Tulle Christmas Skirts

Hello my friends! Are you surprised to see me?! It's about time I know! I've been busy working on Christmas gifts...one in particular that is being done on the computer and long story short my computer is acting up and is lucky it hasn't gone through the window yet! :)

I finished my girls Christmas skirts a few weeks ago and we made it to see Santa last week so I thought I'd share the tutorial with you. I apologize for the horrible photos! I saw this tulle skirt and knew it would be so cute for Christmas! I'm all about the puffy skirts for little girls!

Here's what you'll need:
base fabric for skirt - I had mine on hand. It's satin silver
Tulle - I used about 4 yards for my 3 1/2 yr old skirt and 3 yards for 19 month old skirt
elastic for waist band
matching thread

1. Take measurements and double the waist and add 3" to the length. So for my oldest it was 20x11 so I cut my fabric to 40x14.
2. Cut tulle 6"x the width of the fabric cut in half. Lay tulle out (I had mine cut into 1 yard increments so it was easier to handle) cut along folded edge so you have 2 layers on top of each other. Then cut 6" wide strips.
3. Press and hem bottom edge of skirt.

 

     4. Fold tulle strip in half and in half again and bunch together about an inch from the top (will look like a sack) and pin to skirt. I let the bottom of the tulle hang over the edge a little bit (I just eyeballed it...I knew I would need three rows for the bigger skirt and two for the smaller so I just centered them. I also decided after I took the pictures that the tulle bunches needed to be closer together and made them overlap the bunch next to it about an inch.

Tulle bunch (don't mind the lunch spot on my sleeve) :)

     5. Using sewing machine sew bottom row of tulle bunches on. Repeat steps for the next 1 or 2 rows.

Sewing second row on

Sewing second row on

      6. Fold over and pin top to make pocket for elastic.

      7. Pin ends of skirt together.

     8. Sew side seams together first. Then hem waist seam. Make sure to leave an opening to thread the elastic through.

Don't mind the head shadow...I didn't notice until after the fact! Oops!

     9. Sew ends of elastic together and sew up the opening and and you're done! Hooray!

And here's a little something extra to make you smile! Enjoy!

Infant Carrier Canopy

You know how I said I was working on a few projects for my sister-in-laws baby shower that was last Saturday? Well I refinished a crib for her and will hopefully get a picture of it once they get it all set up. I also made her a infant carrier canopy. This is a really easy and cute project and you can get creative with it.

Here's what you will need:
2 yards of fabric (If you want different fabric on each side then you'll use a yard of two coordinating fabrics)
Sewing machine and matching thread
Hot glue
velcro for straps
embellishments for straps. I made flower rosettes with a jewel in the middle.

1. Lay fabric right sides facing together. Cut four 3 inch x 8 inch strips off an edge to use for the straps.
2. Round the corners of your fabric. I used a plate to trace the edges and then cut.
3. Straight stitch right sides together leaving about 4 inches to turn it right side out.
4. Straight stitch the 4 inch opening closed.
5. Iron all edges flat.
6. Choose a decorative stitch and go all the way around canopy. I used a zigzag stitch and with white thread.
7. Repeat steps 3-6 for the straps. (I left one edge open to turn it right side out.)
8. Fold canopy in half horizontally. Pin straps on the fold, in the middle and equally spaced apart.
9. Sew straps on using a straight stitch. I did a 2 inch square to make sure it was securely fastened.
10. Hot glue on velcro and embellishments

What do you think? I love the simplicity of it. Sometimes a little pop of color is all you need! Enjoy!

Women's Sweater to Little Girl Dress

Hello friends! Can you tell I've been in the sewing mood? Or maybe it's clothing mood. I've been trying to hit the sales and stock up for my growing 3 year old. You can see the skirts I've made her from old button up shirts here and here. Why pay money if you can re purpose something for just a little bit of your time. I've had this sweater sitting in my closet for years. It shrunk up and has always been to short for my liking and so it's rarely been worn. Well I finally moved it to my DI box (Utah's version of Goodwill) I pulled it back out and decided to try and make a dress for my daughter. Here's what I did.

Start out with an old sweater

Cut the arms off at the shoulder

Decide how long you want the sleeves to be and use the cuff part of the arm. Make sure to cut it at an angle so the arm piece flows nicely into the shoulder. I laid the arm on the sweater (photo above) and cut.

Put new arm piece right side out inside your sweater and line up edges, pin and sew around the arm to attach the new arm piece and down the side of the sweater to close up the old arm opening.

Since this sweater had the long "v" in the front I stitched that together on each edge leaving just enough space to have the dress fit over her head.

