Sling Fabrics

I'm posting pictures of the sling fabric I have here, instead of in the Freecycle group's photo album, because here, I can write more details! Top Row: Bright pink corduroy (I think, can't remember)--pouch; Leopard print knit, stretchy, backed with something else or reversible--pouch; strange green--see next photo
Bottom Row: Bright green with paisley's, some stretch--pouch or ring sling; lightweight muted paisleys--ringsling or reversible/two sided non-stretch pouch; lilac paisley--see next photo

Green fabric has a bit of gold printed on it. It's actually a long length of one print, then it changes to the other print, so it would make a good non-stretch reversible pouch, or maybe a ring sling depending on where the pattern change falls.

Pink paisley fabric is lightweight, some stretch, great for a ring sling or backed with something for a pouch.

Top Row--Red brocade, heavier, not reversible (would need to be backed with something to make it reversible, or the wrong side will show), suitable for pouch only, or a Mei Tai. Green Fur--thought this would look good with the bright green paisley in the top photo for a pouch, or backed with something like a quilter's cotton for a pouch.

Bottom Row--black faux fur, backed with something for a pouch, or the inside of a Mei Tai; Beige/blue plaid--this is a fine, soft, slightly stretchy corduroy that is smooth on one side. Would make a great pouch, single layer.

Also available, but photo shy---dark brown fleece--one layer pouch or backed with something for a reversible pouch; dark brown corduroy---one layer pouch or backed with something; chocolate brown with dusty pink on back side--reversible pouch only; bright pink with retro flowers (what I made the SSC in last summer; on my other blog), canvas; for a Mei Tai body only; very retro purple/pink print canvas, for Mei Tai body only, two different denims, one light colours, one dark, for Mei Tai body only. For all these Mei Tai's I also have plush fake fur for the insides (or use one of the ones in the pictures).

If you want to supply material, a slightly stretchy (3% lycra) works well for a pouch or ring sling; if it's lightweight and you want a pouch it'd need a backing fabric (a plain quilter's cotton or light twill, or another layer of the same material to keep the stretchiness). Fleece works great as one layer. Athletic mesh works great for a water sling, but I need to order small rings; you can also have a pouch made. I have made one reversible pouch with a funky print knit fabric, great for smaller summer babies.

Just let me know if you have any questions about slings!

More Bedroom Photos

Some more pictures of the transformation. Here you can see just how high the new bed is! The two bedside lights are new, from Wal-Mart. There is an uplight, and then also a down light (in the upside down cone under the up light). We couldn't get the recommended lightbulb size to fit in the downlight though, so we got some other ones later. You can have just the up light, just the downlight, or both on. There are three shelves on each too, the bottom one is just big enough for magazines. That's the CD/clock radio on the middle shelf. Here's the 'finished' view! It's not nearly as dark as it looks; I should have lightened it up before posting. The chair in the corner was there before, but I threw a piece of brown corduroy over it. Rob thought I had made a slipcover, LOL. I don't know what I'll do if someone finally asks for a brown corduroy pouch sling! The turquoise pillow on it was a very last minute addition. It's actually just a pillow form wrapped in some fleece I had bought from the marked down bin at Wal-Mart but it ended up being too narrow to make anything. I am planning to properly finish the pillow! The white wicker basket was an almost-last-minute addition, it's filled with all my turquoise/teal yarn, LOL. When I ordered the bedding on sears.ca I was really ticked off to be told after confirming my order that the duvet cover and shams were backordered.....to July 15 and May 15. The curtain topper came in April, but I was left with a big issue. I could choose sheets (and the ceiling light) based on the curtain, but the stripes on the curtain are chocolate and dark, greyish turquoise. How was I going to choose the wall colour from that?! At first I thought I wanted a more intense turquoise. To finally decide, I got a colour shade card from Home Depot, and matched the dark ribbon to one of the colours. Then I picked the second lightest colour on the card, called "Seafoam Breeze". I almost went with the next darker colour, which would have been a much more noticeable change, but I'm glad I didn't, even though it's not all that much darker, sometimes you just can't tell from the card.
I was concerned about the dark furniture (especially since we can't have the headboard/footboard anymore). I thought it was the furntiure that was out of place in the room before, and figured we'd go get some white furniture from IKEA. But once the room was finished, the furniture fit in nicely. My tall unit in the corner is a faux green marble, and it looks okay too.
On my dresser is a scrap piece of brown brocade from Rob's brother, who gave me a big box of fabric left over from a movie/tv show. On the bed, you can see I didn't tuck in the top sheet, and I used a fitted sheet to cover the boxspring. I didn't realize that you usually use a bedskirt to do that, I thought the bedskirt just hung below the boxspring, LOL. Mom thought I was ingenious, but this is just how we've done it since getting a 'real' bed (not a futon). Partly cause I don't think a bedskirt would have worked well with the old bedframe. On the bed, is some dark brown fleece that I bought to make pouch slings.

Even though the bed is wider, we have a touch more room because the light towers are narrower than the old night tables. THe wall colour is nothing like what it's showing on my monitor!! On this light tower is a plant that was already in a turquoise pot (and I had to move it the next morning because it freaked me out all night long), and a cold beer in an ice bucket that Rob had gotten for his birthday a few years ago from his parents and had only used to house receipts and change on his dresser, and three little tea lights in glass holders, turquoise and black.

On his dresser is a crystal candy dish from our wedding crystal, filled with turquoise candies/jelly beans, etc. Good thing we had just had Easter, and not Christmas or Valentine's Day! LOL.

This is our old bedroom--from the old house. It was hideous shades of pink when we bought the house, and poorly painted. So we had painted before we actually moved in. There was wall paper on the bottom, and the chair rail was sprayed gold, that patina'd over time. The walls were painted "Stuffing" which reminded me of a good, Canadian "Double-Double". I loved the colour! It was a very .....elegant? room (on the rare occasion that it got cleaned and dolled up), and we toyed with the idea of painting the room in our new house the same colour, we loved it that much. But it was time to move on---we've been here two years now!

The new duvet cover and shams finally came in, so the room is 'complete' and I'll post pictures later; I just have to make it all up, tidy up, LOL, and wait for some sunlight!

Hey Debbi

If you look in those pictures (esp of Meg climbing on me), to the left you will see....not only INDOOR plumbing, but an ENSUITE bath! :) That was a must have for the new house. Now, it's certainly not luxerious and spa like, but really, when you get only 10 minutes at a time--on a good day--who cares if the floor tiles match the shower......

Sorry I haven't posted the final results; today is story time day so I won't be home in the afternoon today again, so maybe tonight.....riot going on in the other room....

Transform!

For Rob's 40th birthday, I decided to surprise him with a new bed, and bedroom reno. Bed shopping with two little girls was SO much fun (NOT), and somehow Lucy was actually able to keep it a surprise.


First thing to do once Rob left for work on the Friday was to patch a strange spot in the wall. It appears that the old owners took out the cold air return near the floor and put it up higher. They never repaired it, just nailed (using finishing nails) a piece of drywall in.

I thought I had done a pretty good repair, until the paint went on, then of course, you could see that it needed a bit more work. Oh well, we tried, and the girls helped :)

This is the 'old' colour, a flat light blue, very poorly painted. It grew on us during the time we've lived here, but I was also really drawn to all intensities of turquoise, mixed with beige and dark brown. The combo reminds me of the beach in St. Marten. This picture is of before we started painting. Even though we liked the blue walls, something wasn't right about the room. I think it was because we had no bedding that looked good; most of it was burgandy because of our last bedroom.
I don't remember, but I think this is before we starting painting too.
I wasn't able to send the kids anywhere, or get a babysitter to come in, so it was hard for me to do a lot. I wanted to do the baseboard painting though cause, well, I'm younger than my parents (who had come to help!).

You can see the new wall colour---very similiar to the old colour, but with a bit more turquoise feel, and a MUCH better finish.

Someone loves her Momma :)

The new bed arrived Saturday afternoon, and it seems a little higher than the one in the store! That new hanging light is probably one of my most favourite parts of the new room. We didn't realize that there were no ceiling lights upstairs when we bought the house. Rob said, at first, that he could wire some in. As time as gone on, that turned into "I don't know, it depends on a lot of things...." and then "I don't think I want to do that". So I bought a pretty lightshade (SO hard to find in this town!!!) and my dad wired it up so it plugs into the outlet that is run off the wall switch beside the door. So, with a flick of a switch, now the room is lit up :)

Stay tuned for the finished results tomorrow!