Terry Cloth Clothes

After having baby E, I can't imagine taking all three kids to the pool this summer.  The thought of undressing them all, washing the chlorine off, then drying and dressing them again is unsettling to me.  That's a lot of work!  So I thought what if I could at least cut out one step by just drying/dressing all at once without carrying multiple articles of clothing.  I think that would help a little right? :)  So here's what I came up with..

Terry Cloth Clothes! :)  Ignore the stained dress.. jajang myun explosion.

I bought 2 cheap terry cloth towels from walmart for $1.95 each.  Shirring the top, added elastic straps and voila!  She wouldn't take it off all day!  The idea came from Dana's Beach Towel Dress.

A's outfit is just a one piece jumper from a green terry cloth towel.  I put an existing shirt and pant on top of the towel, cut out a pattern and then bound the raw edges with some biased tape I had.  Of course for ease the straps are velcroed at the top. :)
Something about this outfit reminds me of the sound of music when she made clothes out of the curtains. haha

Dress Pants

Can't believe it's been several months since my last blog post.  If you didn't know, baby #3 came in the beginning of March, so you can understand my lack of posting.  Plus, I've been preoccupied with facebook to tell you the truth.  It seems that for stay at home moms (or maybe just me).. it's an outlet to the world.  It's comforting to know that people are living exciting lives out there and doing crazy things.  I can live vicariously through you. :)  But sadly people have not been posted as often and I do find that I'm craving a connection with people again.  SO POST SOMETHING for me! :)

Anyways.. I've been keeping busy by spending my maternity leave crafting, baking and surfing the web for new projects.  A friend of mind gave me a lot of khaki fabric a while back and I wasn't quite sure what I would do with it.  So I took a tutorial from Dana and made Auggie some khaki pants.  It turned out wonderfully!  Eddie asked if I was going to put in some pockets, but I'm too lazy.  Instead I'd rather make several of these!

Ignore the unironed fabric. :)

The hemline. 

The elastic back and double stitched waistline.  Ignore my mail. :) 

I tried to put in a label, but it's kind of ugly because I sewed over it.  It was too large. haha

So it was my first experience at pant making and I've gotta say it was pretty easy!  But it could be that it's a super small pair of pants. :)

How do I have time to craft- Hat project

So lately people have been asking me how I manage to do all these little projects while I'm pregnant with two kids.  Well, allow me to let you in on my little secret... it's called "coping mechanism".  There are two things that I do to cope with life.  1) Veg out and watch TV or 2) I find new projects to feed my perfectionism.  Yes, believe it or not, I am a perfectionist.. My house my be filthy, my kids unruly, but I am a perfectionist when it comes to having this inward drive to learn new things.  So if you find that I am making massive amounts of desserts or making new projects daily, I am coping with the fact that I cannot control my world around me.  With two kids you realize very quickly how little control you have.

I would like to say that every time I feel a loss of control, I turn to God to seek peace and ultimately relinquish my control issues to him.  But there's this itty bitty voice that wants to gain control of everything in my life.. to rule over everything.. essentially become my own God.  There is this still small voice that tells me to look at the cross of Christ and see why Christ had to do what he did so that I, my own inner God, can submit and know the only true and living God who really is the ONLY one in complete control.  Ok, this is getting too heavy... so what it boils down to is the battle of Christian living.  Not just dying to my own habits, and behavior modify.. but rather see the glorious cross and finding the grace that's freely given.  As character changes, behavior will follow.  

So for now, don't judge me when I show you my new creations. :)  I'm a work in progress. :)  OH.. and I don't craft daily either.. sometimes I do multiple projects on a Saturday and blog about them individual through the week.  hahah  With all that said, I'll end on a lighter note.  Here's a hat I made for the baby..

