Category: sewing

ombré chiffon dance skirt

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oh man, you guys. i just got back into town after being at a work conference for 3 days, the first time i’ve ever been away overnight by myself since having kids. it was so hard. coming home to my trooper of a husband and my two little sweeties just made my heart swell. i want to sneak back up to Em’s room and snuggle her in her sleep, creepozoid-style…or pluck O out of bed and rock him like when he was a newborn. i missed them SO much and being home feels so good. luckily, work travel will be pretty rare.

before i left, i finished up this new ballet skirt for Em to wear to class, because we’d lost her petal skirt somewhere in the house and she won’t go to ballet without one. i actually tried to make it with fold over elastic first which looked cute, but in just one wear a bunch of the fabric detached from the FOE. so i redid the waistband with some satin blanket binding, threading 1/2″ elastic through the casing.

the fabric itself is a pink ombré chiffon that Em picked out at mill end. mill end is actually where my mom used to shop for fabric when she sewed for us as kids, and i remember going there with her when i was in grade school. i hadn’t shopped there since i started sewing, though – i figured out the last time i was there was 1992! the feel and smell was really familiar, so it was pretty cool going there again and continuing the tradition. their apparel fabric selection is HUGE!

the chiffon is beautiful and twirls wonderfully, but is definitely more delicate than the georgette. it has already snagged a bit. oh well…these skirts are so easy to make! the key element to working with this type of fancy fabric is a fine needle (i use a size 10). cut the curves from the ends of a long rectangle, hem it with a baby hem (i learned how here), gather the top, overlap the curved edges, and add the waistband (like this type of thing). insert elastic and you’re done!

of course as soon as i finished the new one we found the old one behind the couch. here are her three ballet skirts, all in a row in order of completion:

and one more i have to share of my little mama…

frankie the tap dancing elephant. 🙂

an autumn walk, a kestrel coat, and a giveaway!

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thank you so much for the birthday wishes! it was a really nice birthday…a quiet but sweet day with my little fam that culminated in dinner at my new favorite restaurant (portlanders, you must try the pizza at nostrana!) and drinks at a great pub with great friends. my birthday gifts were mostly sewing-related, which was fine by me!

i was also able to finish up a project i’m really excited about. it’s the kestrel coat, by clever charlotte. have you heard of clever charlotte? they’re a relatively new independent kids’ pattern company, and recently released their second line of patterns for fall/winter. i first heard about them when katy of no big dill reviewed a couple of their spring/summer patterns back in june, and thought they were very interesting and beautiful and different from anything else that i’d seen.

a little while back, i was contacted by erin, co-creator of the company, to see if i’d be interested in trying out a pattern from their new fall/winter line. after getting over my initial surprise (who? ME?! they want ME?) i checked out the patterns and quickly agreed!

erin gave me my choice of pattern, but gently suggested that i try the kestrel coat. at the time i wasn’t so sure…while i thought the coat looked beautiful, i’d never made a coat before and was a little nervous. i practiced on the sunday brunch jacket (because i know i can always trust oliver + s to learn techniques), then felt ready to tackle the kestrel.

honestly, i shouldn’t have worried! the pattern was really well-written, with the perfect ratio of diagrams and clear written instruction. i made the 3T, using a lovely bone colored velveteen from fabric depot, lined with anna maria horner little folks voile that i’d been hoarding. it is a bit large on her, and i know it’ll fit next year too. Em was happy about the “reindeer fabric” and buttons, which are the perfect mix of her favorite colors (pink and purple, duh). it kept her warm during a long, chilly afternoon walk together.

i really like the details in the pattern. i knew it was going to be a special-looking coat when i was done. i did make one modification, on the sleeves. the pattern calls for separate upper and lower sleeves, with the lower sleeve puffed a bit. i wanted to let the scarf collar and full gathered back details of the coat shine, so i opted to modify the sleeves to just one piece. i handstitched the lining in, for a clean finish on the cuff if rolled up, and i left a little extra length inside there to let out next year. here’s a quick “how i did it” on the one-piece sleeve:

line up the dotted basting line of piece 6 (lower sleeve) with the cut line of the bottom of piece 5 (upper sleeve).

