Paper Bag Skirt and Maternity Skirt

Using a tutorial I found over at diymaternity.com
I made this paperbag skirt.  Or is paper bag skirt?  I don't know.

I kept waiting to post this until I got a better picture.

But since I'm not pregnant anymore that no longer is possible.

Well, I don't know.  

I haven't actually worn this since I was pregnant.

I did try it on briefly one Sunday morning when we were in a rush to get out the door to church and Kai met me at the door with an emphatic, "NOOOOO, Mama!"  

Then Delsin quickly ran around to see what she was so excited about and busted out laughing in agreement with her.

So, I haven't worn it since I was pregnant.

But I'm looking at this picture thinking...

...with my long sleeve black v-neck cotton tee and a pair of tights I might be able to pull this off.

Maybe I'll try it on with a few optional possibilities tomorrow.  

If I can get past the first option without crying, that is.

We'll see.

Originally when I made it, I had made it longer.  See?

 What a difference a hem length makes, huh?

I think it looks better shorter.

Wow, you can almost see how swollen my ankles got, in these pictures.

Tiered Bubble Dress Tutorial

I just love this dress.

I guess I like layers on dresses.  This makes the third dress I remember doing it on, and it's right up there with the other two as being one of my favorites. 

The other two were Kai's pageant dresses.

But enough about all that.  You want to know how to make one of these for your own, so here it goes.

First of all I knew I needed to know the basics of making a bubble skirt.

I looked at a couple of tutorials for this.

1. Alida's Bubble Dress Tutorial was featured on the Project Run and Play page as the dress to use for our inspiration when making this month's project. 

2.  I also referred to and ultimately got more information for this particular skirt from Simple Simon's Bubble Skirt Tutorial.

 I used this site to learn how to measure my fabric cuts.  The only difference between what I did and what they did is that in addition to cutting fabric for a bubble skirt.  I cut another layer 3 inches shorter than the first for the middle layer and a third layer 3 inches shorter than the second.  I cut it from both the outer fabric and the lining too.

I don't have a picture of my fabric cuts, because it didn't occur to me that I was going to do a tutorial until after I sewed the skirt together.  

I should also note that I did not follow the Simple Simon tutorial for the waist band.  So if you are making my dress, omit that part.

So, my recommendation would be to follow the Simple Simon Tutorial for the skirt x 3 because we are making 3 layers.  Then match the top of each layer up and sew around the top.  I finished each layer top with a zig zag stitch.  I don't use a serger.  I did so to keep unsightly strings from unraveling and hanging around.  Makes it all neat and pretty and more sturdy seams when to attach the skirt to the bodice or waist band.

The skirt inside out...

Next, I took a dress that Carolina already had in her closet (one my sister made for Kai, a few years ago) and traced around the bodice pieces, but I changed the back of this dress up from being one piece to making it two pieces.  Two things to remember when doing this...

1.  Go an extra 1/2 inch out from the piece you are using for a pattern to make room for your seam allowance.

2.  If you are changing the back of the dress, add an extra 1 to two inches to the middle of the back for buttons.  You need extra fabric folded under where the buttons and button holes are going to be.

I don't like cutting and adding on interfacing if I don't need to.  This is simple.  Just cut it extra wide on the side of the bodice piece that will be in the middle of the back and fold it under once or twice.

Now you are going to sew the back bodice pieces to the front bodice pieces at the shoulder.  Do this for your outer fabric and your lining fabric.

In the photo above the front of the dress is on the top of the photo and the back is on the bottom.

Next cut your sleeves.  Again, I used a sleeve on a dress in Carolina's closet to use as my pattern.

I wanted a puffier sleeve though, so I traced a little more than 1/2 inch from the sleeve I was using as a pattern.  Sleeves are so forgiving because you can just gather them where you are going to sew them to the shoulder.  And this is what I did to make it puffier.

