Projects

This has been a weekend of nesting and putting together some last sewing projects before Eric arrives. I know that I am in the phase of pregnancy---especially for me---during which he could come at any time.

With that in mind, I finished a couple of sewing projects this weekend for the kiddos.

Katie really has wanted a red ballet skirt. Since I had experience with sewing the first one (and with more difficult material), her new red tulle skirt went together in no time. It only took about 2.5 hours from start to finish---with lots of attending to Katie in between. Once I cut the fabric, the hardest part was keeping the tulle from catching on itself while pinning it into the skirt shape. Once I had it pinned, the skirt practically sewed itself. I handstitched the little sparkly rosettes on while we finished the latter part of The Princess and the Frog (which Katie really loves right now).

Looking at her new ballet skirt.

Doing one of her stretches.

Excited and getting ready for one of her jumps.

Arms out wide

As pleased as I was with the skirt, however, I was disappointed in my attempt at a new Boppy cover for Eric. A Boppy is a special nursing pillow, and I wanted Eric to have some covers of his own. With only a ballet skirt (I made this before sewing Katie's red skirt today) and a quilt to my name as a seamstress, I think I got a little ahead of myself on this project. I somehow fancied that I could make a Boppy pattern of my own and simply sew it...wrong. I took one of my existing covers and traced it on newspaper to make a pattern, amply enlarging it---or so I thought. And let me not even get into the sordid details of trying to account for, and sew around, the many curves of this pillow.

Looking at the picture below, you will see that by some miracle, the cover actually fits the Boppy and even manages to close; however, upon closer inspection you will see how ill-fitting the "fit" really is. Also, let's just come out with it: I took a picture of its more photogenic side, I admit it. I won't belabor the horrifying details, but some of the seams (especially on the back) look as though an 8-year-old tried to do a home ec project and got turned loose with some fabric and a machine and some scissors. Not my best work and it wouldn't make the criteria to give a duplicate as a gift, but good enough for those 1 AM feedings, perhaps...

The Boppy cover.

So with those projects completed, I will now return my machine to my upstairs sewing table (it has been on our kitchen table in the nook) where it will await the next phase of life in which I feel wakeful enough to dally with patterns and projects. I want to make Katie a dress this fall, but that might need to wait until Eric sleeps more.

The summer of sewing has come to a pause, and now I will turn my attention toward slower days with Katie and making sure everything is truly ready for Eric's arrival.