So what do you think? It was definitely a learning experience and this sweater was hard to work with and I had a lot of fraying and unravelling, but it has held up in the wash. I think it turned out super cute and looks even cuter on...my daughter was having a 3 year old moment wouldn't let me take a picture of her in it. The flower is one of their hair clips I made a few years ago and I just clipped it on. Hopefully I'll be able to get a picture of her in it and share it with you soon! Enjoy!

Women's Button Up to Little Girl's Skirt

Hello friends! I hope you're enjoying the long weekend! I just wanted to share the skirt I made for my guest post over at My Lil Pumpkin Patch. After making my daughters white skirts from my husbands old button up I was excited to raid my DI (Utah's version of Good Will) pile. I was even more excited when I found a couple of my old button ups. I hope you like it as much as I do.

What you need:
-sewing machine
-matching thread
-button up shirt
-elastic measured to the size you need

Cut straight across just below the armpits. I didn't realize I forgot to take a picture of the next step. Fold over the top 1/4 inch and press. Fold again about 1 1/4 inch to create a "pocket" to insert elastic for the waist. Next you will sew along each side of the button placket so the skirt cannot be unbuttoned. Insert elastic using a safety pin and secure in place. You can see this in the picture below.

For the tie in the front cut collar off shirt and fold edges in and sew a finishing edge on it.

Fold collar in half and pin the center on the middle of the waist band.

Attach and tie in single knot.

And that's it! Super simple right! Enjoy!

Little Girl's Skirts From Men's Button Down Shirt

I've had one of my husband's work shirts (don't worry he doesn't work for that company anymore) in my laundry room for over a year with the purpose of making a clothing item for my oldest daughter. I've seen dresses and skirts made from men's button down shirts and I finally pulled it out and gave it a try! I was able to make one for each of my girls. I'm loving how they turned out! Just think of the possibilities and different colors and designs! I'm thinking I need go through our closet in hunt of more button downs to re purpose! Here's what I did.

Sorry about the photographs. I'm having problems with my dslr and using a point and shoot indoors at night is not producing the best quality of images!

This was a men's medium button down and I made a skirt for my 3 year old and 15 month old

For Deni's skirt I used the bottom half of the shirt.

• Cut just below the pocket from one armpit to the other.

• This shirt didn't have a straight edge on the bottom so I cut it straight across and hemmed it.
• For the top of the skirt you will need to create a "pocket" to insert the elastic for the waist band. I used 1 inch elastic for Deni's and 1/2 inch for Capri's skirt.
• Fold top over 1/4 inch and press. Then fold down again to create pocket for elastic and press and pin.
• Sew top and bottom hems. Don't you love that the sides are already done for you?!

• Sew along each side of the button strip (I don't know what to call this) This will make it all one piece and can no longer be unbuttoned.
• Insert elastic using a large safety pin and threading it through the entire waist pocket you made earlier. Make sure to pin elastic in place before you start sewing it together. You wouldn't want to unpick the seam two times at 1:30am. Not that I'm speaking from experience or anything.
• I added a big bow to Deni's using one of the sleeves.
• Cut the entire length of the sleeve (I used a wider piece for Deni's and a thinner strip for Capri's)
• Sew strip right sides facing together and making a tube
• Turn tube right sides out.
• Cut ends at an angle. Fold edges in and press. Sew a finishing edge.
• I chose to hand stitch the big bow on Deni's skirt.

Toddler skirt

Baby girl's skirt

• For this skirt I had to improvise. The shirt had a logo on it so I had to cut it out and therefore had side seams to sew and the seams are in different spots not the side. There is one about and inch away from the button strip in the front and one in the back. I chose to have the button strip off to the side instead of down the center.
• I also had to add the ruffle on the bottom to make it longer. To do this I cut 2 long strips (same width and as long as I could) out of one of the arms. Sew them together and then sew making a tube.
• Pin ruffle tube to bottom of skirt and sew gathering along the way.

2 adorable skirts for free!

What do you think? I'm loving them and can't wait for my girls to wear them! Here's where I link. Enjoy!

Minnie Mouse Costume

Hi friends! Thanks for stopping by! If you haven't yet please follow me and leave a comment and let me know you were here. I appreciate all the support!

