22.5 weeks | Crafty Momma

When I was pregnant with the boy, I took belly pictures every single week; its amazing to look back at them and see how the body grows and changes with pregnancy.  I'd like to say I've been as diligent with this pregnancy, but it would be a lie.  Although I love my DSLR, I just can't seem to get a good belly picture, regardless how hard I try.  So instead of regularly posting belly pics, the occasional ones that someone else snaps, are just going to have to do.

22.5 weeks pregnant
(please excuse the cheesy smile)

Now that I'm over half way through this pregnancy, its probably not all that surprising that my nesting instincts have begun to kick in.  Let me be clear however, I don't mean that I am cleaning fervrently, or even organizing baby clothes and furniture (although the hubs is doing these things).  I'm more of the creative type.  With the boy I made oodles of crocheted blankets and amigurimi animals, but given that I've yet to need ALL the blankets I made, nor has the boy particularly played with the stuffies, it was clear that this time around I needed to look for a new creative outlet.

After much perusing of the internet, I decided to pull out my sewing machine and give sewing baby clothes a whirl.  Given that I don't know the gender of my baby you might think I would have opted to stick to gender neutral items like pants and shirts, but they're so boring and little dresses are so cute and adorable.  Since I know three other people having babies in the months following my due date, I started off making some uber cute pillowcase dresses then moved onto a kimono top, which I also adapted to make into a dress.

I must admit however, that my mom is a far better sewer than me and sewing that itty bitty bias tape together to make the kimono ties was a little beyond my skill level, so she kindly fixed up the first kimono and stitched the trim altogether on the second kimono dress. (Thanks Mom)

There are tons of tutorials and patterns on the web, but here are the dress tutorial and kimono tutorial I used.  I think my next undertaking is going to be a nursing cover, I just bought some boning and I already have some fabric that I think will work beautifully.  That's one of the best things about these little DIY projects, they are so quick and easy to do and you can potentially upcycle materials you arelady have on hand.  The beige fabric is an old sheet and both the purple trim and the grey fabric are pillowcases I bought at Value Village.  Inexpensive fun?  I'm in!