Baby Sewing Week - Gift # 3 Comfort

Living in Pennsylvania, the most comfortable day I could imagine involves sleeping in on a cold winter morning with a warm blanket rapped around me. That's why I chose to make a baby quilt for my third and final gift to the triplets. 

The great thing about quilts is that they are both functional and decorative. A beautiful quilt can make your whole room feel more comfortable. I've always enjoyed the luxury of owning a beautiful handmade quilt or two, but up until a week ago, had absolutely not interest in learning how to make one myself.

In fact, I honestly believed that the only way to make a quilt was to spend months or even years meticulously cutting and sewing tiny little scraps of fabric until your fingers bled. Silly Me! In fact since finishing this project I've found lots of other quilt patterns that can be finished in less than a week. 

This particular quilt is one of the many projects that I made while taking a single Craftsy Class taught by the author of Make It Sew Modern .

The class had so many projects in it, that I knew I would find something that I liked, and the way it is organized lets you do the projects in any order that you like, on your own schedule. If I decide to wait 10 years before starting the next project I will still have access to it. 

I love how thorough the instructor was, and how quick she was to respond to any questions. I've already signed up for my next class, The Ultimate T-Shirt. I'll let you know if it is as beneficial as the first one, once I get around to doing the lessons. I can tell you that it came with a free printable Vogue pattern, so I'm looking forward to it. 

Now that you have seen all three of my baby gifts, tell me about your gift giving style. Do you give practical, sentimental, or decorative gifts?

Baby Sewing Week - Gift #2 Tradition

My second gift to the triplets is the gift of tradition. I am giving a handmade baby bonnet that turns into a wedding handkerchief on her wedding day. When she has her first child she can turn it back into a bonnet.

This easy to make sentimental gift can be passed down from generation to generation. 

You Will Need

• Fabric and Lace Fabric - I used a new standerd pillow case and a table cloth, but look for vintage for an extra special gift.
• White Thread
• Colored Thread - For Decoration
• Sewing Machine
• Cutting Tools
• Ribbon 

Tutorial/How to Make

Cut a 12 inch by 12 inch square of both fabrics and lay them on top of one and other. Attach with a straight stitch close to the edge. From this point forward they will be treated as a single piece of fabric.

Sew a narrow hem around all four sides. Work in parallels. After hemming the first side go to the opposite side and hem. Then do the two remaining hems.

Remove the white thread and bobbin from your machine and insert you decorative color. Choose a decorative stitch from your machine (I used a feather stitch) And sew one inch from the edge in a straight line around all four sides. You now have your wedding handkerchief. 

Now we will form the bonnet. Fold two parallel sides under 2 and 1/2 inches each and press.

Adjust the setting on your machine so that your stitches are slightly larger. Sew a few small stitches on each of the four inside corners (see picture below) to hold the folds in place. These stitches are in contrasting thread so they will be easy to find and snip on the wedding day.

Insert a length of ribbon into one of the casings .

Gather the ribbon and fabric and tie it in a bow to form the back of the bonnet.

Now slide two pieces of ribbon into the front and stitch each in place to make the ties for the bonnet front. I chose to switch back to white thread because the ribbon would make these stitches easy to find and snip, but you can use contrasting if you prefer.

Now your bonnet is complete. You can include instructions in the gift, or use the poem below. There are many versions of this poem so do a quick Google search for the one you like the best.

For a special baby

Loving thoughts and nimble hands

Created this little bonnet

Of fine lace and ribbon bands.

At first it was a handkerchief

But with some stitches small

A bonnet was made for downy head

To be admired by all.

Mother will carefully store it

Gently pack it away

After years she'll take it out

Before her daughter's wedding day.

She'll snip the tiny stitches

Place it in her daughter's hand

To carry, as a hanky, down the aisle

And receive her wedding band.

Mother's Son will find good use

For the square, when he's a young man

He'll give it to is sweetheart 

When he asks her for her hand.

If you missed gift # 1 you can see it here. Don't forget to look for gift # 3 which will be revealed later in the week.

Baby Sewing Week - Gift # 1 Versatility

It’s baby sewing week at The Lachman Collection. My sister’s triplets are coming home soon! I’m so excited. While she is busy preparing her house, I will be preparing the gifts.

I've never really enjoyed sewing the same thing twice, let alone three times, so I’ll be making a different gift for each baby. While I’m at it I’ll avoid the color pink, just to give the boys in the house a break.

Gift # 1 – Versatility

The first of my three gifts is the gift of versatility, an important trait for every girl to have. I’m sure her mother will appreciate it as well. Everyone knows that when you have a baby girl, you have to have a ton of baby dresses. There for when you have 3 baby girls you have to have 3 tons of baby dresses. Imagine if every one of those dresses was reversible. Then you would only need 1.5 tons. That’s much more reasonable.

You can find a free pattern and tutorial for this versatile baby dress here. My version included the following changes.

• Fabric – Used two men’s dress shirts, rather than fat quarters
• Bottom – I pressed 5/8 inch of the hem to the inside and applied ric rac to the grey side so that the red stitching would not be visible.
• Then I sewed another row of ric rac above it because ric rac is adorable.

Stay tuned all week. I have two more DIY baby projects coming up. Be sure to subscribe because you don’t want to miss it. 

Gift # 2 - Tradition 

Scrap Busting with Doll Clothes

Do you have a go to scrap busting project? For me it’s doll clothes. Every month I participate in Karen Mom of Three’s doll clothes sew along.  Each month she links to a different free doll clothes pattern and then posts pictures of everyone’s completed work on her Facebook page.

In May we made a reversible wrap skirt with a Velcro closure. Another sewalonger used a button in place of the Velcro, a great option for people who don’t keep Velcro on hand. It was so quick and easy to make, I have no idea why I put it off until the end of the month.

I threw together this bonus tank top at the last minute as well.  It’s made with a free Liberty Jane pattern and a tank top that my girls had outgrown years ago. I cut out of a size 4/5 and  had just enough fabric, so anything smaller probably wouldn't work.

Doll clothes sewing is picking up in my house this summer. My  youngest daughter just got a new doll for her 7^th  birthday, bringing our total up to 4 dolls; one American Girl Doll and 3 Madame Alexander Dolls. Then in September my older daughter will be making a trip to the American Girl Store, so we may expand our collection again.

I have two matching girl and doll projects coming up. One of the projects will be skinny jeans using this matching girl and doll pattern. The second will be skirts. I’ll give you more details later in the month.

In the meantime tell me about your favorite scrap busting project.

Saving Time Money and Gas - Quicker Summer Tops

Supposedly there is a heat wave on the way. I say supposedly because the news hasn't been very good at predicting the weather lately. But, just in case I am trying to get prepared.

My summer sewing got off to a good start last week, when I made these quick summer tops. Now I need a few quicker summer tops, because this heat wave is supposed to start tomorrow.

Living out in the middle of nowhere means that a trip to the store is a 45 minute drive each way, plus the time it takes to shop. I could sew a shirt in that amount of time. In fact I could do better than that.

½ hour + sharp scissors + thread = three summer tops

Here’s how.

I cut the sleeves off three long sleeve shirts. They’ll grow out of these before they need long sleeves again.

Then I hemmed the sleeves with a simple straight stitch on my machine.

I cut a Hello Kitty Applique out of an old pair of winter pajamas. 

It already had a border so I used a straight stitch again to attach it to the black t- shirt.

There you go, 30 minutes to three quick and free summer tops. Save your gas. Don’t go to the store, you have everything you need at home.