i eventually started sewing with fabric, but i never got super serious about it. i started what will hopefully one day be a giant patchwork quilt, but i got overwhelmed with it about a quarter of the way into sewing the top together. so it's been sitting in a pile for a few years now. i made a few simple flannel blankets as baby gifts for my niece and nephew, but then pharmacy school came along, and i didn't do much sewing for four years. one exception would be when i was pregnant with aiden... i tried to make him a simple flannel blanket, but my sewing machine was having some bobbin and tension problems that i could not solve. i got frustrated and gave up on the blanket. [i did however continue to collect cute flannel prints whenever i saw them for a good price. ha!]
something happened during this pregnancy when i was home for the holidays, and i really got the urge to sew. again, i wanted to make some simple flannel blankets and also some swaddling blankets because i figured i could make them for less than what they cost. so i sent my sewing machine in for a tune-up hoping that would fix the problems. when i got it back home, it didn't have the weird bobbin problem anymore, but the stitches just didn't quite look right to me. i took it back to the quilt shop and asked for some guidance, and the lady was very helpful... but basically came to the conclusion that it was just my machine. i knew if i kept it and tried to just work with it, i would be headed for frustration and probably give up on my projects again. she mentioned a trade-in program, and that was that. i ended up making a spur-of-the-moment decision to get new machine as a christmas/birthday gift. with some guidance from the quilt shop staff, i picked out a pfaff machine, and i love it.
i seriously stayed up way too late for many many nights after i brought it home to sew things. i finished a few blankets that i'd started with the old machine and hadn't wanted to finish with bad stitching, then proceeded to use up most of the flannel i had been collecting over the years. i even decided to tackle a minky blanket for aiden. [i needed to make one for him before i make one for baby girl... even though i found the fabric for hers first. hehe.] finally sewing was fun for me. who knew that all along my original machine was just a bad apple!
here are some of the blankets i made. if you want to make one yourself, i'm happy to explain how... they are really easy and fun to make. :]
this is a swaddle blanket that i made to replicate my favorite ones from pottery barn. i thought i needed a serger to finish off the edges of raw fabric (that is what one would traditionally use and what they use for the ones found in stores), but i read that i could actually do it with one of the stitches available on my machine. it's called a triple zig-zag stitch. it worked like a charm. :]
i started this blanket with my old machine as a gift for baby ayla. i found that bike fabric before she was born, and knew that i had to make something for her with it... i was finally able to finish it and give it to her now that she's over 1 year old already! :[
i was nervous about using the zig-zag stitch to finish this one off, but i think it turned out really fun. this one was a gift for baby louie... and i managed to give it to him while he's still a baby!
this was another one that i started with my old machine... before aiden was born. he actually wasn't much of a fan of blankets until very recently, so i guess it's ok that it took me so long to finish it!
and this one was a meant to be a gift for baby jaina... who is no longer a baby, but almost 2! it's on it's way to her in the mail finally, so hopefully she will still enjoy it.
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