Now on to the good stuff! So are you excited for Halloween?! I know you probably haven't even been thinking about it but I've been wanting to share this project since I started this lil spot! It's almost August and that means just a couple months till Halloween! Hey if my summer is coming to an end (much to soon!) I need to have something to look forward to! Anyway, my cute little Deni loves loves loves Minnie Mouse! So last year when I asked her what she wanted to be for Halloween it was no surprise when her answer was Minnie Mouse. Now I'm not into character clothing. My girls can wear all the character and princess pj's they want, but we don't own one princess or Dora t-shirt. It's just not my style. So when it came time to look for a Minnie Mouse costume I just wasn't impressed. $40 for a cheesy not very well made and only includes the little dress costume....so not for me! So I set out on making my own. It turned out so stinking cute! Of course that is 100% my opinion. :) I did it very similar to the girls dresses I made a few weeks ago and you can see that tutorial here. We used this adorable costume for Halloween last year and her birthday party a couple months ago.

Here's what I used:
4 yards red tulle
white pom poms
white boa
polka dot ribbon
elastic
craft glue
white gloves
black beanie (you never know what kind of weather we'll have in Utah on Halloween)

Here are the differences from the tutorial on the Summer Dress.

1. The measurements ended up being perfect to leave the tulle folded in half for the length by 4 yards for the width.
2. Attach white pom poms with craft glue. Make sure the glue only goes through the first layer of tulle.
3. Hand sew feather boa on seam where you've inserted the elastic. I also glued the edges of the boa to keep it from unravelling and leaving feathers all over my house.
4. Hand sew feather boa to top of white gloves.
5. Bows for shoes. Tie tulle in a bow and hot glue ribbon bow on top of it. I used twisty ties (you know the things on bread...that's what we call them) to attached them to her black shoes.

The Minnie Ears my daughter is wearing came from Disneyland (we went just a couple weeks before Halloween)

Halloween 2010



We added the beanie in this picture...it was so cold! You can also see the shoes really good in this one.

Deni also wanted a Minnie Mouse birthday party this year so this costume got double duty! We had a big mousketear adventure and I made each child their own Mickey/Minnie ears. It was super easy! Get headbands from the dollar store (mine came in a 4 pack) cut ear shapes from thick black foam. I purchased one piece for $1 and it made 8 headband ears. Hot glue ears to headband. For the Minnie ears I hot glued a bow on. They were a huge hit at the party and the left over ears are favorites in the dress up box. I'll be sharing a few more projects from the Minnie birthday party later this week or next. Have a fabulous day! Enjoy!

Our little family all sporting Minnie and Mickey ears at Deni's 3rd birthday.



Little Girls Summer Dress

Hello! Hope everyone had a wonderful weekend! I just wanted to share my latest project. Let me just start by saying that I am not a seamstress. I took sewing in high school and loved it, but other than that I really have no idea what I'm doing and I just do it as I go and try to teach myself how to sew. Please please please share any advise that you have! I hope this makes sense. I'm a beginning sewer so if you have any questions please let me know. Here it goes! Enjoy!

1. Take measurements for the dress. For my daughter (3 yrs old) Chest: 20 in. Length (armpit to just below knee): 21 in - total length of dress
2. Green fabric measurements (base fabric of dress) 20 in x 42 in (chest measurement doubled so it gathers when you thread the elastic through)
3. Brown polka dot fabric (bottom hem of dress) measurements 8 in x 42 in
4. Fold brown fabric in half length wise and iron (I like to iron so it has a nice crease)

5. Fold green fabric 3 in over on top (it would now measure 17in x 42in). Pin and iron. This will be the top of the dress. Now would also be the time to attach the ribbon (4 pieces 20 in long) for the straps. I forgot to do this step and you don't want to do it the way I did. :)

6. Lay green fabric facing right side up. Lay brown fabric on top of the bottom of the green fabric (folded edge of brown fabric toward the top of the dress) and pin the edges together.

This is the full view. Green fabric is facing right side up. The top is folded under 3in and pinned (top of dress). The bottom has the folded brown fabric on top (fold facing toward the top) and edges pinned together.

7. Straight stitch the brown and green edges together (I went in about 1/4in)



Left side: inside of dress. Right side: out side of dress.



8. Now the brown folded edge will hang down being the bottom of the dress. Run another straight stitch over the seam you just did. This will keep it from moving around.

Sorry this picture is blurry! Left side: inside of dress. Right side: out side of dress.

9. Straight stitch the top folded portion of the green fabric. Then 1 1/2 in down from top of folded edge. Straight stitch entire length. Now you will have a pocket to insert the elastic.

10. Fold dress in half so raw green edges are together and pin. Straight stitch entire length (except for the little pocket you made for the elastic)

11. Insert elastic using a safety pin.





12. Sew the elastic edges together. Sew the pocket edges together so you can't see the elastic.

13. Attach buttons to front and you're done!