Baby Sewing

Last night, in an unusual burst of energy, I did some sewing. I made a drawstring bag to hold a gift for a friend having a baby girl due April 17th. The bag is made from this pattern in striped linen, lined in flowered quilting cotton, and trimmed with a strip from a vintage flowered handkerchief. The ties are blue grosgrain ribbon, because I was too lazy to actually sew ties. Inside are a blue kimono and a peachy baby outfit with bib and little socks. Cute!

Update - Fortuny Silk Velvet Jacket

I received the velvet fabric over Christmas break and have been plugging away at it a little bit at a time. I did cut out a lining of silk dupioni, but it seemed too stiff to me when I pinned it in. I tried on the jacket without it and liked the drape better, so I am just doing a rolled hem around the whole thing. It's taking a while, since every bit must be sewn by hand, but it's a relaxing project for movie nights.

Silk Velvet Jacket

I was browsing around on Wists and saw this:

a 1930s Fortuny stenciled silk velvet short jacket. And I thought "That looks like something a pregnant woman could wear!"
So I searched Ebay for silk velvet and found 3 yards of a blue and pale gold print velvet for $15. Far more reasonable than the $12,000 that the Fortuny is going for.

The construction is simplicity itself, and I may, if I'm lucky, have it done in time for Christmas Day dinner!

Sewing and Knitting November

Now that I am in my second trimester, I am knitting and sewing a lot more. I am over my pregnancy-related yarn aversion and have a little more energy. Here's what I've finished this month:


Baby clothes hanging in the guest room closet. This will become the nursery at some point.

Baby kimono in blue flowered cotton, tied with grosgrain ribbon.

Baby kimono in embroidered white linen, tied with satin ribbon.

Branching Out scarf in a merino/silk blend. For my mom for Christmas.

Sewing for Baby 2

Bonpoint make some gorgeous stuff, no doubt. But $200 for a baby dress is impractical. I would be afraid to put it on her, for one.

This one is cute, and would be super simple to sew - a few rectangles and some embroidery and you're done. They did it in wool, but a nice light cotton or linen would be pretty.



I love this cute little coat. Mccalls 5697 or Simplicity 6846 will make almost the exact same thing, but only in children's sizes. Burda 9944 is a close approximation for babies - just put buttons on where the ribbon ties are.

Sewing for Baby

Four panels of redwork embroidery for a wall hanging for the nursery.

Baby clothing patterns

Print cottons for baby clothes

Kimono made from an antique linen pillowcase with a satin ribbon tie. From a pattern in Everything for Baby

Baby Mary Janes in natural linen and cotton gingham and floral print, pattern from For Sweet Baby

Closeup detail of button closure.

Crafty Purchases

Purchased today at AC Moore, which just revamped its yarn dept. Four different kinds of sock yarn! A huge clearance section with lots of nice stuff, not just the horrible furry novelty yarns.
3 skeins of Moda Dea Bamboo Wool in Chili Pepper Red to make a cabled cardigan for the little one on the way.

Paper Autumn Leaves, to string on twine and wind around the banister. A good craft for Jack and I tomorrow night.

feltworks felted wool balls, to use in a baby mobile with cloth birds and bugs. I got the idea from For Sweet Baby, a Japanese sewing book. I have no idea how to felt little balls of wool, though, so I was super excited to find them ready made.

Purchased at Target:

Dot crib sheet (middle) and dot dust ruffle (bottom) to match my crib bumper(top), handmade when I was pregnant with Jack.

Flickr Favorites

1. another corner, 2. Beautiful flowers, 3. Dresser Top, 4. B is for Bird, 5. Treeology art quilt 2/3, 6. Elephants Up Close, 7. Hellblaue Details, 8. kitchen close up, 9. mia's night light

Sewing World

I recently made a change in my sewing setup. It's in the basement, although it's nicer than that sounds since our basement is 1. finished, with a carpet and fireplace and 2. It has sliding glass doors out to the backyard. So it's a pretty nice big room down there. I used to have my sewing table next to the doors, and it felt creepy to have the black expanse of glass at night (I only have time to sew at night). Also, the room was too big. I felt lost in it.

I hung a curtain dividing the room in half. I moved my table over by the fireplace, put down a nice rug, set up the ironing board, and it's great. I went down last night and Monday night and sewed. I feel cozy instead of overwhelmed by the space. I still would love to have a light-filled attic studio with white curtains and a great view, but honestly, attics are hot in the summer and freezing in the winter, and our attic is unfinished at this point. I'm making do with what I've got, which is a lot, and I'm thankful for it.


The two projects I'm working on are:
Simplicity 4119

This is just about finished except for the hem, one side of the zipper and a portion of the inside lining. It will be nice for a summer wedding with a rose-colored pashmina and silver shoes.
Burda 9752

This blouse is about half done.

Fabric, Trim and Lace

Lots of my friends are having babies these days - I'm thirty and that's about the age when people start havin' em. I've been doing a lot of sewing and knitting for babies, and here are some of the materials and results:

Baby patterns

Baby fabrics - quilt cottons

More baby fabrics - natural linen, vine print, flower print and embroidered swiss batiste

baby kimono made from an antique linen pillowcase

dress from a lot of antique baby clothes purchased on Ebay

pattern and fabric for a baby blouse

Dick and Jane fabric and a couple of vintage-y prints from my local fabric shop

a lace shawl from the 1860s, purchased at an antique store on Long Island. Probably too fragile for baby use, but might be pretty framed under glass for a girl's room.

Felt Desserts and Fabric

Over the weekend, I had a very productive trip to the fabric store while my husband took Jack for a haircut. I bought some patterns, some homespun fabrics for owls, material for the granny bag, felt for the donut project and some pretty striped linen that was on sale. I finished two donuts and one cupcake, which I think looks more like a large pink mushroom!


Purchased these patterns for summer clothes.