice, Little i had fun playing and eating good food, so why not do it again (well not the hotel room part, the simple part!). I kept it real simple, got some yummy pizza, made a simple cake (the decorations on the cake were matchbox cars!) and invited a couple friends, we had a great time playing and eating 'cake? caaakkee? CAAKKKEE!!' as little i was saying all day. Oh and yes I did do a little bit of sewing for him! :)

Little i cooking up breakfast in his new apron and kitchen! The apron is lined with some cute red dotted fabric (you can see it a bit on his apron strings) Ended up being the perfect size for him: his other aprons are too long and the neck hangs low, i used snaps on the 'ties' so it is easy to adjust bigger later on and easy for him to put on/take off.







Little i's cars shirt. He asked for cars for his birthday so he got them! I appliquéd the car fabric onto a ready made tee, makes for a really fast project!







Not his birthday, but since I had some tees ready to appliqué ;) This is his lucky duck shirt. I know there are no ducks on it. When he was getting ready for bed he pointed at his shirt and said duck with a tooth brush in his mouth. No sweetie that's a dog. No mama, me a lucka duck, dog and CAR, one, foo, three, mama me! (in case you don't understand caveman/three year old: I am a lucky duck cause my mama made me a shirt that has cars and dogs and numbers and is just for me!) what a sweet kid :)









All I've finished for now, the warm weather has lured me outside, far away from my lovely sewing machine...
Annmarie