Ruffle Layer Skirt: Valentine's Day

I've been enjoying my week off from work, so I haven't been in the blog world as much, which is why this post is late. 
I still wanted to share the skirt I made for my girl for her preschool Valentine's Day party.

I used a tutorial from Dana from MADE. You can find it here. 

It was cold during the week so I paired the skirt with some red pants and a plain white long sleeve tee. I guess I could have added some embellishment or applique to the tee, but she needed the white tee for other outfits. :)

Hope you had a super loving Valentine's day!

Who's ready for some football?

I'm still not ready to let go of summer, but man I love football season. And I mean the professional football season, not so much college football. I've never really viewed college football as important as people who grew up in the great state of SC. They love their college football, which in this case means Clemson and USC. It's like no other colleges in this state exist except those two. It's fascinating. And they have all but shunned the NFL home team for the area: the Carolina Panthers. Apparently 20 years (!) ago when the NFL expanded the teams, SC got upset that the team would not actually be placed in SC. The stadium was going to be built in Charlotte, and they got unhappy, but the team does summer camp in SC. I guess that is just not good enough for SC folks. You hardly ever see anything Panther related in this state and it's sad. Charlotte is not that far away people.

Alright, enough about that.

Since I love football, the kids get excited about it sometimes as well. Especially the boy. So I made them some football attire.

I made the girl a box pleated cheer skirt. I found some instructions online about how to do a box pleat. It's not really that difficult and I do love how it turned out for her. I do need to work on my math a little. It's a little bit big in the waist, but that just means she will have some growing room, right?

I used some panther fabric (obvs) for the exterior pieces of the skirt. Then, I used three matching white and blue panels for the interior pieces. The waist band is just two inch black elastic. I even installed a white invisible zipper. I have never done an invisible zipper before, and it is not exactly invisible. Once I had her try it on, I'm not even sure I needed the zipper with the elastic, but it is there just in case.

She is extremely excited about football! Or pony's. Or snack. I didn't make the skirt super short, because she's four, and I think cheer skirts are already too short to begin with and I just wasn't going to do that for her. She looks ready to join any cheer squad.

We got the boy involved as well with his Panther helmet and a matching outfit. I hadn't made his Panther pants at this point. They are cute together...sometimes.

Now the boy is ready for football season with his Panther lounge pants. I made sure they were long enough for him to grow into since he grows up more than out in any given year.

I used Dana's KID shorts pattern to make the pants. I just extended the legs down enough to make them a good fit for the boy.

We are definitely ready for football season. Not so much Fall itself, but football is welcome.

Skirt Fest: #5--White Beach Skirt

Ha! I wrote this post before I knew we would be headed back to the beach this year. What fun!
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The final skirt, maybe, I have for skirt fest is here, unless I make more-- I actually have two simple skirts cut out, but I think I want to put some embroidery on them, so they may not make it in this session of skirts. We'll see. Umm, yeah, not gonna happen. :)

Want to see the other skirts I have made? Read them here: one, two, three, and four.

I had gotten a couple of pillowcases from a coworker who was cleaning stuff out of her house. They were white with a cute design on the edge.

With one of the pillowcases I made a pillowcase dress for the girl to wear to the beach back in 2012.

Aww, look how small she was, and just as adorable.

I put this photo on Pinterest and it has been by far the most repinned of my projects (405 repins). Those don't necessarily translate over to blog views, but according to my post counter it is up to 726 for the white beach pillowcase dress, the most of any of my posts.

With the second pillowcase, I decided to turn it into a skirt. I had seen some photos of girls in plain white skirts (link to the actual website where the photo came from, which is totally adorable by the way) on Pinterest and they just looked adorable in them. I had the perfect white fabric to make one for my girl.

A simple skirt from a white pillowcase. Very sweet and a little dainty. With the white tee added she looks like she is ready for another trip to the beach.

Perfect for playing outdoors or having a tea party in your room with some stuffies. Simply adorable and easy to make. I just cut the length I needed from the pillowcase and made a casing for the elastic waist, sewed it closed, done. Fast and easy.

