One of my most intense sewing projects ever (9 hours of work!)

I’ve been meaning to write a post about how to start sewing for a while now. Sewing is such an empowering part of my life, but it can be an intimidating hobby for people who are considering it for the first time.

My journey into sewing started when I was approximately eight years old. I was obsessed with Ramona books, and I was inspired when I read that Ramona sewed a pair of pants for her stuffed elephant (at least that’s what I’m remembering). I decided that I would sew a scrunchie (it was, after all, the 1980s).

I felt like “Coconut’s” Montessori floor bed looked a little stark against the wall, so I decided to make a cute pillow in the shape of a house. Originally, I was going to make a whole series of animal pillows or a cityscape, but I vetoed that idea since babies aren’t supposed to have pillows on their beds anyway. It will be easy to remove one pillow, but a whole pile of them might get annoying.

The process was very simple (thankfully, since I had just struggled to make two fitted sheets for his co-sleeper). Here’s what I did:

• Pulled out fabric from our scrap box and picked some fabrics

I debated lots of ottoman options for the baby’s room. In the end, I chose a cheap, versatile option: I got a $19.99 footstool from IKEA and recovered it with fabric that we already had at our house.

The process could not have been any simpler:

1. I removed the existing slip cover and carefully took it apart with a seam ripper (those things come in so handy!). I paid close attention to the seam allowances (which was easy to do, since there was a crease in the fabric).
2. I measured the dimensions of the existing pieces (five pieces of equal size).
3. I used my rotary cutter and my cutting mat