Baby Wimbledon

These photos were taken on the final day of Wimbledon, I'm just a bit slow posting them.

"You better watch out, I'm going to win this game."

"Let me just check my grip..."

"No I'm not ready yet, I'm still checking my grip."

"Oh yeah... it's sooo good."

"Did you see me hit that ball?"

"Mmmm I didn't see that one coming."

"But I can still win this game."

"I am the champion!"

I made Isabella this dress using, can you guess... an old t-shirt! It's a t-shirt from the company Andre used to work for. I didn't follow any tutorial for this one, all my own ideas. Some help from my mom to do the binding around the neck and the rest was just sew and hope for the best! Even if she doesn't wear these early creations of mine really, it's fun making them and doesn't cost me anything.

Third sewing project: Pink summer dress with braided neckline

I completed this dress quite a while ago, but just haven't gotten around to blogging about it. The family have probably most seen and heard about this dress, but here it is again anyway before I post the next sewing project I just completed tonight.

Again I used an old t-shirt of mine which no longer fit me so well. I loved this t-shirt, such a nice bright pink, so I am glad it is able to carry on its life with Isabella!

Me in the t-shirt right before it became Isabella's dress. It was actually the last time I wore
it and decided it's actually a bit short...
(Isabella 6 months old.)

And here it is up-cycled into a dress for Isabella!

As with the previous dress I used the original hem of the t-shirt as the hem of the dress so saved me a step. The binding around her arms is from the neck of the shirt and the neck of the dress is a five strand braid made from strips cut from another top. I used one of her t-shirts to cut around as a guide for cutting out the dress.

I was just taking photos that day of Isabella being brave and touching the grass for the first time without crying about it. So they don't show off the dress so much. This was a month and a half ago, she was 6 months old then. She wore the dress again today and it looks so much shorter on her now compared to the photo where she's standing up. She's probably not gotten much taller, I think she's just able to stand up taller now. I will try and remember to get another picture of her in the dress when she wears it next. It probably won't be soon though because the rain is back again tomorrow...

Baby Girl's Bedroom

I have finally gotten around to taking a few pictures of Isabella's room, now pretty much complete. For the time being anyway.

I've posted over the past months, or maybe year, I can't quite remember anymore when we started her room, about painting the walls and her wardrobe, building her cot and then adding the wall stickers. The final bit was to hang the picture frames which is my favourite bit in her room.

We used these two storage units from Ikea to store things like her nappies, clothes that are either too big or gotten too small, bedding etc in and later she can store her toys in them. Then we also used the top of one unit for nappy changing and it worked really well with her mobile and turtles above her to grab at and all the nappy changing essentials within reach too. But she's now getting bigger and rolling around so much so I moved the two units back to back so we'd have a wider space to work on. All her lotions and potions were on the side and of course she grabbed at them the moment I lay her down there and knocked them all over within seconds.

Nappy changing space for the first 7 months.

"What are you doing to my room mommy?"

"I'm going to have more space to roll around?"

"Woah! That means I can get to those creams on the side..."

"Good thinking mommy!"

 We will very soon need to lower her cot base. She can't yet get into a sitting position form lying down, but when I sat her in her cot while moving her room she was able to pull herself up.

The new nappy changing station before Isabella had a go
at knocking everything down.

The units are now back against the wall as they were before which looks better anyway, and her changing mat has moved to the floor between her cot and wardrobe where she can roll around as much as she likes. Until she wees on the carpet...

She has a cot bumper towards the back of her cot because she started wiggling backwards before she was able to roll over and we didn't want her waking up from knocking her head against the cot. Now she can roll all over the cot and also turns sideways so I want to get bumpers for the rest of the cot too. I've seen some that attaches around two bars each with velcro so you still have gaps for air to circulate. I'd love to make them myself but doubt I'll get around to that.

Another project I'd love to make myself but also probably wont get too, is making her another sleeping bag. She needs a more summery one, and then I'd also like to make her a warmer one, perhaps from a cuddle fabric or fleece for winter and for when we go to South Africa next month as it would be colder there. I'd probably end up buying this too mainly because I can't find pretty jersey fabric that won't cost more than buying the finished product here. I actually just came across a sleepsac that apparently has a bamboo lining which is very hygienic they say, good for babies with eczema. Isabella really struggles with eczema... Will have a think about maybe trying it.

Oh and the curtains!! They drive me crazy as they can't close properly. Her windows aren't even really that wide, it's a small room. I can't imagine how small a room someone must have to fit the curtains they sell here because I just can't find any nice girly ones that are any wider. So also something I want to make, and looks like this project I will have to make myself if I can't find any to buy!

A Portrait a Week: 17/52 -Second sewing project

Oops and again I'm late with Isabella's portrait of the week. I did start this blog post yesterday evening but then never got to finish it. Here it is now with a 'double' portrait of her in one photo below!

Saturday night I completed a little dress for Isabella. It started out like this:

an old top of mine, which I converted into a dress for her.

I kept the original neck of the top, just making it smaller to fit her and also used the original hems of the sleeves so didn't have to re-do those either. I used one of her  long sleeve tops which fit her comfortably to cut around for the size of the neck, body and sleeves and the only sewing I then had to do was attaching the sleeves to the body and sewing up the sleeves and down the body sides and then hemming the bottom of the dress. 

I then used this:

to make a flower and cut off some of the lace to add to the bottom of the dress. So again didn't cost me anything to make and another fun challenge making something for Isabella using something I no longer wear. 

This one was a practice run. I've got more old t-shirts I'll be cutting up in more interesting patterns to make into dresses for her but next I really want to read up about making curtains. The curtains in her room are really too small for her window and it frustrates me when I can't close them properly to keep the light out when she goes to sleep. So that will be my next project hopefully as well as making her a play mat to use in the garden.

My first sewing project!

I'm so proud of my first little bit of sewing I did for Isabella. I made her a little circle skirt. And I made it from an old t-shirt I no longer wear. I wasn't able to cut a full circle from the fabric I had so I cut two halves instead. And the elastic came from elastic I removed from some of her leggings which were too tight and which I replaced with other elastic so she has more breathing room when wearing those leggings. So it didn't cost me anything. Besides buying the sewing machine!

I think this was a nice little practice project. I'll make her more circle skirts in other fabrics, it was so easy to make. Next time I'll make it a little longer though, she's tall! And I'm going to make her a double layer skirt too. 

Before...

...and after!