Dear Sew, Mama, Sew Editorial Board,

1. I have an adorable child:

2. Pretty much all of his clothes are secondhand.

3. I’d really like to make him some new clothes, especially out of his daddy’s old shirts, just for him.

4. I am really excited about trying a serger, and I think it would really help my home economics, since I’m sewing most of our clothes these days, or at least, trying to.

5. I just bought an old serger off of Craigslist, and it’s broken, and nobody carries the replacement part. Or maybe they do, and I can’t afford it. I’m not really sure, because it’s broken in such a way that I can’t tell what it looked like originally.

I’ve trolled all the serger replacement part websites, and they seem to be run by people who take pride in photographing small metal items, providing incomprehensible descriptions, and offering no advice on where said items actually attach to the machines they are made for.

Did I make you cry? I’m about to.

Suffering from unfulfilled serger anguish,

Lorraine

I present Simplicity 3852, the ultimate multi-size pattern–everything from newborn to grown man. Gideon fits it perfectly today. Tomorrow it will probably be too small. And I made three of them for the summer. Gah.

Cute, though, eh? I also made the men’s version for Tim.

Pattern Notes: I’d call this an intermediate pattern, since it contains several tailored elements, such as a front placket, collar, and the insertion of snaps or snap tape. The instructions were fairly clear, though I admit I didn’t follow them 100%.

The romper, which I made in size medium, fits 19-lb Gideon perfectly. The gathered legs are a cute detail, and the collar fits his chubby baby neck just fine. There are convenient crotch snaps, which is not apparent from the pattern envelope.

The man’s shirt is very straight, with a nice yoke, but front fachings (yech). Tim seems to like the facings, though, so there’s no accounting for taste. If I make it again, I will draft proper button bands and dispense with the facing. It does not fit Tim particularly well, except in the shoulders, but this has more to do with the fact that Tim doesn’t fit the pattern company’s ideal than with any fault in the pattern.

The blue shirt needs a button added below the last one from the man’s shirt, and I need to get some western snaps for the zoo shirt.

I don’t know when they’ll fit Gid, but it will probably be soon, given his current growth rate. We’re going to have to take out a third mortgage to keep this kid in onesies.

1. Cut fabric to appropriate measurements.

2. Round corners for elastic.

3. Fold over 1/4″ of the raw edge to the underside and zigzag around, catching the raw edge as you go. You could roll it twice for extra durability, or serge it for an even more professional finish, but who am I kidding? Zigzag is good enough for me.

4. The tricky bit: sew stretched elastic around the top and bottom thirds of the sheet. Because a cradle is such a small thing, I didn’t just add elastic to the corners, but sewed it all the way around the top to provide extra tension. Sewing elastic on with a machine takes both hands and a little practice. If you’ve never done it before, try it on some scraps before you tackle the real thing. First, tack down the elastic with a secure, medium-width zigzag. Then, pulling the elastic taut on top of the fabric with your dominant hand, use your non-dominant hand to guide the fabric through the foot of the machine as you sew.

5. Voila, the finished cradle sheet.

So yeah, I made a mattress and sheets, but I’m not sure if I can call this a tutorial, because I’m not sure that somebody who doesn’t know what they’re doing would be able to take these directions and use them to make anything worthwhile.  Well, anyway, here goes.

Materials for the Mattress
2″ thick firm foam, cut to the measurements of your cradle, in this case 18.5″ x 36.5″
Upholstery lining fabric (Any sturdy fabric will do)
Waterproof fabric (I used vinyl tablecloth fabric from Joann)
Thread, needles, pins, etc.

1. Cut the necessary fabrics to size. Since my cradle measures 18.5″ x 36.5″, I cut the foam to that size using sharp scissors, and cut the waterproof fabric and lining fabric to measure 21″ x 39″. The formula I used was surface measurement+ 1/2 height measurement+1/4″ seam allowance. Since this is 2″ foam, that resulted in 21″ x 39″.

2. Right sides together, pin waterproof fabric to lining fabric and sew fabric into a pocket, leaving most of one short side unsewn. Make sure to sew around all four corners, though, so that you can box them in the next step.

3. Box the corners. This blog shows you how I did it. Isn’t the internet wonderful?

4. Turn the pocket right-side out and stuff in the foam, being careful to fit the corners neatly into the corners of the casing. Hand-stitch the remaining opening. Voila.

Tomorrow I’ll show you how I made the sheets. They’re cute. They have dogs and monkeys.

