Category Archives: baby

Sewing Tutorial: Chenille Washcloths

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Tutorial:  Faux-Chenille Baby Washcloths 

I had seen a couple of tutorials for chenille blankets on Pinterest while looking for some cute baby shower gifts to make. I loved the idea of the blanket, but I wanted to use the baby flannel and miscellaneous fat quarters I’d found in my fabric stash. The answer? Chenille washcloths. I tried these with a quilting fabric (cotton) backing, and, while I liked the idea, once it was done, I didn’t like the feel. So, I tried it again with ribbed knit for the backing and loved the result!  (Looks like those fat quarters will have to wait!)

What You’ll Need (makes 4 washcloths):

knit fabric for backing (or something stretchy and soft) – 1/4 yard
3 coordinating flannels – 1/4 yard each

Note:  I’ve read on some tutorials that pre-washing isn’t as necessary for this project, since it will be washed all together, but some fabrics shrink differently than others, so I still pre-washed my fabric.

Also, I’m estimating it takes about 1/4 yard of each fabric for this project, since I had 1.5 yards of everything and just cut strips of the widths I needed. 

Step 1:  Cut

Cut 8″ square blocks from the knit. Cut 6″ blocks from the flannel fabrics. You’ll need 3, 6″ blocks for each washcloth, one of each piece of flannel.

Knit blocks – 8″ squares
Flannel blocks – 6″ squares.

Step 2:  Assemble

Place the knit wrong side up (with the knit I was using, there wasn’t an “outer” or an “inner” side, which was nice, but if yours has a print, put the print facing the table). Place the three flannel squares print-side up, facing you, centered on the knit block. To help, I’d measured 1″ from each edge and marked with a washable fabric marking pen, then placed the flannel blocks according to the guide. You can pin the blocks in place, but the flannel against the knit stays pretty well, so I didn’t pin them together.

When deciding the order for the flannels, realize these are going to be fraying together.  If you’re using strong colors, try putting your strongest color either in the middle or on the bottom so it peeks through, rather than dominating.  If using prints, remember you won’t be able to tell what the print was when it’s completed.

I ended up placing the footprints in between the other two, with the yellow stripes on top.
Almost ready for sewing!

Step 3:  Quilt (Sew)

The first line will be diagonal from corner to corner of the flannel. Because I was using light fabric and white thread, and because I have some issues sewing straight lines, I used my fabric marking pen to draw lines on the flannel where I’d need to sew. Once you’ve sewn the center diagonal, you’ll need to continue quilting. Each line should be 1/2″ away from the last. Again, drawing these lines really saved me! During the quilting process, your flannel pieces may shift a little. I tried to keep the shifting from happening too much by keeping the fabric tight as I sewed it. There was still a bit of shift but not too much.

NOTE:  Stay-stitch at the start and end of each line.  I just like to be sure the stitching is secure.

You can see the lines I drew to help guide my sewing. Always sew the center line first.
Sewing right along!
Completed sewing. You can see where the flannel shifted a little.
Back side – looks cool!  Colored thread makes this look pretty cool, too!

After quilting, trim the threads from each line.

Step 4:  Cut

If you have a chenille cutter, great – use it! I don’t, so I used my scissors. Simply cut the flannel between each line of sewing. This was a bit of a slow process for me, as my scissors got caught on the knit now and then. Thankfully, I never cut THROUGH the knit. So, take it slowly if you need to.

You can see my guide-lines for placing the flannel blocks.
Keep on cutting…keep on cutting…just be careful, and don’t cut the knit!
Phew! Done cutting! Since this will be fraying, the fact these aren’t perfect lines doesn’t really matter.

Step 5:  And with the machine, bind them.
 
(I couldn’t help the Lord of the Rings reference…)

I pressed the binding for each cloth without clipping corners first, to see what would happen. I ended up with very bulky corners that I didn’t like. So, I went back and cut the corners of the knit and re-pressed the binding. The corners ended up much more manageable with the lack of so much fabric.

I didn’t measure anything for cutting the corners.  I cut far from the flannel first, then folded the edges, and trimmed closer because the corners were still too bulky. Just don’t cut right up to the flannel.
Pressed, and ready to stitch the binding down!

Once the edges are pressed, simply stitch the binding down! I was nervous still about my stitching, so I used white thread and a zigzag stitch to let the knit keep its stretchiness on the edges. I made sure to stitch the corners, too, as I was sewing around the edge. 

Yo, ho, bind the thing down!
Ready to wash!
I really like how these look on this side, too!

Step 6:  Wash and Dry

I realize this step is self-explanatory, but this is where the magic really happens.  During the washing and drying, the flannel will start fraying.  The cool thing is that the more you wash and dry these, the softer they will get! 

These are so soft!
Bundled up and ready to gift!


Personality

baby, growing, personality

 I wonder what little man will be when he grows up.

Little man has been growing so fast!  We were just looking at video we’d taken of him at around 3 months old the other night and couldn’t believe the change a few months has made.  Not only that, we couldn’t believe how much his hair has grown!  We thought he had a lot of hair at 3 months old…it’s nothing compared to his hair now!  Look at those little curls on the sides of his head!

Lately, I’ve been trying to see into his little budding personality.  He’s a curious little fellow – but I think most babies are curious by nature.  It cracks us up to see him lean over to the side (and sometimes topple over doing so) to see who’s coming down the stairs, who’s talking, or where the noise he’s hearing is coming from.

Don’t you just love that thoughtful look?

Today, I was watching just how far his level of persistence towards a goal would take him.  We have a bunch of toys he plays with in a cardboard box; he loves the box probably more than the toys inside.  I hadn’t taken any toys out of the box, and set him down beside it, curious what he’d do with either the box or the toys.

He hasn’t quite gotten the hang of crawling yet – mostly, he just crawls backwards.  But in the past week, he’s figured out how to get up to a sitting position from his hands and knees and does a pretty good job of getting around that way.

Here’s the funny thing, though.  He was on his hands and knees, trying to reach a ball in the box.  He tried for a few minutes to get that ball, but it was just barely out of reach.  He was as close to the box as he could go, but his little arms just didn’t make it, not matter how much he tried.  If he knew how to crawl forwards, it probably would have helped – he really just needed to get up a little higher on his knees to reach that ball.  But after a few minutes of trying, he got into a sitting position and looked around for something else that would provide amusement.  He didn’t cry because he couldn’t get the toy he wanted; he just looked for something else to play with that he could access.  He did eventually end up back at the box, trying again for various toys, and, when he couldn’t get the ones he wanted, either getting something that was already out, or just getting one that he could reach.

It’s fascinating seeing these bits of personality in little man.  I can’t wait to see more and more of his personality as he grows older!

Clouds, Clouds, Go Away…

baby, blessings, summer, weather

So far, this summer, Seattle has not had very summery weather – at least, not consistently.  Prior to last weekend, there was an article going around indicating Seattle had experienced a full 78 minutes of temperatures above 85 Farenheit, and a little over 18 hours of 75+ temperatures.

Short summer.
Then, last weekend, it was sunny for three days – temperatures hit over 85 on Sunday, but it wasn’t so bad that we were dying at home.  I can do that kind of summer.
Then, Monday, we had rain and thunderstorms.
I started grumbling about it to myself – this summer weather is ridiculous!  Last summer, I’d been laid off in early July, and so I just decided to enjoy the summer…I remember it being a pretty nice summer, getting to hang out with my husband (frustrations about unemployment aside).  This summer, with a little baby boy, I was looking forward to walking around the neighborhood with him, letting him soak up some Vitamin D rather than having to give him the oral vitamins.  But it hasn’t happened as often as I’d like.
Then I realized if it were too hot, I’d be blogging about a desire for air conditioning and cooler temperatures…
So, I guess I’ll just be grateful we have a heater when we need one, a room air conditioner when we need one, and family on the other side of the state we can visit when we want more warmth and sunlight.  

Cruel, Cruel World of Teething

baby, teething

For the past couple of months, little man has been getting tired around 8pm and going to sleep around then.  He’ll wake up a few times throughout the night, but it’s been a fairly quick feed baby, he’s back asleep routine.

