Monday, January 30, 2012

Baby Names and Sewing Projects

It's been about a year now since I started learning to sew and, like the moon, my sewing urges wax and wane.  It probably has a lot to do with the amount of sleep I'm able to get.  Right now, we're not having the best time of it around these parts, but I think I'm either completely losing my sanity or I'm becoming enured to sleep deprivation.  Either way, the sewing bug is on!

My birthday is coming up and my dear, sweet husband has gotten me a lovely little gift to help my projects along.  I'm awaiting the arrival of my Simplicity Bias Tape Machine.  I've become a little obsessed with bias tape lately, mainly because of how much it can streamline an already simple project.  Hems?  Curved necklines?  Armholes?  No problem.  Just slap some bias tape on and admire a neatly finished item.  And it's going to come in really handy with all of the stuff I'm planning on making.

I've got a couple of things done already.  Jane has a new Simple Skirt (via Dana from Made's wonderful tutorial here) and I made a yoga-waistband maternity skirt last night after the kids went to bed.  That was a mish-mash of DIY pattern-making from Sew What!: Skirts and a technique from The Scientific Seamstress on setting collars in knit shirts.


See the bias tape on the bottom of Jane's skirt?  Yes.  There'll be more of that.  My skirt was made from an old tank top that had seen better days and a fabric remnant that I picked up for $1.  It's a little roomy, but that will be good because my stomach is getting bigger by the day.

I have plenty of fabric for more skirts for Jane, plus I really want to make her a bunch of pillowcase dresses because they are so cute and they can grow with her.  And I'm going to keep my eye out for actual pillowcases that I can turn into these gorgeous and incredibly easy nightgowns.

But the big projects (and the ones I'm giving myself the most time to complete) are Baby 5's coming-home outfits.  Since we're not finding out what we're having until he or she arrives, I've got to make a girl outfit and a boy outfit to bring with us.


Yes, the girl pile has a little more flair, but the boy stuff will still be really cute.   Both sets will get a diaper cover, pair of soft baby shoes, and a receiving blanket.  Both sets will also have one of those long-sleeved side-snap newborn shirts trimmed with matching bias tape.  The girl set will also get a reversible bonnet and a Simple Skirt.  The boy set will be topped off with a tie-top knit beanie.  So, lots to do, but the projects themselves are fairly simple and straight-forward.  And I've got a good twenty weeks or so to get them completed.

And the baby names?  Well, this is our fifth kid so much of the naming angst that came with our first few has faded away.  We started talking about names a while back and the conversation degenerated into both of us throwing out the most ridiculous names we could think of before trailing off on its own.  But, we've come to a leisurely conclusion and decided on Violet Elizabeth for a girl (although the middle name is still tentative) and Peter James for a boy.

The purple makes sense now, right?  And whatever outfit winds up unneeded will be donated to our local crisis pregnancy center as a gift to another new baby.  Win win.

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