Baby love

To finish part 1 of the story…

Here is my sister in another maternity top I made, once again using the (free! awesome!) Turn About The Room pattern. The fabric is from the Queen Victoria markets in Melbourne.

Here are some pictures of burp cloths for her baby shower (she said “what are these?” but I assume she’s figured it out by now)

I think I used this tutorial. One side is quilting cotton, the other side is flannelette. They’re about 47 x 32 cm (roughly 18 x 13″).

The horses and ducks are the flannelette, in case it’s not clear in the photos.

And finally… the moment we’d all been waiting for… after FORTY TWO weeks, people! (My sister deserves a prize)…

This cutie arrived.

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Expectantly

I am expecting not one but two little nieces or nephews! So I have been breaking all the rules of selfish sewing by making clothes for my ever-expanding sisters. Good news for me, though – it turns out that you don’t have to be pregnant to enjoy wearing stretchy pants. I made three trips to the Fabric Store for their ultra-fabulous merino/nylon knit. Just 1.2m makes a pair of the comfiest pants in the world, whether you have a Baby on Board or (in my case) just a second helping of ice cream.

Pattern courtesy of Sandra, in the WSBN Christmas pattern swap (to which I contributed exactly nothing, but came away with quite a few goodies). It’s Burda 8999, but I can’t find a link to it anywhere. Thank you Sandra!

Another Christmas swap greedy grab was this very nice black-and-white fabric from Leimomi, which became a top. I underlined the bodice with a cotton jersey, and used Burda 8094 (thanks Nicola!).

I made another version of it using a cotton lawn from Spotlight.

Karma got back at me with the next one, though: the day after I bought the fabric the Fabric Warehouse started their 40% off sale. Can’t win ’em all. This is another one I’m planning to copy for myself; I think it would be perfectly good as non-maternity wear also. It is a free online pattern from DIY Maternity.

I love this in a stripe. I have been back looking for more stretchy stripes without success – please let me know if you see any good ones. I also changed the direction of the stripe for the neck band, I think it looks better that way. I guess you can only do that if you are using fabric with a four-way stretch.

Also, here’s the February budget round-up:

• All this loot, as well as some stretchy stripy viscose for boxer shorts (unblogged) – DOESN’T COUNT! Generosity for the win.
• $5 green silk/cotton remnant for a blouse
• $5 for shoulder pads and a button for my Bellatrix (it’s still summer and I’m sticking to that excuse)
• $5 for some more elastic (stash top-up) and a seam ripper – bought from Pete’s Emporium at Porirua, which was a new experience for me

Total: $15 (Remaining: $158. And Fabric-a-brac is really soon!)