Baby Swaddler

I sent some of these baby swaddlers off to the newest Joslin baby that was born a couple weeks ago. She is the first girl in a family with four boys already, so hers are pink and very girly. I whipped these two up the other day during nap time.

They still need to be pressed, topstitched, and have the velcro put on, but
I'm waiting until I have more things to iron to get out the ironing board.

I used this pattern, but followed my own directions because I was too lazy to look them up again when it was time to sew them. I just used flannel for both layers on the butterfly one and then flannel and fleece on the other.

I would really like a little baby to stick in them to see how they actually work. I haven't heard anything from my sister-in-law yet about them. There are some things from the pattern I would change, like the length of the 'sleeve' and the angle at which it meets up with the body of the sack, but overall it was a super easy sew.

Christmas Dress

I have yards and yards of this shimmer red cotton fabric that I never knew what I would use it on. It must have come from Mom's stash because the old lady that I have tons of fabric from had mostly calicoes or very dated fabrics.

It is still almost impossible to get a picture of Meghan where she is smiling and looking and not moving. I was happy I got one that included a clip in her hair. The clip didn't make it more than 30 seconds after I took this picture.

I intended on making something for everyone from this fabric to use it all up. But, then I got my head on straight and realized early on that it wasn't going to happen. I hoped to make a vest for Russell, but time ran out. Luckily, we mostly had enough matching clothes anyway to look all put together for Christmas Sunday (which do you do it the Sunday closest to Christmas or the Sunday before? One family in our ward did it the Sunday closest to Christmas.)

I drafted my own pattern for Meghan's dress using the instructions from Craftiness Is Not Optional. I she just gave instructions for a bodice, so I got to design the skirt portion of the dress. I went for pleats across the front. I added the white trim.

I managed to get most of it done while Ben was on a temple trip with the youth. The only thing I had to finish was hand sewing the buttons (YUCK!!) on the back, hemming, and putting the trim on. I originally wanted to have a sash that tied in the back. I was getting tired and lazy, so I skipped that part.