Note: I had planned to post this in November however….best laid plans of mice and men and all that….fall colds have postponed this until today. Life doesn’t hold still for dreams and aspirations.
I haven’t posted in awhile but not due to lack of anything to post about. I’ve been cataloging my work to better build my site and dreams. It has been a cathartic process that has allowed me to better organize how I want this site to live out in the world.
It was interesting playing with a blog and experimenting with how to put up my work, but it was time to take a step back and dedicate myself to being more, well, dedicated. The camera on my phone just wasn’t going to cut it, nor was being lackadaisical about my plans. I tend to prefer the self-imposed, obsessive pressure of learning everything I can about a subject and immersing myself until I get it down.
Now that I’m confident in my direction, and self-imposed, obsessive pressure, I’m ready to move forward. I’ve accomplished many of the projects I set out to do in the spring, and many were replaced with things I found to be more fulfilling and appropriate for my time and needs. I still have plenty to explore with parenting and cooking on here, but I see the majority of my time going towards sewing with an emphasis on the economics of fabric, machines, clothes and projects combined with my need to not always follow the rules.
So here’s to finishing off this year with an upswing and to having more fun in 2013!
I was making my friend Sabrina a baby sling for her darling baby Jack with some StarWars and beach print fabric she picked out from fabricworm.com. Of course I over-ordered the yardage I would need for the sling thinking I could make Jack and my Zoe some pants out of the fun fabrics. After I cut out the pants from the usual simple pattern I used, I looked down at the fabric and thought that what was left already looked like a pillowcase-top pattern.
So, I lopped off the extra fabric:
Folded it in half so the arm-holes would be symmetrical:
I then stitched it together on the sides and covered the arm-holes and top with 1/2″ bias-tape and tucked in some natural, cotton ribbon I had laying around from a present or something.
In the end, a pretty cute summer outfit. I think I’ll keep the selvage showing for now – it’s sorta cute.
I might be getting carried away with the bias-tape and the pillow-case tops. I made Hazel a top and skirt out of a teal gingham. I have more and will make Zoe a matching outfit. Yay for matchy matchy girls, or ew?
I started reading these darling posts about all of these faux chenille baby blankets and they look sooooo darling and comfy and easy to do, I thought I’d whip up a few. I was so convinced that this was going to be the thing that I was going to make for all of the pregnant people that I know (6!), that I bought the tool at Joann’s to make it easier.
PHFFFFFFT!!!!!!
OK, so maybe I missed the importance of a key word in Dana’s tutorial:
“I must point out that like most quilting, this blanket takes a while to make. It’s not as time-consuming as true quilting. But be prepared for tedious hours of sewing line after line after line and cutting, cutting, cutting. I don’t want to make it sound boring. It really is a fun project (and so cool when you see the final product washed and chenilled up). But just be prepared for the commitment and think of this cuteness laying on top of it. Totally worth it.” (bolded for my satisfaction)
In true Becky fashion, I skimmed right over that and focused on the “really fun project” part. In hindsight I see how those two items contradict SO MUCH that only one can be possible. It isn’t the “really fun project” that is the winner.
Yes, I whine. I just didn’t think that between kids, cooking, cleaning and this, that my entire weekend would be toast. Squeezing this in between all of that may also be the reason why I skim instructions/information as well. Or I read it on my tablet as I’m falling asleep in bed. Either way, I’m not the best destruction instruction follower. This does not in anyway lessen the tedious factor…just maybe explains some of the wonky factor.
So, Wonky Factor 1. I didn’t choose a lined fabric. Joann’s had flannel on sale and I saw this darling brown and light blue polka dot thing and the bill started ticketing up from there. I just moved and can’t find my longer rotary cutter guide for the life of me, so had to draw lines every inch with my smaller guide. I lose.
Teeeeeedious
As you can see, I broke up the tedious line drawing with tedious line sewing and so on. I only drew lines every inch and eye-balled sewing lines in-between. As you can see, my version of a straight line varies. I wasn’t too worried however, the dotted side lends itself to some wavy lines and the white side was going to be shredded, er, chenille.
Wonky Factor 2. Sigh. I skipped the part where she clearly explained to sew the middle line first. It really didn’t end up being a big deal other than I lost more fabric all around than I probably needed to…but not so much that I still didn’t end up with a 42″ square. No, really, this overhang hugeness was mostly from my original cavalier cutting, as I’d knew there’d be shifting. I did lose more than I needed to, admittedly.
overhang hugeness is a phrase now – go forth and enjoy.
