Valentine newborn fitted diapers

Here are few more velour fitted newborn diapers to add to my stash. I used the same free newborn diaper pattern from Darling Diapers. I added rise snaps for size flexibility and also made snap-in inserts.The diapers are made with red recycled cotton velour on the outside and hot pink bamboo velour on the inside. The inserts are made with one layer of bamboo fleece, three layers of hemp and organic cotton jersey and one layer of hot pink bamboo velour. The fitted diaper requires a waterproof cover and I made four newborn pul covers a while back. I now have 18 fitted velour and 11 ai2 newborn diapers so should be all set for a few months.

I also made a cute swaddle blanket using the pattern from Lotta Jansdotter. It turned out really cute, but I realized I put the velcro on the opposite side but it will work the same so no problem. I used Amy Butler fabric for the outside and microfleece for the inside. I hope to make one more swaddle blanket before the little girl arrives but not sure if that is going to happen since I am due this Thursday. We will see when she makes her grand arrival.

Newborn pul diaper covers

I am still adding to the newborn diaper collection. I made newborn size diaper covers using sandwich pul that I purchased a while back from Swaddlebees. I used the newborn pattern from Simple Diaper-Sewing Tutorials. I purchased the 1 inch bright pink foe and touch tape from Diaper Sewing Supplies. The covers were pretty easy to make and the pattern has rise snaps so should fit her well for the first few months. I love the colors and hope they work well. I should find out in a few weeks and I am getting excited to meet our little girl!

Newborn gowns

I started making newborn clothing items for our little girl. The first is newborn gowns with matching hats. The gown pattern is the Rockin" Baby Gown from This Mama Makes Things. The hat pattern is from Zaaberry. Both are great patterns with online tutorials. I used recycled shirts from the thrift store to make everything. The flower applique is really easy to add. I used a large circle that I twisted in the center and scrunched. I then sewed a spiral from the outside to the inside of the flower. I also made a pair of ruffle pants with left over t-shirt fabric. The pants pattern is from Handmade Baby Clothes. I added the ruffles to the back. I am going to make more pants and a few shirts to match using the gown pattern. Only 5 1/2 more weeks or so to go. It is going by really quickly.

More baby sewing

 
I am almost 32 weeks and nesting has really kicked in lately in the form of sewing. I am still working on cloth diapers and accessories. I made three zippered wet bags from using my quilting fabric stash and swaddlesbees sandwich pul. I found a great tutorial for zippered wet bags on pinterest at the blog The Mary Francis Project. I made my bags a bit larger to fit a few larger size diapers but the pattern is the same. I also made one large wet bag that uses recycled pul from a bag I made for J. I also quilted the front handle using cotton batting. I really love the handle design along with the zipper. I think these are going to work really well for cloth diapering on the go.

I am almost done with the newborn size cloth diapers. I made the rest of the ai2 diapers using pul from old covers from J and the same pattern as in my ai2 tutorial. I added cotton fabric to a few of the wings to cover a few places in the pul fabric that were pilling. So I have a total of 19 newborn diapers including the recycled velour fitted diapers. I still need to make diaper covers and a few more fitted diapers to makes sure I have enough. I have a few newborn diapers from J and will use those as a back up.  They have actually been used by three babies so far since I loaned them out to friends and are starting to show some wear now but will be nice to have on hand.

I also made patchwork cloth wipes from all of my quilting fabric scraps. I love the rounded shape and they fit perfectly in my wipe cases. I am going to make a homemade wipe solution again and should be all set in that area. The wipes are quilting cotton on one side and either flannel or hemp/organic fleece on the other side. I had a few flannel receiving blankets from J and they worked perfect for the wipes. I love all of the fabric colors and think it will really nice to have pretty diapering accessories for when she comes.

Recycled pink velour fitted newborn diapers

I'm making progress on the diaper stash for our little girl. I just finished making newborn fitted diapers. The pattern is the same as for the one size ai2 diaper. Instead of pul fabric I used recycled cotton velour from a pair of thrift store pants for outside fabric. It is lined with bamboo/organic cotton velour. The snap in soaker pad is lined also with the bamboo/organic cotton velour. It has two layers of hemp fleece that I recycled from older diapers from J. It also has two layer of bamboo/hemp jersey. These diapers require a waterproof cover which I plan to make in a few weeks. I decided to make a combination of ai2 diapers along with fitted diapers that require a cover. I like both styles and find it is nice to have a combination. I have nine ai2 diapers cutout using the pul from older covers from J. I plan to finish those up soon and move on to the one size small diapers. I bought bright red and purple velour pants at the thrift store for the diaper outer fabric so lots of fun colors.

Happy Halloween!

I am a little late in posting our Halloween costumes. We had a great time trick or treating at the UVA lawn and also passing out goodies at our house. This year we went with the family star wars theme. I made J a jedi costume from a few extra cotton curtains we had in the linen closet. The pattern is based on a karate outfit. I improvised the belt by looking online at jedi costumes. He really liked the costume and wore it to preschool on Halloween. I reused my Princess Leia costume from two year ago. I had a few wardrobe malfunctions. I couldn't find my knitted hair buns and the belt that just fit me the week before no longer fit. I added ties to the belt and improvised on the hair buns. I cut long tubes of black knit fabric and stuffed those with bamboo fill. I attached the buns to the headband since I couldn't figure out a way to attach them to my hair as I did with the knitted buns. All it all it turned good and was comfy to wear on my 26 week preggo body. For C I also reused the cape from wizard costume I made two years ago. I made a similar belt for him to wear of the cape so it was easy to get together. It was a lot of fun dressing up as a family again.

Lavender and geranium lotion bar

I am not sure why I haven't made lotion bars before.  I used a wonderful belly lotion bar that came in a stick when I was pregnant with J. I loved using it so much that I went through two bars in the last part. The bars are a bit expensive though so once he was born I gave them up. Recently, I looked for a body butter recipe and came across lotion bars. I made one a month ago and now I am hooked. They are really simple to make, work great and are cost effective compared to buying one in the store. The recipe is simple. It is a combination of liquid and solid oils along with a wax and essential oils. Most recipes I have seen call for equal parts of the oils and wax. I use candelilla wax which is a vegan substitute for beeswax. It is harder than beeswax so I only use half as much candelilla wax in the recipe. The last bar I made I used vegetable emulsifying wax and it worked great also. Here is recipe for my latest lotion bar. See my lemon cleanser post for places to buy supplies. I have also found supplies on esty.com.

Lavender and geranium lotion bar

2 Tbl wheat germ oil
2 Tbl safflower oil
2 Tbl cocoa butter
2 Tbl shea butter
2 Tbl candelilla wax
15 drops lavender oil
5 drops geranium oil

Add all of the ingredients except the essential oils to a double boiler and heat until everything is melted. Remove from the heat and let it cool for a bit. Add the essential oils and pour into a mold. I used a plastic container but you can use any soap mold. Once it hardens you can pop it out of the mold and use. Enjoy!