Twirly Skirts Pattern

Several people have asked me about my pattern for the twirly skirts. I usually direct them to Ruth's Blog @ http://sewchic.blogspot.com/ to take a look at her pattern but my pattern is for smaller girls in the 5-8 size range so it might be helpful to see this pattern, too.

This is a picture of the pattern. I placed it on my 1" gridded cutting board so you could get an idea of the measurements. You might be able to see where I shortened it by about 1" at the top. It seemed to be a little too long above the flare. The smaller one is for my 5 yo DGD and the larger one is for my 7 yo DGD. It's an evolving pattern! I serged the elastic on for the waistband then turned it over and top stitched it.

Oh and I cut the pattern out of the soil separator from Lowes/Home Depot.

DGD Made a Twirly Skirt

Last week 7 yo DGD came to sew. I had the fabric for her to make a twirly skirt. She is making herself a twirly skirt here. There are 8 gores/panels in the skirt and she did a great job stitching them together. I helped her finish it by serging on the elastic and using the hem foot to put a tiny shirt tail hem in it. She hasn't tried the serger yet but she can control the sewing machine quite well. She actually made two of these that day. She wore one of them home.

Blindstitch hemmer

My 110 volt foot control for my blind stitch machine finally came on Thursday. I tried it immediately just to see if it would run and it did. Today I tried it out for a hem. After two broken needles and a little of this #$%^ to try to get a new one in and get it threaded I achieved success!! Here is a close up of the hem. Not bad, huh?

I made DGD a dress from a cut out panel that a friend had given me and hemmed it with the new hemmer. It worked well. I did have to adjust the "bite" and the tension some. The thread kept breaking and the needled broke twice. It really is a bear to get rethreaded. The holes in those needles are very small and the angle at which you come at it is not direct. I makes for some tedious threading.

Also the dress was too short as printed on the panel so I separated the yellow from the checked and inserted the blue piece for more length. The one I made earlier for the younger DGD was long enough. It is pictured in an earlier post. This is the completed sundress.

Butterfly

This is a beautiful butterfly I spotted on the yellow lantana yesterday. If you know what kind it is let me know.

Twirly Skirts

I saw some skirts posted by Ruth on SewChic. I modified the measurements and directions to suit my two granddaughters who are 5 & 7 years old, cut a pattern for each of them and stitched them up. The first one was a wearable "muslin". I used an attached waistband with elastic inserted. I serged the bottom edge. turned that serged edge up, and top-stitched the hem for the first one.The next time I simplified it by using a cut on waistband and stitching the elastic to the top of the skirt. For the next two I used the narrow hem foot on my machine for the hem. They are so easy to make. They really look better on but I don't have my "models" handy. I have a couple more pieces to make them matching ones.

Small shoulder bags

I made these shoulder bags for my two granddaughters (ages 5 & 7). They told me they wanted some and I asked them to draw a picture of what they wanted. I made a pattern using their pictures as a guide. I made the red/orange one first as a trial. It has a snap at the top and a tone on tone monogram on one side. You can click on the picture to see the monogram better.


Then I found this scrap of tapestry that I had left over from another project. It was just enough for me to place the pattern and cut these out on the beach scenes. These have zippers in the tops. The pattern itself is still evolving.

Sun dress

Back and front view of a preprinted sun dress. This fabric comes printed with the dress parts on it. No pattern needed. All you need to do is determine the size, cut it out on that line, and stitch it up. They go together very nicely and are fun to make. It's hard to find them anymore. A friend sent me this one. The size range was 2-6. I chose to make this one a size 5. I guess I need to take new pictures because I pressed the hem and top-stitched the bodice after the pictures

Pink Doll Outfit

Doll Jacket, Pants and sweater. The secret is that the sweater was made from a pair of socks.

Doll Clothes

These are some of the doll clothes I've made for my two granddaughters. They have been learning to ice skate so I made them skating outfits for Christmas. I made a matching one for the doll.

Lace Cap Hydrangeas

This variegated Lace Cap Hydrangea plant is one that I rooted from a cutting from a friend. It does better every year. It's about 3 years old.

Begonias

Begonias are easy to grow here. At the end of the summer I plant them in the ground and they usually come back the next spring. I didn't have any luck with that this year so I had to replace all of them. I like the green leaf pink ones. I think the name is Olympia Pink.
Sometimes I put them in a pot all by themselves and sometimes I mix in lblue obelia, white or pink bacoba, petunias, pink or purple verbena, and a little variegated vinca vine for added green.

Hydrangeas

It's too hot here today for much gardening, so I took some pictures this morning. This hydrangea is beside the porch. It is a plant that I propagated a few years ago. The drain from the central AC drips on it's roots and keeps it watered in the summer. The same plant has both pink and blue flowers.