Oh, that lame photo from my phone looks even worse once inserted. Oh well.
Here’s where the wonky gets better. This was late Sunday night. I finally got to use my shredder. That is what it should really be called. It has a stationary rotary blade. Stationary. I don’t know why I thought the engineering would be more complicated and that it would work like a regular rotary blade just with it’s own ‘mat’ but I’m not an engineer so I like to think they can make all kinds of things that aren’t really possible. This tool hooks in the layers of fabric and you push it like you would opened scissors on wrapping paper, only with a lot more resistance. ‘Cause it’s fabric. Yeah. On a baby blanket, I rotated that blade at least 5 times to get a ‘fresh’ side…I can’t imagine the blades lasting more than 2 baby blankets at best, however, I’d have given up if I was using scissors. Sorta damned if you do, damned if you don’t situation. Overall, I like the tool ok, but it’s relegated to hot pads if I ever attempt this insanity again. Small, tiny, pre-lined, hot pads.
chenille tool of insanity
I used a dinner plate to round the corners. I’ve never done this before! I will never ever ever miter bias tape corners again! Everything will be rounded!
plate of genius
When all is said and done, it’s a very substantial blanket. It has been taken outside on the grass, it has been spit up on, drooled on, rolled around on, napped on – it’s beyond comfy, cuddly, and soft. It has some weight to it, that’s for certain, which makes it a great play blanket and a lot easier to not give away. That and I want to remember why I’m never, ever doing it again.
As mentioned, I like ordering online. It frees up some of my very limited time. I don’t have to drive to multiple stores, tinker around until I am satisfied with what I want while maneuvering around other people doing the same thing…I can just tinker with an online cart and it will be sent to me.
For my next experiment, I ordered fabric and notions from 3 different online companies: Fabric.com, Fabricworm and Dove Original Trims. I can’t stand it when they take forever to actually ship from the store. Can’t stand it. I ordered from Zulily.com once and it will only ever be once because of that very thing. I like simple, clean websites with very easy navigation. A great website with a janky Yahoo store is a pain. Using Paypal also makes me cringe – I know how much money is going to Paypal and can’t help but wonder if the prices would be lower if it wasn’t for that or maybe the hard working crafters would at least get more (hello Etsy).
So, without further ado, here’s the fabric online ordering list.
Fabric.com
Selection. Huge, ginormous online selection. Ginormous. This can be a hindrance in the organization category. I searched for chevron fabric. I could see by the breadcrumb/navigation trail that they listed it as ‘zigzag’ first. Ok, resubmitted search for zigzag pattern. Then I found two options in yellow that I was looking for: one was an outdoor fabric and one was a cotton slub – neither are good for the baby blanket I’m going to make. Now, due to the option of looking through thousands of ‘pattern’ fabric or just using this janky search, I can’t say for sure that there wasn’t another cotton option, but this is about saving my sanity, not spending all day on a website. This is not a kill for me, just an observation that adds up. (PS, I feel validated in saying janky when I put in a search for “organic” and get PUL (Polyurethane Laminate) as an option.) However, you can get just about anything your heart desires. If you know you like Amy Butler for example, and who doesn’t, she’s easy to find with her own icon right on the front page. You can also search by designer. I ordered a ton, well, 4 lbs. of gingham. it all came neatly rolled onto a sturdy cardboard tube. I have no complaints.
Shipping. Ok, so there is free shipping over $35. That’s really good. So when I made an order for $71.64 on June 6, 2012 at 11 PM (so granted that’s more like June 7), I’d reasonably think they’d arrive by the 14th. I got a shipping notification on June 13th, 2012 and the package didn’t arrive until June 19th. That’s a bit too long for me. If I really don’t want the fabric I ordered for almost 2 weeks, and I don’t see myself thinking that way, or I just have to have something that only Fabric.com carries…maybe I’ll order again but right now they are on a back burner for me.
Cart. Eh. I don’t love their purchasing cart. I have an ‘account’ but for some reason as I enter the purchase process again, it doesn’t remember my addresses. What a pain. Paypal is an option if that’s your thing but I have no Paypal love.