And here she is wearing it at the beach!

I'm sure my girly girl will love the skirts I have made for her since they are fun, simple, colorful, twirly, and bouncy. 

I hope you enjoyed skirt fest. I love having a place to showcase the things I make. It provides the record keeping outlet for my creative side.

Other projects are in the works, and even though summer just arrived, I am looking ahead to fall projects. Many more things to come.

Skirt Fest: #4 Boutique skirt

Skirt fest continues!

I missed posting this last week because I was at the beach. An unplanned trip, but it was so needed and so much fun. Just me and the kids for this trip, with a friend, and some friends of said friend. We had a great time and I will hopefully do a post about it soon. I'm having some first world life issues at the moment as well: vehicle problems and my laptop fan is acting up. All will be well in due time, I guess.

Back to skirts--

Next up we have a crowd favorite. I love this fabric. I got it at JoAnn's on a trip to Savannah. I haven't seen it in the JoAnn's closest to me or the one near my in-laws house in NC. 

I call this the Boutique skirt:

All kinds of fun going on with this fabric. I thought this would be perfect for a skirt. So bright, so pretty.

The girl had seen some trim with pompoms on a pair of leggings I was fixing for a friend and decided she wanted that trim, too, of course.

I searched for some bright green pompom trim, but the green colors at JoAnn's weren't quite right. I found some pink that would work, but I wasn't sure if it would be too much pink. I also picked up some bright green giant rick rack just in case the pink was too much  pink. 

Obviously I went with the pink pompoms and the girl is very happy with that.

The bright blue and white striped shirt was in her closet. I am so glad I looked in her closet for a matching shirt. I will sometimes think about what will go with the fabric while I am shopping for it, but I came up empty with this one, but I couldn't resist buying it anyway. Then, I peaked in her closet to see what she had and found this gem. Perfection!

So bright and cherry! A super fun skirt.

I also had her try on a bright green shirt with the boutique skirt.

That is one bright green shirt! Glows in the daylight. It works with the skirt, but I think I like the blue/white striped shirt better.

Silly girl, she wanted to bring her rocker outside for the photo session because she was getting tired of standing for me.

The end of skirt fest is almost here. I have one more skirt to go!
Stay tuned.

Skirt Fest: #3 White and multi-color chevron skirt with applique Shirt

Next up in the skirt making/wearing business is this super adorable white with colorful chevron print skirt. I love the bright chevron fabric. I got it from the Creative Sewing Machine Center. So pretty! I've used this fabric in other projects as well, see here.

I made another simple skirt for this post. I used some white fabric as the main body of the skirt. Then, for a splash of fun color, added a band of the bright chevron. I finished it off with another band of white fabric for the hem.

I took one of her plain tees that matched and added a fun letter applique to it. Now she will know which shirt goes with this skirt, although we do have a bright green plain tee that would look just as cute and fun.

See sweetie, skirts can be just as fun as dresses!

How y'all doin'?

I love that picture. Hi, pretty girl!

More skirts to come.

Skirt Fest: #2 Layered skirt

I like to sew. 

That's not news.

I like sewing skirts. 

They are cute and fun and don't require much fabric.

My girl, however, is not much of a skirt fan. She likes dresses. I can't blame my girly girl for liking dresses. They are one piece, simple, light, and perfect for any occasion.

I thought I would make her some skirts anyway. Maybe, just maybe, if I made them fun she would like them and actually wear them. 

I posted about the bubble skirt (skirt fest #1) I made her here, which started off this skirt fest posts--that I just came up with right now. Look at me thinking on the spot.

This time I paired it with a gray and white striped shirt she had in her closet. The peach flower on the shirt doesn't quite go with the pink in the skirt, if only the flower had been pink!, but I think it works, even with the stain on the shirt that I will try my best to see if I can get it out.

