Little Girl Twirly Skirt Tutorial

This tutorial should actually be named "How to Use the Scraps in Your Stash to Make a Skirt for your Daughter because You Don't Have Time to Get to the Store to Get New Fabric".  But I thought that was too long.

Despite it being from scraps I had laying around, I think it turned out absolutely adorable.  Don't you?  Honestly, I didn't buy anything new for this project.  Isn't that awesome?

Having been in the house with the newborn for a month has been great, but I'm going a bit stir crazy.  As in, my mind needed a challenge.  Seeing as making it to the store was a long shot anyways, I decided to dig around in my fabric and see what I could come up with.  Also, I know that Easter will be here faster than I know it and I figure that these skirts can be part of an Easter outfit.

I will make sure to post the top I make and show you all the entire outfit later (once I get around to making it).

I made 2 of these - one for each daughter - and was lucky enough that I had enough of the exact same fabric for identical skirts.  I really wouldn't have minded if they were different, but it was causing arguments as to who got what fabric.  So they get the same - exactly the same.  Those of you who have more than one child (especially 2 of one sex, will understand that one ;) ).

Here's how I made them:

Materials

Assorted fabrics (about 1/2 yard altogether)

Approximately 1/2 yard for bottom ruffle and top of skirt

1/4" elastic (the measurement of your child's waist + 1")

matching thread

scissors (I used a rotary cutter and cutting mat, but they're not necessary)

something to measure

iron

Step 1: Cutting the Main Skirt

This is what I started with:

Since I was working with scraps, I found the smallest piece and used that as a starting point.  I ended up cutting the pieces for the main skirt 5" in width. 

Now for the length.

I wanted this skirt to be a little longer on both girls.  So I measured from waist to mid-calf.  Then I subtracted the top waist of the skirt and the bottom ruffle (6 1/2" total).  That left me with a measurement of 9" for the main skirt panels.  I added 1 1/2" for seam allowance.

In the end the rectangles were 5" x 10 1/2".  E is a 4T in regular sizes.

I cut until it looked like I would have enough to make a panel that was 3-4 times my daughter's waist measurement.

E's waist is 22".  So I wanted to end up with a panel between 66"and 88" in width. 

Now, I was NOT exact here.  I just cut until it looked like I had a good amount of rectangles.  I ended up with 14 rectangles total (70").  

Step 2: Sewing the Main Skirt

Before I started sewing all the rectangles together, I arranged them on the floor like this:

 I had used some fabric for more than one rectangle and this ensured that they were not next to each other and gave me an idea what the finished skirt would look like.

I then sewed all of the rectangles together to form one long panel.  In order to prevent any fraying of the edges and to give these skirts a finished look, I sewed them using French seams.

If you don't know how, here is a quick tutorial on sewing a French seam:

A.  Place your rectangles WRONG sides together and sew a narrow seam.  I sew 1/4" seams.

B.  Flip your pieces over so that they are now RIGHT sides together.  Pin with the seam at the top middle.

C.  Sew a wider seam encasing all of the raw edges inside (I used a 5/8" seam).

D. Press

Easy, right?

Now press all of your seams in one direction.
Sew the two end rectangles together to create a large circle.

Step 3: The Bottom Ruffle

Ideally, you want to cut a strip 2x the width of your main skirt panel.  If your finished main skirt is 70", you want to cut your ruffle 140" long.

My ruffle was a little shorter than that because I was limited in the amount of fabric that I had.  Plus, I needed enough for 2 skirts.

I cut 3 strips of fabric at 5 1/2" wide.  Altogether, they came a bit short of 140", but were long enough for gathering.

Sew all strips of your ruffle together using French seams.

Remember...wrong sides together...

...right sides together...

...press.

It should look something like this (except less wrinkly - I hadn't ironed yet).

Next, make a hem at the bottom of the ruffle by folding up and pressing 1/4" and repeating so the unfinished edge is hidden.

Sew the hem.

Now set your machine to do a gathering stitch. Stitch around the top of the ruffle twice.

Pull on the end of the strings to really gather the ruffle up. Evenly distribute the ruffles and pin to the bottom of your main skirt.

Again, I am using French seams, so first WRONG sides together.  Then RIGHT sides to hide the unfinished edge.

Press the hem and top stitch close to the seam.

 Step 4: The Waist

For the waist length, I measured my girls and then cut 1 1/2 times that measurement.