Overall satisfaction: C
Fabric.com order
Fabricworm.com
Selection. Cute. Boutique-y, and priced accordingly. The most adorable patterns and options. They had my yellow chevron fabric, and when I emailed to ask if the 100% cotton was slub or not, just to be sure, I got a response in about an hour. They price the fabric at 1/2 yard, which is a little weird, and I’m sure it has something to do with using a Yahoo cart, but it’s not that big of a deal. They have good sales sprinkled with great sales – especially when you consider the caliber of fabric. I love the clean(ish) layout, the way the sections are broken up and the general navigation.
Shipping. I have ordered twice from Fabricworm and shipments have shipped in about 24 hours and arrived in about 3 days. That is perfect for me. Both orders were in the $60 range and shipping was $5.50. They do giveaways and have coupons/sales often enough to make me feel like I’m getting that $5.50 back, so I’m ok with it – especially with that delivery speed. The fabric comes neatly folded in a ziploc bag via USPS.
Cart. Eh. I don’t like Yahoo carts. It’s a pain to go back to the store and in the instance of my second order at Fabricworm.com they items from my first order were still in the cart when I made my second order…that’s janky. I concede Fabricworm is small and, like I mentioned, boutique-y, so I shrug it off. I also used Paypal for my order. Eh. If that convenience is there – it’s sort of like going to Burgerville – I might go there for convenience but I really don’t feel that good about it and everyone is a little poorer as an end result.
Overall satisfaction: A- (only because I don’t like Yahoo stores. If I had to consider price I might drop it a bit more, but my tax bracket level isn’t Fabricworm’s responsibility.)
Selection. Amazing. If you love rick rack like I do or have learned how much of a pain it is to make bias tape but hate paying $6 for a few yards, then you will love it too. I bought a spool of 50 yards of white bias tape and some lavender bias tape that was on clearance (!) in one order and a huge roll (12 yards) of 1 inch elastic in another. I am very happy with both.
Shipping. The roll of elastic shipped out the day after my 2 pm order on 6/22 and arrived on 6/25. Can’t complain about that. Shipping was $4.45 on the elastic order, $6.45 on the bias tape order, but at her almost-wholesale prices and speed, I can’t complain too much.
Cart. Well, I get the impression this store-site is a one-woman-show. While I’m not going to take the time to look at her source code, it looks like some purchased turn-key site from over a decade ago. At her prices, selection and speed, I can deal with it. The site is pretty easy to navigate, and well, again used the evil Paypal. It’s true.
Overall satisfaction: A
Bonus: Flo is on Twitter AND she posts some wacky/fun links sometimes.
Technically, since it’s not really based on MY pattern, it’s a compliment to Anneliese’s pattern on Aesthetic Nest.
I made a list of a few things I wanted to get done this spring and, with 3 days left of spring, I’m not going to quite make the list but I’m ok with that. I’ve added a few other things and am making acceptable progress considering how packed I keep my days.
I finished Hazel’s hat, which was on the top of my list if not only because it should be the easiest to complete. HAHAHAHA. Ahem. Sorry. My little girl is already going to be 8 years old this summer and she’s a big 8 year old. So using the Aesthetic Nest Best Little Girl Cloche pattern had to be more in theory than exact practice. I increased the size and added a few (many) more patterned rows. I think it still turned out super darn cute. It’s a smidge warped due to increasing size a bit too on-the-fly, but she loves it anyway. These photos are pre-washing and I think it will tighten up well after washing being that it’s Lily Sugar’n Cream cotton yarn in Summer Splash.
Hazel’s Cloche in Sugar’n Cream Summer SplashHazel Cloche
This is my personal experience with 2 in cloth diapers, 15 months apart in age. My preferences, my trials and errors and what worked for me. My daughter was a long and narrow baby; my son was a buddha-bellied, sausage legged baby – so two completely different body types and, uh, areas of pee leakage possibilities.
Those are the basics. I’ve tried just about everything there is, but that’s the bare-bones, utilitarian list.
Now I will expand.
If you’re buying your own prefolds, which would be economically better if you’re having more than one child to use them vs. a diaper service, there are a few things to know.
You have to wash them 6-8 times at least prior to first use. They do not absorb water until you wash all the cotton oils out. Oil+water=don’t mix. We know this. So wash, wash, wash and dry to test. If a drop of water is not immediately soaked into the prefold…wash, wash, wash…repeat.
