Gingercake

How Bunny got a Pocket

Since I am having the bunny sale this week, I was trying to think of a way to make more versions of the pattern.  In the past I made the bunny smaller by printing it at 65%.  You can read about those here.  Very cute!  I have gotten lots of emails by sewers saying they are excited to use the pattern to make bunnies for the easter basket.  I thought, why not make Bunny the easter basket?!

This was surprisingly easy and fun.  I thought it would be perfect for the baby this easter too since she is obviously not going to be eating chocolate or jelly beans!  I am thinking the easter bunny can fill the pocket with baby toys and onsies.

To make the pocket in the bunny, you have to just make a couple adjustments.  First, give yourself some extra width so the pillow will stand on its own.   Add about an inch to the base and backside when you are cutting out your pattern.  Like in this fuzzy camera picture below!

Follow the pattern instructions with interfacing, sewing the darts, making the ears, and all that other stuff.  Next cut out a rounded piece of fabric for the pocket.  I didn't take measurements here but from the picture below you can get the general idea of size...

Before you sew the 2 bunny sides together, attach the pocket pieces to each side of the bunny like in the photo above.  Then, flip up the pocket piece and layer the 2 bunny sides together and sew all the way around the bunny edges and, instead of going straight down the bunny back, sew your seam around the pocket edges.  Trim your seams and clip the corners around the pocket.

Turn it right sides out and push the pocket inside.  See?  works!  I then used a funnel and added about an inch layer of rice to the base before I stuffed the bunny with polyfil.  This gave it a nice weighted bottom so it stands up easily.

Stuffing the polyfil was a little extra work since you need to keep your hand in the pocket but it doesn't have to be perfect since the bow hides folds in the neck area and when you stuff your items in the pocket it fixes problems there too!

I stuffed it with the super simple bibs I made a couple weeks ago.  I went to a baby shower over the weekend and I thought this would have been a perfect gift!  The kids are loving trying to figure out what they can stuff into the pocket.  It would be fun to make one for a big kid that has velcro and is like a secret pocket, huh??  

 

Super Simple Little Bib Tutorial- for my Slobberer and Craft Hope!

My sweet little Marion is almost 4 months old.  She is precious but the girl can slobber!  And spit up all over me and her clothes several times a day.  My other babies were not big spitters/ slobberers so I always looked a little sideways at the moms whose babies had bibs on all the time.  I found a small bib pattern I drafted years ago that worked great for her size and should be good for a few months at least!

This has been saving me from changing her clothes like 10 times a day.

Also, I try to contribute to craft hope projects when I can and figured I could make extras and send over bibs for their current project.  So even if you don't have a baby to sew for right now, making these little bibs is fun and fast and you can contribute your work to craft hope's excellent cause!  

I made mine reversible and with pearl snaps.  This way baby can slobber (my 8 year old, who is always dying to hold her, says "MOOOOOMMM!  She slobbered on me again!  Come and get her please!") on one side and then she can slobber on the other side too.  OR, you can switch the bib around to match her outfit if you care about that (and I admit that I do...).

First gather your materials~ 

2 pieces of cotton fabric that measure 9.5" x 12"

1 piece of cotton batting that measures 9.5" x 12" - flannel can substitute

pearl snaps (or velcro, regular snaps, or ties)

chopstick to poke out corners

sewing machine, coordinating thread, scissors, & iron

optional- rotary cutter & self healing mat

 

1.  Print pattern pieces, cut them out and tape A & B together.

Download Gingercake Little Bib Pattern Pieces

2.  Use pattern piece to cut out mirror image pieces of the 2 cottons.  This is important since the sides of the pattern are not symetrical!  Maybe layer the fabrics right sides facing and cut them out together.  Also cut out a piece of matching cotton batting.

3.  Layer the materials together- starting with batting, then a piece of cotton face up and then the other piece of cotton face down.  Pin together.  Sew the 3 pieces together with a 1/4" seam allowance and leave a 3" opening to turn the piece right side out.  Trim the seams down to 1/8" except at the opening.

4.  Turn the piece right sides out and poke out tip with a chopstick.  Iron it nice and flat and match up the opening edges.  I use a piece of steam a seam to close up my opening but if you don't have any around, just be careful when you top stitch.  Top stich around the bib about 1/4" from the edge.

