Mamma-Baby Nursing & Bloomers Set

My good friend was expecting her second baby any day but never found out the sex of the baby so I had a bit of a challenge figuring out what to make for her. Weeks ago I had ordered an adorable crochet sock monkey hat & diaper cover set that I found on Etsy and thought that would make a great little gift for a boy or girl, plus Halloween *is* just around the corner!  I love this photo from the Etsy website!

Sock Monkey Set from Treasured Creation

Still, I wanted to make something for my friend as well and it occurred to me that she had been looking around for a comfortable bedtime nursing bra, one without complicated clips and straps.  Well, I thought, that might be an interesting little sewing project and decided to go in search of some pretty but comfortable fabric.

And so began my first real project with knitted fabric.  It was quite frustrating at times.  I read online that you should never use a straight stitch on knits because the thread will just break when the fabric tries to stretch out. Instead there's an overlock stitch or a stretch stitch that most new machines have.  Of course, with my Singer Featherweight I have limited options so the best I could do was use my zig-zagger attachment (recall the stapler-sized attachment I have which moves the fabric side-to-side to compensate for a machine that can only do a straight stitch).  

Reversible top

The thing I like about my zig-zagger is that it is COOL.  I think it is so clever how these mechanical attachments work and allow the Featherweight to do so many of the things that a modern machine can do.  The disadvantage is that for certain light fabrics (or stretchy, in this case), the zig-zag stitches come out pretty uneven because the fabric doesn't clamp very well, making the side-to-side movements quite inconsistent.  

Reversible top

Since I knew I wouldn't be doing a terribly nice job of finishing the edges I decided to make this a reversible bra to hide all seams and then added some cute pink elastic lace trim for accents.  Originally I sewed in a cream-coloured elastic along the bust line but the results were pretty horrendous as the fabric flared out in bizarre ways.  Finally I gave up, ripped out the elastic, and replaced it with wider pink lace instead.

My friend's baby came two weeks early and we found out that it was a healthy, beautiful baby girl. Perfect, I thought! I decided to whip together a matching pair of bloomers with the fabric left over from the nursing bra, which is what you see below.  After first cutting out the pattern for the bloomers I thought they looked quite huge and wondered if my friend would know it was for the baby and not herself!  Luckily after putting in the elastics the bloomers shrunk down to a reasonable size and there could be no mistake that these were for the baby :P

Spool Organizer

Here is my new spool organizer that I also happened to finish this weekend (yay for weekends!).  I got tired of digging through various different plastic containers trying to remember where I stored a certain colour spool of thread or trying to find the matching bobbin.



I started with the following raw materials (mostly bought at Michael's):

- one 12" x 24" piece of plywood
- two 1/8" diameter wooden rods to be chopped down into 2.5" long dowels
- random rectangular wooden pieces
- two strips of magnets
- a little birdie tree ornament on sale for $1.50 that caught my eye while I was in line to pay
- fabric
- glue
- ribbon

My friend Rick helped me drill the holes for the dowels since I wanted all the holes at the same angle (approx. 30 deg. from horizontal) and didn't trust myself to do that consistently.  He machined a little plastic guide that he used to align his drill to and look how neatly all of those dowels stand up!

I originally planned to paint the left half of the piece of plywood but later opted for fabric because I liked the texture.  I left the right half of the board free of holes so I could sew in pockets for my other sewing accessories.

I upholstered the right half of the board with the same colourful fabric that I used for Mya Ella's Dress (isn't it cheerful?).  To give it a softer feel I included one layer of batting between the wood board and the cloth, and also behind each of the pockets.  Then I sewed some simple white ribbon/binding to act as a divider between tools and to join up the left and right halves of the board.

Next I glued on the rectangular wooden pieces right over the cloth and added the magnets for holding my bobbins. In retrospect I should have probably nailed the rectangular pieces into the board so that they would be more secure but I was afraid the strips of wood were too flimsy and might split on me. Besides glue is just easier!

Finally the finishing touch - the birdie ornament not only had the right "hand-made" feel to it but it was perfect for a pin cushion. Now I just need to hang this up on the wall above my sewing table and I'll be set!

Expansion Panels!

Expansion panels are a pregnant girl's best friend.  I was first introduced to the idea last winter when I saw Kelly (from done-well) shortly after she had her beautiful bouncing baby girl.  Kelly's winter coat had a colourful panel that zipped in perfectly to her existing front zipper, and the panel had pleats allowing it to grow or shrink with her pre- and post-pregnant belly.  I thought it was genius and knew I would definitely copy that idea if I ever needed to.  Sure enough, Baby Boy is due in January and now I have a great excuse to make expansion panels!

