Back to School and Making Beeswax Cloth

***UPDATE***

I now have an even better tutorial for making beeswax cloth here!

Daniel is starting preschool this Fall, and it seems like it's just around the corner. I am so excited for him, because I think he will love school. And sad for me because I love having him around all the time. I console myself thinking of running errands alone, uninterrupted crafting and occasional naps on those 2 afternoons.

Since he will be having snack at school, I decided to make matching snack bags and napkins for his Dick and Jane backpack. And I loved it so much that I decided to list the set on my Etsy store! The backpack is a great, free pattern from IndieTutes.

I've been looking into buying or making reusable snack bags for some time now, but it is hard to choose a material. I didn't want plastic or nylon touching his food. I mean, why not just use a Ziploc, then? And I didn't want the food to dry out either.

Then, I though that PUL might be safe since it's on his cloth diapers, but Hope at Little Moose Diapers told me that PUL is not food safe.  I found that a little alarming because there are TONS of PUL snack bags on Etsy, and other places.  So, my genius idea was to use beeswax cloth. But where do you find it? Well...I couldn't. But, there are tutorials for making it. From what I've heard it's a bit hit and miss. The basics are grating beeswax, spreading it over the cloth and melting it with wax paper and an iron. I head lots of problems with getting it even, and it soaking through and wrecking the look of the fabric. So I had to get creative about making the beeswax cloth and the reusable bags!

I ended up painting the beeswax onto the inside/liner fabric for the bags. I melted the wax over low heat on the stove and lightly brushed it onto the back side of the fabric. It worked great. I'm glad I did it only on the lining and not on the outside fabric for two reasons. First, the wax tends to bleed through on the edges and if it's on the inside it's not at all noticeable. Secondly, if I had done it on the outer fabric, I may not have made a liner and the liner makes it look way nicer, easier to wash and keeps the wax directly off your food. Not that it would be bad if it touches your food, but if it melted or whatever food got mushed in, it would make a mess. 

The upside to using beeswax: all natural, smells great, food safe, and keeps the food from dying out unlike plain cotton.

The downside: Hand washing in cold with mild detergent only. Worth it to me!

If you'd like a great snack bag tutorial, you can find one here.

I am excited to make a set. I have so many cute fabrics that are just waiting for a project! And don't forget to enter my giveaway!

Homemade baby shower basket

I have been sooooo excited for the birth of our good friends' baby, that I've been making things for almost two months! We just had her baby shower this weekend, and it was a blast! Here are my baby basket tutorial trials:

Fabric Beach Ball:

This ball was based on 2 tutorials:
http://www.craftideas.info/html/ball_tutorial.html
http://www.purlbee.com/fabric-beach-balls/

They were both great tutorials, and I should have followed them more closely! I chose to use wool felt for the little circle because I didn't trust my tucking-in-a-circle skills and there is no need to hem felt. It has the added bonus of another texture for a curious baby. I added a container with noisy beads to the ball so it rattles when it rolls.

Giraffe Softie:

This adorable pattern is found over here (and can alternately be a dinosaur softie).

I embellished it by sewing ribbon loops along its neck and a braided satin tail. The other side of the giraffe is purple cotton and he has a squeaker in his bum! So cute! I ended up buying and sacrificing a cheap dog toy because I have no idea where one finds squeakers...

Teething Ring:

This is my take on a teething ring I saw in Chapters a long time ago. I love wooden teething rings and thought adding something soft was a great idea. I crocheted (with worsted weight cotton) a small rectangle, and then rather than tying off and sewing it in a loop, I slip stitched it across.

Crinkly Taggie Blanket:

Here is a link to one great tutorial, but there are many!

I also used a few leather scraps as loops for another texture. And from what I've heard (and it worked for me) cereal bags give the best crinkle. I did one side in cotton and the other in fleece. Another cute tutorial for a baby boy is here, at Prudent Baby.

First Waldorf Doll:

I love Waldorf style dolls! They make a perfect first doll because only natural materials are used and the simple style allows much imagination. There are a ton of great tutorials on all kinds of dolls. I made one earlier this year for Daniel, so this is based partly on that experience and partly on this tutorial.

I also took my first stab at embroidery and it came out ok! Woo Hoo!

Fabric Nursery Blocks:

I spent a ton of time at the fabric store, looking for co-coordinating fabrics and am so happy with how they all look together! I wanted them to be fun to play with, so I added a crinkly cereal bag to two side of the large block, bells to the medium one, and a crocheted panel to the little one. I should have been a little more careful with the seam allowance, but they still turned out ok. Tutorial here.

I am pretty happy with how everything turned out, and I learned a ton! The giraffe and Waldorf doll are my faves. I also added a few plastic links for clipping toys onto the carseat and a couple cloth diapers in a homemade drawstring bag. There is a good tutorial at Purl Bee.