Ruffle Skirt... aka the intolerable headache

           I'm half tempted to say "don't try this at home!" The reason this skirt was such a headache is because I used my seam ripper more in two days working on this than I have all year on every other project combined!!!! I wanted to throw it outside and lock the door a few times. it was a nightmare!!! 

      

            Before I started I read a few blogs explaining how to do it and some left me kind of confused because I tried to follow their exact measurements and things.  It just wasn't working.  I ended up winging it and paid for it for two days. grr. 

            IF I were to ever do this skirt again, I would do these measurements: 

•                       make each strip 4x78 

                               (for a 3 year old- if it is a bigger child do about 2 1/2 times the width)

•                       space them about 1 1/2" apart
•                       The underskirt is still a mystery to me.  It needs to be almost more of an A line.  I'd go 4  inches maybe bigger than the waist and flare out a little from there. 

I ended up using an old tshirt for the underskirt and sewed them all to it, but it would be almost easier to make the underskirt in strips and then sew the strips together.  I don't know how many times I had to stop, turn it over and see the underskirt kept sneaking up under the needle where it wasn't supposed to be and I had to undo it all and start over. so annoying!!!

        

•   cut your strips and sew them right sides together on the ends.  I just ended up buying 1/4 yards of fabric and tearing the fabric every 4 inches once I straightened the fabric out.  If you buy fat quarters you will have to sew many smaller strips together and it will take longer and be more confusing to get the ruffle spread out evenly. 
• once fabric is sewn together iron over the edge 1/4" and repeat.  sew it down along the edge. 

• Baste along the other edge.  stop about 1/4 of the way along and cut your threads long, start from there again. do that the whole way around.  
• Pin your piece on your underskirt in fourths.  centering the side seams and middle where you should have stopped and started a new baste line.  Pull your threads to ruffle each section and spread it evenly.  pin in place. do your first ruffle right along the bottom. 

you can see in the picture at the top I made a casing for the elastic already but I'm not 100% sure it was a good idea or not.  I ended up moving it down later anyway.  I should have waited.  

• once it is all sewn down, zig zag the raw edges down and flip ruffle down.  I like my ruffles to lay down a bit and not stick out to show the underskirt so bad, so I top stitched the ruffle. 

               I did 5 ruffles and added a lining to mine so you wouldn't see the ugly stitching underneath. 

               It was all a miserable experience and I know there has to be an easier way to make this skirt.  It doesn't help that I'm tired, and I can't sew like I used to anymore.  I have to stop to nurse a baby, change diapers, snuggle, make meals.  I might have to think more on this skirt and figure out a way to make this look awesome.  

              I spaced my ruffles out every 2 inches or so and it was too long, so I sewed them closer at one point and it looked adorable!! only problem is I put in on her and it looked like a mini skirt. I couldn't get the spacing right and it still bothers me.  I cut it all apart after that and sewed on strips to sew it together and it ended up spaced like It did to start with.  AAAAHHHHA!!! SO, I took a needle and thread and ended up taking up a few ruffles by hand to make it a little shorter.  now it is at about the knee and it still doesn't look quite as cute as I'd hoped.  OH WELL!!!! I can't take anymore of this skirt! 

I added a cute bow to the back inside so she would know which way to put it on. 

and I made a diaper cover.  Ok, I bought some blanks online from ebay because making them is a pain. and I never have the extra fabric to make one.  I did applique on the Minnie Mouse head and bow. (I bought 6 blanks in different sizes for 10.00 including shipping.  People charge 12.00-14.00 for one just like this on etsy) 

I wish I would have made the skirt more of an A line like I mentioned earlier because I had to pull a bit to get the skirt up high enough to even see the applique. sigh.

        I found a baseball shirt and did a cute applique on it also.  It reminded me of when I was a kid.  Shirts "like" this, only not as cute, were really popular.  :) This shirt however was way too big, so the first thing I had to do was take it in and make it fit her. another extra thing I had not intended on. 

If you can see, I added a ric rac trim on the top ruffle to make the red pop more. 

Even though I have some SERIOUS regrets with this skirt, it turned out cute enough that she likes it and she could wear it in public and I won't be embarrassed.  :)

This is supposed to be a birthday gift for her, but with all the trying on the skirt and stuff, I don't know if I can wait.  she has already seen it right? not like it would really be a secret. 

