PUL Sewing: Wetbags and Peepads DIY

Back when Mouse was small, Littlest was nonexistant, and I had all sorts of crazy ideas, like, I thought I would cloth diaper.  Never did I, but I did sew a couple diapers that I did let Mouse wear them as long as she promised she wouldn't poop.  (She was a liar), and I bought all kinds of PUL fabric to sew 8 million more.  A JoAnns near me going out of business was a catalyst of sorts, because everything was 90% off.   In addition to diapers, cloth diapering saintly moms also use wetbags, to store these wet diapers, which unlike their 20 cent Pampers counterpart, must be taken home with you, to wash.  Because they're expensive.  And adorable.  But mostly expensive.

Since I never really got into cloth diapering, it was never really an issue.  But, when I was potty training Mouse, (mostly by denying her pampers) her teacher would hand me, at the end of the day, her 'accident clothes',  And for MONTHS, I was like, man, I should really make a wetbag.  Because sometimes the Safeway bag I had them in would mascarade as a Safeway bag holding something else, and then you forget about it, and open it a few weeks later, and WHOA.

 How cool would it be to have a bag, or two, that would scream WASH MY INSIDES as soon as you see it in a crowded vehicle?  It would also be handy to store wet bathing suits for the trip home from beach/pool..gym?   That, and I do have Littlest coming up to potty train.. any second.  More accident clothes.  So, while she napped today, I did this:

 I would have preferred a long and narrow design, but I worked with the precut pieces I had (22X24) and the matching 18" zipper I found.  So my end result was 11" x 18".  The zipper is really what determines width, unless you're willing to stitch over it and cut it.    I boxed the corners, so it would stand on its own, just in case I need it to, while I toss swimsuits in it from across the room?

And I used french seams, though I wonder if it's worth the trouble.  PUL doesn't seem to ravel, ever.  I prefer this design over others, because there is not weird zipper bulge on top, it gets sewn on, and then sewn into the side seams, seamlessly.  You can also fold a flap down and stitch to cover the zipper, but I had no vertical inches to spare.

The good news is, I have a ton more PUL for this kind of thing.  Bad news is, I can only make use of so many wetbags.  Pinterest once spoke to me about reusable snack bags though?..

While I was busy using up PUL, I made another pee pad.  I had made one earlier, in critical potty training stages, and it was great.  It's just PUL and two layers of flannel.  It makes it heavy enough that it doesn't shift around, and absorbent enough to keep her bed dry.  It's wide enough to tuck around her mattress securely.  Recently, her Godmother has kindly provided us with a truckload of disposable ones, so this was really just a matter of finishing a project..

...because I had finally found a use for all that Tinkerbell flannel.  Back when we'd still have frequent accidents, we would take it out from underneath her, and because I never got around to making another one, we'd replace it with just a piece of PUL and a piece of free floating flannel.  Sorry, Mouse.  Mommy has too many hobbies.

But there's still Littlest.  And Tinkerbell is adorable.

It can also be a giant changing pad, or even an outdoor blanket for baby.  Just stitch three layers right sides together, leave a hole, turn, and topstitch all around.

Pumpkin Fairy Jackie Lantern in Butterick 4434

Last year, I used McCalls 6238 for the Alice in Wonderland dress, it was a great little template dress, and when I went to look for it this year (because I cut out size S, and now need a L) it has gone out of print, and no JoAnns in SoCal had it.  I even checked the Palmdale desert JoAnn's.  That's commitment.

So, while I ordered it online to keep for a future project, I had to find a new little dress.  I wanted simple lines, raised waist, and lined.  There were a couple options, and I settled on Butterick 4434, even though I think their envelopes are kind of plain, I have very little of them in my stash, and tend to pick them last.  I'm shallow like that.

Enter the Pottery Barn Kids Pumpkin Fairy dress that I saw at the mall, and WANTED,  and found the $80 price a little hard to swallow:

It did go down to $69 on clearance.  But, it turned out that tulle is the cheapest fabric EVER, so I took my $80 to JoAnn's and spent $17 of it on supplies for this dress.  The end.

