I am feeling really awesome right now because I just finished altering a vintage wool suit that I bought at the thrift store yesterday for $5.50, and I’m wearing it.  I’ve never owned a skirt suit before and I feel rather sharp (and sister missionary).  I love that it’s vintage (70’s I’d guess) because the skirt is below knee length and flared, instead of above knee length and tight, with a slit.

A new suit might cost $200, so in theory I saved $194.50.  Or, even if I found a used one, but didn’t know how to alter sleeve length and waistband (too short and too small) then I might have spent another $50 on alterations, according to this website. Which would still be saving a lot of money, but that would be money I don’t have.

I’m trying to build the perfect wardrobe (snicker).  My bust and waist measurements have grown since giving birth, which is upsetting to me because now tons of my clothes don’t fit, including things I’ve made.  I think I still look attractive -it’s not the extra inches themselves that make me sad.  It’s that my clothes either don’t fit or barely fit and look awful on me.  Some I can alter,  and some will probably fit me someday, but yesterday  I got rid of a huge pile of clothes that will probably never fit me again, and then bought some clothes and tons of sewing notions at the thrift store.  So I’m kind of starting out with a clean slate.  My closet and drawers have lots of breathing room now -it’s nice.

I have very little money to spend, so I was getting a little depressed looking around online at nice clothes I would like to have.  There is just no way I can pay $20 for one cardigan -and that’s the cheap cardigan!  But then I decided to get creative and (I always want to say “damn the man” here but I do not curse and “darn the man” sounds so dumb, so I will just say something less striking) use my sewing and altering skills to get the kind of wardrobe I want.  It is really fulfilling to get what I want for much less money because of skills I have.

If anyone who lives near me would like some clothes altered and has the money, I would be happy to do it for some extra cash.  If you look at that alterations pricing website I linked to above, I would charge 30% less than that since I’m not a “professional.”  I do have three years experience doing alterations in a costume shop for BYU theater department.  Or, if you want something sewn “from scratch,” or repaired, I can do that too.  I can even make stuffed toys and dolls.  In fact, I’m thinking of starting up an etsy shop soon.

Today was our first day using cloth diapers, not counting a brief stint during the meconium days when we soon realized that the prefolds we had were just too big for a tiny newborn.  Oh, and meconium is gross.

I decided I wanted to try wool soakers for diaper covers.  These are what people used before plastic pants were invented.  They are knitted or felted wool pants worn over a cotton diaper.  Because of the properties of wool (waterproof, antibacterial) they don’t get damp even when the diaper is soaked, and they don’t smell bad either.  You only have to wash them every couple weeks, the rest of the time you can just air dry them if they do get a little damp.  Plus wool is very breatheable, especially compared to plastic pants.  So all this seems too good to be true, right?

I really wanted to believe in wool’s superpowers, but I was skeptical.  So I made some wool soakers to try out.  There are many patterns out there for knitted or crocheted soakers, as well as soakers made out of old cut up sweaters.  I don’t enjoy knitting and never really learned how to crochet, plus yarn is so expensive, especially wool yarn,  so I hightailed it to my local thrift shop and bought three wool sweaters for a buck seventy-five a piece.  After looking at so many patterns I knew kind of what I wanted to do, so I winged it and made two wool soakers out of one of the sweaters.  The pattern I made up was nice and simple, just a triangle, with the three corners meeting in the front of the diaper, leaving holes for the legs.  The ribbing of the sweater makes the waistband of the diaper, and I used the neck ribbing around the leg holes for one of them, but nothing for the other one.  I think I like the other one better- it’s simpler.  But we’ll see how well it stops leaks.  I somehow doubled up the fabric in the front of the diaper for extra absorbency -can’t remember how I did it, so next time maybe I will take pictures.

This is the first one I made, with the neck ribbing around the leg holes.

So today was troubleshooting day, and really, there were no problems, except I need to make a drawstring around the waistband because it’s a little loose.  Also unfortunately his onesies don’t really work with this, or cloth diapers in general, because they’re so bulky.  Some of his onesies are stained around the leg holes (already!) and so I might cut them into t-shirts.  His footie pjs and sleep sacks work well though, and that’s most of his wardrobe.  For the other wool soakers I’m going to make “longies,” or a long-legged version that look like pants.  Oh, and I’m going to make some kimono shirts.