For the past couple of days, though, it’s been all chaos.  He wakes up early in the morning and won’t stay asleep unless a parent is by him.  Last night was the worst – he was tired at 8pm, but wouldn’t get to sleep until 11pm, and then woke up every 60 to 90 minutes throughout the night, staying awake at one point for an hour before going back to sleep.  I had seen more teeth starting to come in (he has two on top, two on bottom – I saw two more on top coming through), but this lack of sleep was the worst we’ve been through.  [For you mothers who routinely get no sleep…my hat’s off to you.  I don’t know how you do it!]
Tonight, little man was tired at the usual 8pm, but he was struggling to get to sleep again.  We knew he’d been teething the night before and had given him Orajel to help with the pain on his upper gums.
What we didn’t see was the bottom gums.
THE CHILD HAD ANOTHER TWO TEETH CUTTING THROUGH ON THE BOTTOM GUM!!!
THREE TEETH CUT THROUGH IN ONE NIGHT!!  No wonder he wasn’t staying asleep!  Poor child had a mother who just put the Orajel on the top gum and completely ignored the bottom gums, leaving him in pain all night long.  I only found out when I was massaging his gums with some dissolved teething tablets for tonight, knowing there was one more top tooth cutting through.  I felt like an absolutely horrible parent getting so frustrated with him last night between the waking, the crying, the whining, and the biting me when I tried to feed him.
In other news…little man still doesn’t like solid food.  We keep trying.  He keeps spitting it out and looking like we’re poisoning him.
Oh, the irony of it all!

New Parent Week 1: We’ve Survived a Full Week!

baby, new parents
Can’t believe he’s here!

Bringing a new baby home is 3 parts amazing, 1 part terrifying. As the time drew closer for us to be discharged from the hospital with our new little bundle named Gabriel, I started getting emotional. We were going to be ON OUR OWN with the little guy. No more people coming in to check his vitals and mine; no more reminders of when to take the medications they’d given me; no more check-ups and lessons from pediatricians and lactation specialists; and no more dialing a phone number to order off a menu and, 45 minutes later, have food brought to me in bed.

On the positive side…no more people coming in to check his vitals and mine; no more poking and prodding from nurses and doctors right when Gabriel was in the middle of sleeping; no more wondering if what I ordered from the menu was going to taste good or not; no more bed that shifted with every shift I made; Rich could finally sleep in something large enough to hold his entire body instead of the pull-out bed that he had to sleep diagonally in so that he would fit!

Even so, I suddenly realized how luxurious all this help from the nurses had been. Would we survive on our own?

Gabriel in his coming home outfit!

While bringing a new tiny baby home is terrifying, we’ve also had some funny new parent moments. The first night with Gabriel, with both Rich and I already super tired from the 24 hours of labor and then the hours spent awake after that between nurses, feeding Gabriel, and being in awe at the tiny guy, we couldn’t figure out why the baby kept crying. I kept feeding him, and he kept eating, but it got to the point that he was eating tiny bits at a time. Surely, he wasn’t THAT hungry? Finally, we remembered the little man had a diaper on that we hadn’t checked yet (nurses had been great at changing his diaper every time they came in!). OOPS. One changed diaper later, and Gabriel was content and ready to sleep!

A couple of days ago, we tried out the bouncy chair we’d bought for Gabriel and Rich had put together. It vibrates to help soothe a baby, and has various settings for sounds, including sounds that mimic the womb (basically swooshing sounds). We put Gabriel in to see what would happen. Rich got the chair vibrating and turned on the swooshing sounds. Gabriel suddenly lifted both feet off the chair where the vibrating was happening and kept them up almost the entire time! He finally set his feet down – but gingerly at first.

Tubby time!
Love the frog on the bum!

Last night, Gabriel was having a fussy night. He wasn’t sleeping very long between meals, which meant his parents weren’t getting much sleep, either. Rich finally got to sleep around 3am, and about 90 minutes later, Gabriel was awake again. Rich had been getting up to get him and bring him to me each time to allow me to stay in bed to help with the recovery from delivery pains, and so I poked Rich. No movement. I shook him a bit, and he stirred. I called out, “Baby fetcher!” Rich replied, “Bring the baby!” and promptly went back to sleep. After being a little confused at his reply and realizing he wasn’t moving, I chuckled and got up to get Gabriel.

The dolls are about the same size as he is!

Later, as I was walking around with Gabriel, wondering why he was so bright-eyed, the little guy suddenly made a squeak and choked a little bit. I held his face up to mine and gave him a puzzled look, asking him, “What was THAT?” Suddenly I realized he was giving me the same exact puzzled look back! I started laughing – these are the kinds of things that happen that make me think, “Yes, this is definitely my child!”

The bib nearly covered his whole body!