July 17th, 2008 @ 9:40 pm
My latest craft project was to make a bunch of swaddling blankets for the new baby. When Wyatt was teeny-tiny, the only way he would sleep was if he was being held, and even then he never slept more than three hours at a time. I’m all for attachment parenting and co-sleeping, but sitting up in bed all night holding a baby is not exactly conducive to getting a good night’s sleep. Swaddling saved me from going insane. The very first time I swaddled Wyatt properly, he slept for five hours straight in his co-sleeper which meant that I slept for five hours straight lying down in bed. When I woke up, I thought I’d died and gone to heaven. It was the most sleep I’d had in a month. I was so energized, I felt like I could run a marathon.
Hmmmm…OK…maybe not a marathon.
I felt like I could walk around the block.
Anyway, I wanted to be sure we had a good supply of swaddling blankets for the new baby, so the other day I went over to the new fabric store by our house and I bought three 42 inch squares of flannel. I know I could have just washed the fabric and used the blankets without doing anything to them, but I wanted a finished edge to keep the cloth from fraying.
I didn’t do anything complicated at all to finish up the edges. I just finger folded each edge over by a quarter of an inch and stitched along all four sides. Then I folded each edge over again and did another pass over them with the sewing machine. Easy peasy.
crafty · keiki · kid · motherhood · parenting · photo · pregnancy
Auntie Sue
said,
July 18, 2008 at 3:40 am
When we were kids we had a singer pedal sewing machine. I can still picture Mom sewing “receving blankets” and sleepers for Linda before she was born. She used to do the same with flannel and then some of the blankets were really fancy and she trimmed them with what I thought was satin ribbon arond the edges. She used to let Karen and I push the pedal for her sometimes. Thanks for the memory, lovie. Kisses all around.
Your Mom
said,
July 18, 2008 at 4:51 am
I sewed little flannel gowns and sleepers for your brother before he was born. I made fancy hem stiches around the necks and sleeves by hand. When he was born, I took one to the hospital to bring him home in. It was so huge he was swimming in it. I rolled up the sleeves and there was a thick wad of flannel around each wrist. By the time he was big enough to properly fit into them, he was too old for gowns and sleepers! My flannel choices were not nearly as cute as yours and you are a much better informed Momma than I was.
I made dozens of little dresses and bonnets for you but was much smarter about sizes and the needs of babies.
Love.to All
robyn
said,
July 18, 2008 at 5:12 am
I am totally a fan of swaddling! I swaddled my now 3 year old for 9 months!!! (he was a fan too….). And as I wrote this my 2 month old is all swaddled up sleeping in his crib. So, so cute.
I didn’t think to make any though. I just picked up some at Babies R Us. Good idea, though!
Allison
said,
July 18, 2008 at 8:06 am
Those are adorable - I love the monkey fabric. Funny how kids still like to be swaddled in a big blanket on the floor too! I still like it even!
Miss you! -Al
Joy Lynne
said,
July 24, 2008 at 4:04 pm
I got here thru a link about your Bentos boxes, but saw this post as well, our almost 7 month old refuses to sleep without being swaddled, and we are wondering how long it is going to last (his college roommate is going to laugh at him if he is still being swadling then), oh well, whatever it takes!