Skirt tutorial

Last night I put together this skirt for my daughter out of some scrap fabric. I used less than a 1/2 of a yard of fabric. Here is a quick tutorial



Cut the fabric from salvage to salvage in the lengths shown above. (they are folded in half in the picture) So, your main piece (flower fabric) is salvage to salvage x 7" and so on.

Pin the three inch piece to the 7 inch piece together, right sides facing. Sew them together with a straight stitch. If you are lucky enough to have a serger, serge your edges now. If you are unlucky to have a serger (like me), just zig zag stitch your seams together.



Pin the 4 inch piece to the other side of the main piece, right sides together and straight stitch together, followed by a serged edge or a zig zag stitch.



Pin the raw edges together, right sides facing.


Because your pieces are cut right to the salvage edge, make sure that when you sew your seam, you don't have any of the salvage edge coming through. Sew with a straight stitch and finish with your serger or zig zag stitch.



Now get out the iron and ironing board. Don't skip this step!!! Ironing your seams will leave you with a nicer finish on your finished project. On the 4 inch side, iron down 1/4 inch.



Now iron it down in half so that the ironed edge of your fabric hits at your previous seam (where the 4 inch fabric meets the main fabric).



Top stitch this seam, leaving a 1 inch gap to run your elastic.



Now iron down 1/4 on the opposite side (the 3 inch fabric strip).


Now fold that hem over and iron again.


Sew a simple straight stitch.


You should now be left with this. Simply cut a piece of elastic to fit your childs waist and thread it into the 1 inch opening. Sew the elastic together and sew the 1 inch hole closed.

Enjoy this super simple skirt!!!

S.Y.T.Y.C.

I haven't been religious about posting every day... even though we do "create" something almost every day. Tomorrow, though, I have 2 great things to share with you. One is my first tutorial! YAY! I may even have a few more coming in the near future as well! Stay tuned and check back tomorrow sometime!


This was my crappy entry for S.Y.T.Y.C. last week:

Ok, so it probably wasn't all that crappy except the HORRIBLE pictures I took. Me, the professional photographer used a horrid picture. Why you ask? Because I finished it at 3 in the morning and needed to submit it before I woke Caden up for school in the morning. Blah. It really looks awesome in person and I will post a better picture soon. I think I would have probably done better had I taken a better photo. I made the frame out of wire hangers and covered it with fabric. I'll post more info about it in the near future... probably anyway! :)

Little Superhero!

For Abrams second birthday I made him a superhero cape and mask. Both were extremely easy sewing projects. I plan on posting a tutorial for the cape in the very near future (after I finish my next S.Y.T.Y.C craft). There are some online, but I have a few handy tricks that I want to show you. Wouldn't this be a great gift for a birthday party? Look for that tutorial very soon!



Abram was so excited to get a cape! I had made Caden and Alanna capes a couple of years ago. needless to say, Abram has played with their capes for so long... probably more than they ever have.

Summer Dress

Here is a summer dress I adapted from Dana's vacation dress pattern. Alanna LOVES it and it's so cute and airy for summer. It cost me less than 3 dollars to make too!!! LOVE IT!

Alanna's favorite part is the big pockets. What little kid wouldn't love big pockets to hold lots of little trinkets?

awesome crafts!

Here are some of my absolutely favorite crafts! Check these out!


How amazing and simple is this idea???? It's such a simple and easy way to transform a cheap sandal! Check it out on Shannon's blog Shannon Makes Stuff.



This is another one I WILL be doing with the kids. Such an amazing idea and another simple one too! This one is from Kalleen. You can find it on her blog At Second Street



Here is another great one... A maternity panel for your jeans... brilliant! You can find them on Sarah's blog at Create Studio


These dyed rice filled vinyl easter eggs are super adorable! Dana made these on her blog Made. She also made shamrocks for st. patty's day.


This is such a great idea and so cheap and easy too! I might have to do this. This is from Disney and Ruffles and Stuff.

Those are just a few fun ones I love right now.

Tea Party!!!

I have been soooo consumed with Alanna's birthday party lately. Hence, the lack of posts. Her party was on Sunday afternoon and it turned out so much cuter than I had envisioned! We had a little tea party with her and 4 of her friends. Because it was a kind of last minute thing, I didn't have enough games and activities planned, but I think the girls enjoyed it none the less.


I made the different size pom poms from using Martha Stewart's tutorial. I had three sizes. For the big ones I used full sheets, the medium were half sheets and the small ones were quarter sheets. They were so easy to make, just a bit time consuming. I simply used a cheap disposable table cloth, a cheap garland I bought from Michaels placed around the centerpiece, and a whole lot of pink M&M's found on sale after Easter. Oh, and for tea... apple cider (my husbands idea).


This was the centerpiece. It was simply a vase filled with pink M&M's, chocolate covered Marshmallows (pink chocolate from Michaels), and little pink butterfly suckers. I cut the suckers to be different lengths. It was definitely a hit!


This is Alanna's friend Emily, chowing down the oh so yummy marshmallows.


I made tutu's for all the girls and the girls decorated straw hats for their craft. How cute are they?

S.Y.T.Y.C

This blog has been so overly neglected! :( Between the craziness of preparing my photography business for this summers weddings and expos, prepping for two of my children's birthday parties, easter, and being a mom of four, I have been so absent minded about posting on here. LOTS of posts are coming... really... they are! I have a few more things to post from Alanna's dress up box, the finished car seat cover for a friend and a few things from the kids birthday parties.



BUT, for now.... I made it on S.Y.T.Y.C!!! YAY! I was so unsure if Alanna's play kitchen could pull it off, but it did. Session 3 starts on the 19th, so stay tuned!

I will have a new blog up in the next few days too! It will look just like my business blog! :) YAY!