patterns

I've just been drooling over some great patterns at Oliver + S.  I love their vintage inspired designs and the sophisticated details they include.  Their little girl's bubble is my favorite - incredibly practical for a crawling baby.  Of course, there's always the "pattern free shirred sundress" on The Sewing Dork's Blog for when I'm feeling adventurous.

-Erin

Velcro

I've just had a revelation.  I know most baby clothes use snaps, which is fine and makes them easy to take on and off, but making your own baby clothes with snaps requires some special equipment (which I don't have).  I don't think the 'snap tool' is expensive, but it's something else to get.  So, I thought to myself, why not use velcro?  It's secure, easily available, and sew-able.  Sounds good to me!  Baby clothes with velcro coming soon!
   
      - Erin

Pillowcase Dress Tutorial

A little more searching on pillowcase dresses yielded this you tube video:

Pillowcase Dress

As I was gathering inspiration for my Handmade Baby Clothes Blog, I stumbled onto a pillowcase dress on the Lucy Jane Blog.   What a great idea!  Turn an old pillowcase into a dress! 

Hmm... materials check: 1 pillow case, needle and thread, ribbon, scissors.  It appears that you use the hemmed side for the bottom of the dress (which makes sense).  Then I thought, what about searching for "Pillowcase dress," and behold: Jen Leheny's site with fantastic step-by step instructions.  Turns out, she suggests 12" of 1/2" elastic, and package of bias binding (which I don't know what that is yet), and some rick-rack for embellishment. 

I think I'll give it a try and post my results.