Snuggie for my Little Snuggly Bear

Today I made a very quick project. In fact, it took longer to trace the pattern than it did to sew! When I was at Hobby Lobby last week, I found a McCalls pattern for this little blanket sleeper on sale for 99 cents. Andy doesn't like to sleep with covers and he likes his feet free, but I think he gets cold. When I saw this design with free arms and feet, but warm fleece covering the body, I thought it would be perfect.The pattern comes in sizes 6 months to 4, so I traced the size 2 for Andy, who is 19 months old. After tracing, I held it up to him and it was HUGE. I traced the 6 month size and even that is big on him. I don't know what the pattern drafters were thinking with this one. I tried it on and he seemed to like it. If he sleeps really well tonight, I'll be delighted!

I have finished everything but the 16 buttonholes on the 1919 romper and I'm scared to do them. They will be on the velveteen and I have visions of them stitching wonky. Maybe I'll attempt it tomorrow. I can't wait to show it to you!

Some Embroideries I've Been Digitizing

Sometimes I work on Embird at night after the kids are asleep. I realized yesterday that I had 5 designs made that I hadn't stitched. I've been testing designs for Juli at Sew Weird, so while I was set up, I stitched out these designs, too. The first one is a vintage baby. I like the way this one turned out. It actually started as a color picture from an old card.

Next up is my favorite: a redwork design of Andy at a day old. I made a photo into a line drawing in Picasa for my base. I used single stitching for the more delicate features and I like the way it came out. Wouldn't it be cute to digitize a picture of each of my babies to put on a quilt?

This vintage bunny would be cute for Easter. Oops...I forgot to trim the jump stitches! I think it would also be good for a bib- maybe with "I Love Carrots" underneath.
Last but not least, this is digitized from a drawing of Andy done by Rosie. He was about 5 months old. I definitely need to get better at eyes!

Rosie wants me to digitize a redwork design of her school to stitch on a t-shirt. That should be challenging, but fun. I also did an owl, but I haven't stitched that one yet.

I am nearly done the 1919 romper. It just needs buttons and buttonholes. I will try to finish tonight and post pictures soon. It turned out very big, but cute.


I am excited to be at 50 followers and I'm putting together a good give away to celebrate!

My Foray into Footwear...Yes, I Made Shoes!

If you have read my blog before, then you know that I love all things vintage, especially relating to sewing and babies. I have a strong interest in historical reenactments, but I have never participated in one. It is something I'd like to try someday. I'd also like to take an old-fashioned photo of my 2 youngest boys in historically accurate Edwardian outfits. I'm still working on the 1919 romper for Andy and I have looked at the high button shoes on ebay to go with it. They are very expensive and are often quite worn out. You have to pay over $100 to get really nice ones. So, I thought, I could make him some leather baby shoes. You can find directions for almost anything on the internet, but apparently, there aren't a lot of people making their own shoes! Undaunted, I read my Make Doll Shoes book by Lyn Alexander. She gives excellent directions and has several patterns for doll shoes. I started with a simple button-bar baby shoe pattern from flickr. I had to enlarge it quite a bit for Andy's size 7 foot. I printed the patterns several times and compared the sole to Andy's foot. When it was right, I printed the two pieces and assembled a shoe from paper to be sure they would fit together. I cut up a leather jacket from a yard sale ($1) for my material. (My first attempt a few weeks ago was unsuccessful due to the fact that the "leather" yard sale purse was not leather!) You have to use real leather because it stretches and molds to the foot. I bought a scrap bag of thicker leather pieces at Hobby Lobby to use for the soles.

After I cut out the upper, I machine stitched around the edges for added strength, then I seamed the back and stitched it open flat. I also ran gathering threads around the toe to give it a better shape. You might think that the soles were stitched on, but I followed the method from the Doll's Shoe book and glued the upper to a leather inner sole, then when it was dry, I glued the outer sole to the inner sole. 

 You can see that I still need to add the button to the ankle strap. I am amazed how much these look like little 19th century shoes! I will take pictures of them on Andy when he gets up from his nap and post them tomorrow. This was a really fun project and each shoe only took about 1/2 hour to make. I would like to enlarge the doll pattern for high button boots and make those next. What is the craziest craft project you have ever tried??