It ran large, according to the measurements, Mouse is a size 2.  But a size 1 fit her with few inches in the waist to spare.  I had read that on PatternReview, but tested it with a muslin, just in case:

Size 1

 The hardest thing about making a muslin is trying to get a child into it.  She's OK trying on 'pretty dresses' but it took a couple cookies to try this on, thankfully it calls for something like a 35" zipper.  Easy kid insertage guaranteed.

 I had a hard time sewing the placket in the McCalls dress, and it had come out less than perfect.  But, an invisible zipper on this dress worked like magic.  I think the pattern calls for a traditional zipper, but, invisible is just as easy.  I find each time I sew it, it keeps getting more and more invisible.  Skills, yo.

 Felt applique? Check.  Beads and Swarovsky crystal?  Check.  Hand stitching detail?  Check.  This dress has all of the hobbies I want to dabble in but don't have the time.  And, it was fun searching Pinterest for felt flower ideas.  Did you know that if you tri fold three circles and put them side be side they make a flower?

Like this 

 

I bought 4 yards of orange tulle and 2 yards of sparkle yellow tulle and the dress has 5 layers of tulle gathered on top of the skirt and treated as one piece with skirt.  There's a green tulle sash, behind the applique, but it's hard to see in the photo.  I used some silky poly for the body of the dress, and had to interface the top, or the middle seam would bulge through it, with all of its million layers of gathered tulle..

Mouse is pretty fond of her dress.  

When she's not wearing it, she carries it around and pets her 'pumpkin dress'

The dress was super easy to make, few hours including cutting time and tiny babies underfoot.  Although Mr Snork does an absolutely admirable job of keeping them out of my hair while I sew, which means keeping Mouse away from scissors and 'helping', two things she is completely obsessed with, both together and separately.

 Most of the time got spent hand sewing the applique, the felt eyes and mouth, and arranging them on tulle.  I think this is a great template dress, that could be embellished in various ways for a flower girl, a costume, etc.  I'm thinking about stitching on a spirl-y tendril..  Can you do too much to a pumpkin dress?  I don't think so.  

 The semi circle skirt is twirly and girly, and the zipper is hidden behind the lining in the back of the dress.  I used french seams on the skirt, and that with lining and invisible zipper makes it look like a RTW garment, which I like.  If you went ahead and lined the skirt, and used this tutorial for no-hand-sew lined bodice you could have a complete machine sewn dress.   

 Trick or Treat!!

As an added bonus, all the leftover tulle went into a 20 minute matching tutu for Littlest.  I have some red dupioni laying around, and I might use this to make Mouse a Christmas dress.  I have 8 million patterns, but when I find one I like, I just use that one over and over until I run out of size range.  Ha. 

Chasing Rabbits in McCalls 6268

Mouse was doing a duo act for Halloween with (very reluctant on his side) her Papa.  It was supposed to be a trio, but I ran out of time to make my Queen of Hearts costume.  May be next year.

Mr Snork's Hatter costume came together over the last couple months or so frequenting the Boutique (women's capris, blazer and shirt to modify, sparkly bow tie, MY socks), but I could never find anything suitable for Mouse.  I don't trust internet costumes, and she's so small, (20-ish lbs) that there's a very limited range of things she can be that aren't footed, fluffy, and have a headed hood that she HATES.  So I couldn't find her an Alice in Wonderland costume ready to go.

I looked in stores and on EBay for a suitable blue dress, but struck out there as well.  Queue McCalls 6268 and an old blue button down of Mr Snorks.  I've kept that pattern on top of my 'want to make' list, just because it's cute, but if you use the poofy sleeves from view D, it becomes a perfect Alice dress:

A size large fit my 29 pound, 31" tall Mouse.  An old large size shirt of Mr Snork's provided just enough fabric for the dress, when seam ripped (not cut, I used the seam allowances on several occasions) and I had to piece the back skirt from two pieces.  I could have just bought some blue fabric, but then I'd never use up my giant pile of "repurpose" stuff.  One shirt down, 234058274 to go..

