Hello AGF Aficionados!

It’s been a while since I’ve written, but I’m excited to be back and ready to share some fun projects and helpful sewing tips! Now that I’m a member of the mommy club a whole new world of adorable sewing has opened up before me and I have a couple tutorials for projects in the works that you’ll want to sew for yourself or for someone you know (maybe for a little someone you know). Along the way, I’ll be highlighting construction methods that will help you with all your sewing across the board, non-baby sewing included!

Some of you may have seen a sneak peek of my Little One rockin' some AGF duds in the Wonderful Things Lookbook way back in January. Time has flown by and he is now almost crawling- he’s gone from a little squish to a bouncy baby boy so fast!

Now, a question that people always ask me is “what should I sew as a present for the baby?” Here are two really easy projects that I have gotten tons of use out of and that would make great gifts for the expectant parent. The first is a nursing pillow cover.

These pillows are the best for all sorts of reasons, but one thing that isn’t that great is the variety (or lack thereof) in prints for pillow covers. I’ve been able to make a couple covers for my pillow and I love them! They brighten my living room and are the envy of other moms (or so I like to imagine). It’s also something that will be used constantly from the newborn stage through to the sitting stage.

Instructions on how to draft your Pillow Cover Pattern:

1. Place either the pillow or the pillow cover on a piece of paper and trace. Fold the paper in half and “true” the pattern, ie, blend the lines together smoothly so that both halves are the same. Add your desired seam allowance to all edges, except the fold line. Since the finished edges on my serger measure at 3/8” I added about 3/8” around the shape. Cut out your pattern piece. This is your front piece.

2. Now, trace the front piece and draw a line where you will sew in the zipper. Cut apart the back pieces, then trace them onto paper adding extra seam allowance at the straight edges for the zipper (I added 1/2”) and cut out.

3. Pin your pattern pieces to fabric and cut one of each.

4. Cut two strips of interfacing (1" x Width of Pillow) to stabilize your knit edges at the back zipper opening.  Fuse the interfacing to the wrong sides of the fabric at the edges so it’s easy to sew the zipper to the knit fabric. (You can even use non-knit interfacing since by sewing to a zipper you are essentially removing the stretch anyway.)

5. Cut two zipper tabs 1 1/₂” x 4” and fuse interfacing to them as well.  Pin the short ends of the tabs to the ends of a 22” zipper, right sides together, and sew.  Trim tabs to match the width of the zipper.   If you are using a shorter zipper make the tabs longer so that they reach beyond the edge of the pillow sides.  

6. Pin the zipper to the Back Top, right sides together, and sew a straight stitch as close to the edge as you can (using a zipper foot).  Open, press and top-stitch.  Repeat the process to sew the zipper to the Back Bottom.  Here is a tutorial that shows the zipper application I used.  Trim the zipper tabs as needed so they are flush with the edges of the pillow body.

7. Now, pin the front and back right sides together, making sure the zipper is partially open.  Sew together using either a serger or the zig-zag stitch on your sewing machine.  Flip your creation right side out and stuff with a pillow!

Be sure to browse all the amazing knits AGF has to offer!  There's sure to be something for everybody.  Here are just a few recommendations: 

Well, that's all for today but I'll be back with more projects from babyland. 

Until then, Happy Sewing!

-Christine