Thursday, April 2, 2009

Renew. Revive. Regurgitate?

Here you go, blogosphere! My all-new, fancy-schmancy blog. It's green. It's paisley. IT HAS NEW POSTS!!

I found that my blog was stagnating. It was having an identity crisis. I didn't want it to just be a "family news" blog, because Aaron maintains a website for family pics and such. I wanted it to be a repository for deep thoughts, but I evidently don't have very many of those, or at least not when I'm near my computer (yeah, that's it; let's go with that--I'm never near a computer when I have my many, many deep and inspirational thoughts!).

So I've decided that this will be my place to show off, er...chronicle my battles/achievements with my newfound profession of being "busy at home."

I am a new stay-at-home mommy to a beautiful 7 and a half month old girl, and I find that this is an occupation that really suits me. Not that the learning curve isn't a bit steep, but I really enjoy learning "home economy".

So, in search of self-actualization for my baby blog, I have been "blog stalking" a bit, and have found inspiration from others who treat homemaking as an art. Grace Violet is one of my favorites. She posts such cute crafty things!

So, here's my new plan: I will post projects, recipes, and household tips that have worked for me (0r that haven't in an interesting and funny way!). I love to sew and cook, and I am trying to enjoy (or at least tolerate) cleaning and organization.

But I need to go feed my daughter breakfast, so my first project is one that I have found on numerous other spots on the internet (my darling!). Regurgitated, if you will...

Baby pants made from old t-shirts. My husband works for Apple, and he has dozens of old promotional t-shirts. I also have a child who is in the 90th percentile for height in her age group and is outgrowing everything.

All you do is take a pair of your child's pants that fit well and fold them in half with the rise (crotch) curved all the way out.

Lay them with the hem lined up with the hem of the t-shirt lying flat.

With a watersoluble pen, chalk, or pencil, draw around the pants. Then, measure out 1/2 inch from your original line on both sides of the pants, and two inches from the waistband. Draw a new line to create seam allowance. This will be your cutting line.

Cut out. Flip over and trace on other side of t-shirt. Cut.

Now sew your pants together at the rise (crotch) with the seam on the wrong side. Sew with a straight stitch first, then zig-zag near the edge of the seam to prevent raveling.

Now sew up the sides of the pants on the sides, wrong side out. Again, zigzag to finish the seam. You don't have to hem, because the t-shirt already has a hem!

Now, fold the top of the pants down 1 inch. Press. Fold down another inch. Press. This forms a channel for the elastic to go through.

Now stitch around the bottom of the channel, leaving a small opening over the back seam.

Thread 1 inch waistband elastic, cut to the circumference of your baby's waist+1inch, through the channel. You can use a large safety-pin to help pull it through.

Sew the ends of the elastic together and close the space over the back seam.

Baby pants! You can also make these using the sleeves of a longsleeved t-shirt or sweatshirt.

I will update this with pictures post-haste!

3 comments:

  1. cute & crafty! if i only sewed...or had a sewing machine...
    But i do want to see pix of the finished product...preferably being modeled by my favorite niece...!!!
    congrats on finding your blog's identity...i think it was getting depressed!

    ReplyDelete
  2. I'll try to send you guys some t-shirt pants yourselves. What size is Josh wearing these days? They'd make great pjs!

    ReplyDelete
  3. He fits a 3T, but I've been buying 4T's since I know he'll grow again soon. I found out the other day that 4T is a "big boy's" size at Children's Place, and it made me so sad...my little guy isn't so little anymore!!

    ReplyDelete