Boring but functional

A few "boring" but functional projects here.

Here's my new ironing board cover. The one it came with got sticky/gummy-ed up while in storage, so I traced the old one and made a new one. Didn't have any kind of cord to do the drawstring kind of thing the old one had, so I serged elastic all the way around it. That didn't hold it tightly enough, so I sewed lengths of elastic across the back, as you can see in the 2nd pic. It was a VERY tight squeeze to get it onto the board, but it will stay there now until I have to CUT it off to make another one.

Made placemats for the boys, Dillon's (the red/orange) still needs binding, but they've been using them and love them. I need to get some of that outdoor tablecloth stuff that WA sells off the huge rolls by the cutting table for the next set of mats, b/c I'm washing these every day or two, and it's annoying.

And some mama cloth for me. I whipped these up one night on a whim, after seeing that I was out of P&T, and didn't want to have to run to the store first thing the next morning. They're just JA's fllece and flannel, serged into rectangles, but they're working so well, I don't think I'd change anything. I think there's a few more than the picture shows, I thought I'd made either 20 or 24, so some must have been *ahem* in the wash.

Mama's purple hoodie

(from 3/2005)
I've had this awesome sweatshirt fleece sitting around for as long as I can remember. Bought at least three years ago, with the intention of making myself a hoodie or jacket from it. Finally found a good pattern for it that I liked, and made it last week. It's very comfy, but turned out a bit too big, even though I used my own measurements to determine the size. Heck, at least it's not too small though!

The hood is lined inside with a cute ladybug flannel:

It's a Boxer-palooza!

I found a great pattern for boxer shorts for the boys. I'd originally intended it just for Dillon, as Lucas is still in diapers. He is going potty quite often though, at least two or three times a day, so when he saw what I had made for Dillon, of course he wanted some too. I had to size the pattern's smallest size, a four, down to fit his lil 2T bum, but it works, and they both love them. The pattern is KwikSew 2179, which does actually have an open-fly, but in my mind, that just encourages "playing" by my children, so I left it out.

Here are Dillon's:

And his modelling shots:

And Lucas. He's with the DD of another sewing-mama-friend, the beautiful Miss Svea:

And then we had to get into the "holiday undies". No idea where they got this idea, but once Dillon saw this shamrock fabric, they both had to have them.

I've made Dillon about 6 more pairs since I took these pictures, and maybe three for Lucas. Also a pair for Svea (from the ever-popular ladybug flannel), and one for another friend's DS (airplane/jet flannel). I'll try to get pics of them one of these days. Dillon's just went so quickly from sewing table, onto his bum, and then into the laundry that I didn't even have the chance to take a pic!

Sewing room, before & after

(from 3/2005)
My sewing mamas group had a challenge this past weekend, to clean up our messy sewing rooms/areas. Mine was certainly qualifying for the messy title, so it had to be done. Here's before and after pictures:

BEFORE:

And here's the "during" pics. Mostly just sorting fabric.

And the finished product:

A piece of my sewing history

(from 6/2006)
This so-ugly-it's-almost-cute flip-top chest lives in my sewing/living room. It used to be my Mom's, she always put scraps from her projects in it, and I loved digging through it to find something that I could sew with. She hasn't sewn in a few years, and didn't have the space for it in her sewing room, so when I moved here, she offered it to me. I finally got it a few months ago, in all it's orange and flowered glory! My boys have been asking when I'm going to recover it, but I'm not sure I want to. It's easily as old as I am, and Mom used a vinyl tablecloth to cover the lid, and shelf paper to do the sides herself way back when. So I'm tempted to leave it as it is. They think it's an eyesore, but oh well!

Anyway, I just wanted to share this little piece of sewing history.

Even though Mom used it for scraps, at my house, it holds a bin of maxilock (there's 2 layers of cones under what you can see), a few bits of scrapbooking supplies for my new project (a baseball album for Dillon that we need to get working on), Blindy (still blind, although his button eyes are in there with him) and my 2 extension cords.

I also use the chest to sit on in front of my machines sometimes. It's a tiny bit lower than my chair is, so sometimes it's more comfy for sewing.

Thanks for looking! I just :heart: this thing!

Diaper stash

Various diapers for Lucas, during our cloth diapering period:

This is a sweet little red flannel fitted diaper I made for Lucas over a year ago. He was about 11 months old at the time, and I'd just figured out how to use my Mom's serger. It's boring, I know, but the diaper was just so cute. I still have it, though he's long outgrown it, because it was my first diaper.

Ok, I didn't sew this one myself, it was made for Lucas by a friend of mine. But I mentioned it in an earlier entry, and then came across some pics I had of it, so I thought I'd show it off.

This is a black PUL pocket diaper made for Lucas by my (online) friend Kristi. She showed a pic of her DS in one, and I just had to have it, so she made one for Lucas. He didn't quite know what to make of the fact that there's a picture on his behind, but liked that it's a "noodle bowl dipey". It's lined on the inside with sushi microfleece.

This is a Halloween fitted diaper I made for Lucas right before his first birthday (10/2003).

This is a fleece cover made for Lucas by another online friend, Lindsay. It was the first time I'd tried using side-snapping covers on him, and I loved it!

My friend Stacey wanted to learn to use her sewing machine, and was interested in CDing, so she came over one morning (fall 2003) and we played with her machine and made this fitted diaper for Ty, her little man.

Fleece socks

I'd had this pattern for fleece socks since the sales around Thankgsiving, but finally used it during a snowstorm in January. Dillon's friend Emilee was over, so she got a pink pair and the boys each got a blue pair. This pattern was SO easy and everything went together very quickly. Of course, the serger helped a lot, but still!

Luke's Tent

A lot of people ask me how I have time to sew, with two kids running around. I mainly sew at night once the boys are asleep, or on weekend afternoons, during Lucas's nap while Dillon watches a movie. But the other day I was trying to get some things done, and Lucas was getting into everything.

I had laid three yards of corduroy that I'd just ironed over the backs of two chairs, so it wouldn't wrinkle while I was getting ready to cut it up and sew it. Lucas thought it looked like a tent, so in he went, and called it "fabbic tent for ME!"

Here's what the rest of the room looked like while he was playing: