Foxy Baby dungarees and sunhat from free patterns and a bed cover all made to match.

I have been making dungarees this week. For age 6-9 months. The pattern says just 6 months so thats really a bit vague when you are used to commercial childrens sizing but measuring against RTW clothing its about 6-9 months sized so just what is needed. There are several other sizes both smaller and larger.

I have had the fabric for years. Its cotton, woven and I loved it and bought about 4m I think but then it never seemed very wearable - for me anyway so its just sat there taking up space waiting for me to be inspired. 

Well having a new baby in the family managed to do just that.

 I started with a free pattern off the internet for a baby hat. The hat was needed in the last couple of weeks sudden heat wave. It was made very fast at short notice due to necessity and started off the fox fabric making I have since been involved in.

I used this pattern but without the ruffles.

 https://www.merrimentdesign.com/baby-sunhat-pattern-with-ruffles-and-ties.php

It stays on without the ties on our baby which is great because I spoke to several people recently who say they lost the hats they bought. I made this with the same fabric inside and out so its reversible but has only the one look. 

Its not easy to take a photo of this when the only head available is far too large!

We have a "no photos on social media" rule with this baby for obvious reasons which is making it a little difficult when I want to report the latest make on my blog. An when its turned into a series of makes like this fox fabric has led to I would like to keep a record of what I made. I must try to find a doll or teddy of the right size!

If I could have found a contrast fabric it would have had two different fabrics so would be truly a reversible hat but it meant unpacking loads of cotton fabric I had packed away and because this was needed at very short notice due to the heat wave, I just went with the one fabric design I had at hand for both inside and outside layers. 

I suspect that heat wave is finished now because we have progressed to pouring rain today and its not warm. Its the UK after all, and the weather has turned, so if it stays like it is this morning then we will just have rain and clouds. 

Anyway in then baby had a new portable bed/ playpen and I then made a cover for the base mat. 

It comes with a nasty plastic cover which cannot be very comfortable so having a cotton cover in the hot weather has to be better and being a baby we cannot just use a blanket because baby is now at the stage of grabbing and kept pulling sheets and blankets up and sucking them. A fixed fitted cover means he cannot smother himself and suffocate. Its plain white cotton on the back. It was made really fast due to urgent need so is actually just overlocked together with a fold over cushion backing - so no zips. But it works and will probably be outgrown before it falls appart.

In the meantime the hat has been so well used the last couple of weeks that I decided it would be nice to use another of the free patterns to make some summery dungarees. I knew about this pattern ages ago but never had a reason to sew it up.

 Pattern is from here: 

https://craftworld.com/cms/free-baby-dungarees-pattern/

You have to register but then there are loads of free patterns. 

These have taken me quite a while to actually make. You can see them on baby here - minus blocked out face!

They are a little too big but I am sure that will not last long.

Bib has glittery orange buttons. There is an extra button so they can be extended when get grews so he gets a bit longer wear from them.

 

One button hole is really not very good but they will not need to last long because baby will out grow them so I decided rather than unpick ( and risk ruining them ) to go with it as it is.

Inside the legs have sewn on poppers. I only had 4 large ones so used them at the top and hems and used a smaller size on the legs, because there will be less pressure there from baby moving. 

I think that should work but we have yet to find out.

Here you can see how they do up for easy nappy access:

 

This is the back of the dungarees:

So thats it for this week's sewing. Well actually this is over 3 weeks sewing but between other projects. These items took a while but its nice to finally find a use for the fox fabric. And of course another bit of fabric removed from my stash. I reckon by the end of this year I will be needing to build the fabric stash back up again!

 

Have a great weekend

Bracken