 It was supposed to be a strawberry hat (Cynthia, I went home and made it after I saw yours), but I didn't have green for the leaf, brown for the stem, etc.. so I just made an Acorn-like hat.  I think I don't like the leaf so I'm going to cut it off.. but then my sister asked me why the hat would have a stem at the end?  I don't know. :)

Then Elizabeth saw me making that hat and asked for one for herself.  She wanted a flower hat, so I made a cute skull cap with crocheted flowers.

 She asked me why it was so tight, and I told her that's how she's supposed to wear it.

Aren't they cute?

Eddie asked me why I don't make anything for Auggie. Sad right?  I guess I never think to make anything for him.  It's cute to make girl stuff and baby stuff, but boy stuff?? boring... well, I'm going to look forward to celebrate the boy month at MADE starting in February!  Can't wait to see what they come up with.

Maternity Shirt into Girl's Dress

My mom decided to give me this maternity dress because she thought it was "cute".  Have you ever wondered what qualifies as "cute" to an older Korean mother?  Well, I have often wondered this mystery myself because the moment I put on this tent-like shirt, Eddie busted out laughing for 10 minutes straight.  I would have taken a picture of myself in it if I were brave, but when I looked in the mirror, the only words that came to mind was sumo wrestler.

So trying to be resourceful I thought I'd try to "save" this shirt since the embroidery was pretty and so were the buttons.  I really wanted to make a pattern that I could use over and over and have very little to cut and sew. (Because I'm lazy).  So I drafted this pattern by using Elizabeth's measurements.

I made some adjustments to the seam allowance because I realized there wasn't much ease around the waist/armpit.  So this design was the back piece.. The arm would fold over so I essentially only had 2 seams. 1) across the diagonal line from neck-armpit. 2) Under the sleeve down to the bottom hem!

Cut out the pattern on some muslin to see if it was the right measurement.. this is before I cut from the sumo shirt.

Here is the sumo shirt.. when did people where this kind of maternity wear??  As you can see, I've already drawn out the front pattern piece.

Here's the finished product.  Not the best picture, but still the best girl. :)  Fits her perfectly!

Fondant Cake

So my sister comes by today and tells me that she's going to order a cake for her son's 1 year birthday party.  When I asked her how much it cost, she said it would be around $100!!!! I couldn't believe how much cakes cost these days.  So we decided to take our hand to making our own fondant cake.  So don't laugh. Here it is.  

We thought it came out pretty well considering we didn't know what we were doing and just looked up some tutorials online. :)

We were practicing with different shapes, sizes, and placement.

 So after an evening of baking and fondant making, we're going to attempt to make Matthew's one year birthday cake.. enough to feed 70ppl I think. Pictures to come.. hopefully it won't be a disaster. :)

Diaper Bag/ Diaper Case

So I haven't completed my infant car seat padding yet, but all that is left is the binding.  I have a hard time finishing projects when I start it days before.  That's usually why I start and finish things in the same day, because I know I'll never do it if I put if off! :)

So my newest project was this cute little hobo bag!  With baby #3, there's not many new things you can buy since you have everything you need from the previous babies.  I'm too cheap to go out and buy a brand NEW diaper bag, so I thought I'd just make one.. here it is.

 I love the colors of the bag.  Black/White with accent of deep burgundy.

 Here's the inside of the bag.  Pretty roomy with a magnetic closure.  I don't know why it looks purple here.. hahah must be the lighting!

 This is the back of the bag.  I kinda wish I put a pocket on this side too.

Well, I had all these scraps of fabric left, so I thought I'd make a matching diaper holder.  I hate throwing away scraps when they're not tiny. :) Here it is.

 I wish the flap was a little narrower, but that's okay.  I like the binding! I had JUST enough red leftover.

 (4) Size 4 diapers.  I think it's roomy enough to hold a wipes case in there with it.  The inside is lined with a woven muslin/linen type fabric.  Another piece from my scrap pile.

 I only had scraps left, so I just pieced it together. :)

The bag and diaper case together!

All in all it took about 1/2 a day to put together.  Not bad for a cheap bag/diaper case.  Thanks for reading. :)