Tiny Ted #90

Have been using my embroidery machine to do some more charity stuff.  These tiny teds are intended for the local visiting nurses group at a metro hospital.  As mentioned before probably, they like to bring a little gift to the new mothers and babies.

This is a free design obtainable from https://www.kreativekiwiembroidery.co.nz/
The owner doesn't specify that your teds be for charity, but it would be nice if you made some for your local hospital.   I use the 5 x 7 hoop.  They go pretty fast and use up those little scraps of fabric you can't bear to toss.  I've made every color combo imaginable and most have an applique nose.  Goes faster if you don't do the applique, but it does add to the design.  I bought my polyester fiber fill (32 oz.) from Amazon for $10 and it has lasted through 5 throw pillows and most of my teds with lots to spare.  Ted's finished dimensions are 4.5" from tips of hands and 5.5" tall.  Good size for a baby's little hands. 

I always wash my fabric first with laundry detergent that has no perfume, because you know he'll inevitably end up in a baby's mouth.  Still, it's an incredibly easy and fast pattern.
PS, I did clip corners, but maybe I could have done more on this one.  O well, is still cute.

15 Minutes of fame!

My Tomten/Gnome pattern from November, 2018 was posted on the Craft Gossip website.  I was tickled pink!
There are lots of fun ideas on that site.  I check it often, especially when I'm plumb out of ideas.
Here's the link:
https://sewing.craftgossip.com/

Gnome or Tomten Ornaments for Your Tree

If your background is Scandinavian, they are Tomten elves.  If not, you can just call them gnomes.  I made several of these yesterday to put on my tree and to give away.  Must say they were really fast and fun to make (other than burning my fingers a bit...)

Here's how I made them.  

Supplies needed:

2 pieces of felt about 5” x 8” each for hat front and back~your choice of colors

Small amount of fake fur fabric for beard

Small pom poms for nose and top of the hat

Sewing machine, thread to match color of hat

Hot glue gun.

Scotch tape or painter’s tape

Ribbon to make a hanger

1.      Print and cut out the hat shape. (pattern below) If your printer shows the shape to be about half the width of the paper in landscape view, it’s about the right size. Either increase or decrease the pattern as needed.  Mine is 7” high by 4 “ wide.

2.     Lay the paper shape on your felt and draw around it. Do this on each piece of felt but cut out the back piece and leave the front piece  for now. (Makes it easier to sew the two pieces together.  Your pen markings won't show.)

3.     Embroider a snowflake or other design by hand or machine onto the front hat piece.  I did the snowflake by machine, but a name or the year would be cute either by machine or by hand.

4.     Onto the front hat, tape a 8” ribbon loop down out of the way of the seam but the ends included in the seam. Lay the cut out back hat piece onto the front hat piece. Pin around so it matches perfectly.   Sew around with a straight stitch using about a 1/8” seam leaving the bottom open.

5.     Cut out the front piece to match the back, trim and clip corners. Turn right side out. I didn’t, but you can stuff lightly with polyfil. Remove tape.

6.     Cut a piece of fur the width of the hat and as long as you want it. Glue onto the hat front (across, bottom and sides.) The dotted line can serve as a guide for placement.  Fold in the felt hat bottom and either glue or sew shut by hand.

7.     Glue nose pom pom and tip of hat pom pom.   DONE!

PS I got my miniature pom poms at a fabric store in the craft department.  You may want more of a flesh colored nose, but these colors were what I had on hand.  For the white one, I rolled up a piece of fur and glued it into a ball shape for the tip of the hat. As I mentioned, I burned my fingers a bit…   we do suffer for our art…sigh. So be careful if you are using the glue gun.

Here's my white one.  It was so cold where he lives that his nose turned blue!!!

I tried to do the whole thing with my embroidery machine, in the hoop as they say.  All went well until I tried to attach the beard.  The foot just wouldn't go across the thick fur and got caught.  Hence this method by hand with the glue gun was born.  Still fast.

Hope you enjoy!

Baby No-Scratch Mittens

Made three versions of a no-scratch mitten. I just eye-balled what I thought would be a newborn size. They might be a little large. One is out of T shirt cotton, not very warm. The second is out of fleece, a little warmer. And, warmest yet is a lined one. Might be way too hot for California, but it does get cold at night in the winter. This little guy I've been making things for is an October baby.

Sewing kept me busy for a day so I could stay inside in the air conditioning. It's 97 degrees here with a heat index of 115 degrees because of the humidity. I can't imagine what it would be like trying to survive this heat without the air. After our beastly awful winter, it's hard to complain.

If you would like to make some of these you could print out my pattern. You'd want to adjust your printer so that the mitt piece is the dimensions on my diagram.

You can right click on the picture, select copy and then paste it into your paint program. Print from there.

Hmmm. What shall I make next? Any suggestions?

One Little, Two Little, Four Little Baby Hats

Remember that commercial, "Wait 'til I get my Hanes on you!"???? Evidently some people objected to the play on words, clever though it was, so you don't hear it so much anymore. That's the song that kept going through my mind as I was making these baby hats. I found these men's Hanes 100% cotton undershirts, never been worn, still in the pkg in a dresser drawer. So, natchurally, I had to do something with them. I'm really into this repurposing and upcycling thing these days. Washed them to preshrink and went looking for a baby hat pattern on the internet. I found one at PrudentBaby.com and it printed out just the right size. I had a purchased hat to compare to for size and it seemed correct.

These are a size 3-6 months, so I probably will make more at a larger size...maybe. I seem to remember it was difficult keeping a hat on the baby after a while. My kids would always pull them off. I had some small embroidery designs that worked ok. I like this one the best. I don't have a serger, but I found a stretch stitch on my sewing machine that overlocked the edge and looks exactly like a serger stitch to me.
The hats are really soft, stretchy and awfully cute, if I do say so myself.

