>Potato Bag Shirt Transformation

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 Picked up this lovely/huge/baggy shirt at the “Mother of Multiples” sale for $1.00. I even have a 27 week baby bump hidden under there.

Not very cute but I liked the fabric and was hoping I could do something with it.

I haven’t tackled too may clothing projects so it took me longer than I thought. I seriously had to look up how to put a dart in clothing.  Yes-I’m an amateur at this stuff. Anyway- here’s what I ended up doing to make this shirt a bit more wearable. 

And the backside…

 Turned out pretty cute!

I imagine this will be good for the Spring weather just around the corner.

 I also like that it doesn’t scream, “I’m pregnant, look at my belly!”

Make Your Own Maternity Clothes

Picked up this lovely/huge/baggy shirt at the “Mother of Multiples” sale for $1.00. I even have a 27 week baby bump hidden under there.

Not very cute but I liked the fabric and was hoping I could do something with it.

I haven’t tackled too may clothing projects so it took me longer than I thought. I seriously had to look up how to put a dart in clothing.  Yes-I’m an amateur at this stuff. Anyway- here’s what I ended up doing to make this shirt a bit more wearable.

And the backside…

Turned out pretty cute!

I imagine this will be good for the Spring weather just around the corner.

I also like that it doesn’t scream, “I’m pregnant, look at my belly!”

>How To Make a Nursing Cover

Once again, I have run into an expensive baby product that I have scoffed at and murmured, “I could make that…” In this case, it is a nursing cover, AKA, “hooter hider.” This one, for example, is selling for a little over 30 dollars. Really? $30 for a piece of fabric strapped around your neck. I don’t think so.

So, I set out to make my own. After rummaging through some tutorials, I got the general idea of how to make one and just went for it.

My fabric strips are already sewn in this picture

Supplies Needed:

26×38″ piece of fabric

3×10″ piece of fabric

3×26″ piece of fabric

16 strip of boning (I found at Hobby Lobby)

Two D Rings (mine were 1inch but 1.5 inch would work)

Lets start with the neck straps.

Fold them in half, longways, and stitch down one side.

When sewing these, make sure to curve one side off like the picture below. Cut off the excess. This makes it easy to slip in and out of the D-Rings.

Source

Turn them right side out, iron them flat, and top stitch down both sides to get them nice and flat.

With your shorter strap, encase the D rings and stitch as close as possible to the rings to secure them.

Now, lets work with the main piece.

Identify what the top of your cover will be (38″ side).

Fold and iron down 1/2″

Now do it again.

 

Unfold it ONCE and pin your boning in the center of the piece. Make sure the boning is curving away from you at first.

Stitch the boning in place. Just stitch as close to the top and bottom of it as you can.

Now fold your pre-ironed piece back in place with the boning encased. It should now be slightly curving towards you.

Before you stitch that down, slide your straps in place underneath the fold. I put mine right under the edge of each side of the boning.

Stitch all along the top, double backing at each end.

Now simply iron all the other edges the same way (1/2″ folds like before) and top stitch those to give you a nice hem. You’re done!

Now nobody has to see any unsightly-post baby flesh 🙂

I know I’ll put this to good use!

>Week 25 Update

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Week 25

Adelyn is the size of an eggplant

Well, hello my little eggplant. Glad the most recent ultrasound shows you are growing just like you should be!

I’m kind of in that stage where it feels like I’ve been pregnant forever and it feels like it’s still going to be forever until we actually have Adelyn with us. If it weren’t for the increasing kicks, I’d be a little bored with being pregnant. Is that bad? There just isn’t much to do right now except for wait. 

Here’s the rundown on the past few weeks:

Maternity Clothes? Thanks to good friends, Rachel and Jen, my maternity wardrobe had tripled. They graciously are letting me borrow some of their maternity clothes. It’s nice to have options again. 

Stretch Marks? Nada. Unless you count stretching marks on my clothing.

Sleep? Eh. Not bad but not great. I have good nights and then bad nights. Last night was a bad night. In the middle of the night I woke up to a horrible leg cramp. My intense, “Owe owe owe owe owe” scared Austin half to death.

Movement? Oh ya. I can pretty much tell which way she is positioned depending on which rib she is attempting to dislodge. We’ve also hit the stage where we can feel her from the outside. She kind of plays Hide and Go Seek with us though. She’ll be kicking away at one spot and the second I have Austin try to feel it, she’ll stop. Little rascal. 

I’ve also learned that talking about the baby kicking weirds some people out- particularly high school girls. At lunch the other day I mentioned that the baby was kicking (as we were eating) and one girl looked at my like I had three heads. I’ll have to be a bit more discerning who to share certain details with. Haha.

Mood Swings? Yes. Not so much the uncontrollable weeping associated with pregnant women. Just more of a irritability/crankiness. I feel like I’ve been more short with people- particularly Austin. We had to have some -ahem-marital reconciliation last night because “the ‘tude” I’ve recently been getting. Those conversations are never fun especially when you know you are the culprit.

I also have found myself worrying a lot more than I usually do. I just get fixated on something and get super stressed about it and totally lose perspective. For example, last week I was in tears because I was convinced our dog Sophie had cancer and was going to die. Sounds laughable now but any pregnant/hormonal woman can relate to how convincing emotions can be.

Cravings? Lately soda has sounded really good. I don’t really drink soda- especially since I got pregnant but anytime I see someone with one I just want it! My aversion to minty flavored gum had grown stronger. I can hardly be in the car or in a small space with someone who had gum in. It’s weird.

