flame retardant fabric?

I decided to make my nephew some flannel pajama pants. When I mentioned this to my mother, she asked me to make sure the flannel was flame retardant. I thought that was strange, since I couldn't imagine why his pajamas, as opposed to his daytime clothes, would need special chemicals to make them less likely to burst into flames. I didn't think much of it as I headed to the fabric store. I figured, if it was so important, then I might as well abide by her wishes (and the law, apparently).

I shop at that big box fabric store. It's close to my house, has good prices and sales, and an amazing variety of fabrics and notions. I started browsing the huge aisle of "snuggle flannel" looking at all the cute patterns. I looked up and noticed that it was all on sale. Then I noticed the disclaimer on the sale sign: "not intended for children's sleepwear." Hmm... interesting. What else would you use such child-appropriate flannel fabric for if not for sleepwear? So I started looking for the aisle of sleepwear appropriate flannel fabric. I found all of five bolts of the special flame retardant fabrics. And they were about $10 more per yard. Huh? Something seemed wrong. So, I figured I'd get some flame retardant fabric and some of that "snuggle flannel" and figure it out at home. I found a cute pattern in the small selection of flame retardant flannel and bought a yard.

From sewing projects

Once at home I did some online research and found out that certain chemicals previously used to treat flame retardant fabric have been outlawed due to their harmful effects - mainly reproductive, neurological and liver-related. Yikes! The purpose behind the flame retardant fabric is to prevent children's bedtime clothing from catching fire. Apparently children are more likely to encounter fire sources in the early morning and in the evening (from stoves and the like). This made much more sense than worrying that your child's bed will catch on fire. Still, "better" fabric is no substitute for good parenting.

After finishing two pairs of pajama pants in the "snuggle" flannel, I decided to do something a little different with the third pair. I bought some ribbon to coordinate with each flannel print. On the first two pairs I added the ribbon to the pant legs. That was cute, but like I said I wanted to try something different this time. So I decided to make a small pocket to add to the pants. I'm not sure if my method is the best method, but here's what I did. First, I cut a 4" x 4" piece of fabric, centered on one of the jungle animals. I chose the hippo because it's just gosh darn cute.

From sewing projects

From sewing projects

Then I used a little bit of stitch witchery to hold the ribbon in place while I sewed (I used this same technique with the other two pairs of pants).

From sewing projects

I folded the fabric down so that the ribbon would be the top of the pocket, and sewed it in place.

From sewing projects

From sewing projects

I also sewed the bottom, framing the hippo print.

From sewing projects

Then I sewed the sides in place and trimmed all the extra fabric.

From sewing projects

That's it for now. I'll post pictures of the finished pants later.

I would like to add that I noticed a strange and unpleasant smell when I ironed the flame retardant fabric. I also noticed that the fabric feels different, and I had a few problems sewing the fabric with my machine (which in all fairness could have been my machine -- it's very old, and I'm still figuring out how to best use it). I will definitely not buy any more in the future, but I feel it would be wasteful to not use the fabric that I already bought.

Dinosaur PJ Pants!

After I finished the first pair of flannel pj pants for my nephew Daniel, my mother smartly suggested that I send the pants to Virginia before I make any more -- to make sure they fit. Smart lady, my mom. I heard back from my mom yesterday and found out two things:

(1) the pants fit well, except for the waist
(2) my nephew really liked the pattern -- he kept pointing to the lizards

Lucky for me, my mother is not only very smart, but she's great at sewing. When I was a kid she made me pjs and dresses. So she's going to make adjustments on the first pair, while I made the changes for the second pair. And here they are...

From sewing projects

From sewing projects

From sewing projects

I hope to get some pictures of Daniel wearing these pants soon. When I do I'll post them so you all can see how adorable he is.

I have one more pair to make. The third pair is going to be made from flame retardant fabric. When I was at the fabric store last week I bought some flame retardant fabric as well as non-flame retardant fabric. I wasn't sure what the deal was, so I thought I'd get some just to be safe. Turns out it really wasn't necessary and I wish I hadn't spent the extra money. The flame retardant fabric is about $10 more per yard than the regular flannel. But since I already bought it, I might as well turn it into something useful.

Flannel PJ Pants

After talking with my mom about the types of things my nephew will need this Fall and Winter, I decided that I would make him some pajama pants. Now, I've never made pajama pants, ever. Not even for adults. So the prospect of making some itty ones for my two-year-old nephew was a little daunting. But I always remind myself that each time I sew, I get better at it. And any mistakes I make can be remedied with my trusty seam ripper. Luckily this time, the seam ripper was not needed. Here's what I made:

From sewing projects

I found this cute lizard flannel at the store today. It's not flame-retardant, but after reading up on the pros and cons, I decided that it's okay. If my nephew ever finds himself in a burning bed, what he's wearing will be the least of his concerns. And if I can keep some icky chemicals away from his bare skin, I think I've done a good thing.

From sewing projects

The pants have an elastic waist, and some ribbon detail on the pant legs.

From sewing projects

I have two more pairs of pants to go, but I will save those for another day. One will have dinosaurs, while the other has jungle animals. This kid will be warm and cute, for sure.

Making Pesto

Yesterday I headed up to South 47 Farm in Redmond, WA and brought home an $8 bag of fresh basil.

From cooking & baking

The smell alone was worth the trip. Today I turned that basil into pesto for the freezer. I used their pesto recipe (below), with two changes: I substituted sunflower seeds for pine nuts, and I omitted the Parmesan cheese since I planned to freeze the pesto. After defrosting, and before serving, I will add the cheese. I've had plenty success freezing cheeses by themselves after shredding them (mostly cheddar and mozzarella), but I didn't want to risk my pesto batch by freezing a cheese mixture. Anyway, here's their recipe:

2 cups firmly packed fresh basil
1/2 cup olive oil
4 cloves garlic
1/4 cup pine nuts (I used sunflower seeds)
3/4 cup fresh grated Parmesan or Romano cheese

I washed the basil, after pulling the leaves off their stems, combined everything into my food processor and blended until smooth.

From cooking & baking

From cooking & baking

I bought some Ball plastic freezer containers for the first time, and managed to fill all 5 (they are 8 oz each, so 1 cup) and have enough pesto left over to fill an ice cube tray. I used extra virgin olive oil for about half the pesto I made. I ran out of extra virgin so I used pure olive oil for the remaining pesto. I labeled each freezer container with the type of olive oil used (I am curious to see if I can taste the difference) and instructions about how much cheese to add.

From cooking & baking

From cooking & baking

I can't wait to try out my homemade pesto. While I love pesto, I don't eat it often, as the price at the grocery store can be a deterrent. I plan on using it for pasta, pizza sauce, and anything else I can think of.