skirt

10 on 10

January 11, 2015 by Jessica 2 Comments

The past month was like a whirlwind for us. It was full of of Christmasy goodness and lots of cherished time with friends. I managed to make a Christmas skirt for miss J using some vintage material from my stash and a green lace I got from Hancocks. She was happy with it and she wore this to church the Sunday before Christmas and miss E wore her dress.

We went on a carriage ride to look at lights with some of our friends. I seriously could not believe that horse pulled us all. It was a good time though and something we have wanted to do since moving here.

We hosted the small group we attend at our church and I ended up taking the ladies into the garage to make wreaths. I went up to Lowes and got a ton of free tree trimmings. I made a garland to go around our garage, a wreath for our door, a centerpiece, and a few other decorations in our kitchen with the scraps, but I still had a ton left over. So an impromptu wreath making party it was!

I also added little trimmings to random gifts we gave through out the month. I kept a jar of water in the garage filled with the trimmings to use. It was the perfect little touch.

I made yet another naked cake for my friends birthday. I just love making cakes like this. They are so simple and then you can top it with whatever decorations you like. I picked some lovely flowers for this one and it made me excited thinking about spring….even though that is a bit aways still.

Our little winter garden has been good to us. We harvested a ton of radishes and the girls loved pulling them out of the ground. Our kale is growing and growing and I use it at least three times a week in our meals. I have never eaten so many greens in my life, but I can say I really feel a difference from eating more of this super food. I like to add it to soups and saute it by itself. It also goes well in smoothies. Always remove the stems to help get rid of the bitterness if you have never cooked with it before. I started a Pinterest board where I pin recipes I have tried and how it went if you would like to follow along.

I love growing our own food, but I also love supporting others who offer homegrown things we don’t grow at this point. I have made it our goal to attend a local farmers market once a week and make it a part of our grocery trip. Then we are eating and supporting local and getting what is in season. We also never know what we might find so it’s fun. This one week we even got some hand spun yarn! I am working on a little cardigan from miss J from that orange-red yarn right now. She loved seeing the pictures of the sheep the wool came from and is anxious to wear her cardigan made from it’s wool. Oh how that girl wants a farm 🙂

The girls have also been loving their trampoline we got them for Christmas. What a great energy outlet it has become! The cold finally came to Louisiana, so they are waiting for the warmth to come back so they can enjoy it more. I on the other hand am enjoying some cooler weather for once 😉

-Jess

An Outfit for the Red Carpet

July 12, 2014 by Jessica 1 Comment

This is my beautiful sister in law Keren. She is a talented make up artist and was nominated for an award. The ceremony will be held soon and there will be a red carpet entrance for them to walk down. All eyes and cameras will be on her, so she asked if I would help create a one of a kind dress for her to wear. I decided to give it a go since I would be in Virginia last month and could do a good dress fitting on her. I was also excited by the challenge of creating something for someone with some different clothing tastes than my own. For instance, when beginning ideas were flowing she asked if we could make something that looked like a unicorn had licked it. It made me smile 🙂 So bright and happy colors were a definite for sure.

We went looking through sewing pattern books for inspiration, and she decided she wanted some kind of poofy tulle skirt. As we walked around we found this beautiful aqua ruffle fabric and she decided she liked it and wanted that mixed in somehow. We then coordinated some bright sparkly tulle and underlining to go with it and found a pretty lace to make a wrap with. She will more than likely wear a different top underneath the wrap with this outfit for the event, but she found some things in her closet to use for this photo session.

For the skirt, I dyed a wide elastic for the waistband to make it easy to sew and also to create as little bunching around the waist as possible. I created a circle skirt out of the lining fabric to also help not add extra bulk at the waist. The tulle was gathered and the ruffle fabric was pleated. She loves how it turned out and so do I! I have always wanted some kind of poofy skirt and now may have to make my own. The wrap was a great addition and she can change how it looks. We first wrapped it on her and I tacked it down in a lot of places so she could get it back on in place easily. Now she can play around with how she wants it to look, whether covering her shoulder or gathered up around her neck.

She got my little brother to come join us for the photos and I had so much fun photographing them. We had a lot of fun as you can tell in some of the pictures. These are just a few of my favorites from the ton we took. I can’t wait to see the pictures of them walking down the red carpet!

Much success to you Keren!!!! I am so happy you are a part of this family and add so many good things to our clan.

