one year and a giveaway!

March 17, 2012March 20, 201244 Comments

happy st. paddy’s day, and guess what? skirt as top is one year old today! i can hardly believe it. this year has been such a fun whirlwind for me, and i’m so glad i started a blog to share more about my projects and really get to know you all better. i’m having a blast.

i thought it’d be fun, on my very first blogiversary, to give something back to you guys for being so awesome. i decided that i want to make and give away a custom super hero cape to one lucky reader! sound good? it fits probably a 2T on up.

here’s how to win a cape for your little one, made by me:

leave a comment telling me your child’s name (or first initial) and their favorite color (or colors).
giveaway will close on tuesday evening (the 20th), and i’ll announce a winner on wednesday. **GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED**
if your email is not linked in your profile, please leave it with your comment. the format of skirtastop(at)gmail(dot)com works great if you’re not into spam.
open to US and international residents, because i get a kick out of international mail. 🙂
void where prohibited.

thanks so much for reading, and may the luck of the irish be with you!

diapers for elephants

March 13, 2012December 19, 201224 Comments

these two here are Em’s baby elephants, Little Lady (left) and Little Frankie (right). Little Lady is a new addition to the elephant family, a valentine’s day present. i just saw her in the store and couldn’t resist her…she’s super soft and only 8″ long – a tiny little thing. i knew she’d be well taken care of by my little gal.

in her elephant family, these are the ones that need the most taking care of – they cry, they take bottles, they need lots of naps. Em cradles them, brings them everywhere, feeds them, loves them, tucks them into bed with her every night. i was feeling almost neglectful for not offering to make them some diapers to wear until now. Em jumped at the suggestion, of course!

i used this pattern for the larger diaper, which i’ve made a couple times before but don’t think i’ve ever blogged about…it doesn’t get much simpler. the only variation is i do just one continuous strip of the soft side of velcro across the front. the fabric here is daiwabo elephants and the lining is scrap of towel from this project – Em picked them out from my stash. for Little Lady’s diaper, i just drew a smaller sized diaper template with the same shape as the original.

i had to add a spot for their tails to come through! a buttonhole was just the trick.

the baby elephants are changed and ready for bed.

sleep tight, baby elephants!

whole cloth floral vintage sheet quilt

March 9, 2012March 19, 201231 Comments

i’d been jonesing to make a quilt and was seeing some really cool whole cloth quilts pop up lately (like this and this and this), which made it seem even more attainable in the short term! then our friends had a new baby girl, H, causing my “i wanna make a quilt” feeling to quickly bubble over. also, i just really, really wanted to sew with this lovely vintage sheet i thrifted months ago. it’s so soft.

the backing is denyse schmidt scallop stripe in rose.

i did the ol’ machine stitch the front side, handstitch the back side method for the binding, which is a mustard-y kona cotton but i’m not sure which. the finished size is 36″ x 45″ (i just used a package of craft size batting). perfect size to wrap a small person in.

i actually thought up, started, and finished this quilt the same day, working during naptimes and finishing the binding after bedtime. it’s that quick! this is only my fourth quilt and only my second with batting, so i’d say whole cloth is the way to go for a beginner. so easy, but you learn all the steps. i loved the scallop shape of the back, so i mimicked it in my quilting. i used a dinner plate to create the shape, and laid a big measuring stick across the quilt to keep them straight. (PHONE PHOTO ALERT!)

i made little marks on each side of the plate with my water soluble pen once i knew how big i wanted the scallops, then traced around the plate, repeating until i had my quilting pattern. the scallop rows are about 6″ apart.

i quilted it with a walking foot, pivoting at the corners. i also added a pink appliqued H, so she knows it’s hers. 🙂

once the quilt photo sesh was done, Em wanted to take some pictures with my camera, too. she was very interested in capturing the flowers and grass and our shadows. i think she did a pretty great job, wanna see? the shadow is me holding onto the camera strap for dear life in case she dropped it…

not too shabby for a 3.5 year old, in this humble mother’s opinion! have a wonderful weekend!

a new flickr group

March 5, 2012March 19, 20126 Comments

oh wow! the response to my sweet tartan tutorial has been so nice and such a surprise! made all of the work worth it, for sure. the thing i was realizing as i was seeing your comments and pins is that if anybody out there ends up using my tutorial to make a dress for your little gal, i would really love to see it! seeing everyone’s creative designs would just be the coolest thing ever to me. so to facilitate that, i went ahead and started a skirt as top flickr group! when i started sewing, i relied on free tutorials to inspire me and help me learn, and flickr is where i posted photos of my projects for 1.5 years before i started this blog. that’s where i started building that sense of community that i love so much about sewing, so hey, i might as well give back!

and i suppose i should probably link to a few of my prior tutorials just in case you missed them…if you’ve ever sewn something using one of these tutorials, please throw them in there too! or even if you’ve just gotten some inspiration from this little blog! 🙂

superhero cape tutorial

adding elbow patches to a homesewn garment tutorial (for elsie marley)

bib template and boyish applique tutorial (for sparkle power)

won’t you please head on over and join the new skirt as top flickr group and share what you’re making (or have made – older projects are welcome, too!)? thanks again for all of your wonderful support – you know how to make a gal feel all warm and fuzzy and wanting to do more tutorials in the future… 🙂

oh and i changed the flickr link on my sidebar to go straight to the group as well, so it’ll always be easy to find.

have a great day!

sweet tartan dress tutorial and pattern

March 1, 2012March 21, 201476 Comments

as promised, here is the tutorial for my sweet tartan dress from the first week of project run & play! i made the original in a woven plaid, but didn’t take any photos along the way. so i remade it this time in a pink gingham with green sash, since my daughter is currently obsessed with strawberries and this reminded me of strawberry shortcake dolls i used to play with!

if you’ll remember, the challenge was to remix the adorable junebug dress by jess of craftiness is not optional. i honored my scottish heritage by choosing a tartan and made a dress inspired by alexander mcqueen (more on that here). i flipped the buttoned bodice to the back, drafted a wrap front bodice, omitted the sleeves, and added the gathered overskirt. the whole dress is lined, so i’ll also show you how to make a lined bodice. and i got permisson from jess from CINO to offer my 2/3T pattern pieces as a free downloadable file for you – thank you jess! if you’re drafting your own pattern in a different size, follow her instructions here, and then come back to learn how to adapt it. otherwise, i’ve done a lot of the pattern work for you!

okay, let’s get on with the tutorial.