The tagline for the Cali Fabrics blog is “A Sewing Blog for the Fabric Obsessed” and you may have noticed those of us who contribute to the blog are very serious about our fabric choices…even the plain white boring fabrics!
Last time I showed you some cuter than cute baby sweaters, and today I’ve got some more cute baby clothes for you…just not quite as exciting. I’ve been sewing for my baby, and that includes some of the basics.
There’s this concept of a capsule wardrobe, and about the perfect application of the capsule wardrobe is for someone who is expected to outgrow all their clothes in a few months time. (Like a baby…) The basic idea of a capsule wardrobe is to minimize the amount of clothing in a wardrobe, but make each piece intensely wearable by coordinating it with everything else in the wardrobe. The “what do I wear” question is solved because everything is wearable. Or in the case of a baby who is being dressed by many eager siblings, it always looks coordinated even though the oldest sister called dibs on dressing the baby but the youngest sister had a fit until her favorite pair of pants were used and the middle brothers slipped on a cardigan later when the sisters weren’t looking!
The way I decided to keep my baby from looking like it’s 7 siblings each had a part in dressing it was to go with all white onesies as the basics, solid grays as the layering pieces, (remember those sweaters from last post?) and then wild explosions of patterns that couldn’t possibly be worn together (like pants and one piece outfits) in shades of mint and gray. Result? Baby looks boutique and not clownish!
Making a pile of white onesies wasn’t exactly exciting sewing, so I made sure to choose good quality fabrics to make my job easier. With that in mind I used White Organic Cotton Knit fabric to make the onesies. Besides being easier for ME to work with, I have the piece of mind of organic fabric next to my baby’s new delicate skin. This fabric is just as gentle and easy to work with as I had hoped it would be!
The other place I chose to use pure white fabric was for some swaddle blankets. I chose White Cotton Gauze to make 4 swaddle blankets. This cotton gauze is the perfect fabric for swaddling blankets in any season. An extra layer of warmth in cold months, and light and airy in warm months; you can still swaddle the baby without smothering it!
One reason I chose to use white for these swaddle blankets is because while we don’t know if our baby is a girl or a boy, that surprise will end on it’s birth date! The newborn capsule wardrobe is in neutral colors, but the next capsule wardrobes in larger sizes will lean toward boy or girl in theme, so the white gauze swaddle blankets will continue to coordinate either way.
How about you, what do you look for in baby fabrics? (And if you don’t sew for baby, check out my blog post here!)
Audrey is a mother to 7 (and one on the way!) blogs at Skirt Fixation, and loves to sew for all ages!