How do you mom's do it????

[mcgomery]

I have been trying to get back into my sewing and my 15 month old is not being cooperative! GRRR lol.
How do all your mom's who make diapers get the chance to sew with the little ones running around?
I had him down for his nap,got all my supplies out and did my cuting and was able to get 1 prefold done just as he was waking up. Now he has been all over me, grabbing my laid out fabric and all sorts of normal toddler things.
Have any tips??? I need to get these done.:

[thixle]

1. Have a room where you can shut the door or put up a gate, that way you can leave all your stuff out and stop when you need and get back to it when you have a chance.
2. Don't take up too much space laying out the pieces you cut. Stack as much as you can. Use cardboard boxes to lay things out in, that way you can swoop the box out of reach without messing up your fabric.
3. Have a bag or pile of safe, pretty fabric scraps LO can play with. DD1 loved to play with my velcro. She also loved for me to lay out bigger pieces for her to mess up on the floor
4. Plan on loosing some sleep to get it done.

All that being said, if you can get someone to come over and play with the kiddo while you spend an hour or so locked in a room, you'll be amazed how many you can crank out assembly-line style.

OT- AH!!! you are in west KY, too! How did you fair in the storm? Welcome to MDC!

[mcgomery]

wow the storm kicked us in the rear HARD! We packed up the kids and tried to go to TN to a hotel and ended up in Huntingdon for 2 days and as soon as we came back the power had just came on for an hour and went back off.
I think we were out for about 5 days with no power. We mainly left so the LO didn't get sick again. He was in the hospital for a week in December with pneumonia. Didn't want to go through that again.
We are still dodging fallen trees and branches and the power hick-ups every now and then. But Thank goodness for the warm coming this weekend!

And the tips are good too btw.
If I actually knew any people around where I live it would be great to have someone come over and be a baby wrangler for a little while lol. I think I will just have dd or dh do that a few nights a week until I can get caught up on some sewing. ( after dinners are made and homework is done and all that good stuff that goes on after the crew gets home in the evenings)

[thixle]

I'm pm'ing you. And I'm going to laugh my butt off if you are my neighbor :

[MommyMarshall]

I was having the same problem as you I'd start as soon as my boys were napping (if they happened to nap at the same time that is!) and I'd barely get one diaper (if that) done before one was waking up.
So I began the assembly line process. And would continue down the list until I needed to stop and then pick it up again the next chance I got.
1. I cut out all my fabric.
2. then I'd sew all my velcro onto all my pul cuts
3. then I'd sew all my absorbant materials onto my inner fabric
4. then I'd sew all my diapers together
5. then sew all the elastic
6. etc.

You get the picture. And for me that helped me get more done faster, b/c the more I was repeating the same step over and over the less time it took. Rather than constantly changing gears. I could kind of do it mindlessly and quickly.

I add these things into what was already suggested to you.

Other than sewing at nap time, as soon as my boys were in bed at night out came the sewing machine until I hit about 11pm. I also had a few Saturdays that DH would entertain the boys outside and I would just sew sew sew. : Now I am finally caught up and don't need to sew like crazy again until my little one is moving up in size again!

**Oh and giving LO scrap fabric to "sew" and "help mommy" is a great distracter.

Good luck hope you find your time and your quickest method.

[ktmama]

Some things I've done - even my 3.5 yo can't handle my attention being so intensely on something else while she's awake...

1. I cut on the dining room table while she's eating or painting or (when she was little) playing on the floor.
2. I only really sew after she goes to bed or on weekends when I can negotiate an hour or two of "me" time with my dh.
3. I parse out the project over time. Like right now I'm 22 weeks pg and I want to make 25 NB dipes. I have 18 (or so) weeks to go, and I have five dipes done, so I can safely make one - 1.5 dipe a week. Anything too ambitious is a set-up for failure for me and frustration for everyone else around here.

[jennifercp8]

I do it in stages/assembly line - and I keep an open tote to store my in-progress projects when they are not being worked on. This way my DS can't pull out the pins, etc.

So one day I will spend the naptime amassing my fabrics, the next day I cut, the next day I sew them together, the next day I do elastic, etc. It is a little time consuming, but it keeps me from pulling out my hair.

Happy sewing!

[funkymamajoy]

My mom sews diapers for me, but she used to sew with my little sisters on her back (not at the same time). I guess being worn plus the white noise from the sewing machine would put them to sleep.

[SuzyLee]

William LOVES my sewing machine. I can not get near it while he is awake or he will zoom over and start trying to plug/unplug it, push buttons, etc.

Sometimes I can entertain him for 20 minute by giving him a box of spools of thread. If I let him play with my scissors or pins that would keep him busy for hours. (note- I don't actually let him. He just wants to).

Basically, I do all my cutting out, pinning, cutting elastic and velcro, etc done while he is awake. Actual sewing is only done when he is asleep. I keep all my stuff out on one end of the dining room table so that I can sit right down and get to work as soon as he is asleep. If I have everythign ready to go I can sew a pocket in about 40 minutes.

[Roxy2007]

it used to be bad for me too before DS was born but it got better..i cut fabric during nap time, then fold it away. when i put the kids to bed, i will start sewing, the sewing machine is on the dining room so its not loud or anything but i think they are used to the sound.

i try not to sew when the kids are up and about and spend time with them instead. i find myself getting annoyed when i want to sew and the kids are at my leg, so not their fault so i just work around their schedule and its working great for us!

good luck!

[donutmolly]

I only sew at night when they are sound asleep. Too frustrating otherwise, and both my girls love sewing supplies (my measuring tape is the best toy...) I also use an assembly line process. And I try to keep my expectations low. If I need to feel a sense of accomplishment, I work on a dipe that's almost finished...