Purple Jersey Twirl

See, I told you I would be back.

A few weeks after school started for DD, the note came home that...dun dun dun...School Picture Day was coming. Ack! A quick perusal of her closet showed me what I already knew--she had nothing just right. Soooo, of course a late night/early morning sewing spree followed, and voila, problem solved.

[But not, it must be said, without much eye-rolling from my husband ("Why do you always DO this to yourself?? You ARE crazy, you know that?" I know. I am a beyond batty sewing lady. It's okay.)]

Fabric: Lycra-blend jersey print. I think it has at least some synthetic in it, since it didn't want to iron very well, but it is very lightweight, drapey, and comfortable. I believe it is a boutique overrun from either Plum Pudding or Baby Lulu. I got it online quite a while back for myself, but it just seemed to fit for this project so I gave it up to DD. :)

Pattern: None, really. A few weeks ago I had DD go through the Mini Boden catalog and circle all the things she liked, for inspiration. One of the items she circled was this dress, so I used my go-to puffed sleeve t-shirt pattern (Ottobre 1/2007 #18) and figured the rest out. I didn't have any solid colored jersey with the right hand for it, so I went with this print from my stash. I think it worked out perfectly.

The inspiration dress had this little loop detail in the back, so I swallowed my fear and tried my hand at it. I discovered that basically...if you can do a t-shirt binding, you can do a loop in the back. It was really no harder than what I've already been doing. The only thing is that I can never remember how to do french thread loops to go over the button, so I just sewed the top of the loop closed with the button. It fits over her head just fine.

I did three ruffles about 1 1/4" wide each for the bodice. Ruffles like this are pretty easy in a knit fabric, just make sure you cut your strips so that the sides will not curl in. Jersey only curls on 2 sides, so just check which way it curls and cut your strips the other way! Tea Rose Home has some great jersey ruffle tutorials and projects if you'd like to try your hand at this.

I didn't want this skirt to be tooooo full, so I gathered each tier at about a 1:1.5 ratio with clear elastic. Each of the tiers has a finished width of 6". I know I've mentioned this before, but I buy tons of clear elastic by the the bunch over at Sewzannes (see link on the side) and use it like crazy in all my knit projects. Because I used it to gather each skirt tier, these ruffles s-t-r-e-t-c-h when DD pulls her skirt over her knees and does all those horrible things that kids do to their clothes. If you gather your knits without stretch, as you would a woven, you will be sorry because your seams will pop! Ack! Don't do that. :p~

One of these days I will have to do a clear elastic tutorial, but in the meantime you can always Google it and see what that comes up with (I know, I'm soooooo helpful!). Also on my list: how to gather a tiered skirt in the flat--I do all my tiered skirts this way and it is so quick and painless! Soon, soon, I will have to put that one together. I promise!

I'm stuck on a clip kick, eh? For this clip I fused some scraps of fabric to a woven interfacing, cut out shapes, then hot glued them to a clip. An easy, easy 10 minutes, and it really finishes off your project.

Okay, that's it for today, I need to actually go pick up DD from school. Coming up next I have more dresses! Tutorials! So check back, my readers, okay?

Back and Fabulous!

It has been a while, hasn't it? To paraphrase a Carrie Bradshaw line, I've been cheating on sewing...with my house!

Yes, yes, my new house is sucking up all of my time. Unpacking, setting stuff up, buying stuff, cleeaaaaaaning stuff, ugh. Even though I've had my sewing room set up for quite a while now, I'm having a really hard time getting in there and accomplishing anything. And--hello--I have a whole entire sewing ROOM now--surely I could use it on a regular basis?!

It seems now that we're not living like teenagers at my parents' house anymore, I have to learn how to be a homemaker all over again. And with A LOT more square footage than we previously had. It's like, what is my schedule? What do my kids need from me? How to I do take care of my home AND have some fun, too? It is honestly as if I've started a whole new job.

