Oil Cloth Is My New Favorite

I'm still primarily nursing Ruby but we've been introducing baby food and giving her rice cereal for a few weeks now. When we would go out to eat with Sebastian through his baby food years I had a sporty little lunch bag that kept things cool and could be cleaned easily in case of a spill. I think I gave it away when we moved. I'd been hoarding some oil cloth from Heather Bailey's line so I decided to use it to make a new carrying case for our time on vacation in Florida.

I started it at midnight the night before we left so it's a little more wonky than I usually prefer but it does it's job. I basically cut out a long strip about 50" x 8", folded it in half with right sides together, stitched up the two long sides, turned it right side out, tucked the open end in and stitched it closed. I then folded it so that it had a generous pocket (see first photo) and stitched up the long sides. I had some adhesive velcro that I slapped on after figuring out where it should go when the flap came down but I'd suggest stitching that on if you're not in such a night-before-a-big-trip-crazy-lady-crafting-frenzy.

I probably should've used a different foot because my standard one kept getting suctioned to the laminated sides and would pull and bunch. Regardless, it is wipeable and can carry two or three spoons, a bib, a cloth, and two or three little jars of baby food. My next project, if I didn't already have a perfectly useful one, would be to make a changing mat out of this stuff. I made one from green gingham oil cloth with a dusty blue grosgrain ribbon for the edging for Sebastian but it got lost somehow along the way. Then I replaced it with a vinyl place mat from Target. I kid you not. It folds up nicely and weighs almost nothing and has held up in the wash since 2007. You can see a few projects using laminated cotton on the Sew Can Do blog as well as a beautifully covered bath seat from Prudent Baby.

In the mean time, we've got some eating to do.

I hope your weekend was productive and/or restful. Ruby is a scooter now so ours included some baby proofing. I also picked up almost everything I need for a Mighty Machines themed birthday party last night (hi, Katie from Target). I could kiss Target on the mouth sometimes. They always surprise me with how much they know exactly what I need.

Or don't need. Ha!

xoxo,
Rachel