Introducing the Small Human Being Sewalong!

(Does that sound like we're sewing small human beings? Oops. Spoiler alert: we're not.)

Adorable badge by Mikhaela!

One of the things that surprised and delighted me the most about sewing blogging is what a lovely community we have here. When it seems that so much of online interaction is negative (cyberbullying! bodyshaming! awful YouTube comments!), it's nice to be able to count on this corner of Teh Interwebs to be kind, encouraging, and constructive. This was especially evident after I had SHB and so many of you reached out to comfort me that yes, this time is hard, but it will pass and I will sleep, eat leisurely with two hands, and sew again. I'm especially glad for Clio and Mikhaela and their new darling boys to celebrate and commiserate with. We've been emailing back and forth and decided that it would be nice to do a little sew-along to give us the push we need to get back to our machines. Then we started thinking about how many other sewists are welcoming new or coming SHBs, and we thought, why not invite everyone to join us?

As new parents (or even veteran parents!), we know just how hard it is to find the time, inspiration, and energy to sew, so consider this an invitation to push through the the fog of sleep deprivation and cluster-feeding to do something creative. Besides, the nice thing about sewing for such small human beings is that we can finally use up those tiny scraps that are too big to throw away, but not small enough to clothe adults or even kids. Or if you're looking for an excuse to buy new fabric, well, most baby sewing patterns don't need more than a yard of fabric, so you can splurge on something nice. There are so many free baby sewing patterns out there, you don't even need to go out and buy a pattern if you don't want to. Plus, taping up those pdfs will be a piece of cake since there's no way a baby pattern will take up 40 pages!

Want in? Here are the guidelines:

1. Human babies only, not fur babies (sorry fur babies!). 
2. Items should be for babies ages 0-12 months old (It's OK if the baby isn’t born yet!).
3. They can be for any baby -- your own, a friend’s, a niece/nephew/grandchild/whatever, or you can make baby items to donate to charity (we will be posting about a few charities that accept baby-related donations if you would like to do this). 
4. Sewing only (no knitting or needle felting or other crafts). Hand-sewing, serging and sewing machine are all acceptable construction options. 
5. The sewn item can be as simple or as complex as you like -- if all you sleep-deprived parents have time to do is sew a simple cotton knit baby hat or serge a pair of reusable nursing pads, that’s cool.

Other details:

Timeline: We'll sew during the month of April, and then at the end of the month we'll do a round-up of our favorite pieces and choose winners for some prizes!

Categories: You can sew as many items as you would like to enter into three categories: 1) Baby Clothing, 2) Baby Accessories and Other Items, such as quilts, toys, burp cloths, bibs, etc., and 3) For Parents -- because you can still do somewhat selfish sewing! -- things like maternity clothes, nursing tops/covers/pads, diaper bags, and baby carriers.

Prizes: We will choose a winner for each category to receive a year's subscription to Ottobre kids' sewing pattern magazine, and randomly select a couple of winners to receive a copy of the Oliver & S Lullaby Layette pdf pattern.

How to participate: Grab the badge for your blog if that's your thing, then leave a comment here or on Clio's or Mikhaela's blogs saying you want in (and your plans, if you know already). You can post photos of your makes on Twitter and Instagram with the hashtag #SHBsewalong, or post to our Flickr group. At the end of the month, we'll also post a call for links if you want to link to a blog post with your items.

If you'd like a more warm-weather badge, there's this option as well!

I'm going to try to make some pajamas and pants for SHB, and if I'm really ambitious I might try to make some more toys for him. And if the seas gang dry and the rocks melt wi' the sun and SHB starts sleeping more, I might even go so far as to make a nursing-appropriate garment for myself. Clio and Mikhaela and I will not only be sharing our makes, but also doing inspiration posts to give you an idea of what's out there and what's possible, so stay tuned! In the meantime, what do you think, sewists? Are there small human beings in your lives you can sew for? (I'm looking at you, Becky, Juebejue, and Amity!)

Here's SHB enjoying gnawing on the plush shark I made for him while lying on the nautical-themed quilt I made for him!
And as you can see, his pants are getting way too short.

Solving the Baby Boy + Cat Problem

I've mentioned before that one of the things that frustrates me most about RTW baby stuff is that manufacturers don't seem to think that boys can be into cats. There's no shortage of blue puppy-themed items and pink cat-themed items, but what's mom of a cat and baby boy to do? Obviously, the answer is to sew my own blue cat-themed item. Oh, I guess I could buck the socially accepted gender-color associations, but TBH, I don't feel strongly enough about it. I do feel strongly about cats, though, so decided that SHB needed something cat-themed to wear. Start 'em early with the indoctrination, right?

I used Kwik-Sew 3127 to whip up this fleece outfit for SHB. Of course, the minute I finish, the weather here takes a turn for the better and it's been way too warm for fleece anything! New Englanders and Canadians, please don't stone me for complaining that it's too warm and sunny. *ducks head* I'm kind of hoping it gets cold again, because look how adorable SHB is in his cozy new suit:

Once again, testing the mobility: can I lick my paw...er, hand?

Unfortunately, despite sewing up his recommended size, the outfit is HUGE on him! His feet don't even reach the ankles of the pants, and the body of the jacket is way too wide. The sleeves, hood, and waist of the pants are spot on, though, so I'm not sure what's going on with the sizing. Maybe Kwik-Sew is intended for long-legged, babies with muffin tops? I'm not sure, as this is my first time working with an actual baby sewing pattern.

Can you tell that his knee hits right where the crotch is? And that right footie portion is totally empty. I scrunched up the other pant leg to get his foot into the bottom, but then he just looks like a wrinkly Shar-Pei. 

I didn't bother finishing the inside seams, because come on, baby clothes get worn for such a short time anyway, and fleece doesn't need it.