But. Now school has started for my daughter, I'm trying to get into a routine where I can regularly create again. Because without sewing I die. Die!! Sewing is breathing, and I must breathe! Okay, speaking of school, I did manage to get this pretty fabulous (see title) dress done for DD for her first day of Kindergarten.

Fabric: Glam Garden by Josephine Kimberling. You may remember that this fabric was in my first order from Hawthorne Threads, which I posted about here. It. Is. Beyond. Beautiful. Honestly, words cannot express how passionately I feel about it...suffice it to say this dress was not a chore AT ALL.

Pattern: Analise by Portobellopixie. This dress is just lovely even with a plain skirt, as I did for this one, but for something extra-special I sewed the full-on, patchwork version. At first glance it seems like no big deal, until you see how full it is. Then, holy crap! Hecka gathered mosaic patchwork! I was a little worried the skirt would take forever, but I sewed all 4 sections at the same time, assembly line style. Combined with my serge & top stitch method it really wasn't that bad. Would I do it again though...hmm, let me think about that!

Here she is in front of the door posing, getting ready to head out for her first day of school, ever! Seriously, she has not even been to one day of preschool, so this was a pretty big deal for me. Hence why the dress had to match the occasion!

The back is my favorite part of the Analise pattern. For one thing, I would sew two straps over back bodice any day. For a second thing, it's adorable. :)

And yes, the money shot. This thing is holy freaking full. Like, a 1.5x circle. Yaaaayyyy!

I just used regular serger thread with slightly smaller stitches for this rolled hem on my serger. I went through a whole woolly nylon phase, but lately I feel like regular thread is better. You can iron it when your ruffle gets wrinkly out of the dryer. Ask me how I know that woolly nylon thread melts like a mofo. :p~

The patchwork is rather complicated in order to make sure that the skirt gets larger around towards the hem. Kudos to the pattern designer for figuring it out so perfectly. I just followed the directions, and voila! Huge twirly skirt.

Oh, I do love these back ties!

Posing in the garden, appropriately. This backpack seem a little big, much? Yeah, well, apparently they make big kid backpacks and little tiny baby backpacks, but no medium size. I figure this will grow with her, and plus she loooooves it. (It was a birthday gift last year.)

The shoes are from Baby Gap, and she picked them out. I thought they looked like flimsy cheapies over the Sketchers Twinkle Toes I had been looking at, but these have held up wonderfully! They are the perfect school shoe, and go with a lot of the outfits in her closet. Not to mention they cost about a 1/4 of what we would have paid for the Sketchers.

DD is growing her bangs out, so I have been experimenting with hair clips. For this one I used Wonder Under to fuse two pieces of fabric together, then abstractly sewed around two of the print's flowers. Then I cut them out and glued them to a plain clip (from a beauty supply store) with a jewel on top. The jewel fell off one of her dress-up jewelry rings, so I appropriated it! This clip is super-sturdy, and I think it sets off the dress just right.

Okay, that is it for now! I promise I have some more things to show, as well as some pics of my sewing room! It is awesome and the perfect place to create. I have missed sewing and blogging so much, and I have so many projects I am working on to catch up. Stay tuned!

Process (How I Cut Out & Schtuff)

Um. Yeah. I am so consumed with my house right now that my sewing machine is like a foreign object. Actually, it's like cigarettes (were I to smoke)--just put the pack away, don't think about it. It's not there. I don't need to smoke (sew).

I read so many sewing blogs where people don't do any more sewing than I do. Yet they manage to post every single freakin' day. How do they do this?! I feel like I'm cheating on my smoking (sewing) diet by coming over here and posting. Like, I'm not smoking (sewing), but I'm reaaaallly fantasizing about it. *sniiiiiiiiifff* Cigarettes (fabric).

In lieu of presenting any sort of project, I thought I'd talk a lil' about my sewing process. Okay?

I learned to sew Ye Olde Fashioned Way. You know. Iron your pattern tissue. Lay the tissue on your fabric according to the recommended diagram. Tediously pin like heck. Cut out with shears. Rub your sore scissor hand and curse. Use huge-a$$ seam allowances, pin every seam, blah, blah, BLAH. Quit sewing because it's not worth it...

