Make-It Monday: Boys' Shorts

Feeling empowered by my successful attempt at making a summer dress for Elizabeth, I decided to try a pair of shorts for Toby next. 

I got the pattern for the Lazy Day Shorts from a lady I found on Facebook. Sarah is behind Made By Jack's Mum (MBJM) and she makes clothes and has also released her own sewing patterns. I explained to her that I was a novice at sewing but liked her shorts and she assured me that they were quite simple and I'd be able to make them. So I bought her pattern and she was right!

I had already purchased some dirt bike fabric a while ago, thinking it would be great made into something for Toby.   I went and dug it out, then got to work.  The pattern itself was purchased as a downloadable PDF document and it was easy to tape the pattern together - much easier than some of the other PDF patterns I've bought but haven't made yet.  I cut out my fabric and followed the well written instructions with ease and very quickly progressed through all the steps.  The most time consuming part for me was getting the elastic through the casing I'd made for it as I didn't quite sew straight and one part was therefore a little narrow....  It was all fine though and the elastic does sit flat - just!

They fit Toby really well.  These are designed to go over reusable nappies but we use disposables as well.  I was worried I'd ONLY be able to use them with the cloth nappies but they fit great either way.  The pattern comes with variations and I'm going to try the trousers next.  I'm actually excited!  I think just a cotton fabric will look too much like PJs so I need to work out how to line them I think.  I might do a bit of experimenting and/or Googling and see what I come up with.

So here they are:

I've been a little quiet...

I've actually been really poorly. Almost three weeks ago I caught a sickness bug from Elizabeth. She wasn't too badly affected, just off her food mainly and a little tired. She was only physically sick twice. I was really hit hard though. I spent the first night with my head in a bucket and the following day in bed. Frans had the day off work to be at home and look after everyone. I didn't eat or drink anything (other than a few pieces of toast and sips of water) for 5 days. On day 8 I started to feel better. 2 days later Toby got ill and he had a really bad case of diarrhoea, so a different bug this time. Unfortunately both Frans and I caught this one but again I was hit a lot harder. I'm now feeling really good and over all the bugs but I've lost a lot of weight and am still feeling a bit weak. Fingers crossed no more bugs come our way.

Make-It Monday: Doll's Sleeping Bag

Elizabeth has been asking me for quite some time to make her a sleeping bag for her dolls. When Toby was younger and used one, Elizabeth would steal it at every available opportunity and put a teddy in it so they could sleep. Now that Zachary uses one, she has started doing this again. When I told her that it wasn't for playing with, she asked me to make one.

So using scrap fabric, I set to work. I've made this up as I've gone along so it does look a bit odd but it works so I'm not complaining. Neither is Elizabeth :) I did use this opportunity to 'play' a little. I used bias binding around the arms and neck, just to try something and practice my curves. I'm also adding poppers to the shoulders and side to make it easier to get the dolls in and out, but also to practice adding them on to fabric. I've not done it before, so again it's a good opportunity for me.  As you can see, I haven't yet finished the edges or put poppers on so it's still a work in progress.

Elizabeth's Nighttime Antics

Most nights now, when I go up to bed, I find Elizabeth in some strange state in her bedroom. Sometimes it's simply that she's fallen asleep whilst climbing into bed, so her feet are still hanging out. Other times it's a lot more elaborate, like last night. 

Last night, the floor was covered in toy food - Elizabeth had been feeding some of her teddies. The changing mat was out too so clearly someone had needed a nappy change at some point. My attention turned to the bed. Elizabeth had decided (again) to sleep down the wrong end of the bed but at least she had her head (sort of) on the pillow and was under her sheet. Only she wasn't wearing the pyjamas we'd put her in at bedtime. Alfred the bear was wearing those and was tucked up with her. Elizabeth was wearing her favourite pair of very warm winter pyjamas. I have no idea why because it's friggin' hot weather right now! (28°C yesterday and about 16°C overnight).

Swimming Lessons

We love the children's swimming lessons with Tamara at Baby Swimming. We started when Elizabeth was just 10 weeks old and now she's three and a half YEARS old! Which means that it's time for her to move on. Dolphin Swimming School was recommended to us and I've just heard from them about classes for my little lady. She'll be doing their 9.30 Saturday class from September.

