Newborn Gown & Hat

We welcomed a new nephew into the family earlier this month -- yay!!  I'm so excited, but very bummed that they're too far away to visit in the near future.  I'd love to get in on some newborn snuggles, but since I can't, I sewed and knitted up an outfit in which he could be snuggled.

I love, love, love baby gowns (and soaker sacks) and was looking forward to trying out the Rockin' Baby Gown tutorial.  I used yardage instead of upcycling a tee, but the only difference that made was that I had to hem the little foldover mitt flap. 

I also used the ribbed neckline variation, but didn't think the exposed serging was really my sister-in-law's style, so did it the regular way and top-stitched with a zigzag.

This may very well be my new go-to baby gift.  

I also knitted a wee hat.  Both things seemed impossibly tiny!

And then I got geekily excited when we found this perfectly matching card.  *sigh*  I do adore all things matchy-matchy.

Another Ruffled Infinity Scarf

When I posted about the first infinity scarf that I made, my sister commented, "Love that scarf. ;-)"  I interpreted the wink as, "Please make me one for my upcoming birthday."  Hopefully that was the correct interpretation, because that's what I did.

I deviated from the original tutorial again, this time cutting an 18" wide strip of interlock (no lycra this time, which resulted in much better ruffling!) and sewing the short ends together.  I folded the resulting tube in half the long way and, because I couldn't find matching serger thread locally, used my sewing machine to zigzag a lettuce edge on both the cut edge and the folded edge.  There was a slight visible difference between the two, but I didn't think it was too noticeable.

Photo by O.

I'm contemplating having a "Selfish Sewing Month" in March.  If I do, one of these scarves may be first on the list.  I even have more of the purple, because I'm a sucker when the worker at the cutting table says, "There's less than a yard extra here.  Do you want the remainder for half off?"  I always say yes.  Always.

E's Birthday/Valentine's Day Outfit

E. turned four on Valentine's Day.  In birthdays past, I've tended to not emphasized the whole hearts and flowers aspect, but since she's in school this year and she's in the perfect age for such shenanigans, I went for it this year.  I was, as usual, cutting things a bit close, so swapped my original, more elaborate dress idea for the beloved Fishsticks Designs Emmy pattern (Bonnie's discontinuing the design, so if you want one, jump on it!  Looks like the little girls' pattern is sold out, but there are still a few big girl patterns in stock).  I've lost track of how many of these I've made, so it went together easily -- I was going to say seamlessly, but that would be a poor word choice in this case.

I'd also picked up some owl and hearts knee highs a couple of weeks ago, because I am apparently *still* unable to resist anything with an owl on it. Since we walk to school (well, I walk, she rides in leisure, all bundled up), I thought she could use another layer on her skinny little legs and decided to finally make some legwarmers.  I can't believe I've never done this before, as the girl has a ridiculously large collection of Babylegs and Huggalugs.  It took maybe five minutes to make these.  There are a ton of tutorials on how to sew them; mine were like this.

It was a bit of a crazy busy ensemble, but if you can't be dressed a bit over the top for Valentine's Day when it's also your fourth birthday, when can you?!

E. is generally uninterested in modelling, and I have apparently forgotten how to use my camera in low-light situations with a wiggly subject, so the full-body shots are pretty terrible.  I'll just leave you with this one.

You want me to show off the legwarmers, right, Mom?

Mermaid Doll

So many of our friends-and-relations have birthdays between mid-January and mid-February (including a brand new nephew born Wednesday!) that it's practically a second Christmas around here crafting-wise.

In addition, Ray and I decided that as we are both turning 33 this month, it's time to get serious and see how fit we can become if we work out more consistently.  We are calling this "The Last Hurrah."  So I'm running five times a week and lifting six time a week on top of my time-consuming Pinterest addiction.  And that whole parenting thing.  It's a good busy, full of things that I love.

On to the sewing content, which is probably why you're here.  A little friend of ours just turned four.  I rarely see her without a stuffed animal of some kind -- she has an assortment that she rotates through -- so I wanted something in that vein.  This mermaid doll tutorial quickly became the top contender.  I realized after it was done that I'm not sure I've ever seen her with a doll, usually animals.  Hopefully the tail makes it count! 

Don't you think a mermaid tail calls for sparkle dot material?  I've never sewn with it before, but fortunately thought to Google for tips ahead of time and saw the recommendation to use a leather needle.  It helped tremendously.  It did get gunked up with the glue a bit, but it went much more smoothly than I expected.  I also used the selvage edge for the hem and shirring, which simplified things also.

The other change was to make yarn hair, using this tutorial and this one.  There was some procrastination involved with the hair and face, since I was worried that I'd screw them up and ruin the whole thing, but it went quite well, and much more quickly than I expected.

I left her hair kind of shaggy in the back, thinking that mermaids don't get to the salon too often.

With her tail off

The embroidery was what I was most nervous about, so I decided to go for a Waldorf-style face.  I like their simplicity, plus it was less scary!  I thought she turned out really cute.