Ruffled Diaper Cover

I'm going a little baby crazy.  I just finished a cute little dress using this tutorial/pattern.  Super simple and super adorable!  It was my first time sewing a dress, and it worked out pretty well :)  My first time using piping too!  Wasn't too hard.  The tutorial uses bias tape at the bottom of the dress.  I skipped that and just hemmed it 1/4".

And, I just HAD to make matching shoes and diaper cover.

 Finished diaper cover front.

For the diaper cover, I used this basic pattern for the cover, and then this tutorial for the ruffles, but with my own twist.  So here we go!

1.  Using the first link, use the pattern to cut out your diaper cover.
2.  Cut out three strips of contrasting fabric that are 3"x21".
3.  With the strips, fold over each long side 1/2" and press.
4.  Hem one side of each strip with a straight stitch.
5.  Using a longer stitch with high tension (on my machine it's 9-tension, 0-width, 4-length), or a ruffle foot, ruffle the other long side of each strip.
6.  Looking at the basic diaper cover tutorial, the waist will be folded over 3/4" to make a casing for the elastic, so I folded over and marked with a pencil.  I then used a ruler to make another line 1/2" down from that line where the first ruffle will go.  Then mark another line 3/4" down from the line you just marked, and then another line 3/4" down from the previous line.  Each of these 3 lines is where you will place the ruffle.

 Lines Marked on Fabric where to place the ruffles.

7.  Spread the ruffle out so it lies more flat but so it is still gathered, and place and pin on the bottom line.  Using a regular stitch and using 1/4" seam, sew ruffle to diaper cover.  Take out the long ruffle stitch.

First ruffle ready to sew!

8.  Place next ruffle on the line above the already sewn ruffle and repeat #7.

Second ruffle ready to sew on.

9.  Do the same with the last ruffle.

All three ruffles!

10.  Trim off the excess ruffles.
11.  Follow the directions from the basic diaper cover!

 Back of finished diaper cover!  Can't wait to see it on her!

And all three pieces!  Bright and cheery and ready for the summer!

Baby Ballet Shoe

I am always stumbling across cute tutorials, and finally was able to make these adorable shoes!  I found the tutorial here.  It's a very simple tutorial, with not too much explanation of what is going on, but it does have some pretty good pictures to help along the way.

As you can see with my shoes compared to those on the tutorial, my ruffles aren't too ruffly :(.  First off, I had trouble making my ruffles.  It took a lot of trial and error (meaning a lot of seam ripping) to find the right settings.  I have a basic, cheap Singer sewing machine, model 2932, so for the ruffles I had to use the settings:  tension 9, length 0, width 4.  It finally gave me some pretty good ruffles, but then when I put them on the shoe I had to flatten them out a little to extend all the way to the edge of the shoe to be sewn.  I also did not put the ruffle up to the top of the shoe as the tutorial says, that was a mistake made when I placed the bottom ruffle on, I put it too far down.  So next time, I will attach the ruffle where it needs to be, but I might also make the ruffles "tubes" a little longer so that I ensure I can have some good rufflage going on, and so that they extend all the way to the edge.

One HUGE thing that hung me up when making these, was that the tutorial does not show how to turn the top of the shoe from inside out to right side out to be able to attach the ruffles.  I had a lot of trouble with this.  I finally figured out to snip the curve every so often, that allowed me to turn it right side out better.  Then I pinned it and ironed it flat.

I am glad I was able to get these made!  And figure out how to get over the troubles I was having!  Now I am amped to make another pair!  Maybe this time with some cute cat fabric I found :)

Knitted Baby Pixie Hat Tutorial

So, as my previous post talked about, I wanted to make a cute baby hat.  My initial idea was to crochet, but I couldn't find a cute enough pattern for the project, so I turned to knitting, and also so I could use the knitting needle kit I got for my birthday :)

So I found a honeycomb knitting pattern.  There are a lot of good sites out there that direct you to free knitting stitches.  For the life of me I can't remember where I looked.

I struggled a lot about what size to make the hat, since I don't have a baby of my own for size reference.  And it was hard for me to find information!  I did find this site however, that was helpful as to head circumferences.  So I just guesstimated length and height, which ended up being 6" x 7.5".  Hopefully it fits right!  It seems a little long....

