Friday, June 29, 2012

On Barf, Birdseye, and Burp Cloths


Why I Prefer Birdseye 3 Ply Prefolds for my HoopDeeDoo Burpcloths.

{warning: super grody baby talk ahead!}

I've had some people ask about the burpcloths I'm making for the shop, so let me address it here:  I use 3 ply birdseye weave prefold diapers, which are lighter weight.  Many boutique burp cloths are 6 ply, but I don't use them anymore.

Why?


{fabric: ikea}


They don't fit the HoopDeeDoo philosophy of pretty + practical.  

My own personal experience as a mom comes into play here.  Sorry to get graphic, but I had a baby with severe reflux, so I know burpcloths.  I tried them all.   I gave up on the puffy 6 plys very quickly.  A 6 ply Chinese prefold gauze weave diaper is great for liquids (ahem: urine) and keeping it "inside" a diaper, but it simply doesn't absorb thicker liquids as quickly (ahem: vomit).   So you get the dreaded runoff or smearing.  Pretty, but not practical.

I eventually just bought a pack of plain white birdseye 3 plys and used them forever.  They worked like a charm and took up less room in the diaper bag, but were kind of boring. Practical, but not pretty.

I always wanted the kind of burp cloths that I am now making for my shop.


{fabric: alexander henry.  find in the shop here.}

Yes, the thick ones seem so luxurious and pretty on the boutique shelf.  But baby barf ain't pretty, folks.  Young mamas in the trenches of reflux and sleep deprivation need absorbency and less barf on their backs.

Just keepin' it real.

Put yourself in  a new mama's shoes for a moment.  Let's say it's Mother's Day and you got a 5 minute hot shower as your gift, and you're disturbingly excited about going to church because it's the first time you've left the house all week, and your precious 3 week old horks all over that fat fluffy burp cloth which doesn't absorb anything so all of the putrescence streams down the back of your new Ann Taylor sweater set (ok, it's a hand me down from your mother in law, but new to you) - yes, it will be the end of the world.  I promise.  You will first cry the ugly cry, and then you will crack and start using hand towels as burpcloths until you can get some decent absorbent burpies, even if they are ugly, just as long as they suck up the vomit and fold down small enough to get into the diaper bag.

(Completely fictional story.)


{fabric: alexander henry.  find in the shop here.}

Anyways, to keep things both pretty and practical, I chose an absorbent birdseye cloth as the base and added a cotton fabric strip to pretty it up.  Prewashed on hot.  Machine dried on hot.  Cause new mamas want to know that the thing is going to survive some harsh treatment. 

Give me practical any day of the week.  But make it pretty while you're at it.  :)



{fabric: vintage.  find in the shop here.}
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Tuesday, April 17, 2012

Sewing Tips I Learned The Hard Way, All In One Day, Actually.

Public Service Announcement:

1.  Always wear shoes when sewing.  That way when you knock over a box of straight pins, you won't get half of them stuck in your feet when you are trying to clean them up.

2.  Pre-clean your sewing room floor before vacuuming.  Lint rollers can be helpful.  Vacuums do not like long threads.  And vacuum repair and brush replacement is pretty pricey.  (So I'm told.)

3.  Slow down when serging.  Although it feels pretty cool to use the serger at top speed, it does a better job of transitioning across existing seams if you slow down a bit.  Hitting a bump at top speed can break your thread, or worse, your needle.

4.  Glasses are not only super hot, but they protect your eyes from flying needles.  Um. yeah.

Now I'm going to go find a box of band-aids to keep in here.  Just in case.


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Thursday, April 12, 2012

Making my peace with blogging


So obviously I fell off the #marchphotoaday bandwagon.


I wanted to do it.  I had fun taking the pictures.  But then spring break came and I forgot to take all of the pictures, and when we got back to the routine, it was all I could do to just make sure the family was fed and clothed and where they were supposed to be at any given moment.


Photo taken at Pops on 3/14/12

I've been pondering blogging and my role in the blogosphere and my lack of motivation for it.  Here's what I've come up with:

1.  I don't need anything else to do.  If blogging feels like a chore, I'm not going to do it, because I have enough chores to do, so I should do one that results in my family having clean dishes or something like that.  

2.  I can't compete.  Reading other people's shiny happy blogs makes me feel like my house isn't clean enough, my blog isn't pretty enough, etc. etc.  Let me be clear: NO ONE is making me feel that way but MYSELF.  So I removed myself from reading most blogs I follow for a while.  It felt really good.  And the universe did not explode.

3.  I'd rather be sewing.  I only have about 5 hours a week to put into my etsy shop, so I'd rather spend all of that making stuff than wrestling with blogger.

4.  I've got other non-crafty projects that eat up huge amounts of time and satisfy my creative urges in a way blogging simply can't.  Like music.  I got to produce and sing in a bluegrass worship service for Easter with Rick Trevino.  It required tons of planning and rehearsal and resulted in one of the most joyful Easters of my life!  You can't say yes to everything, so when these kinds of projects come along, I just say NO to everything else mediocre so I can say YES to amazing!

5.  And, most importantly, the family comes first.  Read this amazing post my friend Jen brought to my attention today.  (Jen is a spectacular blogger herself, and hers is one of the few that made the cut, because, well, she's Jen.)

So, to sum up, I think I have made my peace with being a sporadically posting, bad photo taking, messy random blogger who can't write html and only occasionally responds to comments.  

yay!

(I'm much better at Facebook and Twitter, by the way)



My desk.  Scary, eh?




- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
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Friday, March 9, 2012

days 7,8,9


day 7: something you wore 







(my favorite dirty skechers which look cuter than tennis shoes but i can stand in them all day)


day 8: window (taken a day late, oops)







(my tomato plants, longing to actually graduate to the garden)


day 9: red







(brisco and his favorite kong, with a little peanut butter to make it yummier)

#marchphotoaday


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Tuesday, March 6, 2012

days 4, 5, 6


day 4: bedside.



it's always a mess, but these are the essentials: meds, clock, lotion to make me sleepy, sudoku to make me sleepy, miscellaneous crap, surprise love notes from the girls.

day 5: smile.



how could I pick just one of these sweet smiles?  And this while K was doing her music theory homework.  happy happy happy girls.

day 6: 5pm.


on the porch, just got off the phone, with Brisco attached.  he's either the sweetest or the clingiest dog i've ever met, can't decide.


#marchphotoaday
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Saturday, March 3, 2012

day 2: fruit, day 3: my neighborhood

Day 2: fruit. We easily spend $25-30/week on fruit. I'm thankful that we always have such an abundance of fresh food available to us.



Day 3: my neighborhood. I don't want to violate anyone's privacy on accident, so I took a pic from the back of the house. We have this lovely quiet park behind the house. This view is from the girls' playhouse. Can you imagine how vast this seems to a kid?



Wow. We have it so good.

#marchphotoaday

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
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Friday, March 2, 2012

{march photo a day challenge} day 1:up


So I'd like to get back to blogging this year.  (way to go on those new year's resolutions...it's MARCH, for crying out loud).

This idea seemed like an easy way back in.  Day 1 theme: Up. Hmmm....

Up.  I looked Up from my lunch yesterday and saw this sign.  






I had a veggie slider, which was awesome, because most places put soy in their veggie burgers and thus I cannot partake.  I'm allergic to soy.  Unfortunately, I could not eat the fried pickles because they are battered with something containing almonds, which I am also allergic to.  My husband was a real champ and ate all of them and pretended that they weren't so great, but I didn't believe him because of the drool and moans of delight.








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