More bibsies

I made some more bibs for a friend of mine and Jon's cousin. The friend managed to have her baby the day before I got the bibs in the mail, but Jon's cousin isn't due until April, and hopefully I'll get to the post office today or tomorrow. For my friend, I made the alien bib and one out of a fabric I had in my stash that has a colorful tie print. (By the way, could anything be cuter than a baby boy wearing a bib with a tie print?)

For Jon's cousin, I made those two plus a bumblebee baby bib and an alligator. I made the bee one with an old pair of yellow-and-white checked boxer shorts instead of the yellow fleece I usually use because I couldn't find the yellow fleece when I started. I think it's super cute. (The photo is rotated in iPhoto but not here, apparently.)

I love making gifts for people, but I'm a bit burned out on it right now. I have two more gifts I really want to make soon, but I'm going to make a couple things for myself first. I worked on a new dress yesterday, and I'm going to finish it today and maybe even start another one.

Stained glass

Another non-sewing home post. I just want to show off! I bought a groupon for six stained glass classes last semester, and I started it this January. I ended up working fairly quickly, so I was able to make three projects in seven classes (I paid for the last one separately. The first one was geometric with a blue, yellow, and red design. Here is a close-up of the textured clear glass.

The second was smaller and has lots of different textured clear glass with a pop of blue.

Here's the size comparison.

I used a patina-making chemical for the first one to make the connecting solder darker, but I liked the brightness of the metal on the second one, so I left it un-patina-ed. Most of the interest in the second one is in the textures of the glass, so here are some close-ups that capture that.

For my last project, I used the same pattern as the first one but changed the color scheme. It looks like a sunset to me.

I can hardly wait until we live in a place where I can hang these up properly. I don't really have a place for it here, but I do enjoy seeing them just sitting on my windowsill.

I never knew that a regular person like me could make stained glass. Some of the steps are difficult for me, and my work is quite imperfect, but it's cool that in just seven weeks, I learned how to cut glass, use a grinder, and solder. (I had soldered before, but not since high school.) This was really fun, and I might even pay regular price to take some more. I wish the studio were closer, though. That would definitely make me a regular customer.

Nightshirt for Jon

Our second wedding anniversary was on Friday, and the second anniversary theme is cotton, so I made Jon a nightshirt/robe. It can be worn without pajama pants, but not for photos on a blog! I found this goofy but very cozy flannel with giraffes, bunnies, ducks, and teddy bears on it, and thought it was better than the only boy-type prints at the fabric store, which were of the superhero variety. I just don't see Jon as a superhero PJ guy (but apparently bright pink with bunnies is OK). As you can see if you look closely, I accidentally cut the back upside down. I honestly didn't notice the directionality of the print before Jon put it on. Oh well.

As you can see from his big smile, he likes it! (Or at least he likes me enough to pretend.) It's warm and soft and obviously made with love. I used Simplicity 3683, a costume pattern I already had from making a shirt-and-pants costume for a friend of our for Halloween one year. It's unisex and has a lot of variations on this kind of shirt and pants. I shortened a duster coat. I cut a straight XS for Jon; even though his measurements should have put him at a small, I thought the wearing ease was too much. Jon is a smallish guy, but I think it's kind of silly that he is the right size for an XS in a unisex pattern. What would small ladies do? For example, the shoulders on this are too broad for me, and there are a lot of women smaller than I am. (I would have posted pictures of me in this so Jon wouldn't be embarrassed, but the shoulders are too big and the hips too small.) We shouldn't expect a unisex costume to have a great fit for most ladies, but it's still a little ridiculous.

I was thinking about sewing the shirt together in the front up to the second button level, but then I did so much work to make the facings nice all the way down that I didn't want to just sew it together, and now that I've made buttonholes, it would look weird, so I'll leave it as is. Speaking of buttonholes, they went really well! I just used the buttonhole foot on my sewing machine, and it was pretty self-explanatory. I think I've only made one or two before, many years ago, so I was nervous.

Thanks, Jon, for letting me post these! You're the best husband ever.