MAKING A PATTERN FOR A KURUTHA

Making a kurutha pattern

My Nooh loves sleeping in his cotton kurutha

I used to have him wear normal pajamas to sleep, although they r comfy in winter he finds them too hot in summer.

So one day I put him in his kurutha when he woke up in the middle of the night feeling itchy n crying.

He has very sensitive skin and he sweats a lot.

I found that he slept much better in his kurutha which was what he actually wore for Eid.

Anyway I thought of making some for him by myself.

It seemed a shame to spent money on something that looked so easy to make not to mention fun.

As I plan to make a few of them I decided to make a pattern.

That way I could easily make as many as I like with little fuss as possible.

Here is him in his kurutha all ready for bed.

The kurutha has a little opening at front which makes it little difficult to get him in to

So I decided mine would be like a shirt.

So to make a pattern I actually found some paper. If you have a kid I’m sure there will be enough paper around the house to make a pattern.

Brown paper is fine. I have even used newspapers at times to make patterns but things which are not printed are better.

So I found this green chart paper.

So above is the kurutha top n bottom which ill show  how to make a pattern at a later date but very soon.

Making pattern for the top

Fold kurutha in half front side in and the sleeves folded in along the stitching line and lay it along the edge.

Use a pencil and draw an outline if u want the kurutha to be looser u can make it so.

I’m making it to be a little looser.

Now

Cut it.

U will have something like this

This is the back

Now to make the front u can use the pattern u just made

Lay this about an inch away from the other edge n cut

Cut the front neck as deep as u like. You can use the old kurutha as a guide or wing it.

Now to cut sleeve, lay the sleeve down as shown, outline it and cut. If u has made your kurutha looser add about that amount to the sleeve too.

Cut this

Pattern for your kurutha top is ready. Label every part.

It should be like this. The bottom part is the pants ill show how to make that at a later date.

here is the first kurutha i made

 

HAPPY SEWING

SUMMER TOP TUTORIAL

Summer top

Easy as pie

It’s really long bUt but I have no idea how I could make it any shorter.

It’s really hot here...

And cotton is the only thing that u can wear for more than an hour

I got this cloth piece from my mother in law. Its blue n summery n fun n but it didn’t have as much of a length as I would normally use for making my clothes

I decided to make one of the simplest tops.

Here goes my tutorial for making a ladies summer top

Now first and foremost wash the fabric

That’s important or u will end up with a garment that’s either misshapen or small if u r working with cotton.

Wash it let it dry completely and if u like it iron it which would make it easier to work with I didn’t have time to iron for one.

I was working before my baby woke up.

U lay down the fabric on any flat surface

Then you fold it twice lengthwise

Keep it aside

I’m using one of my old tops as pattern

Fold the top in half the front inside

Measure 3 in from the top and fold

Pin this down

Now measure three inch from the straight end

From her fold down till the end of the arm hole

Pin this down n around the edge too

Cutting the bodice

Now lay this over the folded cloth

And leave a 1 inch allowance and cut

You should be left with two pieces

One front and one back

Keep one piece aside

This is the back of the dress

Cutting the neck

Now cut a curve as shown on the other piece. I have made about three inch deep curve. you can make it according to preference.

This is the front

And what you just did is making the front neck deeper.

Now find a piece of clothes (you could do this after everything is cut even) which covers the potion which you cut.

Cutting the sleeves

Again twice folded u can do this one by one too

But I’m jus saving time

So anyway get a straight line along the longitudinal edge

Lay the diagonal end of your bodice piece u cut as a measure about 3 inch down and 1 inch away from the edge

Now cut as shown

 when u reach the end of the arm hole then you cut lengthwise down to which ever length you desire the length of your sleeves to be and cut till then u can narrow it a little as u go down I didn’t narrow much as I want to be very loose.

Now u will have two pieces that look like this.

Now your cutting is over now for stitching

The neck first laid the cloth over right sides together and stitch

You have to stitch on the wrong side of bodice

Cut the above potion

Trim the below potion to about an inch

Now nip with scissors as shown

Turnover and iron

Now fold twice and stitch along the edges as shown below

wrong side of front neck

 

front neck

Fold twice and stitch:

Top and bottom of both arm piece

And the back neck

Now lay down as shown all wrong sides up pin them if it helps you

Align the arm n neck as shown
Stitch the arm pieces to the bodice

Zig zag the edges

It should look like this

Fold

Should look like this

Iif any excess is left at arm, cut it

Do the stitching on both sides

Zig-zag the sides
Use free arm sewing n fold twice n do the sleeves

Try it on cause by now I always do

Then take off and fold twitch and stich the edges

The thinner the better looking it would be 

So happy sewing

summer top

HOW I FOUND OUT MY BABY HAD REFLUX

How I found out my baby had reflux

My baby was born with laryngomalacia.

He was in the NICU for 7 days n then in the hospital with me 7 d and he was sent home.

For the next week he was normal. Except for laryngomalacia and the resulting stridor which used to fill up our room

One night he started crying n had to be held in my arms even then he was crying hard

Then his burps changed. From what was normal n cute burp, at times, it sounded like an old man after a meal after which he cried even harder. When he pooped he passed lots of gas.

I showed him to a pediatrician with the hope that he could help my baby. The only thing he told me was to hold baby close while feeding and burping and basically everything which you are told before you leave the hospital.

I think he believed me to be overwhelmed being a new mother and I was but it was only because I hadn’t slept in three days. And at this point I was afraid I might fall asleep holding the baby and drop him.