So this means that Zachary gets to start with Baby Swimming! His class will be right before Toby's, still on a Saturday. Exciting times :)

I think that Elizabeth has mixed feelings about swimming. She enjoys being in the water and splashing around with Daddy but isn't that bothered about actually learning to swim. Don't get me wrong, she loves that she can do a lot of it on her own but I can't see her wanting to continue lessons once she can swim properly. I doubt she'll be interested in progressing to diving or trying to improve her speed. I don't blame her either - I'm not a fan of the water. But she's still young enough not to know that she can stop and young enough to enjoy it all anyway.

Toby is quite different though. He also started when he was 10 weeks old and he'll be 2 in 8 weeks time, but his attitude to the water is very different to Elizabeth's. At the start of the year, we almost stopped his lessons as he just cried all the time. Then one week everything changed and we have no idea why - he loved it! Something clicked for him, I think. He started to realise that he could move himself in the water, rather than being dragged through it. And now Toby is a little swimming star. He wants to swim constantly when he's in the water, he wants to jump straight in if you stand him on the side and he can't wait to actually do the lesson. Of course he likes the play aspect too but he really just wants to swim. Toby may well want to continue swimming when he's older; he's clearly inherited his Daddy's love of the water.

Make-it Monday: Summer Dress

This week I'd like to share a dress with you.  It's the first time I've used a pattern (although I vaguely remember using one in my teens when making something with my Mum...) and so I've really taken my time with this.  I spent a good while at each step making sure that I read it right and double checking everything.  I wanted to fully understand what I needed to do before diving in.  So this dress has probably taken around two weeks from start to finish but I'm so pleased with how it's turned out.  It's far from perfect but as I said last time, the most important thing is that it fits!

So this is the pattern I was following.  I chose the dress on the right and went for the most basic variation of it - no bows, no frills, just the dress.

The pattern consisted of four pieces; skirt front, skirt back, bodice front, bodice back.  In hindsight I should have paid a little more attention to where I was placing the pattern pieces to make sure that the finished dress would flow well across the join between the bodice and the skirt, but at the time I was just focusing on having the pattern the correct way round on the fabric and making my cutting-out accurate.

So the first new skill I had to overcome was bias binding.  I'd heard of it but had no idea what to do with it.  I found the instructions difficult to understand so I had to read them quite a few times and also consult Google before I felt ready to give it a go.  It turns out that once I'd done it, the instructions made total sense.  The neckline was relatively easy as it was square but I found the curve of the armholes much more difficult.  They're not really smooth but still sit well and look decent so I'm happy.

Then came the zip!  I've added zips onto simple cushion covers before but again, nothing like this.  I had to overlap the fabric from the front bodice section with the back bodice.  There was lots of reading and re-reading and consulting both Google and my Mum but I did it and am very pleased with how it turned out.

Everything else was really just basics.  I don't have an overlocker/serger so I used both stright stitches and zig zags for my seams.  I double-rolled the hem at the base of the skirt and was chuffed to bits that all my pieces and seams lined up well.

Elizabeth loves her new dress and ran into pre-school telling everyone that her Mummy had made it.  I love that she loves it and that's all the praise I need.

Nappy Free!

Hurrah! I finally have one child that doesn't wear nappies! Three weeks ago, the last weekend in June, we made the decision to stop putting Elizabeth in a nappy at nighttime. We had been talking about it with her for quite a while but it had got to the point where every other morning her nappy had leaked. She's just too big for them. So that Saturday morning we told Elizabeth that she didn't need to wear a nappy at night any more, even though she was showing no signs of being ready for this.

Bedtime came and we explained to E that she didn't need to wear a nappy any more. Her response was something like 'that's because I'm a big girl!' We told her that she could leave her bedroom if she needed the toilet and that she needed to wake up if she needed the toilet while she was sleeping. We heard her go to the toilet half a dozen times before she fell asleep and she was dry when we went to bed. She woke up needing the toilet at some point in the night so it was a great first night. The second night she slept through with no accidents. The third night we had an accident to clear up.

Since then we've had maybe 5 or 6 nights where E has had an accident but the problem is that E just sleeps through it and we need to wake her. I'm sure that'll stop but in the meantime I'm getting less sleep and doing more washing.

Elizabeth is so pleased with herself though and we're both very proud of her.