Nappy Mending

The last two weeks I have been finishing off my pre-baby-arrival tasks.  One of those was to re-elasticate about three-quarters of our one-size-fits-all nappies which were definitely not going to fit a young baby at all.  In fact the elastic had given way so badly that they didn't really fit Ginger very well either.

I have actually had this on my to-do list for a long time as about Ginger's first birthday many nappies started to give way, but as with most tasks which I am not sure how I will go about doing, I put it off indefinitely.  Anyway, a new baby is a good motivator to finally tackle those jobs.

It actually turned out to be pretty easy.  However, so that you avoid an entire evening of frustration and countless wasted hours of unpicking - I give you my top tip up front.  You want good strong elastic and good strong thread.  I was trying to use up elastic from my stash, most of which was handed down from my Nanna.  So, some elastic was obviously older than others.  All the nappies done with one batch had to be unpicked and redone - consquently, I am adament that you make sure you have good elastic.  I also ended up using quilting thread which is just that much stronger, normal (admittedly cheap) thread kept breaking when I pulled the elastic taut.

Anyway, I took a few pictures along the way so thought I would share my method.

First, I used a quick unpick to score a small entry and exit point at each end of the existing elastic casing.  There is no need to remove the perished elastic, just insert your fresh piece.  I secured mine at one end with a safety pin.  I pulled taut and then sewed with a wide zig-zag stitch, back stitching at start and end for security.  Repeat for the other side.  I then trimmed the elastic even with the entry and exit points and covered the snipped area with a tangential small zig-zag stitch.

A whole basket of re-elasticated nappies!

Ah, that makes an expectant mother happy.

Cath Kidstonesque Peg Bag

I love the vintage inspired look of Cath Kidston.  Fortunately my MIL knows this and most of my birthday and christmas presents for the last few years have been Cath Kidston inspired (they live in the UK so have more ready access than I do!).  Last year for my birthday my MIL sent the Cath Kidston Sew book.  I have already made the baby quilt out of it for Ginger and recently decided to make peg bags for both my best friend and our household.  The only thing I would comment on is that the instructions for both projects are vague at best, I think you would have to have a bit of sewing knowledge to complete them successfully.

Spotlight had some very Cath Kidstonesque fabric the other week month (it takes me that long to get around to things) so they turned out even better than I hoped.  It makes the washing line look sunny on these grey winter days.

A Tour of Ginger's Nursery

Yesterday as I was cleaning Ginger's room I realised that, despite intentions to do so over a long period, I have never posted pictures of Ginger's nursery.  Actually, I haven't posted much recently at all - no single reason for that; but Ginger's walking is certainly making things lively around here.


Ginger's room is a mish-mash of newly purchased items, items sourced from other parts of the house, gifts and op-shop (thrift shop) buys.  The small chair by the cot was my father's when he was a small boy - it was built by Ginger's Great-great Grandfather.  Love having some family history in the room.

 
I love pictures for children's rooms.

These are Belle & Boo prints (from Etsy) that I bought a few years ago. They used to hang in my sewing room. But, I don't have a sewing room now that we have a nursery!

 
These were specially purchase from Sarah Jane on Etsy. I had been eyeing them off for a couple of years waiting for our baby! I love the 'read with me' print which you customise hair and dress colour for. I am, however, slightly dubious about whether I should have purchased the blonde haired girl. I thought it was a safe assumption to make, that two blonde headed individuals would produce a blonde headed child. However, Ginger is showing signs of having auburny hair.  The frames are from Ikea and the mats are just scrapbooking card cut to size.

The bookshelf used to be at my Nanna's. We painted it white. The lamp is from Ikea and used to sit on my desk.  I love the lampshade (also Ikea!). The change-table we found for $15 at St Vincents. We (read DH) just gave it a fresh coat of paint. We picked up the change table mat secondhand at Greensborough Market in Melbourne last year.

