Babywearing and a quick and easy craft

I am such a huge fan of baby wearing and have used a few different baby carriers to do so. With Stasa I used my stretch jersey wrap a lot and got pretty good at getting it on and her in it. Every time I wore it in public I would get stopped and asked about it - where did I get it, how do I use it, etc. We got a couple of new carriers after I had Lexi - the Babyhawk, which is my absolute favorite carrier, and a Bjorn. The Bjorn has been so great since it's the easiest to get on and off and Tom will actually use it to wear Tommy now. The only issue I have with the Bjorn is comfort. It works well for me for a bit, but after a couple of hours wearing the baby in it my back starts to ache and I think it's because all of the weight is being carried on your shoulders.


The Babyhawk is fantastic. It's got the comfort of a wrap, but the structure of the Bjorn. AND you can carry older children in it, which has been helpful lately. The girls have been really into taking care of their baby dolls lately, both of whom are named Tommy, and like to bring their doll strollers everywhere we go. Unfortunately the strollers are sometimes just too much for us to bring so I decided to make baby mei tei carriers for them. It took me maybe an hour or so to make them and get this - they only cost about $2 a piece to make. The girls love them and they were soooooooooo easy to make. A couple of rectangles of fabric, some thin quilting batting, and a few long tubes for straps. I could have made these with fabric I already had, but I took Lexi to the fabric store and let her pick out something for her and for Stasa. Now they can wear their babies like we wear Tommy. So many baby Tommys. I might make some extras since I have additional batting and if I do I'll take pics for each of the steps to share here.

Updated: It was a productive weekend, sort of

The sewing bug bit me pretty hard this weekend, so I spent most of my "free" time cutting pattern pieces, ironing fabric, and sewing, sewing, sewing.

On Saturday I took Stasa with me to JoAnn's to pick out new fabrics and dress patterns. Plus I needed to pick up some notions, like thread, zippers, bobbins, etc. Only I didn't get thread because I thought I had enough pink and blue thread for what I was going to make. Wrong.

Stasa was a lot of fun in the store. She picked out two fun dress patterns and then picked out the fabrics she liked. We ended up with 10 different fabrics and two dress patterns. She actually did a fairly decent job picking out coordinating fabrics, though one of the dresses will have four different fabrics, so we'll see how that one turns out.

I ended up making three dresses (and slimming one I made a few weeks ago) and had enough leftover fabric to make two skirts for Lexi.

Dress one: McCall's 4817


This one is the top left pattern with an extra flounce on the bottom. I cut the skirt part for the 2T length, so imagine how long it would have been as a 4T. I'll be making the dress shown on the little girl, but in the four crazy fabrics Stasa picked out. This dress was pretty easy to make - I started and finished it during the girl's nap on Sunday. I wish I had bought cute little cupcake buttons for it, but instead I dug in my button bin and used two light brown ones.


Dress two: Simplicity 2269


This dress was a bit more involved since it has gathered sleeves and a detailed yoke. It took me all night on Saturday to finish this dress. I cut a size 4T since Stasa is between sizes right now and the 4T is a bit roomy on her, but at least it's something she can grow into. I love the fabrics she chose for this dress. I made another one (not shown below) in a similar blue fabric that the girl on the pattern envelope is wearing, but I need a white zipper to finish it. The pattern doesn't call for a zipper, just two buttons, but I changed it up a bit for the blue fabric. Here's Stasa modeling the green version this morning:



It would probably be cuter if it was a bit shorter, so I might raise the hem a bit, but do it so I can let it out as she grows. We'll see. I might wind up being too lazy to do anything.

And here are Lexi's two skirts made from the scraps of Stasa's dress fabrics. I didn't use a pattern for these, just a super quick rectangle gathered at the waist by encased elastic. Both skirts took me about 15-20 minutes each. Super fast and easy to make. I've made Stasa a few of these skirts before, always with whatever leftover fabric I have laying around.

Skirt one:


Skirt two:




I have two dressed left to sew and I'll post pictures of those once they're finished. I'll try to remember to take a picture of the other dress I made a few weeks ago. It's super cute with a very full skirt. Here's the pattern for that dress (Simplicity 2466). I made it out of some fun neonish animal and graphic print fabric that Aunt Peggy gave me. Stasa loves it, so I'm sure it'll be the next thing she wears.


Updated:
Here's the twirly neon leopard dress, size too cute for life: