Theme Days

End of the year means theme days for the ABC countdown.

Here's what we've thrown together:
B = Book Character Day
KL went back and forth between Luna Lovegood from Harry Potter and Rarity from MLP (she's an interesting mix, and I love it).
She settled on Rarity, which it great because I only had to make a skirt and a hair clip.
Here's the crafting:

We paired it with a white shirt and leggings, along with tall purple socks to try and imitate for tall purple boots. Then we used a little eye shadow to make the cutie mark on here cheek. She also kept her hair in a bun after washing it the night before so that her would be wavy.

Here's the comparison photo (apologies for the early morning quick shot before heading out the door poor lighting):

E = Eagle Day (AKA Spirit Day)
I love my little KL who is just a little extra. Along with wearing her school shirt, she also asked me to make her an eagle costume. (She probably comes by it naturally because I didn't even think twice about making it for her.) I followed the same pattern that I did for the parrot earlier this school year for jungle day.

 Here she is showing off her wing span <3.
And she smiled the whole time she wore it (at least that I saw), she spent the whole morning showing it off.


Edit to add a little cuteness, KO wanted to be Rarity too:

That's all for now,
Jo!

Niece's Gift

I told you all I was working on a skirt for my niece, so here it is, a mixture of a circle and circle square skirt- square over circle, with a rick rack trim because she's as girly as they come... when she wants to be. I think the rick rack on both layers brings them both together nicely and pulls out another color from the birds.

As you can see, I also made a few hair bows and a shirt to match.
I will say the colors in this photo don't quite do the pinks justice. You can see on the sleeve of the shirt how close the shirt and bird are; and you can see how the darker berry pink works with the birds on the skirt but for some reason all together it just doesn't look right in this picture.

When I make my family gifts I tend to buy something to match because I make it because I love it- and them, but I don't want it to be thought that I make it because I'm cheap (believe me, this skirt wasn't cheap). So I looked for a shirt to match this skirt, and I couldn't find ANYTHING!!! The cream base and autumn colors just aren't common for little girls. I did find one shirt that was a cute cream with a lace chest overlay, but it wasn't in her size (in any of the local stores, I checked). So as I was taking a piece of the fabric with me to every store to try and match, I finally found this plain pink at Hobby Lobby, but it was just that- plain!! So I used a little Heat N Bond to make it match!
(Here's a close up:)

And here's a close up of the bows:

A simple folded fabric flowers. She tends to prefer pig tails, so I thought I'd make one for each side.

That's all for now,
Jo!!

Denim Skirt

My best friend's daughter is getting ready to turn 1 and birthdays are always a great excuse to make something. Since she's a girl, I decided a cute little skirt, neutral in color to match easily.
So I headed to JoAnn's with the thought of maybe white with a small gold print- or something similar but I ended up finding a cute dark denim with little white hearts printed on it and immediately fell in love with the thought of a denim skirt with a little white lace trim and grabbed it.

Here's how it turned out:

I love it!! (Honest moment- it wasn't quite done in this picture- there is only one side of lace attached.)

It isn't a full circle like I've been making, but I knew I would want 2 panels to keep the hearts in the right direction. So it's only 3/4 of a circle. I used a cheat sheet for the math (that I found on Pinterest) and then made a template on a large sheet of paper.

Construction was easy- I attached the two panels, and secured the hems to the sides- giving a two line seam on the sides. Then I attached the elastic waist (using another cheat sheet for waist sizes). And finished it off by attaching the lace trim, I did it in two sections (front and back) to the seams matched the skirt seams.

And to go with it I made this clustered denim flower hair clip.

It took me a while to decide I liked it- and a trim. I started with a 3-inch circle of denim, layered with a 2.5-inch circle of lace, and finally a 2-inch denim circle. I hand stitched a few lines with them folded in half one direction and a few more folded in half the other direction- so there was a little X o the back to help keep them pinched. And then stitched on a few "pearl" beads.
Here's a picture of an individual "flower":

But when I put them together they were just too big for my liking- so I trimmed the top edges so they didn't stick up too much and a little on the sides so they weren't pushing on each other as much; and I think I'm okay with it now.

I'm so excited to give it to her- she always looks cute, so I know she'll be adorable in this skirt and bow.

That's all for now,
Jo!

Infant Circle Skirts

I have to be honest, I absolutely love making circle skirts. Partly because they are just absolutely adorable, and partly because they come together so quickly. Today I've got 2 new ones to show you, following the same basic process that I have with all the others.
I made these in preparation for baby KO, and I figure they'll be so easy to just slip over a little plain white/solid colored onesie for a super cute outfit.

Here they are together.

These are the fat quarters I picked up while shopping Hancock's sale a few weekends (probably closer to months now) ago. And the pink polka dot elastic was bought there also.
This was the project I had in mind for them, so I purposely picked out coordinating colors for the ruffled hem on the skirts.

Since the ruffled hem is the only difference- here's a quick talk through, because I have a hard time remembering to take pictures through the steps and really I'm not posting anything that you can't find a pattern/tutorial for somewhere else on-line, especially since that's where I usually get my ideas.
I knew that I wanted the hem to be about an inch, so I cut 3 pieces off the long end of the fat quarter (21-22 inches, depending on the brand and shrinkage) that were 2.5 inches wide. I sewed them together to make one very long piece. Then I ironed it in half, so it was only 1.25" tall. Then I ran basting stitches to gather it to size. Then I sewed the ruffle to the skirt, using a .25" hem so I had my 1" ruffle. I don't have a serger, so I did a zigzag stitch over the exposed edge to prevent fraying. And then I ironed the ruffle down and stitched above the ruffle to secure the edge of the ruffle to the skirt, keeping it in place.
If you ask me, the gather on the pink is better than the red, but on a cute infant no one will notice.

Here are shots of them individually:

I will say, that as much as I love making circle skirts, I have a love-hate relationship with visible elastic. I'm always terrified that the amount of tension I need to attach it properly will cause uneven stitches and ugly seams. Luckily with this project, my tread matched perfectly to the elastic and is better hidden, but there have been times when I use a contrasting thread for decoration and ended up wishing I didn't. Oh well, sometimes -okay, usually, it isn't perfect, but it's still a labor of love.

That's all for now,
Jo!

Niece's Skirt

Yesterday we celebrated my niece's birthday, this is the polka dot skirt I whipped up in the last weeks.
Let's start with the wrapping. I have a dislike for gift bags- I really have no idea why, part of me thinks it stems from filling a paper bag with more paper just seems wasteful, part of me think it's the feeling of obligation to use it again so it doesn't seem wasteful. I don't really know anything for sure, except the fact that I don't like them. So here's what I did:

(There was another package that I wrapped after this, but it was just a box, so nothing special.)

I have seen several different instructions on using your wrapping paper as a bag so that's what I went for. I actually used this method for Christmas gifts too, but was frustrated with the fact that they only instruct you on how to do the "bag" portion and not how to close it up, but I think it turned out great this time. (Here's a link to a tutorial on making a gift bag out of wrapping paper, with an idea of how to close.)
When it came to closing I really just folded the extra down, tucked in the sides and taped, then covered that seam with a bow.

Anyway, enough on that here's the cute niece in the skirt:

I bought the tank from Target, and you can see she's got the bow in her hair too.
I also found a cute set of 3D press on nails that came with a ring and had pretty close to the same color pallet, so I bought those for her (they were wrapped in matching paper, but it was just a box so nothing special). Here's the text I got this morning from my brother:

It's a little hard to tell, but the eyes are googly eyes, so that's the 3D part. There were also a few with jewels on them too.

I love that little girly!! And I'm glad she likes her new outfit.

That's all for now,
Jo!

Bow and Skirt

My niece is getting ready to turn 5 this month.
She is quite the girly girl, so I thought I'd make her a cute circle skirt (actually a circle instead of square this time) and a bow to match it.

Here's what I have so far.

I looked around at a few shops and liked this fabric the best (I chose a jersey knit so I wouldn't even have to hem it!!). This fabric is called Spring Dots and I got from Hobby Lobby; while I was there I looked at their sale section and the thick blue, purple, and green polka dotted ribbon was marked down so I went ahead and grabbed it, along with the teal glitter tulle for below the bow. I looked through my ribbon stash but was missing a pink that matched, so I headed to Walmart and found the thin pink and brown that topped it off. (The pink elastic is left over from the last skirt, luckily both the girls I'm using it for are pretty thin so there's plenty left.)
It looks like I need to fluff my pink and brown a little more (on the left side of the above picture) but I think I managed to incorporate most the colors pretty well and it turned out not too bad.

That's all for now,
Jo!

New Skirt, Again

Every time I finish with one skirt, another girl wants one.
The last one I did for KK was so "twirly" that KL wanted one too.

So, after some looking around I finally found a cute fabric (in the remnants mark down at Hobby Lobby- even better) and their tulle was on sale at the same time, so I decided why not tulle as the lower layer(s).

Here's the finished project:

 

Of course, she wore a dress today, so it looks a little silly, but she was so excited to try it on (not that you can tell from the photo.

One again, this is the same skirt I made for KK. It's just squares of fabric with a circle cut out for the waist, and thick elastic for the waist band. But for something so simple, it always turns out so cute!! And they love to just spin and spin and spin while wearing it.

Want proof? Here's a few more photos:

That's all for now,
Jo!

PS- I am making progress on other projects too, but I've had some sciatica acting up and nesting has been making me clean the whole house and toss a lot of garbage, which wears me out but I can't seem to stop. I've also made a few minor repairs that aren't worth blogging about. I promise I'm still crafting, just also busy with other things too.

New Skirt

This project has been done a while, it's just taken me some time to write it up, sorry.

Here's a new skirt I made for KK.

Look at that twirl!! Isn't it so fun!!

It's really a very simple skirt (and even easier if you use a jersey instead of cotton like I did).
The directions are here (sorry that it take you to page where you have to follow a link for the actual directions, but I wanted you to see the actual skirt instead of just the instructions).

I found the cute circle fabric at Goodwill for $.88- and it was 5 ft long!! That's almost two yards of fabric for less than a dollar!! Hello budget friendly!!

And the under layer of teal came from a mismatched set of pillowcases I was given from my aunt.

As you can see, I made my under level a little longer to show off more of the plain teal. (It's pretty much a perfect middle between the two teals on the circles.) Also, this was pre-hemming, so that's why it looks a little uneven- because it is.

After hemming, I attached the pieces together and then added a thick elastic waist band.

We decided on gold, it almost looks like natural turquoise, between the teals and brown circles with the gold glittery waist- I love it!! (And so does KK!!)

One last shot of the finished project:

That's all for now,
Jo!

Polka Dot Layered Skirt

I know most of the crafts have been mine recently but come summer there will be more kid involvement I promise. For now I have a cute skirt for you.

There's an even cuter girl there too, but you'll see her later.

I bought the gray and white polka dot fabric (and the pink too) on sale at Hobby Lobby as a remnant fabric. I used them together for one of the teacher's gifts and liked the combination. As I was working on the teacher's gift KL told me she wanted a skirt made with the polka dots.

(A month later) I measured her waist and down to her knee (even though she wanted it longer but I knew the layered plan she didn't). She's a tiny thing!! Seriously! Her waist is just 21" (she just turned 6 - 21" is usually a toddler's measurement not a kindergartner's).

Anyway, I looked for an online tutorial but didn't really find what I was looking for so I picked what I wanted from a few different and here's how it turned out.

I took my fabric (which was just shy of double her waist so 40" was my width measurement). I started with the 11" (from waist to knee) and added 1" for bottom hem and 1/2" for top hem. Then, since she wanted it long went ahead and rounded up to 14" (so the first layer is 14"x40"). The in-between layer is a netting with a striped ribbon hem, since I didn't have to fold up I took away the extra inch to hem but made it 2" longer, so it was 15" long (15"x40"). The third layer, the pink, was another 2 inches longer with the added hem so it was 18" wide (18"x40").

After making the pattern I cut the pieces.

I measured the ribbon to 40" but forgot that there's a little stretch in the netting so it  was easier just to leave it on the roll as I pinned it on.

I then attached it by sewing a double layer hem (sewn individually, I tried using my double needle but because of the stretch it just caused a mess), with a short stitch length, I used a 2 on my machine. (I apparently don't have a picture of just this but you will see it later in the layers.
Next I needed to stitch up the sides. Since I have never worked with a netting before I looked for tips online, and didn't find much, but I saw a tip for working with tulle to tape the edges together. Since I had painters tape (low tacky) nearby I thought I'd go for that.

All it did was gunk up my needle, so I wouldn't recommend this :( I tried pinning the edge together but the pins were more in the way than anything else. I decided it would probably be easiest to just take it slow and zigzag stitch up the side- that did work!! :) Yay!

Next I pinned the sides and of the other fabrics.

Then I stitched them up and ironed the seams. I used a pretty thin edge knowing KL would want as much fullness as possible. 

Next I layered them to attach at the top. (In case you're curious I didn't do the bottom hems until the end so I could make sure the layers laid how I wanted the to.) 

Here's how to layer them. Start with the bottom and put it inside the middle layer, facing the correct way (so right sides up, also if adding more layers just keep the in the right order). The top layer, however, goes on the inside, still right side up (so it will fold over the other layers, tucking the hem underneath. 

Here it is in a picture: 

Then I went ahead and lined them up and pinned them together and stitched them together. 

Next I ironed the hem, in several different directions until I was happy with the way the skirt folded over. 

I threw some pins in to makes sure the layers didn't shift and then top stitched as close to the top as possible. (At this point you should be working with the skirt with all layers in proper places. After sewing it, all you had to do was flip the top layer from the inside to the outside.) 

(I use tape, I've seen others use rubber bands, to lengthen the guidelines.) Like I said, as tight as possible, just to keep the layers from slipping. 

Next I went to working on the bottom hems. I started by measuring from the top of the skirt so my length would be pretty even. My net layer turned out to be 14.5" (right where I wanted it to be- score!!) so I decided on 12.5" for my top and 15.5 for the bottom, I know this was a change in plan but it just looked like too much at 16.5". 

Anyway, like I said, I measured 12.5" down from the top of the skirt and put pins in the skirt in about 8-10 places, and then folded at those marks and pinned (I wish I took a picture of this, I didn't, I'm sorry!! But here's a photo of how I measured). 

I ironed my first fold ( you can see it at the 12.5" mark above). Then I pinned the second fold by folding the the first section in half and ironing that edge down. 

Then I folded up the ironed lines and ran them through the sewing machine to complete the hems. (I made the pink a little higher since I had the extra fabric to play with). 

Next I made a casing and ran the elastic under the top hem. 

Finally to finish it off, I ran a zigzag stitch across the very top hem to help hold the elastic in place and keep it from rolling. (It could probably be a little wider but I still caught the elastic so it's good.) 

Here's the picture of KL wearing it. 

She seems to like it pretty well, and I think it turned out pretty cute too, 

That's all for now,
Jo!