I have said it before, but I feel all I do is copy other people.  I see ideas I like and think I can make that!!! I found this one here: 

it is $50.00 for the whole outfit, and after everything I just went though, it would have been WAY worth it to just buy one. :) If I had a surger, and a new sewing machine that had a ruffler foot this would have been cake. but I don't, so I make due.  It like those new appliance commercials for LG or whatever that say is it a 20 min faster wash cycle or a 20 min laugh cycle or something. talking about how you can spend more time with your kids rather than doing laundry or dishes.  Kinda the same concept for me.  Yeah, she doesn't NEED clothes like this, like you would NEED to cook and do laundry, but you get the idea. 

Ruffle Butt Onesies

    For my daughter's Halloween costume I decided she would be a little calf.  I feel like a cow and all she does is drink milk and cry, so it fits. :) plus the costume is adorable.  I feel like all I do is copy other people's ideas because I don't want to pay the price to have someone else make something I could make myself If I put in a little time and energy.  This is the outfit on etsy for sale:

http://www.etsy.com/listing/108671376/cow-belle-rufflebum-halloween-costume?ref=sr_gallery_13&ga_search_query=halloween+costume&ga_view_type=gallery&ga_ship_to=ZZ&ga_min=0&ga_max=0&ga_search_type=all&fb_source=message

My friend from Crafting Friends is making the hat to go with it:    http://www.facebook.com/pages/Crafting-Friends/180595232008676?ref=ts

I also ordered cow print leggings off of ebay for about 5.00. everyone else wanted to sell them for double that.  I'm ordering from China.  It will take longer to get here, but it was free shipping and i'm good with that. It's a good thing I'm prepared. :)

This is the onesie I finished today:

The ruffles took me forever! probably because I had a busy day of being a mom involved there, and my sewing machine was acting up again.  I still think it turned out great! 

I grabbed the wrong kind of heat and bond in the store and the package says not to sew.  I sewed it anyway. I didn't see any problems with it.  Come to think of it, maybe that is why my sewing machine is acting up. Guess it's time to clean my machine. 

     I also wanted to make a zebra print onesie for my baby to wear whenever.  The ruffles on the butt of this one turned out interesting.  I'll explain in a min. 

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This is the interesting part.  I wanted to try this a little different than the ones above.  I zig zagged the edges, opened up the onesie side seam to tuck the ends inside and stitch it closed. The pink turned out cute, but I couldn't get the zebra stripe sot work right.  When I was sewing this, like everything else I made, I winged it all.  I didn't measure strips and because I just eyeballed it, the strip was too big and not ruffly enough to be anything but a stip really.   I was using scraps left over from the canopy I did earlier and I didn't have much at all left.  I tried to sew on pink ribbon in the middle of it, I tried pink ruffly headband material, I tried a pink zigzag stitch to make it more interesting. I hated them all.  I ended up getting another strip and making a tiny ruffle.  The bad thing is the stripes were running the other way and it didn't change the look much.  OH WELL!! don't I say that a lot?! lets just say, it will have to do because I'm done.  after working on this all day and having a screaming baby and a trouble maker daughter I should be thankful it turned out as good as it did. I'm done looking at onesies for a while now. NEXT! 

Carseat Canopy

        There is something wrong with me. seriously. I wanted to get this sewn before I had Carli, so I started and finished this Thursday and I had her Friday. I'm nuts!

       The zebra print is a bit much, but it was cheap at walmart and I only a little left of the animal print after doing the carseat recovering and diaper bag. I had black fabric that was pretty much free that I purchased from a garage sale last summer. I used that for the inside.

I purchased this AWESOME pattern from:

http://www.etsy.com/shop/ElizabethWyatt?ref=seller_info

It is worth every penny! I'll tell you why!

 The canopy is extra long in the front and back and sides. The last one I had barely covered her feet in the front and it was always flying up in the wind. 

The back also has this awesome bustle that you can snap up and let the baby get some air without exposing her to sun and stuff. I'm still overwhelmed by zebra print. I really wish I would have gone with something not so loud.

The front has a zipper that you can open to see her, or give her some air and still block the sun while still allowing you to use the handle to cary her. I love the girly ruffle detail or you can do a less girly piping detail.

Inside there are 2 convenient toy loops that I always wished others had. They are placed right below the straps used to attatch the cover to the carseat.

            All these combined make for a very user friendly and cute canopy that baby can sleep comfortably under.

