Dusted off my trusty machine...

I love sewing.

I don't claim to be good at it. I can't even follow a simple pattern.

But there is something so fun about going to the fabric store, picking out the designs that catch your eye, and then cutting, pinning, folding, tucking and stitching your way to a new creation.

That final moment...drumroll...when you finish the last row of stitches, remove the pins and...hold your breath as you turn it right side out and hope for the best.


Now that my son is 3.5 months old, he seems to have settled into a nice little naptime routine on the days that we are both home. 1.5 hours in the morning, and 2.5 hrs in the afternoon. I'll take it! And it means that mommy has time to sew when she decides to ignore the fact that there are bathrooms that need to be cleaned, bills that need to be paid, laundry that needs to be folded...you get the idea.

Today was one such day. My fingers were just itching to start the new project for which I went shopping yesterday. I have decided (after being sick and tired of changing my outfit five times a day, and his outfit ten times a day) that we need some more burp clothes around this house. And, the fun part is, now I know what the gender of my baby is (at least I really hope I know by now), so I decided to go boy all the way. Monsters. Aliens. Dinosaurs. Bugs. ewww.

I was so excited to cut and sew on my new huge table. All that work space, it's a shame it doesn't get used more often for the various crafts that I wish I could get accomplished.

So this post will be a kinda sorta tutorial...I'll just tell you what I did for this project.
First, and this step is very important, I chose some good listening tunes. Florence seemed to fit the mood for me.

Next, I cut out the material. I used terry cloth for the backs and different flannel prints for the front.

Next I sewed the print and the terry cloth together with 'right' sides facing each other.(I left a little gap on one edge through which I could turn it inside out)

After turning it right side out, I sewed the gap closed with a tiny seam (set it to 0, like so)

Part-way through, it took a focused effort on my part to stay in the house and not strap on my boots and take a walk outside through the most lovely, HUGE snowflakes I have ever seen! (somehow I don't think my baby would appreciate being ripped from his nap to trek along with me). I felt like I was trapped in a snow globe.

Photos don't do these flakes justice. They literally looked like pieces of batting falling from heaven. I wonder if that's what it looked like when manna fell out of the sky for the Israelites....
Anyways, I digress...
After ironing to make the edges lie nice and flat, I used a zig-zag stitch in a contrasting thread to secure the cloth together and to add some fun interest.

I tried to ignore my boy as he looked at me accusingly and wondered why I was sewing instead of feeding him

And later on I tried to ignore him and sew, but I couldn't help snapping a few shots of him doing tummy time. On a side note, I wonder if he had nightmares that night after seeing his distorted reflection in that plastic mirror. Poor kid.

So, after about two or three days of working on this (things take a bit longer with a baby!), I finally finished the project and I was very happy with how they turned out. Now already almost every one has been lovingly christened by Will.