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Saturday, August 2, 2014

What to do with all this free time?

Sew baby clothes, of course! Because in addition to growing a new labrum, I'm growing...no, just kidding, although that would definitely win for tackiest baby announcement (or maybe I could do mom 'n dad crutches with little baby crutches - that would be macabre and amazing).

I'm actually using my sedentary, non-running mornings to wake the neighbors with my sewing machine to make clothes for my niece, like this little sleeveless dress with piping and a big button at the shoulder.
And a pocket, because all toddler dresses need a pocket.

While I was halfway through this dress, my machine broke. I was annoyed, until I called the local sewing machine repair shop to ask about repairs. Then I was furious. It's $150 just for diagnostics! Absurd! The machine only cost about twice that! So instead I texted my best friend from childhood, Gaby, and enlisted her dad's help. He's a sewing machine repairman (who doesn't charge any $150 diagnostic fee, hmph), and he talked me through a repair. It worked. 

With my machine back in business, I decided it was time to sew something for my little nephew, who will be here in just 7 or 8 weeks! If he is born at his due date, his parents will have two kids under the age of one. Yikes. That sounds Amish or something.
In honor of which, I sewed some little Amish coveralls out of a scrap of black denim (If you must know how I had scraps of black denim, there was a delusional period in my life when I tried to sew myself jeans).

I got the very simple, easy pattern here, and I whipped this up in about two hours, including picking out a misplaced buttonhole.
But not including the amount of time it took to sew crotch snaps in, since all I had in my drawer were sew-on snaps. Laborious, I tell you.

I didn't adore the pattern I used for the dress - it doesn't look neat and finished - but I love the little romper. Next time I would make it a little less plain by embroidering the front or using less funereal fabric. Although I do like the idea of baby's first denim!


4 comments:

  1. I love those! Wish my sisters knew how to sew. I think the overalls would look sweet with a white letter monogram!

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  2. What… wait… two kids under the age of ONE??????? Holy smokes! Ack!!!!!

    I love the toddler dress and the romper! So cute, and I know they will appreciate it.

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  3. Please teach me to sew. I have so many pieces of clothing that I haven't worn in ages because they need minor repairs that I am incapable of doing on my own but feel stupid paying someone to do for me.

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    1. I honestly think for stuff like that (hems, repairs, etc) you could view a Youtube video! You can get some machines for fairly cheap, too, although if you only used it for repairs you might not recoup the cost.

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