Fleece Lined Baby Hood

I know I’ve mentioned before in this space just how much I love Oliver and S patterns and designs.  Her work is just so classic and with such attention to detail!  Sadly her patterns are a bit of a splurge for me, but I jumped at the chance to buy her beautiful book a while back.  I’ve made several of the items in the book and am so impressed with the instructions.   I just loved a little wool and velveteen hood featured in the book and just had to make the same in similarly delicious fabrics that I had on hand.  I actually used the same fleece  and cotton that I used on the hooded car seat blanket.  It was a dream to whip up, simple and straight forward and just darling every step of the way. 

The only problem:::

The sizing is a bit off on the hood.  I made the extra small, which is said to fit most infants up to 12 months.  It is much much too big for her now, but will likely be just right for her next winter.  I was a bit disappointed that it didn’t fit, but it’s not a total loss, and is still so lovely to look at!!! 

How to Make Fleece Crib Sheets

There are ten little toes that have been waiting for fleece sheets to cozy up in at night.  Fleece crib sheets, it turns out, are much more difficult to come by…but oh-so-easy to make.  With a couple yards of fleece carefully chosen by the handsome owner of those ten little toes (!) a bit of elastic and literally less than half an hour we had fleece sheets on the bed!  Truly! 

Now,  it is entirely likely that there is a better way to make a fitted crib sheet, but this works!

 

I laid the two yards of fleece out on the floor and placed the mattress on top of it leaving ~12” of fleece border on each side.

 

Fold the fleece at one corner holding it out from the mattress making a 45 degree angle from the corner edge of the mattress.  Pin the fleece close to the mattress along the corner all the way up to the edge of the fleece.  (I’m finding this rather tricky to explain…just imagine you’re wrapping a present…sort of!!) Repeat this for each of the corners.

Stitch the fleece along your pin line and trim the fleece to a 1/2” seam allowance.  Fold over the raw edge of the fleece about 1 1/2” and stitch to form a casing for the elastic leaving a small opening to thread the elastic through. 

Measure the circumference of the mattress and divide it in half…and that’s how much elastic you’ll need.  Thread it through you casing and sew the two ends together. 

Stitch shut the opening left in the casing for threading the elastic…snip any threads…and you’re there!  One deliciously soft fleece crib sheet for those ten little toes you love so much.

One note…this little mancub does have a bed…but the novelty of a mattress was too much to resist and a mama request to put it on the bed for pictures was unanimously turned down! Ah well…it’s the simple joys isn’t it! 

Oh, and one more note.  The insulated curtains are working so well in the kiddo’s room.  We have all noticed a difference and are shocked by the cold air trapped between the window and the curtain.  This is one guilty mama for letting that seep into the room for so long.  This weekends project?…thermal curtains for my bedroom!!  Bring on the warmth…or at least a small bit of it!   

Insulated or Thermal Curtains

Winter came and came hard to New England this year. As with any first winter in a new place there’s an bit of a “getting to know you” period. In getting to know the heating circuit of this old house we have come to the sad realization that the bedrooms, and especially the kidlings room, are the coldest in the house. The beautiful trees that stand at corner of the house shade their room from the little bit of sunlight it might receive. As it is we have taken a few measures to make their room a bit more cozy. One little one is snuggled up between deliciously cozy fleece sheet as we speak and a bundle of fleece is sitting on the cutting table ready to be turned into crib sized fleecy goodness. I’ll share more on how to do this very very soon. But today I bring you insulated curtains. I’m not a curtain girl…I like the wide open feel, the light, and the connection with the outdoors you get with nothing obstructing the view. Thankfully we live in a secluded spot where some privacy exists even without curtains! But for these winter months we needed an extra shield to ward off the winter blasts.

Our first stop was the fabric store to find the perfect fabric to satisfy a very particular girl with a flair for style and decorating and still suit a room that also belongs to a little man cub that spends his days with a rock in his hands, and more often than not wearing rain boots and a fireman’s hat. It was a fun challenge. One that made me realize that the three of us can do some serious damage in a fabric store if left unchecked!! Oh boy did we have fun!

I made a simple curtain panel that would cover the entire window without any gathering.

I laid this out on the floor and layered a lined quilt batting on top of it. I cut the quilt batting approximately 4” from the top of the panel and 2” from the bottom. This was to allow for less bulk in the hem and the sleeve for the curtain rod.

I sewed up the side seams, turned the “tube” right sides out, top stitched the sides, and turned under the bottom edge to make a hem. The top edge I made turned under twice to make a simple sleeve for the curtain rod.

Lined batting is not the only way to make insulated or thermal curtains. Look through your linen closet and fabric stash and use what you have on hand. You are basically looking for anything thick to hold out winter’s frozen fingers. Old blankets, wool, fleece…most likely there is something just right already inside your hopefully not too chilly house!

Here’s to a warm and cozy house friends!

Oh, and what is outside those beautifully fortressed windows? Well…a whole lot of this…!! We’ve bunkered down and have no plans of heading out of here for a few days. Such is winter in New England!

