Big Flower Headband for babies--I made some!!

Such a tired baby! I had to wake her up so I could try on her new daisy headband that I made. I have been wanting to try this type of accessory without spending 10-20 bucks for one, so I went to Joanne Fabrics and found some daisys and the pink ones on clearance and then some fall mums and sunflowers on sale. I bought some elastic grab bags some time back that had this wide elastic that I almost tossed....good thing I didn't do that!

I figured that he headbands would be easy to make, as long as you just tried and they were super simple. I could have figured it out on my own, but I found some tutorials online and then tried it out.

Here are my first two tries--Daisys and lace on Lillian and Pink Peonies on lace for Alexandra.

I have made a third that needs some glue gun used to adhere the flower to an aligator clip so they can be interchangeable on the headband...it is a mixture of red and yellow mums.

I can't wait to go back to Joanne's and look for more flowers. I am thinking that next I will get little flowers and make a headband with 3 smaller flowers on it. Like sweet peas. I think I saw those on clearance, but knew the rage was all about big flowers and bypassed them, now as my mind gets going I see that some smaller clusters would be adorable too....and Alex would love love love the pink as it is her favorite color.

Isaac's & Lillian's Newest diapers! Cute Print Pocket diapers....

Here are 5 of the 10 diapers I made for Isaac yesterday and today.

He will only wear "cool" print diapers or else will throw a fit...
So...rather then fight it, I got busy and made my life easier at diaper changing time!

I also made 4 diapers for Lilly and can I just say, Minky is the best best bestest PUL EVER!!!

In my last batch of DIY PUL that I sent in, I had 4 different minkys in it and this purple bubbles is the first diaper I have made from them and WOW I LOVE LOVE her cute little bottom in such a fluffy soft diaper!

my next diy will have a TON more minky in it!! LOVE IT!!!

I got something done YEA!!

Actually, I got two things done so far this evening and plan on getting a 3rd finished while unwinding for bed....which I should have been in 1 hr ago! :) oops!

I finished a MT or Mei Tai infant/toddler carrier.... I had this bad boy started over a year ago and never finished it....but I did tonight. Finally...which is good because Lilly now has better head support and I would love to start her in on it. I like it the best for around the house...doing chores, cleaning and running after my other 2 rugrats.

I will get a picture of us in it tomorrow as I am getting some help from my neice...a 14 almost 15yr old who is bored out of her mind right now waiting for school to start! :)

I also got a pillowcase dress type shirt finished for my little 4yr old. It is a Dora the explorer purple fabric and purple ribbon straps. I love it and hope it looks nice on her. I hope she wants to wear it. Maybe if she actually likes it I will get other fabric for her and make more things for her. Can't guarentee she will model it for me, but will try.

Now I am off to finish putting the latest photos of Lilly into scrapbook pages...not in a book, b/c I don't have an actual book for her yet, but I have many of the pages finished. Once I finish that, it will be a 3rd off my to do list.

Oh...and I think I will go straight to my jewery box right now and put my wedding rings back on...5 weeks after I have deflated from having a baby and I still keep forgetting to go put that darn thing on! :) Glad it will fit now....but I do still have a few more pounds to get off...I might start to try running/walking in the mornings before anyone wakes...but of couse I need to get my lazy bum out of bed thought!

Good night....pictures to post tomorrow!

Angie's Free Cloth Diaper Pattern Nb-Lg

These patterns are JUST patterns with no instructions, no elastic markings and only approximated the snap and hook/loop placements. I am making posts on this blog with instructions.

These patterns have two drawn lines--a trimmer line at the crotch for day diapers, a wider line for night pocket diapers or covers.

At the back of the diapers there are two lines drawn, one for a front snapping and one for a side snapping.

This is a trim, nice fitting diaper on my kids and a few testers. I did not do a very intensive testing, but would love to hear any feedback on these, especially on the newborn and small sizes. I feel those two sizes are off some, but I do love my side snap that I made as a tester on my now 4 week old. I need to get some pictures of her in it. She is abou 10lbs and fits in it in nicely.


Newborn pattern 1
Newborn pattern 2

Small Pattern 1
Small Pattern 2

Medium 1
Medium 2
Medium 3

Large 1
Large 2
Large 3

Sewing your first cloth diaper

I have someone who I may be helping though the process of sewing her own cloth diapers and decided to start a few pointers, helpful hints on how to begin and refine the process to end up with nice diapers that look nice, work great and don't waste wonderful material that you probably spent a pretty penny on.

First....find a free pattern, sewing machine and old cotton garments/towels, elastic and thread

don't use snaps or velcro/touchtape/aplix--on the first, wait until you like it for those things. Your first diaper might be unusable for you --and if you really want--you could use it as a fitted using pins and a cover.

depending on the thickness of the fabrics, I would use only 2 thicker "body" layers and with thinner fabrics you could use 3.

Cut out several layers for the soaker layer and zig-zag the edges or serge if you have a serger.

Sew the soaker pad to the inner layer of 2 or middle layer of 3.

Place the right sides together (if using 3, make sure the hidden layer is showing on the outside) and pin together. (use more pins if using knits or stretchy fabrics)

Sew around the edges from one side of the front to the other side of the front, leaving the top of the diaper open for turning the diaper right side out.

Turn the diaper and pin the opening closed.

Two options here... some people sew all around the diaper--which is called topstitching. You can see this diaper here is like that. At the legs, it makes a "casing" around the elastic.

Some people don't like to topstitch the legs because the extra holes might encourage leaking.

Some people don't like to do the extra work.

But I *usually* do it b/c I feel the explosive or runny BMs are usually contained better this way then by not "casing" the legs.

Below if a picture of a fitted diaper where only the wings/back and the front have been topstitched and the legs have not. This was b/c I was lazy....plus my machine doesn't like to

sew through several layers of fabric and gets rather grumpy when I do.

At this point, make your decision about what you are gonna topstitch and do it!

You are done...try out the diaper on your wonderful child, who I am sure is gonna hold perfectly still for you to see how the fit is on them.

Once you have found a diaper pattern that you like, start making the diapers you want to make.

Stay tuned...sometime in the next week I plan on talking about how to sew the other types of diapers and the pros/cons of different diapering systems!