DydeeDaze On Facebook "likes" GiveAway

I am trying to increase my followers for my shop on Facebook to help increase awareness of my shop. Etsy is very competetive and it's a challenge to get yourself known. I have decided to offer a giveaway (who doesn't love a giveaway?) if I reach 50 likes on the DydeeDaze Facebook page. If you are interested, please follow this link and click "like." Once I reach 50 likes, I will announce information about the giveaway through my FB page.

What will I give away? Well, I haven't decided yet. Not everyone I'm connected with needs baby stuff. (I sell baby stuff on DydeeDaze) So I guess I will have a couple of options for the winner to choose from. I will announce the options once I have figured them out. =)

If you know anyone who might be interested in this, please share!

Thanks!

Goody Bag For Baby

I am sewing a lot for the shop these days, with the hopes of helping to send my kids to the school that we love for the next school year. I am focusing on baby stuff, and it's fun to make things for little people. I thought I would blog about the process of this current work-in-progress. I have a basic idea of what I want it to be, but the end result will be a surprise to us all. =)

 Part 1: A tote bag. I want this to be smaller than the others I've made. I want it to hold baby stuff. Easy for a parent to carry around and carry a few necessities. I decided to base this tote on the excellent KeykaLou grocery tote pattern. This one will be smaller, with longer straps. I have some fabric that I like, and a coordinating lining fabric, left over from another project. I will see what I can do with what's left of these fabrics. Here I'm cutting out straps.

 Sewing the straps...

 Making the tote lining...

 Shell is done, straps are sewn on.

 The tote is done. I love how it came out. The size is just what I was hoping for, and the straps are just right, too.

The lining. I'm very pleased with Part 1 of this project. =) On to Part 2.

 I am playing with the idea of a strap to attach to the tote. Something to hold a paci, or a toy. Something to keep baby happy while being changed, or as needed. I decided to put both fabrics in the strap.

 Oops. Forgot to crop this one! I sewed a small bit of the lining fabric on each end of the strap piece.

 All done. Just needs a way to attach to the tote. I waffled between velcro and snaps, but I decided to go with snaps.












Here it is, waiting for a toy. =)

 This is the only hanging toy left in my house! No more babies around here, so nothing to use as props! But this will do. You get the idea.

I like that the strap can hang outside of the bag or inside.

So Part 2 is done! On to part 3!

 Starting Part 3. I have ideas in my head of what I want to make, but I wing it when the time comes regarding sizes and shapes. I held my hands out in front of me with about the size I wanted this part to be, and measured that against my yard stick. I came up with 15" x 25". This photo is horrible. It does not show the right colors at all. But here I am using one fabric piece to cut out another the same size.

 I brought a swatch of fabric with me to JoAnn's earlier today to get some good coordinates. This was made from flannel, brown and light green, to match the tote.











It's a changing mat! It's designed to basically cover the changing tables in public restrooms, to keep baby away from the icky table. But obviously it could be used anywhere.

 Pretty good match, right?

 Starting to stuff the goody bag! =)

 Now I'm making a diaper/accessory pouch to go with the set. I wanted to coordinate, but it can be hard to find coordinating fabric to match something you've had in your stash for a while. I found this dot fabric at JoAnn's. It matches perfectly. I might have preferred something other than the off-white/yellowish color for the background, but beggars can't be choosers. This is from the same fabric line, and it's the best I'm going to do. So, dots for the outside, brown for the lining.

 A little interfacing will give the pouch some body.

 I'm in a snappy kinda mood these days. Vecro is nice, but snaps are fun! =) Pale green matches the tote.

 One of the instructions in the KeyKaLou grocery tote pattern is to double stitch the top of bag to reinforce. I love that, and use it often in my sewing.
























 Looking good so far. But we need one more thing to go along with the tote, the strap, the changing pad and the diaper/accessory pouch.

