Baby Shower

I made a couple things for a baby shower we are going to tomorrow. Well, today really seeing how it's after midnight. By the way I finished them earlier, but I'm posting them now because Neal just got off the computer. Yes, you have seen this fabric before. I used it to make Kaitlyn a dress recently. I didn't have any "boy" fabric so I thought this blue and orange would have to do. The blue is actually darker then it looks in these pictures.
I took this picture pre-Velcro. I used iron on Velcro to keep there from being ugly stitches on the top side. I also put fusible fleece between the two longer pieces of fabric. I figured if it is used for a changing pad while the wipes and diapers are out being used then the pad should be a bit more comfortable then two pieces of fabric. You can find this diaper clutch pattern on Blessed Roots blog. I've made three of them so far and they are super easy. I have stolen her idea on how to sew seams when you must flip the project inside out; it really helps in pulling the raw seams in.
I didn't know this picture was blurry until I had already wrapped it. I've made three of these over the last month. Over Kaitlyn's first year of life we used a lot of tissues. I found flattened and falling apart tissue wrappers in my purse and diaper bag all the time. I figured a tissue case would keep my tissues cleaner and together longer. Our noses are fine right now so I have yet to carry mine around. The one thing I changed was instead of putting ribbon on top of a raw edge to camouflage it I actually wrap it around the raw edge. In the tissue case above I just used bias tape. I contemplated which color ribbon to use and saw the white bias tape sitting there and thought why not. As for sewing the ends I sewed it on the right side first with a 1/8" seam then flipped it inside out and sewed 1/4" seams. I wanted to case to hold up and not have strings hanging from it. Another thing I changed was the dimensions. The tutorial says to cut a 7"wide x 6" long piece of fabric. I found the 7" to be to baggy on the sides of the case and 6" to short for how I sewed it. The case above was cut 6.5" wide x 6.25" long and fits the tissues great. The instructions in the tutorial say to buy a certain kind of tissues. I bought the standard travel tissues and after putting them into the case I used a seam ripper to make a slit in the top of the package.

This isn't all the baby gift only the handmade part. I also made a "baby". If I remember I'll get pictures of him tomorrow before we go to the shower. I bought the Carter's gown/sleep-n-play outfit that comes with a bib, booties, and a hat in 3m. I also got a Carter's onesie, size 1 diapers, teething toy, and pacifier clip. With the help of rubber bands I rolled and stuffed the sleeper with diapers. He has stuffed legs and arms made from rolled diapers. When I made a couple of these before I put socks for hands, but this outfit had the roll over sleeves to cover the baby's hands. Also the first time the sleepers had feet in them, but this one doesn't so I used the booties as feet having the top of a diaper fill it up. I left the sleeper on the hanger and wrapped diapers around it so the torso and head of the baby stay together. The first two times I used a white onesie for the face (unsnapped with that portion going down the neck opening of the sleeper, arms folded back under the hat), but only had a blue one this time. It's a bit weird with a blue face, but that's okay. I clipped the pacifier clip onto the bib and connected the teether toy to it. I didn't get a chance to go to one of the local bases to buy a baby blanket to swaddle him with so I'm not sure what I'll do. My other two I swaddled. I may just wrap this guy up somehow and give him without a blanket. Oh, the first two times I attached a note to him. Here is what it said...

(this one didn't know the gender)

This is Alex the welcome baby

When you take off his sleeper and undo some more snaps
Release a few rubber bands and take off his cap
You will find a couple onesies, a hat, and sleepers too
A few diapers, some booties, and blanket to boot.
Alex doesn’t mind sharing all he has brought
Just add a bow to her hair if it’s a girl you got.

(Knew they were having a boy)
This is Alex the welcome baby

When you take off his sleeper and undo some more snaps
Release a few rubber bands and take off his cap
You will find a couple onesies, a hat, and sleepers too
A few diapers, some booties, and blanket to boot.
Alex doesn’t mind sharing all he has brought
Just wash it right up and a layette you have got.

As you can see with both I changed them according to what was included with the baby.

Baby Shower

I just got back from the baby shower. I was surprised that even though most of the women in our small church showed up they didn't all bring a gift. I walked in and wasn't sure where to put my gift down because I didn't see other gifts and I was the last to arrive. Halfway through I noticed a small group of gifts mixed in with other things. It was almost like the whole thing was an after thought. I guess to a point it was. It was my first time meeting Tonya (guest of honor) and her two little girls. Her oldest daughter is a month older then Kaitlyn and about three inches taller. She is a big girl. I had completely forgotten that Tonya has a second child until last night. I hated to go to the shower and take nothing for the 19 month old so this morning I whipped up a small purse and stuffed a pillowcase dress in it for her. Thankfully I do have extra of those laying around. As soon as she pulled out the diaper clutch she knew right what it was. Her eyes lit up and she started opening it up and checking it out. Assuming she already had a wipes case I bought a second one anyway. I wanted her to know what it was right off and figured she could always leave it in the car as an "oops, I forgot diapers" back up so the extra case would come in handy.

Here are the modified Boutique Bottoms without my screaming child in them.

They turned out so well I thought about keeping them for Kaitlyn. I really like how they look with a pillowcase dress.

Diaper Clutch Again

I forgot to add my favorite part of the diaper clutch. After making it I debated if the flap should have been shorter and was thinking about shortening it next time. My other debate was having enough room for a diaper and wipes, but not a changing mat. Then I saw it. The long flap makes the diaper clutch the perfect size for slipping under the baby.

The yellow fabric is the changing mat I keep in my small diaper bag. Notice the clutch is at least an inch longer. If something were to get onto the clutch you could throw it in the washer on cold and dry it on low.

I can't tell you how tempted I was to make the clutch cutesy. I kept wanting to add ribbons, bows, buttons... Over and over I reminded myself this is for the mom not the baby. Yes it carries baby items, but mom doesn't always have to have a baby-ish diaper bag with her. Actually the girl I made this for finds out today if it's a boy or girl. If she is having a boy it's okay the clutch has pink in it because he doesn't have to carry it.

One other thing about this clutch is I had to put a lining in it. The stripes were visible through the pink. I have a baby shower tomorrow and plan on making another of these today. I'm again using a stripe fabric (different though) and must add some white lining to it.

Diaper Clutch

Tell me why it's so hard to measure sometimes? It's as if my mommy brain takes over and suddenly I'm unable to think clearly. I was trying to make a diaper clutch out of two flat quarters and wouldn't you know even with using a cutting mat, large ruler and rotary cutter I still didn't get the measurement right. I really don't know what my problem was. I didn't have any other fabric to match what I just messed up so I went for other scrap fabric. I had found some I was wanting to use on a diaper clutch for a young mother. I figured it was "cool" enough a 19 year old would like to carry it around. Since I couldn't decide on a back up plan (read "fabric choice") for my diaper clutch I decided to tackle Stephanie's. It came out really well. I followed the tutorial from Blessed Roots. Once I finally decided I do know how to cut fabric it came right together. I didn't put a button on it. I'm still doing a bit of a debate, but I think I will use Velcro. Being a mom of a rambunctious 18 month old I know how important it is to change a diaper then chase down your child. Fighting a button is just out of the question. With Velcro you could change the diaper and have the clutch back together and ready to go before your child has the chance to bolt. The picture above is the one Blessed Roots made. I only used two colors on mine; the interfacing is all that's different.