This poster I picked up down in Melbourne. From the wonderful stationer, Zetta Florence. I had it laminated and block mounted.  My MIL made the emroidered wall hanging.  So sweet.


The cot my in-laws bought us. The mobile above the cot I finished on Sunday - I may do a tutorial sometime soon.  It replaces one that Ginger broke by pulling on it.  We switched the others around the room.  The flutter-by I made at a church craft group, it is painted silk.  The viking ship mobile was sent over by my inlaws - they bought it in Denmark.

This Ikea bookshelf also used to sit in my sewing room!  The sacrifices we make for our Children :)  Ginger has many books - many are mine from Childhood, some come from my Mother's 35 years of teaching lower primary and we added a whole lot the other weekend at the local Lifeline bookfair.  Some time soon, I must do a post on children's books we are enjoying.

I made the quilt for Ginger in the weeks leading up to her birth. The elephants and birds are hand appliqued on. The pattern is from Cath Kidston's Sew book.

I finished the curtains (sorry about the light in the photo) the day Ginger was born, they were hung the morning I went into hospital. For other would-be mothers, a note of advice: I don't recommend clambouring around the floor, cutting and pinning curtains at 9 months pregnant, you will do bad things to your lower back.  We hung them just before I went to the hospital. The fabric I picked from samples my MIL sent over from the UK.

If you have any questions just include them in the comments and I will respond.

Sewing Dresses

I have got a little bit of sewing done lately.  It is slow going though as no sooner do I start the sewing machine than Ginger stirs from her nap or night sleep - this despite the fact I have moved the sewing machine to the furthest corner of the house from her bedroom.  And, trying to sew while she is awake - let's just say that pedal holds a powerful attraction for a 9 and 1/2 month old.

What has been finished is two little dresses following a pattern by Oliver and S that appeared in Sew Hip a couple of years ago.  These are size 2, so won't fit Ginger for quite some time yet, but she truly has enough clothing to be going on with in the next couple of sizes anyway.

They sewed up in a couple of hours - and I am a slow, relatively inexperienced sewer. 

With some of great-Nanna's lace stash

With red jumbo ric-rac

Mum's Quilt

I have been trying to come up with homemade birthday ideas for some important people in my life.  My Mum has been asking for a quilt for a couple of years and I finally got around to making her one.  Admittedly, she actually has the first one I made but only because she salvaged it when she learned I was going to put it in the dogs' bed.  It was my first sewing attempt and it shows:)

It really came down to the line on this quilt; I got it finished before Mum's actual birthday but having to post it across the country means it was a little late.  I think it should have arrived today so I am probably safe to post pictures here.

I learn so much each time I make a quilt.  On this one I learnt that a walking foot is really essential - I have bought one now!  For those of you that are as ignorant as I, without a walking foot the bottom layer of fabric will feed through your sewing machine faster than the batting and quilt top.  This causes the fabric to bunch up.

Now all I need to do is work out how to bind a quilt properly.  I might be following the instructions in an old Better Home and Gardens article, but something is definitely not right as all my binding ends up on the back of my quilts.  Any hints would be greatly appreciated!

On weekend crafting

I finally got around to do some weekend sewing. You may remember this skirt. Well, it never looked any good on me, rather like a potato sack in fact, and so it had just hung in the wardrobe since I made it. So I decided to cut it up and turn it into these.

I don't actually have a baby to give it to, but I am sure one will turn up eventually! They are designed to fit a 6-12 month old. The pattern is from volume 1 of Sew Hip!, the new UK sewing magazine.

Since these only took me 15 minutes from wo to go I can see more going into the present cupboard in the near future.

On Bedding

I thought I would show you one of the projects I worked on in the weeks before DH came home. A new bedspread for our spare bed. Another one needs to be produced for the other spare bed. That would be the spare bed that still needs to be purchased!

The fabric is Amy Butler's Royal Garden in Turquoise.

On someone special coming home!