-Jess

12 Skirts of Christmas: The Peg Doll Skirt Tutorial

December 13, 2013 by Jessica 5 Comments

This little skirt has been an idea in my head for a while. I was browsing fabric at Hancock Fabrics and spotted this little peg doll print fabric (designer is Heather Ross). I was super excited that they were carrying some of her fabric and I just thought it was so fun and whimsical. I bought some with no project idea, but then it came to me. To make a little skirt with a house on it for peg dolls. I couldn’t find the clothespin looking like peg dolls like on the skirt, but I found some that work for my miss E. Then, I received an email from the so very talented Kelly of Sewing in No Man’s Land inviting me to join in a 12 Skirts of Christmas series. I knew this skirt would be the perfect thing to do for it!

It was so much fun to see my little girl discover the little dolls in the skirt. She was just excited about getting a new skirt at first. She has hit a stage where she likes to spin with a skirt on and say she’s a “barina” aka ballerina. It’s so cute. It will be interesting if she takes to it. Miss J had no interest in that kind of stuff at all.

You can use any fabric you want to make the skirt and for the house, you just need some type of non-fraying material. I used felt, but originally had wanted to use some type of leather. I just didn’t have time to go around looking until I found some I liked. I had tried wool felt, but the kind I had was just too thick for what I wanted. If you want to embroider some on the house, you will need thread and an embroidery needle for that. And of course, 1″ elastic for the waist. So get your sewing machine, scissors, ruler, pins, a safety pin, and iron ready to go too.

Here is how I came up with the measurements to use for a size 3. If you are making one for a gift, the Children’s Place sizing guide is great for measurements. Just use the waist measurement they give and the skirt length as your guide. They only offer the waist measurements for ages 3 and up, but for smaller sizes I would just go one inch down for each size down until at the size you need.

Size 3 from sizing chart:
Waist measurement= 21″
Skirt length (at the knee)= 9.5″

Cut two pieces for waistband:
No matter what size, the width should be 4″. This makes it big enough to create the casing for the elastic.
For the length, simply add 10″ to waist measurement and divide by 2. This will be the length needed. Ex: (21″ + 10″)/2= 15.5″.
So I cut two pieces of fabric measuring 4″ x 15.5″

Cut two pieces for main skirt piece:
For the width, just use the skirt length measurement giving on the chart.
For the length, you want it to be a few inches less than double the length of the waistband piece. I say less than a few inches, because many times when I do double it exactly I find it too thick when gathered up.
Ex: 15.5″ x 2 = 31″ and then 31″ – 5″ = 28″
So I cut two pieces of fabric measuring 28″ x 9.5″

Optional: Cut two pieces for bottom of skirt:
This would be the same length as the previous skirt piece, just not as wide.
I cut two pieces of 28″ x 3″

Cut one piece of 1″ elastic:
Waist measurement – 2″ = total needed
Ex: 21″ – 2″ = 19″ of one inch elastic

*Remember to pay attention to any pattern that is on the fabric. You want it facing the correct way.
*Use the measurements you create to determine the yardage you need to make a skirt.
*I use a 1/4″ seam allowance when sewing.

1. Take one bottom skirt piece and pin it to the bottom of a main skirt piece, right sides facing. Sew together. Repeat with other bottom and main skirt piece.
2. Finish the raw edges with a serger or a v-stitch/zig zag stitch. Push the seam up and sew right above seam on the main skirt fabric piece to hold in place.
3. Baste the top of each skirt piece across the top. Gather each side by pulling the bottom (bobbin) thread. Gather it until it is the same length as the waistband piece. Knot loose threads on each end and even out the gathers.
4. Place a waistband piece on top of gathered skirt, right sides facing, and pin in place.
5. Sew together and trim off extra fabric. Repeat for other side of skirt.
6. Place the now two skirt pieces together , right sides facing, matching up the seams. Pin and sew down each side. Finish raw edges with serger or v-stitch/zig zag stitch.
6b. (Not shown) With skirt still wrong side out, turn bottom up around 1/4″ and iron. Turn up about 1/4″ again and iron. Sew around to create the hem.

7. With skirt wrong side still facing out, fold down waistband 1/2″ and iron.
8. Then fold down waistband so that it goes past the top seam a little bit. The waistband needs to be able to fit the 1″ elastic in it, so don’t put the waistband fold too far down. Sew very close to the bottom edge of the waistband, leaving a 4″ opening when sewing for the elastic to go in.
9. Top stitch very close to the edge of the top of the waistband all the way around. This will help keep elastic from twisting and moving as much.
10. Place a safety pin on end of elastic. Push it in opening and pull all the way through.
11. Once through, sew two ends of elastic together. It’s best to overlap them no more than an inch and use a zig zag stitch.
12. Push elastic into casing and sew opening shut.

