More of bub's wardrobe

I've finally sorted pics of more of the clothes and bits and pieces that I made in preparation for my new bub - who arrived near the end of May.

I actually made these booties before my first bub was born - but no blog then, so posting the pics here now, as they're being added to my new bub's wardrobe. Most of the cardis were also originally made for my first bub.

I don't know what happened to the colour on this one!!! It seems to have gone a little "mottley" over the years, although it is commercially dyed wool.

These are super soft fleece nappy covers. The pink one is pics of front and back (with the heart in the middle).

And PUL covers.

Not sure what happened to the pics of patterned PUL covers, but perhaps I'll have to post those pics some other time.

And a couple of wool fabric covers.

These are the fitted nappies. First two are tie dye hemp ones I did a while back.

Next is a bamboo one (I made 4 of these) and a hemp one. These hemp ones were my main ones - made about 18 of them. After a couple of weeks of her wearing them, when she grew a tiny bit, I added snaps to make them quicker and easier to put on. Before that they were just used with nappy pins.

Made a couple of lovely feeling hemp/cotton jersey nighties. I love nighties over longies for baby at night - easy to change nappies but baby stays warm.

And just before I get onto the more interesting stuff, the most boring of the lot (more so even then the nappies!) - some singlets and wipes! I made some of the singlets from organic cotton jersey, and some from hemp. They're all a bit crushed, but I wasn't going to iron them just for the picture!!!

This is the doll I made her - from a kit and pattern I got from Joy's Waldorf Dolls. Kept it simple to start with!! The face is organic cotton jersey. Its stuffed with eco-friendly wool. The clothes are cotton rich velour.

For presents from my other kids for their new sister, I got them to draw a picture which I scanned into the computer and printed onto transfer paper. Then I made a little hemp top for each of the pics and appliqued it on. I ironed the transfer onto hemp muslin and appliqued that on, rather then just ironing it directly onto the shirt, as I've found the quality of iron on transfers to not be great if the fabric is at all rough. The children are very proud when they see their sister in the tops that they made. The first two are by my 5 yr old, and the last pic is by my 4 yr old.

And now, here is my beautiful bub modelling some of her outfits! I have previously posted pics of the longies I think, but not of the tops that I made to match! The pink and red heart top, and the pink and purple star top, are both from hemp/cotton jersey that I dyed.

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!