Pinning the zipper to the panel

The panel I made this weekend is a very basic plain one to match a black zippie that is perfect for this fall weather.  On Saturday I headed down to Queen St. and found the store that Kelly had suggested for matching zippers. I can't believe in all the times I've gone to my regular fabric stores along Queen St. I didn't know of the Leather & Sewing Supply Depot.  It's actually just off of Queen St. on Vanauley St. two blocks west of Spadina (right by EuroFab).  There's a small yellow sign outside and you have to go downstairs to the store which has a very industrial feel to it.  They have a wonderful selection of zippers, fabrics, embellishments, and tools.  The little European woman who worked there found me a matching 25" zipper within 5 minutes - amazing.

I chose a stretchy ribbed heavy cotton for the panel that matches the waistband part of the zippie.  I originally thought of making the panel colourful so it would stand out but there wasn't a whole lot of selection in colours for that type of ribbed cotton so I defaulted to simple black.  When I got home I went straight to work. 

The sewing part was surprisingly straightforward and before I knew it my dilemma of the exposed belly was resolved.  I have a brown down-filled winter coat that is very warm and I fully intend on making an expansion panel for that so I can go on some winter walks when to keep from going stir-crazy once the baby has arrived. I don't know if there are already places out there that specialize in custom expansion panels but if not, there definitely should be! Thanks Kelly!

Embracing the Belly

I think this photo is hilarious. I couldn't stop laughing after I took it.  Here's a twist on the typical profile belly shot.  I wonder at what point my feet will be entire eclipsed by my celestial belly.

I thought I should include a typical profile shot anyway, just to give some perspective.  I'm embracing my belly.

22 weeks 1 day

Mya Ella's Dress

I spent most of this past weekend either sewing or getting my sewing accessories in order.  I have several new baby projects that I'd like to tackle since there will be about four baby showers and celebrations to attend over the next month or so!  What a year for babies!

This cute dress with matching bloomers is for my cousin's new daughter, Mya Ella, who was born just a few weeks ago while we were still in Iceland.  I had bought the pretty floral fabric at the beginning of summer but never got around to doing anything with it thanks to my first-trimester hormones that kept me mostly napping whenever I could.

The fabric matched well with the blue micro-fiber pieces I had left over from Anna's Fabulous Five dress.  I found a cow applique that I thought was pretty adorable in the store but now that it's on the dress I'm a bit disappointed at how it turned out. The colours aren't very vibrant and seem out of place with the rest of the dress but oh well, I'm sure Mya won't mind.

I used three snap buttons along the back since making actual button holes somewhat stresses me out. I made a few early on when I just started learning to sew but the Singer buttonholer attachment, though very cool in design, doesn't work the best and sometimes chews up the fabric slightly.  

Perhaps I should just spend half an hour making buttonholes on scrap fabric to get over my wimpy nerves.   Then I'll be able to incorporate them into my future projects because I do think buttons are awesome.

The bloomers were pretty quick to make and just adorable, don't you think? That little bit of lace across the bum is my favourite part :)  The bloomers look pretty big in comparison with the dress but I suppose it's so they can fit around those sure-to-be heavy diapers!

More fun with the camera

Point of Interest

Often I start to get a bit bummed out when a vacation is coming to an end, especially when it's one that has been as fantastic as our trip to Iceland was.  This time fortunately we both had something to look forward to upon returning home: our second baby ultrasound :) That's right, 20 weeks down and 20 weeks left to go!

Picture from hotel in Iceland - 19 weeks

This past Monday I had both my ultrasound at the lab downtown as well as my regular OB appointment at Sunnybrook.  I had been looking forward to this ultrasound because all of my friends had told me how much more you can see of the baby this time around.  I was also eager to be reassured the baby was doing well after all the physical activity during Iceland.

To my disappointment the baby wasn't very well positioned (again) and I really didn't see that much from the ultrasound.  For the first half hour I just watched quietly on the screen as the technician made measurements and recorded her observations, speaking softly into I-dunno-what.  The only things I identified on my own were the spine and the beating heart.  Check. Check.

Then I was asked to elevate my hips to try and get the baby to turn. It was somewhat awkward having your belly exposed and covered in gel, putting your feet on the bed (knees up) and then arching upwards in a sort of bridged position.  When that didn't seem to work she asked me to repeat the pose but this time "shake my butt".  I could only hope this was still part of the ultrasound procedure and I wasn't going to be featured on Candid Camera. 

Eventually the technician made all of her measurements and invited Mike into the room.  I thought this would be the fun part, where we would see all the fingers and toes and see the profile of the baby's face.  Nope. Not even close.

I couldn't tell one blurry image from the next.  Finally we asked whether she could tell what the sex of the baby was - we had both been very eager to find out. Not surprising, she said she wasn't technically allowed to tell us....but she said she would show us.  Hm, I thought. First hint. It went something like this:

Technician: Here's the first leg (oval-ish blob)...