put a piece of tracing paper on top. using a ruler, connect the outer edges of the upper sleeve with the lower edges of the bottom sleeve. trace the rest of the pattern, including notches.

now you have a one-piece sleeve pattern! one more step…

square off the sleeve hem, using the cut edge of the sleeve as a guide. i did this step on the fabric itself with a rotary cutter. proceed with the pattern as instructed, skipping the steps relating to the two-piece sleeve.

and now, the part i’m really excited about…my first giveaway ever! if you’d like to give clever charlotte a try or if you’ve been eyeing one of their patterns for a while, leave a comment below for your chance to win a clever charlotte pattern of your choice! you don’t have to decide which one right now – i know it’s a tough decision. 😉

here’s how to enter:

  • leave me a comment, any comment!
  • include your email address in your comment, if it’s not linked to your profile. if you’re nervous about spam, the format of skirtastop(at)gmail(dot)com works great.
  • the giveaway is open until this sunday 11/27 at noon PST, and is open to international residents. **Giveaway is now closed**
good luck and happy thanksgiving to all you non-international residents!

once upon a thread: emily’s balloon

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i love participating in blog events. it’s one of my favorite things about blogging. so when i saw that katy dill was hosting another round of her awesome “once upon a thread” series, i couldn’t wait to join in. children’s books + sewing = right up my alley! and luckily, i’m raising a little bookworm of my own that’s happy to oblige, especially when a balloon is involved.

my inspiration was a sweet book we love to read together, emily’s balloon by komako sakai. it’s the story of a little girl named emily, who one day is given a yellow balloon. she loves the balloon very much, but has a little trouble holding onto it.

so her mother ties the balloon to emily’s spoon. it floats, but it doesn’t fly away!

emily is happy. she takes the balloon outside to play.

but then, a gust of wind blows it into a tree and her mommy can’t get it down! oh no!

emily is sad, because she wanted to eat dinner with the balloon, then they would put on their pajamas, brush their teeth, and go to bed. her mommy promises she’ll use a ladder to get the balloon down in the morning. this is where the sewing part comes in! as cute as they are, i don’t think my girlie would let me dress her in gray overalls with rickrack trim like emily wears in the beginning of the book. however, comfy star pajamas are something she can get behind.

the fabric is a couple of my husband’s barely worn white t-shirts that didn’t fit him well, which i hand stamped with red fabric paint to make the star design. the pajama pattern itself was self-drafted, which i’m pretty proud of, because i don’t usually have great luck with going “off the cuff.”

i used jess’ keyhole shirt tutorial (without the keyhole) as a general guideline for constructing the top, and added red cuffs in leftover t-shirt knit from O’s halloween costume. the pants pattern was drafted from a set of leggings that fits her well. i made them so there are no outer side seams – just two main leg pieces – and again added red cuffs.

i didn’t have enough material left to make a hat for the balloon, but she didn’t mind.

we had a lot of fun with this one. thanks for putting this on, katy!

ps – it’s my birthday today! i’m turning thirty and still getting used to the idea… 😉

an easy fix and my little sewing space

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this is, quite possibly, the most satisfying, quickest, easiest project i’ve ever sewn.  in about 30 minutes, i went from an ironing board cover that looked like this:


 ew.

to THIS:

yay!

i used the general idea of this tutorial, which i found via grosgrain.  turned my board upside down onto a 2 yard cut of denyse schmidt for joann fabric, marked about 3″ around the long sides (i’d recommend giving yourself a little more room, though, maybe 3.5″), gradually increasing to about 5″ beyond the narrow end and 4″ beyond the other end.  i serged the raw edge, then ironed down and sewed a 1/2″ casing around the outside.  i inserted 1/4″ elastic, tried it on the board to make sure enough elastic was in there to allow for it to stretch, stitched the ends of the elastic, and it was done!  that’s right, i didn’t even sew the gap closed.  i’m such a rebel.