5.  Follow the directs to attach the pearl snaps.  Make sure you have one side of the snap facing up and the other facing down!  

Now you have a pretty little bib!  One thing I noticed is that a quick ironing after washing seems to shape them up really nicely.  If you want to put in the extra time, you could easily quilt the top to give it some added interest and probably eliminate that ironing after washing.  I made a bunch at once and it was so fast and easy!

Now she slobbers away and I just have to change the bib!  So cute and yet so slobbery...

If you want to make these to sell, go for it!  Just give me credit for the pattern with a link back to this post.  Thanks!  Also, please share your creations in my gingercake flickr pool!  

 

Changing Pad with Pockets

Here is a little something I have been working on.  It was only a matter of time before I started with some baby ideas!  I wanted a changing pad with the diaper & wipes pocket attached.  

She is getting chubby!  3 months old tomorrow!  The pad folds up nicely to fit in your bag~

I like the ties but I also made a version with a flap.  The flap was nice but the ties are more fun to me.  What do you think?  The best part is that the pockets are attached and you can put your wipes directly in.  I love that since I was carrying around a loose diaper and plastic baggie with wipes since she was born and it just wasn't looking cute in my bag!

Hoping to have the pattern done in a couple weeks.  Actually I was hoping to have it done this week but pattern creating and writing is in slow motion with Miss Marion in the house!   

Infant car Seat Head Support - AKA no more wobbly head

The car seat head support for your newborn is another useful little item to have.  Seeing their little heads all wobbly back there makes a new mama so nervous!  Like that little head on that tiny body is just going to roll right off.  HA!

My awesome sis in law gave me a carseat in nice neautral colors.  Perfect!  To spruce it up a little I made my own head support thingy.  AnneKelle makes everything look more fun and cute, huh?

This was ridiculously easy to make.  I took pictures for a tutorial and hope to share later.  Tutorials are a lot of work though so leave a comment if this even interests you.  Worth the wrok if people want to make one though!  These only cost about $15 at the store but the colors are always to blah.  

Another thing ready for this tiny person!  The baby room is almost done and hope to share pictures of the bedding soon!

Contoured Changing Pad

Although I think the full changing table is bit much, I did find myself using the changing pad with my other kids.  Of course, I got rid of it 4 and a half years ago when I thought I was done with all that little baby stuff.  So when I bought my boppy, I also bought a nice new changing pad.  I had a really nice cover for my old pad- a nice cover but a bad fit!  Washing it was a hassle since I really had to work to get it back on.  This time around I wanted something easier. 

I used this tutorial I found on Pinterest.  I used AMH Folksy Flannel.  This is such a soft and lovely flannel and I recommend it for sure.

 The table is my fabric cutting table that has open shelves underneath for storage.  I made curtain from a vintage sheet and used a $2 tension rod to hold it up under the cabinet.  My messy sewing stuff is still down there but now it is covered and pretty!  The hoops were also already there but I changed a few out to go more with my baby colors.  

The tutorial was well done.  I had to use elastic on the bottom corners to really give it a nice fit.

I also serged all exposed seams since I know I will be washing this cover every week or so.  The last thing I had to do was make button holes for the safety belt.  My other babies were not big time wigglers on the changing table but I figured better safe than sorry instead of taking the belt off.

The button holes actually made the fit even nicer so the effort was worth it.  

The other change on this table was doing a quick new skirt for this lampshade.  I followed my own tutorial!  It was fast and easy although I don't love the color of the lamp or the ribbon I chose for the top.  For now it goes with the room and looks like a baby, right?

I like the fabric (vintage pillowcase of course!) but the color should be brighter and the ribbon on the top softer or something.  It will have to wait though since it's time to move on to new projects!

More baby projects tomorrow so be sure to visit again :)

Boppy Cover

I have less than a week until my due date!  I have been a busy little bee in the baby room.  I plan on having the baby sleep in with my 5 year old eventually but for now, she will be taking over my sewing room.  So lots of boxes of fabric and trim have gone to the basement and things have been consolidated and donated to make more space.

I love having my own sewing space so this is a little hard for me but it's also fun to set up for the new family member.  This week I'll share all my little projects.  First up is a cover I made for a boppy.

