Secret Santa and gifts

Well, this is a full post. I have several items I made for my secret santa on TheNappyNetwork.org.nz. The first is a sleeping bag from the latest Ottobre magazine (05/06). The outer is polar fleece from my stash and it's lined with organic cotton jersey with a wee bit of organza ribbon for decoration.
I also made a nappy for the same lady using my own pattern and stencilled an Iris on it, I'm really happy with this.

I also had a second person to make for, and I combined 2 womens T's to make this t-shirt. I then appliqued a vehicle on the front. I used the Ottobre T-shirt pattern for this and used a basic shorts pattern to make a full outfit. That had the same vehicle appliqued, but I don't seem to have made a photo of that for some reason. Unless it's still on the camera; if so it will show up here later.

The last T was made from another of the existing women's T's and I made this for the son of the lady who gave me them. I made it to the Ottobre pattern again and free-handed a tractor onto it with fabric paint (Pebeo Setacolour). The wee lad loves it! Always nice to be appreciated.

2nd sleeping bag for nephew

This is a robots print, inner is organic cotton jersey which is absolutely scrummy! There is a hidden layer of wool batting so it'll also be snuggly in winter. That's a good thing, they live in Waimate which gets really cold in winter!

Nappies for Africa

Well, one of them was. I made 12 of these newborn nappies, 7 for kits to show off at local
Ante-natal classes and 1 went to raise funds for the Fistula Trust which is in Africa (I forget which country).
I sold another on Trade-Me, gave one to a friend and still have 2 left.
They are 100% cotton velour towelling on the outside, lilac sherpa inner with a hidden soaker.
Wonderfully soft!

Sweatsuit for nephew

Well, I can safely say it's too long since I posted to my blog. I made this sweatsuit for my nephew using up some of my stash several months ago. Had to think for a bit, but it was a Burda pattern and it turned out really well.
I used some velvet iron-on's to make them a bit cooler

Nephew's sleeping bag

Made this for a birthday present for his 1st birthday. It's summer weight from the Burda sleeping bag pattern. I'm also making a winter one with robots on it.
Then are some Secret Santa presents for people on TheNappyNetwork.org.nz and Christmas presents. Then maybe something for fun?

Ottobre 1/2005 #16

I made this after feeling the urge to make something for a girl. I chose a friend who has a daughter who's around 7 (I think). She's a size 104 chest, but adult sizing in the tummy area so it was a bit of a challenge. She hasn't tried it on yet so I'm still praying it fits correctly.
She put in an order for "sparkly butterflies". I couldn't manage much sparkle, though the applique butterfly has some gold on it.
All the fabric used was already in my stash, I used a poly-cotton for the main fabric and the applique and strip are from my quilting fabric stash.

I also recently made a Burda pattern up for another friends daughter, a sleeping bag which used some of the same fabric! It has a lining of organic cotton jersey and a hidden layer of bonded merino wool to keep her snuggly. She loves it, she's 1 year old and apparently when she's tired she goes to it and lies down in it. So sweet!

The garden shed is finished and so is my top!

We've finally got the garden shed up after several months of having the concrete pad done. We still have to attatch the latch, but that is not exactly a big step in comparison!
I also got Ottobre Women design #3 finished in a bright mauve wool knit. Very comfy, the only thing I don't like about it is that the facing shows through, so I may have to trim it and then whipstitch to stop running (I don't think I can fit it in the overlocker now it's all sewn up). I really like the fit of this top and I love the way the coverstitch works with variagated woolly nylon in the looper.
Next will be the sleeping bag for a birthday present for a 1 year old. Will show a photo of that as soon as it's done.

More Sewing!

Well, more sewing this weekend. I finished a skirt for my MIL who's a size 24; no photo's as it's a birthday present. I also drafted it from scratch and am reasonably happy with it.
I also made Ottobre 3/2005 #15 out of dark grey drill fabric. Turned out really well, but I don't really like the way they do the waistband so I think I'll do it differently next time.