So cute! I'll have to keep an eye out to see if I can find another gray and white striped shirt in a bigger size so she can wear the skirt for the next year, or two.

This skirt fest (#2) post features a layered simple skirt.

The tank came from Wal-mart, the ladybug fabric from JoAnn's and the red with white dots from Hancock fabrics. I wasn't sure if a simple plain tee would work with this skirt. I wanted something with a little more to it, but wasn't sure what exactly. Then, I saw this black white tank at the store and thought maybe that's what it needed. When I put the outfit on her, I wasn't so sure that is what the skirt needed. I'm just not sure if it works.

So I put her in a simple white tee. 

I love this look better than the tank! I thought maybe something this simple would be too simple and not make the skirt shine. Nope. The skirt shines better with the simple tee. So much fun!

I am hoping she will take to the skirts, they just look so adorable on her.

More to come later, stay tuned!

A Bubble Skirt with a French Feel

I've had this super cute fabric laying around my studio just waiting to be made into something. This is part of the free fabric bundle I got a while back. 

I loved it because it was girly, and sweet, and it reminded me of Madeline, the little french girl in stories by Ludwig Bemelmans. We've read some of them to the kids and the girl seems to enjoy them. Then, we picked up some episodes of the cartoon series from Target for $5. I'll have to get the movie that was made several years ago and let the kids watch it.

Anyway.

I decided to make the girl a bubble skirt. The fabric is quite thin and flowy which makes it perfect for this project.

Bubble skirts are fairly simple to make and I'm sure there are many tutorials online somewhere if you need instructions. 

My girl loves this skirt! Even though she is more of a dress fan, if the skirt is twirly and bouncy, it's a win in her book, and a win for me.

I think I will take one of her plain tees and add an Eiffel Tower applique to match the skirt. What do you think?

Oooh, oooh, ooh, maybe a beret as well...?

New spring skirts

I have been working on some sewing projects for the spring for the girl. It's very much still winter, but I wanted to get a head start so that when spring does make its appearance we will be ready! And because I have time right now and will be busy when the weather gets warmer.

I made the girl some skirts. She really likes dresses, but I am hoping she will take to skirts as well.

A pink market skirt and a color blocked simple skirt.

My girl loves pink. And purple. I wanted to make her a new market skirt. This is only the third one I have made for her. I love how this one turned out. The very first one I made her wasn't the greatest.

I added some cute yellow flower buttons for the skirt pocket.
Adorable, and perfect for twirling.

Color blocked simple skirt.
I had been wanting to use the colorful owl fabric for a skirt, but I didn't want it to be the whole skirt. I found some matching solids to go with it and used it for the waistband and bottom hem.

Sweet owls.

The green is a bit darker than I would have liked, but I didn't have anything else that would work. The darker green is a good match though.

A bright blue hem. I love this fabric! It's so bright and fun and matches the owls perfectly.

I am working on making her more skirts, not that she needs any more spring clothing based on what I found in a tote for her that I had been saving for this year. But I have cute fabric and projects I want to make for her, so what's a sewing girl to do?

I made Market skirts, some with pockets and some without. I think she will wear the green gingham one for St. Patrick's Day. Fun. I made the paisley one on the bottom for one of her classmates' birthday. I plan to make my girl one as well. It's so bright and fun and oh so cute (tutti frutti fabric from JoAnn's).

More projects are in the works as Easter is approaching!

Turkey Skirt

I wanted to make something for my kids for Thanksgiving. I found some adorable ideas on Pinterest, of course.

(Pretend there are cute photos of pins here. I do not feel that taking pins from my board is an adequate photo source, but I do try to provide links to the original source. Also, I do not take photos from a source and put them here. Permission should be required.)

Ribbon feathers, fabric colors...everything is so cute. It's hard to decide.

This post is sort of inspired by a friend of mine that I had recently made some stuff for. She was amazed at how I attached fabric to clothing.