Be sure to cut it on a fold, so there is no seam on the top of the sleeve, only the bottom.

This is what your cut should look like.

If you aren't familiar with how to gather.  You need to set your sewing machine (or you can do this by hand) on the longest stitch you can.  Unfold your sleeve fabric and where the curve starts, start sewing your straight stitch.  This is called a basting stitch.  Simply sew to the other curve.

Now, with right sides of your fabric together pin the center of the top of the sleeve to the shoulder seam.  Pin the ends of the sleeve to the sides of the bodice, and pull your strings of the basting stitch to make the sleeve gather till it fits within the arm of the bodice.  And pin it.

Stitch it together and remove the pins as you go.

It should look similar to this when you are done.  Nevermind the white strips of fabric around the bottom of the bodice pieces in the next couple of photos.  I had changed my mind about my design and took that off before finishing the dress.  Don't forget to finish your edges with a zig zag or overlock stitch as you go to keep your fabric from getting stringy when you wash.

Next,  you will sew down the sides of your sleeves and bodice.  Just match up the right sides and start at the sleeves to make sure they match up nicely and sew straight down till you get to the end of the side of your bodice.  Do this on both sides.

It's starting to take shape, huh?

Now to hem your sleeves.  I cut mine on the selvage, so I just folded it under once, but if you didn't do that you'll need to fold it under twice then stitch.

Now you are ready to sew your lining to the inside of your bodice.  Make sure you match the right sides together and pin around the neck and back of the bodice.  If you left an extra inch or two at the back of the bodice for strengthening the place where your buttons and button holes will go, then be sure to allot for that in your seam allowance back there.

Now you need to clip the edges of the corners and snip little nicks into the fabric (not past the stitch you just made) around the curve of the neck, so that it lays down nicely when you turn the bodice right side out.

Now, I don't always do this, but for some reason I decided I didn't want any raw edges of lining inside this dress, so I folded it under and top stitched around the sleeves.

I just wanted it to look polished inside and out.

Now it's time to make the middle of the dress.

Here is what I did.  First I took my 1/4" elastic and my little girl and stretched it around her waist till we reached an agreed comfort level.

Then I cut it where it needed to that length, plus 1/2 inch for seam allowance.

Next, I measured how wide I wanted the waistband to be, plus 1/2 inch on top and bottom for seam allowance.  

Then I stretched that piece of elastic out onto the waistband fabric until I got it was not quite all the way tight.  Just a little less than fully tightly stretched.  I marked it on the fabric and cut my fabric by that length and width I just figured.

And I cut 4 more pieces of elastic.

Finally I spaced them out equally the length of the waistband and zig zag stitched them into place.  Stretching them as I sewed.

Then I sewed the ends together to make a circle and pinned it to the bodice, stretching it as needed.

Stitched it into place.  Make sure to overlap the back of the bodice accordingly for the buttons and button holes and you may want to stitch it together there before you sew the waistband on.  That's what I did.

Then did the same for the skirt portion of the dress.

The lining of my bodice covers the top of the waistband, but not the waistband it's self.

Finally, I added the buttons and button holes last.  

I always put the buttons on first.  It's just easier to me to see how to space them apart that way.

Then I mark the tops of the buttons on the other side and sew my button holes on.

One more thing.  To make the rose I followed this tutorial.

And that's it!

I hope I covered everything well.

Please put any questions you may have in the comments below.

Thank you for visiting my blog page!

Make Your Own Custom Shoelaces Tutorial

A few days ago Kai told me she needed a new pair of shoelaces for one of her pairs of sneakers.  Tonight I happened upon a tutorial using old t-shirts.  We don't have any unwanted t-shirts around, but I have lots of fleece leftover from Christmas PJs, so I used those. (UPDATE: I finally made some with an old t-shirt.  Grandma used a shoe lace to tie up a bathing suit and long story short we needed new shoelaces.  So here is the picture of Enoch's new shoes with new shoelaces. After you cut the strip of t-shirt pull it tight so it curls up.  Then tape your ends tightly.)

