LUDLOW QUILT AND SEW
Sewing Baby Projects
NEWSLETTER JANUARY 2010: SEWING FOR BABY
Welcome to my first newsletter of the year and of this decade. I didn't like the name 'noughties' for the last decade so I'm interested to see what this decade will become known as.
With all the snow that we've had in Shropshire, I thought that walking my dog Truffle would be a lot quicker as he couldn't get at the grass to sniff every blade that we passed. Boy, was I wrong! Our walks have been taking twice as long because he had to dig through the snow first and then sniff every blade of grass. A fellow dogwalker commented that our dogs are checking their emails, so now I smile rather than scowl when I have to wait beside a particularly interesting smelling blade of grass.
As promised, this month's theme is babies. I've included a sleeping bag for a new born baby and an idea for things to clutch and a fabric book for older babies.SLEEPING BAG FOR BABY
For the baby sleeping bag I used fleece as a lining and a rectangle of one fabric rather than patchwork so that the seams wouldn't be too bulky. I used 1/2 yard of main fabric, a rectangle of fleece 42" by 15.1/2" and about 55" of lace or broderie anglaise. In the photos, the fabric is the bouncing ball design and the teddies are in fleece.
Cut a 2.1/2" strip of fabric across the width of the fabric. Put this to one side for the moment to be used for the binding.
Place the fleece right side down and lay the fabric on top with right side up. Pin the 2 pieces together.
Fold in half along the length, giving a rectangle about 8" by 22". Using a plate or anything curved, mark a curve inside one corner - make sure you are not on the corner where the fold is. Cut along the marked curve to round off the top of the baby sleeping bag.
Fold the binding strip in half along its length and press. Cut a 15.1/2" length. Lay a 15.1/2" length of lace along the bottom, straight, edge of the fabric and lay the binding on top of the lace (all raw edges together). Sew all layers together using a 1/4" seam.
Flip the binding over and slipstitch to the fleece lining. With the fleece lining underneath, fold the bottom, bound edge up by 17", so that you have a 27" rectangle underneath and 17" rectangle on top, with a fold at the bottom. The fleece should be on the outside. Sew the seams on either side from the fold to the lace binding. Turn inside out. The bottom of the baby sleeping bag is complete, so now there just remains the binding around the top, curved edge.
Measure around the top curved section of the baby sleeping bag. Mine measures 30". Cut a length of lace about 38" long and stitch along the long inner edge using the largest stitch size on your machine. This usually gathers the lace up slightly as shown, but if it doesn't then gently pull one of the threads of your stitching and you can slide the lace along the thread to gather it slightly.
You also need 30" of binding. The remainder of the 2.1/2" strip is just too short so I added 2" of another fabric to each end. I felt that this was better than cutting a second 2.1/2" strip from the fabric at the beginning and reducing the width of the baby sleeping bag. For the same reason I have not cut the binding on the bias, even though it is to follow a curve.
Zigzag the raw ends of the lace and tuck the raw ends of the binding inside the fold. Working on the outer fabric side of the baby sleeping bag, pin first the lace and then the binding to the sleeping bag, all raw edges together.
In order to be sure and catch all the layers of fabric, it is best to use a 1/2" seam to sew the layers together. Ease the layers gently round the curves. Don't worry if the binding looks puckered as it will straighten out when you flip it to the other side.
Flip the binding over to the inside and stitch to the fleece lining. That's the baby sleeping bag complete.
I found these really useful when my children were babies because I could pick them up to take them somewhere and not disturb them too much as the baby sleeping bag came with them.
CLUTCH TOYS
For the baby toys I used four 6" squares of different colours, shown on the outside in the photos, and 1 shape from each of the fabrics, shown down the middle of the photo. Zigzag round the edge of each shape to give it some extra strength, then sew on to the middle of a contrasting fabric square, tucking the zigzag in as you sew. Leave a gap a few inches long and put a little stuffing inside the shape. It doesn't need to be much - just enough to raise the shape from the surrounding fabric. Finish sewing to complete the shape.
I used a red shape on an orange square and then an orange shape on a red square, and similar placings with the blue and the stripe. With right sides together, place 2 squares together and stitch 3 sides of the square. Turn inside out and put some stuffing in the square pocket you have created. Again, not too much stuffing: it's easier for little hands to hold if it's not stuffed too tightly. Stitch up the 4th side to close the square.
As well as different shapes and different colours, you could also use different textures - perhaps some velvet or corduroy. It all helps the baby's learning experience.
Then, having done the educational bit, I decided to have a little fun. I cut out 2 shapes that were roughly like the muzzle of a dog, sewed them together, put some stuffing in the dog's face and sewed it to a square. Worried that it might look a little rude, I then added 2 ears. For the other side of the square, I made a simple tail ( 6" length of 1" wide fabric folded over on itself) and sewed it to the square. Sew the 2 squares together and fill with stuffing as above. The idea is meant to be that the body of the dog has got itself lost in the square patch, with just the face and tail protruding from either side.FABRIC BOOK FOR BABY
For the fabric book, I used numbers only to help show how the pages went together, but you could of course use letters, tractors, birds or anything else on the pages.
Begin with eight 6" squares, all different colours. To strengthen them and give them texture I used a square of double sided fusible interfacing and a backing square of white fabric on each one. Draw a number and the corresponding number of shapes on each square and cut them out. The shapes can be any number of sides, to give interest.
Cut 4 rectangles of white fabric 12" by 8" and put your shapes on the sheets in the same way as shown in the photos.
Don't put the shapes too close to the edges. I find it helpful to use a pin to mark the centre of the page to keep the numbers and shapes separate from each other.
Sew in place (machine or hand stitch).
With right sides together, pin the 8,1 sheet together to the 2,7 sheet and do the same for the other 2 sheets.
Sew round 3 sides of each rectangle and turn inside out. Tuck the edges in on the open side and machine stitch in place close to the edge. I used a contrasting thread so that it would show up as a frame. Keep going and stitch round the entire page - it just holds everything in place as well as framing each page of the fabric book.
Lay down the first rectangle with 8,1 facing down and 2,7 facing up. On top of this lay the 2nd rectangle with 3,6 facing down and 4,5 facing up.
Mark and pin the centre of the fabric book and sew a seam down the middle.
That's the fabric book complete. They are easy to make and you can design them with pictures for you to make up a story for baby - let your imagination run wild!
I hope you won't think I've rushed through these instructions - I was worried about making the page too long. If any of you would like more detailed instructions let me know and I'll post them as separate patterns on the free patterns page with more detail.
Best Wishes to you all for 2010,
Rose
rose@ludlowquiltandsew.co.uk
www.ludlowquiltandsew.co.uk