                  And here's the second leg (circular blob)....

                  And here's a "point of interest" (grin, hint hint)

Mike laughed, concluding it was a boy.  I thought she was showing me the first leg again.  In the end the doctor at Sunnybrook confirmed that we are in fact having a boy and everything looked perfectly normal.  Check (sigh of relief).  A healthy baby boy - how exciting!

Oh yes, and when the technician gave us some ultrasound photos to take home with us she said almost apologetically that there weren't any good profile photos because the baby wasn't well-positioned. We were both fine with that but I was not prepared to see a 3D image of what looked like a clay baby after it had melted.  It was terribly creepy and I made Mike throw it out.  Baby photos shouldn't be frightening.  We kept the other three :)

"AY-uh-fyat-luh-YOE-kuutl-uh"

What's that, now?

Apparently that is how to pronounce Eyjafjallajökull, the volcano in Iceland that erupted in the spring of 2010 saturating the skies with ash and closing down Europe's major airports for a week. Or at least that's what the T-shirts told us!

Mike and I just came back from 12 days in Iceland and it was an incredible adventure.  The landscape and scenery was unbelievable!  The weather was a very pleasant 12-15 degC, perfect for hiking around outdoors. I would normally find that temperature too cool for a vacation but becoming pregnant seems to have completely changed my mind - I can't seem to tolerate the heat we've been having this summer.

Black Sand Beach - Snaefellsnes Peninsula

Iceland had never been a place to visit on either of our lists until earlier this year when we heard about it from various friends and co-workers.  We were both intrigued by the things we learned about the country and thought, heck, why not?  We knew we wanted one more big trip before the baby's arrival and Iceland seemed as good a place for an adventure as any; Waterfalls, volcanoes, geysers, glaciers, mud pots, hot springs, horses, sheepies, and moooore sheepies - sign us up!  

Vatnajökull Glacier

The population in Iceland is roughly 320,000 with 2/3 of the people concentrated in the greater Reykjavik area on the west coast.  We spent the first several days around Reykjavik and taking some day tours  to visit the highlands (normally requires renting a Super Jeep), exploring a cave, and checking out Snaefellsnes Peninsula.  Then we rented a Yaris for the second half of the trip and drove on the "Ring Road" that wraps around the perimeter of the country.  Seeing the countryside was breathtaking, and the fact that we encountered so few people on the roads or in the small towns scattered along the way made the journey even more mysterious and magical.  There was one stretch of road where we must have driven for almost 2 hours before we saw a single farm!  That's not to say there wasn't always plenty to see - sometimes when we walked around the lava rock formations it felt like we had landed on another planet.  Then we saw the  familiar horses and sheep and everything was back to normal :)

I can't possibly recount in this blog all of the wonderful things we saw and did in Iceland but I will share a few photos here.  We took an absurd number of photos and videos by the way, some of which I just finished uploading to my Picasa web album.  Below is just the teensiest, tiniest glimpse into Iceland.  I would definitely recommend paying a visit there for anyone who enjoys being outdoors - it's an expensive country to travel to (now that the economy is recovering) but definitely worth it.  

Interesting Facts!

- ratio of people to horses is roughly 3:1

- average temperature in January is only down to -2 degC

- Reykjavik sees more sunlight hours over the course of a year than Miami does (despite the endless darkness of winters)

- Iceland is about twice the size of Nova Scotia (103 square kilometers)

- beer was banned in Iceland until 1989

- the majority of the population believes in elves (no joke)

Snaefellsnes Peninsula

Arch at Dyrhólaey

Sulfur springs in Lauger

Behind Seljalandsfoss Waterfall - can you find Mike in the photo??

Thingvellir National Park

Vatnajökull Glacier

Skogafoss Waterfall

Adventures of my Expanding Belly

This will be my last post for today and then I think I'm pretty much caught up. Here are some photos Mike has been taking of my belly over the past few weeks.  The alarming thing was that at 9 weeks I already had trouble buttoning my pants! I was feeling extra bloated and didn't know what was going on in there since the baby was barely the size of a pea.  Well it turns out that it's not uncommon to become very bloated early on, then shrink back down again before expanding with Baby.  We didn't take any photos before 12 weeks so I can't show you the bizarre transformation but indeed at 12 weeks I was back down to my regular size.

That being said, since then my belly has been off to the races.  At 15 weeks I had a definite baby bump (and looking pretty tired, might I add).  I had read online "...In your fourth month your hair is glossy, your skin is glowing, and you are feeling on top of the world!".  What was that girl smokin'?

