What an exciting day! Yesterday, Mom and Jenny (Jeff's mom) came over and helped me get started on sewing all of the bedding for Jack's room. Actually, Mom and I had cut out the pieces for the bed skirt, and I'd actually sewn a few pieces together, but I really needed their help for the technical side of things...like hemming and rick rack.
I confess, I'm a complete hack sewer (or seamstress, so you don't think I'm sewing on the toilet). Mom made me take sewing in high school (yes, sewing in high school, take a minute to picture my peers, would you?), and that might have been the last time I actually used a pattern. I made a wonderful pillow, it had ruffled edges, fancy edging...and it was even a cylinder neck pillow! I think my teacher was definitely impressed...and knew that my mom "helped" me quite a bit.
Anyways, at this point in my life, I just kinda put stuff together, hoping it will work, pretty much expecting it not to...and then getting annoyed and frustrated when it doesn't. At that point, I usually say "Whatever, it's good enough, nobody will notice," and move on. All that to say, when you come to my house, don't look too closely at things that appear to be homemade. But I didn't want Jack's bedding to be like this! I mean, I actually have a pattern! That's a big step. So I had a little more confidence than usual that this one would go pretty well...even though there's rick rack involved, which in and of itself, makes me nervous. But I have Mom, who's been sewing for pretty much forever, and Jenny, who majored in home economics in college! The odds are on my side.
So it's a sewing fiesta! We're ironing, cutting, pinning, and stitching like my dining room is a sweatshop in China! Things are going pretty well. Every one's working hard, and things look great!
Two hours later, the skirt is hemmed, the edges are stitched, the rick rack is on...it's go time, and I'm beyond excited. I've had this material for months, and every time I walked in Jack's room, I just got more excited about the way things looked. Now to see it all put together is so exciting! I mean look at it! It's adorable!
I was very against the typical pastel blue and green that most baby boy rooms are bathed in. I wanted it to be bright...bold...different! And this material is definitely bright, bold and different. I just love how everything turned out!
So, we take the mattress out of the crib, slip on the bed skirt and........it's too long. Not just touching the ground, but laying on it. Ugh. Are you kidding? I used a pattern, for heavens sake! In my usual sewing self defeating way, I said, "Whatever, it's good enough, nobody will notice except for us." Dang it, I didn't want to do that.
Thankfully, I'm working with 2 master seamstresses, and they convince me that it won't take but a minute to flip the hem up one more time. So we take it out, flip the hem up (which really didn't take more than a fe
w minutes) and back on it goes!
w minutes) and back on it goes! It's then that I realize that all of my rick rack expertise (I must admit, I'm pretty good at rick rack these days) is in vain. The bottom rail of the bed is in the EXACT spot that the middle strip and rick rack hang. Are you kidding? But I just can't help it, it just comes out! "Whatever, it's good enough, nobody will notice except for us." But all of my rick rack work! Mom convinces me that it won't be that big of a deal to take the skirt off the top and raise it a few stripes to make the middle material show. I'm worn out at this point, so although I'm semi convinced that taking up the skirt would be a good idea, I'm just too tired to do it.
The moms head home, and Jack, Vincent and I just rest on the couch for the rest of the afternoon. I think we caught up on our "Tori and Dean" watching.
So today I came home from Van Grow and felt like after making dresses and box pleats galore with a glue gun (it's fashion week) I was up for a challenge, and decided to go for it! My nursery would not be caged by the "Whatever-it's-good-enough,-nobody-will-notice-except-for-me" syndrome! That's just not good enough for little Jack! So once again, out the mattress comes, an
d the bed skirt goes to the dining room table for a little more adjusting. I get started, and after a few ripped seams and accidental backwards attachments, out comes a bed skirt that doesn't look too bad (minus the one little accidental cut that I made in the back of one of the box pleats...don't worry, I patched it up!) It works!
d the bed skirt goes to the dining room table for a little more adjusting. I get started, and after a few ripped seams and accidental backwards attachments, out comes a bed skirt that doesn't look too bad (minus the one little accidental cut that I made in the back of one of the box pleats...don't worry, I patched it up!) It works! Funny thing about it...I did let a little bit of the "Whatever, it's good enough, nobody will notice except for us" get in...see, when we were hemming up the seams, I just did the front and the two sides, and opted not to hem up the back. I mean, who's going to see that? Well, now THAT side is actually the only side that the hem hangs long enough to look nice! See? It worked for me that time!
Being so proud that I actually fixed the bedskirt, I thought, "Why not start on the bumper pad?" So I did! I'm actually covering an existing bumper pad...hopefully I measured right and cut right...probably not, but I'll make it work! You can see in the pic, I did one side of it this afternoon! It looks super cute. The top is the adorable Alexander Henry owl print, and the bottom is more of the yellow and teal swirl. Love it!
And I can just picture it, one day little Jack will look at me with those unbelievably sweet eyes and say, "Mom, thank you so much for flipping up that seam one more time and restitching my entire bed skirt to make it the right length. I just love my bumper pad, it's just so wonderful. You're the best mom ever!" I'm fully anticipating it. :)
6 comments:
It looks fabulous!!! And just think, only those that are reading your amusing blog will EVER know!!!
It looks great - just like I knew it would since you are doing it. I am so proud of you! Jack's room will be a fashion statement that all the other mommies that come to your house will be jealous of! And Jack will absolutely thrive in that beautiful room you have created just for him!
My mom and I made Ryan and Luke's bedding -actually my mom did most of the bedding and I made their quilts. I loved being able to do it and they insist on sleeping with their quilts every night. As you lower the bed, the bedskirt will drag more on the ground - that is where I take the whatever attitude and pin it underneath and no one knows but me. I love the colors it is so cute.
Candy, I totally thought about that! There will be many more hem flips on that bedskirt, for sure. I bet it's so sweet to see them sleeping with their quilts that they made. So fun!
Well, I just typed that Luke and Ryan made the quilts...didn't mean that...prego brain. The quilts that YOU made!
Jack's bedding looks AWESOME! You guys did great! Love his room!
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