Babies are such cute little diversions....

....and other people's babies are always so perfectly behaved and cute.

I finally got around to visiting an especially handsome and charming (he slept throughout my whole visit which I found very endearing!) little guy born to a sewing friend. Of course I had to sew him some sweet, teensy clothes, cause that is always a great diversion.

This new little friend has just turned three months, so I reached for my Oliver + S Lullaby Layette pattern which I had previously traced off in the 3-6 month size in all views. Thanks past me, you rock!

The tummy and butt room in that bodysuit makes me smile! It's so perfectly "blob" shaped. :)

I had exactly enough of this Japanese cotton leftover to make a long sleeved bodysuit. The fabric originally came from L'Uccello and was used for P's kitchen apron and oven mitts. I'm really digging using up those remnants that I'd kept and then having nothing but tiny scraps going into the bin.

The print is incredibly cute with all these tiny cartoon animals.

For the pants and jacket I thought I'd plan for Melbourne's winter and bust out something warm and snuggly. Some of that marvelous cotton fleece knit fit the bill perfectly. (Maille merveilleuse from Mamzelle Fourmi)

This was the first time I've sewn the pants from the layette set and they're great. I hope the waist band can get over a cloth nappied backside.

When P was this small he had a pair of ready to wear pants that were this style with all fleece tracksuit style material around the back and then denim front panels with all the tiny faux pockets and topstitching of jeans. I always wanted to recreate them but the pattern didn't exist back then. It would be a great way to make baby jeans that are stretchy and comfy - which normal jeans kind of aren't. In fact I'd quite like some fake tracksuit/jeans too!

Yeah I know, babies don't need pockets, but heck, look how cute they are!

For the jacket I used the same cotton maille knit and some navy polar fleece (also used for the waistband and pockets on the pants).

I had some cotton for bias binding that nicely matched the blue of the bodysuit and then figured if I went with more of the beige snaps rather than navy ones, It might all look a bit more "curated".

Ha! I'm curating baby wardrobes out of my stash fabrics now! We've  moved far beyond the point of needing an intervention. :)

Still, I pop my head up out of my rabbithole of sewing madness every now and then and go visit people. We drink coffee, chat, coo over a sleepy baby and suddenly the last minute to midnight sewing of bias binding the night before makes perfect sense!

Pattern: Lullaby Layette from Oliver + S
Size: 3-6 months
Fabrics: All stash - and then the fabulous woman who produced this gorgeous baby restocked me with a big pile of divine fabrics she had been planning to give away at the Melbourne Restash event, but then realised they would suit me perfectly and set them aside!

Racing and baby sewing - odd blog mix, perhaps...

Ever since I had my second (and last!) baby I've hardly raced my bikes. But, once a year a race comes around that I can't help but enter.

The Race the Train is a mountain bike versus steam train race and it's fun. Add in that it's only 17km and not overly technical and even my fat, old legs can enjoy themselves! The kids ride the train with my parents while Flipper and I race on our mountain bikes.

The race is out in the country not far from where the lovely Jenya (While She's Sleeping) lives, and we've had some nice email chats around this time of year before. This time, I was planning to catch up with her, her lovely daughter and very cute new(ish) baby.

That was all the excuse I needed to make a couple of garments using the Oliver + S Lullaby Layette pattern as a new baby gift.

I made the size 3-6 month shirt and bodysuit. They looked tiny when I drafted the pattern, but not so tiny when I sewed them up, and then quite generously sized once I met little baby L. I hope they fit her at some time when they're kind of seasonally appropriate.

The first one is a little bit of the Art Gallery print that I had  leftover from this dress

Then I had just the cutest Japanese cotton for another...

The background is fairly pink, so I entertained my love of brown for the snaps and binding. I hope Jenya doesn't mind! The print is adorable. Each of those little characters remind me of the world dress type dolls my grandmother had, only with a quirky Japanese twist. 

We meet up at a playground and the kids had a play while Jenya and I chatted as only two sewing nutters can. Lovely!

My race the next day was cut short when a teenage kid hit the dirt just up ahead of me, and it was apparent he'd broken his collarbone and wasn't going any further. I stopped along with another rider, and we kept him company until the ambulance arrived. The train had just caught us at this point and the train drivers later jokingly confessed they'd seen the kid get the "speed wobbles and go over the bars" but they "couldn't stop and go back".

Once upon a time I would have had a stopwatch/speedo/lap timer on my bike and would have lapped out for first aid, restarted and raced home for a finish. Nowadays I was happy to cruise home with the other chap who'd stopped and chat about how we would have beaten the train, but for....

If you're up for a bit of real winning, not just imagined glory, then don't forget to enter the Japanese Sewing Week giveaway with has another day and a bit to go. See my post here to enter the giveaway and check out everyone's makes via Made by Sara's blog