I like the small prefolds for newborns and later as liners in the larger size for heavy wetting – as your child grows, they hold their urine longer and will let it go all at once, so this is a good thing.
Diaper liners. I LOVE the flushable Kushies diaper liners. I also love double sided fleece/terry liners. Now, these are useless until baby starts more solid poops with food, after 6 months. So, early on, don’t fret. Breast milk poop comes out in the wash as easy as….well, as yogurt would. Except it stains. But more on that later. The fleece liners suck the moisture through to the diaper and the poop just peels off into the toilet. The flushable is self-explanatory. Either is not for extra urine absorption.
Fasteners. Snappis are the best invention. No pins! They have pokey little plastic teeth that snag the diaper. You have your baby down, you snag one side with the Snappy, pull to the other side, snag that, then just pull down the middle part to snag the bottom. Easy peasy. I grew up using pins on my siblings and can do it…and it’s good to have some around; they’re handy. But Snappis are awesome and there’s no stabbing of you or the baby.
Newborn in Aristocrat wool cover with prefold under.
As you can see, even the smallest size was pretty big on an 8 lbs baby, but nothing will get through these things. She could leak pee or poop through her prefold underneath, but it would never go anywhere else. They do take extra care. You have to wash them with Eucalan and re-add lanolin periodically. I just used the tube of Lansinoh lanoline I used for breastfeeding. Green Mountain has good instructions. So, bullet-proof but bulky, warm and a bit high maintenance.
Proraps are your best bang for your buck. In fact, I found another mother’s rundown on the pros/cons on Proraps Vs. Bummis (see Heather Sanders post) and I agree with it all except her preference! If I had to pick one, a Proraps is more bullet-proof, but they’re not as pretty and they probably won’t last more than 2 babies. They’re a thinner PUL that’s not as ‘breathable’ I’d say, compared to Bummis, and they can cinch up tighter.
Bummis are way cuter, and the PUL fabric is thicker – making it stiffer and harder to size. Also, as the mother above mentions, they can wick moisture out a bit on the side seams. They do have a handy fold-over on the inside which Proraps does not that keeps the top of your prefold in.
Here’s a photo of Hazel at about 4-5 months in a Bummis Whisper Wrap.
Surprise!
I don’t quite recall but it looks like she’s got a single prefold on underneath.
The Stacinator was also bullet-proof–nothing got out of that puppy. It was also washer/dryer friendly without any special attention. However, it is very bulky and warm.
Hazel with a Stacinator on under pants:
Hazel in a Stacinator.
I’ve had an Imse Vimse swim diaper and I found they run much too ‘skinny’ for my kids. Here’s a photo of Alex and you can see it cutting into his ample thighs. If I recall, I got one of the largest sizes – so, they just don’t work for my pudgy babies.
Sausage thighs.
All In Ones. I’ve had about a dozen or so Kissaluvs and they’re great, I just don’t like not reusing the covers. You use them like you would disposables, and it’s just not pragmatic enough for my personal taste. Here’s a photo of Alex with a Kissaluvs with extra liners. Very bulky – he was a power wetter!
Buy stretchy, big butt pants!
Washing. I like Charlie’s Soap and Biokleen detergents. They don’t have any additives that mess with the absorbency of the diapers. Anything that says brighteners, oils, scent, etc. is bad. In face, those are the ONLY detergents I trust with diapers, personally.
Stains. Biokleen Bac-out is the shit. Or, rather, it’s the only thing that takes it out. If you put Bac-out Odor and Stain Eliminator on a poop stain before you wash and dry, it’s your best bet for it not setting in the fabric.
Odors. White vinegar. Breast milk poop isn’t usually stinky, but it happens. But if you find that pee smell lurking, vinegar is a neutralizer. I just put a cup in the rinse cycle of my diapers and/or covers.
Diaper pail. do not soak your diapers! They’re cotton. They will rot. Just do laundry every day or every other day. A small load of diapers isn’t a big deal. Really. It’s as easy as feeding the cats. Just throw the diapers in with the pail liner and the covers (with the velcro down) and walk away. Throw the diapers in the dryer and hang the covers and liner. I find an extra liner is a good idea. I wish this IKEA hanging dryer was around when I was cloth diapering! Oh, I’ve never needed or wanted a sprayer, but that’s just me.
