One summer dress and two tiny booties

Greetings from Rio where the weather is changing every day... One day it rains, the next day is sunny. Today has been beautiful and my little princess could wear this cute summer dress I made for her. The pattern was from the latest Ottobre Design.

It was actually easier to make than expected (apart from the ruffles which took some time to make). I had much fun sewing this dress!

: fabric: white cotton with roses by Tilda and pink cotton
: pattern: Ottobre Design 3/2011

I have also made a pair of matching booties: the stripes and the lining are of the same fabric as the dress.

 

: fabric: white linen and white cotton with roses by Tilda

: pattern: Making Children's Clothes by Emma Hardy

Turning, spinning, bumping...

My daughter is getting more and more skillful in turning, standing, sitting etc... Sometimes I find her with her legs on the pillow and her head in the middle of the crib as she loves to spin around now. High time to make a crib bumper!

I did not use any particular pattern for the bumper as I thought it should not be that difficult to make anyway. I took the measurements of the crib and through much trial and error managed to sew this Japanese style bumper.

Inside it has a pocket for books, toys or pacifiers.

Now my kid can bump around as much as she wants!

: pattern: my own

: fabrics: cotton fabric with Japanese dolls for the inside and lilac cotton fabric with circles for the outside (from Stoff & Stil). Also foam rubber for the interior panels and a velvet ribbon for the ties.

in circles

Finally, I managed to sew a bodysuit for my baby. The pattern I came across in the latest Ottobre Design magazine was for a wrap bodysuit, so I made it (although my daughter is getting too big to be wrapped).

It was not easy to attach the bindings without a coverstitch machine... I used my regular sewing machine and a twin needle - it just took more time. I made a little mistake when attaching the binding to the collar, but otherwise I am quite pleased with the overall result. Not bad for a first try!

: pattern: Ottobre Design 3/2011
: fabrics: Gekko's white jersey with brown circles (JNYDesign) and yellow binding.

Angry bird

I have discovered a whole new world to me: amigurumi. It is so cool what one can crochet... It seems that sky is the limit.

The first amigurumi I made was the red Angry bird. (You might see more of them in the future as I have an idea to make a pram toy of Angry birds for my daughter...)

 

: pattern: Angry birds Cardinal

clouds in the sky

Here is the latest addition to my collection of canopies. I love the fabric: it is so dreamy with the white clouds but at the same time the red backgrounds adds some spice!

 

This time it went even smoother with sewing. And I paid more attention to the finishing, therefore I am happy with the final effect.

: fabrics: white clouds on the red background by JNYDesign and cobalt blue beaver nylon for the lining (Stoff & Stil). Plus yellow and blue bias tapes.

Make your own bugaboo canopy!

If you want to create your own Bugaboo Cameleon canopy,  here's the way I do it (inspired by Mamma på vift).

You will need:
- the outer fabrics: 1m (if it is at least 110 cm wide)
- the lining: also 1m (if it is 150cm wide)
- bias tape: around 4m
- elastic for the small loops

The pattern:
The easiest way to make the pattern is to pin some old fabrics (for example an old sheet) to your original canopy (when it is unfolded on the stroller) and draw the lines along the seams. As a reference, you can see my measurements for the patterns, but please add approx. 1 cm for the seam allowance.

Here I use red cloud fabric for the outside of my canopy and a cobalt blue beaver nylon for the lining. For the lining you will need TWO tops in order to make the channels. From one of them you should cut some 10 cm out from both edges (1a and 2a).

The tutorial:
1. Fold and stitch both ends of 2a to get a nice finish.

2. Stitch 2a and 1a together.

3. Now you want to create the slots for the canopy frames. In order to do that just make a stitch some 5 cm from the edges of the fabric.

4. Sew together the outside fabric with the lining (1a+2a together with 1b, 3a together with 3b and 4a together with 4b).

5. Pin all the parts (1, 3 and 4) together.

6. Try it on your pram and make any adjustments if necessary. Then stitch all the parts together.

7. Stitch the bias tape in order to cover the inside seams as well as to neatly finish the outside edges around your canopy. Don't forget to create small loops from the elastic (to be attached to the hooks on your Bugaboo).