To help keep elastic in place even more, turn skirt right side out and sew elastic in place at one of the side seams. You can do both, but make sure to even out the elastic before sewing on the other side. You don’t want the skirt to look lopsided.

Use wooden dolls of your choice to create sizing for a house. I just made sure it was wide enough for them to fit and tall enough so it could have windows. I sewed the roof on the skirt first. Then I top stitched across the top of the house piece and around the windows for extra stability. I also added a some embroidery. And lastly sewed the house part so it went overlapped the roof a little bit.

Paint dolls if you like. We kept it simple. One was painted after miss E and one after miss J.

Thank you so much Kelly for hosting this fun series! Don’t forget to follow along and see what all the other creative bloggers share. There are many great sewers on the list 😉 Happy sewing everyone!
-Jess

Maxi Skirt with Triangle Skirt Insert Tutorial

July 15, 2013 by Jessica 8 Comments

maxi skirt with triangle insert tutorial

I’m so excited to finally get some time to post this 🙂 If you remember, this is the type of skirt I made for this outfit for Project Run and Play (the skirt two pics down).

Project Run and Play All Stars: Summer Lovin'

I had many requests for it, so I figured I should share a diy for it, especially since it’s pretty simple and so cute!

My daughter totally rocks these skirts and is in love with them. She’s in a stage where she pretty much just wants to wear dresses and skirts. Completely opposite of how I was at this stage! So, expect to see some more skirt/dress stuff on this blog in the near future ;).

To make this you will need knit fabric. Amount will just depend on the size. I probably would have gotten a yard and half for this skirt (she wears a girls size 7). The thicker knit is easier to sew and usually not see through, so I suggest that. (PS there is a fabulous store online that carries nothing but amazing knits! check them out here. I just had to share because it’s that amazing). Anyways…my fabric came from a yard sale find that I had been hoarding for a bit though. I’m glad to put it to use! An adult skirt would probably need about 3 yards, maybe you could get away with 2, 2.5. If making an adult skirt, you could always find a skirt pattern (like this one) and just add the triangle insert if making your own pattern seems a little daunting.

A. Cut 2 pieces of fabric for waistband, with stretch going across the width (pic 1).
      To determine size of waistband, measure waist and divide by 2 for fabric width.
      For the length, you want it to be tall enough so it can be folded twice to create a fold over band.
      Make sure to include a seam allowance in this length as well. I added 1″, making it .5″ on each
      edge that would be sewn onto the skirt.
      Pics 2. &3. Are to show you an example of it folded over twice.

B. Cut out 2 skirt pieces, with stretch going across the width. (pics 4-6)
     -The top width should be the same as the waistband. Then angle out in an “A” shape until the
       desired length is reached. I used a pair of my daughter’s pants for the length measurement
       since she wasn’t around when I made it.
      -Open each piece up and cut straight up as far as you want. I don’t cut any higher than the crotch
        area.
C. Cut out 2 triangles for insert. (pic 7)
     -I just open the skirt slit up as wide as I want and cut out a piece that is the size of the triangle it
      creates. It doesn’t matter which way the stretch is going for this piece. You can see in the grey
      striped skirt I had to sew a few pieces together to get a piece big enough to create the triangle.

D. For both sides: Pin the triangles in slit cut in skirt. The right sides of both fabrics will be touching.
     Sew in place. I have the tip of the triangle piece go further up so I sew more of a curve at the top
     than a distinct point. I find it easier to sew that way and it looks good. (pic 8).
E. Place both waistband pieces together, right sides facing. Pin and sew together down the sides (the
     length). (pic 9)
F. Place skirt pieces pieces together, right sides facing. Pin and sew down each side. (pic 10)
G. Turn skirt right side out and fold waistband in half. Pin open edge of waistband to to top of the
   skirt making sure to match up the side seams (pic 11). Sew waistband on.
H. Bottom will not be even, so lay flat and cut across the bottom once again to desired length. Finish
     the bottoms raw edge if you like. I serged it, but you can simple to a zigzag stitch or sew two lines
     around the bottom. (pics 12&13).

Then when wearing the skirt, fold the waistband over one more time to help hold in place.

PS: We found this cool shirt in the boys section at Old Navy. The cut was very much boyish, so we cut it up. You just cut the neck off and cut a small v in front and a long v in back. Then cut sleeves off. I had to cut them a little further down after adding the ties in the back because it made the arm holes too tight. I tied on a scrap piece of leather to the back to pull it in. I love the texture it adds and it washes perfectly.

PSS: I love seeing your creations, so please feel free to leave a link if you share what you made using this tutorial or send me an email if you want 🙂
-Jess