I used this tutorial and vintage fabric (remember this dress for Anne?).  This fabric is soft and lovely.  I just love the retro look.  I plan on nursing this baby even though nursing isn't super easy for me- especially at first.  So I bought a brand new "naked boppy" and made my own cover.  Trying to get in the mood, ya know??  Like I mentioned before, I put away lots of trims and sewing items away in the basement and realized that my zippers were down there too!  The boppy comes in a nice carrier and I just used the nice long zipper from the plastic carrier for my pillow!

Just a warning about following this tutorial (at least for me)  The fit was a little off and I just ended up doing my own thing with the zipper.  I guess I am not as zipper savy as I thought!  The main adjustment to the fit I had to make was in the inside curve.  I took it in about an inch and this made the fit more snug.

More projects to come in the next few days!

Newborn Baby Gowns Sewing Tutorial

I have been searching stores for baby gowns and not loving the selection.  I may be old fashioned (maybe it's because I am OLDER than other women having a new baby!) but I like for babies to look like babies and not mini adults.  I also want plain soft fabrics and pretty little details.

It turns out that there are baby clothes out there that I like but they are very expensive!   So I chose my favorite gown from when the big girls were babies as a guide and created my own simple pattern.  

The biggest challenge to figure out was the tiny collar.  I could not figure out how to get my machine to make a pretty little collar without it looking lumpy or unfinished.  I finally decided to embrace the nature of knits by making these easy lettuce edge collars.  I love how sweet they turned out and so EASY!

I bought 2 different knits from Joanns for this project.  The solids are the sew classic knits which were 60% cotton and 40% polyester.  The prints are 100% cotton knit and also from Joanns.  I actually liked working with the solids better.  They were softer and less stretchy.  Also- when I prewashed the 100% cottons, they shrunk more than 2 inches!  That made my gowns a little shorter than I originally wanted but still workable.  

This is not a tutorial for true beginners.  You will need to have some experience with sewing and be familiar with terms and basic concepts.  I don't go into great detail since I am assuming you have made basic sewing projects before.  An experienced sewer could just follow the photos!

Let's get our materials together.  You will need ...

1 yard of interlock knit fabric- go for mostly cotton blend or 100% cotton.  (1 yard makes 2 gowns).

a package of pearl snaps or regular snaps- the kind you hammer on!

coordinating thread 

sewing machine with zig zag foot 

Ball point needle

scissors (sewing and regular)

self healing cutting mat and roatry cutter

Long ruler/ yard stick

1.  Begin by printing out the pattern pieces.  There are 2 pieces- the gown/ body piece and the arm piece.

Download Gingercake Newborn Gown Pattern Pieces

Cut out your pieces.  The gown width is 14" so you need to have a folded piece that is 7" wide to cut with the pattern piece.  You will notice that this is wider than the paper pattern piece but you are going to extend the piece to be a total of 24" long with a long ruler (like in the photo below) or a yard stick.  The pattern piece is angled to be a-lined and you will need to just follow that line to the bottom of your fabric.  See the photo below.

2.  Cut a second body piece to match the first.  On this one, trim the neckline to match the BLUE line on your pattern piece.  My photos are of my original rough draft pattern so pay attention to your nice printed pattern pieces instead!  This piece is the front of your gown. 

3.  Next, still working with the front piece, cut a 6" slit down the center of your neckline.  See photos below.  This will become your placket where the snaps will go.

4.  Cut a 13.5" x 1.5" strip of matching knit that goes against the stretch.  This means when you give it a pull long ways it does not strech out.  Fold it in half (iron if you would like) longways and pin this strip to the right side of your front gown piece along both edges of that 6" slit.  The strip should be a little longer than the 6" slit.  See photos below.

5.  Now using the ball point needle on your sewing machine, sew the strip and the front body together to create your placket with a 1/4 seam allowance.  Then trim seam down to 1/8".   See photos below.

Pin the placket closed and trim off the excess so your neckline is back looking like it's original shape.  The top side of the placket should fold under and the bottom should extend.  Imagine a button down/ polo shirt to give you and idea of how it is configured.  See photo below.