Then after a week which I had help from family to look after him so I cud get some rest I took him to another doctor.

He told me that the baby could be having colic. That was the first helpful thing I had heard. At last I knew I wasn’t completely ignorant because with a baby that small you don’t know if you r doing something wrong and u always think that you are.

He gave me some digestive drops which helped a little baby was able to pass gases easier. But he still cried lots.

Me and my husband used to take turns and stay up at night n hold him. He used to spit up lots.

Then we showed him to another pediatrician this time abroad who after listening to symptoms suggested that he might have GERD. (gastro esophageal reflux disease)

He was put on colic aid i.e. Infacol in US to remove gas and zantac. She suggested that the tone of is sphincter muscle at junction of stomach and esophagus maybe weak allowing stomach contents to come up and cause burning which explained all the crying. That night I saw improvement.

She also told us which symptoms r typical.

He was spitting up whatever he was eating. Once he has a feeding the milk goes into tummy which is acidic. And then the spit up comes which irritates him.

I was given some more useful tips just as useful as the medication.

First was doing put him down immediately after feeding. Hold him in a sitting position for time well supported, or keep him in the car seat for a few mins.

The other tip was to elevate the bed by 30 degrees which help improved his sleeping time considerably. I had been having him sleep in the cot with all the  things removed except the sheet which was well fitted and as pillows were a big huge no no I hadn’t even been putting a pillow under his head. Now I learnt that having him lie down so flat may have aggravated his condition because then the contents of the stomach would have been able to travel up through his esophagus more easily making it more painful for his thus the crying whenever we put him down.

Also we were asked to increase the tummy time and that helped lots too.

We started having his all day time sleeping naps in tummy position, of course completely supervised. I can’t emphasize how important it is never leave the baby even for a bathroom break on tummy if u have to go then put him on his back before you leave.

Tummy time was supposed to help him pass gas

His feeding increased after we put him on meds. He started gaining weight more steadily and sleeping longer.

So if ur new born baby is crying uncontrollably then here r some things you can see for yourself I wish someone had told me.

Does your child sit more comfortably in the car seat ? Then this can be because his reflux doesnt give him issues in this position.

If he is doing chewing motions with him mouth like he is trying to eat after u has burped him or he has spit up in his mouth.

If he starts to cry when you keep him down then try elevating his head not with a pillow which isn’t advisable but by raising the head end of the crib or special sleeping wedge.

If he takes longer naps in his car seat or rocker this could also be a sign.

My baby had all this signs.

Some people told me I was coddling him that’s why he wasn’t laying on his bed. But he had no problems with his cot after the head end was elevated. So now I know this wasn’t the case.

I was also told that if I left in his crib long enough he will stop crying now I’m glad I didn’t do this because if I found out later that’s he was crying because it hurt him to lay down I would have been able to forgive myself for making him suffer.

Something I also heard was that some children just cry a lot and they will grow out of it. And maybe some do but try to rule out everything before you go there. The baby doesn’t have a voice its ur job to let it be heard. He could be just trying to let you know something. After a while after I knew the symptoms I learnt that the hungry cry the pain cry was very different.

Anyway if ur baby is crying try elevating his head.

Give more tummy time.

Supervised tummy naps

Try swaddling him usually if there is no problem most babies calm down.

There are many great videoes on swaddling on youtube.

I hope i helped your crying baby a little.

This is just my opinion and in no way medical advice.

MY BABY

MY BEAUTIFUL BABY 

The reason I am not able to blog is basically time. Even though I feel like I’m done with it I always come back to it.

So my baby is autistic. And he was diagnosed at 18 months. Which makes it an early diagnosis and I’m lucky.

He is very special to me. He is my life.

If I’m going to talk about it I guess I’ll start at the beginning. He was born premature.

34 weeks. He had laryngomalasia at birth which is a whole different story and also his gastric reflux which he hasn’t completely recovered from as well as his lactose intolerance and gluten sensitivity.

So his mile stones were late. His peads mentioned that this might be due to the prematurity

He was able to hold his neck at 3 months

He oohed n stuff but not a single word till now. But I know him now n we don’t need words. And I don’t know how I know. But fact remains I can’t wait to hear him say mommy.

Before I start I would mention I’m getting the best possible treatment I can from a developmental specialist, an occupational therapist n a child psychiatrist.

So basically what I want to say here is if you think your child might have a problem then go n have a check up with a developmental specialist.

There will be lots of people who tell u oh he is just late in developing and he will talk soon. He is high strung. Or even that some children just don’t listen.

I’m not saying that a child is never late in reaching his mile stones and some are so that’s why they all have a range.

What I’m saying is don’t ignore what your gut is telling you.

I took him to the pediatrician at nine months because he didn’t talk. I let myself be convinced that he was just late.

But deep down I wasn’t and I had that uncertainty so if u do just go see a specialist. An early diagnosis will set u free either way. If your child is jus lagging a lit behind good for u n your uncertainty is gone n if not n there is an issue it gives u the opportunity to tackle it ahead.

Most children I read were diagnosed when they applied for school etc. at about age 4.

If you think your child is having developmental issues, I’m sure this is not the first thing you have read and if u r reading this my advice is go and see a specialist. Don’t do what I did. Don’t look at questionaries’ online and try to answer cause although they might be helpful to some extent your feeling won’t change. Find the best developmental specialist, not the pediatrician and have a consultation. You don’t have to tell anyone. This is your child. And you are doing this for you as much as you are doing this for him.

THESE ARE JUST MY OPINIONS AND IN NO WAY MEDICAL ADVICE.