Finally finished the vest!

I started this vest for my boy months ago! The wool is Treliske organic wool which I've dyed using food colouring. It is so beautifully soft. The photos show the vest over a long sleeve top that doesn't really match, but it was what he was wearing when I finished the knitting.

Mind you, when he was asking me how long until it would be finished, he kept on thinking it was going to be a swimming vest - you know, one of those ones that helps keep you afloat? He has one of those, and its the only thing he's ever really known that's been called a vest. I kept telling him it would be wool and to keep him warm, and showed him pics of vests, but he kept forgetting and thought I was knitting him a swimming vest.

Weeks four to five

The knitted longies have been great, but she's leaked a couple of times onto them, and its been raining non-stop, so they take ages to dry when I wash and relanolise them. I quickly sewed up some fleece longies. These were just simple polar fleece pants with an extra layer of microfleece in the nappy area.

The fleece longies are soooo simple to use and to wash; its tempting to just use them all the time. They are certainly handy when there is a lot of rain. If I didn't feel so strongly that natural fibres are better against baby's skin I'd probably use these a lot more. Fleece longies do still "breath", so it isn't like using a plastic nappy cover, but they don't breath as well as wool longies. They can just go into the washing machine and dryer though.

I've also been having to put nappies into the dryer a lot. This is fine for the nappies, but they are getting a bit stained, especially the liners. I'm looking forward to some sunny days to get the stains out.

About week three - additions to the nappying

At about week three I got sick of using the nappy pins, especially during the night. Bub had also grown a bit, so I wasn't folding down the nappy tail any more. This meant I could add snaps to the nappies without worrying that I'd have to add them to a different position down the track. I added 8 snaps across the front at one inch intervals, and two snaps to each wing, 2 inches apart. On one of the wings I put an extra snap in the middle so that the wings could be crossed over.

I also sewed some two layer boosters using scraps of hemp/cotton fleece and terry. These boosters were added into the nappies to increase absorbency.

The knitted longies are not covering her feet as well as they had been already!!!

The nighties have been great.

What I used - first couple of weeks

The hemp fitteds were great - used them. She was put into a disposable by the nurse as her first nappy, but hasn't had one on since. Using them in hospital was fine - I just put dirty nappies into a plastic bag and sent them home for washing with her dad.

I used the woollen longies every time - haven't used the PUL ones at all.

I had planned on using a snappi with the hemp fitteds, but didn't like that and was also told by one of the nurses that they don't recommend them any more because they have been known to come off and then hurt bub, so I went back to nappy pins, which I've used in the past. They were made a lot easier to get through the nappy by just running them through my hair first - amazing what a big difference that makes!!

The nappies fitted beautifully. We just folded down a little bit of the "tail" so they weren't too big.

The longies were quite long, but great that way as I could just have them covering her feet to keep them warm. All the tops that I'd made were also too long in the sleeves, so I just folded the sleeves up and they were fine.

One really helpful thing that I remembered from my last baby was to use some baby bottom balm with each nappy change so that poo is easier to clean off. I really love the Nature's Child Bottom Balm, as its really smooth and lovely to use, and also the ingredients are natural and organic. I just smear a bit of this over her with each change, and nothing sticks - no "scrubbing" to get her bottom clean!

Preparing for Baby

My baby was due end of May, so I was preparing for a winter baby. My plan was to use entirely cloth nappies and to focus on natural fabrics, using organic where possible. So I figured the easiest way to clothe her for winter was knitted longies, as they are both pants that will keep her legs beautifully warm, and nappy cover.

Longies are knitted pants. They should be made from 100% wool, and after washing they should be lanolised. Here is some info about lanolising longies. I'll add info about lanolising woollen nappy covers later, as well as a pattern for longies.

Although lots of people like to use prefolds (see http://www.withawareness.com.au/aboutnappies/p15.htm) or traditional terry flats for newborns, I really wanted the easy to use fitted nappies, so I wanted to design a fitted nappy that I could sew lots of quickly, that would be easy to use, and that would fit a good range of sizes. That's what I did. I sewed up lots of those.

