Crafty Sewing Week

After burbling on about how annoying it is that the pool closes this coming weekend while the sunny hot weather will probably go on and on (last year it went into late October) and bleating about how summer is NOT over etc etc… the weather took a turn on the weekend and the mornings and late afternoons have been quite cold.  Cue winter clothes… jeans (check, can do up my pre-preggo jeans finally!) and cardies.  But what about the boy?  It is several months since he wore long sleeves or anything on his feet and in that time he has almost doubled in size!!

First, we trekked out to Target for our once-a-month-formula-shop and picked up some long-sleeved onesies and ten pairs of socks.  I hunted through the clothes drawers and found a couple of 3-6mth hoodies that still do up and will serve for now with a t-shirt under them and ditto with the little cream cotton jersey I made last year.  I also have a little jersey on the needles that will be suitable soon enough (if I ever get it finished) and there are a few jerseys and a cardy that I have had stored away that will probably need to come out when it gets much colder.  My mother has just sent some little cotton knit trousers which are great for keeping the sun off little legs in the stroller, and will do the trick now that it has cooled down, but there is a dire need for more things for his feet and more trousers and lightweight tops/jackets if this cooler weather keeps up.

Fortunately, it felt like a crafty sort of a day yesterday.  I have been getting the sewing machine out a bit lately for little projects, so I set it up while Kazuo was sleeping and began rummaging through my craft boxes and on the internet for ideas.  I made use of some free online patterns for baby shoes:

and a pair of stretchy organic cotton trousers (note to self:  don’t use the stretch stitch on the hems in future, they look a little too girly!):

and had used my nous to invent a pattern for a little jacket:

though I started that a few months ago, so it will only do for this interim period I think, but it is good to have it finished.  Kazuo’s feet have grown (along with all of him) quite considerably, and even my attempt to enlarge the little shoes pattern is not really adequate (they just fit him today…) so I will have to make them even bigger next time!

It was wonderful to be properly sewing again after such a long hiatus.  However, the machine is not a quiet as I had thought – so in our quiet apartment, sewing while the baby is sleeping is not really an option.  For some reason, our little guy, who slept soundly at three months through even our ghastly, insanely loud vacuum cleaner, bursts into tears now when I use things like the coffee grinder or food processor (not to mention the ultra-scarey vacuum!) so I did feel bad when he woke shrieking from his morning nap because I had hazarded a few seams while he slept.  Sigh.

Usually I set him at the table in his chair with some toys to watch me sew, and he manages for a while – he is initally mesmerised by the whirring and spinning.  But the fascination soon fades.  Here he is keeping me company yesterday afternoon:

The smile is really a reflection of how much he loves the camera now and belies the tears that were angrily spouting a few minutes earlier from frustration at having to sit and watch and not join in!  We are off to Hobby Lobby this afternoon to get a few more supplies for trousers and little shoes, and maybe the odd Christmas present (yes, if I am making them again this year, I think I need a head start) and may do a trip to the local Goodwill tomorrow morning as I found a great idea for making little trousers with interesting patterns on them just by using old XL men’s t-shirts from the charity shop, and I want to see about getting some old cardies/jerseys to fashion some easily-sewn winter woolies (‘cos let’s face it, I will NEVER have enough time in the evenings to knit an entire winter wardrobe, one jersey and maybe a couple of hats might just be my limit this year!).  So watch this space for the results of my crafty endeavours!