My Sewjo is Back

Somehow our recent move to Bangkok squashed my sewing mojo (sewjo?) a bit.  In an effort to rejuvenate it (and to justify having brought my sewing machine and part of my stash in the air shipment in lieu of something more practical like extra towels), I took myself on a fabric field trip.  The field trip seemed to do the trick because I am back in action!

Some Googling informed me that Bangkok's main fabric shopping area is in Chinatown, on a teeny, yet packed-to-the-gills alley called Sampeng (also called Soi Wanit 1, also called something else in Thai, leading to much confusion on my part).  I followed these directions and took the MRT and a bus to get there, got a little lost (see aforementioned street name confusion), but ultimately stumbled on the fabric- and sewing paraphernalia-lover's dream (and claustrophobe's nightmare, see photos here) that is Sampeng.  Sadly, I did not take my own photos this time (I was a bit overwhelmed, dodging food carts and whatnot), but have plans to head back quite soon, photographer in tow, and will definitely post about it on my other blog when I do!  In any case, I walked away sweaty and clutching several bags full of dirt-cheap fabric.  

This little baby dress is made from some of the fabric procured during my Sampeng adventures and is for the cute baby of Mr. Ben and Erin (who are our neighbors again, woo!). Specifically, it's some cute elephant printed quilting weight cotton from Belleboo, which designs and prints its own fabric here in Thailand.  The pattern I used is the Summer Breeze baby dress pattern (free!) from Shwin and Shwin (designers of some other patterns I have used: Maggie Mae tunic, Rita Pants, Lucy tops), which is super easy.  Instant gratification certainly restarts the sewjo.  And the phrase "summer breeze" certainly elicits inescapable earworms.

UPDATE: Truly instant gratification... Baby Z wore the dress the next day at the beach:

My next sewing task: a wearable muslin of By Hand London's Anna Dress.  I have already muslined (is that a word?) the bodice and it seems good to go as is, so I plan to make the whole dress from some super cheap ($1/meter!!!!) cotton blend fabric I bought on Sampeng. 

Eli Baby Top

I whipped up a shortened version of this knit Eli Baby Dress for Anna... it came out pretty cute!  I love how the lacy leaves form the neckline.  It'll probably fit her in the spring/early summer.

I made it into a top rather than a dress by stopping at row 60 and then adding the seed stitch hem.  I also sewed a button on the back and crocheted a tiny button loop with the long tail left over from my cast-on rather than using ties.  

Made with Plymouth Yarn's Grass (a cotton and hemp mix) in a blue/gray color.

See Kate Sew's Easy Summer Baby Dress

Whipped up this teeny baby dress for Mr. Ben and Erin's little one using See Kate Sew's free and awesomely easy pattern:

Same fabric combo as my pleated playsuit.

Can't wait to see it on her in a month or two when it fits her!

Faux Cable Hoodie

While on the road with Martha in Singapore and Indonesia, I worked on knitting this tiny faux-cable hoodie for Baby Anna. 

I used the "Mock Cable Cardigan" pattern by Jeannine LaRoche, from same Knit Hoodies booklet that I used for Zoe's pullover hoodie earlier this year. 

The yarn is Fibranatura Sensational yarn (which looks like it's been discontinued), a bouncy superwash merino that I picked up at Webs' massive Christmas sale when back in Massachusetts.

I think the faux cable design on this cardigan is easy and cute.  I like the hood a lot and love how the cables form the buttonholes, but I will say that the way the cardigan is constructed drove me crazy.  It's knit in 4 separate pieces need to be seamed together at the end (and the sleeves are not knit in the round, so they needed to be seamed as well), which I hate.  It's a raglan style cardigan, though, and could have been knit top down, seamlessly in one piece (plus the hood), like some of the other sweaters I have knitted.  That is, it could have been were I savvy enough to know how to modify a pattern to make it that way.  Someday...  

Strike a pose!

Some more photos of babies striking a pose in the clothes I sewed or knit them!

Baby Anna lounging in her pastel Pretty Baby Sweater:

The tiny newborn baby Mr. Ben and Erin (aka Zoey) rocking her matching Tiny Geranium dress and baby bloomers:

The OG Zoe snuggled up in her pullover hoodie during a cold spell earlier in the summer:

Zoe looking pretty in pink in her batik Ruffle Top:

Zoe and Anna: Top Models

Here are some shots of Miss Zoe and Miss Anna rocking some of the clothes I've sewn for them.  They are so much cuter on the girls than on the hanger!!

