DIY folding bassinet

bubs will be here soon. we originally thought it would be a good idea for her to sleep in her own room, but after re-evaluating the impending 2/3 hourly feed situation, we had to rethink - probably it would be wiser to have her next to our bed...
we did buy one of these:

originally to put in a cot, so bubs could be snug and centred and not roll around the cot...
we never thought we would acutally use it as a co-sleeper - as my heavily snoring self might squash bubs unintentionally
then we got lots of useful stuff from Belle and family... including a folding change table... Thanks Belle!

"What if i could refashion it into a bassinet (like the boori one (just like the one below) in the shops) plus a change table, and it would be foldable (for easy manouvering and storage) too! We would be able to have bubs in our room, in the lounge room, anywhere in the house, no problems!"


trying out the co-sleeper on the folding change table...

so i firstly had to remove the old fabric...

then i had to cut out the new fabric...
yep... good value ikea...


so here's the result... (after refashioning the folding change table into bubs' easy clean easy fold bassinet/change table)
it started off with just the bassinet (cloth box)... then i added the side pockets for storage... bottom rack for even more storage and then the "change table cloth"...
here... pooh is pretending to be bubs... sleeping... the co-sleeper fits snugly...
if we didn't have the co-sleeper, we could then get a piece of foam cut out at clark rubber or something...
and the "change table cloth" with detachable clear vinyl top layer for easy cleaning...
in fact all new cloth components - bassinet, change table, side pockets, bottom rack etc can all be detached for a clean in the washing machine - cos everything is secured with velcro / extra wide heavy duty velcro...
side pockets to put all the creams, wipes etc etc... and the bottom rack to put extra clean nappies
a nappy changing pooh...
pooh back to sleep...

best of all... it can be folded away and stored... folded and transported... and after its life as a bassinet... it'll still be useful as a change table / storage for bubs...

"birthday dress" - reversible slip dress

inside my little birthday parcel (thanks to Ms Genie J) were two v pretty sheets of sheer, silky fabric... one with repeated hexagonal dots, squares, herringbone and floral motives,
the other, a glistening lining of snowwhite silk

immediately the fabric morphed into a dress in my mind - a loose fitting slip dress... but how was i to transform my "birthday (fabric) dress" into a reality with my v limited sewing skills?

objectives = 1)maximise the display of both fabric esp the sheer quality 2)include multiway elements (reversible & extra scarf/belt) 3)techically easy to make
i searched on various sites for ideas and patterns... i wore my stripy silk dress for insipration...
in the end, i decided on a patternless design...
first i cut a strip off both fabric for my scarf / belt (thinking... even if i stuffed the dress up, i would still have a pretty scarf to wear!)

making the scarf wasn't too hard technically... i only had to sew straight...
now that i had the scarf / belt / tie done, i could get on with the dress (which proved to be much more diff than i first thought)


design elements = 1)reversible dress (pattern-side and snowwhite-side being interchangable, had to remember finishing the seams on both sides) 2)changable neck opening / neckline (so it could be worn with a tight high neckline - sort of halter neck looking, or a loose draping neckline) 3)french-seaming every raw joining edge (to stop fabric from fraying)
a day later... well into the night... i finished!

pattern-side, halterneck style, wide snowwhite belt

snowwhite-side, halterneck style, wide patterned belt

snowwhite-side, loose neckline, loose fitting patterned belt

snowwhite-side, loose neckline, wide patterned belt

pattern-side, loose neckline, loose snowwhite belt

there were numerous mistakes and re-sewing, re-sewing, re-sewing...
the draping was not perfect... the stitches and finishings were pretty rough...
but i learned so much!
snowflake said the pattern-side is prettier and the snowwhite side looked "inside out"... i quite like the snowwhite-side...

well... my "birthday dress" might always look "homemade", but at least i can accessorise with my "birthday scarf/belt" which looks more professionally made!

handmade leather headband

after this... lots to do with the rest of the leather...

with a bit of uneven cutting...

braiding...
braiding...
and more braiding...
and more
i got my "how to"--> http://www.stringpage.com/braid/medbraids/medbraids.html


sewing the elastic on was difficult without a leather needle... so an hour or two later...


love it!

what to do with too many pairs of shoes?

in reality i only ever wear about 4-5 pairs of shoes... that goes with mcduck & snowflake too...
we don't wear most of them all the time... which means they end up moulding in the dungeon (not a good thing esp if you are leather & $$$)...
so one fine day in near 40 degree heat... i took them all out for an airing - hoping that the intense radiation from the bright summer sum would obliterate the mould into nothingness...

the methol and essential oil srpay concortion i prepared did help alittle bit...

so did the ziplock bags and toxic mothballs...
b4 i housed each pair inside the ziplock bag with mothballs, i took mugshot of each pair...


we just had too many pairs! in the hundred +
how on earth were we going to house them, mould-free, but easily accessed (for more frequent future use)?
2 months later... i got to work finally...

back into the fabric shelves they went, but individually ziplocked with photo displayed...



next thing would be to finish the "shoe catalogue" - for flicking through when deciding what to wear...
snowflake said the whole set up is very SATC... but i don't think so... i wished i have kept all the shoe boxes and took polaroids... then it could be shoe storage SATC style...
this way is not bad though... lets hope the mould stays out...