I don't sew this way anymore. Because I have small children, and my patience could fill a teaspoon. Really. That is the entire amount.

Starting with the cutting out process, I have streamlined. I took a few pictures when I was prepping the infamous Anna Maria Horner sundress, so I thought I'd walk through that one. Seeing as how I don't have any pics of anything else I've cut out, it was an easy choice (duh).

Firstly, I like to trace my patterns. WAIT: I know. This is not technically streamlining. Buuut, if I am using a boutique or magazine pattern, it's the only way to go. No way I'm cutting into a $16 pattern, areyakiddingme??! I get for realz artist's tracing paper from Dickblick.com, and I love it. I have used different sizes, but the 50yd x 24" roll is my fave.

Then I weight down the tracing paper and trace with a good ol' Sharpie.

For weights I like to use these 3" washers that my lovely husband picked up for me at Home Depot. A while back I hot-glued some dollar bin ribbon around each stack of 2, which makes them a lot less clink-y. I have also seen people do the same thing with huge nuts. (TWSS)

Next step, cut out each piece with paper-cutting scissors. DO NOT use your good Ginghers. Not that those Ginghers have done your thumbs any good favors in the past, but still. You might need them for something fabric-ish.

Yay, pretty stack of traced pattern pieces! (cigarettes and a lighter)

Now, I didn't trace every single piece. The skirt pieces on this dress were pretty large and rectangly, so I just folded those back to my size. No sense wasting time and paper when it's not absolutely necessary.

Then I lay my pattern pieces down on the fabric, weight them down, and cut with my trusty rotary cutter. I understand that some people do not use these yet for apparel sewing. To which I say, what are you thinking??!?! Get thee. A rotary cutter and cutting mat at Joanns. Now. Because you're not getting mine.

For the jersey skirt lining, I just laid my skirt pieces, on the fold, on top of my jersey, which is also on the fold. Then I just folded up a few inches at the hem and a bunch in the middle to make my jersey lining pieces quite a bit smaller around than the outer skirt. That way it's not so bulky.

Ah, completely used up fabric. This picture means my scrap pile will not be getting a huge random piece of fabric that I have no idea how to use.

Oh, and here's how I do my facings. I just lay my fashion fabric pieces, wrong side down, directly on top of my woven interfacing, which is sticky side up. I weight a little, then cut with my Ginghers. Hey, whaddya know, they do have a purpose.

This stack is all ready to go!


Since I usually cut and sew on different days, I like to put my projects in ziploc bags or any other clear plastic bags I might have. I try to reuse the bags as much as possible though, because just looking at them makes me feel super duper non-green guilt. Damn you, ziploc bags! You have infiltrated my subconscious with your usefulness! Grr.

Alrighty, so there ya go. Now I have to get back to painting my son's room. Until next time!

Michael Miller Knit Love

Folks, I am going through a difficult time here. Last week, this beautilicious stack of fabric arrived on my doorstep. *pant pant* It is a tastefully selected, meticulously planned assortment of the new knits from Patty Young and Michael Miller. Each cut has a highly specific place in its respective project. They are so soft. So bright and pretty. I love them, really, too much.

Except.

I'm moving.

And, like, this is a really AWESOME thing, because you probably don't want to hear the whole shebang, but we've been wanting our own House in Southern California (home of the formerly dead American Dream) for a very, very long time. We've gone through, well, some crappy stuff to get here. Nevertheless:

I need to sew! I'm going through withdrawal. I've spent the last few days packing--ugh!--many beloved items. Such as, my books and *gulp* MY FABRIC. I don't know how long it will be before I see these things again. It might be a whole month, ack!

Oh upheaval, how I dread thee!

I have not yet found the strength to pack up these particular knits. I'm hoping if I leave them long enough, I can just carefully strap them into the passenger seat of my CR-V and tote them over to my house by hand.

Who could shove Elvira in Toffee into an anonymous box, with an as yet unknown unpacking date?

