For Christening - What a Dandy!

We had christening of our baby boy which I took as an opportunity to sew something nice for him. (I wanted to sew something new for my daughter and for myself too but I didn't have enough time.)
I found my inspiration on a Russian blog/ site (didn't understand anything) but never mind, I just needed  the picture.

My inspiration: 

My creation:

I decided to make a two piece outfit because it's easier to change diapers like that. I bought 3 pieces of fabric: jersey, shiny fabric and jacquard fabric. The vest is just a mock vest, attached at the front and it finishes in the side and shoulder seams.

But I must admit that it's cute to see a small baby with a bow-tie.

How to make a bow-tie: http://www.makeit-loveit.com/2014/04/little-boy-bowtie-the-quick-and-easy-version.html

The shirt is my creation: will make a link

The pants are: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0Bx_iUlU6voEXU3JqUU5kX0ljbUE/view

found on a Russian site: https://vk.com/shop_zigzag

A new blanket for a new baby

I decided to make something new for our new baby boy - Erik. Unfortunately he is forced to inherit almost everything from his older sister so I wanted to do something special just for him.

My inspiration were: baby sleeping bag 1
                                       baby sleeping bag 2

I became a fan of this burda style sleeping bag (burda 9/ 2013, mod. 148) after I saw how the other sewers made it useful in two ways: as a blanket or as a sleeping bag. And because it can be done quickly - this is essential when you have kids. I still have to insert the press buttons which scares me because you have to make this right for the first time. You can't make corrections after you make a hole in your garment.

It is made of: flannel, striped cotton (bought at AliExpress) and a white fleece blanket. There is a polyester stuffing inserted between the two fabrics. I also used my new bias tape maker to make some bias band to finish the blanket opening at the bottom. I also sewed small and big hearts so that the inserted stuffing would stay in place when washing the blanket.
It looks great I hope it will be useful.

This is the blanket that he inherited from his sister and which my grandma (their great-grandma) made for her, I think it's crocheted and it deserves mentioning because it's all handwork. I wish I knew how to make this but I don't - yet. Maybe someday ...

Maternity jeans - upgraded

Again I had to transform my regular jeans into maternity jeans. Yes, that means I'm going to have a baby. I'm really happy about that. I'm a bit lazy when it comes to shopping. I really don't like wasting time looking for clothes in shops because many of those things don't appeal to me and because I'm also a very thrifty person. Anyway, 3.5 years ago (before my daughter was born) I had more time and more enthusiasm and I went to look for some maternity clothes and I was disappointed. 
Let's cut the long story short. If you know how to sew it's really easy to make yourself some nice and comfortable maternity trousers. I'll try to demonstrate my version in some quick steps.

1. I take the jeans that I like and that I can still put on with the zipper closed but leaving the big button open. I carefully rip the waist/ belt off (carefully - after giving birth I actually changed back the jeans and sewed the belt back on).

2. I cut the front and back pieces for the belly out of nice, soft, stretchy jersey. Here is the pattern taken from a magazine La Mia Boutique - Febbraio 2009 (Italian). I just hope I won't get sued because of that. (I once made my own pattern but lost it in a huge pile of patterns that I have.) (Before I cut anything out of fabric I put the paper pieces on my jeans and I imagine how the whole thing will look like. You can make the paper pieces bigger or smaller according to your jeans size. So don't rush, take your time, measure everything, use pins and pin everything in place. I always do that before I make any final cuts or stitches and it pays off.)

Belly part - download

3. I usually use an over lock machine to keep the seams neat. I also keep the zipper (even though you don't actually need it anymore) because there's less work and like I mentioned before if you have too much time after you give birth you can always quickly change the jeans back to normal.

4. I sew the two jersey pieces together on the side seams. !!! But on one side I leave 2.5 cm of open space on two places: right below the fold (on top but on the inner side) and close to the bottom seam again on the inner side. That's leaving space for inserting the elastic band. I mean the elastic band can be optional but it's better to leave room to use it. In my opinion it's good to have it because otherwise I have a feeling that jeans are slowly moving down my body especially when I squat or bend - jersey is just not enough tight.

5. Then you sew the jersey (belly) piece on the top part of your jeans all around the opening.

6. Here I actually inserted the elastic band only on the top part, not yet at the bottom. For now it's OK. I sewed with double needle before I could put in the elastic band, of course. So that's really the final thing. You insert the elastic band and sew it together.

I hope this wasn't too confusing. It wasn't exactly short but I hope the pictures help. And the bold print. 

My favourite on-line shops

Some are tried and tested and the others are just looked at from afar.

Stoklasa – http://www.stoklasa-eu.com/ in Czech Republic, delivery is on time, actually I think I remember it was quite fast and the goods are also great (even though some are made in China)

tissu fabrics – http://www.tissufabrics.co.uk/ in the UK, delivery was fast (even though I'm not from the UK), the fabric is as great as seen on-line

dortex – https://www.dortex.de/ in Germany, delivery is on time, not too expensive

21run – http://www.21run.com/ru_de/ in Germany, it's not about fabric and crafts but it's about my favourite hobby – running

Millet sports – http://www.milletsports.co.uk/  in the UK, for sports again, I ordered shoes some time ago, it was all right

widelbar – https://www.windelbar.de/ in Germany, for babies, kids, mums to be, clothes etc. I love to look at the colourful and cute things they sell, I ordered a safety bed frame for babies from windeln - http://www.windeln.de/

svet metraže - https://svetmetraze.si/ in Slovenia, a huge fabric store, I actually don't buy on-line but I drive there (30 km) and always find something for myself, everything that they have inside is not put on-line, English link https://www.bemafabrics.com/ 

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buttinette – https://basteln-at.buttinette.com/shop/g/stoffe-naehzubehoer/bekleidungsstoffe in Austria, not tried yet, I'm looking forward to that day when I order everything I drool over now 

A Big Baby Towel

Before me and my husband got a baby we were entitled to a welfare packet for a newborn (a benefit that was given to every newborn baby (not just the poor) but unfortunately it no longer exists in Slovenia). Anyway, there was this huge towel (96cm x 96 cm) in the packet which I found very useful - it's good to have a big towel and I noticed it was very easy to make it. So I measured it and so far I have made two of the same towels. As you can see from the following pictures it is made of two pieces.