There's no real miracle in the process. Find a photo, image, or coloring sheet online that has the look you are going for to use as a template, apply heat n' bond to some fabric, trace template on paper side of heat n' bond, cut out, iron on fabric. Fairly easy. But I thought I would provide a simple tutorial for those who may have never done something like this before.

Here we go.

I liked the idea of a turkey on some piece of clothing. I decided it should be a skirt. In my mind it is very cute and will look awesome.

So I got started.

First up...skirt fabric. And template.
I had some brown chevron fabric leftover from the fedora hat project and it was just the right amount left to make a skirt for the girl.

Next...gathering the fabrics I would need to create the turkey.

Now, here is a very important decision to make:
Solid, gingham, or chevron?

All are good options. I went with solid because the gingham and the chevron were a little hard on the eyes. They would definitely work better with a solid background.

Now that I had my fabric, my template, and my heat n' bond, everything was ready for assembly.

Turkey body and feather, and roll of heat n' bond. Template came from a google image search. Easy enough.

There are two sides to heat n' bond. One side is paper and the other is the gluey side. It's shinier on that side so you can tell the difference.

I ironed the fabric to the heat n' bond. I made sure it was bigger than the template piece so that I could cut it to the appropriate size. This is done by tracing around your template on the paper side of the heat n' bond and cutting out your piece.

Do the same thing for the feathers.

 Everything is ironed and ready to cool off. Then, cut out your pieces.

I preassembled the turkey and feathers to see how I liked it. Not bad.

Now, we are ready to peel off the paper side.

The glue is adhered to the fabric and it is shiny on that side. Make sure to put this side on the fabric, otherwise you will glue it to your iron and that is a pain...I am assuming.

I placed the feathers on the skirt piece (no iron yet) and noticed that some of the colors let the background bleed through. We can fix this a little.

A piece of white cloth added to the offending feathers should do the trick. I ironed the feathers to the white fabric. Then added more heat n' bond to the white fabric so I could then attach it to the skirt.

Hmmm...a cat paw. I had a little visitor in my studio while I was working on this project one day.

This is Amelia. She is one of three feral kittens that showed up in the yard one day. She was named after Amelia Earhart because she was the one most likely to disappear.

Turns out she was the one that stuck around. Over time her brothers disappeared. Not too long ago one of them came back. Poor thing looks like he had it rough though, but he still comes to the house for food. It also turns out that she is not the greatest helper, but she got a warm place to explore for a bit and she likes attention. Also, she kind of drools when she is happy.

 I was able to get things preassembled again, placed in the right spot, and then ironed down. The configuration changed a few times with the feathers.

Once it was attached I needed to stitch everything down so it wouldn't peel off later. The stitching adds an extra level of security to the creation.

I tried to use matching thread for the pieces of applique. I think contrasting threads would be nice as well, but I am not that great at sewing curvy lines and didn't want to chance messing it up, so I kept it simple.

All done. Looks nice. The pink is a little darker, but still cute.

 Next, the turkey needed a face. The skirt needed to be hemmed, and the casing made so the elastic could be threaded through.

Done, done, and done.

Now let's stop right here and talk about expectations, some more. You know how sometimes you have an idea in your head and it seems like a pretty good one? You can see how the end result will look and it's wonderful? But then when you finish the project it's not quite like it was in your head. Ever have that happen?

For me this is sort of one of those projects. Don't get me wrong the end result is ok, just not fantastic like it was in my head.

Overall it's a cute skirt. The idea I had in my head doesn't quite match what I was hoping for, however.

Mr. Turkey is a little too big for the skirt piece. And he could be a bit lower, closer to the hem line. And he's kind of stiff. The skirt doesn't gather like I had hoped with the applique added to it. Maybe with a couple of washes the heat n' bond will loosen up and I will like it better...? We'll see.

But all in all it works. He's pretty cute. I just need to hand sew his facial features to make sure they don't come off later. I am looking forward to when my girl wears it. Photo to come later.

*update: I had my girl try on the skirt to see how it would fit and it actually looks fairly good. My worries need not be so bothersome, it looks nice on her.  :-)