Baby sewing: done!

Yesterday I finally finished and photographed the baby projects I was hoping to get done before our baby makes his or her appearance sometime in the next week or so.  Two quilts plus two little bitty outfits.

You’ve seen the quilt tops a few times now in various stages of completion, so I’ll start with the outfits.  For the boy’s romper I found this super sweet pattern by My Taylor Made on Etsy.  I made the pants version and added cuffs and the belt.  I took photos as I was adding to the pattern, so as soon as I get those edited I’ll put up a tutorial for you on adding those details to a standard romper pattern.

For the little girl’s dress and bloomers, I started with Melly Sews’ Criss Cross Dress and ruffled bloomers pattern and tutorial (available for free when you sign up for her newsletter).  I had been looking for a pinafore dress in an infant size because I don’t have an infant handy to test a self-drafted pattern.  Melly’s wasn’t quite what I was looking for (hers has the long straps come up from the front with an open back and I wanted the dress to wrap around and cross in back like tulip petals), but it was a good start.  Her version is super cute – I just had a specific design in mind and couldn’t be satisfied with anything else.  Her pattern starts at 6 month size, so I knew it was going to be a little big for what I wanted, but you can’t beat free.  🙂

I kept the pattern I adapted for the pinafore dress, so I’ll work on getting that into PDF form and making a tutorial for that, too.  I followed Melly’s instructions and pattern exactly for the bloomers except for pinking the edges of my ruffles and putting them on in wavy lines instead of straight.

I made both in about a 3 month month size in hopes that they would be small enough not to look totally huge and silly in newborn pictures but that they might still fit for a little while after we come home from the hospital.  I’m notorious for making homemade outfits for kids that only fit on the day for which they are intended and that are outgrown in two seconds, so I’m hoping that these will get some wear for the rest of the summer.

So those little bitty outfits wrap up the baby sewing for now, and at this point I’m totally ready to meet our kiddo and stop being super pregnant in the July heat.

Anyone care to venture a guess as to whether we’re having a boy or girl?  Jack’s first response to whether he wants a brother or sister is “motor!” [motorcycle], but after we told him he was going to be disappointed on that front he’s been saying “gill” [girl] or “ister”.  We’ll see if he’s right!

Don’t forget to watch the blog and follow us on Facebook for the baby’s birth announcement with details on how to win one of these quilts!  What special projects are you working on these days?

-Elizabeth