Homemade Organic Face/Body/Hand/Feet Butter

I started making homemade natural body butter for my kids when I read about all those scary things they put into commercially available kids' skin creams in the news. My kids and I all have very dry skin so it's essential that we get a rich body butter every day all year round.

I made my first batch last summer using equal parts of Organic Extra Virgin Coconut Oil and Extra Virgin Olive oil. Coconut oil is solid in room temperature but melts when in contact with the skin. I melt them in a double boiler, stir the mixture and then let it cool in a clean jar. I used it on my kids and myself and it was very effective with a faint hint of coconut. However the texture wasn't as consistent as I would like and I had been thinking about what to change in the 2nd batch of body butter.

I just made my 2nd batch this week. I decided to add some beeswax to the mixture to make it thicker. Again I used the double boiler to melt everything together, stired the mixture and then let it cool in a clean jar. Then I mashed up the cooled block and produced a thick body butter. It's much easier to apply this batch of mixture. I apply it on myself and my baby when we wake up in the morning and before we go to bed at night. The cream stays on all night long and I could feel that my skin is softer in the morning.

Recipe:
1. 1/3 Cup Organic Extra Virgin Coconut Oil
2. 2/3 Cup Organic Extra Virgin Olive Oil
3. 1 Tablespoon Natural Beeswax

That's it! I like simple recipes like this. No unpronounceable chemicals, no unnatural preservatives. The only caution is that the cream is intensely rich. It works for me because I have very dry skin. If I were to give this to my friends as a gift I would probably label it 'Intensively Rich Hands and Feet Butter'.

For my next batch I think I will add some of my favourite essential oils (my batch only; not for my kids).

Too-short tees into a wearable tee refashion

I have a number of these long sleeves tees in various colours that I find too short to wear now. They have been sitting in my closet for a few years. I thought I could just combine them and make them into wearable tees.

This is the original tee in black (sorry I'm wearing PJ pants that I made). The purple one is identical and has already been cut up to make leggings for my baby girl.

Steps:
1. I wanted to have a cowl neck so I drew with chalk where I wanted the eventual neckline to be. I measured the whole circumference of the neckline.2. Cut the purple tee 3 inches from the hem to be attached to the black tee to lengthen it (bottom). Then cut out the cowl neck material (middle). 3. Measure the sleeve opening and cut out some material to length the sleeves.

4. Sew the purple hem material to the hem of the black tee.

5. Sew the purple cowl material into a round and then fold it in half. Sew it onto the marked neckline on the black tee using a zig-zag stitch.

6. Sew the purple sleeve band into a round and then fold it in half. Attached it to the bottom of the sleeves of the black tee.And here is the new tee! Another easy peasy refashion.

Long time no blog.....ECing a 9 month old baby

It's been a while since I have blogged. One of our dear elderly family members has fallen seriously ill since before X'mas and to make a long story short.....our lives had been turned upside down for a while. The patient's situation has not yet stabilized and thus I had very little time to go online lately, not to mention blogging.

I did some refashioning before the illness but I just have to get the photos sorted before I can post them. I am planning to do that in the next week or so.

ECing my 9 month old baby has been a challenge. All along she had been pretty compliant in terms of sitting on the potty at regular times to pee/poo. However in the last month she started to want to stand assisted all the time and even tried to pull herself up (and fell). So she had been crying/screaming every time I tried to put her on the potty and refused to sit down. Needless to say, she had pooed in her diaper a few times already and she cried afterwards because she didn't like sitting in her poo. I haven't had to clean up her poopy diaper for so long that I'm a bit annoyed by it as well. I have read in other moms' blog that this was likely to happen, as the baby becomes more mobile. I just have to keep trying and hope that she will eventually find something else to 'rebel' about! LOL.

ECing a 7 month old baby

It's been a while since I have posted. Sick kids, sick husband and getting sick myself.....I had been trying to sleep as much as possible to combat the colds/flus. My baby girl got a nasty cold last week and was crying a lot and nursed very frequently day and night. That certainly didn't help with my sleep. I'm glad that we are all finally recovering from our sickness.

When my baby girl was sick, she refused to sit on the potty. She would scream bloody murder if I tried to put her on it. She was not pooing much when she was sick then but I did have to clean up a few poopy diapers. This week, she is back to her old self and pooing/peeing in the potty again. Thank goodness! I'm trying to teach her baby sign language so that she can tell me (eventually) when she needs to go to the toilet.

My toddler son on the other hand, is refusing to be toilet trained. Everyone around me are saying that he is not ready. He knows very well what the toilet is for, and has on occasion peed in it. But I think he is too stressed out about going to the toilet so most of the times nothing comes out. He fidgets a lot on the toilet. I tried singing with him to calm him down but in vain. I don't really know what to do to help him relax. His baby sister may be toilet trained before he will! LOL!

My Refashion project was featured on Craft Gossip

I just found out that I was featured on Craft Gossip! Wow! I was googling something and found my swimsuit refashion featured on the Craft Gossip website. Wicked!

You can see the article here: http://sewing.craftgossip.com/tutorial-turn-a-too-long-swimsuit-into-a-faux-tankini/2011/07/08/

Saree fabric to Shirt refashion

This is a refashion project from before I joined Refashion Co-op I thrifted a piece of 'art silk' purple saree fabric a while back. I love the royal purple colour and the gold design. I made a button down shirt with this fabric using an old Simplicity shirt pattern from the 90's.

