On Nesting: Sewing Edition

A few weeks after Judah was born, I received a sewing machine for my 21st birthday. Even though I had pretty much begged Joey to buy it for me, it sat in it's pristine packaging for at least a year and a half before I decided to try it out. I had never taken home-ec in school, and any projects I completed as a child were with a good ol' fashioned needle & thread. When it came to using the thing, I almost abandoned it after the first frustrating evening of trying to sew straight lines. It jammed and I didn't understand why it did the things it did. I was convinced it had it out for me. Somehow or other, though, after no small amount of patience on my part, I learned how it worked and the whole sewing process became less of a grievous task.

Now that I feel I have a good handle on some of the basics of machine sewing, I'm finding it hard to stop trying out new patterns and madly browsing Pinterest for free patterns. It is entirely possible that my "nesting" is coming in the form of sewing little baby things this time around. Whatever the case is, I have decided to use this here blog to document my progress as an amateur seamstress, and maybe you'll find a pattern or two that you want to use in the process.

And so, I present to you... All of the Baby Thingz I have Conquered This Pregnancy


Basic Carseat Cover

This was the simplest of patterns! I loosely followed a free pattern available here. Mostly it was just to get the concept down pat. Our carseat is kind of small, so some length adjustments had to be made. I also left the edges raw, simply stitching around the edge so it will (hopefully) form a natural fringe.

Baby Bibs

Knowing that we're having a girl, I just couldn't help but splurge on some feminine fabrics and make some stylish drool bibs! I was planning on using this pattern, but I ended up just tracing a bib that we owned and drafting my own pattern. It's pretty simple stuff, y'all. 

Taggy Blanket

Have you seen these before? They are the bees knees for little muffins. Benjamin had one that he loved so very much, but somehow or other we misplaced it. I have no pattern for you on this one, but it is incredibly simple and I'm sure you can figured out. It may look like I tried to be fancy by using an extra fabric for the top, but it was actually because I cut the inside fabric too small. My mistake paid off in the long run, I do believe. 

Robeez-Style Cloth Baby Shoes

This style of shoe is one of my favourites! They are difficult to get off and have no frills about them. I scoured the internets to find this free pattern. These will be my go-to baby gift from now on!

TOMS-Style Newborn Shoes

I died of cute when I found this free pattern! They turned out to be a bit finicky to make, and are definitely newborn sized, but I love them anyways! I loved them so much that I actually went and bought the toddler-sized pattern. How very... un-Mennonite of me.

Baby-Sized Quilt

I am not sure I would have felt all too confident taking on this project if I had not already dabbled in quilt-making. It took me hours to decide on fabrics & their placement. I made sure to do my homework for this one, instead of winging it like usual, because the last thing I want is for my baby's blanket to fall apart! 

In the end, I decided it would be in my best interest to machine quilt it. Hand sewing is one of those things that I have next to NO patience for. Thankfully, the patterns I had chosen and how I cut the fabric lent itself to a very simple, effective, and attractive geometric pattern - perfect for machine quilting.

The only tutorial I can give you for this one is a binding tutorial by Heather Bailey. My dear sister-in-law was so good as to let me know of it's existence. It was easy to follow, and I am extremely pleased with the results.

Sewing! I lurve it so much!