Snow and Sew!

When it snows some people bake, I sew! I even went to the store yesterday to make sure I had everything I need to make ginger snaps, but instead I sewed!! I can't help it. I love it. And lately I can even think of things i "need" to sew to make life better around the house!

We woke up to about 10" of snow!!

And it is still snowing!! I love it. Hubby was able to work from home so I don't even have to be worried about him on the road. He has actually worked from home all week! I love it. I love having him home. Even though he is holed up in the basement for most of the day, when he comes up for snacks or water, I can kiss him!! Plus, he can throw the kids around a little bit, which they LOVE!

Anyway, I made some cloth diapers (see the blog post here) which I really like. I am pretty surprised that they work as well as they do.

 Here is the Lil Man showing off his diaper.

I usually assume that things I make won't turn out they way they are supposed to, but so far these are pretty good. Poos are messy, but any cloth diaper is messy with poo. But, after you rinse them out, you need a place to put them until it is time to do a load. So I made a little bag to store soiled diapers.

 It is lined on the inside with the waterproof fabric and the outside is just whatever I had laying around. It is kind of small, but that is just because I don't have that many diapers, I don't like to have too many soiled diapers sitting around, and I made this out of scraps.

Then, when I was done with that project, I made a cape for Miss R. A friend of mine had asked me to make a cape for her son for Christmas, and I used Miss R to size it. So I had a practice cape cut out of a sheet and Miss R asked for a cape. So I looked through my scrap pile and found some sparkly blue fabric left over from my niece's Christmas present. And here is the cape!

You can't tell very well, but it is sparkly!

And here she is, the Fix It princess to the rescue!

It is technically reversible, but only one side is sparkly. I made it out of an old sheet and the sparkly fabric. Velcro is the closure around the neck, that way, in case she gets the cape caught on something, it won't choke her! 

All this before lunch!! I might still get around to baking today because it is still snowing and it is nice to warm the house up with the oven and ginger snaps smell so good. 

What is your favorite thing to do when it is snowing?

Cloth Diapers!

So, I have realized that I love to sew NEW things. I have a possibly very exciting opportunity coming up (so stay tuned!!) and so I have trying out some new products. I have always wanted to try to make cloth diapers, but didn't really want to do cloth with my son, because I hope he will be potty trained soon. But with this new opportunity I thought cloth diapers would be a great product, and I need someone to test the products. And, since the Lil' man doesn't seem to be too interested in potty training, its back to cloth diapers. I started using cloth diapers when Miss R. turned 1 year old, but since she was potty trained by 2 and a half, we didn't use them for very long. When the Lil' man came along, the diapers I had leaked on him. I think that was more due to the fact that I did not take care of the diapers that Miss R had used. So I sacked the idea and went to disposable.

The first time I went from disposable to cloth, I didn't really notice the "extra" work. Yes you have to rinse them out in the toilet and that can be really gross, and there is the extra laundry loads, but if you have a pair of gloves in the bathroom the toilet dunking is less gross, and the extra laundry loads actually helped me stay on top of laundry. My husband likes to joke that I only do laundry once a month, but I know for a fact he does not have enough underwear to last him a whole month.

Anyway, back to cloth diapers. I had seen some cute fabric at Joanns for cloth diapers and decided to try it out. A friend gave me a bunch of coupons and I bought all the supplies I needed to make a few and see. Here are the first ones I have made.

As you can see, they are just a simple "pocket" diaper. Not a true pocket diaper, but small pockets at the front and back and then you place the insert in the pockets! So it can also be just a diaper cover too. You could use a pre-fold, with pins and all if you wanted to, and put this over the top. The cover is made of PUL waterproof fabric. The snaps make the size adjustable, however, these shown are still a size medium, for babies 15lbs-30lbs. I bought a book with several more styles that I have not had a chance to try out yet, but I will definitely let you all know when I do!!

So EXCITING sewing new things! And since these are fairly easy to make, i can make them pretty quickly. About 1 hour to cut out, put snaps on and but the elastic around the edge!! I LOVE it!

So, I hope you all are ready for Christmas! I will include one more picture of the dress I made for my niece for Christmas. 

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!

Empire Evening Dress

I have finally finished the dress! I have mentioned this project in a few previous blogs. I was so excited to work on it and get it finished, but when it came time to put it all together I was really nervous. I made some changes to the pattern and even though i had made 2 practice dresses, I had never put all the parts together to see how it would all come together finished. But I am pretty pleased with the finished project. It seems a little too long, but i think its ok because I am planning on wearing it to a Christmas party, which means it will be cold so long is good.

 The Front

The Back

Now the question is do the heels go better? or Boots?

Heels?

Boots?

Since it is winter and freezing here now, I am leaning towards the boots. And since it is winter and freezing, here are the finishing touches I put on the outfit. My dupata from India with a white elastic belt and a red flower, because the black and white just needed a little red!!

 Dupata draped on my shoulders

or tied in the back.

I really loved working on this project. It was so much more difficult than any other project I have done before, but it was so worth the work to figure it all out! I am so pleased with the final product. In fact, it was so fun to make, I would love to make one for any of you who are reading this.

Additionally, I hope to have more pictures to post today of the newest dress project I am making for Ruby. I always make her a dress for her birthday and I am almost done with her dress for this year, but I am kind of thinking that it could be a Christmas dress for her as well. So, she may get two dresses. Hopefully I will finish that dress today and post pictures tomorrow!

I hope you are all warm and cozy today!!