The saree fabric looked something like this (this is not the actual picture of my saree as I didn't take a picture before I cut it up. However this is very close to the real thing):
I used the gold designs to make the shirt's cuffs as well as the buttons. I loved it and wore it many times to the office and on weekends. I got lots of comments about it. Unfortunately, I underestimated how 'un-colourfast' the fabric is. I handwashed it and the purple dye just bled non-stop. Now there are slight blotches of discolouration here and there! Bummer! I really like this shirt. If anyone has any idea how to fix the blotches please please let me know!

I need to work on my ironing skill..... :-(

Pattern Review: Simplicity 5316

I had decided early this year to use only stash patterns and fabrics to make X'mas gifts. I have remnants of this yellow fleece and mauve microfleece. I thought they might make a good combo for a jacket for my baby girl. The only new thing I bought was the mauve zipper.

Here is my review of this pattern:

Pattern Description: Babies' overall, jacket or vest, pants, knit top and hat. I made the jacket.

Pattern Sizing: XXS to L. I used L.

Did it look like the photo/drawing on the pattern envelope once you were done sewing with it? Not really because of my design changes.

Were the instructions easy to follow? I didn't read the instructions. The pattern pieces seem simple enough.

What did you particularly like or dislike about the pattern? It's a basic baby hoodie pattern and one can easily add one's only design changes to it.

Fabric Used: Golden Yellow fleece and mauve microfleece. Both remnants in my stash.

Pattern alterations or any design changes you made: I lined the hood and the body with the mauve microfleece. I also use the mauve microfleece to make cuffs for the jacket. I eliminated 4cm from the bottom of the sleeve pattern to accommodate the cuffs. I also added about 2.5cm to the length of the jacket.

Would you sew it again? Would you recommend it to others? This is the not the first time I have used this pattern (See this review). But this is the first time I have made significant design changes to it. I will definitely use it again and would recommend it to others.

Conclusion: Simple baby hoodie pattern. Easy to make design changes to make it your own. Highly recommended.

ECing a 6 month old baby

My baby has started eating cereals, fruits and veggies. Her poo has really changed! It used to be the consistency of a thick milkshake and didn't smell. Now her poo is much harder (like adult poo) and stinks! She cries a bit every time she has to push the poo out. I guess she will get used to it eventually. I make sure that she has lots of fruits and veggies so that she doesn't get constipated. When my toddler started eating solids, he didn't cry when pooing. I guess each kid is different.

My baby's poo schedule has also changed. She used to poo a couple of times a day. Now it's more like once a day or every other day, in which case she would have a big quantity of poo. She seems to enjoy eating solids so far. The paediatrician said that she can start eating meat next month. I wonder what that would do to her poo?!

I like thrifting!

I saw these Italian made leather oxford pumps at the thrift store for $6.99 and instantly snapped them up. They are in excellent condition but one just has a little bit of gum on the side. I intend to clean it with Eucalyptus oil. And I can buy new laces for a dollar!

Then I saw these at the Nine West store for $89.99. I guess I did well for $6.99! :-)

Men's sweater to Baby outfits Refashion

Ah! My favourite kind of refashioning - Shrunken men's sweaters! I thrifted these two shrunken 100% Merino wool men's sweater. The weather is getting colder and my baby girl needed warmer layers. So I used some ribbon in my stash and transformed the shrunken men's sweaters from these:
To these sweater tunics and pants:
My baby girl has been wearing them daily. She is toasty warm now! :-) I think I may make more for the holiday season.....

ECing a 5 month old baby

Lately my baby girl has discovered her feet. Every time I put her on the potty, she was too busy trying to reach her feet instead of pooing/peeing. Before this discovery, she would consistently sit on the BabyBjorn Smart potty and pee. So I have to revert back to pulling her legs up for her to pee/poo, so that she is not moving too much and can concentrate on peeing/pooing. She is now 19 lbs which makes it difficult for me to hold on to her properly.

I would dearly like to find moms who practice EC with there babies in my town but most moms I met just politely dismiss my adventure in ECing. They think that I'm making life difficult for myself! LOL! I don't mind doing EC part time. The fact that my baby girl hasn't had a diaper rash since the first month, and that she has never needed diaper cream or diaper wipes, are all good reasons for me to carry on. I just needed to find that online message board where I can get some tips from other EC moms as my baby gets older.

Any EC moms out there who can point me to the right message board?

Pattern Review: Simplicity 8850 skirts

Pattern Description: This pattern is out of print. Lined fitted jacket A, B, C has front zipper and front patch pockets. A and B have contrast band collar. A has contrast sleeves; B has contrast upper pocket. A line gored skirt D, E and straight pants F have back zipper. D is short length; E in long length has contrast lower band.

I made the short skirt as well as the long skirt in size 12.

Pattern Sizing: 8-22

Did it look like the photo/drawing on the pattern envelope once you were done sewing with it? Not exactly.

Were the instructions easy to follow? The pattern pieces speak for themselves. I didn't look at the instructions.

What did you particularly like or dislike about the pattern? Very easy to sew skirt. I like the bottom band of the long skirt. It's a bit different than the other skirt patterns out there.

Fabric Used: Burgundy wool flannel for the long skirt. A cheapy bin wool mix for the short skirt.

Pattern alterations or any design changes you made: For the long skirt I didn't use a different fabric for the lower band. I used the same fabric and added braided trim to the seams. As for the short skirt I shortened the length slightly.

Would you sew it again? Would you recommend it to others? I actually have started sewing another long one already in a forest green wool flannel. I'm just trying to decide on how to embellish it.

Conclusion: Quick and easy to make. Can be embellished in different ways to make it your own!