Wow! It's September!

Goodness gracious me!  Where has the time gone?  Well, let me tell you.  We spent the summer moving to a new state.  We started with house hunting, which took up most of May.  Then we started moving.  After we moved, the hubby and I celebrated our anniversary, then we started family reunioning.  What?  Family reunioning isn't a word?  Hmmm...I'll think about that.  But the way that we did it, I think that makes it a word.  We had 2.5 family reunions back to back.  How do you have a half of a reunion.  Well, short answer, we had one family reunion that was actually two small ones put together.  Anyway, once we finished family reunioning (yes, I will continue to use that word), we went back to our new house (which also happens to be the first home that we've owned) and tried to get settled.  That plan was interrupted with the sudden death of one of my grandmothers.  I quickly made arrangements for the kids and whisked my baby off to a funeral. I got back in time to get my oldest kids registered for school.  So, then we were busy getting ready for school.  I got them off and ended up getting two more in return twice a week (I'm watching a friend's toddlers for her).  Needless to say, I've been busy.  However, I think I may be getting settled, so I figured it was time to update my loyal fan base (all 6 of you?).  I was able to do a few things here and there in between all the business that I'll share with you over the next few days.

The first I'm going to share with you is a sleep sac.  My oldest's best friend wanted a sleep sac for her birthday.  She's 8.  Her mother asked if I would make her one as our gift.  I've never created a pattern before, so I was a little nervous.  I used a baby sleep sac and one of my oldest's t-shirts as templates.  I then used some plain brown paper to make a three piece pattern.  One piece was for the front, one for the back, and one for the feet.  It didn't turn out exactly as planned (I'm a perfectionist), but it turned out better than I had hoped for (as I mentioned above, I'd never created my own pattern).  So, here we go:

1. First I gathered all of my supplies.  I had my baby sleep sac for guidance.  My brown paper to draw a pattern.  A ruler and straight edge to help me draw my pattern, and obviously a pencil.  I measured my daughter, so that I'd know how long and wide I needed to make the sleep sac.

 2. After drawing out a pattern (don't forget to take into account seam allowance in your measurements), I cut it out.  You can see that I made the foot piece into a football shape.  It needed to be wide in the middle to allow room for feet, but I wanted it to taper at the sides so that it would be easier to attach to the body.  I made my front wider than the back to allow for a zipper.

3.  Before I did anything else, I made notes on my pattern, so that I wouldn't get my pieces mixed up.  I also wanted to remember how much seam allowance there was and which pieces needed to be cut on a fold.

 4.  I sewed my two front pieces to the back (right sides facing in).

5. Once I had the front and back connected, I added the zipper to the front.  It went on quite easy.  It wasn't a full zipper, so then I finished sewing the two front pieces together.

*The next few steps don't have pictures.  I got really excited on how it was turning out and forgot to take anymore.

6.  Next I added the foot piece.  My shape wasn't perfect, so I had to rearrange things as I sewed it to the body.

7. The final step was the arms and neck.  My friend wanted it sleeveless (which was easier for me), so it wasn't too difficult.  Originally, I attempted to using bias tape for the sleeve and neck line to make it look more finished.  It looked awful.  So, I took it all off and just did a simple hem around both arm holes and around the neck.  Much better.  And voila.  We have an 8-year-old size sleep sac.

Look for my upcoming post on homemade laundry detergent.