Anywho, with all this in mind, I transformed it into a hat, as follows:

Materials:
Lion's Brand Vanna's Choice Medium Weight Yarn (I used the Mustard color)
Size 9 (5.5mm) Knitting Needles (long or circular)
G4.00mm Crochet Hook
Cable Needle (I used a size 10 knitting needle)
Yarn Needle

Abbreviations:
p (purl)
k (knit)
sl (slip)
sts (stitches)
cn (cable needle)
RS (right side)
WS (wrong side)

Stitch Explanations:
4-st RC ( sl 2 sts to cn and hold to back, k2, k2 from cn )
4-st LC ( sl 2 sts to cn and hold to front, k2, k2 from cn )

Pattern:

Cast on 38 sts

Ribbing: 
Row 1 (WS):  P3, K1, *P2, K2, Repeat from * until 3 sts left, then P3
Row 2 (RS):  K3, P1, *K2, P2, Repeat from * until 3 sts left, then K3
Row 3: Repeat Row 1
Row 4: Repeat Row 2
Row 5: Repeat Row 1

Begin Pattern:
Row 1 (RS):  P3, *4-st RC, 4-st LC; repeat from * to last 3 sts, P3
Row 2 and all WS rows (rows 4, 6):  K3, p to last 3 sts, K3
Row 3 and 7: P3, k to last 3 sts, P3
Row 5: P3, *4-st LC, 4-st RC; repeat from * to last 3 sts, P3
Row 8: Repeat row 2.

Repeat rows 1-8 10 times then repeat ribbing, bind off.

Now to put it all together!!!

1.  Crochet the hat together:

• Folding it in half, inside out, start at the bottom corner of ribbing.  Using your crochet hook, insert hook, pull a loop of yarn through, chain 1.  You will have a loose string of yarn that you will need to tie off and weave end in with yarn needle.
• Place hook in next stitch opening of both sides of hat, single crochet 1, then chain 1.
• Repeat till you are at the top of the hat (I have 24sts), then slip stitch again in last stitch, tie off, and weave end in.

2.  Create ties:  Keep in mind that you want them to be long enough to tie a bow.

• Cut 3 pieces of string, each about 30" in length.
• Using crochet hook, place in empty place in bottom front corner of hat from RS to WS (somewhere close to the edge, but not so close it will stretch hat out), pull all three strands of yarn through to make a loop, place all 6 strands into loop and tighten.  You have just made a larks head knot!
• Split the 6 strands of yarn into 3 - 2 strand sections and braid until you get about 3 inches from the end, or as long as you would like.  Tie an overhand knot and tighten.
• Repeat on other side of hat, make sure each side is the same length, and try to tie knot at same length.  Hold each side next to each other, trim yarn to be same length.

Ta Da!!!

Fun with Yarn

As I said in my first post, a friend is having a baby girl and I feel compelled to just make a to of stuff for her.  I have no job right now, why not use my creative juice to make adorable baby things?

It started with the idea of an adorable pixie hat.  I found this one one Etsy that spurred  my desire to make it.  The adorable baby is definitely a selling point to.  Have you ever seen a more adorable baby?  I am not sure I have.  I want it.  That's besides the point.  The hat is adorable also so I set out to knit one somewhat similar.  Keep in mind, I am not a master knitter.  I have knitted half a scarf, another half a scarf, a big hat, and that's about it.  But having the hat experience of reading from a pattern, I felt a little more confident.  So I searched for a pattern that looked cute and also measurements for the size of a baby head and came up with something.  It's still not totally complete, but getting there.   Here's a peek at it:

Hopefully I will finish it today, and hopefully it fits right!

Then.  I found this tutorial for crocheted baby booties.  Super cute right?  But I realized that she is going to be born in June, and crocheted boots in June?  Poor thing will die from sweating.  So ballet flats was more the idea.  I used the tutorial for the first half of the shoe, up until the point that it started making the boot part.  I searched around for some cute ideas and found these ones.  So basic shoe from the tutorial, plus the ruffle idea, and I came up with these (the second  one has yet to be completed):

They are pretty darn cute and small and adorable, in my opinion, maybe I'm just bias.  :)

A baby quilt is soon to come too :)  I figure I have a bit of time to get that done, still need time to find the perfect matching fabric!