I did try to trim everything neatly though. 

My stitching of the ears was a little messy. I think if I did this again, I'd line the hood to hide some of this. 

My favorite things about this pattern: elastic in the hood to help hold it on a wiggly baby's head, and the ingenious footie design. It looks so real!

I think it would be pretty easy to reproduce this/scale it up for adult pajamas. 

See, when there isn't a baby in the pants, they look so normal! Then once you put them on, it becomes obvious how comically large they are. 

The sleeves are so long and the jacket body is so wide. It looks like his leg is broken, the way the pants are angled, but that's just because the bottom half of the pant leg is basically empty. But hey! The hood is perfect for his 90th percentile head!

Summary:
Pattern: Kwik-Sew 3127
Fabric: 1 yard of light turquoise anti-pill fleece, a couple scraps of white fleece for the ears.
Notions: a separating zipper, 3/8" and 1" elastic
Techniques used: Instead of following the instructions for the elastic waist on the pants, I used Lladybird's oh-so-easy tutorial.
Hours: I think around 3? I hand-stitched the ears to the hood, so that took a while.
Will you make it again? I don't see why not! Once I make some alterations to the width of the jacket and length of the pants, that is. These could be made in different fabrics for less warmth, and since I traced the pattern, I can still make all the other sizes as need arises.
Total cost: I got the fleece on sale, so the total cost was $6.
Final thoughts: This was my first time ever working with a Kwik-Sew pattern, and it was overall a good experience. I'm sure if I really wanted to, I could've figured out how to draw up the pattern and sew it myself, but it was nice to let somebody else do the work for me. Especially now that mommy brain has set in (it is all too real!), and figuring out order of operations is too much thinking. The footed pants are especially great, since SHB is all about losing his socks. It's just too bad that the 3-6 month size is ridiculously big on him, and with the way the weather's been heating up, it's unlikely he'll get much wear out of this outfit except for when we go to San Francisco.

Speaking of San Francisco, let's talk about the other reason why I was inspired to make this outfit! It wasn't just about the blue cat business; the last time I went back to the city to my parents' house, I was looking back at my own baby pictures and came across these pictures:

Well looky there, I'm wearing a blue hooded fleece suit with elastic footies! My mom's dress is so fabulously vintage-looking, isn't it? And let's not even get started on the couch. 

So of course I had to try to recreate it with SHB!

I don't look nearly as chic as my mom. 

SHB is also two months younger than I was in that picture, so he's a lot more wiggly and unsteady in a standing position. 

It's really obvious here that his foot doesn't even make it into the footie part of the pants. 

He's also not quite sitting up yet, so we have a lot of outtakes where he's about to fall over...

And of course, it's only natural that Walnut, an actual cat, would photobomb a photo shoot of a cat suit.

Oh hello there, I'm just going to walk in front of you like you're not doing anything important. 

As for the winner of the One Teething Ring, congratulations to Ravenna! Email me with your mailing address so that I can get it out to you as soon as possible!

The One (Teething) Ring and More Geekcrafting

I feel like I'm just repeating myself over and over sometimes: no, SHB isn't sleeping any better, no, I'm not really doing much sewing (brain too tired), and yes, I made more geeky wood-burned items.

I went to Daiso again (it's far enough away that SHB will fall asleep on the drive, and that's really the only reliable way to get him to nap. That, and wearing him, but I can't wear him for all four naps or else my torso might collapse in on itself) and got another box identical to my tea box. While I knew I wanted to burn it, I couldn't figure out what other Tolkien-y panels I could do; the dimensions make it difficult to do another map or anything else based on his drawings. I was having a hard time thinking of another geeky theme that would be suitable for the rustic-ness (rusticity?) of wood-burning, when during one of the interminable middle of the night feedings, my delirious brain hit upon it: Daiso...is a Japanese store...Japanese animation is great...Totoro is a great film...it takes place in a forest...trees are made of wood...

As you can see, I decided to experiment with adding color. I used color pencils, which worked astonishingly well. 

The white color pencil didn't work as well as the other colors. I just love these little forest sprites though!

The title, Tonari no Totoro, and some soot sprites.  

The classic large Totoro with his umbrella!

And of course, a little bonus on the inside!

Since I couldn't manage to make the box into a Tolkien piece, I had to look elsewhere to get my LOTR fix. Thanks to Becky for cluing me in as to the existence of The One Ring teething toys! It was fairly easy to order some blank, unfinished wooden teething rings and burn them myself. It's like these rings are made for the One Ring inscription, because the length of the four lines is just right for the smallest Elvish font that my finest wood-burning tip can manage. I added SHB's Elvish name on the back of the ring as well, then polished it up with coconut oil.

In the Black Speech, it reads, "Ash nazg durbatulûk, ash nazg gimbatul, ash nazg thrakatulûk, agh burzum-ishi krimpatul."

The top, lighter-colored ring hasn't been oiled yet. I love how the oil gives such a warm honey color to the wood. Also it makes them smell delicious. 

On the back, I put SHB's name in Elvish. The other ring is for Becky's coming Hobbit. 

You may wonder what I'm planning to do with the last, unfinished ring, since SHB doesn't need more than one One Ring (hah!). Well, I'm putting it up for grabs! If you know of a small human being in your life who would appreciate such a mighty gift, leave me a comment and I'll choose a winner on Sunday night. And if the name of your small human being is one that has a Google-able Elvish translation, I'll even add it to the back before oiling it up and mailing it to you.

Of course, if you just want a approximately 3" wooden ring with the One Ring inscription on it for yourself, you can go ahead and throw your name into the running and I won't tell. Do not deny that your heart has greatly desired what I offer! After all,  I offer it to you freely. If you ask it of me, I will give you the One Ring...as long as your name is the one the random number generator picks.