DIY Father's Day present : father and son matching tees

This is my last year's present to Dan for his first celebration of Father's Day: a memory of him and his son (our only son at the time) in matching t-shirts.

 It all started with a photo frame: it had a beautiful tie on one side and the words  

ME + THE BEST DAD IN THE WORLD 

 underneath. I couldn't resist, I had to buy it!

I wanted a special photo for this frame - something to remind Dan of his first Father's Day.  

 I looked for ideas for weeks but couldn't come up with something really special. Then one day a light bulb went off: I could make father and son matching t-shirts and try to recreate the tie on the frame.

 At first I wanted to find a matching fabric but when I realized my attempt was in vain I started looking for another solution. I used blue and green fabric scraps (left over from the receiving blankets) and made two faux ties.

 I remember Victor being pretty cranky the day of the photoshoot, despite all my efforts I just couldn't make him smile . He would chew on his tie, play with it but no smile would come out on his little face. So we decided to give it one more try the next day : no luck there either. 

In the end the photo Dan chose for the frame was one with a smiley dad and a pretty cranky son :)

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!

Eric Peter

The day of May 26 started really early for me, at 4 am, when I woke up because of a contraction. I'd been waiting for labor to start for a few days (I was 4 days overdue) but now that I was feeling those strong contractions I wasn't so sure anymore I wanted to go through another birth giving (the 29-hour traumatizing labor with our oldest son was still very vivid in my memory). I woke Dan up two hours later and told him to get ready. When I got out of the bed myself the contractions started coming really close to one another, I only had time to take a shower and half way through brushing my teeth I decided it was time to rush to the hospital unless I wanted to deliver this baby at home.

What a ride it was! Pulled over by police (Dan was driving 90 mph on a 55 mph freeway),  felt the urge to push when we were still about 5 minutes away from the hospital - but thanks to the breathing technique I'd learned from the Laugh and learn : About childbirth DVD I managed not to have the baby neither in the car nor in the hospital elevator, but waited till I got on the hospital bed and only then pushed.

Eric was born at 7.34 am (after a 3 hour and a half labor). He is a good eater and sleeper (though going through a fussy period these days because of his tummy ). We're still adjusting to being a family of 4 and taking it easy one day at a time.

baby bath apron towel

I am addicted to pinterest, that's the first place I would look for sewing or house inspiration or any other kind of ideas. The only problem would be that  I end up pinning so many interesting pictures with little to no time to actually create what I pin.

However here is one project that I managed to finish: a baby bath apron towel. The original inspiration comes from BlissfulPatterns on Etsy. It's a PDF pattern on how to make a baby bath towel from an ordinary bath towel.

I didn't buy the pattern because it didn't look too complicated to figure it out. You can use a bath towel or any other fabric of your choice.

I made this bath apron towel for our second baby because I wanted to try something new. Victor still uses the hooded bath towels I made before his birth. (They are as big as the receiving blankets and though I remember Dan complaining about the size they came in handy and we can still use them 18 months later).

I tried to use Victor's Teddy Bear to illustrate how to hold the baby but Victor wasn't too thrilled about my idea and wanted his bear back. Next time I have to learn to ask his permission first :)

DIY maternity clothes for all four seasons

2 weeks left! That is until the D date (my due date), though it can happen any day now (I hear second babies are more eager to encounter the world so they decide to come out earlier sometimes). Anyway, I think this is a good time to do a recap of all the maternity clothes I made during my two pregnancies.

My collection compiles maternity clothes for all four seasons from pattern dresses to refashioned tops.

I tried to come up with ideas for clothes that I could wear even after I'm done with the pregnancy so I didn't necessarily used maternity patterns but looked for patterns that can be eventually adjusted to fit a bigger tummy.

Let's take them one by one. You can click on each photo to see the original post.

Patterns

Burda Cate #7983 : My very first dress! I remember how excited I was when finishing it but also my hubby's discouraging comment: You look like you're pregnant. So I waited to get pregnant to wear it again.

  I  paired it with a jacket and high heels (yes, those were the good times when I could still wear high heels) and went to a flamenco concert in Barcelona (during our 2011 vacation in Europe).

Simplicity 2642: My only issue with this dress was the overlapping top.It came apart and though it didn't reveal anything it looked weird and felt uncomfortable. I ended up sewing the two parts together but without solving the problem.

 

 Burda 5/2011 # 133:  I made this dress for our vacation in Mexico and brought a couple of minor changes to the original pattern: shortened the length of the dress and of the shoulder drawstrings.

Simplicity 5557: With just a little adjustment (made it larger especially at waistline) I turned this vintage pattern into a maternity dress.

I made the next two using an old dress as pattern. You can either tear the old clothing item apart and use the pieces as pattern or trace it onto paper and create a paper pattern. I chose the first option as the original dress was worn out so I didn't mind tearing it apart. (I wouldn't have worn it again anyway).

No pattern outfits 

 I may not look pregnant in this top but I was.
It's one of those loose clothing items that can help you hide your tummy till the moment you're ready to reveal the big surprise and will dress your bump in a stylish way throughout the 9 months.

