Baby Toys and Diapers

A couple of my friends had or are having babies this summer, so I have been making many gifts and helping out sewing reusable diapers. For baby shower gifts I sewed these two stuffed animals I made patterns for. They were both pretty big, and I hope that the little ones will be able to play with them for a long time. One of them is a spotted doggie and the other a cute elephant with shirt and pants. I am moving towards trying to make patterns from my designs, and after I have enough done, I hope to make a whole book out of it. Kathy Mack from Pink Chalk Studio recommended a helpful book for me to read- Publish Your Own Patterns by Nancy Restuccia. I hope to get some info on how and where to publish the actual pattern since it needs to be the right size and printed hopefully on large sheets of paper. I look forwards to receiving the book in the mail! If you are interested in ordering baby gifts, please convo me through my etsy store.

One of my friends also wanted to make some reusable diapers. Having no kids or any experience babysitting, I had no idea even where to begin with sewing one. The crafty person as I am, I googled it and found a host of websites with more information I could handle. I was drawn to a few websites where the materials and types of diapers were the most clearly explained, so I could figure out what supplies to buy for a diaper making session. As it turns out, many of the the materials are hard to find in the fabric stores around town, so I ended up ordering everything online from Celtic Cloths. I have to recommend them to everyone. Jamie Karutz has put together a great resource explaining the different fabrics available, tips, patterns, and tutorials. Ordering the fabrics also ended up being a last minute thing, and Jamie responded to my emails fast and was able to get my fabric to me before I flew to Finland. I also scoured a gaggle of other websites and tried sewing three different patterns. Here are some of the resources I found most helpful:
Zany Zebra had a great list of tutorials and patterns. There was a link to a visual tutorial and they also sell materials.
Fern and Faerie was nice because it explained different kinds of reusable diapers and how to use them.
The best pattern that worked for us, to make all in one diapers was the Ottobre Design pattern. It was the best size and fit the best around the legs of the baby. It was also closest to the diapers that my friend already had store bought. Ottobre Design is a luscious Finnish sewing and craft magazine with patterns for children and teens. I have flipped through it several times at the store and oo-ed over the beautiful layout and designs in the magazine.
If you are unsure, of how to sew one, I would suggest to sew one out of some scrap fabrics before cutting into the more expensive materials. This is how our first diaper out of the "real" material turned out. I got the foldable elastic from Celtic Cloths that could be sewn on the top of the seam on the outside of the diaper edge. My friend ended up deciding she wanted to have a soaker pad that was just velcroed on top of the diaper instead of putting one inside the diaper.


Here are some other baby inspired gifts and ideas from Etsy:
On the top is a hand screenprinted piece by Strawberry Luna. You can buy a whole set of alphabet prints from her store. The adorable green shoes are from Heather's Hobbies.
In the middle row is a cute baby Mai Tai from My Blessed Baby and a pattern for a cute baby hat from McHat. If you are unsure of your sewing skills, you can convo them through Etsy and have one made for you. I thought the Ouch Pouch from Pillow Sew Cute was an ingenious idea and would make a great baby shower gift. Pair it with a cute sensory toy owl from Cafe Crinkle.
For the green conscious baby, the reusbale Wrap-n-mats now have snack pouches as well. I use one for my lunch sandwiches and am totally in love with it. Etsy also has many stores that sell reusable snack pouches etc.

If you are not familiar with Instructables.com, definitely go check it out. They have great tutorials for just about anything you could ever imagine. Here are just a few picks for our baby themed post: Baby sling by Momma+boys, and a blanket and donkey baby gift set. I posted this one a long time ago for an etsy competition... Hope you enjoyed the article If you are into Jane Austen, I have a super post for you coming up!

Wee Dog-Bert

I made the little fella last night. It was so cute, I had to make a little dwelling for it. The puppy itself is needle felted, with beads for the eyes and yarn embroidered nose. At first I thought about making the house out of felt, and failed miserably, it was a very wobbly and mis-shapen.

The next try worked out much better. I used 2 ply matboard cut out into the shape of the grassy patch and dog house, and then covered them in elmers glue one by one, and glued fabric pieces on them. As it was drying I trimmed off the excess, and glued the house on the grassy patch. The roof in loose, so that you can put little Bertie in his house when he gets tired. I added little tufts of felt - grass around the doghouse for an extra touch. Maybe I can add some detailed instructions on how to make one in the near future if any one is interested? Bert is up for adoprion at my etsy site www.mirkah.etsy.com.

Comissions

I have been working on two comissions in the past weeks and am finally on the home stretch. It has been a nice change of pace. Working with pen and ink is very similar to creating my etchings, so it always makes me feel good about what I am doing.

The first commission was a portrait of a dog for a friend of mine. His old spaniel had just passed away and he wanted to remember her. The portrait has two views of Mattie and the milky way in the distance. I also framed the print with a black frame and double mat. When working on portraits, I normally work from photos. For multiple animals, I normally play around with photoshop to get a nice composition before I start drawing. The second step is to get the basic values down with pencil, and third I just fill it in with the pen. I use a simple old school pen (like a quill) with liquid ink in a well.

The other commission is on a totally different note. It is an illustration for a young writer for his fantasy novels. I have so excited to work with him. The finished illustrations will be sold as prints with the short story at the Shiny Squirrel Boutique. I'll post more on this as soon as I finish the illustration. Garr, it has been such a busy semester! There are so many things to do and every week when I think I have cleared enough time, a bunch more things pop up! Is this the way every one else's life is too? I have so many patterns that I am dying to try out, but simply have no time.

I blogged about our move previously (husband-military-all that jazz). That also changed, so that instead of moving next summer to Germany, we are already leaving in Jan-Feb next year to Ft Lewis, Washinton. As soon as the semester and teaching are over, I get to start packing boxes. I think I might have to have a sale to get rid of some of the fabrics I have accumulated...

Saturday tidings

I had a chance to drive to Brunswick, GA today to drop off some critters and art at my friend Melissa's shopette. If you live close to this area, the Antiques store can be found at 1601 Newcastle, in Old Brunswick. (There was a fantastic sandwich shop on the next block called Manhattan Subs, I would recommend that as well.)

Melissa, has a little room of her own in an antique store that is absolutely adorable. It was hard to take pictures in there, but I did my best. I built a stepped shelving unit to go on the floor to display little critters I had made. Here are a couple of photos of what is in her shop. We kind of turned the store upside down while setting everything up, but you can get an idea of how it looks from the pictures.


Out dogs are also the funniest things, I love watching them sleep in the most weird positions on the livingroom floor. Every once in a while I have the camera by me and I get to snap cute pictures of them.


Another fabric designer whose designs I fell in love with is Robert Kaufman. Here are a couple of prints from his collection. So cute, so cute...

New critters!

Today was a combined art day and craft day. I had some time to do prints, that are still undone, and on top of that I put together a whole bunch of little doggies and one kitty. I love these critters, they all end up having such a personality of their own. I posted one on etsy for now. Three are reserved for a friend to put in her shop next month. I am so proud of her, she has her own store front about an hour from our house, and is selling antiques with art, and more modern things. I am dying to go visit her new boutique. I'll post some pictures when I go down there.

Also in the works are a new design for a plushie for Jessica at the Shiny Squirrel Boutique, but not sure what that will be yet. I have ideas for an owl and a ferrett. I guess it will be a mystery until it is unveiled...