The other stash

That's right. NOT the yarn stash (which is slowly dwindling, as I haven't allowed myself to buy new yarn since *gulp* December!).

The diaper stash. This is what's been consuming most of my time and energy! I'm a horrible person, and the reason I wanted to use cloth diapers is that I wanted to try making them. (For that matter, that's also why we have cloth napkins, and had my husband not gone out and bought grocery bags, we'd have handmade ones of those, too.)

I've been at it for months, finding, washing, and ironing fabric, sifting through patterns, cutting, sewing...and last week, I finally finished!

Presenting, my diaper stash!



These are all pocket-style diapers, made of just two layers. The outside layer is flannel, and the inside is either suedecloth or old t-shirt. I used two different patterns, and made 24 Mama Bird's diapers (size Medium) and 12 RRPs (one-size).

They're stuffed with these, which are layers of terry or microfiber towels sewn inside a flannel casing.



Having pocket diapers is probably going to be a pain, but since the stuffers are sewn like that, I can easily lay them inside the diaper for faster changes, rather than stuffing them in the pockets. Also, this means that when Gnarly gets too big for these diapers, I only need to make the shells -- the stuffers are already done! Plus, we're using prefolds for the newborn period, and those make great stuffers, as well.

Of course, these need covers, so I sewed some (from the Chloe Toes pattern):



...and I knit some (Curly Purlies, Fern and Faerie, and a Warm Heart Woolies wrap):



I also made some cloth wipes (because I might as well use cloth wipes, plus I had scraps):



And a diaper stacker for the diapers to live in:



I recycled as much as I could, cutting up old t-shirts, flannel sheets and pajamas, and towels. I used flannel remnants from other sewing projects, too, and tried to use up the scraps for stuffers or wipes.

Watch her not fit any one of these. Just watch.

Sweet little dresses

It happens every summer. Along with mosquitoes, butterflies, and lightning bugs, out comes the sewing bug. And it has bitten me, and bitten me hard.

I know I've already said this before, but sewing and I? We don't get along. I love it. It hates me. It should hate me, because, despite my love for it, I do not take my careful time with it. But still.

Anyway, you know how alot of people will knit a baby sweater to try their hand at garment knitting? Well, for some reason, it never occurred to me that I should sew little kid clothes, to get more practice while using less fabric and lighter, more manageable pieces. But it finally dawned on me as I was browsing Joann's the other day, and, armed with a little girls' dress pattern, I drove home and set to work.

My first attempt (using New Look pattern # 6688), was far from perfect. The inside edges were raggedy, the zipper (my first time installing a zipper, btw) was a bit off, but -- and herein lies the beauty of baby clothes -- the dress still turned out adorable. And it only took two evenings from cutting out the pattern to completion!

When making this dress, I had our good friends who recently moved to Hawaii in mind. I used vintage Russian fabric that my mom bought some 20 years ago. It's too loud to use for adult garments, but for a bright little girl who lives in Hawaii, it was perfect. So here is N (20 months) wearing her new dress:



(I used ribbon for the shoulder straps, without lining them with fabric. This way, they're completely adjustable.)

Of course, if I make a dress for N, I have to make one for her big sister, A (almost 7). A and I are buds. We go way back. So I thought that for her dress, I would use the same fabric that I used for my own dress. It helps that the fabric is purple! I used New Look pattern #6821, and this pattern went much better. I slowed down and took my time, and I'm actually quite proud of the way this turned out. I even learned to make tucks! And the zipper looks much better, though the thread I used to put it in shows very clearly on the inside lining. But hey, it's the inside lining, right?

The dress:



I'm happy to report that the parents love both dresses, and A loves it, too:



(I forgot to say that the amazing pictures of A and N are by Kwong Photography, a talented Chicago artist. If you are in the area and interested in using them, email kwongphotography at gmail dot com.)

Huzzah for organization!

I finally got tired of keeping all my knitting supplies in a plastic pencil box. It's fine for notions, but I also keep all my DPNs in there, all mixed together, and it takes several minutes to find all the needles I need.



So I decided to make my annual sewing project a needle roll. I've seen alot of them on other knitting blogs, and have wanted one for a while. I've seen some tutorials, but didn't really follow any; it really wasn't hard to figure out.



I used some vintage Russian fabric for the outside and some much tamer green cotton for the lining. The vintage fabric is much too bright for anything else, really, but I think it makes a pretty needle roll!



It's very long -- over two feet -- but it fits all my DPNs, alot of my crochet hooks, my stitch holders and cable needles (I haven't used a cable needle in over a year), my gauge/needle size checker, and my tape measurer (which is why it's not round, but squished-looking). Everything tucks in, and the top folds down, and the thing rolls up and ties in a pretty red ribbon -- voila! Organization!

Weirdness

This thing has been going around lately. I musta caught it.

