nursery diy: crochet letter flags

I've been planning to make this one for a long time but eventually was gifted by a friend of mine. The flag-line is consisting of basic, freehand granny squares with the letters embroidered in a contrasting color. Pretty, isn't?

diy: crib sheet with crochet edging - crochet pattern from 1965

I was looking for a pretty crochet edging to decorate one of the sheets for the family-crib. Here in the Netherlands you are supposed to use a well fitted sheet for your matress and a cotton baby blanket in combination with an upper sheet. The upper sheet is 75x100 cm and usually has some type of decoration on one of the edges which you can fold back over the blanket. The decoration can be a printed fabric stroke, embroidery, stripes of satin or lace...



Nicely decorated and better quality baby crib sheets costs around 20-25 euro's. My crib sheets are made out of a new, fine sateen-woven cotton 'GASPA' sheet from IKEA which was the wrong size for our bed (160x200cm). It was a little less than 20 euro's. The standard size is 75x100 cm, I've cut 4 of mine.
The crochet edging pattern I used is from an 1965 Australian Women's Weekly.
What I like about it is that you crochet one half circle at the time, so you can adjust the length as you go. There is no need to start with an certain amount of chains.

I used a metric size 2.5 needle, since I wanted a bit of structure instead of a really fine lace. 

the original pattern:

When crocheting it seems like every other half-circle turns upside down, like one is facing the right and every other facing the wrong side of the work. when blocking/steaming you need to turn them back in the normal position and everything will look right.

After finishing crocheting the right length I added an extra row at the top to make easier to sew it to the sheet. I used a simple pattern I made up:

- turn at the end with 4 ch (this will replace the first dc and 1 chain),

3 dc into space below, 1 ch, 3 dc into space below, 1 ch, 1 dc between two half circles *1 ch, 3 dc into space below, 1 ch, 3 dc into space below, 1 ch, 1 dc between two half circles*

- repeat between **

diy: 'birhouse' nursery clock

Another diy project for the nursery!
I wanted to have a clock with bright colors, but couldn't find any I liked, except this quite expensive one, the Karlsson 'Woodpecker' clock:


Well, time for some diy!
I came across a wooden cutout 'bird house' below (bought at Xenos) and used the mechanism of the cheapest IKEA clock.


material:
- IKEA 'Rusch' clock
- wooden cutout for main figure (bught at Xenos)
- wooden cutout trees or other figures to hang, mine were 'leftovers' from the Christmas decoration (also bought at Xenos)
- other embellishments of your choice (wooden bird bought at Xenos)
- abut 30cm fine chain (mine is a piece from a chain with clips to display greeting cards)
- acrylic paint
- glue

method:
1. First removed the clock mechanism and the hands:


2. I decided where to put the mechanism. I liked the idea of the clockhands reaching over the edge.
The wooden cutout figure was thicker than the holder of the clock hands so we had to cut a a few millimeters deep layer away at the back to make it fit:


3. Glued the clock mechanism in place:


4. I painted the wooden parts and the plastic second-hand as well in contrasting colors


5. Painted and attached the other embellishments

Vasarely inspired 'building blocks' baby blanket finished

This was truly a labor of love! It took 'forever' to knit this blanket on size 3 needles! Then again, it took forever to was and block it but now it is ready to use! I'm not complaining, started to knit merely 3 weeks before our little guy was born, so that's why it really took so long to finish.
I used drops Karisma yarn, just like for the other blanket I've made. It is a superwash treated yarn. After blocking the blanket grew slightly in size, but this is just because of flattening the 3d pattern. You can see below how 'wobbly' it is before blocking, due to the knit/purl stitches next to each other:


pattern: 
Again, it is a pattern consisting my favorite combination: only knit and purl stitches and it is surprisingly easy to memorize though it looks quite intricate with the 3-d blocks which remind me of the work of Victor Vasarely:


The pattern is available through Ravelry (click here) though I must say I figured it out myself, just by looking at pictures and counting stitches. After drawing a pattern chart I decided that it wouldn't be easy to keep track on it while knitting. I wrote the stitches down and then knitted a sample. While knitting made the necessary corrections and now have the pattern to work with!


material & sizing:


The yarn I used is the drops 'Karisma'. It is a 4-strands, sport weight, superwash-treated, 100% wool yarn. It comes in a lot of different colors. I choose a dark, greyish-blue hue: nr.65 'denim blue' which is not so baby-ish anymore.

I used 10 skeins of 50g (strangely my blanket weighs 525 g)

I always use smaller needles than recommended to prevent stretching after blocking and have no issues with 'growing' items after washing.

Using metric size 3.5 needles my gauge is 21 sts per 10 cm.