Flannel wipes! I used the same flannel that I used for the changing mat. I don't coordinate my outfits this well! Yikes. Anyhow, now this set feels complete! Ready for baby. =)

Patches

I have wanted to play with patching, or quilting, forever. I have always been intimidated by the work and patience involved. But I've been sewing a lot for the shop and I am trying to come up with interesting ideas. I recently finished this set, which consists of 3 cloth diapers, 12 flannel wipes, and a wet bag. It occurred to me that it might be interesting to have the wet bag match the flannel wipes and the diapers. So the inside of the wet bag is made from the same blue PUL waterproof fabric as the diapers are, and the wet bag has patches of fabric that match each of the 12 wipes! Although piecing IS a lot of work (ironing the little seams down is a chore....) the results are fun and a bit addicting. I've got plans to do more in the near future. =) 

Idea In The Works...

Chore "rings." This will have more details, and photos, as this comes together. The idea is just starting to formulate in my head. =)

Bibs

 My sister has a 7-month old little boy. Recently I asked her what she could use for the baby. What's the next best thing to making things for a baby? Well, buying things for a baby! She told me that she could really use some "longer" bibs, something that covers better than these little bibs you get in the stores. Buy a bib? Bah! I went online and did a quick search for a pattern, et voila!

These bibs are made using snuggle flannel on the front, which I have a bin of left over from my fitted-cloth-diaper-making days, and terry cloth. I had that, too. I had bought some to make another project for sis's baby, but never got to it. (Some projects call to us, others just don't)

I stitched the fabrics together inside out, then flipped it, and top stitched around. I used a snap closure for these. A little steam pressing, and I was done. =)


Puppies! Sis likes this one best.

The terry cloth on the back.

Closure.

These were easy and quick, and I think there are more of them in my future!

Diaper Dilemmas

I am a self-taught sewer, so I run into sewing dilemmas frequently. Some things I can figure out on my own. Some things I kind of "wing" and make it work. Sometimes I have to find an answer somewhere. Sometimes I go online and search for answers through google.com. But the best sewing resource by far is the Sewing Mamas group. Time and again they've answered questions or talked me through a sewing "procedure."

Recently I started making cloth diapers again. Originally I was making fitted diapers, and after a purchasing a diaper pattern and using that for a while, I adjusted it and started doing my own thing. No problem.  But this time around I wanted to try making one-size (OS) diapers with a waterproof layer. I like the idea of making one type of diaper again and again. So as I do, I got all excited to get started, so I set to work with the materials I had on hand, and produced a diaper. But not without issues.....

First of all, I am using snaps. I have snap pliers, and an assortment of snaps. I have applied them before. I was familiar with the process. These diapers take about 20 1/2 snaps each. (oy) So it's work, and it takes time to carefully apply each part. Carefullly, because about 1 in 4 snaps ends up getting smashed. Why is this? Well, I thought it was because I just wasn't lining the snap up correctly in the snap pliers. And it was. But wasn't this a problem that everyone had? I mean, I don't mind redoing the occasional snap, but this was getting ridiculous. And frustrating. And wasteful. So I investigated the situation by doing a search online. Well, it came as no surprise that there are different pieces that go with the snap pliers. It also came as no real surprise that you could order the parts. But if you owned the older version of the pliers, the new parts would have a funny fit. Review after review stated that the new parts on the older pliers made for a very tight squeeze for the snaps. Ugh. So that means new pliers. The new ones have many reviews touting the better snap fit. Seems like the way to go if I'll be making diapers. Ok, so that's in the works.

The next issue is working with PUL. Again, I have nothing to reference with this, or people to ask, so I tried it on my own. Sewing PUL to another fabric is like trying to get a slippery eel to lie still next to, well, anything. It was everywhere. Well, everywhere except where I needed it to be. Frustrating to say the very least! This time I appealed to the Sewing Mamas group. And as always, I got lots of great suggestions. The first of these was to use a walking foot on my sewing machine. Ok. I have one of those, but have never used it. I couldn't figure out how to put it on my machine. All of the other feet snap into place. This one did not. I didn't have a clue, and no instructions came with the foot. Admitting this to the SM group resulted in links to photos and instructions. =) It took about half a minute to put it on. (I've owned the thing for over a year-lol!) I was very eager to try it out. I did so. The PUL did not slip sideways. It moved through the machine with ease. Until I got toward the other end of a diaper. The PUL piece was pushed about one inch beyond the piece I was sewing it to. Ak! Frustrating! But a step in the right direction. The SMs assured me PUL can be tamed. I need to keep trying. Some other suggestions included using tissue paper as a stablizer, using two-sided tape or a glue stick to hold the fabric together, using a teflon foot, and so on. I wonder if sewing certain parts of the diaper first, rather than sewing around in one loop would be helpful. Anyhow, these are things to play with.

