Baby Tunics

Five of my friends had baby girls late last year or early this year. After my fairly average attempt at a Snappy Toddler Dress that didn’t make a gift standard, I decided to revert to my old favourite source of patterns: Ottobre Design magazine. This time, the pattern was Janonheina (No 2 from Autumn 4/2010) in size 68cm, which I think is about 6-9 months.

For the prototype, the fabric I used was Hearthrobs from Alexander Henry Fabrics (I think I picked this one up from Oz Material Girls), and the dark green solid was leftover from my fabric bookends.

I loved how it turned  out (if you couldn’t guess from the others in the picture), so it was time for semi-production line sewing. I couldn’t quite get a full production line happening as I didn’t want to keep changing the thread in my sewing machine, and I didn’t have enough of any one fabric to make them all in one pattern. This was a de-stashing project, and it was a challenge finding coordinating fabrics. (I think I need lessons on effective stash-building!). Let’s look at the fabrics I used.

First up, Leaf Stripes and Mingle Dots in Lavender from the Monaluna Mingle range by Robert Kaufman (can’t remember where I bought this, I know it was part of a 1/2 yard bundle), with some cute heart-shaped buttons in a muted green colour from my stash:

Two were made from Corner Florist in Morning Yellow and River Blue from the City Weekend line by Liesl Gibson for Oliver + S for Moda (bought from Whipstitch). I used yellow daisy buttons for one and blue rose buttons for the other.

 

Finally, my favourite of the lot: River View in Candy Store Pink City Weekend by Oliver and S Liesl Gibson for Moda , also bought from Whipstitch (the colour of this fabric is just gorgeous, I really do have to find some more!), with a random pink solid from my stash and pink heart buttons.

There’s a sneak peek of the bloomers I made too, but more about them another time! I’m really pleased with how they turned out, and it was such a shame to package them up and give them away. I haven’t had a chance to make one for Little Miss yet (she really is neglected so far in the sewing department).

What’s your go-to pattern for sewing baby clothes for gifts?