Just a tiny pile of scraps left over:

I was happy to see that Janie and Jack currently carries a (beautiful) dress, that looks just like this pattern, minus the sleeves.  So, we're even in current fashion.

It came together really easily, except I apparently suck at making plackets.  The whole make a slit, and then make that slit a straight piece of fabric didn't work out for me, it's puckered in the back..  I will practice it to get it right, because I really like the finished look.  Alice's pinafore ties covered the back, luckily:

I cut the skirt on bias, just because I really like bias cut skirts.  I love how full the skirt is on the pattern, many times the envelope picture looks awesome, and then you cut what is essentially a wimpy A-line.   I'm pretty sure I want to make a holiday dress from this pattern, as well.

Dress front:

Dress from the side:

Alice isn't complete without a white pinafore, and although I'm sure somewhere in my pattern pile there's a perfect vintage pinafore, I couldn't find it, so I made one up.

 I drew in some card symbols with pencil at first, and they looked fine, but then I had time to waste, so I went over them with some running stitch.

Alice was adorable.  She didn't really get trick or treating, and was trying to sneak into people's house's, past their legs and bags of candy, but she did help her dad win the office costume contest.  She makes for an awesome prop.  Or, rather, he makes an awesome prop for her.  The cat helped.

I used Mr Snork's old shirt, and some white eyelet fabric I had picked up at a yard sale, the lining came from Costco's Kirkland 600 thread count bed sheet that I found in the boutique.  I usually draw a line at bed linens from thrift stores, but I figured if I cooked in in industrial laundromat long enough, it would make a delightful Queen of Hearts dress.  I never made it that far, but it does make really nice lining.   I think I might talk Mr Snork into buying us a King set from Costco.   I also used some JoAnn's tulle for the ruffle, from the massive tulle sale they had, where I bought all of it, in all the colours.  Whew.  One yard used, 9874560348756 to go.

Alice and the Hatter:

I think this might be our thing.  Every year.

How long do I get to pick her costume?  I figure, at least 9, 10 years, right?

Obsession Du Jour: Impractical Dresses

What's a girl to do to pass time once she sprouts a formidable 6 month fetus belly?  Why, shop for hourglass figure dresses, of course.  And it's all TMobile's fault.

I saw one in their commercial (with whom I'm not even on speaking terms, because their upgrade policy is awful.  New customers get shiny, pretty phones, and meanwhile, my Blackberry looks like it suffered a from a 5 story window.  Twice.  Into a dump truck.  With tree mulching capabilities.)  But, their insistence on charging me hundreds of dollars for a new phone is less annoying than putting pretty dresses on their TV models, and having me find out they were custom made. 

I don't recall how exactly, but this has led to a massive, unreasonable in its span, search for 50's dresses on Ebay, Etsy, this weekends' yard sales and favorite GMarts.  It's still ongoing.  I am seeing a whole lot of ugly 80's, and none of pretty 50's. 

Meanwhile, I might have purchased this:

Which I was hoping to alter into the TMobile dress, but there pretty buttons in the back:

Mr Snork has repeatedly expressed his hope that if I *were* to wear this out (he says incredulously) I would "at least take those sleeves off".   If he keeps it up, I'm gonna wear it, with sleeves, to his office to drop off lunch. 

Also currently stalking this wrap dress:

Not a huge fan of the colouring, but I want to make one like it, out of some fabric I have, that's scary close to the cabbage rose pattern fabric in the above dress. 

And, possibly this one:

The front!!

So, essentially, not only has TMobile wronged me in their handling of my phone needs, I am now possibly three dresses deep into a dress, and the toll is rising, since none of them so far look anything like THE dress.   Which is fine, really, cause I can't fit into anything with a waist for another 3 months, and it's questionable thereafter, with the amount of cake I have been throwing down my throat.    Stupid TV. 

A DIY Doughnut Pillow for the Pregodactyl.

I had all those trash bags of couch stuffing I rescued from the dysfunctional couch cushions, to trip over in the bedroom, where I hid them from the rest of the world.  Because I knew I would find a use for them.  Meanwhile, disposable space in my bedroom = about 5 trashbags of couch fluff.  I had 4 bags.  1 trash bag worth of square footage in a bedroom is not pretty.  They'd been in there for a month, and Mr Snork started acting positively homicidal towards them, so I finally got creative and made a U shaped pillow, for all my pregodactyl woes.