 

6.  Pin the shoulder seams together of your front and back body pieces.  Sew together with a 1/4" seam allowance and trim down to 1/8".  See photo below.


7.  Now cut out your 2 sleeve pieces from the paper patterns.  Pay attention to the direction of the stretch.  Mark the top center of your sleeves with a pin.  See the photo below.

Open up your body pieces and lay them open, right sides up.  Pin the sleeve to the seam you sewed in the last step.  See the photo below.

8.  Now you can either pin the sleeve to the body pieces or just starting in the middle, sew a little, adjust, sew a little and adjust to attach your sleeves to the body piece.  Then starting in the middle again, do the other side of the sleeves.  I like this method since pinning with knits is kinda a pain!  But either way works fine.  Now repeat on the other sleeve.  Trim your seams down to 1/8".  See the photos below.

9.  Next is the collar.  Cut a strip of knit fabric that is 12" x 1.25" - this time the length is with the stretch.  Switch your machine over to zig zag stitch and while gently pulling your strip of fabric, zig zag along the edge.  This should give you a cute lettuce edge.  See left picture below.  Now attach to wrong side of gown neckline by with pins. Switch back to straight stitch and sew the collar on with a 1/4" seam allowance.  Trim seam down to 1/8".  If you have extra length on the collar, just trim it off to match up with the neckline- don't worry about fraying.  See photo on right below.

10.  Now turn the collar over the neckline and pin again.  Stitch the collar down on the right side of the gown with a 1/8" seam allowance.  TIP- I don't usually back stitch here- instead, i leave longer threads and double knot them together.  This elimates messy backstitching in such a visual spot if you have an older and less precise machine like I do!  See photo below.

11.  Now that the collar is finished, you can sew up the sides of your gown!  Lay your gown sides right sides together and line up the seams at the arm pit first.  Pin there first and then down the sides to the bottom.  Then pin down the sleeves.  I start at the bottom and sew up the side to the arm, then lift up my foot to turn and go down the sleeve.  This usually means the seam at the arm folds out toward the sleeve.  It doesn't matter that much since it is trimmed down to 1/8" but it's a good habit!  Repeat on the other side.  See photo below.  Trim seams down to 1/8".

12.  Turn your gown right sides out.  Doesn't it look cute?  Turn under your little sleeve opening about 3/8".  Iron flat if you would like.  Sew down with a 1/4" seam allowance.  I do this from the inside and just slowly make my way around.  See photo below on the left.  Another option is to lettuce edge the sleeve which would be cute too.  

13.  Follow the directions on the snaps- you get to use a hammer!  Use your ruler to lightly mark where you will install the snaps.  The first should be 1/2" (or a little more if needed) from the top of the neckline, the next down 3" and the final snap 5.5" down from neckline.  That first snap goes under your collar.  See photo on left below.  Next, make the same marks on the inside of the placket.  See photo below on right.  Attach snaps again according to directions on snap packet.  Snaps in place!

14.  The bottom can be finished in several different ways.  Like I mentioned in the beginning, the 100% cotton print that I pictured for the tutorial shrunk 2 inches in the prewashing so it is only 22" instead of the 24" I would have preferred.  I should have bought the full yard!  Instead of losing more length by making an elastic casing, I just did another pretty lettuce edge on the bottom.  See photo below.

For me, with my other babies, I found an gown with an elastic casing on the bottom to be a little more practical.  I was able to do this with the pink and white solid gowns I made.  Do this by folding uder your bottom hem about 1/2" and sew closed around the hem, but leave an openning of about 1".  Then cut a 14" length of 1/4" elastic and attach a safety pin to the end.  Insert into the 1" opening and using the safety pin work your elastic around the hem.  When you have it all the way around, sew the elastic ends together with your machine and then sew the hem opening closed.  

Finished!  I hope you were able to follow this tutorial successfully and will have a pretty gown for the newborn in your life.  I can't wait to try the gowns on our baby coming in just a few weeks (or days?  hopefully not!)  Although this tutorial seemed like a bear for me to write (mostly becasue sitting in front of my computer at 38 and 1/2 weeks PG is getting uncomfortable!), making the gowns is pretty easy so I hope you will try it out.  Using nice soft interlock knits is key!  I tried making some with thrifted "mystery" knit and it didn't work out so well.  Make sure you read the label for the cotton count if you try out thrifted shirts!

