Groovy 'Shroom Dress and New House

So it's been a few weeks since I last updated... reason being, we moved!  Finally got off of on-post housing and into a rental house.  We decided to UHaul it, and... well... discovered that we aren't exactly the best movers.  Live and learn, right?

We did manage to finally get everything all set up (mostly), and I sat down and was able to sew for the first time today.  I decided to take it nice and slow and just finish a project that I had started at the "old" house.  I had the pieces all cut, just had to sew it together.

Groovy 'Shroom Dress

As I said, nice and easy.  The fabric came from Joann's, and the tutorial can be found here:  Prudent Baby Long-Sleeve Dress Tutorial

It was super-easy... the perfect thing to make if you're limited to "nap time crafty hour".  :)

As for the new house, the kids are having a blast.  They practically live in the backyard.

Weenie likes it too. 

One other perk is that I finally have enough room to have a craft room.  YIPPEE!  I've been waiting for awhile now, and can't wait to finally have some room to spread out and really have the room to work.  It's going to be a big improvement over my scary "craft closet".  Will keep you posted, but I see a trip to IKEA in the future.

In the meantime, I used the moving boxes to finally get my fabric semi-organized.  It's still a work in progress.

Chiffon Skirt Tutorial

Okay, so this skirt can be worn on its own or paired up with the corset dress for extra "oomph".  Either way, it's super cute and not too hard to do. 

I tried to minimize the seams and raw edges as much as possible since this was my first time working with this material and it was super shifty.

If this is your first time working with chiffon, think of it as a crazy criminal.  If it can get away... it will.  :)

Supplies
1 3/4 yd of nylon chiffon... I cut mine down to 56" x 56" (the bolt was 60" wide), so make sure that your bolt is wide enough, or you may need to make adjustments to the steps.
3/4" elastic
Long scrap of material for waistband.  At least 4" wide and long enough to go around your child with room to spare
Bow embellishment and hand-sewing needle (optional)
Measuring tape
Acrylic ruler
Rotary cutter
Matching thread for chiffon and waistband.
Safety pin

Step 1- Measure around your child's waist and write down the measurement.

Step 2- Cut your chiffon.  For a 2T skirt with a little bit of gather but not too crazy, I cut a 56" x 56" square.  It's going to look huge, but we're going to be folding and gathering later, so no worries.  Make sure you don't have any selvedges on there.  If so, just trim them off, taking care to keep it as straight as possible.

Measure and cut.  Trim off selvedge.

Step 3- With right sides together, pin two opposite edges and sew a seam 1/2" away from the edge.  Backstitch a few stitches at the start and finish of the seam.

Pin and sew seam 1/2" from edge

Step 4- Now you should have a chiffon "tube" with the seam on the outside. 

4a.) Grab the seam at the bottom and fold the tube up so it is now doubled on itself with the wrong sides together, right sides out.

4a- Lining up the seams, wrong sides together

4b.) Fold one more time, folding the tube in half along the seamline.  Be careful to make sure that all the layers are folding evenly.  This step may include a few mumbles and grumbles.  It took me about 3 tries to get everything folded evenly and without slippage.  Chiffon is a tricky little sucker.  Be patient.

4b- Folded up twice.  Raw edges on left, right side folded

Step 5- Pin like crazy.  Pin all around the front, and all around the back.  I wanted to minimize shifting, so once the front was pinned, I just flipped it back and pinned the back from the inside.  Once it is pinned and you are sure the layers haven't shifted too much, trim the top to make it even.  Just trim a little, if you're trimming off inches and inches, you're going to end up with a Britney Spear's length skirt.  Not cool.

Pinned and Trimmed

Once pinned, stitch around the top, slightly less than 1/2" from the raw edges, all around the tube.  Then, baste directly below the stitchline for gathering.  (No need to gather yet, but when you do, just pull the bottom thread on your basting stitch.)

Step 6-  Cut your waistband.  Make the strip 4" wide and a few inches wider than your child's waist measurement.  My daughter's waist measured 18" and I cut the strip 22" long.  Gives it a little wiggle room for slipping it on.

With right sides of your waistband together, sew down the short end (backstitch at beginning and end) 1/2" from the raw edge.  Press seam open.

Align short ends and sew 1/2" from edge.

Step 7- 
a.) Gather your chiffon skirt so the top will fit your waistband. 

Gathering

b) Pin like you mean it.  Pin right sides together.  Match up side seams.

c.)Then, sew from the chiffon side (easier to manipulate fabric), making sure that your stitching falls below your previous stitches so they'll be covered later.

