Got Lemons? Just Applique!

I had a bit of a problem, and it started last week.  It was time for me to send in a white T-shirt for each of the girls so they could make their rodeo shirts for school.  The morning they were supposed to bring them in (ahem), I realized the stash of t-shirts I thought I had were not there.  I did have one lonely 4T t-shirt, and a sad, awfully small-looking 4T long-sleeved shirt.  I’m not really sure if I put any thought into who got what shirt, but Joanna ended up with the long-sleeved one, which is ridiculously too small for her.  It came home today, and she’s supposed to wear it tomorrow!

So I did some crafting during nap time.

The shirt:

And a new size 5 shirt Gran just happened to order for her last week:

I cut the good stuff off the old shirt:

And used my rolling blade thingy and a yard stick to make it a pretty square

I decided since it was going to obvious what I’d done, I might as well make the most of it and use red thread to applique it.

I’m actually pleasantly surprised how cute it looks!

At first when I told Joanna what I was going to do, she was sad.  She is soooooo much like me and worries about these kinds of things.  But when I showed her the shirt all pinned and ready to be sewn, she thought it was okay!

And I’m very excited that I should be able to just snip the threads and the v-neck shirt will be all plain again.  We have 5 of these shirts, and she’s never worn them more than rodeo day.  They aren’t really our style.  :)

Diaper Sewing

I finally got around to attempting to repair some of our velcro tabbed BumGenius diapers.

I did not have a good time.

Many of the diapers look like this:

The tabs are curled at the ends, making them not stick so well.  After I repaired this one, I decided James could wear the rest as is, providing his clothes covered the diaper.  Otherwise it’s too easy for him to unfasten them.  :)

Actually, I think the main reason they’re curled like that is because for awhile, I washed disposable wipes with the diapers.  I only use them when we’re out and about, but I just went ahead and threw them in the diaper pail with the diapers.  I don’t do this anymore.  They go out with the trash.  If, in fact, this is the reason they’re not working after less than a year of use, then repairing them is not so daunting.  It’ll probably make them useable at least until James is out of diapers.  If they’re just curling because that’s what they’re going to do, I want more snappies!!

Anyway, I used my handy dandy seam-ripper to take off the tabs.

Joanna was watching me, and decided to go get her sewing machine and a shirt to repair.

She told me her sewing machine irons and fixes things.  I’ve got to get me one of those!

Here’s my new tab, all sewn on:

You can see old on the left and new on the right:

All I claim is functionality.  Not aesthetics.  Especially since the first one I sewed on UPSIDE DOWN!  Oh that was frustrating.  And I had no one to blame but myself.  And a few very cute people around here.  I originally had it lined up correctly but somehow moved it.  sigh  I fixed it.

It’s funny, my BG 4.0 velcros are the ones that have the curling tabs.  My 3.0 diapers’ tabs are fine but the laundry tabs (where you stick the velcro when it’s time to wash so they don’t stick to anything) are completely useless.

These are pretty “easy” to fix.

You just sew the new tab over the old tab.  It is a little difficult to reach with the sewing machine, and if you are… ahem… distracted (Thing 1, Thing 2, Thing 3) you just might find yourself sewing all the way through the diaper and having to try again.  Or something like that.

New on the left, old on the right.

And I replaced the other tab too but no “after” picture.

I have one more kit from Bum Genius which includes two sets of outside tabs and two laundry tabs.  Because my diapers all have one problem each, I just used one kit to fix two diapers.  I will get two more fixed.  Then I just might be done for awhile.  :)  It was hard.  I was distracted.  I didn’t like it.

I had all my curly-tabbed ones put away, awaiting repair, but I decided to just use them until they won’t stay closed.  Then I’ll put them aside.  I didn’t have enough diapers to last two days, and it was making me crazy!  Especially since James was on a poop spree.  (TMI?)  The ones with the too-soft laundry tabs tear other things up in the drier, so they really aren’t useable right now.  I only had four of them to begin with though, so I don’t have a ton out of commission. 

I really really want to get more snappy Bum Genius diapers, and get rid of some of the velcro ones.  Frugal Jessica is battling Material Girl Jessica.  Right now Frugal Jessica is winning, but I just might have to take her out.  There’s a sale, and I don’t have any of the dark blue and dark green ones.  :)