As always, you are welcome to make as many of these for gifts and for yourself as you would like.  Please do not make for sale or claim this tutorial as your own.  Thank you!  I would love to see your gowns in my gingercake tutorial flickr group!  

Check out my pattern shop and free tutorials for more fun sewing ideas!

 

Tutorial Oven Mitt - found in a box of gifted fabrics

About a year ago my mother in law, Trish, gave me a box of fabrics and other sewing odds and ends.  Among the goodies was this hand drawn paper oven mitt pattern.  It looked so easy!  I was excited to share it here on the blog and this week I finally sat down to make it.  It literally takes about 1/2 an hour. I suppose you could fancy it up with patchwork and more elaborate quilting and let it take you a whole hour if you would like!

Begin by printing out the pattern pieces, cutting them out and taping the 2 halves together.

Download Oven Mitt Pattern Piece

Follow instructions on the pattern piece to cut out your fabric and batting pieces on the fold.  Make sure you cut the interior fabric 1" longer than the others to make the hem in the last step.

Follow the instructions on the pictures.  Click on the horizontal pictures to make larger if needed.  The vertical pictures are larger than the horizontal on the blog!

I made some pot holders to match.  I was out of piping so I didn't make my piped pot holders but took the time to do the traditional binding style instead.  Not bad!  I make these things and promise to keep them for myself but now that the set is finished, I think my mother in law deserves the gift, don't you?  

Trish does not claim creadit for making the mitt pattern and doesn't know where it came from.  By default she is getting the credit!  Thank you Granny T (that's what the kids call her!).  Hope you find the time to make some for yourself or as presents to friends and family!  

 

Waste Free Lunch Bag is BACK!!!

I am so happy to finally bring back the waste free lunch bag.  It is fun to make with the center divider and great for packing lunch.  Both the girls wanted this style for the new school year coming up!  That must be good news, right?

The pattern includes 34 pictures that are bright and clear (old version had 4 pictures!) and it is 13 pages long.  There are no pattern pieces to print out since it is just rectangles, but there is a quick reference guide on the last page to help keep your fabric cutting in good order.  

It is roomier than my Love Your Lunch Box pattern but not quite as roomy as the Hobo Style Lunch Sak.  I am going to get smaller water bottles this year to free up some space for sure!  The girls only drink a little.  Any good recommendations for 8 or 10 ounce water bottles?  16 ounce is just too big for little girls!

I also changed the closure to a flap to create more room and because flaps are just cute, right?  The pattern is now available in the shop if you are ready to make one (or 5 like I did!).

Drapey Knit Cardigan

hi again!!  How exciting that I am posting twice in 2 days!  I am getting bigger in the belly and I have been needing some clothes.  I can't believe I am only half way through this pregancy so I am resisting buying a bunch of ill fitting summer maternity clothes.  I saw this tutorial and thought it might be a great piece that I can wear now AND when I am no longer PG.

It's a nice tutorial.  This knit is extra drapey and I did a lot of ironing to get my seams together nicely but I was able to make it in one afternoon and I'm sure I'll be wearing it a bunch since it is so versatile.  BTW, I converted these jeans to maternity myself by cutting off the waist and adding really wide elastic.  I also did those knee patches which was questionable style judgement but I still think are pretty cute!

There is the belly!  It was a happy surprise that the stripes on the fabric made a nice design when tied this way.  The sleeves could be better but I love how soft and flowy the whole piece is.

Wow!  More belly. Sheesh- you don't really realize how pregnant you look until you see these kind of pictures of yourself.  

The fabric was from Joanns- back in the red tag section and was 50% off which came to about $5 a yard.  I used 2 yards.  I used my serger for all my seams but you could easily use a ball point needle on your regular machine.  Some spray starch would have been helpful to get the fabric to lay flat while sewing my seams but I keep forgeting to pick some up at the store!

Thank you to Jamie from Scattered Thoughts of a Crafty Mom for the inspiration.  I'm sure I'll be using this summer cardigan a bunch!  If you have a good (and easy!) tutorial for some maternity clothes, I would love to hear about it!  I have some more of this type knit in solids that I need to use up this summer!