Baby D wearing stuff I made.

Baby D strikes a pose in a me-made kimono top with robot appliqué. That he is already outgrowing.

Presenting a photo roundup of Baby D wearing stuff I made him while I was pregnant. I'm too sleep-deprived to form too many actual sentences, but man do I LOVE getting to actually put this snuggly little guy into things I sewed or knit (which I have been Instagramming pretty regularly, if you like that sort of thing).

The little dude is growing RAPIDLY (at not-yet six weeks old, he is over 12 pounds and wearing RTW size 3-6 months), so I'm trying to get as much wear out of the things that fit or almost fit as I can before it's too late, since I am NOT having more babies.

In his Baby Doctor Who iron-on TARDIS T-shirt transfer (with big sis):

And the Funkadelic one-hour bodyshirt (matching photo with his Daddy's Funkadelic pending), which I originally sewed for his sister. Also: how cute are baby jeans? These are from the thrift store, not me-made, but I love that they have totally useless rear pockets because: jeans! on babies!

Growing into his Puerperium cardigan and accessories:

Which were TOTALLY too big at birth:

In his New Conceptions kimono top and matching pant sets — tops (as opposed to bodyshirts or pajamas) are rather impractical for such a young baby because they ride up, but I wanted something that wouldn't irritate his healing belly button. (For the record, these are gender neutral and I would have put them on a girl too, because tools and robots are NOT just for boys.)

The Kwik Sew red hooded sweatshirt I made from a secondhand cashmere cardigan (will get a better photo later, but this was great for Valentine's Day):

I am also wearing a me-made maternity top in this picture, because I still can't fit into regular clothes. Whatever:

I'm afraid I only have crappy Instagram camera phone photos of these handpainted handknit Better Than Booties cable socks and the Gift Wrap baby sweater and bonnet, but still!

Serious chubby cheeks, I just love them.

And finally, not anything memade in this picture (besides the kids) but aren't they just the sweetest? It's moments like this that get me through the TOTAL LACK OF SLEEP in my messy, milk-spattered daily existence:

P.S. I mentioned in my last post we were having some horribly painful breastfeeding challenges due to tongue tie, lip tie and oversupply. I am happy to report that things are MOSTLY better (thanks to two wonder lactation consultants and an ENT). I can actually nurse now without screaming and crying in pain (which made it impossible to go out and nurse in public without screaming and frightening the passersby). I may even start doing some occasional pumping this week to get the little guy comfortable with bottles for when I go back to work in a few months ... which would mean husband and I can go out on a date next time my parents visit!

Last-Minute Baby Sewing Binge (Before Being Stuck in Bed) — With Tools and Robots!

Up until last week, the only item I had actually finished for Baby Wood was a single pair of Better Than Booties baby socks (the green ones shown above, Raveled here). Then I looked through my stash of newborn and tiny baby items and completely panicked, because I have almost NO gender-neutral clothes for tiny babies (what if we have a boy?!), and very few warm winter clothes (Z was a summer baby).

I made a thrifting expedition and scored 15 cute little second-hand gender-neutral baby things for $26, but dressing baby in store-bought clothes isn't as SPECIAL or FUN as putting him/her in something me-made, now is it?

So I ramped up my baby knitting queue... and last Sunday, while the four-year-old was visiting her grandparents, I went on a bit of a mad sewing binge, tracing, cutting and sewing seven little itty bitty baby garments in one day--more than I've sewn in one day ever, and more than I've sewn for months total. AND all the fabric and patterns had been in my stash at least four years, or were secondhand, so—SCORE FOR STASHBUSTING and CUTTING UP OLD CLOTHES TO MAKE NEW ONES.

Mainly, I wanted to make some cute, snuggly, special baby outfits for the new one to wear home from the birthing center.

Set #1: Orange overload: A little cotton kimono knit top with contrast ribbed bands and cuffs in an orange tool-themed print with matching pants and hat, plus an orange merino wool side-buttoning cardigan and little wool booties (in progress).

• The kimono top and pants are from the wonderful New Conceptions Baby Essentials layette sewing pattern set. Kimono tops are great for pulling over big wobbly newborn heads, and I love that the sleeves and pants are finished with cuffs instead of hems—I highly recommend this easy and versatile pattern. The main fabric is a soft cotton interlock with a tool pattern I bought ages ago from the Fabric Fairy, and the navy and orange ribbing were from a Sew Baby ribbing color assortment. I made the newborn size, and sewed everything but the top hem and the pants waistband on the serger.
• The super-simple hat pattern is part of Kwik Sew 2433, another great knit baby clothes layette pattern for rompers, jumpsuits, hats and booties.
• The side-buttoning cardigan is the Beyond Puerperium cardigan pattern, a fun and simple raglan sweater (the newborn-size Puerperium is free, but I bought the version with more size and yarn weight options). The yarn is Malabrigo Rios in the color "Glazed Carrot", a soft, washable, squishy worsted-weight merino yarn. (Cardigan raveled here with full details).
• The in-progress booties are knit from the free Gansey Booties pattern in the same yarn, and I have an earflap hat in progress (the free Aviatrix hat pattern) as well to finish off the ball.

I just love the tool pattern on this fabric—perfect for a little girl or boy from a family of makers, crafters and builders!

And aren't these buttons pretty? I do not want to talk about how much they cost, but I got them at La Casita Yarn Shop Café, an awesome local Brooklyn yarn store:

Next up:

Set #2: Gray and red and blue with a robot: Another knit baby set, plus a red cabled cashmere cardigan hoodie.

• The kimono top and pants and hat are from the same patterns as set #1. The main fabric is a super-soft cotton/rayon rib knit I cut out of a top from a giant bag of second-hand maternity clothes I bought for a song from a local mom (I have plenty of things to wear for the next 6-8 weeks, don't worry). Immediately after it was done I decided it was too boring and needed an appliqué—my husband suggested a robot would be just the thing, and I think he was right.
• The red cashmere cardigan hoodie is my TNT baby hoodie from Kwik Sew's Sewing For Baby—this is my fourth version. I cut it from a super-soft designer thrift-store sweater that had some stains and snags. The best part was I didn't have to attach any sleeve cuffs or bottom waistband—I just cut the pattern to include the original ribbing. I stabilized the front facings with bright turquoise petersham ribbon from Pacific Trimming and applied blue snaps from Sew Baby. I was going to put an appliqué on this piece too, but decided it didn't really need one.

Don't you love a pretty piece of petersham or grosgrain in a sweater? (And no, I haven't finished applying the inside snaps yet).

Here was the original sweater... there is something SO satisfying about cutting up ruined garments to make pretty new ones, isn't there? Not to mention that cashmere knits can cost $60-$175 a yard if you can even FIND them or that new cashmere baby sweaters run $100-$300... whereas this one came to less than $5 in materials:

Here's the robot appliqué in progress—it's just a scrap of bright turqoise ponté, applied with fusible webbing, then stitched down around the edges by machine:

The eyes and heart I embroidered by hand. Which is something I'm really into lately:

And that's good, because yesterday my midwife ordered me onto scheduling resting (basically part-time bedrest) due to some severe swelling in my legs and feet and other assorted reasons. I need to spend half my days in bed lying on my left side, and minimize time standing/sitting. So... I sense a lot of embroidery and knitting in the next weeks, and not so much the sewing machine.

Anyone else been through this? The thought of lying down so much is driving me crazy... I'm a doer and a maker and I've got a demanding full-time job to do and a four-year-old to chase around! And my apartment is so NOT baby-ready, and I know I'll be too exhausted once baby actually arrives to do much of anything but nurse and sleep (when I can).

Bonus photo: my four-year-old came with me to the yarn store to buy the buttons for the orange cardigan, and she insisted we had to make a list first to remember we needed 6 buttons: