Baby Hooded Bath Towel Tutorial

I received a ton of baby bath towels for Lucas' baby shower 3 years ago.  They were adorable, with all sorts of ducks, monkeys, and other sorts of creatures.  However, either they were not made for babies bigger than a 2-week-old, or they were what my dad likes to call "shmear towels" (they look great, but all they do is move the water from one spot on your body to another :).

A friend of ours made Lucas (and later Jackson) hooded bath towels... out of thick adult bath towels.  They are big and fluffy, and after almost 3 years, Lucas can still use his! I love them! So... I decided to see if I could figure out how to make one.  While it isn't exactly how she made hers, I'm still pretty proud of the finished product!

(Also check out my other baby gift projects... nursing cover, changing pad, personalized wipes case)

How to Make a Nursing Cover (& Case)

I wanted so bad to breastfeed my second son, so I tried preparing way ahead of time anyway I could. One of those ways was to make sure I had one of those nifty nursing covers where you could see the baby. I made my first nursing cover with old ruffly curtains I found.

I've made several nursing covers for friends, each time improving on what I did, based on appearance and experience (I've even taken apart another nursing cover I made for myself and remade it according to my new preferences). I really like having a "burp cloth" on the inside of the cover, a pocket on the outside, and wide/sturdy straps that won't crinkle up with use. Here's what I did...

How to Make a Changing Pad

One of my favorite things to sew is anything baby! The last few baby gifts I've made, I've taken pictures as I went, and now I want to share my how-I-did-that's on here...

Knitting Needle Case Tutorial

A year ago, my sister taught me basic knitting techniques.  It was actually quite addicting for a while (just very time consuming).  I currently have a large bag full of all types of knitting needles (they used to belong to my Grandmother, but she is sadly no longer with us), and no way to organize them.  I figured my sister probably had a similar problem, so as a Christmas gift, I decided to make her a knitting needle case.  I found a few tutorials online here and here, but I wanted slightly different characteristics and dimensions in my case.  I wanted to be able to hold a LOT of needles in all different gauges/lengths, including circular needles.  I used the above tutorials as ideas, but made up most of my case as I went along.  Here's how I did it...

The Finished Nursery

I promised to post better pictures of the completed project... so here they are! (For more information on how I refinished the second-hand items, see my quickie nursery post from a couple weeks ago)

 

Letters made with denim, a paisley/handkerchief-patterned felt, and crock-skin textured scrapbook paper

My homemade Breathable Bumper

I'm making mobiles for each of my kids; this one is cowboy-themed with a horse, sheriff star, cactus, jeans with boots, and a cow.  The horse has a mirror on the bottom for Jack to watch himself.  The horse and cow are from a pattern I found here.

Nesting is for the birds...

Ugh! It's 3:26 am. I lay awake, mentally ticking off all the things I "have" to do, and crossing off what has been COMPLETED (I swear I must be A.D.D. ...I can't sit long enough to finish any one thing). Then I decide there's no way I'm going to remember everything come REAL morning. Out comes my iPhone with my trusty little task app. 20 minutes later I have 4 different to-do lists...

1. Last-minute things I still need to pack in my hospital bag (and Lucas' bag in case I'm in labor overnight and he has to stay with someone else... and maybe some clothes for Jason in case he ends up staying, too)
2. Sewing projects that need finished (yes, finished... I've already started on about half of them) 
3. Other crafty projects for Jack's room that I need to do/complete (because it's ESSENTIAL that they be done before he makes his appearance)
4. A list of all the items that I still need to purchase in order to complete afore-mentioned projects.

It was two nights ago... 1:00 am. I'm sitting in the rocking chair in Jack's nursery looking at everything I have and haven't yet accomplished. I finally finished hanging up his name letters ...and sewing my version of a Breathable Bumper ...and setting up a changing pad (complete with cover) ...and putting together the Diaper Genie (making sure not to completely install the bagging system so I can show Jason how to use it in the morning ...how dare he be asleep already). Apparently it's vital to the functioning of this universe that all these things be accomplished right away ...at 1:00 in the morning.

Anyways, back to sitting in the rocking chair. I'm staring at the dresser Jason found at Goodwill, contemplating all the steps we need to take to make it look beautiful. Jason was already planning on taking it out to the garage on Monday, sanding and painting it while I finished all my projects. Will he think to take all the handles and knobs off first? What about the tiny little hinges on the door at the side of the dresser? I better make sure and just do it myself. I catch myself trying to figure out where my shoes are so I can get the screwdriver from the garage. Argh!! What am I thinking?! The hinges will be there tomorrow. GO TO SLEEP! (Now I have one more item to add to my to-do list).

Just to make myself feel better, I'm going to share my accomplishments thus far... (these are all pictures I took on my phone really quick before church... since I'm having issues with priorities right now).  I'll post some pictures with more true-to-life colors later.  Plus, there are several more projects to share.

A $15 garage sale find... with a waffle-weave shower curtain reupholstery job :), and sanded and painted to match the crib.

Found the basket at Goodwill, and made the liner for it.  I also made the blue waffle-weave curtains from a duvet cover also found at Goodwill.

After much debating with myself on bumper (suffocation) vs. no bumper (bruised little legs), I discovered Breathable Baby online.  They're made of a mesh-like material that tightly velcros around the crib railings, solving both problems.  Then, after a little more debating with myself over the $40 the bumper costs, I found materials and made it for about $10.

A little end table my parents were getting rid of, sanded and painted to match the crib.  The boot is a penny bank and is part of a cowboy collection at Hobby Lobby.

Letters over Jack's bed: I covered them with denim, a bandana-patterned red felt, and textured croc-skin scrapbooking paper.