New patterns!!

I just got FIVE new patterns from Violette Field Threads and I can't wait to test them out!

I got these five patterns:

Emmaline- a cute maxi dress                                     Elise- adorable shirt

Vivienne- beautiful skirt                                            Audrey- cute peasant dress

Chloe- party dress

*Tip* If you plan to buy more than one buy them in a bundle from their etsy store instead of their website. It's a little cheaper this way. :)

These patterns include very descriptive instructions, use words even I know ;) and they have a ton of pictures to reference too! I would say they definitely look user friendly!

You can count on a new post featuring one of these projects soon!

*Note* All pictures in this post are the property of Violette Field Threads. Please do not use without getting permission and giving proper credit where it is due.

Thank you!

Spring Skirt Tutorial (Part 1)

Well, welcome back! It has taken much longer than I anticipated it would but I do finally have something for you! Raise your hand if, at some point, your life has been on an extremely crazy schedule..... Yep that's exactly what's going on over here haha. Though I promise you this skirt it's self doesn't take long at all, only the figuring out when to squeeze in time for it... Which I did from about eleven o' clock last night until about 12:15 and all I have left is to make / add pockets. If you're a more experienced sewer you could probably whip it out in half the time ;) I had to improvise a bit and that took some stopping and thinking and more stopping and thinking/revising original plans, not to mention I had no plans for this skirt- no tutorials - no sketches... etc. All completely out of my head at the last minute, which is pretty cool NOW that I think about it... Last night I found myself, asking myself, if I was nuts a few thousand times though.

Now to get started...

This is Baby Bella's skirt.

First of course you're going to need to pick out your fabric.... I knew I wanted to use a cute girly pattern and happened to have quite a bit of this sitting in one of the bunches of fabric my sister in law gave me a little while ago, perfect for the spring and I love the texture! **This tutorial is for about a 6-9 month skirt**

You will need-

Main fabric: cut at a slight angle (shown below)

24.5" long X 6.5" wide 

Top strip:

24.5" long X 2.5" wide (I had two 12.5" strips instead of one 24.5")

Bottom strip:

24.5" long X 4.5" wide(I had two 12.5" strips instead of one 24.5")

These measurements include 1/4 in. sewing allowance.

Elastic (1/2 inch) - I did not measure unfortunately, just kind of guessed... About 14.5 inches?

Iron - this is optional but does make it easier to keep things straight and lined up.

Getting started you will want to make sure you cut out all of your pieces so that they match up and you don't have to go back and do that later.

Take your "bottom strip" of fabric and fold it in half long ways....So that it is now 2 1/4" X 24.5". Iron it real quick for the best results - so you can keep it folded & straight. Now fold each of the edges of that (longways) toward the crease you just created. Kind of like this:

Once you have done that you can fold it back in half and start pinning it to the bottom of the "main fabric" and then sew.

**The seam you see in the picture is because my fabric was not long enough - I took two 12 1/2" long strips and sewed them together. If you need to do this also, I highly recommend doing it before you attach it to the skirt (like I have here) and line it up so that both seams will be on the sides of the skirt and not in the front and back.**

Once you have sewn the strip all the way across the bottom of the skirt its time to do the same for the top strip... When you are done with this your "skirt" should look like this (minus the pocket - that is a work in progress/idea at this point):

Take note, the sides are cut at an angle -
This is so the skirt flairs out slightly and doesn't fit too snugly around the legs.

Now you are ready to pull the elastic through the skirt. This is the fun part haha! Get a safety pin and attach it to the end of your elastic so you will have something to hold onto, then pull it through the "top strip"/ top white section. After this I sewed the ends of the elastic together *shown in the following image* - (you may have a better or easier way to do this - if you do PLEASE SHARE.... I am a total newbie to the sewing world haha.)

Again forgive my picture taking skills, :) this was taken before I trimmed the extra thread but you can see that I have sewn the elastic (ONLY) together.

Finally with the skirt inside out you will want to sew the edge of the skirt closed using a zig-zag stitch or a serger... I do not have a serger so I opted for a close zig-zag stitch. Now that I think about it I should have gotten a picture of that as well... Just make sure you do it really close to the edge - as close as possible without it going over the edge... If that makes sense? I will make sure to get a picture next time.

Now your skirt should look like this:

Now I just need to make and attach the pockets. I'm thinking something along the lines of the pocket shown above, I will post a mini tutorial on that too.

Until then, feel free to share if you have easier / better ways of accomplishing any of the steps in this tutorial, or if you have any questions at all - I would LOVE to read them!

XOXO

Once Upon A Time Ruffle Skirt

Originally I wasn't going to start this blog until January 1st, though I have the time now so why the heck not? Right? :) Over the last three days I have been working on this skirt for my 4 year old daughter. Just to set this straight - the skirt does not take three days to make, I ran into only a thousand issues with my sewing machine, fabric, RUFFLES, etc... ;) You know, the usual... And working only while my children sleep proves to be a bit of a challenge these days (neither one of them sleep very well *sigh* though that's a story for another day. Haha!)

So originally the skirt was supposed to look something like this one here on Lolli Photography's website - Where I found the tutorial... Though I had to adjust the size (my little girl is not in a size 7 quite yet), and then everything was thrown off from there. Please don't laugh too hard, remember I'm pretty new to all this sewing stuff haha.

I had trouble with the ruffles first because I cannot cut straight for my life and I do not have the tools to help me do so. (A Rotary cutter and Rotary mat would be helpful if you have one or in my case.... wing it!) So, not cutting straight equals your ruffles becoming a little smaller / shorter than planned and not looking how you want them to. *ahem*

Creating the ruffle wasn't working quite as I had planned either, it sounded simple enough but the fact that I had no patience left in me after putting the girls back to bed a million times PROBABLY aided me in my decision to quit after one. (thank goodness I had that pink *pre-ruffled ruffle lying around for the bottom ;) )

I know - Just one thing after another huh? Fear NOT! I was determined to finish A skirt for my little Miss, whether it turned out as planned or NOT... So here we have the skirt that some how came out of the above tutorial...

In it's *almost* finished state:

Once Upon A Time Ruffle Skirt

Once Upon A Time Ruffle Skirt Detail

I say *almost* finished because I have not yet added the elastic through the waist (I pinned it on her instead) and lucky for me she was awake and out of bed AGAIN so she got to model it for me before taking her little buns back to bed. :)

I love how it turned out even more than how it "would have" turned out had I stuck to the plan, plus I think the buttons are totally cute! I will get around to posting my own tutorial for this little *accident* in the near future, so... STAY TUNED!