So, I’m really happy.  The wool covers seem to be working very well.  The cotton prefold can come out soaked and stinky, but the wool cover is dry and smells like wool.  I really, really like them!  Why did they ever go with plastic pants in the first place?

I just finished my first baby outfit ever!  I guess I did make a baby kimono for someone once.  But this is the first thing I’ve made for my own baby.

It’s a flannel sleeper, with snap closures.  It’s supposed to be size 0-3 months but it seems really big.  Oh well, we’ll see.

Next in line is another sleeper just like this one (I cut them both out at the same time) only in mint green fuzzy fabric.  Then I’m planning on making a quilted kimono (the fabric is already quilted -it came from my Grandma like that).

This sleeper took much longer than it should have because the directions were wrong!  There was a diagram/picture about sewing the booties that showed completely the wrong thing to do.  It took me forever to figure it out because I’ve never made booties or anything remotely shaped like them, so I was trying to follow the directions really carefully.  I kept thinking, “It seems like it would work so much better this way….” but it took me a while to finally ignore the directions and actually do what made sense.  Then it worked perfectly!  Gah!

I also finished the nursing top, but I can’t really model it because it doesn’t fit my belly right now.  But I used this tutorial.  It was a bit frustrating because it ended up being too low-cut at first, but I think I fixed it well enough.

This corner looks so inviting.

The rocking chair with the sheepskin is sooo heavenly….

Is it kind of sick that sheepskin makes me love sheep more than I would otherwise?

My dress is put together (and looking rather shapeless without a body in it) so the next thing to do is hem it, add some tucks, and some kind of decoration.

Regency maternity/nursing dress I'm working on. It has a drawstring neckline and waist.

This dress is made out of some kind of shiny polished cotton, with a darker blue silk dupioni for the trim.  And a silver gimp braid.  I want to do something really fancy around the skirt hem but I’m not sure exactly what yet.

Hair this morning

Lately I’ve tried washing my hair with a minimum of products.  Scrubbing the scalp with some cheap thin conditioner, rinsing with vinegar water, and then oiling with a coconut oil/shea butter blend.  I think I might just take out the conditioner part and see what happens.  Then my hair will be like a salad.  Water, vinegar, and oil.  haha.  Vinegar rinses are amazing, they make my hair feel just like I put conditioner in it.  Who would have thought?  Anyway this is a picture of my hair this morning after washing last night.  Keep in mind I haven’t combed it yet.  I like the lack of frizz that this routine produces.  My scalp hair is nice and clean too.  It’s funny how simple it is to wash and care for hair.  People make it into such a complicated and costly procedure.

By the way, we got on WIC and Medicaid so tomorrow I’m going to make an appointment with the birth center!

so, something I’ve wanted to do for a while now is set up an etsy store and sell things I make.  I want to do this especially after I graduate.  This post is kind of a free-write brainstorming post so I can figure out what I want to make and sell.

The stuff I sell has to be stuff I’m good at making, so that it will be good quality.  That would be mostly clothes.  Quilted/patchwork stuff, jewelry, random things too.

also they have to be pretty easy to make, so I can keep up with the shop when I become famous and my stuff is selling like hotcakes.

baby kimonos
skirts
-smocked gingham
-basic gored
blouses
-empire waist, shirred elastic
-basic button-up
-tunic
patchwork pillows
earrings
the occasional dress
-period dresses
bags
-patchwork tote bags (cooler than it sounds, I promise)
aprons
quilts (hand-quilted)

Someday I want to get into dying silk scarves.

Etsy is such a cool idea.  Handmade gifts are so much more beautiful than whatever from WalMart.  Handicrafts embody art, culture, history, folklore, personality, beauty, and community.  WalMart does none of that -or at least does it badly.  I would love to help keep the handicrafts tradition alive.  And the prices on etsy are great!  Not to mention the friendliness of the sellers.  They are all just starting out and want to treat their customers as kindly as possible so they will build up their clientele.  I plan on buying as many of my gifts as possible from etsy.