8. Pronto! Your custom canopy for Bugaboo is done!

ain't no sunshine...

It used to happen that when my baby was sleeping in her buggy, the rays of sun or the strong lights in the stores woke her up. The temporary solution was to hang a blanket on the hood, but it did not look that nice. Creating my own sun shade should not be that hard, I thought, so I took some measurements and sew this:

The difficulty was how to attach it to the canopy... I went for snap fasteners, which I now slightly regret as using rings and eyelets would make things easier. The advantage of the snaps is that I can attach the bottom of the shade to the canopy when it is windy.

When not needed, I can just roll it up and fold it:

I am quite happy with this project, but in the future I will use rings instead of snaps and attach the tape used for folding to the middle of the shade.

: pattern: own
: fabrics: lovely navy-blue fabrics with tiny white flowers from Tilda and white embroidery fabrics from Stoff & Stil

My white swan

I made these ballerina shoes for my daughter's christening. To add some spice to it, I used a contrasting colour yarn for the sole. They turned out lovely!

: pattern: inspired by Window Ballet Slippers by Nicole Barker pattern, much modified though.

my baby rocks (in her first converse)!

I have had quite many projects under way - and all at the same time. They took some time to complete but now they are finally finished... To start with: crocheted baby converse - the cutest thing ever, but not that easy to make. Now my baby rocks!

: pattern: Crochet Baby Converse by Suzanne Resaul

crocheting again

Awaiting the arrival of the ordered fabrics, I decided to refresh my old crotchet skills and made this lovely beanie for Sofia. The pattern was very easy and it did not take long time to make it.

 She looks really cute in it (but she hates wearing ANY hat whatsoever).

Later on, I added a button and crocheted some flowers of different colours that can be attached to the beanie.



: pattern: Shell stitch beanie

welcome to the jungle

My second attempt to create a new canopy for my bugaboo was much more successful. I started by refining the pattern. Finally,  I am fully satisfied with it. I also used a lovely and eye-catching "Djungel" fabric from JNYdesign. The result has exceeded my expectations.

: pattern: my own.

: fabrics: "Djungel" interlock from JNYDesign, lime green wind- and waterproof beaver nylon from Stoff och Stil and a yellow ribbon.

pimped my bugaboo

Inspired by Mamma på vift and encouraged by my husband, I decided to create a custom canopy for my Bugaboo Cameleon. I got the pattern by attaching an old sheet to the original canopy and drawing a line along the seams. Then I transferred the pattern (from the sheet) to the new fabrics and started sewing. After 3 days working (but on and off as my daughter required much attention), my prototype custom-made buggy hood was ready.

Not bad for a beginner, who has never really used a sewing machine before ;)

: pattern: my own, redrawn from the original canopy. I wasn't fully satisfied with this pattern as I forgot to pin the textile to the hood and the fabrics got a bit out of place (a rookie mistake).

: fabrics: Saralisa from IKEA for the outer fabric and a plain green fabric for a lining.

Nesting, literally

It all began when I decided to buy a sewing machine just before my baby-girl was born. I simply reckoned that each household should own one... however the secondary reason was directly connected to my nesting instinct. Literally! I wanted to have a "baby nest" for her (http://www.babynest.se/), so that she could sleep undisturbed in our bed in the first weeks of her life. However, I found all the choices available on the market rather plain and too expensive. It shouldn't be too difficult to make it myself, I thought.

And so I purchased a Singer Heavy Duty 4423 sewing machine as well as some fabrics from IKEA. Then I let myself be inspired by other mums that published their instructions on how to sew a baby nest on the web. A few hours of working and voilà! My first sewing project has been completed...

A baby nest. It can be opened as the child grows.

All in all, I was very satisfied with my first sewing achievement. As was my daughter.

: design: my own, inspired by http://unggravid.blogspot.com, http://lindabireseveriksson.blogg.se and http://6-barnsmamma.blogspot.com

: fabrics: Saralisa by IKEA plus a mattress (3cm tjock skummadrass från Åhléns).