Drawstring Skirt Tutorial Part III

You are almost finished!!

Now you can try the skirt on your little one and make the drawstring shorter if you desire. Double check the skirt length as well.I usually make sure the drawstring length is equal on each side and then sew the drawstring to the back seam so it does not shift around as much.

If you would like to shorten your skirt make sure you include an extra 5/8 to an inch for the finished hem. The width of the lace you use could add extra length as well.

For the hem press under about 1/4 inch all the way around but do not sew.



On the outside starting at the back skirt seam lay the lace edge up against the pressed skirt edge right sides together as shown in the picture. Overlap the lace raw edges about an inch at the point where they meet up at the back seam.



Sew close to the edge.



Press the lace down and away from the skirt and on the skirt inside press the seam toward the skirt.



On the outside of the skirt top stich close to the edge making sure you are catching the seam on the inside as well. There should not be any raw edges exposed.





You are finished!!!!

See how easy it was! If it seemed hard it was probably just my lack of good directions.

With a little tweaking and imagination this same basic skirt design can be used so may different ways!



Lily would not stay still long enough for me to get many good pictures of her modeling the skirt but it did turn out very cute!

Drawstring Skirt Tutorial Part II

Today we are going to work on the drawstring casing and eyelets.

Measure 1 1/2 inches from the skirt top all the way around. For me the easiest way is to baste 1 1/2 inches with my sewing machine using the biggest stitch. If you machine bed does not have a 1 1/2 inch mark to follow measure 1 1/2 inches from the needle and mark the spot with a piece of masking tape.

Press under a 1/4 inch seam towards the inside of the skirt all the way around the skirt top. I usually just eyeball it.



Then fold the skirt top on the 1 1/2 inch basting mark to the inside of the skirt. Press the drawstring casting but do not sew.



Find the center front of the skirt make a crease with the iron for reference.I usually place a pin right underneath where the drawstring casting is to help in placement of my eyelets.

Unfold the drawstring casting and trim your piece of fusible interfacing to fit between your reference pin and the 1 1/2 inch basting. Make sure the interfacing extends about 1 1/2 inches on both sides on your center skirt front. Press the interfacing on to the skirt. In this picture I am using fusible web and a scrap of the skirt fabric instead of interfacing. I found through experience that the eyelets fare better with some sort of reinforcement.



Following the directions that come with the eyelets use the eyelet tools and hammer to place an eyelet on each side of the skirt front.




Re-fold and press the drawstring casting to the skirt inside. Sew closed. Pull out the basting stitches.



To make the drawstring take the 1 1/2 inch by 44 inch piece of fabric you cut and press each edge in about 1/4 inch. I usually eyeball my 1/4 inch.



fold the edges together with wrong sides facing each other.



Sew close to the edge.



With your safety pin push the draw string through one of the eyelets through the casting and back out though the other eyelet. Tie both ends of the drawstring so the drawstring will not get lost in the casting.

I forgot to take a picture of this but here is what it looks like on another skirt I made.




You are almost finished!

Come back for part III

Spring Has Sprung!

A little front porch relaxing



A little more front porch relaxing (Lily not so much relaxing)



Two sisters sharing a few secrets



The bikes are out and made a trip around Clear Lake



Muddy feet



Enjoying 'Wooly' my little wind chime

Drawstring Skirt Tutorial Part I

Here is my first try at writing a sewing tutorial!

Drawstring skirts are very easy and inexpensive to make.

Here I am making a baby/toddler skirt. The finished length is about 12 inches.




Supplies:
1/2 yard of 44/45" wide pre-washed and ironed cotton fabric.
1 yard of lace for the bottom hem
A 3 x 2 inch piece of fusible interfacing or fusible web
Two large eyelet sets and eyelet tools (the tools come in most of the packages)
A hammer
A safety pin small enough to fit in the eyelet hole




Before you measure and cut your fabric make sure your edges are straight on the grain. What I do is make a little cut on the selvage close to the edge and rip the fabric across to the other selvage end. From there I measure the desired length I need. The selvage is the two sides of the fabric that do not unravel.