Now I really need to get out to the garden. The weather has been so unpredictable---103 F 4 days ago and now only 67. Hope I don't freeze.

Link for Cloth Baby Shoes

I found the site where I got the cloth shoes pattern. In case you are interested, it's
http://www.newconceptions.com/patpdf/Footiespdf.pdf
I notice that they revised the pattern a tiny bit since I downloaded it. The newer version recommends 2 - 4" pieces of 1/8" elastic. I was close, so maybe they'll fit.

Cloth Shoes - Repurposed Stuff - Done!

Well, I got three pairs out of the deal. They turned out pretty sweet. My only concern is whether the ankle is big enough. The pattern didn't say how long to cut the elastic, so I just guestimated by the picture in the pattern.

Ok, now I really do need to go clean, plant stuff, go grocery shopping!

Cloth Baby Shoes - Repurposed Stuff

I should be cleaning house and/or planting stuff. Company is coming on Thursday and there really is a lot I should do to get the house in order. I've only been able to plant 13 of my 100 dahlias, and those I planted in the rain. What a crummy spring. it was 89 degrees F yesterday---a fluke. But I'm not doing either and am involved in baby shoes!

This is the pattern I'm using:

I downloaded it ages ago and can't find/can't remember whose pattern it is, regrettably, or I'd give credit where credit is due. Of course I couldn't just make them out of the material recommended by the pattern. Have to put my own spin on them.

I spent yesterday afternoon embroidering the instep pieces. I had reduced the size to fit the piece using my embroidery software. Supposedly if you hold the ctrl key while making the design smaller, the program is supposed to adjust the density accordingly. It did not, to my disappointment. Some of the tops turned out to be bulletproof. So I had to toss those. Here's an example.
Is cute, but is so dense it doesn't even bend. A lot of time wasted, but I learned a lesson that I have to use designs that are originally sized to be tiny. Or, I need to digitize my own designs.

These turned out ok. So I have enough for three pairs, size 6 months. Have cut out the linings (another shirt) and the other pieces (old jeans) so today I'm ready to put them together. If I can figure it out, that is. Will post tomorrow if they turn out.

Presto Chango!

It always has bothered me that people put their babies on those Koala Bear changing stations with all the germs that must be lurking. So, I thought a changing pad would be nice to take along then wash when needed. As I usually do, I checked out on the internet what others had done to make such an item, then went ahead and did my own thing. Mainly, I wanted to see what size people usually made.

Another shirt repurposed! I cut out a rectangle 13" wide x 24" long out of the shirt back. Then used some polar fleece for the other side. Since the shirt material had lines on it I was able to quilt the two pieces together easily.
Then I put 3/4" bias tape around the edges. I made a pocket and sewed a closure with velcro. The pocket is sewn to the inside. It holds baby wipes, hand sanitizer, butt paste, whatever.
Then I got the bright idea to stick a teddy bear in the pocket for the baby to hang on to while being changed. I knit two 6 x 8" pieces of stockinette and sewed a teddy bear shape, stuffed him and turned him right side out.


I made a 42 inch tie out of the rest of the bias tape and sewed it onthe end of the thing on the outside. It's easy to roll up, tie and everything stays in place.
The "package" ends up to be 13" wide x 8" deep, depending on how much stuff you put in the pocket.
Am I proud of myself, or what?

Baby Fix for the Day

Just for kicks, yesterday I made some bibs, newborn size. Cost: $0.00 for 5.
I used one of my husband's shirts. It is new-ish, but he got some kind of paint on one front shirt-tail, so it's not something that I'd want to donate. But the material is nice and boyish. For the backing I used old jeans. Two of the bibs have a pocket (the shirt's pockets), making kind of a decorative thing. Both the shirt and jeans have been washed many times, so they're done shrinking. I think they're pretty cute. So tiny! As of today, we're half way to the due date!

If you have need of some bibs, here's a pattern for you:

(Click to get a larger view.)
Cut a front and a back, two ties about 3/4" wide. Fold over the raw edges of the ties to the center and sew. Tuck the ties inside between the top and bottom pieces. Sew around the bib with a 1/2" seam, being careful to catch only the end of the ties in the seam. Leave a 3" opening either at the side or bottom. Clip the seams generously. Turn right side out. Press, fold in the 3" opening, top stitch all around. Done.

Sewing a little baby quilt

I thought I'd try my hand at a "raggy" baby quilt. I can't say it's the most favorite thing I've ever made, although it did only take me two days, maybe 6-7 hrs to make. I bought 3 different flannels that were 42 inches wide and 42 inches long. Then I cut them up to 7" squares, nothing wasted. I arranged them so that one print was the same on all the pieces (the back side) and the top would be a checkerboard of the other two fabrics. Sewed a squiggly X across each piece and sewed the patches together using a one inch seam allowance with all seams on the right side of the blanket.

I sat outside in the glorious spring sun and cut little snips every 3/4" across all seams. Took me about an hour and a half. I loved this fabric---very soft and very sweet prints.

Ok, now the part I'm not so happy about. I washed and dried the thing to get the raggy/chenille effect on the seams. Checked the washer, then the dryer often to clean out the threads. The final effect: to me, it looks used and old. The fabric is still soft, but sort of wrinkly. I am told this is how it is supposed to look, but I'm not that enthused about the look of it. O well, had to try it.

Here's a closeup of one of the prints:


And, here's what the backside looks like, a bunch of little cowboys and cowgirls:


Not my proudest day, but I think it will be a good blanket to use on the floor or in the car because it's a little heavy. On to the next baby project...