Ring Sling for a Friend

We headed down to Sydney for a few days last week & i was going to visit a friend i only see a couple of times a year who has just (well...3 months ago) had a new bub. Last time we were chatting on the phone she was wishing she had a few different slings so i thought id make her one.

I picked up more material from Campbells Cash n Carry (im growing to love that shop!) for $2 per metre, im not exactly sure what it is but its a nice olive colour (not my colour at all but i knew she liked it). I used the sling rings i bought ages ago (cant remember where) that are a bit thick & heavy & they are a bit smaller than the ones i used on my sling. Its a bit hard to pull the material through them, im not sure if it will loosen up with washing? it does the job though, so hopefully she liked it! I used the instructions on Sleeping Baby again. Heres some pics:

I also knitted her bub a caterpillar. I stuck a cat toy with a bell in it in the head so it rattles & i knitted it out of that fairy floss stuff you can get a lincraft so its nice & soft & fluffy! sorry the pics are a bit blurry, i snapped them on my phone last minute before we left!

I made a Hot Mama Nappy Bag!!!

I am so very proud of me right now!!! Ive spent the last two days neglecting the house work & while ants have run rampant ive managed to actually sew a nappy bag! Its a Hot Mama Messenger Style Diaper Bag by Wired up Designs - i bought the pattern over a year ago & just never got round to attempting it, but i have a whole room to do sewing in now which makes it easier to make stuff cause i can just walk out & shut the door on all the mess when i dont have time to do any more!

I thought it would be way to hard but i just took it one step at a time & eventually i got there! Its out of the same material as the ring sling i made (which only cost me $2 per metre from Campbell's Cash n Carry!!!), it probably isnt a sturdy enough material for a nappy bag really but hey - it matches my ring sling! Heres a couple of pics -



I actually lined it with some white PUL i have lying around (i bought a couple of metres of the stuff in a co-op a year or so ago), you probably arent meant to use a material like that to line it but i figured it would make it water proof, so i did it anyway.

Heres the inside of the bag. Theres 4 largish pockets for nappies, wipes etc, a mobile phone holder, a little key holder that you can snap over your keys, a change pad (which i made too) with a little loop to keep it in place & a wallet pocket (which my wallet is far to fat to fit into):


Theres also two of these drink bottle holders on the outside (one on each side):


& the shoulder strap has padding in it & everything!

Heres the change pad i made to go with it, your meant to use the same fabric to back it (so it would have been purple on the back) but i wanted to keep my fabric so i just used PUL - makes it water proof anyway! Its topped with maiden mills fleece & has wadding on the inside so its nice & soft & cushy!


Notice that there are absolutely no close ups of any of my sewing...thats because its pretty freakin dodgy in lots of places...but i dont care! im just so glad that i actually managed to complete it! & it only took me two days which is pretty good for someone with my complete lack of sewing experience i think.

So what should i try & sew next??? i picked up some more cheap material today so ill have to find a new project for it :)

Sewing a Ring Sling

Ages ago i bought some rings to make a ring sling from somewhere (cant quite remember where) so i figured i might as well make one for the new bub. I went to the local Campbell's Cash & Carry store & bought a couple of metres of beautiful purple fabric for $2 per metre - bargain! i have no idea what it is, probably some type of cotton??? it has the slub (if that's what they call it) through it which i think gives it a nice look. Here's a close up:

Anyway, today i decided id start working on it, & low & behold i managed to finish it too! I didnt end up using the rings i had (which was my whole reason for doing it in the first place) because Hayley has MUCH better rings, they weigh heaps less & are slightly bigger & they dont make a clinking sound. So i ended up getting a couple off her & using them!

I attempted to follow the Jan Andrea instructions (the only reason i say attempted is because i haven't sewn for so long i had even forgotten how to get thread onto my little bobbin thingy - not because her instructions are hard to follow, im sure for a non-pregnant kinda competent sewer they are great). Here's my attempted pleating of the shoulder bit, i think it worked ok for a first attempt (I'm proud anyway!), you can also see the fab sling rings i got from Hayley clearly here:

I left the tail pretty long because i want to be able to flick it over my shoulder if im in the middle of the shopping centre walking along & feeding (should i ever manage to master that skill). Ive got a teddy in it here:

& heres the long tail bit flicked over:

& here i am attempting to breastfeed a teddy bear - lol:

I even managed to convince Jet to get in for a few seconds so i could get a real action shot:

You can kinda see my baby bump in those pics too - really should stick some bump pics up shouldn't i!

I hope the material i used is ok! It feels a little slippery (not to much but more than a drill would), not sure if thats ok??? I left the full width there, it fits through the rings fine so hopefully that works alright too. I havent stuck a pocket on it yet, i might do that after bub is born, im just not sure where would be best just yet.

Ive still got a few metres of material left so im going to attempt to make the Hot Mama Nappy Bag i saw over on Tracy's blog ages ago. I bought the pattern as soon as i saw her creation, im not quite sure im ready for such a big project though!

