Big Ol’ Feety Pajamas – FINISHED!

Two weeks ago I posted a project called Big Ol’ Feety Pajamas.  This is the conclusion: It is possible to extend the life of a pair of pj’s without cutting off the feet!  Hooray!  They look pretty darn cool, too.

Of course, by the time I finished making the adjustments, Riley had grown so fast again that he’s exceeding the length all. over. again.  Oh well!  It was fun.  🙂

Here’s how the project wrapped up:

“So that’s where these big ol’ feety pajamas are right now – hanging out the side of the machine in our basement, in my little studio space.”

I serged the edge of the pj’s to the blue extension.  There were 4 edges to serge – 2 on each foot.

Next I turned them right-side-out to see if the lengths matched.  A snip here and there made them quite close enough.

Here I decided how long I wanted the toes, turned the feet inside-out again, and used a simple stitch to make the new line, joining the front and back (or top and bottom) together.

Just a double-check:

Since I liked what I saw, I trimmed off the excess and serged the new toe edges. 

Not perfect, but functional.

Not too shabby!

I really like the new look.  But he’s already outgrown them again!!!  See?

Oh well.  It was a fun project and now I know how to do it.  🙂

Hope you have a creative and productive day.

Big Ol’ Feety Pajamas

Today I thought I’d show you what’s on my sewing table: feety pajamas that are getting a “lift and tuck.”  I’m making them longer to suit my long and strong little boy.  There’s no sense in packing away perfectly good pj’s just because he’s growing fast and has to curl his little toes up to fit in his clothes.

Here’s the plan so far:

One pair of perfectly cute pj’s that just aren’t long enough.

Removed the toe seams with a seam ripper.

Selected a particularly non-useful running tank top to cut up.  Ask me how often I run.

Traced the tops and bottoms of the separated toe sections onto the now-useful tank top:

Used regular chalk.  I’m all fancy over here.

Reminded myself which was the bottom (“B”) and which was the top (“T”) since one is slightly longer than the other.  I drew a second, longer curve above the traced lines.  This is because I want to extend, not copy, the toe line.  He needs room to grow.

Cut out the new toe shapes along the extended lines:

There’s now a set of top-and-bottom shapes for each foot. 

Next I held up the new shapes to the old feety pj’s and compared, to see if what I had cut out would fit once it was sewn on.

Lookin’ good.

I love hands.

The next step was to pin the pieces together.  The blue needed to be tucked in along the sides and held still with a pin in the middle so that it wouldn’t rotate during the sewing process.

The whole project could really be done by hand easily, but I love the serging I can do with my machine.  So that’s where these big ol’ feety pajamas are right now – hanging out the side of the machine in our basement, in my little studio space. 

Next Tuesday, I’ll show you the serged edges and hopefully the finished product.  And maybe a picture or two of the sewing table.  It used to be storage space for bulk flour, sugar, and oats.  I much prefer it now!

(And yes, I’m nuts.  Someone reminded me that all I really needed to do was to cut off the toes or feet of the pj’s and have the child wear socks.  Oh well.  Where’s the fun in that?!  I needed a project.)

Cloth Nursing Pads

Webster’s Dictionary defines frugal:  “characterized by or reflecting ECONOMY in the use of resources.”  Our nation’s economy is in trouble.  My wallet doesn’t have to be if I choose wisely and with economy.

Last Tuesday I wrote about sewing, cleaning, and storing cloth napkins.  Many readers were excited about that topic, so I thought I’d follow up with another “cloth something” post.

One of the best gifts I ever received was a sewing machine, followed by lots of good advice on how to use it.  Many thanks to my mother- and father-in-law for the machine, and to both moms for their expert advice! 

WARNING!  This post is completely girly, if the title didn’t give it away.  If you’re one of the guys who might be reading this, don’t worry.  There aren’t any gory details – just how to sew circles together. 

Riley nursed happily for 9 1/2 months before self-weaning when he was good and ready (he’s always had his own time table for progress).  Those months taught me valuable lessons which I’m excited to use with Baby #2 in a few months. 

I learned that disposable nursing pads, while convenient and thin, are potentially hazardous to a woman’s health.  The companies that profit from our love of convenience are hardly going to be the ones to say, “HEY LISTEN UP!  If you wear our products you can more easily develop sores and breast infections!  Yee HA!”  (oh yeah, sorry – no gory details.  That wasn’t too bad, was it?)

Thank you to Gayle, the incredible nurse who taught me this fact.

Right at my fingertips were these little treasures that I could use, throw in my regular laundry, and reuse as often as necessary.  I’m really not a hippie.  I just like to find the highest quality option at the best price, and that often means ignoring advertising.

My first time through breastfeeding, I used store-bought cloth nursing pads, white handkerchiefs (a personal favorite), and flour sack towels, cut into strips and folded to size.

The flour sack towels, which can be purchased super cheap at Walmart or similar stores, made the best homemade nursing pads.  Old white T-shirts from my hubby’s stash were a close second, although they didn’t lie flat as easily.  Too stretchy.

Here’s the process I tried.  May yours be shorter if you’re in the market for these things:

1. Tried cutting strips out of men’s white T’s.

2. Folded them down to size and pinned them together.

3. Sewed several together before realizing they’d be pretty visible through clothing, given their shape.  These will be good for night time 🙂  Hacked several into circles and serged them together.  These looked much better.

Starting over…

1. Decided to move on to the flour sack towels (hereafter known as FST’s).

2. Spent time folding and sewing like before…until I realized all I had to do was cut out several circles and stitch them together.  Duh.

(Should have used a brown paper cut-out, but used a pre-made nursing pad instead.  It is now covered in Sharpie.  Learn from my mistakes, readers.)

3. Created large stacks of FST circles, leaving behind scrappy remnants.  Anyone have ideas for how to use these?

4. Tried both a zigzag stitch and serging, trying to get these crazy things to lie flat.  Zigzag worked/looked fine, but serging created a more thorough finish.

5. In the end, the very simple process went as follows:

Put together 6 FST circles.

Use a straight stitch all the way around, about 1/4″ in from the edge.

Serge (or zigzag) all the way around, attempting to line up the stitching.

Done!  Toss it in your collection and make another one!

My goal was to have a nice finished collection before the baby was born.  Go me!

From left: hankies, homemade round pads, homemade square pads, store-bought pads.

Hopefully this will free up a little more time in my day, as I won’t have to fold ratty-looking FST strips every time I have to change pads.

They may be a mish-mash of styles and material, but who cares?  They’ll be hidden! Many of them were free and upcycled (recycled into something of greater value rather than getting tossed in the trash).  And my body won’t be prone to infection by wearing what some big company said I “have to have.” 

Cloth nursing pads get softer and better with age.  They’re like the fine wine of breastfeeding.  🙂  Whether you sew your own or buy them pre-made, I encourage you to make the investment for your own sake, or for someone you know who could use them.

Check: One Converse shoebox full of ready-to-wear nursing pads.  Bring on the baby!