For a baby/toddler size measure off a 13 inch length. I usually just make a cut at the 13 inch length on the selvage and rip the fabric across to the other selvage. Now you should have a nice 13 x 44 inch piece of fabric for your skirt.Trim off the selvages.

Here in the picture I was measuring off 18 inches for my young girl's size drawstring skirt. You can see where I am starting to rip it.



Now with the extra fabric measure and cut a 1 1/2 inch (x 44) strip for the drawstring and set aside.

For my baby/toddler size I trim my 13 x 44 piece of fabric down to 13 x 33 inches.


Fold the 13 x 33 inch piece of fabric in half right sides together so the two 13 inch edges meet. Sew together with a 5/8th inch seam.




Press your seam open.



You can leave your seam like it is or finish it with a zig zag or other stitch to prevent the seam from fraying with many washings.

Here I am finishing my seam with a mock french seam.

With the seams pressed open flat fold and press each seam edge back toward the main seam.




Now pin the folded seam allowances together, press and sew close to the edge. Press finished seam to one side.



Check back for part II !

Lily Being Cute As Always!

One might think that after many babies in the house I would not make such a fuss over all the cute baby firsts. I do not think that will ever happen. I like all the baby firsts no matter what number baby it is. So on with pictures of Lily's first straw drinking cup!

I had a dollar burning a hole in my pocket and just had to get this cute impulse buy plastic Easter straw cup for Lily. See why Jeff does most of the shopping. Actually ,I picked up one for Joel and Grace as well but they were at the park while Lily was enjoying her cup. I was so exited for Lily to try drinking out of her new cup I did not even take her jacket off before she tested it out.

Good job Lily!!!

Saturday Sewing

I spent some of my Saturday afternoon finishing up a few projects.

On my list of things I always wanted to try to to make was a christening dress. I started making two christening dresses a little while back and I finished them up today. I have done a fair amount of sewing dresses and such but this proved to be a bit challenging for me. Most of it was rather easy but when I got to doing the area where the buttons go I messed up many times. I think the dresses turned out beautiful except the button area. Blah! I was actually in tears at times.

The things I had the most trouble with was the little part of the bodice placket that is supposed to overlap the other part and the actual buttonholes. The buttonholes are pretty sloppy looking and I made them a little too small.I also did not trim the seams well enough so the last buttonhole is very thick and bulky. Oh, how frustrating! Oh, yes I forgot the MOST frustrating part! The washable pencils I used to mark where the buttonholes go WOULD NOT wash off! I even followed the instructions and made sure I did not press over the markings.You,bad marking pencils!I eventually got the markings off but it took a lot of work. I ended up using fingernail polish remover to get the markings off. I thought for sure the polish remover would do something goofy to the dress fabric but it was ok.

My christening gown conclusion...what is life without challenges. Sewing would get dull if it were not for frustrating times like this. I do think I would like to get better at the whole buttonhole and placket thing. So I will add that to my list of projects.

Here is the pattern I used. I left off the collar and added a bodice lining to both dresses.







Now do not laugh but here is my horrible buttonhole placket area on this dress. See how crooked it is? The buttons hide the horrible buttonholes.




Here is my second christening dress





This placket area is much straighter than the previous dress but still the actual buttonholes are not very good.



I did finish my baby/toddler sparkly dragonfly skirt today. This turned out very cute. Tomorrow I was thinking that I would start a part one tutorial on how to make a child's drawstring skirt. It will boost my sewing ego a little after my goofy placket issues today.

Close To Midnight On A Friday Night

Grant treating himself to a frozen pizza he bought with his paper route money.



Elena putting the final decorative touches on a fabric covered tack board she was making for her bedroom.



Alan tinkering. I think he was trying to construct a working watch from a bunch of parts from broken watches he has.