Busy Bee

Ive been very busy today! First of all i had to get the overlocker out to make some more hemp trifold inserts cause we are going up to Byron for almost 2 weeks soon & i figure that the pockets dry super quick but inserts take forever so if we have twice as many inserts we should be right. So here they are (not very interesting):

Then i looked over at my disaster zone of a knitting basket:

It made me think of a pattern id seen in a book im reading, the stitch & bitch handbook (fantastic book by the way!!!). No, its not a knitting pattern, its for a needle holder! So i had a dig through the massive pile of material ive managed to accumulate. Your meant to use heavy weight material, like upholstery stuff or something, which i didnt have, the best i could do was some flannelet & some cotton drill so i just doubled up a bit here & there. Anyway, heres some pics. The inside with the flap down:

The outside: The inside again with the flap up:

When i was all finished i realised i have lots of little things that need storing too, like stitch counters, stitch markers, that thing that measures what size needle your using etc. So i figured id stick some pockets on the front flappy bit. They are attached with snaps so i can pull them off if i want (not that i know why i would want to) & they do up with snaps too - well...what would a sewing day be without getting the snap press out! So here is the end result:

& hey presto - a tidy knitting basket!!!

...but unfortunately the house is now a total wreck

oh well, a mothers work is never done ; )

**Update: just found an online tutorial to make one of these, has extra pockets too! - click here for the tutorial**

Present Pockets

I finally finished a couple of pockets that ive been making. Rocky'sI'mRocky's mum asked me to make them to give as a present to a friends daughter who is having a bub. Ive never made a nappy for anyone else & its rather stressful! I'm really only new to sewing so theres lots of things i suck at - especially leg elastic!!! anyway, they are all done & ready to go now. They both have fleece outers & inners with a hidden layer of PUL. I made some trifold inserts with the hemp fleece i just got from bubba earth - it feels so loverly!!! would make the best fittedsI'm, might have to give one a go! anyway, heres the pics:

Inserts:
Oh & i found an old MCN brochure from the ANN so I'm going to put that in with them:

**WARNING** Sunglasses may be required!

Well...today i made jet another nappy (because he can never have enough!). Why is it bright orange? well, for a couple of reasons. 1. because i have 2m of velour & microfleece 2. because the in-laws are dutch & thats their national colour & 3. well...why not!

This time round i used the Ottobre pattern. This pattern has 2 sizes, i used the largest one because jet is getting a bit big for the s/m wee weka pattern so i figured the smaller size might not fit for long on this pattern....but the nappy is massive!!! So i guess it will fit him eventually & for now i can stuff it with heaps & use it as a night nappy - jet is a massivly heavy wetter!!!

Ok, heres the nappy (its a little bright!):

The inner is made from orange (in case you couldnt tell) velour:

& the outer is made with microfibre:

There is a hidden layer of white PUL & I used blue snaps, I do have orange ones that match but I thought id throw in a bit of contrast (so DH has a chance of putting it on the right way). I used blue because its DH's favorite colour & he is sick of me using purple for everything & also because the orange & blue chakras are opposite - so the colours are opposite polarities (or something).

Here are some action shots:

I sewed the elastic onto the outer layer (through all the layers though) but the inner material is still rolling out? not sure what happend there - its the first time ive done that, figured it didnt really matter since both sides were soft.

I also overlocked some microfibre inserts. They are 3 layers each very doddgily sewn together, but they do the trick! They have already been through the wash thats why there all fluffy:

well, thats enough sewing for one day, now im off to clean up all the mess i made.

Purple Pocket - Action Pics

Ok, heres some action pics of the purple & green pocket i made:

& one last one of Jet with daddy in the background:

Purple Pocket

My latest creation:


Made using the S/M wee weka pocket pattern.

HUGE thanks to Hayley for the fabulous PUL & suede cloth!!!!!

Action shots to come tommorow : )

Pics of my Tiger!

Ok, as promised here are the action shots of my latest creation:

One last pic of my little tiger mauling his prey (aka toy frog):


It is pretty chunky on him, i probably could have used less layers in the booster. i might just make a non fold out one with just 2 or 3 layers of bamboo fleece & a layer of fleece & just use this booster for nights.

Hes only worn it once so far & had it on for about 7 hours (i dont normally leave them that long but he was sleeping and i wanted to test it). There were no leaks & it still felt pretty dry to touch from the inside (agains his skin). The bamboo didnt even feel that wet, so maybe its just super absorbant or maybe he just didnt do any of his normal massive wees in it! hopefully it will be fine tommorow so itll dry quick & i can give it another run!!!

The pic to the right is the pattern i used. Its the wee weka s/m pocket pattern but i modified it a bit. The modified bits are in yellow. I think i really need ot leave the width of the long section alone (whats that called???), even though its only the tiniest bit wider the origional pattern just fits so much better...i know, i know, so why do i keep changing it!!!

Next time i will leave the whole top section of the pattern as is and just make the base slightly bigger than the origional pattern so it fits him a smigin longer. Thanks for checkin out my blog!!!