A Bit More Apron Love

A few weeks ago I received a bin of simply delicious vintage cottons.  There are bits of magic hidden in the closets of decades old sewers and oh the joy when they overflow into my own closet!  Tucked away in the stacks of fabric were two rather plain, but completed, aprons.  The littles latched onto them immediately and despite their adult sizes declared them simply perfect.  I have to admit, their “completed” status was rather attractive as the unpacking and holiday preparations stared me in the face.  With a few gathers and tucks we now have two appropriately sized aprons that have been getting a lot of use.  After all holiday baking has to happen despite the size of any other to-do list right!!! 

Here’s how the alterations went for Rebecca’s apron. Basically I gathered the top edge, the center front, and the sides and stitched the gathers in place to squinch it in…and make it look cute at the same time.  I added some vintage trim to cover some of the gathers…and that was that! 

Perfectly tailored…perhaps not.  But she is thrilled with it (despite the grumpy face!), and it is happily worn throughout many baking adventures!!

Oh…and yes, sometimes completed sewing projects still have lose threads, and sometimes there is paper on my floor!  It’s that kind of creative home over here. 

A Little Apron Love

Have you ever heard of a Yankee Swap?  It’s pretty much the same as a White Elephant Gift Exchange, but with a different name.  This is after all, New England, and it’s Yankee everything around here.  Except for baseball…oh my!!! 

While enjoying the friendly banter of a huge Yankee Swap during a holiday party this I season, I fell in love with an apron someone opened.  I could have “swapped” for it…but the poor woman had already had 5 gifts “swapped” and I just couldn’t do it!  It was a darling little apron, so simple, with a bib top, wide waist band and pleated skirt.  I would have loved it for myself, but it actually immediately came to mind for someone on my gift list.  It’s just so great when the perfect gift comes to mind! 

It was the simplest thing in the world to make.  Just a few measurements, a few drafts on paper, and we were good to go!  For the skirt I simply measured the length I wanted and cut a rectangle (accounting for a hem) the width of my fabric.  (So in my case 45”) Then I simply pleated it up until it was the width I wanted for the skirt.  The top I drew out on butcher paper first.  It’s a bib style with velcro on the tabs in the back.  You could easily do buttons, snaps, or ties also.  Once I had the shape and size I wanted I cut it out of my main fabric and a lining fabric adding a 1/2” seam allowance.  I stitched the two layers together right sides together leaving the bottom open.  I turned it right side out and attached it to the skirt with wrong sides together.  ( I top stitched this seam flat).  Covering up this seam is a nice wide tie, and a darling little flower.  Viola!  Who doesn’t love a little apron love for the holidays.

How to Make a Pumpkin Garland

Our live is very much a dizzying swirl of boxes, tape, houses, new places, and lists.  In the midst of all the craziness that will consume us completely over the next few weeks there has been some still crafting and handwork.  A geometry lesson turned into handwork recently and we made a delightful garland…or as she says…“necklace for the house”.

She drew several circles and ovals for me and we pinned them to two layers of orange felt and cut them out. 

I cut thin strips of black felt and she cut them into squares circles or thinner strips to bend into pumpkin grins. 

She designed the faces and counted out one smile, two eyes, and one nose for each pumpkin. 

We hot glued the features in place forming the most charming and wonky little pumpkin faces you’ve ever seen. 

We stitched the two layers of felt together leaving a small opening at the top.  By the way…I love stitching felt with little ones.  You can use quite a blunt needed and the felt has some stability which makes it easier for little hands to maneuver. 

She painstakingly stuffed each pumpkin the perfect pumpkin plumpness and we finished stitching the hole. 

Our plan was to use twigs as stems but it had been raining all day and everything was wet wet wet…so we broke off small strips of wood from the scrap bin in the workshop because we were impatient to finish!!! 

We strung a the pumpkins on a black ribbon, tying a knot before and after each one to keep the pumpkins from sliding around.

It turns out she had a very particular idea of where this “necklace” should go…and up it went, where it brings joy to every dish washer every day!         

And on a side note…do you see how this project became a lesson in geometry, basic mathematics, art, and handwork…oh I do so love learning side by side with this girl each day!

Return

Autumn has returned.  As I enter the second round of seasons on this blog I marvel at the rhythm of the earth that appear even a bit more present when documented here.  I peek back and am grateful for this blog….and for each of you.  Yes, autumn has returned and though it is a bit mushy here right now the crispness in the air just a short time ago is still so invigorating.  On a perfectly crisp day last week we celebrated a much anticipated return of one of our most favorite people who was away for a bit.  Oh boy did they welcome him!!!   What ensued was just the sort of body tossing wrestling that takes the breath out of watching mama’s, is so carefully controlled by strong dada’s (see Mom…he’s supporting their necks and backs the whole time….!), and fills little ones with utter glee.  We do love the return of all that we love this season! 

   I also returned for the second edition of those perfect vintage pants.  This time with a repurposed pair of khakis and the last bit of a delightful floral print, and a bit of vintage lace.  True…it didn’t bring quite the response that his  return did…but I loved every minute of it.  Oh…and I’m returning to that pattern again this week too…seriously…they are the perfect vintage pants!