Nursery Pillows

Today I'm working on the first of two pillows for my next grandbaby's nursery. I'm making envelope pillow covers so they can be removed easily and washed as needed. Won't this yellow and white chevron fabric make a cute pillow?

The finished size of the pillow form is 20" square. I cut the fabric 21" x 46". This way all I have to do is finish off the two ends and sew all the way around and it's done. It's a really fast and easy way to do an envelope back pillow cover.

I turned under both short ends 1/4" and then turned them under another 1/4" so there is no raw edge showing. I topstitched that close to the turned under edge.



I put the fabric wrong side up and found the center of the pillow by matching the two turned under ends. I finger pressed the center for a reference point.

I like to do French Seams for pillows that are going to be washed. Since this is for a baby's nursery I want them to hold up well to washing. By finishing the seams this way, I feel that they hold up better than just a regular seam.

I used the center fold as a reference and brought the finished end on the right side up about 1./4" to the left of the center line.

Next I folded the left side of the pillow toward the center. I overlapped it 1 1/2" over the other end. I pinned that in place at the top and bottom. In the photo the raw edges don't match so you can see the overlap. But as you can see by the next photo I pinned it in place with the edges matching. I also pinned in a couple other places to hold things together.

 

The chevron "stripes" don't line up here but they do line up when the pillow is finished.

I know it's weird to sew with Wrong Sides Together (WST). I am so used to Right Sides Together (RST) that I really have to think about it before I sew. It's just automatic to do RST. But when doing French Seams the first seam is WST. I stitched 1/4" on both sets of raw edges.

Using the opening for the pillow I turned it so that now it is Right Sides Together. I used a Point Turner to make sure that the corners were nice and defined. A friend's husband makes this one. It is a Point Turner on one end and a Finger Pressing Tool on the other end. It is a little long but it is perfect for this job.

I pressed the whole pillow cover really well after I turned it Right Sides Together. Even though I really only have 2 seams to sew I actually stitched all the way around the pillow cover with a 1/2" seam allowance. That will keep it's square shape.

After sewing all the way around the pillow the two actual seams are completely covered. Now there are no raw edges inside the pillow to fray after multiple washings. This technique is also good for sewing tote bags. It makes the seams really strong.

Now it's time to turn it right side out. I used the Point Turner again to make sure that all 4 corners are well defined. Here's the finished product on the glider/rocker in the nursery. 

I think it turned out very cute and so does my daughter.

Happy Sewing,

Carol

A Fun Non-Sewing Project

My oldest daughter is expecting a baby girl in March. Her two sisters and I threw a baby shower for her over the weekend. I had seen pictures of Diaper Cakes on Pinterest. There are a couple cute diaper themed gifts on my Grandchildren Board. I decided that I would make a Diaper Cake for her shower gift.

I found a great tutorial that has a video. I opted for doing one where the diapers are flat instead of rolled. I used an 8" cake pan and a 10" basket (because I didn't have a larger cake pan) as my "molds" and my reusable water bottle in the center to build it around.

I used Pampers Sesame Street diapers (that is what I had leftover from my granddaughter who is potty trained now). Tristyn is really tiny and I figure you need every size diaper so why not use what I had. They actually worked great because there is a lot of subtle color in them so it wasn't a stark white cake.

When I removed the water bottle I put burp cloths and washcloths in the openings. I used raffia, which I removed later, to tie the diapers in place at the top and bottom. I wrapped a wide ribbon around the middle to permanently secure it then added a thinner pink ribbon to add a little more color. I built it on a  plastic cake plate so it could be easily moved later and to make it look more like a cake.

I wanted to add some other little goodies. I was going to make roses from the washcloths and some Onesies but I wasn't happy with the look. In this case, less is definitely better. I finally decided that I would put several pairs of socks in between the layers. I folded each sock so the ruffled edge was facing out and put them in place all the way around. They were the icing between the layers. There were a lot of comments about how cute that looked when she opened it.

One of my favorite books is Love You Forever. I wrote a message to my daughter inside the cover and put that with it.

The baby's room has a giraffe theme and I made two stuffed giraffes. I used one as the cake topper and the other next to the cake. Here's the finished product.

I wrapped the whole thing in pink tulle and made a bow with ivory tulle. My daughter loved it. 

This was a fun and very easy project to make. It is a functional, practical gift but done in a fun way. I would definitely recommend it if you're looking for an interesting gift for a baby shower or a newborn baby gift. Anyone can do this.

Enjoy a fun no sewing required project.

Carol

Bib for a Baby Boy

There is a big baby boom in my life.  As a result I've been collecting baby themed patterns for awhile since my daughters are having babies and so are their friends. This is one that I picked up in case someone I know has a baby boy.

The son of a very good friend of mine recently had a baby boy. The mommy and daddy are both lawyers so this pattern came to mind. I decided to do the Business Bib. These are the fabrics I chose.

I used two of the black and white fabrics from the Black Licorice Bits Fabric Collection and Kona Black.

Here's the finished product. If you look closely at the tie, you might see the "L" monogram. It didn't show up as well as I'd have liked. The fabric is a little too busy but I thought it was still a nice little detail.

When I auditioned the fabrics and decided what was going where I thought it would work. Now that it is done, I like it even better than what I envisioned. Don't you love when that happens?!