Close-up of Peppermint Twist

Here are a couple close-ups of the embroidery....



Christmas Outfits for Liliana & Elena

I was busy sewing for Christmas making outfits for Liliana & Elena.  The tutus were from Costco and I made the leggings and removable sleeves.  I embroidered a T-shirt with the Peppermint Twist design from http://www.lynniepinne.com/ (great designs by the way).  I also did a rolled hem on the sleeves and made the tshirts scrunch up at the bottom with a tie to make them more girlie (they were boys tshirts).  I have to say they turned out so cute and I got a lot of compliments...here they are (notice it was hard to get a good pic?)

And here's one with Baby Louie!....

X-Mas Pic

Well, here's a pic of us at Mom's on Christmas Day....

Trimsies Trainer - Aliens

Well, this is the first trainer I made from the Trimsies Trainer pattern...



Trimsies Trainer - Aliens (front)




Trimsies Trainer - Aliens (back)


I did PUL outer with suedecloth inner and adjustable waist and legs with buttonhole elastic.  I wanted to see if using non-stretchy inner material the trainer would still pull up and down (success!).  It did end up a little baggy though, because I made a size 3T  (I probably could have done 2T) - oh well. 

I made a pocket opening in the center so I could adjust the legs through there so the button is hidden.  The soaker snaps on and has a OBV inner to feel wetness.  The waist elastic is not hidden - maybe I will change that next time.  I will upload some more pictures of the inside and the adjustable elastic later.

Blue & Brown Minky

This one I did a while back and it's one of my favorites.  Too bad it's getting too small.  It was made from the Trimsies pattern but I widened the front due to the fact that it's for a boy.  It is minky outer and suedecloth inner AI2 style and on the insert I made a pocket to stuff with a doubler (not recommended - I won't do it again because its hard to stuff because it's not stretchy.  Here's some pictures of it (including action shots)...

Action shot!

Major action shot LOL!

Toodee Embroidered T-Shirt

Here's one I did recently for my daughter, Liliana....

Another shot......just cause she's cute.............

Embroidered Muno T-Shirt

This one I did a while back (almost a year ago) for the kid's B-day party but the picture is pretty recent.  In case you've never seen him - here is Baby Louie modeling his shirt....

Monkey Pirates Trainer

Here's the latest one - I'm happy with it but I haven't gotten one of these trainers to turn out perfect yet.  I think it must take a lot of practice to figure out the right combination of fabrics.  I didn't like how the 3 snap version was working out so I decided it needed 4.  I wish I could do a snapless version but Baby Louie isn't ready yet. I also have been snapping the back over the front and it is supposed to be opposite - I thought in this case it looked better this way.  Anyway, here's the pics...

Dragon Trainer

Here's a new one!  I experimented buying stretchy fleece sweaters from the thrift store to use instead of the Polar Fleece.  This one almost got tossed in the trash because so many things went wrong, but it was saved....

New Ooga Trainer!

I just completed Baby Louie's first Trainer!  It is a trainer and a cloth diaper because it snaps in front so you can change him if necessary.  I used a combination of the Tinkle Time original and pocket trainer patterns.  This one will be a day trainer since the legs are cotton rib and would leak at night.  I got it at Joann's and it is a great stretchy fabric for waist/leg/arm bands to use instead of ribbing.  Here are some pics - I'm not crazy about the lighting so I may redo these and edit this post with better ones tomorrow...

Well, I plan on doing some more soon in different styles - I just bought some fleece sweaters from a thrift store that seem really stretchy (although they say 100% polyester), so we'll see if they work for the waist and leg bands.  I thought this would be easier than ordering the Polartec Powerstretch Fleece online (yeah that's the only place I can find it).  I thought I could get cheap sweaters and have different colors instead of just ordering a few yards of the same color online.  If that doesn't work I guess I'll be ordering white and trying to dye it.  I will update soon with pics of what I'm doing.......

"Baby's on Board!"

Yeah!  The switch was a complete success!  When I gave the new Baby to Baby Louie he said "Baby!" and gave him kisses and hugs.  He didn't do an inspection or look like he was suspicious of a switch out.  I'm kind of surprised, because he was way overstuffed even compared to how he got the original one.  I wanted to stuff him more this time because the last one actually looked skinny because his stuffing got compressed so bad.  Another thing I thought he'd notice for sure is that the eyes are way rounder. Since he sucks on the eyes, he is used to them looking long and pointed (LOL!). Well, I'm excited - hopefully this one will last. 

I had actually planned on making two at the same time, but it was so much work, I only ended up making one.  Oh well, I probably wont have to do another one for a while - this one was constructed much better and should last longer.  If anyone out there has done the same thing, I would love to hear about it!

Stuffed Animal Remake of Cookie Monster aka "Baby"

Oh how Baby Louie is in love with his "Baby" - a Cookie Monster stuffed animal I found at a local thrift store.  I intended to just use it to decorate his room, because I was going to do a Sesame Street theme.  For some reason - he grew very attached to this one - whenever he sees him he says "Baby!" and hugs him like crazy and gives him lots of kisses.

Nevertheless, this one got too stinky - he especially loved sucking on the arms and eyes.  After a certain point, no amount of washing was good enough.  I had to do something about it and I honestly thought I could never find another one that was the same, although I later learned that they sell them at Toys R Us for $10.00. 

I began my quest to make him a new one and roughly drew up a pattern by pressing him against paper.  I embroidered the eyes because the last ones were just printed on the fabric and he had almost sucked them off.  It didn't turn out perfect and he sure did inspect the new one closely.  I think he knew it wasn't his "Baby", but within 24 hours he had accepted his new Baby.  Here is a picture of the 1st "Baby" remake along with the original Baby (right).

All went well until the new Baby began to get worn out.  The stuffing now looks deflated, the eyes are stained and the fabric is all pilly.  I had used blizzard fleece because that was the closest color, but now I decided I would try it with Joann's antipill fleece instead.  My ultimate goal is to dye some suedecloth the same color and use that but I'm not sure it will feel the same and he might not accept it, so for now I will wait.

Feeling confident in being able to make another one that he'd accept, I decided to pick apart the original Baby and use it as a pattern.  I was very surprised to see that their pattern pieces were much different from what I had come up with!  Oh well - it worked, right?  I was really excited to try it this way, hoping that this one would turn out much better.

Oh, by the way when I took Baby Louie to Toys R Us and I showed him the "Baby" I said, "Who is this, Baby Louie?" all excited because I thought that he would exclaim, "BABY!".  Instead he said, "Elmo?"  I guess the non-sucked on nice round eyes made him look more like Elmo!

So, I decided to just make him another one using the original as a pattern.  It was really much easier than trial and error like I did the first time.  Plus, the first one was almost completely sewn together by hand.  I was smarter this time and figured out that I should sew as many pieces as I could "in the flat" and then just sew the pieces that were necessary by hand (which ended up to only be the eyes and the neck).  I used what I could of the original stuffing to make it look more like his orginal Baby. 

Well, I just finished Baby #2......here is the pic. I'm very proud must say - I think this one is really close to looking like what the original one looked like.

What do you think?  I'm happy with it.  I'll have to update you when I do the "switch" tonight.  This is how I did it last time:  I put old Baby in the washer with Baby Louie.  I said, "Baby needs to have a bath, he's dirty." Then, when the clothes were done in the dryer, I secretly took old Baby out and replaced with the new one.  I plan on doing this again, except for one minor change.  I will really wash the new baby, because I think that the new fabric smell might have contributed to him examining him so closely and being so suspicious.

Updates to come....wish me luck!

Brown Ooga - oh so cute!

This diaper I made using the trimsies pattern.  I like the fit but since it was cotton it wicked and eventually retired.

Sesame Street ABC diaper - flannel

Here is another one of my first diapers.  I ended up not liking the flannel outer because it wicked horribly (even with a hidden layer of PUL).  I did love the way it fit him - I used the Tighty Whitey Hipster (free XXL) pattern and just made the rise adjustable with snaps.

Liliana's new bathing suit in action!

Well, we did it!  We went camping this weekend at La Jolla Indian Reservation (with both kids)!  It wasn't an easy trip, but we survived.  Here is the picture I promised you of Liliana modeling her new suit....

Liliana's new bathing suit

Just completed this one...it was a project from my latest sewing class.  I will have pics to upload after this weekend camping!!!

First Cloth Diaper (well, almost)

I first had an interest in making cloth diapers when Liliana (now almost 4 yrs old) was only wearing a diaper at night.  I wanted to make her a  cloth alternative to Pull-Ups so I wouldn't have to buy diapers anymore.   I looked online and saw what everyone else was doing, but all the supplies had to be ordered (you couldn't buy them at Joann's).  I was anxious to start, so I tried to mimic what they were doing with things I could find locally. 

The first cloth trainer I ever made was so bad I threw it away and never took a picture.  It didn't look bad, but it leaked horribly - I used a flannel outer and a flannel/fleece inner with tablecloth lining attempting to do what PUL does.  Don't try it, it won't hold up in the dryer - the material shriveled up and that was the end of that one....All that hard work - darn!

I decided to just go out and purchase one cloth diaper for Liliana to use at night - I chose FuzziBunz and it worked great - never leaked.  I just washed it every day and stopped buying diapers for her.

I found 4 cloth diapers at a thrift store and started using those when Baby Louie was about 8 months old. I was still using paper part of the time.  Then, I found an ad in Craig's List for someone selling cloth diapering supplies.  I went to her house and it was like a dream - she had everything I needed to get started.  I bought all my supplies and ordered a pair of snap pliers and got to work. 

So here it is.....the first diaper for Baby Louie (now 1 yr 9 mo old - he's 12 mo. in the picture)....