Size after washing/blocking approx. 90x100 cm

I haven't waisted more than a meter of the yarn. What I did was marking the beginning of a skein and the end of a skein with a piece of contrasting color wool at one side. This helped me to estimate where to start knitting the finishing edge pattern.

diy: diaper changing mat & diaper kit

I've got a second hand diaper bag. I didn't really use it at first, only put my handbag into it. Then I realized that it was easy to stuff my groceries in the diaper bag, then I started to realize that I might start to carry baby-stuff around...
My second hand diaper bag, handed down by a friend came without the original changing mat, so I decided to make one. Browsing the internet I came up with the idea of a diaper kit to carry a few diapers and wet towels. The ones you can buy are way too expensive.


diaper kit:
You know my love for IKEA stuff by now. I love this plastified 'Lialotta' fabric. It is water resistant with an acrylic finish. The diaper kit is made to hold 3-4 diapers and a bag of wet towels. I lined it with water resistant lining (IKEA plastic sheet I used to have in my bed by the end of the pregnancy) I used light blue bias tape to finish the edges and added simple velcro tape.


diaper changing mat:
 

The mat is waterproof and wipeable. It is large and to add some softness it is padded with two layers of thin jacket padding. The folding lines are stitched down which makes it easy to fold up.
It has a pocket to hold one old fashioned cloth diaper to cover for comfort when used. The pocket has a waterproof lining just in case the cloth diaper gets wet (with little boys you never know...)

diy: fitted changing pad cover 'Koeka Amsterdam' knock-off aankleedkussenhoes

Here is my third Koeka knock-off project!
For the changing pad I used their 'Amsterdam' changing pad cover as inspiration. They use a cotton waffle fabric in combination with a cotton bath-towel fabric for the middle section. These sell for about 45 euro's a piece!
Below the original version:


this is my knock-off:


...with a way better fit at the sides and corners!


material:
- cotton waffle fabric (prewashed and -shrunk)
- bath towel 70x100 cm (enough for two changing pad tops. I ripped our the side seams for the seam allowances)
- elastics
- embroidery thread
optional: fabric dye to match the colors

costs: 
My costs were for two changing pads less than 15 euro's!
About 6 euro's for 85 cm of cotton waffle fabric, 3.99 euro's for one IKEA Haren bath towel (70x100cm), about 1 euro of elastics and 1 euro of embroidery thread.

(I used dylon to dye both fabrics in the same color. The fabric dye was the most expensive, about 10 euro's but used for other projects as well)

step-by-step:
1. Prewash and iron your fabrics before starting!
It is better to let the fabric shrink before the first use instead of the second one... I prewas my cotton fabrics at a normal temperature, but then put them in the dryer with fairly hot air.

Cotton waffle fabric tends to 'bobble' after washing. After prewashing I ironed my big piece of fabric and after cutting the rectangular pieces I ironed them again, making sure that the stripes run horizontally and vertically.

2. Take the measurements and make your pattern

Making the cover requires a bit of 3 dimensional thinking. You need to 'translate' a 3-dimensional shape into flat, 2d pieces.
The cover is made out of one rectangular upper part (consisting of two pieces of waffle cotton with a piece of bath towel in between) and 2 contoured parts for the short sides.
First, measure your changing pad. Use a standard seam allowance you are used to work with. For me it is 5/8" or 1,5 cm. I used my handy parallel tracing wheel to do this.




You can either measure and draw directly on your fabric, or choose to make a paper pattern first. You can choose how wide you like to have the bath towel section. The original one goes  up quite high at the sides.

If you assemble the top part from different fabrics don't forget to add extra seam allowances where the two fabrics meet!(= at both long sides of the bath towel and at one side of the side sections of the waffle fabric.)

3. Cut the pieces:
- 1  upper middle section (bath towel)
- 2x upper side sections (waffle fabric)
- 2x the contoured sides (waffle fabric)

4. Sew the waffle fabrics at the sides to fill up to the desired (measured) width according to pattern  Pin and sew.


5. Finish seam allowance (I used a simple zigzag stitch) and fold the seams under the waffle cotton layer. Press. I used a really small top stitching on the waffle cotton to keep the seam allowances nicely in place. The topstitching will be practically invisible when you embroider next to it.

6. Attach the contoured sides:
Since it is easier to sew a straight line simply clip and open up the seam allowance (basically straighten the shaped part). Place the pieces with right sides together, pin and sew. Clip the other layer as well.
As you can see my seams don't match up here. I decided to make the center part just a little bit shorter for a nice, tight fit.


Topstitching and clipping the corners:


7. Fit the cover on the changing pad: fold the short sides under and mark the corners. You can measure it too, but there is somehow always a certain amount of 'unexpected' stretch in the fabric which you can spot and correct this way:



8. If it is needed, open up the seams in the corners up to the marking on the inside and pin the seams in a downwards vertical direction. Stitch, reinforce corners by running 3-4 times through it. Finish seam allowances and press:


9. Now it's time for a lot of relaxing handsewing!
Embroider the edges of the bathtowel-layer with blanket-stitch in a contrasting color before putting in the elastics:

This is the best time to add the little appliques too. Of course, you are free to skip them or to use a Koeka-style applique. Those are made out of felt and secured with a simple cross-stitch (like an X) with embroidery thread.
I didn't liked the flower appliques of the original cover, and made really simple and cute crochet bunnies instead. I used this tutorial. 

10. Last step!
Make the elastic casing at the bottom. I used about 2 cm to do this, first folded back 0.5 cm and then 1.5 cm. Pinned and pressed before sewing.
To prevent bulking the elastics only go around the corners: 10 cm at the short sides and 15 cm at the long sides, measured from the corner seam. The mid-sections remain straight for a better fit.



Ready! ...and now make one more...
I have made two covers, and planning to make a light grey one too. Just for fun!