Catcheen's baby stuff (lots of large photos)

[Catcheen]

As pretty much none of you know, three months ago I had a baby boy. My interest in knitting has now morphed into an interest of sewing. I'm still a beginner and can easily work from well written patterns, but I'm now venturing into having no patten and just a tutorial; or no guidelines at all. I've also taken up embroidery so I could make him one of those birth announcement thingies. (You usually see them in cross stitch, but I hate the look of cross stitch. No offence intended to any cross stitchers.) Anyway, here's some stuff.

This is Baz's birth announcement. Sorry about the glare, but I was too dumb to take a photo before framing it. I love how the frame mimics the backstitching I used for most of it. The first one is true to color, but the second one shows the stitches better.




This is a lovey I made him. The satin around it is perfect for rubbing since lots of babies love to do that. The wavey blue stuff is flannel. It's small and portable and most important... replacable. I hope he chooses it as his comfort item. The thing in the corner is a barbell I made out of extra flannel. It was just an experiment.



Here's one of the blankets I made. Well, "made" implies I did a lot to produce it. It's mearly a yard of flannel I hemmed. But it's kick-a** flannel. The other one has little cartoon bugs all over it.



Here's my pride and joy. I made a reversable Mei Tai all by myself just using some guidelines I found online. The straps are a black gause I've had for years. The Roman print is from scraps I had left over from a dress I made. The green side is new fabric I bought and liked. I made this one with extra wide straps and included a loop on each side that I can attach a toy ring to to hang, well, toys. I plan to make a sleeping hood for it too, but I'm unsure of the best way to create that. Now I kinda wish I hadn't spent $90 on a Mei Tai when I could have made one. Oh well, I'll make my husband use that one when he gets back from deployment and I'll use the homemade one. I'm very very proud of this.




I've made a pouch sling for him too, but it's just not an exciting photo unless I were wearing him in it. It kinda would just look like a hunk of fabric. I'll see what I can do about getting action shots with the Mei Tai and the pouch.

If anyone has any questions about any of this, I'd love to answer. Any comments are also appreciated. I'm also willing to do detail shots if anyone wants to see something closer.  

[Mangolyn]

^_^ How cute. What's a Mei Tai, though? Is it like those "baby backpack"-things?  

[kochi~mochi]

I love the birth announcement. I've always thought it was kind of lame that they were always cross stitched, as i've always thought the look was a little -too- babyish. I love the stars especially!  

[Catcheen]

ForestGreen

Awww, this stuff is cute without being too cutesy. now I wish I'd had time to sew for my daughter when she was a baby, but she was very a high-maintainance child, I was lucky she'd let me crochet.

I'm not a cutesy person. *grin* Frankly, I was getting sick of baby blue. Something had to change! Haha!

Mangolyn

^_^ How cute. What's a Mei Tai, though? Is it like those "baby backpack"-things?

Yeah, it kind of is. It's a soft carrier rather than a structured carrier like a Baby Bjorn would be. Soft carriers are much better on the baby's legs, hips, and back. Baz is still too young to be worn on my back, so I have him up front, but I'm anticipating the day I can wear him in a back carry! Here's a site I bought my other one from. Lots of action shots of the carriers. http://www.babyhawk.com/  

[Catcheen]

kochi~mochi

I love the birth announcement. I've always thought it was kind of lame that they were always cross stitched, as i've always thought the look was a little -too- babyish. I love the stars especially!

It was amazingly easy too. Less time consuming than cross stitch.  

[kochi~mochi]

Catcheen

kochi~mochi

I love the birth announcement. I've always thought it was kind of lame that they were always cross stitched, as i've always thought the look was a little -too- babyish. I love the stars especially!

It was amazingly easy too. Less time consuming than cross stitch.

Yeah... If/When i have my own kids, they'll probably get something similar. heart I like the shade of blue behind it, rather then going with white or something so-close-to-white-it-might-as-well-be-white... But then, i'm getting the feeling your house doesn't have very much white/colors that are almost white, and if it does, its not your doing.  

[Catcheen]

kochi~mochi

Catcheen

kochi~mochi

I love the birth announcement. I've always thought it was kind of lame that they were always cross stitched, as i've always thought the look was a little -too- babyish. I love the stars especially!

It was amazingly easy too. Less time consuming than cross stitch.

Yeah... If/When i have my own kids, they'll probably get something similar. heart I like the shade of blue behind it, rather then going with white or something so-close-to-white-it-might-as-well-be-white... But then, i'm getting the feeling your house doesn't have very much white/colors that are almost white, and if it does, its not your doing.

Haha, you're correct in your assumptions. I like black, grey, and red. The blue fabric is some blue twill I picked up for a dollar at a fabric store's remnant sale. Remnants rock for embroidery!  

[Ska Hippie]

Wow - very awesome stuff!!!
Everything is very lovely heart
I'd never heard of a Mei Tai before - what a great idea!!!  

[Catcheen]

Ska Hippie

Wow - very awesome stuff!!!
Everything is very lovely heart
I'd never heard of a Mei Tai before - what a great idea!!!

Know the funny thing about Mei Tais and the other carriers? They've been around for centuries! They're just now making it mainstream again. There are all kinds of babywearing slings, pouches, wraps, and carriers out there. I was overwhelmed when I first started looking into them. Much nicer than a stroller though. *grin*  

[Silver Mist]

Catcheen

Ska Hippie

Wow - very awesome stuff!!!
Everything is very lovely heart
I'd never heard of a Mei Tai before - what a great idea!!!

Know the funny thing about Mei Tais and the other carriers? They've been around for centuries! They're just now making it mainstream again. There are all kinds of babywearing slings, pouches, wraps, and carriers out there. I was overwhelmed when I first started looking into them. Much nicer than a stroller though. *grin*

much better for baby, too. Its rather agreed upon by doctors that the mother holding the baby close like this is best for early development.  

[Mangolyn]

Catcheen

Know the funny thing about Mei Tais and the other carriers? They've been around for centuries! They're just now making it mainstream again. There are all kinds of babywearing slings, pouches, wraps, and carriers out there. I was overwhelmed when I first started looking into them. Much nicer than a stroller though. *grin*

Plus easier to get on and off buses, into stores, in the car, etc. *makes mental note for (far-off) future reference*  

[kochi~mochi]

How hard was it to make the Mei Tai? Any chance of a tutorial? (i have a couple pregnant friends, and i think that these would be wonderful presents...)  

[Catcheen]

kochi~mochi

How hard was it to make the Mei Tai? Any chance of a tutorial? (i have a couple pregnant friends, and i think that these would be wonderful presents...)

It would only be about the best present you could ever give them! You would be able to buy fabric to suit their individual styles and sexes of the babies. It'll end up costing around $20 or so dollars to make unless you end up using really posh fabrics.

http://www.sleepingbaby.net/jan/Baby/asian.html

Is the site I used. She links a few other tutorials that I also used for alterations. Her finished size of a 20 inch high by 18 inch wide Mei Tai was far too big for my baby and I, so I shrank it a bit. But I'm 5'2" and pretty slim, so that might have been why. That size might work if your friends have more bountiful frames.

Also snoop around the site at the other carriers she has tutorials for. I used one for a pouch sling and it was so easy I could die. Getting the size is the hard part. But it's so easy, you could just make about a billion in different sizes.  

[Brunette_Star]

Those are adorable! Nice job!