Here’s my latest stitched creation. A cute little early ’60’s-inspired (it’s a little long-waisted, which makes it more modern. I kind of wish it weren’t though) dress  that’s shaped entirely out of tucks.  This dress is basically a sack with tucks taken in at the waist.  Very easy: no zippers, no sleeves, no tricky curves.  Please forgive my unimpressed smile.

And I finally figured out how to wrangle all my hair into a french twist again! It’s grown so much that it would not be harnessed with just one comb.  Note that there are now two.

And note that the hairdo totally looks like a fin.  Fin Head!

I still think it looks really elegant, though.

For my birthday my Grandma Bergen (Dad’s mom) sent me these heirlooms made by her mother, my great-grandmother, Aleatha Mae Tyner Clark. She was a very talented lady. She went to college in the 19-teens, and graduated in Chemistry and Home Ec, I believe. My grandma sent me three tabletop cloths she had made during college. I only took pictures of the table runner, for now.

Check out the amazing details:

Apparently you make these designs by cutting out tiny bits of thread and wrapping some of them together. I can understand why no one does this anymore. Good grief! Cut one tiny thread wrong and it would fall apart.

The other two things were similar: a square cloth like the one above, and a rectangle with white-on-white daisies embroidered on it, and a scalloped edge. These things are nearing 100 years old! I was really happy to get them from my grandma and I will take good care of them.

Here are some pictures of my great-grandma, Aleatha:

Wasn’t she pretty?

She’s in the middle, with the long hair and the hat.

Here she’s at college, in the middle again.

I am so ridiculously excited about this quilt. Just ask Samuel: he will tell you about my frequent squeals of delight.  It’s weird cause I’ve always thought quilting would be so boring. Just in the last year or so I’ve become intrigued by it, and now I’m excited!

I’ve begun to actually quilt it.  Can I get some applause for my husband and brother who helped me safety-pin-baste the layers together? They are truly awesome men for a crafty lady to have around. So, the layers are pinned together, and I’ve started quilting, as of last night.  Last night I watched Sense and Sensibility -because those kinds of movies always make me feel like sewing. I think it’s the needlework they’re always doing. Or the pretty dresses- and I quilted the whole time: about two hours.  In those two hours I got this much done:

Eleven triangles and one yellow square.  That’s about the equivalent of one entire pinwheel block.  I started at the exact center, which wasn’t an actual block, but four corners from four blocks. Now that the center is done, I’m going to quilt block by entire block, in a spiral pattern. If it took me two hours to quilt one block, it will take me 48 hours to do all 24 blocks.  That doesn’t include the six inch border- I think I’m going to quilt that in straight lines, two inches apart.  I have no idea how long that will take.  I will basically have to stitch around the entire border twice.  Yikes!

I’m going to be quilting all through General Conference. I also might recruit some friends sometime and have a quilting bee.

This is going to feel so awesome when it’s done. What an accomplishment!

Then when my kids throw up on it, or get bloody noses in their sleep, I will cry.

Ah well. What good is a quilt if no one is allowed to use it?

This is my first foray into quilting.  My grandma is an avid quilter and has made hundreds.  She gave me one of her many “kits” that she’s made up: a quilt all cut out, ready to piece together.

While I was in Virginia at the Shannon’s house I hand-pieced several blocks.  I’m so glad I brought it because I was able to sit on the couch and talk to people, while still having something to do besides just sit.  It also helped me to NOT SCRATCH all my chiggerbites.  I ended up piecing enough blocks to make a quilt!  I am making a twin-size one for a future child.  In fact, the kit has enough pieces to make two twin quilts.

NOTE: My grandma had already started piecing this quilt.  What you see in the picture below is aprox. 50% my work and 50% hers.

These are all the completed blocks laid out on my queen-size bed.  I haven’t sewn the blocks together.  I still have to arrange them so there are no weird or repetitive color arrangements.  I will probably take out one long row and add a 4 or 6 inch red border all around.  Then I will have a one-row head start on the next one!

I love the scrap-calico look of it