Susan (Narnia) Costume October 22, 2012

My daughter loves all things Narnia, and Queen Susan is her favorite character. When she told me she wanted to be Susan for Halloween/ our church’s Fall Festival, I wasn’t sure I could pull it off, but I was determined to explore the possibilities and see if I might be able to come up with something. We ended up using this dress as our inspiration:

And here is our version:

It’s a little different from Susan’s dress in the movie, but it’s pretty close. And I forgot to take a picture of my daughter with her quiver that she wears across her body, which I think adds to the “Susan effect.”

I was pretty proud of myself, because I didn’t use a pattern, and instead traced the bodice of one of my daughter’s dresses and then improvised the skirt part based on some directions I had seen online for making a medieval dress. Here are the directions, fyi. So, I made a very high-waisted bodice, and then the main front and back of the skirt were basically a big rectangle, and then I sewed the triangular shapes into the sides, adding the loops too, for the lacing. I used a zipper in the back too, so that it could be more fitted and wouldn’t have to go over her head. I hope this makes sense….

Anyway, I’m really happy with this dress, and my daughter is too. Every year I tell myself that I am NOT sewing costumes this year–that we have plenty of dress-up clothes in the dress up bins already. But every year I find such satisfaction in working with my children’s ideas and seeing their excitement over something I lovingly made for them. It might just be a tradition that I wouldn’t dare stop.

Maternity Skirt to Girl’s Skirt March 29, 2012

Recently I was going through my old maternity clothes, figuring it was time to find a new home for some of them while they’re still somewhat in style. I found a white eyelet skirt that I had loved wearing, and it dawned on me that I could probably turn it into a skirt for my 8-year-old.

I cut several inches off the top of the skirt in order to remove the maternity panel, and then I folded the top down in order to create a casing for a 1-inch piece of elastic.

My daughter loves it. She’s been wishing for something like it. After she tried it on for me and modeled for a few pictures, I said, “Ok, you can go change back into your pants now.” And she answered, “Do you mind if I just keep it on?” There’s no greater affirmation of my sewing success than a comment like that!

Twirly Skirt for the Little One December 23, 2011

I made a twirly skirt for my two-year-old with the same fabric I had used for my 8-year-old a few weeks ago. Love it! (Don’t you love it that she just had to hold her pirate sword for the picture? )

And now that family is here for Christmas, my sewing machine is put away until next year. Merry Christmas!

Twirly Skirts, Take 4! December 10, 2011

I checked, and this is the 4th post I’ve done on twirly skirts. What can I say? We love ‘em! Here’s the latest, made out of cute corduroy:

And I have plenty of fabric left to make one for the other daughter too!

Simple Skirt with Ruffled Ribbon November 21, 2011

My 2-y-o is in need of some skirts and dresses, so I went to my stash to see if I had any corduroy for making a simple skirt. I found this nice brown and turquoise print that was leftover from a jumper I made my older daughter a few years ago. I had plenty for a simple skirt, using Dana’s basic idea. I wanted to embellish it somehow, so I looked in my box of trims and ribbons and found this great ruffled ribbon that I had used on my older daughter’s party dress. I love those ruffled ribbons. So cute!

 

Pretty Little Blouse August 14, 2011

I had enough Little Folks Voile-Baby Bouquet fabric leftover from my blouse to make my daughter a pretty blouse. I used Simplicy 2238, view B. I just love how this turned out!

Beach Towel Dress June 7, 2011

Well, you would think that I’d have all sorts of time to sew now that we’re on summer break, but, alas, it seems like I’ve had less time. I have been anxious to make one of Dana’s oh-so-cute beach towel dresses for myself, so I finally got myself some elastic thread and mustered the courage to try it out.

Dana’s directions are sketchy, because she’s hoping you’ll buy her pattern, but I figured I could wing it without the pattern. (Unfortunately, she probably has some really great info in there that I missed because I didn’t have the pattern.) I did my best to study up on elastic thread by reading about it on various sewing blogs. I increased my thread tension to about a 6, I used a stitch length of 4, and I sewed my lines 2/8 inches apart, lining the previous stitch line up with the presser foot edge. I had cut off about 5 inches on either side, because I thought I had plenty, and I wanted to have some extra fabric to make straps with. Unfortunately…..my fabric shirred up beautifully and bountifully. So much so, that my dress was teeny and actually fit my skinny 7-y-o and didn’t even come close to fitting me.

It’s super-cute on her. I wouldn’t have made so many lines of shirring if I would’ve known I was making it for her and not me, but I still think it’s super-cute on her.

So…..I still really want one for myself. I’m going to start by buying a longer towel. And then I’m going to think about putting the tension dial back to normal (around a 3 on my machine.) Thankfully, one of my best friends is making one of these right now, learning from my mistakes, and I’m hoping she’ll perfect the process before it’s my turn again. If you have any insight about elastic thread and shirring, let me know!

UPDATE: When my friend Kelley made hers, I realized that I had a serious tension problem. Her fabric shirred up beautifully and was nowhere near as tight as mine was. I knew that there was a lot of resistance from my bobbin, where the elastic was coming out.

I have the kind of bobbin where the thread has to go through one of those little slits and then back out through the other one. Well, you really had to pull to get the elastic moving, so I realized that I had a bobbin tension issue, but I didn’t know how to fix it. So….I contacted Dana on her Facebook page, and she sent me this handy link, which was the key to my problem!!!! Yay!!! Thank you, Dana! We actually ended up taking the tension screw completely out, and, voila, I have lovely shirring going on. Also, I put my machine tension setting back to normal.

So….keep your eyes open for my cute beach towel dress, coming soon!

UPDATE: Ashley at Make It And Love It has a great primer for using elastic thread!

More Twirly Skirts May 9, 2011

I recently made some more twirly skirts for my girls.

This one is for my 7-y-o…

And I used the scraps to make a matching one for my not-quite-2-y-o.

Love these!

Simple Skirt May 1, 2011

I used the idea from Dana’s simple skirt to make this skirt for my daughter. I used some leftover Amy Butler fabric from my stash. So cute and so easy!

Easter Dress April 26, 2011

My sewing machine was put away for a few weeks while my husband and I went on a trip and we had a parade of house guests. I’ve been back at it and have several projects to share with you over the next couple of days.

This is the Easter dress I made for my 7-year-old. We picked the pattern and the fabric out together. I used McCall’s 6067 view A and a fabric we found at Hobby Lobby. My daughter was thrilled with her special dress, made by Mom and picked out together.