Pinterest Challenge: Aden and Anais Swaddlers

I'm working on a few baby gifts this week. It corresponded perfectly with the Pinterest challenge going on over at Young House Love. I've had some "Pinspirations" in mind.

The Wiegands

I've been drooling over this bold, black and white baby blanket above. It looks like a knit, but I chose woven cotton gauze for my project. Like Aden and Anais swaddling blankets (TUTORIAL HERE).

I also have been loving all the triangle/tribal type prints that are popping up.

See Kate Sew

The Wiegands

Here are my Pinterest inspired, hand stamped, swaddling blankets.

They're cotton gauze, a little stretchy and beautifully breathable...happy baby!  For gifts you can roll them up and tie with cute ribbon and a little tag. I love that the colors and patterns are a bit nontraditional for babies, I get tired of dinosaurs and animals.

For my blankets, I decided to go with potato stamping so that I could have complete freedom on size and shape...not to mention it's cheap.

I cut the potatoes in half then scratch the shape into them with a blunt pencil (if it's something more complicated) then carefully cut around it with a knife. You have to dry it off with paper towels every so often because water leeches out of the potato and can give you some bleeding if you're not careful. They will last a few days if you wrap them up with plastic, and they work best if you stick with a single color per stamp. You could start out stamping with your lightest color, wipe off as much paint as you can, then go darker at the end--dark to light makes a bit of a mess. 

For the color gradient on the black trees blanket, I applied paint to the stamp with a foam brush then stamped three times before reapplying paint. I always use tulip, soft, matte fabric paint and stamped it in a completely random pattern, I like it! 

The other blanket is all triangles of different sizes and colors.

I'm in love with this one.

Hope these gifts will be enjoyed! Visit THIS POST for a complete, step by step tutorial on making knock off Aden and Anais Swaddlers. 

BLOOPER: 

Funny story ...I picked up a 99 cent foam stamp from hobby lobby...here it is:

Hmm, devil face? Perfect for a baby blanket right? 

Heel no! It totally looked like an owl before stamping. I blotted out the scary mouth feathers and it took some of the frightening out of this little blanket. 

I just want to know who is in charge of checking to make sure stamps don't inadvertently look like devil faces. I think Hobby Lobby in particular would be horrified by this.

(owls to the left, devils to the right... hands in the air! sorry, that sounded so much like a line dance that I couldn't resist...)

Aden and Anais Swaddlers Tutorial

I'm departing for one day from Easter week and sharing a project. It's that time of year when everybody starts having babies and baby showers, so I feel like there's always a long list of gifts to pick up or make. I really enjoy doing baby gifts, I like to give things that are going to be pretty but practical so that they'll be used and loved on.

One of my top five favorite baby items when I first had P were those gorgeous Aden and Anais muslin swaddle blankets. They are huge and soft and sheer. They're perfect as sunshades for babies in the summer because they stay cool and they're a good size for nursing covers. Lots of boutique stores (and Buy Buy Baby) carry most of the prints, there are stripes, animals, polka dots, cupcakes... I really recommend them for a baby gift if you need one! Target carries a limited selection of prints for a significantly discounted price. Speaking of the price, they are a little steep. I figured, "How hard can it be to find this soft, natural muslin?" Well, the answer is pretty hard. I have not been able to find the exact quality, texture and softness of those blankets!

The closest thing that I've found is cotton gauze. You'll see it out now that the weather is warming up, I picked some up at Joann's for $6.99/yd in the apparel fabrics. There were quite a few bright solids and white, of course. The white was by far the softest so I chose that for my baby blankets. I'm thinking that the more it's washed and worn the softer it will get.

Each blanket takes 1 1/4 yard. I wanted two so I bought 2 1/2 yards; washed, dried and ironed it; trimmed off the selvages, split the piece in half and squared everything up. I found that snipping and ripping was the best way to get a straight line since this fabric is kind of wavy and stretchy.  Then just go to the ironing board (get yourself a nice book on tape or something) and start pressing the raw edges under 1/4 inch then under another 1/4 for the hem. (I did not miter the corners.) Next just sew around the edges with matching or contrast thread!

Now for the fun part! I wanted patterns similar to the Aden and Anais blankets so I busted out the trusty Tulip Soft Fabric Paint in matte, some foam stamps I picked up at Hobby Lobby a couple years ago ($1.99-99 cents for a sheet), and some cheap foam brushes. My dear friend, H, is having a boy so I decided to do animals on one and transportation on the other--you know, boy stuff!

I covered my coffee table with freezer paper, squeezed some paint on a paper plate and got stamping.

TIPS:

One thin, even coat looks the best! Dab paint onto the stamp with the foam brush.

Don't rock the stamp, press firmly all the way around so you get a clear impression on the edges too.

Don't forget to mix colors if you can't find the perfect shade (or don't want to buy a million tubes of paint). I have mostly primary colors that I mix until I get what I want, but mix enough at once for the whole blanket so you don't change shades part way through.

If the stamp isn't exactly what you want, change it! I went back with a foam brush and blotted out the faces on my goofy monkey and lion so I had less cartoonish animal shapes.