E's waist is 22", so her waist pieces were 6" x 33".

Cut 2.

Sew the pieces together at the side seams and press.

Step 5: Attaching the Main Skirt to the Waist

Set your machine to sew a gathering stitch.

Sew twice around the top of main skirt. 

Pull on the end threads to gather the skirt so that it is the same distance around as your waist piece.  Even out the gathering.

Using a French seam, attach the main skirt piece to your waist panels.

Step 6: Finishing the Skirt

Fold the top edge of the waist down approximately 1/4" and press.

Fold down an additional 1 1/2" to form the elastic casing.  Press.

Pin and sew around the waist top close to the edge of the elastic casing.  Make sure to leave approximately 1" open at the beginning and the end of your seam through which to insert the elastic.

Cut a piece of elastic the length of your child's waist measurement plus 1".

Using a safety pin, pull the elastic through the casing.

Use a wide zigzag stitch to sew the ends of the elastic together.

Sew the opening of the casing closed.

And there you have it!  One twirly skirt for your little girl!

My girls certainly love theirs - they can hardly wait to wear them on Easter!

The Blessings of a Baby: Pictures and thoughts about our Precious New Little One

Life has been a bit crazy around here lately.  The good kind of crazy.  Crazy in a way life can only be after the birth of a baby.

In the midst of the sleep-deprived and overwhelmed haze, I am reminded of how blessed we are as a family.

My husband was able to take 2 weeks off from work to help make it through those first moments at home.

My mom took a Saturday to come and clean because she knew I was just too overwhelmed to even think of tackling it all.  And, let me tell you, my bathroom has NEVER been so thoroughly cleaned!

My in-laws took the girls out for a few hours to spoil and love on them.

My sister brought pizza over and then left with the girls to have a sleepover at her place.  They are STILL talking about it.

And the many friends who have been so thoughtful - making meals...checking in on us...praying for our new family...just asking how we are managing and how our precious boy and girls are doing.

As we have grown as a family, I have had the additional blessing of having CT family photographer Denise Gammell capture the sweetest moments in our lives. She has a gift for expressing personalities and an individual's beauty through photographs.  She catches those fleeting moments in our lives that we will cherish forever (you can see what I mean in our fall family pictures and in the gorgeous ones at the beginning of this post).

God is so good to us.  We are reminded through the joyous birth of our son that we are loved and cherished and cared for.  These are moments that I will not forget and will hold on to in my heart and mind for the many years to come.

Puppy Dog Valentines

Yep...it's Valentine's Day again.  I love making Valentines with E.  

And before you ask me how I managed to do this with a 10-day old (aka no sleep, lots of laundry, and housework piling up), let me just say that these were finished about 3 weeks ago.  BEFORE little one was born.  Phew!

This year I asked her what kind of Valentine she'd like to make.  She came back with a puppy Valentine.

Hoping that this would not be too complicated, I headed to the web for some inspiration.  

I found this idea here: http://www.thriftyfun.com/tf18540796.tip.html

I really didn't feel like heading out to the store, so I was hoping there would be something we could make and that I would have all of the necessary materials in my house.

I do not have tons of construction paper.  

But I DO have tons of felt.

So we made the puppies out of felt.  The white cardstock I also had on hand.  And the saying was printed on regular printer paper.

So here are the supplies.

Instead of making a folding card, I made flat ones.  

Each piece of cardstock was cut into 4 pieces.  

I guess-timated the size of the hearts and used chalk to draw them on the felt before cutting them (sorry, chalk and scissors aren't in the picture).

One last thing. I started using Elmer's glue (as pictured), but then realized that it would not hold the felt and so we switched to hot glue.  Obviously, I was in charge of the glue gun and E placed the hearts on the paper.

So...

STEP 1:  Glue the largest heart in the center-front of the card.

STEP 2: Turn your next-largest heart (ours is pink) upside down and place as shown on top of the first heart.

STEP 3: Take the smaller black heart and place over the point of the pink heart to make the nose.

STEP 4: Place the two small pink hearts on either side of the nose for the eyes.

STEP 5: Put a strip of glue on either side of the largest heart and attach the two larger black hearts upside down on the glue to make the ears.

STEP 6: Using the black sharpie, draw in the pupils of the eyes and the freckles.

STEP 7: Cut out your saying and glue in place on the back of the card.

And there you have it! Easy, homemade Valentine's Day cards!

 E is SO excited to give them out to her friends!