My sewing adventures this month

I've joined an online beginners sewing group. It's been really fun, and I've learned a lot. Each week we have different projects we all work on. It's also part of a cloth diapering forum so many of our projects are related to cloth diapers. So here's what I've been working on. It's really fun to help each other through problems we have and then we post pictures and share how we are doing. I also have Garrison's Halloween costume half done but no pictures of it yet.



We started out making cloth wipes. I've made lots of these, so I challenged myself. I made mine out of Organic Bamboo Velour. Its really soft but super hard to sew with. I dyed it myself. It's not suppose to look like FFA colors that was an accident. I have green dyed too but didn't get it sewn.



Then we moved onto embellishing prefold diapers. Since I don't use prefolds as diapers I made it into a pretty clean up rag that I would enjoy looking at. I'm tired of all the boyish stuff.

The next week the group did bibs. But since I made those a few weeks ago I skipped those and did some diapers instead. I did a couple of all in one diapers and some pocket diapers. I really like the side snapping ones. I've been testing a pattern for a lady so she can perfect her directions for a one size side snap diaper (fits from 8-35 lbs). I'm a good one to test because I'm not very good at sewing so the directions have to be really specific for me. I have also been playing with embroidering the diapers. And I made a fitted diaper (from my tester pattern-fitteds are not waterproof and require a cover) out of the Bamboo velour (super soft next to the skin), hemp fleece (very absorbent) and a cotton knit print (just for cuteness). It was a bugger to sew with all those stretchy fabrics.










And I am also playing with a new pattern for daycare diapers. For them they have to be all in ones, and velcro closing so they are no harder than disposables. We've used cloth at daycare for almost a year now (longer at home), and we are so glad that they are willing to use them. But sadly Garrison is out growing his entire daycare stash of diapers, so I'm sewing new. Here's my first from a new pattern I just bought- one using fold over elastic to bind, and the other the traditional turned and top stitched method.



Then last week our pattern was kids pants. My mom helped me sew wool shorts this summer, but I've never done a waist band by myself. So this was my first try at a waist band. Wool is an awesome diaper cover to use when you use a fitted or prefold (as the water proof layer). Fleece also works but not as well as wool. So I started by making a pair of fleece longies (what pants are called when used for waterproofing cloth diapering purposes.) They turned out pretty good. So I moved onto wool. My mom gave Justen this sweater years ago, but Justen just isn't a sweater person. What I did to this poor sweater about killed me. Now that it's all done I love the pants. I had to machine wash it on hot and dry it in the dryer to felt it up so it would work for covering diapers. I almost cried when I had to put it into the dryer. It was a really nice Pendelton wool sweater. Lucky for me the result is awesome. Once the pants were sewn I decided I needed a matching shirt so I embellished one with felt. Not to bad for my first t-shirt embellishment either. Now if only I could find a cute sheep print knit fabric to make a matching diaper...... Just a thought. Oh, and then I embroidered another shirt to match too. No I didn't sew the shirts, I'm not that good yet.









Thanks for letting me share what I've been working on. Hopefully I will find time this weekend to get some pictures of Garrison and his super cute puppies. We have been using fall break (we've been off work the last two days) to get some big projects done around here. Since our tractor is still at the mechanics (meaning the landscape is still on hold) we decided to paint this weekend. The new lambing shed is all painted and now just needs roofing. We are almost done resealing the fence, but we ran out of sealer. So as soon as I finish this and Garrison wakes up from his nap we are off to Home Depot so we can get more sealer and finish our outside projects before the snow comes.