Ottobre 4-2004 #10 plus 2 nappies

Well, this weekend we had a birthday party to go to, I rang the little girl's Mum and asked if she had any clothing she'd like me to make. A skirt for winter was suggested, so I found #10 in Ottobre 4-2004 and made it up. It was a little short so I added a frill, did some fabric painting using Pebeo Setacolour which worked really well on the stretch woven jacquard I found in my stash.
















I also made 2 fitted nappies from BKT with suedecloth lining for my son's nap times. Lovely and soft and very thirsty!

Well, I've just finished a cardigan from Ottobre 4/2003 #21. It's too big for George as you can tell from the photo at the top left, but will look good later. It was sewn from an old cardigan of mine which had felted slightly after several years of being washed in the washing machine. It was too small for me, but the fabric still had plenty of wear in it. George loved it! Should be nice and warm in the winter too as it's 100% wool.
Next I've got to reupholster the arms on our LazyBoy, make DH work trousers, sew up the Ottobre trousers I've cut out for George, make capes for both boys.......

On the left is my first ever cover. I took my fitted pattern and adjusted it to make a great side snap cover. I didn't make the elastic quite firm enough in the back, but aside from that it's a great fit. I'll be making patterns for all my sizings now and then I can make some for my SIL's impending arrival.







The next photo is detail of the sleeping bag I made for Ian who's just started climbing out of the cot if not in his bag. It's getting too warm to put him in his polarfleece bag so I did some searching for a pattern I could adapt. I ended up using a tank top pattern (Ottobre 2/2005 No19). I made a bigger size as it's a close fitting pattern and lengthened it as well as inserting a cf seam to put the zipper in.
I'm fairly happy with it, but my sewing is not as good as normal, I was in a big hurry!

Fitteds now in play

Well, the snap press arrived and I've made 3 fitted nappies. Inner of powerdry, 2 layers of sherpa, plus internal soaker of 2 layers of hemp terry. I also have a snap in soaker of 2 layers of hemp terry which is long enough to fold in two to get 4 layers in the wet zone. The snap-in soaker also has powerdry on the side facing baby.
Outer is a batik flannel print from Spotlight which looks fantastic, but being a looser weave may not wear as well as I'd like. Will have to use these fairly often to get an idea of how they'll perform long term.
I made one of these with hook and loop fastenings and the other 2 with snaps. Stuffed up the snaps on one, but managed to fix them.

I now need to make a whole lot for my SIL who's expecting a baby at the end of next month. I won't do more than 3 newborn as I know she'll have a whole lot of sposies saved up. However I will do quite a few small so she can change over. Hope to convert her to cloth (evil laugh).
If she gives them a decent trial it will also tell me how my sizing performs on a newborn. I'm hoping I've got it right, but hard to tell when my youngest is 18 months!
SIL will get several made from Buzzy Bee flannel. I can't sell these ones as I don't hold the licence, but can make them for family.

Pocket design complete

Now finally happy with my pocket nappy design. Holds poo really well, no wet leaks either. I have my first one listed for sale on Trade Me with a starting price of $20, no buy now as I want to see what the market thinks. No bids as yet, but it's early days and I am a new player.
Most people on TNN who've seen the photo think it looks good, Ian hasn't been able to strip out of it yet either, which is fantastic!
I'm still planning on making fitteds too, but waiting on my snap press for this as I want a snap in soaker to make for quicker drying.
Even if they don't sell initially I have to say I feel like I'm finally getting somewhere!

Update

Well, not much been going on on the nappy front, I've tweaked the patterns, but am now considering making fitteds and covers instead. I'm waiting on lots of fabric from the US so I can try a few different things.
I find I love fitteds, they are more absorbant, just not quite so easy to get on when bubs is trying to leave!
I've got french terry, sherpa, burleigh knit terry and hemp on their way as well as some PUL, suedecloth, powerdry and Malden Mills microfleece. Hopefully I'll find the ideal combo.

Prototype nappy 

All about RacieBaby

RaCie Baby started when I decided it was too expensive to continue buying disposable nappies for my two boys. I started to design Paddy Pants which are pocket nappies from either PUL and microfleece, or Polar fleece and microfleece.
Once the design is perfected I will then be selling (I hope), to other mums who feel cloth is the best for them and their children.