Miss Zoe looking bookish in her prairie dress:

 

Smiling in her batik cuffed shorts (Simplicity 4203) and binge-watching Olivia while wearing her up-cycled board shorts:

You can't touch this when she's wearing her Hammer pants:

Loving her Mickey Mouse batik get-up:

Fitting in some outdoors time while wearing her batik romper:

The pleated playsuit earns its name:

More TV time, featuring her flowered bubble pocket shorts:

And, finally, Anna looking quite happy and comfy in her baby bloomers!:

Little Geranium Dresses

Here are two more versions of Made by Rae's lovely Little Geranium dress pattern for newborns that I whipped up for a couple friends who've found out that they've got little girls on the way.  Not the most practical of gifts (maybe a diaper genie or something like that would be more useful), but damn cute nonetheless!

One in hand stamped batik (same as I used for one of my Ella Raglan blouses) and one in some pretty blue flowered fabric from Joann's (also used for my Pleated Playsuit last week).  Cute!

Flowered Baby Romper

I can't get enough baby rompers.

This one is from an old school pattern (Simplicity 8812) than Martha gave me... it dates back to 1970 and it looked like someone had used it before, so perhaps Jennifer or Michael had a matching romper back in the day.  This one is for Mr. Ben and Erin... Tim is heading to Bangkok next week, hence the spate of baby sewing for those two.  Tim will act as our handmade baby clothes mule.

The legs were supposed to be elasticized at the bottom, but I ran out of narrow elastic and was too lazy to make the trip to Toko Maju for more.  Instead I took a cue from the Bubble Pocket Shorts I just made and sewed on a cuff, gathering the leg holes to fit.  I used flowered fabric leftover from this dress I made a few months ago.

Batik Bubble Pocket Shorts

Another list item, checked off:  Bubble Pocket Shorts.

Another cute pattern from Elegance and Elephants, made with navy batik (leftover from this Scout tee and the bandana I made Scuba Steve... I am getting my money's worth out of this piece of batik!).  I used the batik's border print for the cuffs.  I alllllllmost got the batik to match up across the seams, almost.  Completely inadvertent.

Here's a side view of the bubble pocket:

These are for Mr. Ben and Erin's baby, due in a few months.  I made the 6-12 months size and it was quite easy to put together.  The only problem I ran into is that the leg cuffs were a little large for the legs, but I am pretty sure that's due to a late night measuring error on my part.  More of these to come, for sure! 

Twinsie Sweaters

Over Christmas, Meg and I went to Martha's version of a kid in a candy store, Webs.  Webs is a giant warehouse of yarn, super fancy to nice yarn.  There I found probably 15 balls of this fun, spring time yarn that has great colors for little Miss Zoe!  Once we found out that Baby Dos was going to be a girl, I started thinking about twinsie outfits!  This was also my first non-rectangle/square knit project, so I went onto Ravelry to find this easy, but very cute sweater.

Miss Zoe's:

Miss Anna's:

 

Twinsies:

 Annnnnd Miss Zoe modeling!:

Flannel Baby Swaddler

I just finished up a couple of these flannel baby swaddle blankets to give to some soon-to-be babies.  Ridiculously easy and hopefully useful!
 

I used the pattern by Prudent Baby's Jaime Morrison Curtis that I found in the book Fabric-by-Fabric One Yard Wonders (given to me by the always-thoughtful Colleen).  However, it looks like there is also a tutorial for the blanket on Prudent Baby if you don't have access to the book. 

Pretty easy: three pattern pieces, one yard of flannel, three packs of bias tape... it's basically a giant triangle blanket with two built-in ties sewn onto the back to keep the swaddle secure.  My wrinkly, babyless photos don't really do it justice (and Lincoln was not feeling like modeling this morning), but you can see it in action here.

Blooming Geraniums

Or more accurately, bloomers and geraniums... Geranium dresses, that is!

I made two sets of bloomers (remember how cute my other bloomers were?) using the free pattern at See Kate Sew, along with two Little Geranium tops using the free pattern at Made by Rae.  One for Baby Dos and one for Baby Mr. Ben and Erin, both equally cute.

I used some awesome vintage pastel seersucker fabric that the Real Martha donated to my cause, and even though I made two full outfits out of it, I still have about yard left.

And one more set of bloomers, for good measure, from scrap fabric:

Baby Shrugs

I had a few almost skeins of yarn leftover from other projects and was in need of a few newborn baby gifts: enter the baby shrug... 

It's teeny (look below to see it compared to my lens cap!), cute, a ridiculously quick knit (big needles- size 10), and perfect for leftover yarn (it took like 3/4 of a skein). You've seen these two yarns before in various forms- Lily Sugar n' Cream in Mod Ombre and Nature's Choice Organic in Petit Fours.

Stripey Cardigan

Knit up this quick stripey cardigan for baby Alex using leftover scrap yarn.  These three colors, also used for Alex's vest and about a thousand other projects, seem to be never ending.  I am actually done with the blue, but more orange and green still remain.

Used the Little Coffee Bean sweater pattern, knit in the 12 months size, but with short sleeves. I added in a double stripe of blue a couple times to keep it exciting.  I cannot tell you how many additional ends that meant weaving in, but it was worth it.