Child's Fedora Hat - recycled blue jeans

I used this free fedora pattern from Melly sews.  The tutorial, pattern and sewing instructions are well-written, complete with photos on her blog, so I will not be reposting them here.  I have made hats with polar fleece and cotton bonnets in the past, but this fedora with buckram in the brim was new for me.

The hat is made from old denim blue-jeans.

This one is lined with left over quilting cotton.  The seam where the brim is attached is covered with matching grosgrain ribbon.  The only notion I needed to buy was the buckram.

Too small for me, I made it for Liam our 21 month old grandson.

Here is Liam and his daddy modelling their hats.  Liam took the plastic funnel from my kitchen utensil drawer, it is now his trumpet toy.  I had so much fun making this fedora hat that I bought the fedora hat pattern from E & E Patterns yesterday to make more.
Happy stitching.

Bernina 930 Record sewing machine - sewing cabinet instead of extension table.

My Bernina does not have an extension table.  I tried without success to find a used one.  The custom built cabinet has a spot for the serger as well.

The machine inserts come out easily by lifting the front panel using the little finger hole on the right side.

This is very functional.

Hope this helps.

Ruffled Bonnet for baby girl.

The fabric is 100% quilting cotton.  It is reversible.

 The tutorial is from the Cottage Mama's blog. 

 

 Happy stitching.

Peasant Blouses - for Shannon

My daughter asked me to make her these blouses as the elastic neckline is ideal for nursing her baby girl.  I sent her photos of fabric and she picked these three.  She wanted them longer in the body than the pattern.  I didn't buy fabric for her blouses, these fabrics were in my stash, some were used in previous projects and some were an excellent price so I bought the fabric with no idea what they would turn into.  All three fabrics are 100% cotton.

Dorothy Dressform is the model. She looks smashing in these vivid colours.  There wasn't enough fabric to add the length in the body, so I added strip of fabric at the bottom.

 The orange one has an elastic waist to give the shirt more shape. 

The tie-dyed batik was too small for longer sleeves.  I toyed with the idea of making the sleeves from another fabric but decided it would look weird.

 Back view.

The purple and green fabric in the background on the washer and dryer is 100% chenille
I plan to make small blankets with lots of ribbons for babies to fondle.
Happy stitching!

Husqvarna Viking Sapphire 870 Quilt sewing machine

New preowned addition to my sewing machine family.

This one was manufactured in Sweden approximately 2007.  

It uses the same size bobbins as the Husqvarna 500 series as well as the Pfaff QE 4, Creative 2.0 and Pfaff Creative Sensation.

The white table with acrylic insert was purchased new from the Brandon Sewing Centre on April 25, 2015.  The Sapphire is fun to sew with.  The large harp size will make maneuvering a king size quilt a breeze. Photo below back side of decorative stitches.

Yesterday I made a nursing cape with it, but I gave it away without taking any photos.

Free motion quilting stitch with an Inspira titanium 75 quilting needle and Superior 100% cotton quilting thread.

This pink scrap is four layers of poly cotton.  The spring free motion quilting are the heart shaped leaves and one feather with a couple of spirals.

 This is the backside.  

The jesters' hats, butterflies, stippling and spirals were stitched with the embroidery/darning R foot, the manual calls it float free motion.

backside

Sewing machine reviews at Pattern Review were not good. Complaints included tension issues, thread nests, thread cutter that won't cut, won't free motion quilt and top needle thread breaking.  So far knock wood..... no problems with this Sapphire.  Hopefully, I have a good one.


There is a sewing machine review and information on this fabulous stand at quiltsocial.com.

I had tension, thread cutter and top thread breakage issues with Pfaff Quilt Expression 4 which is the same vintage as the Sapphire.  Most of my Pfaff QE 4 issues were resolved with a new take up lever replaced under warranty, an adjustment to the cutter and learning to keep the bobbin area free of lint, dust and thread build up.  I traded up to get a Pfaff Creative 2.0 embroidery machine, which I later (August 2013) traded up again to get a Pfaff Creative Performance (purple princess).

Dear Readers:  Don't ya just love sewing machines?  Be creative... happy stitching.

Waterproof Cloth Diaper Covers and Soaker Inserts.

Well, cloth diapering has changed significantly from the rubber pants and safety pins of my mom's days and the velcro fitted diapers with rubber pants of my babies' days.  After discussing the pros and cons of cloth versus disposable my husband and I used only disposables.

Our granddaughter (born October 2014) is a green baby with cloth diapers and wipes.  There is nothing more fun that sewing for grandkids.

 Little monsters, monkeys with bananas, owls and elephants.

The PUL, polyurethane laminate that is waterproof and breathable.  It is soft, flexible and comes in lots of lovely colourful prints and solids.

These diapers were made with snap closures and FOE. The fold over elastic finishes the outside edges and is stretched to gather the PUL at the back and leg gussets.  

The pattern pieces were weighted rather than pinned to avoid pinholes in the fabric.

The front and back inside yokes are optional.  However, if using the snap closures the snap area needs to be reinforced with scraps of PUL instead of the yoke.

 Mark and attach the snaps.

 Outside front yoke

I used a 3 step zig zag stitch to attach the FOE (stretched) to the straight edge of the inside gusset.

This is the tricky part, most times when sewing it is rights together stitch and turn right side out.  With the  inside gusset it is wrong sides together and stitch 1/4 inch seam on right side.

 It needs to look like this.

Stitch FOE to outside edge starting one inch from gather mark on back left side.  Stretch FOE between gather marks on back and stitch. Do not stretch FOE on sides of diaper tabs and front of diaper. Stretch FOE between gather notches around crouch.

   All snapped up without soaker insert.

 Open 

 The two snaps on the back are to secure the diaper insert.

 Unfolded the soaker is 30 inches long.

 Four layers thick.

White polyester wicking fabric to wick moisture into absorbent cotton away from baby.

Terry towel, I cut up an old bath towel that has been washed many times.

And 2 layers of flannel printed fabric.

Tack all four layers, then quilt together.  I did jesters' hats on the elephant in glasses print.

 Heart-shaped leaves on the multi-coloured elephants print.

 Apply two snaps to attach to PUL cover.

 Serge around the raw edges to finish.

The flannel fabric was preshrunk before using.

Toss diaper covers into a hot clothes dryer for 20 minutes to reseal the needle holes from sewing.  Use polyester thread as cotton thread will wick moisture outside the cover.

Size small - fits 8 to 20 pounds.  

Happy stitching.