I have the actual Snoogle or whatever pillow someone kindly donated to me, and it's nice, but I don't like that it also goes under your head.  I like my feather pillows under my head.  So, I wanted something similar, and may be a little firmer, to prevent me from rolling on my back.  (For some creepy reason that I'm sure is explained somewhere in "What To Expect While You're Growing A WHOLE Other Person Inside YOU", if I end up on my back during the night, I wake up with numb extremities.  This makes me think Strawberry isn't getting enough blood either, and then I freak out, and stay up for an hour googling things like "decreased placenta bloodflow" and "blood deprived fetus".)

I found some nice almost denim-like fabric in my stash, and drew what I thought would be an acceptable pillow on fold:

The shape turned out OK.  I wanted more of a straight U shape, but I think I ended up free-handing with the rotary cutter too much.  It works out, because the resulting shape can be curled into a doughnut of sorts, which is useful.
It was too wide, at first, so I stitched the center taking in 2":

I FINALLY had a use for one of the 80 million zippers I picked up at some garage sale for a dollar.  Zipper, inserted, two trash bags of couch fluff later:

I can arrange it into a doughnut and lay on my belly, having it hang into the doughnut 'hole'.  It's been pleasing for my back, which is currently jacked up.  I was really picturing myself to be the pregnant chick that runs all the way into the 9th month, but apparently, I'll be the pregnant chick that swims every once in a while mostly sitting on her ass, sewing things, drinking tea and crumpets, and laying around wrapped up like a cat in a pillow doughnut.  (Some pelvic joint thing I'm hoping is a fluke and will resolve any.day.now.)

Next up, a reading wedge pillow, and I should be couch- fluff- trash- bag- free!

I don't always use it to hang out on living room floor.. but I guess I could?

Simplicity 2364 / Tshirt ReCycle

The 99c sale came and went, so I stocked up some more, despite Mr Snork's objections.  Cause, for 99c, I think I should actually get 2 of each pattern.. just in case. 

I made view D, out of an XL Tshirt in the "rag pile", to test it out.

Before:

After:

 I know, you're thinking, 'doesn't she know she looks fat in that?'  But that's only because I'm slightly pregnant.  The 'special diet' I mentioned couple months ago referred to the complete lack of interest in food (and most other things, except naps).

Here it is on Nora, looking pretty spectacular:

 I really should have made this top that one week when my boobs grew all of a sudden, and for once, were bigger than my belly in profile.  But, other than the timing it turned out cute.  I didn't need the elastic, because of Tshirt used, - I cut size 12, which seems to work out for 34 bust and formerly 28 waist.   I would definately cut a larger size if I wasn't using stretchy fabric though.  I used one of the sleeves, cut off, to extend the top front view, to be able to include the Octopus (Yay, California Coast Clean Up Day!), and the back worked out just fine, cut off center:

  I like that its length, I hate, HATE short shirts that ride up.  Overall, it's a neat way to recycle old shirts, the only catch being, they should generally be couple sizes too big.  Although I had a whole other sleeve to work with, it makes for a lot of extra seams.  The facing had to be made from another tshirt entirely, from Mr Snork's TShirts For Rags Pile, and I cut it using the gathered front and back as templates, to avoid gathering it and having a bulky shoulder seam (for a TShirt, anyway, might be fine in other fabrics)

For what its worth, it's not a terrible maternity shirt, when I stop sucking my stomach in for modeling pictures, even if the octopus gets lost a bit.

Next up either more quilting (I'm a quilter now, a really, really bad one), or Simplicity 2587, to see if I can make use of my new boobs, while mutilating the pattern waist size to make room for Strawberry. 

Mr Snork has also requested a gun cleaning mat and a rifle sack, out of some manly camo fabric I have laying around left over from the manly yoga bag, but he's yet to present me with his full concept.  I found that the big four are lacking in their gun/ammo pattern selection, so he's gotta be pretty specific.