12 weeks, 3 days - morning

15 weeks, 3 days - morning

 The latest photo was taken two days ago and I look particularly round but that was the result of a healthy-sized dinner :)

I said to Mike, "My belly is starting to look cute!" and he replied "Yeah.  Wait, did you say 'cute' or 'huge'?.."  Oh dear.

16 weeks, 1 day - after dinner!

Weeds, Gardens, BBQ!

Weeds.  Stupid weeds.  This house was the motherland for weeds when we moved in.  Mike and I spent every weekend of the first 6 weeks on our hands and knees pulling out these suckers.  And that was only for the front lawn (which of course isn't very big to begin with when you're living in Toronto).  Now it was time to attack the back.

Actually by the time these photos were taken (6 weeks ago?) Mike had already done a beautiful job of removing the weeds on right side of our backyard in what used to be a garden. He planted a variety of flowers we had randomly picked out at the local garden store and they have been doing amazing despite being in constant sun and despite the suffocating heat we're experiencing this year.  In the next photos Mike is taking on the left side of the backyard, where the weeds starting growing to be almost as tall as he is!

   

Perhaps if we're lucky we'll be able to get the left side of the yard as pretty as the right side. Here are some photos of that garden looking nice and healthy.

  

Finally, the bbq.  One of the things we're enjoying most about the new house is having our own bbq in the backyard.  Here is Mike (on arguably the hottest day of summer so far) making salmon on a cedar plank and asparagus with prosciutto.  The asparagus was first marinated in a tasty lemon-mustard-peppery-olive oil mix - Yum!

The only minor snag was when he got wrapped up chatting with our next-door neighbour and the cedar plank caught fire!  Luckily the food was still delicious but you'll see the plank is pretty charred in the last photo below :)

Summer Sunshine Top

After more than two months away from my blog I'm finally getting around to a new post!  Actually I probably have about three posts I could write right now so I'm in catch-up mode.  Unfortunately I just couldn't find the time (or energy) in the first half of this summer to do much sewing or blogging.  Hopefully now that I'm getting over my first-trimester symptoms I can get back into my normal routine (and yes, that's right, we're expecting!)

Here is a summer top that I finished about 3 weeks back.  I was at Fabricland buying some fuschia binding for a silk top for my aunt (I forgot to take photos!) when I saw this bright summery fabric on sale.  What really drew me to it was the pretty detailing along one edge of the fabric.  I wanted to use some of that detailing for the bodice so I dividing the front bodice panel in half and oriented the edges vertically. I sewed both edges onto a thin panel of the same fabric to join the two. It was a fairly simple way to make use of the pretty detailing.

Unfortunately that was the last simple thing about making this shirt!  It underwent several transformations before I was satisfied with the final design.  My main problem was lack of planning (groan).  The zipper I bought was too short and I thought I could get around it by making a deep v-neck back so that the zipper would be positioned at the narrowest part of the shirt.  Well that created all sorts of issues!  The fabric just wouldn't sit right against my back, and any time I stood up with a nice straight posture, the fabric would fall away from my back leaving a huge undesired gap. 

I also wanted to make cap sleeves for this shirt but knew I was short on fabric.  I stubbornly pushed forward with the plan anyway but after basting on the sleeves and trying the shirt on I knew it just wasn't going to work out.  Sigh.  I had to completely change directions with the design and spent an afternoon with the seam ripper.

I removed the zipper from the back and re-positioned it along one side of the shirt. This placement was now possible since the shirt was no longer going to have sleeves.  To fix the problem with the deep v-neck back I used a sheer white fabric that complemented the yellow floral pattern well and built up the neckline.

Finally I added lining to the shirt to make it feel nice and slippery against the skin.  In the end the shirt turned out pretty well but probably took twice the time it should have.  Planning is everything (why don't I ever learn?).  Anyway it met my goal of a cute summer top and it's one that I can continue to wear over the next few months with plenty of room for my growing belly!

Targa 10

Yesterday was a great day for a bike ride and I got to try out my new Targa 10.  Actually it's not so much new as it's just new to me.  My brother finished the bike he's been putting together for me over the past two months.  He bought almost every part used, even the seat here which looks brand new to me.  The seat is nice and padded with a built-in light on the back.

Last year I had to borrow his red Serengeti when we went for a few bike rides and I found I had to lean way forward on it as if I were racing.  It was hard on the back and I had to ride standing up every so often just to stretch out my shoulders.

The Targa is really comfortable by comparison since the handlebars curve back and I can ride it sitting very upright.  What a difference!

The cork handlebars are really unique and add a nice touch to the look, as does the gold bell.  There's only a bit more work to do on the bike; a kickstand and an old basket that he's going to attach over the back wheel.  Really cool - I enjoyed riding it yesterday to the Doors Open events around the city.