Well, it's hard for me to believe that DH has been home for just over a week now! He arrived late last Sunday. We have had a lovely time just getting used to him being around again. And, I have been having fun being thoroughly domestic....lots of bread baking, cake making and tea drinking going on here. Oh, and I managed to get almost instantly sick as DH brought home a Baghdad Fluey Bug. What a lovely present:) Just left with the hacking cough now! Fortunately I have the second half of this week off work so I should be able to give the bug the boot.

I made a welcome home sign to make DH feel at home! It is very simple bunting...almost no sewing required. You just need a bit of fusible interfacing and pinking shears.


This past weekend we went down to Bowral to check on our investment property and our tenants appear to be keeping the grounds in immaculate condition. I was very impressed. They are certainly better gardeners than we are.

Bowral has a well known secondhand book trail so we felt duty bound to have a look around the shops. DH had just cleared off his bookshelf so we traded in a whole lot of books for credits at our favourite secondhand bookstore - Bong Bong Books (it is the name of the main street in Bowral). As such, I got this massive stash for just a $6 outlay, oh and DH got one book (to be fair there were no others he wanted)....

On Skirting

I have been having a play with a couple of skirt patterns lately....very simple ones I have found on the internet.

The first I made the weekend before last. Because the skirt is designed for a child I used slightly more fabric. Actually, if I was to make it again I would use less - perhaps the amount for the largest child size. The end result is a very bunchy around the waist - an awful lot of excess material. But it is as twirly as it supposed to be and I love the colours. Perfect for Spring.

Then this weekend I made a cherry skirt, following this pattern. On this occasion I had the opposite problem, too little fabric. I was walking like I had my two legs tied together; perhaps because, again, the pattern is for a child. So I adapted it a little and added a split at the back. I wore it to church last night and am quite happy with it.

A Preppy Heat Pack

So this is what I have been up to the last couple of weekends. Sewing a quilted heat pack holder and said heat pack. It didn't turn out too shabbily. It is ideal for warmth when one is still waiting for their replacement heater!

The T-shirt and the Felon

I decorated a skivy as part of the birthday present for my niece's upcoming third birthday. I successfully interfaced the fabric to the top and was quite happy with my puff-paint application - an earlier attempt having gone awry. Not over the top, just some added sparkle. The packaging said to allow 24 hours drying time, so I popped it on the spare bed to dry flat. 30 minutes later I am witness to a dog having a wow of a time rolling all over my puff paint work. She is very lucky to still be with us....I was not best pleased.

Here is the culprit. It hasn't really come out in the photo but she has hot pink glitter paint all through her hair. I hope she is looking foward to a long bath!

My First Quilt

The sum of my sewing knowledge amounts to a few ribbons stitched on to ballet shoes and a brief engagement with my sewing machine to make Harry Potter capes for a Halloween Party. I bought my sewing machine in a very expensive moment of whimsy about two years ago. It sat in its box, in the cupboard for twelve months before the Harry Potter incident necessitated its emergence. The capes were constructed with a good deal of experimentation - sewing machine manual open - out of very cheap black material. They were passable imitations.

Why then did I think a degree of success in that endeavour equipped me with the necessary skills to tackle a quilting project? And, why did I think the “simple quilts” pictured in the January issue of Australian Better Homes and Garden’s would actually be simple, or that the instructions in the magazine would be complete? Well after three weekends of frustration, sewing, unpicking, fervent consultation of my sewing machine manual and a trip to the local quilting shop for advice (and a seam ripper) I have finally completed my quilting project. I am relatively pleased with the result. You will notice the colours are classically preppy. I hope they will cheer me up on any dreary days I might have. There is nothing like snuggling down with a cup of hot tea, a cosy quilt and a good book to jolly you out of a blue mood.

P.S. Just don’t look too closely at that edging. It is terribly uneven and, it would seem there was a reason why the instructions specified hand-sewing it on! I think I might need to take a class on the subject before I attempt another quilt!