I cannot bring myself to say goodbye to Mod Dots in Turquoise, oh no.

Neither Scandi Chirp in Multi. Sob. Can't do it.

And Carnival Bloom in Brown? Psha! Such a print would never languish very far out of my sight!

Oh yes, I have detailed *ahem* professionally sketched designs in mind for all these fabrics! Please.


I have "I-am-a-sucker-for-matching-fabric-and-pattern-marketing" patterns all ready. I'm good to go.

But that dang siren of responsibility calls. Grr.

So, I don't know when I will get to these. Hopefully it won't be too long. But no matter what, I must get some sewing in between all this packing ridiculousness. I really don't want to expire from creative interruptus. I do have a few projects up my sleeve that I am going to try to fit in. In the meantime I may have to write some more lustful sewing/fabric posts, blerg.

Crafts, I Cave to You

Er. Why am I posting a picture of a slightly gaudy, gold, doll bed?

Def not my typical sewing MO. See, I have this crazy dad. He's kind of old-ish. And crazy. (No really. No. REALLY.) But, he nicely decided to craft a couple doll beds for his grandchildren. This is a good thing. My DD got a nice pink doll bed for Christmas. My mom sewed some cute lil' plaid flannel bedding for it. I was real nice and, like, pink. Y'know, girl, schmirl schtuff.

Then, since my niece was visiting CA this month, he decided to finish up her bed and...paint it gold. This gold color. Um, not so popular with the general family opinion.

I, however, in my *cough* infinite fashion wisdom, was undeterred by this gold. I thought, "oh my gosh. I have the perfect fabric to go with this." Which, considering my embarrassing fabric stash, is not that surprising.

A few hours later, the bed was decked out. Something nice my dad made, combined with something fabulous that his daughter made. It gives me all sorts of weird feelings, but overall I am proud. I am glad that we could have something positive to put in the world. Yay this bed.

Fabric: Monkey's Business by Alexander Henry. Possibly one of my favorite fabrics in the world, ever. I constantly stare at it on my shelf and feel terrified to commit it to a project. As this coverlet and pillow took very little fabric, I instantly knew it was a perfect fit.

Pattern: My mom's homey plaid flannel bedding that she made for DD's pink doll bed. Seriously. I just measured it and copied her exactly, just with different fabric and ribbon. It's all smoke and mirrors--I'm only fronting all this creativity.

Love this shoe, ahhh! I pulled my niece into the stash room--coincidentally, also my bedroom--and let her pick out which panels she wanted. At first I think she was a little freaked out by the punky fairytale vibe, but then she excitedly pointed to this shoe. I was like, heck yeah, you are a woman after my own heart. Once I told her that the other panel(s) were Cinderella, she agreed to them as well, and we had a Theme.

Dunno what it is about toddler girls, but all the ones I know are obsessed with Cinderella. Sure, they like the other ones fine. But when push comes to shove, Cinderella always comes out on top. I guess I can't complain, because she was my fave when I was a little girl, too. Hmm.

As you can see, I put the Cinderella ball gown on the pillow and the cleaning Cinderella panel on the coverlet, for an all-Cinderella eye sweep. You also might notice that Cinderella's hair styles in these fabrics often obscure her face, causing only one eye to be visible. This may have been what threw off my niece.

Oh yeah, sewing. I used Wonder Under to fuse the panels to the coverlet, then satin stitched around them. The whole thing is actually doubled. I sandwiched the ruffles inside 2 rectangles--one appliqued, one plain--stitched around the edges, then turned and pressed.

The ruffles are gathered strips of the Princess and the Pea print from this line (those stripes are actually all stacked mattresses, which is ridiculously awesome). I serged each short end and the one long edge, pressed them up, and stitched close to the edge for the hems.

My mom had used narrow ribbon for the ties, which is totally her right, as this was her design, but I couldn't find any ribbon in my box that matched my fabric. I had this wide lavender satin stuff though, which after some contemplation seemed perfect.

Okay, now my genius family just needs to ship this to her, because, HELLO, a bed like this does not fit in a suitcase. D'oh!

