Easy Gored Skirt Tutorial

I thought I'd make my daughter a gored skirt, too, just based on measurements -- and it worked!  So, here's a tutorial.  It's probably not perfect, so feel free to leave any helpful comments if you give it a try.

For your fabric width:
1.  Measure around your hips (widest point around your bum -- your skirt needs to fit over this widest point) =  _____"
2.  Add 2"for give = _____"
3.  Add an inch for each seam (# of main panels, in my case 6") = _____"  (I ended up doing 1/2" approx. seams, so that really only adds 3" extra in addition to my extra 2" for a total of 5" wider than the hips.  This left a good amount of wiggle room, but not too much.)

**So, for my daughter's skirt, I took her waist measurement of 25", added 2", then added 6".  This gave me a width of 33".

For your skirt length:
4.  Measure from your waist to however long you want your skirt to land = _____"
5.  Add 1.25" for the waistband = _____"
6.  Add 3/4" for the hem = _____"

7.  Cut out your skirt fabric according to the above width and length.

8.  It's easiest if you are doing an even number of panels in your skirt.  You could divide the width by the number of desired panels and measure them out and cut them, but I just folded my fabric in half and then thirds and then cut it down the folds to get my 6 panels.

 9.  Next, I cut some long triangles to fit between the panels.  I didn't do any magic math or anything, just hoped it would work.  The width at the bottom of the triangle is just a bit smaller than than the width of the rectangles.  I think, though, I did try to get the triangles to end right up about the height of the pubic bone.

10.  Now, sew in the triangles.  Just place a triangle and a rectangle, right sides together, sew, then zig zag (or surge it together if you have one!).  Then, place a second rectangle over the combined triangle/rectangle piece and sew that together the same way, but securing all the way to the top of the rectangles.  It's a little tricky lining up that second rectangle piece as to not let the tip of the triangle poke through wrong.  You may have to pick out a time or two before you get used to it.  Continue piecing together all the way around.

11.  I realized that my skirt was going to end up a little short, so I added enough fabric at the top for the waistband casing and a couple more inches.  To make the casing for your elastic, either fold the fabric under 1/4" and then another 1 1/16" (or just a little bigger than the width of your elastic) or zigzag your edge then fold it down and stich all the way around a little wider than the width of your elastic leaving an opening to feed your elastic through with a safety pin.

12.  Feed your elastic through using a safety pin.  I like to cut my elastic an inch or two smaller than the waist size. I  used Wal-Mart elastic, so it is kind of stretchy, so 23" for the elastic seemed good.  Stich the waistband casing closed.

13.  Hem the bottom of the skirt.  I just folded the bottom under approximately 1/4" and then again 1/2" and stitched.

14.  Let your little girl wear it with something that doesn't really match!

Mummy Costume

My son wanted to be a mummy for Halloween, and I found this great video on YouTube.



I thought it would be easier to start more from scratch, though.

I found a pattern for loose pants (actually from an Indian costume), used white flannel, tore strips of muslin, and sewed them on, but not to the top of the pant, just to the crotch.

 Then I sewed the legs together and the crotch seam.

Then I sewed strips all around the hips so that the front/rear seams would be covered.  Then I made a casing for the elastic and hemmed the pants.

I really wanted a white turtleneck, but couldn't find one anywhere!  Finally I just got one of my old long-sleeved white t-shirts, cut it up the back, took a couple inches out, then sewed it back up.  I also chopped the sleeves a little shorter.

 I sliced the arms open like this so it would be easy to sew on the strips of muslin.

I sewed the muslin strips all the way up to the arm-pit on both the arms and the body.  Then, I stitched the arms back up and sewed the remaining strips over the shoulder/neck area on by hand.

We just wrapped more strips around his head.  I'm sure it's a safety hazard.

White Trash Coupon Holder

I'm really not a couponer.  I've tried and tried and tried, but it just doesn't happen.  I want to use my local grocery store coupons at least, and I was tired of losing them and dropping them, so I came up with this before I went to the store today.

At first I thought I'd just fold papers together in an accordion-style fashion.  Then I had a better idea.  I'd use the brochure from our rec. center for my foundation!

I folded the front cover in half -- down to the staples, then I folded and taped several of the pages down, but sticking up about a half an inch above the cover.  I pulled out a few excess pages in the center of the brochure.  Then I wrote my categories on each folded flap and cut away the excess paper to create tabs. 

It might be fun to print out the same idea on card stock, but I'll save that for another day.  I could even make a fabric cover -- or at least cover it with Contac paper. . . .  The possibilities are endless!! ;-)

Simple Dutch Oven Bag Tutorial

1.  Use your lid to measure for the bottom of your bag.  Cut a circle an inch or so bigger than your lid all the way around.

2  Cut a strip about twice the height of your Dutch oven and long.  I thought mine needed to be 34" long, but it really needed to be a little less.  It's better a little longer than shorter because you can always make it a little smaller very easily by cutting.  Geometry wold have come in handy here.
 

3. Pin the bottom to the side, straight stitch, then zig-zag your edge.

I sewed my strip into a tube, then attached it to my bottom piece.  In retrospect, since my length measurement was a guess anyway, I shouldn't have made the tube.  I should have pinned my strip to the bottom all the way around, then stitched my ends together at the appropriate place for a perfect fit.

4.  Zig-zag your top edge.

5.  Fold down your top edge all the way around and stitch down.  I felt it was too bulky to fold under; that's why I zig-zagged.  I folded this one down 3/4".  You could do 1", or whatever.

6.  Drop your Dutch oven in to see where to secure the belt.

7.  Secure with pins.  Take out your Dutch oven.  Straight stitch securely!

8.  Put the Dutch oven back in.  Fold up & secure.

9.  Cute as a button!

You could get really creative and use some old pockets on the sides, or cut off belt loops and use them to secure the belts (strap/handle), rather than just tacking them down.  I just didn't want to take the time!

Took less than an hour.

How to Make a Barbie Bed Tutorial

I was so happy when I found Barbies with permatards!  Why did that invention take so long?  I don't really mind Barbies, I just don't like them when they aren't wearing any clothes! 

So, my daughter received her first Barbie for her 4th birthday.  I thought my daughter might play more with her Barbie if Barbie had some furniture.

I remember that my mom made me a Barbie bed when I was a kid.  Thought that might be a good place to start.

While searching around for ideas I found this funny blog:  Froggy Princess and the Darbie Show.  I was cracking up.


Supplies:
Scrap wood
Staple gun
Batting
Scrap fabric
Jigsaw
Drill
Screws
Scrapbook paper
Modge-Podge or Elmer's white school glue

Here's what I did:

1.  I used a scrap of a 2" x 6."  It must have been about 14" long.

2.  Then I stapled some scrap batting to the wood (not covering the head of the bed because I wanted to put on a headboard).

3.  Then I stapled some scrap fabric over the batting (again, not covering the head of the bed).

4.  Then I found a small scrap 1" x 2" and screwed it into the bottom of my 2" x 6".

5. Then I cut out my headboard with my jigsaw and modge-podged my scrapbook paper to it.

6.  Then I screwed the headboard to the head of the bed.

7.  Then I made some really stylish bedding.

8.  Goodnight Barbie!