Something Newish

Good Morning!! Lately, I have been reintroduced to the wonderful art of sewing. My grandmother, bless her soul, tried to teach me when I was 7, 10 and 14. Stating with every lesson that "A young lady must learn how to sew". She was set on teaching me how to either sew or crochet/knit. I never took up either one. Until now. And man do I wish that I had learned all those years ago! I mean I can thread a machine and a bobbin. And I can sort of sew in a straight line. But learning how to sew when you're 9 months pregnant is crazy! Right?

I already am dealing with clumsiness and forgetfulness. So adding a new craft to my regime doesn't seem like the smartest thing to do right now. But I promise you this isn't in vain. A few months ago I was introduced to the concept of family cloth. If you have heard cloth diapering( I am a strong advocate) you probably have heard of cloth wipes. They are square wipes typically 5x5 made out of some type of safe  absorbent material used in place of disposable wipes. They are safer and more gentle for your baby. Provided you take care of them the proper way. 

Family Cloth image provided by NatesMommyMadeIt over at Etsy

Well family cloth is the same thing but for every one in the house. By now most of you are thinking how disgusting this is." Eww all of you sharing toilet paper?!" "Isn't that unsanitary?" "I don't want to touch urine or feces". The truth is yes, no and you won't. My plan is to have on hand at least 24 cloth wipes per bathroom in the house. Some will be kept in a disposable wipes box soaked in a solution of all natural soap and water ready for use. And some will be dry. My hubby likes to be dry when he's finished. I know,  I know TMI. Next to the toilet will be a wet bag. This is a bag designed to hold wet items. When you're done you drop the used cloth in the wet bag and zip it up. No smells or fluid leaks through. 

This wet bag come from the Etsy shop The TinyHiney Business.

Another question posed is "How often do these here wipes get washed?". Well I wash these every evening. And when you're doing cloth diapers and such the wipes just get added to that load(they're all washed the same way). BAM answered your question didn't I? You were going to ask me "Doesn't that mean more laundry?". And you wash like this: Cold Rinse, Hot Wash, Cold Rinse, Dry, Sanitize Cycle(that's something new we got with our new washer and dryer!!). And since I make my own detergents you can check out that post here, it doesn't cost us really anything. We'll be saving $25/m just on paper products. Oh yeah we're getting rid of paper towels too. Essentially, we'll have a bunch of rags around the house to clean up anything and everything. 

So you're wondering now, why did I go over all of this with you? Well, one I thought that it might be beneficial for you all, you know incase you wanted to try out family cloth. It is a big jump but cleaning with cloth is better for you and actually more sanitary and cost effective. Two: It will save you money. About $300 a year. We spend $25/m buying Charmin's Mega Roll 12 pk.(we go through a lot of toilet paper) and Bounty's 8 roll pk. The start up cost for us doing the family cloth is about $80. That's a savings of $220 with in the first year. Do you know how many DIY projects you could do for that much? And Three: I'm learning how to sew and this is my first actual project. I figured sewing a straight line around squares will get me to where I want to be by the end of June. 

My goal is to be able to sew beautiful summer dresses, skirts, tops and bottoms for my girls. I found this website that is to die for. Violette Field Threads, sells clothing and accessory patterns for little girls. You purchase them, download to your computer and print them out!! How simple! No trip to the fabric store and no pouring through drawers trying to find that perfect pattern!! I want to be making these and others by the end of June. Think it will be possible? Here are some of the items on my wish list:

All these images belong to Violette Field Threads.com 

Aren't they just gorgeous? I'm still on the hunt for finding other precious patterns. But I have found some pretty impressive and gorgeous fabrics, for all you fabric lovers out there. Heather Bailey is my newest home, DIY, crafters addiction. I adore her prints and can't wait to start using them!! Check out her prints and patterns here. And here are some pics of my fave fabric prints.

These four are from the Garden District Collection

 Nouvelle Rose Dove

Nouvelle Rose Pink

Cakewalk Aquamarine

French Ribbon Dove

These three are from the Nicey Jane Collection from the Kissing Booth Category 

Hello Roses Cream

Picnic Bouquet Cream

Swing Toss Pink

And these are two of her patterns

Happy Stacker

Saturday Market Bag

From cloth diapering to clothes making so many things can be done with sewing. Now I understand why my grandmother pushed for me to learn how to do it. I know we sound like some crazy family. Making our own stuff like furniture, cleaning products and now clothing and cleaning supplies. Pretty soon we'll be growing our own food!!

Is there anything out there that any of you are going to try? Any cool DIY ideas? Or homemaking projects?

All of these pictures are courtesy of their owners. They do not belong to me. I only used them for visual purposes and there are links attached to the categories to give ownership to the companies or persons themselves.