Gender? Confirmed again at our most recent ultrasound. Girl.

Labor Signs? Nope. Labor is something I have been thinking about a bit more. At our last appointment I talked to my doctor more about two vessel cord babies and their deliveries. She told me she was pretty sure I wouldn’t go past my due date. Most likely one or two weeks early. I don’t mind that at all!

Belly Button? Looks the same to me.

What I Miss? My normal jeans.

What I’m Looking Forward To? Lots of stuff. I have a baby shower coming up in a month. My besties will be in town staying with me that weekend so I’m pretty excited about that. Also- my mom scored a baby jogger on Craig’s List!! It was originally sold new at $350 and she got it for $75. Boom!

What I’m nervous about? Not being able to fit back into my old clothes. Breast feeding. Sleep deprivation. Going from two salaries to one. Am I preparing enough? Etc. Etc. Etc. I told you, I’m a nervous person right now.

Weekly Wisdom? I’ve been clinging to a few verses lately.  

“Lead me to the rock that is higher than I…” Psalm 61:2

“For the LORD God is a sun and shield; the LORD bestows favor and honor. No good thing does he withhold from those who walk uprightly.“ Psalm 84:11

“O LORD, my heart is not lifted up; my eyes are not raised too high; I do not occupy myself with things too great and too marvelous for me. But I have calmed and quieted my soul, like a weaned child with its mother; like a weaned child is my soul within me.” Psalm 131:1-2

Milestones: I’ve been noticing that Adelyn responds to noises. Particularly when the dogs bark really close to me or if I play music right by my stomach.

>Baby Shoes

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I can’t get over how cute these turned out!

 I found the tutorial to make them at Stardust Shoes. It was super easy to follow her instructions.

I actually made another pair that same night. Still working on accessorizing them a bit before their big reveal 🙂

>The Joys of Craig’s List

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 I have a strong Love/Hate relationship with Craig’s List.

Love it for obvious reasons: great deals, local, unique finds, etc. Hate it for mainly one reason: Unreliable people. I think the anonymity of buying and selling on Craigs List makes people flake out more on their commitments. I’m always a little leery of  my business dealings but the lure of a good deal always brings me back to browse. 

Lately, I’ve been a stalker of the Baby & Kids section. What I discovered is that there is an abundance of baby swings selling for around $20. I was registered for a baby swing at Target that costs around $130. Wowza. I couldn’t bring myself to allow my family and friend to pool together $130+ for a swing that I could very easily get for $20.  So I’ve been on the hunt for a baby swing. And boy did I hunt…

See all the links in purple? Those are ones that I clicked on at one point or another. Yikes. That’s embarrassing. Anyway…

I’d emailed a few people here and there trying to nail down a good deal. I eventually landed on one that I liked.  Pretty new, $20, good ratings, etc. After some emailing, we arranged a time to meet.

I met up with her at the Home Depot parking lot. She seemed very sweet, had two kids with her (one who had gotten car sick on the way making her 20 minutes late to our rendezvous). Poor lady.

Anyway, after emphatically apologizing for her tardiness, she pops open her truck and pulls out the swing. However, it isn’t the swing in the picture. It was entirely different and a bit older looking. I was totally caught off guard and racking my brain to figure out what to do.

I assumed that amidst my wheeling and dealings I had mistakenly contacted the wrong person about the swing I had really wanted.  I assumed that the error was on my end and that I had replied to her Craigs List ad accidentally. I chalked it up as another Pregnancy Brain mistake.

I didn’t have the heart to say that I made a mistake and didn’t want it. I mean this woman had driven 30 minutes with a carsick kid to meet me. She really didn’t seem like someone who would hussle me either. So, I bought the swing. The swing I didn’t really want but didn’t have the guts to say no to. Ugh. Here’s a picture of it. It’s not horrible. It’s just a lot older and has a lot more wear and tear.

Well THEN, I got home and hopped on my computer to figure out where I had mixed up my communication. Turns out, I WASN’T wrong! The picture that she had posted was in fact NOT the swing that she brought. WHAT?! How did this happen?

And you know what, right now I don’t have any answers. I am waiting for a response to my email I sent her sheepishly explaining that I didn’t say anything about the wrong swing she had sold me. The dilemma is: Is it my fault that I bought the swing I didn’t want or is it her fault that she sold me a different swing than advertised. When I word it like that, it’s probably more my fault. Ugh.

So now I have a swing that I’m not super crazy about that I’ll probably end up selling on Craigs List, encountering flaky people who say they want it but will never follow through with actually buying it.

The Joys of Craig’s List

>Crib Skirt

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 This has for sure been my longest, most tedious project thus far. Thanks to many snow days and much time cooped up inside, I was able to finish it. 

 A crib skirt really shouldn’t take that long. However, my sister found this Kaleidoscope pattern and we both thought it would be adorable as baby bedding. 

Source

So a while back, I began the tedious work of cutting out piece after piece to form the pattern. Wish I would have taken pictures at the huge stack of these pieces I had.

After much pinning and sewing later, I began to piece the shapes together to form a cohesive design.

 To make the crib skirt, I followed a pattern in Amy Butler’s book, Little Stitches. I for sure made a few mistakes along the way but it turned out just fine!

 It looks a little funny without the mattress and crib bumper but those things are hopefully on the way!