Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Here's a secret

At first hubby wasn't so sure how he felt about the potential of cloth diapering in the future (if we ever have kids). Then, I showed him some fabric I picked out to make some, and he quickly changed his mind. (Here's my first post about cloth diapers)

I'm not sure he saw anything but the football fabric in this bunch. He was instantly listing off specific teams he likes too that might be cool for fabric, hehehe. (the fabric above was all from Walmart)

So, the secret in getting my husband to go along with the idea of cloth diapering was... sports fabric!

Even if we never have kids, these diapers are kind of fun to pick out material for and make. Plus, they can always be donated :)

Sunday, March 27, 2011

Fabric.com

I placed my first order the other day through fabric.com... and hubby is in trouble because this site is addicting! I've gotten more into the diaper making process so I ordered some PUL fabric (which is waterproof) to layer inside them so they don't need a cover. Most local stores don't carry this fabric, and if they do... I've heard the quality is pretty poor. Anyways, while I was at it, I also ordered some cute flannel. I love this site because (unlike many other fabric sites I've nearly ordered from) you can order in half yard increments and my order came really quickly (2 days?). Now I feel less secluded in my small town which lacks any decent craft/fabric stores. Plus, I always forget to look at the fabric content and care when I go to the store so this site is nice in that I can find that information whenever needed.

Wednesday, March 23, 2011

KamSnaps.com

In my cloth diaper making adventures (see this post ) I learned of a website (kamsnaps.com) where you can buy reasonably priced plastic snaps and pliers/presses. These come in handy for diapers if you don't want to use Velcro or pins. But, there are many other uses for them too; I'm thinking sunglasses cases, totes, raincoats, etc. could all have a use for some plastic snaps.

Anyways, I was a little hesitant to order from this unfamiliar website, but after reading many others reviews, etc. decided to give it a try. It was amazing! My order came in 2 days, (great for the anxious/impatient person I become while waiting for mail :) )

I bought the pliers set, with a slight cosmetic defect. Basically it has a tiny bit of rust on one spot of the pliers but is not a big deal at all (plus they sent me a free replacement part, if I wanted to remove the defective piece). In turn for the rust I got a bunch of free snaps, so I could order a variety of colors, without feeling guilty.

Here's the set up:

Pliers, awl, and screwdriver. There are different sizes of snaps so the head of the pliers has interchangeable pieces depending on the size you're using.

The 4 colors of snaps I ordered to start out. (Size 20 for most of them). I'll post a pic soon showing them in use!

I was so excited about the snaps and all of their potential that I actually placed another order to get a larger variety of colors.

Sunday, March 20, 2011

cloth diapers (and no, I'm NOT expecting)

I'm not expecting (that's likely a few years out yet), but I've always thought cloth diapers were pretty cool. Not only are there massive environmental benefits, but there are a lot of perks for the baby & parents using them too (less diaper rash, possibly younger age for potty training, oh and much cheaper overall)

So, in my curiosity, I bought some cute fabric, and decided to make a cloth diaper. (hubby was a little weirded out... I am surprised I'm admitting to doing this haha, but yeah)

I found this website which had a free all in one (aio) cloth diaper pattern and lots of pictures. It's a very quick and easy sew.

This is my first attempt:

Front
Back

The way the diaper is now, it would usually need a diaper cover since it is made out of flannel. It also needs closures of some sort... so, instead of going with the safety pin or Velcro route... I ordered a plastic snap pliers set and later added snaps to it. I'll post pictures later on about the snap set.

Friday, March 11, 2011

While I was out...

I messed around with my embroidery machine a bit more in the last couple of months (not much though) but just didn't post about it.

Here's a super simple (and cheap) embroidered washcloth. The cloth itself was in one of those packets of 12 for $4 (or something like that?) from Walmart. Putting a "P" on it took about 2 minutes, pretty easy.



I embroidered a couple more dish towels, and also made some drapes that I will write about soon. The drapes aren't fully done yet... they are functional, but I'm not happy with the outcome so they will eventually get some more attention.

Thursday, March 10, 2011

Getting back to it

Well, my blogging break has come to an end (on my 100th post!). Hubby & I both have crazy &/or unpredictable schedules right now, but I think I'm starting to get used to it. Therefore, it's back to the sewing room :)

To get back to it, I ordered this embroidery thread on Amazon. It's supposed to be the right colors for Disney patterns on Brother embroidery machines. I haven't tried it out yet and am not sure about the quality of it... but we shall soon see! fingers crossed