There are, of course, many weird things about me, but here are the six that everyone else has been posting:

1. I cannot drink coffee in the afternoon, even one cup, because I get sick. I can drink coffee in the morning, and tons of it, and I'll be fine. I can have caffeine in the afternoon in the form of cola or tea, and be fine. I cannot have coffee in the afternoon -- even if I had no caffeine at all in the morning. The exception is if I'm really, really exhausted.

2. Even though I've been vegetarian for most of my adult life, I am not at all a picky eater. I will not, however, eat buckwheat. I hate it. I hate it, hate it, hate it. I can't swallow it, even, and it makes me gag. I will tolerate it IN stuff, as long as I cannot taste it, but other than that, nope. This doesn't sound like a huge issue to y'all, but my family is Russian, and buckwheat is eaten by itself as a side dish, or with milk and sugar as cereal. Ugh.

3. I am, however, a picky sleeper, and will not fall asleep unless I'm arranged very specifically. Namely, I roll myself up in a blanket and sleep more or less on my stomach with a pillow under my belly. Because of this, my husband and I don't share covers. Personally, I think that's good in a marriage ;)

4. I still hate to step on cracks in the sidewalk.

5. Whenever I pass by a wrought iron fence with the points sticking up at the top, I invariably wig myself out by imagining myself being impaled on the points. By my eye sockets. Doesn't matter if the fence is a foot taller than I am and I'd need to be prolpelled into the air in order for this to happen.

6. I hate the feeling of lotion, especially on my hands, and will avoid putting it on as much as possible. In the winter, then, my hands get really, really, really bad.

Ok, now for some crafty content:

Knitting: No real progress here. I've been knitting, but I'm just working on another daisy dress for Baby Niece, and it's pretty boring blogging material. I've completed the back and am currently high enough up the front to have done half the daisy, so hopefully I'll finish this weekend.

Sewing: I discovered sewing patterns. Because, see, I needed another craft to blow money on. Thankfully, right now, sewing is pretty cheap for me because I have a very good fabric stash, mostly
given to me by my mom. She bought it years ago in Russia, so alot of this fabric is my age or maybe just a tad younger. I love the prints.

So to deplete the stash, I bought patterns. I had several, but, well, you can never have too many, right? So I broke my crafting diet rule and bought patterns (in my defense, I had a gift certificate). I love the New Look patterns, because they're alot of bang for the buck, and have some really cute stuff.

Currently, I am sewing the white skirt from this pattern in the navy-and-white-flower print that you can see in the above link. I have completed the top two tiers, and need to hem the bottom tier, put lace on it, attach it, make the elastic casing and put in the elastic and drawstring, and add lace along the tier seams. So, yeah, almost done ;)

I'm thinking of using the super-bright print to make the wrap dress, and this fabric (my favorite) to make the turquoise number here.

Oh, and I'm sure you all are wondering about the results of my vote. I'm gonna keep you in suspense just a bit more!

Totally unexpected

Today, I did something I never do.

I SEWED.

I hate sewing. Well, no, I like it, but I have no patience with it. As the result, my sewn pieces come out sloppy, and the process is frustrating, so, yeah. I never sew.

But today, I got bitten by the sewing bug. See, I had this pair of pants that are a beautiful chocolate brown, but they were too short and too tight. I hate throwing anything away, so I figured, hey, let's make a skirt!

So I broke my brand-new sewing machine out of its box (I got it last October. As in 2005. Hadn't opened it!). And that's what I did.



I followed the basic directions for converting pants into a skirt (I think those directions were on sewing.about.com, but I saw them many moons ago, and went from memory today). Basically, I cut off the pant legs around the knee. Then I used a seam ripper to open the seams on the inside of each leg and up into the crotch area. Laying the skirt flat, I pulled the legs apart until the dissected crotch area, when overlapped, lay flat. Pinned and sewed. Cut open the leg remnants and sewed them into the wedges between the legs of the skirt. Trimmed the hem even. Finally, I added a polyester lace ribbon that I bought at Joann's months ago. You can't tell from the photo, but it's pale lilac.

Now, this skirt has many flaws. You can see one in the crotch area in the above photo -- I didn't overlap the new seam exactly with the old one, so it looks like there IS no seam. Trust me, though, there is. Secondly, The edges are only roughly finished. Thirdly, I stretched the hem too much as I sewed, giving it that belled look (which I actually like). Finally, there are a few spots where the fabric accidentally gathered, and I didn't feel like ripping it out.

Through it all, I sewed the front and back pieces of the skirt together more than once, and broke a needle (I had spares).

But I don't care, because the skirt still looks fabulous on me:



Of course, having sewn the skirt, I had to keep going. So I dug into my rather extensive fabric stash and pulled out these four half-yarn-wide pieces I bought back in college. There isn't enough fabric here to do anything with, really, so I decided to make cloth napkins, which goes wonderfully with my new resolution to be as environmentally conscious as possible.



These are the most basic napkins ever. I cut out squares (roughly square-shaped, anyway) and folded the edges under, pressed, and sewed. But they are pretty colors, and they do complement our dishes. Plus, it gave me a bit more time to bind with my machine. My mom's machine hates me, but this one seems to be getting on with me nicely.