I've also sewn 3 or 4 nighties (with more cut out to do), about 6 to 8 hemp/cotton interlock tops and a few fleece nappy covers as back up. I already have a couple of PUL nappy covers (purchased) and a pile of cotton prefolds and other flat nappies - muslin, terry and flannelette. Here is a count of what I have in terms of nappies:

*about 18 fitted nappies in hemp/cotton blend
*3 fitted nappies in bamboo/cotton blend
*3 woollen fabric covers
*5 PUL covers (not sure about the sizing of these - have done them all differently)
*15 or so muslin liners
*about 12 cotton prefolds (purchased)
*3 muslin flats (purchased)
*many flannelette flats (purchased)
*about 10 or so terry flats (purchased)
*a couple of bought PUL covers (purchased)

I have a heap of knitted cardigans/beanies that I made for my first daughter. And of course, I have heaps and heaps of other clothes like rompers, etc.

Bub's new wardrobe

With a baby due any day now, I've been busy sewing and knitting for her. I wont comment on all of the pics.

There are lots of longies that I plan on using as nappy covers and pants over winter. Apart from the ones pictured, I've also made a couple of cream pairs. All are in organic merino wool and have been dyed with food colouring. There is red and pink variagated wool (with matching beanie), pink and purple variagated wool (with matching beanie and also matching shorties), and two red and pink dip dyed ones - you can probably tell which was my initial "experimental" dip dying pair! I've kept to mostly similar colours to make them more versatile - ie if one pair needs changing, at least the rest of the outfit will still match without also needing to be changed.

Most of the shorties I made earlier, so you may have seen pics of these at another time. They are mostly soft cleckheaton wool. There is one pair that hasn't photographed very well - variagated red, yellow, orange and black wool. They were just made to use up the wool - food colouring dyed treliske organic. The other one that is in the dyed organic wool is the pink/purple variagated, which is photographed with the matching longies and beanie.

Finally, I've made lots of hemp tops and dresses. I've only shown the dyed ones and one plain top here, but I did make other tops which I'll eventually get around to dying when I have other things to do the same colour. The hemp/cotton interlock has a great feel and I've sewn them all with organic cotton thread, so the dye has taken really well. Hope these will fit her while the longies fit, as they'll look good together. The tops all look a bit big at the moment though.

Apart from all of these things, I've also sewn 3 or 4 nighties (with more cut out to do), about 18 fitted nappies in hemp/cotton blend, 3 fitted nappies in bamboo/cotton blend, 3 woollen fabric covers, 5 PUL covers (not sure about the sizing of these - have done them all differently), and 15 or so muslin liners. I already have about 12 cotton prefolds, 3 muslin flats, many flannelette flats, about 10 or so terry flats, a couple of bought PUL covers, and a heap of knitted cardigans/beanies that I made for my first daughter. And of course, I have heaps and heaps of other clothes like rompers, etc. Still worrying about whether I have enough though. I'll post pics of all of the sewn/knitted stuff some other time!

My son's clothes

And here is my catch up of a few clothes I've made for my boy. A while ago I posted pics of shorts that I made him - not being modelled. To start, I have a pic of them being worn. This is the same pattern I've used for a few of his shorts and also for my daughter's butterfly shorts (in the last post). Its Burda 9840.

This t-shirt is one I painted for him and sewed. Its a crocodile (just incase you can't tell!!).

I love these long shorts, but my son isn't quite as keen on them. They're an ottobre pattern, made from women's suiting fabric (very trendy at the moment for older boys I think). They did turn out very big for him though, which is I think part of the reason he doesn't like them. Should fit him next summer nicely though!

And finally, new, winter cord pants. Yet another Ottobre pattern. He's wearing them with a belt from the dress up box - we had to buy him a new "big boy's belt" later that day. I chose this pattern because I thought it would have a trimmer, more straight-legged fit then his other jeans, but they turned out a bit big. I'm sure the undies peeking out from the top of the pants is the in thing now though isn't it? This is a great pattern, and I'll definitely make it up again - perhaps in denim? Although the contrasting direction of the cord looks great.
I also made the blue and white stripey tee - not sure if I've posted pics of that yet. He loves stripey tops, so I have to make lots of them. Also used the same fabric for a short sleeve top. Both get worn a lot.