The first thing I did was to cut 30" of fleece 1/2 inch in width.  I cut two of those.  

Then I wrapped a piece of scotch tape around the fleece close to each end.

Finally, I cut the left over fleece off the end, catching a little bit of the tape in the cut too, to finish the ends of each laces off.

Voila!  Custom shoelaces on a shoestring budget!
In addition to working with old t-shirts you could use ribbon too.

Tiered Bubble Dress

When I saw the Project Run and Play challenge this month was a bubble dress my mind immediately drifted to this red polka dot fabric I had used to make Lenore's Christmas outfit.  

I knew it would make a cute bubble skirt and be perfect for a Valentine's Day outfit too.

But I also knew a lot of people would be making skirts.  Whether or not they would be tiered I wasn't sure.  But I wanted to submit an outfit that would be different from the rest, so I decided to go ahead with Kai's bubble shirt. 

After reading that you could submit more than one entry I decided to see if I could find the time to make a tiered bubble dress by the deadline.  I had fun playing with the design.  Deciding how long to make each tier, whether or not to add sleeves, and what kind of sleeves I wanted it to have was a lot of fun.
  Between the Cub Scouts Space Derby, Kai selling 800 boxes of Girl Scout cookies, and the flu hitting our family for the second time, to say that I've been busy is quite the understatement.  But I burned the midnight oil and managed to get this pretty little dress finished in time.  

I made a tutorial for this dress.  You can find it here.  I did take pictures along the way.

I decided to shirr some white cotton for the waist, because the thought of gathering 6 layers of fabric for the skirt to sew to the bodice just didn't sit well with me. Instead of using elastic thread I used 1/4 inch elastic.  And we just love the flexibility it gave me with playing around with the bodice.  I was able to shorten and widen it a bit to give it a blousy feel.  Carolina loves the way it hugs her abdomen so comfortably. 

My husband recently removed some shirts from his closet, that he no longer wanted and thoughtfully cut the buttons off to save for my sewing supplies before making rags out of the shirts.  

I was glad too, because I wanted small white buttons for the back of the dress, and thanks to him I already had them.

When I was sewing I happened to toss the dress on top of another project I had on the sewing table that had this turquoise fabric and thought it looked so well together I decided to make a little flower to go on the dress.

Thank you for looking!

New shorts for Kai

A friend of mine recently gave me some clothes that had outgrown her daughter.  I believe they were headed to a donation bin when she decided to see if I wanted them.  I'm not one to pass up hand-me-downs often.  I always figure I can take them off to a donation center myself if I don't want them.  As you can see these jeans are not in great shape.  The knees were plum worn out.  However, Kai's best friend has a great little creek in the backyard and she could always use some shorts for playing in it, so I cut 'em off and added a couple ruffles just for fun.  I love it!  Despite how this picture may look, they actually are even.  I bet I could Oxyclean those stains right out anyway.  That stuff is great.  I like the spray.

Feeding The Freezer

I just spent every spare second of my day making and freezing biscuits.

I lost count at 70.

If I didn't run out of flour I'd probably still be going.

I'm gonna be real happy I did that when time is short and I can just reach into the freezer to grab some of my blue ribbon biscuits.

That's right.  When I was spending last summer not blogging one of the things I did was win a blue ribbon at the county fair for my biscuit recipe.  

Took me decades to perfect it.

I'm almost sorry I'm too stingy to share the recipe on here.

I've only shared it with one family member outside of my daughters.

Being a Southern mama I've always had a deep belief that a Southern mama should have a good family biscuit recipe to pass down through the generations.

At least that's one of the many eccentricities  I have.

I should take a picture sometime, but they seriously all get eaten before I can remember to get one.

That's a good day!

A Summer Outfit for Kai

Project Run and Play is doing a remix challenge each month.