This website has instructions for nearly every kind of do-it-yourself carrier, but I still wasn’t satisfied. My specifications were fairly exacting–I wanted something simple, without complicated straps, buckles, or long, involved winding. It had to be machine washable, so no big metal rings to clang around the washing machine, and no fine silks. It had to be man-friendly, so that Tim would be happy to wear it. Finally, it had to be reasonably ergonomic and comfortable to wear.  I’d seen one carrier in particular that appealed to me, but I couldn’t find a pattern or tutorial anywhere. I decided it was up to me to reverse-engineer the design. So here we have the great X-back baby carrier tutorial.

Notes
This carrier is constructed from four pieces–two large loops attached with a small connector, and one detached wrap that is only used for some carrying positions.

Materials
2.25 yards 56″ 100% cotton jersey knit
Matching Thread
Measuring tape or ruler

Step-by-Step Directions

1. Wash and dry your fabric to preshrink it.

2. Measure yourself from one shoulder to the opposite hip. If you’re pregnant like me, try to avoid the bump, since this is for after the baby is born. Multiply this measurement by 2, since it will be going around you like a loop, and subtract 5-10% to compensate for the stretch of the knitted fabric. You will be sewing this measurement into a loop, and you want the lowest point of the loop to fall somewhat above your navel. Thankfully, my husband and I aren’t that different in size, but if that were the case, we’d need two different carriers with different measurements. My final number was 52″.

3. Cut your fabric to your measurement lengthwise, then cut it in thirds widthwise.
I ended up with three rectangles measuring 52″ x 18″. Set two of the rectangles aside, and cut 4″ off the end of the third. This will become the connector for the back of the carrier.  The remainder of this rectangle will become the detached wrap. Trim the small piece to measure 4″ x 8″.

4. All of the weight-bearing seams in this carrier are overlapped and sewn with three rows of zig-zag. For the connector, overlap the two ends, sew the triple seam, then fold the edges over and zig-zag over the raw edge. You will have a piece that looks like this:
5. Take the two long pieces of fabric and thread them through the connector, then repeat the procedure of seaming and hemming, creating two independent loops that are joined by the connector. You’ll have to pull the fabric loops through the connector as you hem them. Here’s a close-up of the connector, seam, and hem on one of the big loops:

In the end, you’ll have an assembly that looks like this:
6. Trim the remaining large piece of fabric into a long tie with tapered ends:

Hem the edges:

And that’s it! I’ll put a post up after the baby is born, showing it in use, but it’s fairly simple. It can be worn as an X to cradle the baby in the front, both loops can be put over one shoulder for a sling-style carry, or an older baby can be carried in chest-to-chest, outward-facing, or hip-slung positions. The wrap is used anytime the baby isn’t completely secured by the two attached loops. This website has instructions for wearing the similarly-styled carrier that was my inspiration for this one.

How to make a pair of regular jeans into maternity jeans

Materials:
Old jeans that fit everything except your belly
1.5 yards 2″ elastic
1/4 yard heavy t-shirt knit fabric.
Matching thread

1. Put on a pair of old jeans and laugh when you try to zip them up. Mark the spot where they stop fitting you, take them off, and cut the the front out of them like so:

2. Pin and sew the pocket tops in place so they don’t migrate during this process.

3. Wrap the 2″ elastic around yourself to determine the correct length. You want it to be snug enough to hold up a pair of jeans. Alternatively, you could measure the waistband on a preexisting pair of maternity pants that fit you well and use that measurement. Leave 1/2″ extra for seam allowance, and cut the elastic. Overlap the ends and sew. I put two lines of stitching down the overlapping portion and zigzagged down the raw edges on either side.

4. Cut your knit fabric so that it is 8″ wide and as long as your elastic band, with 5/8″ seam allowance on each side. Sew up the open side.

5. Place your fabric band inside your elastic band and fold the fabric over so that the long edges meet.

6. Zigzag 1/4″ in from the folded edge of the fabric, then below the elastic band.

7. With right sides together, pin the waistband into the jeans, pinning only ONE SIDE of the waistband fabric to the denim. The other side will fold over the inside to cover the raw cut edge at the end. Make sure to catch all the pocket edges as you pin.In this picture you can see that the upper edge of the waistband is rolled out of the way as I pin.

8. Sew the waistband to the jeans, using a 1/2″ seam allowance. If necessary, stretch the waistband slightly to accommodate the width of the denim. Turn the waistband right side up, and pin the free flap of the waisband to the inside of the jeans to hide the raw edge of the denim. Since my fabric didn’t ravel, I didn’t bother folding it under, but you may want to.

9. Turn the waisband back to the right side and topstitch 1/4″ in from the seamline, going through all the layers. This will secure the lining in place on the back and provide an attractive finish on the right side.

10. Finally, trim the excess lining fabric on the inside of the jeans.

And that’s it! It took me about an hour, start to finish, and I ended up with another pair of wearable pants!