My favorite dress for the month of December

Refashioned maternity clothes

Long sleeve tee makeover

Turtleneck sweater into maternity top

 

Maternity dress from men's pants 

 

Simplicity 5557: vintage pattern into maternity dress

The clock is ticking and though I still have plenty of unfinished projects which I would just love to have done by the time baby no.2 comes into our lives, I prefer to spend any free moment I get (that is during Victor's nap) to sleep or relax. I guess it's the way my body tells me to take it easy. I haven't been in the basement where my sewing room is for days. I feel bad when days go by without working on any of my projects but my true regret is that Victor dropped his second nap and so I have less free time to rest. Pathetic?!?

I finished this dress about a month ago for a family photoshoot.

With just a little adjustment (made it larger especially at waistline) I turned the vintage Simplicity pattern 5557 into a maternity dress.

The original dress has back zipper and high round neckline but I dropped them both (there is no reason to have a back zipper as you can put on the dress just fine without one, especially if you use stretch knit as recommended).

Photos taken by ZeeJay Photography

Felt mailbag with letters

Like any other kid, Victor has tons of toys though, I must say, we hardly ever buy him any. 

Most of the toys are either gifts from friends or family or hand-me-downs. In our group the oldest kid just turned 4 and the youngest is almost 1 and all families have at least one boy so there is a lot of hand-me-down activity going on.

I made this felt mailbag with letters as a little thank you gift for one of our friends' kid. He was sweet enough to let go of his wooden puzzles and give them to Victor. They are Mellisa and Dough. I simply love this brand, don't you?

This is an easy sewing project for which you can use only scrap. For a tutorial, please visit this post on Craft, Interrupted.

Let's take a peek inside the mailbag:

Four personalized letters, each in a different handwriting:

I hope Jonathan will like his gift as much as Victor enjoys playing with the puzzles.

Baby girl and baby boy blankets

There is a baby boom among my friends: one baby in January, two in February, we're expecting in May and there will be two more babies this summer.

My friend Jana who lives in Belgium gave birth to her first baby: an adorable little girl named Elena. Because she was overdue and the baby was pretty big, the doctor decided to induce her and after the second unsuccessful attempt Jana had a C-section. Different rules over there, huh?

Her Elena and my Victor were same size at birth and nobody mentioned induction to me before the end of week 42, and the word C-section had certainly never come up in any conversations I'd had with the midwives. Not that I would have liked to experience any of those two, but just saying...

(My baby boy decided to face the world just two days before the end of week 42)

 The other February baby was our priest's second boy. His name is Gabriel.

What I noticed at our friends so far is that the second baby is usually pretty easy going: sleeps better, eats better.  I sure hope that our second one will be this way. Victor gave us a hard time with his sleep when he was a baby and now, as a toddler, he's a very picky eater. Will it ever get better? ...

I sent my friends two baby blankets, one for each, as welcome baby gifts. One can't have too many baby blankets, right?

winter pregnancy outfits - part 2

In my first post about winter pregnancy outfits I was pleading for tunics and short dresses paired with leggings, turtleneck sweaters and boots.

My next idea is in fact a trick: wear a skirt as a dress.  It's true that a skirt won't fit your waist anymore but you can move your waistband just above your pregnant tummy and you got yourself a chic dress.

The best skirt for the job would be a thick A-line skirt. Try a mid calf or a floor length skirt, otherwise you'll have a mini dress.

A knit tube skirt is also a good choice as long as it stretches enough to take in your tummy.

Don't try this approach with a fully pleated skirt that will add extra bulk to your figure.

maternity dress from men's pants

When you don't want to spend much on overpriced maternity clothes you need to get creative and either buy a few patterns and make yourself some new outfits or transform some of your old clothes so they can fit your bump. I've just entered the third trimeter and let me tell you that I managed to go this far into my pregnancy buying just one maternity item: a pair of jeans. 

 When Dan gave me two of his old pants to add to my refashion stack I had no idea if I would ever use them but I took them anyway. Are there many options in recycling men's pants? I'd made a bag once but it was time now to try something new.

The inspiration for the dress came when seeing these cute girl dresses created by Mu.

The pants are of different hues but that doesn't bother me at all: I used one pair for the front of the dress and the other for the back. Actually, it looks kind of funky this way.

upcycled toddler bibs - with tutorial

Even before turning one Victor expressed his interest in feeding himself which means meal time became even messier but, hey, the boy is independent and this is only to be appreciated. The only thing he still allows me to feed him is yogurt though he would constantly take the spoon out of my hand and try it on his own.

So the more bibs we have the better.

I managed to make two bibs from an old bath towel and here is a little tutorial to show you how I did it:

I added some appliques using the same technique as when patching boy pants.

Here is my little man enjoying his yogurt while being protected by the new bib his mom made for him.

And here he is not so happy anymore as his mom keeps on trying to squeeze in a photo shoot during his snack time. As soon as I put down his yogurt and took the camera he started crying and asking for more yogurt.

In the end he decided to take the matter into his own hands and this is actually the first time that he tried to feed himself yogurt. 

As you can notice the bib didn't quite protect him 100%  so now I use these bibs only when I give him food that isn't so messy and made also a couple of these long sleeve bibs: