Sunday, November 14, 2010

Hats and Scarves

I had my Cub Scouts make some knotted-end scarves for an activity the other day.  When my kids saw them, of course, they wanted to make them, too.  We went off to the fabric store, and this is what we came up with.  My boy did all his own knots.

The hats are just 1/2 yard tall cut to the circumference of the head for the width plus 1".  I made that piece into a tube with a 1/2" seam.  Then I folded under and hemmed (with a zig-zag) one end up 3 3/4".  Then we snipped the top end down a few inches about 3/4" apart and tied the top with a skinny scrap.

The scarves are merely an 8" strip cut the full width of the fleece.  I didn't hem the sides or anything.  Then the boys cut about 4" deep into the fabric about 3/4" apart and tied a knot on each little strip.  You could use a 16" wide piece, make one seam to turn the fabric into a really long tube, turn it, then cut your ends and tie your front and back together for a double thickness scarf.

Circle Skirts

Double half circle skirt

Full circle skirt


I've also had some fun making circle and half-circle skirts for my daughter.  I was trying to get the skirt right for my "late Halloween costume" and thought I'd start small.

We have all this awesome Christmas fabric from my aunt who moved away, and I thought it would make cute Christmas skirts.

After I experimented with the first couple of skirts, I saw a link to this awesome formula from Madehttp://www.dana-made-it.com/2008/07/tutorial-circle-skirt.html.

If Made ever disappears, here are her further instructions:
Let me break it down a little more:
* Measure your waist
* Add two inches to that number. You need these extra two inches so the fabric has "give" and will actually "stretch" when it's sewn on to the elastic. It will create a very subtle gather to the skirt but will make it easier to get the skirt on and off. This will make more sense as you sew.
* Take your "waist + 2 inches" measurement and divide it by 6.28, and you have the radius!
* In Lucy's case....
Her waist is 19 inches, plus 2 inches = 21 inches divided by 6.28 = 3.3 inch radius.
Because I'm actually using a waistband and not elastic, I think I'll need to use hip rather than waist measurements (so it will fit over the hips).

I like cutting my circle using my folding technique as mentioned in my bonnet tutorial.  Bingo!  No pattern needed.

This really is so easy -- especially when you do a rolled hem with the machine.

Saturday, November 6, 2010

My Late Halloween Costume

For Christmas this year, my husband's work is having a 1920s themed party.  I thought, Great!  Now I can make a 1920s dress and use it for Halloween, too.  I bought fabric, a pattern, altered the pattern, made a skirt (you can see why). . .  and I ended up looking like a giant green grasshopper (I really should share a picture.  It was really awful.  It looked like a 1980s bridesmaid dress).

So, I gave up on the idea for Halloween, went back to the fabric store, used a smaller pattern size, designed a new skirt and this is the result.
I wish I would have made the bodice 1 - 2" longer, but too late now.

The skirt is slightly boring, but I'm too afraid to make the front shorter than the back.

Past Patterns #503
I'm also not sure how I like my two tiers, and I think it looks too long in the pictures (or maybe I'm just too short).  Maybe I can shorten the longer skirt.  Luckily I can bunch the short tier up into what looks like a belt.  My, my.  How versatile.

More inspiration:

Can't remember where I got this image!


Past Patterns Ladies' Evening Dress
I was afraid my fabric would be horribly slippery.  In fact, the lady at the fabric store said I'd probably need to pin it every inch!  However, it was actually quite easy to sew on, and it is so thin I was able to do a rolled hem. I'm still trying to perfect my technique, but for a costume, I'm okay with it.  I'll probably embellish the scarf a little and add some ribbon to the bottom of the sleeves.