The one other area of this particular diaper pattern was understanding how to make the pocket in the back of the diaper. The instructions in the pattern were unclear to say the least, but with a few trials (and a few errors!) I figured it out. There is little that is more satisfying than figuring out a tricky sewing step! It's the sort of thing that keeps me going when I can't get through something. (Such as working with PUL) The pattern had no pictures with it, and the written directions assumed a lot of sewing experience. The result is a nice looking pocket.





Update: Several things have made this whole process much easier. For one thing, I recently received a new batch of snaps from the KAM snap company. It is evident that others had the same problems with smashing snaps that I did, as they are made differently now! The areas that smashed on the old style snap are now much thicker. Problem solved! So I am still using the snap pliers I have always used, and they work perfectly with the new, improved snaps. Excellent.

Regarding the PUL, I have found that the use of my walking foot along with having the PUL-side of my project facing DOWN, I can successfully sew with PUL! I also tried using tissue paper, which works fine, but I really don't think I need it. I just sewed a diaper together using this method, and it worked great. No slipping, sliding side to side, stretching, nothing. I did carefully guide the fabric to be sure things were lining up well, and I would recommend always doing so. But I am very happy to have a system that works!

As far as the pattern goes, I hit another step that caused me some pause. This time it was using velcro on the wings of the diaper. The step is quite simple, but I got hung up on the working in the pattern. Many times while sewing I have come across the term "right-sides together." Simple enough. In this pattern, the author uses the term "wrong-sides facing." On an earlier step in the pattern, the front and back of the diaper pieces were to be sewn together inside-out and then flipped. We were instructed to put the pieces "wrong-sides facing." So I translated this to mean right sides together. So, wrong sides facing out, I figured. No problem. But when it came to the velcro on the wings, the instructions said to put the hook and loop pieces "wrong-sides facing." HUH? The velcro tab needed to end up being wrong-sides together, and stitched together this way. How on earth do you start that with right sides together?? I could not for the life of me figure out how that would work. I ended up stitching the pieces together wrong-sides together, then sewing the tab onto the wings. Which was just as it was to be done. So what am I missing here? I always assume it's something I'm not getting, not a mistake in a pattern, and maybe it will suddenly make sense. But not yet. Anyhow, the diapers are coming together well at this point, and I am very happy with them.

Pigs and Piglets - A Fabric By Fabric One Yard Wonders Project (in progress)

For Christmas this year I received the Fabric By Fabric One Yard Wonders book. Here is my first project from this fun-looking book.

I am going to attempt to make two mama pigs, and 12 piglets. (One set for each child)

Here are the some of the supplies. Interfacing to trace the pattern pieces. Pink fleece. Felt, velcro dots, pink zippers, pink thread, polyester fiber fill and black embroidery fleece. Add to that pink yarn, cotton fabric and elastic, which aren't pictured, and we've got everything we need.













Tracing and cutting...

I have sat down twice now to cut out pieces, and I'm not done yet. With 2 mama pigs and 12 piglets to create, there are many, many pieces involved! The piglets take 5 body pieces each...

96 piglet foot pieces. 12 piglets, 4 feet each, two pieces per foot. The instructions say to sew these together. I know without trying that my sewing machine will not want to stitch these little things. So I will have to sew them all on tear-away fabric. I will be working on them for a l.o.n.g time.

I knew without trying that my sewing machine would eat these little parts for lunch, so I am stitching them all on tear-away fabric. Can you say ugh? All the piglet ears are stitched, on to the piglet feet. All 48 of them. A little every day...