Bit of this, bit of that.
My package arrived today with my fabric, elastic, velcro, and a special gift (a pack of pins) because it's the shop's 5th birthday this month. Their birthday and I get a gift, hmm.... And guess what! One of the PUL pieces (that's the outer waterproof stuff) were big enough to make FOUR cutouts of each colour, instead of the three the shop said would fit. Yay.
We're off to Victor Harbor this weekend for an orienteering trip.
It rained today. Just a little.
Caleb likes blueberries. But we don't like his nappy after he's eaten them. Ewwww....
It’s a bit sooner than I expected…
So remember those Baby Beehinds I said I bought in an auction online? I was hanging them on the clothesline today and noticed the leg elastic on one leg of the orange one was all stretched out and pretty much worthless. Great. Just spent $50 to get three and one of them is already falling apart, I thought.
And then I thought: why not ask on Oz Cloth Nappies if anyone's ever had to fix one? So I did. And two people were kind enough to point me to this site, which shows how to do it. So that's what I'll be doing as soon as I get some orange thread on Thursday. Unless I decide I can't wait that long and use a colour I already have.
So I ripped out the old elastic, only to re-read the page later and realise I could've just left it in there. Ah well, at least I know for next time.
Of course it occurred to me AFTER all this that my mom had given me a few ideas how to fix one of the ones I made, back when she & my dad were visiting in September. And it was probably pretty similar to what that page says anyway. But it's good to have pictures to go with it.
How to make pajamas.
Step one, get the baby to sleep.
Yeah, so one of the patterns I bought yesterday was a pajama pattern. Kid to adult sizes. Of course if I cut out the smallest kids pattern, it becomes much more difficult to use the same pattern later for a larger kids size. At least the adult size is a separate one, and Darrin & I wear a similar size.
Anyway. I found some flannelette (minus the 'ette' for the Americans) in Big W the other day. They just sell big chunks of it there, not on a roll or anything where you can get a custom length. So on the label it had some suggested uses - cot sheet, baby blanket, toddler pajamas...hmm, I like that idea. Bought the pattern yesterday, started pinning out the pieces this afternoon after Caleb went to sleep (because the only uncluttered surface in the house at the moment is the low table in the lounge). And whaddya know, the piece wasn't quite long enough for all the pieces. So off to Big W to get a second bit.
And in the instructions and on the back of the pattern envelope I see mention of "interfacing." If I've ever heard of this before, I wasn't paying attention, so off I go to Google. Ah, so it's the stuff they put in the edging of clothes that falls apart so I end up pulling it out. And possibly also what I burned onto the bottom of an iron once. Supposedly it makes a stronger garment if you use it in certain places. But I kinda don't feel like going back to Spotlight and getting interfacing, especially since it'll have to wait for payday anyway (Thursday).
So. I've got enough fabric with some to spare, and I've got all the pieces pinned, now I just need to cut them out. And decide about the interfacing, of course.
Oh, also, this project is going to be my first one with buttons. So I get to try out the button hole thingy on my sewing machine. Eventually.
So I got this email yesterday…
About a VIP members only sale at Spotlight this weekend. Sewing patterns 50% off, among other things. And a $5 voucher to use if you spend more than $25.
So I took the bait. I bought my first ever sewing patterns and some bits to go with them, and after all the discounts, ended up paying just under $25 total. Total savings: about $22. Wow. I didn't realise till now just how much it was.
Amazing what the right size needles will do.
I made another pair of wool pants to go over Caleb's nappies. And this one was made with smaller needles, and looks much more like the picture shown with the pattern. It's just hanging to dry in the bathroom now after being lanolised this morning, and I'll try it out tomorrow. Might even have pictures when I post about it next.
They’re a little big.
But luckily since the nappy cover pants are made of wool, hopefully now that I've washed them in a hot wash they'll shrink a bit.
What happened was I used knitting needles I already had instead of the right size ones. And now I'm knitting another pair with hopefully the correct size. It's a bit trial-and-error when I knit, since I tend to knit looser than most patterns assume, therefore I need smaller needles to get the same size stitches. And honestly I can't understand HOW anyone can knit tighter than I do and still fit needles into the loops.
Ha! Just made it.
It's 11:33 pm and I just got out of bed to see if I could post before midnight.
So Caleb had his first kinda meal tonight. We decided the other day that it was probably time to start giving him his own dish since he's so forceful in trying to grab ours. So I set up the high chair in the lounge, put some food in his bowl (we had beef schnitzel & mashed potato tonight - I scraped the coating off the schnitzel so he just had the meat), and off he went. And yeah, he made a mess everywhere, and only about a tenth of it got into his mouth, but that's to be expected. He had fun anyway.
We have a heap of pictures on the camera that I'll try to remember to upload tomorrow.
And...tonight I finished knitting a wool nappy cover. Wool is nice for many reasons. It's a natural fibre so it absorbs moisture, but it doesn't feel wet for ages, and it doesn't smell till it's been used for a long time. At least that's what I've read. In a day or two we'll find out. It's currently in a bucket in the laundry room being lanolised, I'll dry it tomorrow, and maybe by tomorrow night or Wednesday morning I'll be able to try it out. And blog the results, of course.
Yep, I skipped a day already.
In my defense, I was seriously dehydrated yesterday and really suffering from the heat wave this week. Ended up going to bed with a headache around 4pm, throwing up around 7pm, and not falling asleep till 2am, then waking up just before 7am very sore from being in bed for fifteen hours. I'm still getting over that part of it, but at least the headache is gone.
But the cool change came through last evening, so today was much better. Got caught up on the dishes & nappies, and we all took the train into the city this morning and did a little shopping, had lunch, did more shopping, bought some really nice donuts, and came back home.
And I finished those nappies I mentioned the other day. We now have six travel nappies (on a normal trip out we only ever tend to use one or two, so that's good for a couple days at least).
Hey, now there’s a thought.
All that sewing I want to get done, I should just have one sewing day every week. Say Friday. Why didn't I think of that before?
!#$!#$! Mambo. Of course I forgot to "publish" this post so I had to go into the admin section and publish it there. And while I was in the admin, I thought I might as well update the post because I wanted to post more anyway...and my session timed out before I posted it, and of course I had typed everything in the web page instead of elsewhere, so I lost EVERYTHING I'd added.
Ahem.
Yeah. So I'm sewing today. Two nappies. Had the pieces cut out for ages and now I'm finally doing it, because I'm sick of them just sitting there, and Caleb's outgrown the first two nappies I made, so we only have four going-out nappies at the moment.
So am I supposed to post something today?
Yeah, I guess I am.
Started cutting out pieces for more new nappies yesterday. And then last night when I went to bed, I remembered I hadn't yet washed the half metre of bamboo I bought a couple months ago. So everything went on hold till tomorrow. Hopefully then I'll get to actually SEW them. Or one.