Susan Sews Love

I needed a gift for my son's friend who has a birthday coming up.  I decided I would make her a double sided fleece blanket, no sewing involved.  This is a very easy project to do and doesn't even involve thing.  In my opinion, this method of slipping the tassels through a slit in the fabric makes for a cleaner look and lays better than a traditional tied blanket.  

Enjoy the video!

I recently recorded a video showing how to replace the elastic in Fuzzibunz size small pocket diapers.  The technique I demonstrated does not use a sewing machine at all, only basic hand stitching.  So, if you need to replace the elastic in some diapers (this technique works for most styles and brands) but don't have a machine, take a look and see if this would work for you.

Aprons.  They may seem old fashioned.  You may be imagining Mrs. Claus baking Christmas cookies.  But I wear them regularly.

Why?  

Because they keep my clothes clean as I work in the kitchen and around the house.  It saves wear and tear on garmets, especially those I wear multiple days.   It's very handy around the house.  It can be used as a basket to gather small items as I'm picking up.  Of course it catches other things as well:  Little grease splatters, smears of flour, spilled water or milk, even wiping little noses in a pinch.

One of my favorite books is In Grandma's Attic by Arleta Richardson.  The book recounts a child's grandmother (Mabel) telling stories from her childhood.  One of those stories is about how Mabel's mom always carried an extra apron down to the kitchen at the beginning of the day so that if unexpected guests showed up, she could quickly change aprons.  During the course of the day, Mabel's mother runs into a series of events that all resualted in an aditional apron being put on.  By the end of the day, Mabel's mother is questioned as to why she looked more plump than at breakfast that morning.  They laughes as she took off the aprons one by one and remembered everything that had happened.

Now, I don't end up with multiple aprons on by the end of the day, but if it gets particularly dirty, it does get taken off and tossed in to wash with the towels.  It's easy to wash and definitly prevents staining on my clothes, espeically since I am prone to wiping my hands off on whatever is closest.

Do you wear aprons?  Regularly, or just for certain occasions?  Why or why not?

Honestly, I'm not sure what I will accomplish by starting this site.  Maybe it will just be a place to share my ramblings and projects.  Maybe it will develop into something more.  I suppose I have to start somehwere, so how about here.

For a number of years, it has bugged me to buy products that get used one time, then thrown away.  Why use a paper towel to clean up spill when one an just as easily use a dish towel?  But other than just doing that (using a towel when many reach for a paper towel), I hadn't done much about it.  I suppose I just figured that buying and using disposable projects was just part of how things were done these days.

It seems now that that tide is changing.  More and more people are going with reusable alternatives to the everyday disposable products.  Me included.  Instead of paper towels, they reach for un-paper towels.  Instead of plastic sandwich bags, they reach for reusable snack bags.  Instead of paper napkins, they reach for cloth napkins.  The list goes on.  

So how did I get started on this?  When we were getting ready to welcome our son into the world, I started looking at cloth diapers.  I'll be the first to admit that when I said cloth diapers, I saw the ones that my mother used, large pieces of fabric (flats) with the plastic gerber pants and diaper pins.  I quickly learned that things had changed in the 17 years since my youngest sister had been born.  There was a whole new vocabluarly out there that I had to learn.  All-in-Ones?  Pocket diapers? All-in-Two's or Hybrid's?  I already knew about flats and prefolds.  Once I started cloth diapering our son, it didn't make much sense to buy disposable wipes, so I made some basic cloth wipes.  And the journey continued.

But here is the thing.  I saw moms who were complaining because their husband put the wrong cloth diaper on their child, or heaven forbid, a disposable.  I knew I didn't want that.  I've been deliberate in keeping paper in our house.  We have all the standard disposable products, and we do still use them. We just don't use them as quickly or as often as we used to.  It doesn't matter whether one starts using reusable prodcuts for the money savings or for environmental reasons.  It also doesn't matter if ones home is "paper-free" or "plastic-free"or not.  Everyone has to figure out what works best for their family and go with it.  This is just a little about what I have done that works for our family.

So what will this site/blog be about?  I'm not sure.  Maybe it will be about reusable products.  Maybe it will be about my various sewing projects.  Maybe it will be a mixture.  Want to come along and see?