This is my entry for January.

I wanted to make Kai a balloon shirt, but also wanted it to be sleeveless.

So I made a pillowcase style shirt.

Basically you make a pillowcase dress and shorten it to about hip length.  

Then hem making the hem wide enough to fit 1/4" elastic in.  You want to cut the elastic to the size of your person's waist, feed it through the hem with a safety pin in one end of the elastic.

Then sew the ends together and voila!

I put a little bow to match the one at the top of the shirt on one side so it looks like it's got the same ribbon on the bottom of the shirt, instead of elastic.

Then I took her favorite pair of pants that had worn out knees and cut them into shorts.

I hemmed them, and added some cute fabric flowers just like the ones I made for the girl's Christmas Dresses seen here. 

And I used embroidery thread to hand embroider the leaves and stems of each flower.

She loves her new outfit for summer!  

We are very much ready for warmer weather in this house!

Cool Patches For Boys

Like most boys his age, Delsin wears his pants out at the knee first.

I was able to take this opportunity to try out some cute patches I'd seen on Pinterest.

I did this last year, I think.  In fact, it was one year ago today!

He loved them all, but these two are his favorite.

Making them into a complete outfit was a hit.

The leather I put on these knees was taken from our buckskin couch Daniel had bought long before we started dating.  That thing was a mess when we decided to get rid of it, so I cut off all the good leather to use for future projects.  I've made a belt, these patches, and other things I can't think of right now.  I still have a good bit of it left too.  Think I'm going to make some baby cowgirl boots soon, with some of it.

Sorry the picture isn't better. 

Delsin was heartbroken when he outgrew these pants by the end of summer.  I knew for sure he loved them when he preferred to wear them instead of shorts in 90+ degree weather.

What a sweetie.

Christmas PJ's 2012

So I just realized that I never blogged about these PJ's from two years ago.

In fact, I never posted any sewing projects in 2013 at all!

I was teaching a sewing class for two years and posted a few things on our facebook page, but didn't have time to post on the blog page.

Now our old computer crashed, and I don't know when I'll be able to get back the pictures I took.

So, I may try to take some pictures over the next few days of things I haven't blogged about.

I know I'll never get it all though.

Here are some photos I have of Christmas PJs from 2012

Iremember thinking I was too busy to make anything but some pajama pants.

 Above are Deslin's PJ's.  

Below are Carolina's PJ's.

Nevermind the wrinkles on Kai's PJ pants.  I just grabbed them out of her drawer and threw them on the floor to take the pic.

Enoch outgrew his long ago, but I remember them being light blue, and I put a yellow cord coming off the side with snaps on it so we could attach a toy.  I remember him going through a phase at the time where he couldn't keep from dropping his toy and then having a meltdown.  

When I find a picture I'll post it.

Batman Costumes!

Long, long ago Delsin asked me to make him a super hero cape.

Like several years ago when I made this cape reversible cape for Tristen's birthday.

I made this tutorial for the super hero cape.

Bless his heart, I have carried that to-do list around for three years now with his super hero capes nearly at the top of it.

I was going to make him a Superman cape too, and still plan to, but I didn't have the fabric in the house (it was at our storage unit) before Christmas.  So I got to thinking, "Batman had more than just a cape.  He also had a mask."

Then I got to searching the internet for a mask tutorial and came across this awesome tutorial.  I found it at The Life Of A Compulsive Crafter. 

They were a total hit too.

On Christmas morning Delsin opened his first.  He was so excited he put it on right away and immediately jumped up, put one fist out and took off running through the house.

Enoch saw him come running back and started begging him to let him try it on.

I just told Enoch to let Delsin play with his new gift and for Enoch to open a gift.  

Eventually he got to his costume and the real fun began, for me.

I was so happy to see them love their gifts.  And it really didn't take a lot of time to make.

Check out the tutorials, you'll see how easy it is.