           While making this, I was so rushed that I didn't take my time to read instructions carefully and am used to patterns with a ton of step by step pictures. This pattern is a lot more like the patterns you purchase in the store. If I would have slowed down I would not have gotten frustrated during the zipper/front and back assembly process. AND I should know better than to cut the zipper short before the thing is done. SO DUMB!!!! that lead to a lot of safety pinning and taping to make sure it stayed the way it was supposed to before completion. I ended up adding a lot more time than needed and using my seam ripper way more than I like to just because I hurried. ANYWAY, it turned out fine and works! again, not perfect, but nothing of mine ever is. :)

Recovering my carseat

         When I went into the basement to check out the baby stuff after I found out I was having another girl, the carseat made me cringe. The underside of the lining was all beat up and melted and the top just was not cute. A long LONG time ago I bought the tutorial pattern from this etsy shop: http://www.etsy.com/shop/GeorgiaLeighDesigns?ref=seller_info with the intention to redo it when keira was using it.  I was terrified to try so I decided to do it now. My husband didn't even understand my fear of doing this and he could care less about this kind of thing. I am not a pro at sewing and i'm not AMAZING as everyone keeps saying.  The only thing that makes me impressive to others is the fact that I try stuff and with each try I get better and better. All they see is the end product. I guess I'm just super determined or something!

    All I got from the tutorial I purchased was basically take a seam ripper to it, take pictures of it as you go so you know how it goes back together and trace the pieces you took apart to make new pieces. if I would have known that, I would not have bought the pattern.  THEN I found this FREE tutorial online: http://www.makeit-loveit.com/2011/02/recovering-baby-car-seat.html  SIGH.

      My seat is a very simple, basic one that isn't very tailored or forgiving if it isn't PERFECT like the one it came with. I was afraid of that.  I wanted a seperate part up the middle, shown in black minke, so I cut it and added 1/4" to the cut edges of the new pieces to make it fit.

     This new one is not a very snug fit which I'm disapointed with, but it's still better than the last one.  I might figure out some sort of velcro to attatch it to the seat better. The back is not pretty and I probably should have used just plain black cotton to line it with because I had to replace the batting.  You don't want to leave batting exposed.  Instead I used pink fuzzy material I already had on hand.  it made it more poofy and bulky.  also, at the top of the seat lining are pleats that I didn't made big enough and I tried to fix after the binding was already on.  As long as you don't look underneath, it's an ok seat cover! :)

THE CANOPY

       The canopy was more intimidating to do than It should have been.  It was the most fun to do! most come from the store without an under side, so I did one for this. 

my favorite part is the ruffles I did!!! :) I can't wait to put my baby in it! now to make strap covers and a head rest.



Kitty Costume

            I wanted to make this for a long time and finally decided to do it!  I know i'm like a month early planning for Halloween, but that's just how I am.

I got this pattern from:  http://www.etsy.com/listing/81879609/diy-make-your-own-longalls-or-shortalls or http://www.etsy.com/shop/babykaysboutique?ref=seller_info. This pattern is so cute! I love it and it wears so comfortable and easy. Sewing these overalls was a lot faster than I thought as well. I will make these again for sure! Please ignore all the lint stuck to these in the pictures. My daughter doesn't want to take them off for a second and they are made out of velveteen. I chose this fabric because I got it in a huge box of fabric I purchsed at a garage sale for two bucks. There is a big roll of it in the box so I better use it! :)

   I added a tail to the back and wrote meow in fabric paint. I kind of regret the fabric paint idea, only because I'm not sure it even looks good. the bow was added above the tail so the letters wouldn't look so weird. sigh. It's just a halloween costume! :) right?

    This pattern calls for a lining, so I used fleece to keep her warm, and it's also stuff I had on hand. THANK YOU GRANDMA! My button holes are far from perfect, but they work!

  This is a collar I made her with ribbon and glued crystals and pearls on it. the ends are closed together using a hook and eye. my camera doesn't show this well, but the whole outfit uses pink and black.

Don't you just love her crazy hair?! first thing this morning she wanted it on!

Icecream Applique Overalls

Something SWEET for my little sweetie!

          Let me just say.... If you know me, you know I have a thing for overalls. :) I don't know why, I just love them! I saw someone make these and sell them on etsy. The woman is so nice and sweet and is charging a sweet price for these overalls. She even told me what fabric she used! I just can't afford them myself, and I hate the feeling of paying someone else to do something I can do myself. I drew the applique templates out by hand and traced them onto fabric. I then placed and heat n bonded them on. The most time consuming thing I did was stitch them all down. I don't have an embroidery machine and I think If I did, it would take all the fun out of applique for me! Yes things would look a lot crisper, but I love looking at the finished product and seeing my little tiny flaws and remembering how hard it was to make. It makes me feel good. My new favorite thing is applique lately. I love it! Making ruffles...... Not so favorite.  I again make those the old fashioned way and seem to always break the thread over and over again. This time around I had one of those hair pulling experiences. I also made my first peasant top for this outfit! I forgot to take pictures. It was easy and looks cute! I added a ruffle to the bottom of that too. sigh. :) I love the way they look, I endure the pain! :) Anyway, thanks for reading! Have a happy day!