That's all for now! I am off to camp with my hubby and kiddos and friends this weekend, so I probably won't get much sewing done. On Monday I should have some goooood Patty Young knits eye candy though, so stay tuned. Happy weekend, everyone!

Lollipop Hopscotch Skirts

Do these cousins not look like they are having the best time? Does it not appear that each might have had her own hugendous, personal ice cream cone not hours before? Is there any indication that 1 day hence, one of these smiling girls will have to fly home, several states away? Thereby leaving the other in heinous, bitter bereft-ness? Ah, the innocent joy of youth.

As you can see, DD has been having a blast with her cousin visiting. I decided to join in this celebration and make them some matching skirt outfits with some of Patty Young's gorgeous new Playdate fabric. Holy crap, I LOVE. This. Fabric. I think Patty's girls might have something in common with my DD, because she used their input when she designed this fabric, and it's genius. I mean, hello, hot pink, lollipops, and hearts?? Perf.

Fabric: Lollipop Dreams and Squiggly Stripe in pink by Patty Young. 100% cotton purple rib knit from Golden D'Or fabrics via the Walmart clearance table. Y'know, the hi-lo mix.

Pattern(s): Hopscotch skirt by Eva on Sewing Mamas. (Can you tell I'm obsessed with this pattern?? Seriously. Gitcherself over there, register for cripes sake, and download this tutorial. It's free and fabulous.) Ottobre 04/2004 #33 tank top.

I used the same single fold binding in-the-flat technique that I showed in my tutorial. It also works great for tank top bindings! As you can see, I went the extra mile and trimmed the inside edge of the binding this time. See. I can be bothered sometimes. Sniff.

This purple doesn't exactly match any of the purples in the Playdate fabric, so I used hot pink thread for all my top stitching and then added these rad pink heart buttons. Now they look like they go perfectly, but it's all trickery. *creepily drumming my fingers together*

Hmm. My hems are not perfect, but hemming rib knits can be pretty darn dicey. I could have done a lettuce hem with my serger, but I just wasn't up to setting up my machine for rolled hems yesterday.

These pockets don't come in the Ottobre pattern. I usually self-draft my pockets, since I like to add them here and there on this or that. And by self-draft, I mean I drew a U-shape on a piece of paper. It was super hard. I couldn't wait to breezily mention that I did it. *cough* I self-drafted this pocket. *casually blowing on my nails and wiping them on my sleeve*

Oh! But I must point out that yi canna' just throw a knit pocket--especially a rib knit pocket--on a knit top and stitch it down. Much swearing will ensue. I stabilize mine like crazy first, and it works like a charm. Just:

1. Cut 1/4" to 3/8" wide bias strips of woven interfacing.

2. Fuse a strip underneath the stitching line of the top hem.

3. Fuse another just inside the seam allowance of the side and rounded edges.

4. Run a line of long stitches or serging around the edges of the pocket, then hem the top edge.

5. Fold in the seam allowance of the side and rounded edges. Steam press like heck.

6. Put a nice big square of tear-away stabilizer underneath where you want your pocket. Pin your pocket down on top.

7. Stitch the pocket to your garment. I like to use my left edge top stitching foot.

Knit pocket success!!

Seriously. How beautiful is this fabric?! Luuuuurve it!

I put a different color ribbon in the back of each girls' skirt so I could distinguish which was which.

The full, twirly view. Can I pimp these Hopscotch skirts even more? Go make one now!

Oh yeah. When I made these outfits and laid them out, they looked pretty awesome. Got them on the girls and...well. The tops are a leetle long. I think the main problem is that, because the rib knit is 100% cotton with "eh" recovery, they stretched out quite a bit in the sewing process.

I'm crossing my fingers that they shrink up real good in the wash. If DD's is still this voluminous on her after a trip through the wash, then I'll whip out the cover stitch and re-hem. Hopefully that won't be necessary though.

At any rate, the girls love them, and that's what's important. Hopefully these outfits will give them a bit of comfort as they say goodbye!