the old cover was so thin and worn i burned myself all the time as the metal grid underneath heated up (see how overdue this project was?), so i added a layer of padding using scraps of batting sandwiched underneath the old cover.  i put the new cover on top the old one.

i’m very happy.

i love seeing other people’s creative spaces, so here’s a bit more of a peek at mine.  it’s in the basement of our 1920’s house, which we finished in anticipation of O’s arrival last winter.  my husband’s requirement was a space to watch movies; my requirement was a space to sew.  so let me first start with my old dungeon sewing area.  it was dim and cold, with a cement floor and no heat.  it looked like this:

my new sewing area is physically in the same corner of the basement and is still pretty small, but is now much brighter and warmer (due to the addition of recessed lighting and heat vents!):

my mom built a wonderful sewing table for me out of an ikea butcher block countertop, so my sewing machine and serger could sit side by side.  i hadn’t set up my serger until then because i didn’t have the desk space, so thanks again, mom!  my cutting table is behind me as i sit at my machines.  i had to drop a leaf while i was still pregnant, otherwise my big belly wouldn’t fit through that gap!  hehe.

various sewing books and notions reside on ikea shelves mounted to the right of the sewing space.

i painted a chalkboard cloud right onto the wall, which is normally filled with my sewing agenda because i’m a listmaker, but i’m laser focused on my next project so it doesn’t need to be written down.  😉

outdated college text books are used as a speaker stand (i think it’s funny to have the most left brained school subjects propping up the tunes in my creative space).

and a mini rainbow of thread.

you don’t get to see my fabric stash because i didn’t bother to clean it up (insert evil laugh here)!  otherwise, this is about as clean as my space gets.  once when i was deep in a project, my sister likened the state of the room to a “mad scientist’s lab.”  fabric piled everywhere, patterns spread out, thread all over the floor…so you shouldn’t think this is a normal state of affairs, but i do like to keep things organized enough for me to know where my supplies are and have space to work.

i would encourage anyone that has an ugly old ironing board cover to take a little time away from “normal sewing” and whip yourself up a new one to spruce up your sewing space.  just do it!  trust me, you’ll be so glad you did.

queen of hearts sunday brunch jacket

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in general, i tend to fabric shop without my kids.  i can browse better that way, pick what catches my eye, and take my time.  but the other weekend, my favorite fabric store happened to be having their annual big sale, and i seized the opportunity to bring Em along with me after her ballet class.  it’s pretty fun to include her in the decision-making process on fabrics every once in a while – she is very opinionated and gravitates towards prints i wouldn’t normally pick on my own.  i tend towards simpler prints, but she does not!  in the case of this, i steered her toward a rack of anna maria horner velveteens (they were 50% off!), and this was her pick.

it’s the queen of hearts from her innocent crush line.  i mean, you can’t really go wrong with AMH, right?  it turned out to be a really interesting fabric choice to amp up this little jacket.  i was careful to center the print on every pattern piece, so it took a while.

the facings and yokes are bound with a gold polka dot.  i figured we can always use a bit of a pick me up in the fall and winter, and surprise gold binding is just the thing.  i “cheated” and serged the armhole hems, though.

here’s the front.  she was being a bit of a silly model, and daylight savings time is doing me no favors for photoshoots, so this is the best i got.

i’d been crushing on a few versions of the oliver + s sunday brunch jacket for a while now out there on the internet (namely this one and this one, both much more understated than mine ended up!), so i’m glad i finally got to make it.  such a sweet little jacket.  it was my first time sewing a collar and facings – always good to pick up a couple new techniques!  i made the 2T which matched her measurements the best, but it fits her just right.  she ‘s a fan of it though, and has worn it every day since i finished it on sunday even though she hasn’t been wanting to wear jackets or sweaters lately (she takes them off as soon as we get somewhere), so that’s promising for it getting some use before she grows out of it.

i’ve been really enjoying collaborating with my little gal these days – it’s pretty cute to see her proud of something i’ve made, since she has a hand in designing it.  and if i’m putting in the hours to make it, i want it to be WORN!  🙂