Step 8- Fold unattached edge of waistband back 1/2" to the wrong side and press.  Push waistband back down and CAREFULLY trim off excess bulk from where you attached the waistband in Step 7c.  Remember, don't cut too much or too close to the seam.  You're just removing extra "fluff" from the waistband so it's not bulky or poofy later.  I wouldn't cut past the original stitch line you made in Step 5.

Step 9- Now, fold waistband over to the back, making sure that the lip you ironed in Step 8 is folded up underneath so no raw edges show.  Also, make sure that the waistband is far enough down to cover your previous stitchline.  Pin in place.

Looking at the photo above, my skirt is inside-out.  I pin it that way so that I can make sure the stitching is covered on the inside when it is flipped.  Just easier for me.
Step 10- Flip right-side out and topstitch all the way around (close to the edge) until you get about 1 1/2" from where you started stitching.  Make sure to backstitch at the beginning and end, leaving a 1.5" gap to insert your elastic.  The gap should be on the inside part of your skirt. 

Step 11- Cut a piece of elastic that is the same size as your child's waist measurement.  (When cutting the elastic, do not stretch it.  Just lay it flat.)  Thread it all the way through the waistband through the gap you left. 

Then, overlap the elastic and stitch back and forth a few times to secure it. 

To finish, make sure that elastic is completely inside the waistband and stitch the opening closed.  Hand-sew on bow embellishment and enjoy!

 



Purple-icious Tutu

So I went a bit overboard the other day and purchased WAY too much tulle.  I've noticed that I have a bad habit of diving headfirst into things when I get excited about them.

Those are 6" spools of 25 yards of tulle each.  Add it up and it comes to 825 yards of tulle.  Eek!  Time to start making some tutus!

I made my first one yesterday using elastic and was pretty happy with the way that it came out:

That's my daughter, Scarlett... having fun in her new play tutu.

Anyway, I liked the elastic, but it stretched as I worked with it and I ended up having to cut a few more inches off and resewing the band to make it fit the way it should.  I wanted to see if I could make one with a ribbon so that the size wouldn't drastically increase as I was working with it.

Supplies Needed-

Ribbon (I think I used Satin for this one.  The polyester one from Wal-Mart was scratchy and I wanted smooth and soft)
Tulle
Rotary cutter or other cutting device
Ruler
Cutting mat (Not a "must", but definitely helpful.)
Something to support your tutu during the crafting.  I used our pickle jar for both tutus and I LOVE my pickle jar.  Just be sure little curious fingers can't pull it off of your work surface or you'll be one sad panda.

Step One- Cut your ribbon to the size you need.  To do this, first measure your child's waist and add what you think the length of the bow should be.  In my case, I had a child waist measurement of 17" with 24" on one side and 24" on another so I'd have a pretty bow with long floaty streamers coming down.  I also added 2" for the space that the knots would take up.  So 17" (waist measurement)+24" (one side of bow plus length for "streamer ribbon")+24" (other side of bow)+2" (allowance for knots)= 67" long ribbon

Step Two- Tie knots in your ribbon, leaving the child's waist measurement empty in the middle.  I measured 24" in and tied a knot there.  Then, measured 24" in on the other side and tied another knot... leaving a gap of 17" (child's waist measurement) in the middle.

Step Three- Cut your strips of tulle.  I usually lay the strips on top of each other while I'm cutting to make it quicker and easier.  Think about how far you want your tutu to fluff out, then multiply that by two and add an inch for the knot you'll need to secure it in place.  I was making this for a younger child and I wanted it to fluff out 7.5" (it's not an exact science, I just eyeballed my cutting board and thought, "That length looks good"), so I cut the strips 16" long.  (7.5" out from the body x 2 +1" for knot)  I guesstimate on cutting and just cut until I'm bored with it.

Step 4-  Tie your ribbon around your holder (pickle jar) loosely but so that it's not going to slide down to the bottom.  Then put two pieces of tulle together, bend in half to form a "U" and slide behind ribbon.  Pull tulle through the "U" to knot onto ribbon.

Continue Step 4 around the ribbon (alternating colors if you are using more than one) to the knot on the other side.

Prettiest pickle jar in all the land!

Step 5- You can stop at step 4, but depending on the type of ribbon you use, it may fray.  To stop this, I used my heat sealer, dragged up from the bowels of my craft closet...

If you don't have one, never fear.  Many fabric stores sell fray stopping products or you an also use clear nail polish.  Some people use indirect heat to seal the ends of their ribbon, but please don't set yourself on fire!  Nail polish doesn't burn down houses, at least not that I've ever heard of...

Trim the very edges of your ribbon nice and smooth.  Tutu complete.  When you remove the tutu from whatever you put it on and retie it onto your child, the tulle gap closes and you're left with a nice, full tutu.  Now you, too, can enjoy a beautiful pickle jar, or make a little girl very happy.  :)