Decide the 'pattern' before you start stamping, but don't stress about it! I didn't measure or anything like that, just eye it and do what looks right! For the cars and train blanket I stamped all the trains then went back and filled in with cars. The animals I did one row at a time from top to bottom and just kept changing stamps/colors with each row. I think the train/car blanket went faster.

Let the paint dry a few hours before handling, heat set with a hot iron and wait about 72 hours before washing. 

P recognized these blankets as soon as he saw them and grabbed them off my work table to snuggle! He sleeps with an Aden and Anais blanket almost every night.

Since these are hand stamped, every impression is a little different. I think that just makes them more special. They're handmade without looking home-made. Think of all the things you could do! I love the idea of getting some letter stamps and creating a print with initials or just a single initial. They can also be packaged in so many cute ways, roll them up and tie with ribbon, maybe tie a small toy on top or stuff them in a basket with other baby goodies. You could even gift a baby book along with blankets decorated with colors and images from the book. Wouldn't a set of Goodnight Moon or Hungry Catterpillar blankets be awesome! Can't wait to make more!

Baby Blocks Tutorial

When Baby P was born, I really enjoyed recieving gifts that were functional and cute. Toys are fun to decorate a nursery with and it's a bonus if Baby can play with them once they get a little older. I've seen soft, baby blocks and baby blocks tutorials all over the place. They are simple to construct (beginning sewists could make them) and you can make them elaborate (with embroidery or monogramming or applique, stenciling, you name it...) or as plain as you want. These particular blocks were a gift for my friend C and we used them to decorate the table at her baby shower.

These blocks or cubes have six sides (dust off that high school geometry, yo).  I did 3 plain sides (orange, yellow and gray) and 3 decorated sides. Shapes, animals and hand embroidered patterns. These blocks would be fun for babies who are just learning to grab at things, when they're really interested in patterns and contrasting colors...

(ignore the fact that there are just two of each of the colored squares, you need three each, I had already pieced together part of one block)

Here's what you need for a set of 3 soft baby blocks: 

1) 18, 6 x 6 inch squares of fabric (solids or decorated to your taste) and any other materials to decorate them-scraps of fabric, embroidery floss, etc...be sure that they are perfectly square

2) fusible fleece, I backed every square with this, it gives the blocks a little more structure.

3) polyfill (about half of a medium sized bag, I lwanted them stuffed relatively tightly so that they keep their shape)

4) Thread, scissors, machine, all "les accoutrements" of sewing :)

This square is backed with a piece of fusible fleece and I sort of "quilted it," this gives it a little texture.The other appliques are just backed with fusible interfacing. See THIS POST for tips and tricks to applique and THIS PAGE for animal templates.

Lay out the squares of each block in a cross like below. (just a heads up for later, I left my opening for turning/stuffing between the yellow and gray squares--that was the bottom back corner since the "front" of my blocks are the animals)

Now just start seaming the blocks together, taking care to leave about 1/8 of an inch unsewn at each end (be sure to forward and backstitch securely). See picture below. If you don't do this your corners will look wonky and misaligned.

They turn out all nice like this when you are done.

For the last edge--I leave a space open on the back bottom edge--sew in about an inch from each corner and then turn right sides out. Stuff the block with polyfill through the small space you left open. Be sure to stuff polyfill into the corners. Now, turn raw edges of your opening to the inside, pin and stitch the opening closed. This seam will show, but it isn't distracting if you use matching thread.

That's it!!

Baby, Baby!

My dear friend, C, is having a baby! Last weekend, a bunch of friends and church family got together to throw her a shower. There wasn't really a theme, but there were lots of bright colors, sort of a vintage feeling and we used "clotheslines" and clothespins to decorate (along with some handmade tissue decorations).

The big poms on the windows were just simple tissue paper rounds, with two small slits cut in the center and a piece of wire run through them and twisted together securely. Then I just pinched the front few layers of tissue together to hide the wire and give them a pretty, round shape. We hung clotheline down from each pom and clothespinned a few cute baby items to them--tiny socks, hats, burp cloths, embroidered onesies. All the shower helpers brought things to contribute.

One of the ladies helping with the shower brought the gorgeous flowers, she used mason jars with three bright gerber daisies and colorful marbles. They were so fun and playful!

We used little school slates, toys and tissue paper toppers to liven up the table. If you'd like to make the tissue poms here's what you need.

 

These are my family's secret recipe sugar cookies. We dusted them with edible,pearly luster dust for a little glam :), you can find it at Hobby Lobby and Michaels.

Here's me with my sweet friends H and H and C (of course). H and H have little ones pretty close to Baby P's age, we always have lots to talk about and tons of fun together.

All the ladies in the picture above (except B on the far left, she was my college roommate), are high school friends! Can you believe that?! We are going on 12 years of friendship! After the shower we had a fun, girls weekend and exchanged Christmas gifts. More on that tomorrow!!


Last thing...just a closer look at some of the things on our clothesline.

H made some really adorable burp cloths, I did the appliqued onesies (the templates for the animals are on my "downloadables and printables" page). I also found a great pattern for crochet booties from "Two Girls Patterns" on Etsy: the Sailor Boot pattern.