A late Valentine's entry

You would think that Valentine's is over, but in my book you can "celebrate" it or keep decorations up for it until March 1st.  AND SO, I thought I would post this cute picture of my baby in her Valentine's skirt.  Of course this could be done with any material for any type of skirt.



I found the idea on Homemade by Jill that was featured on Kojo Designs blog.  Only modification I did was to gather the material before I added it to the knit fabric waistband.  Okay and I used a cotton fabric instead of the denim and did a rolled hem on the bottom of it.  It turned out pretty cute and would have only taken me less then an hour if I didn't mess up on the waist band and make it too tight at first and then waaaaay to big the second time.  (It would have helped if the model wouldn't have been asleep when I was making it - but that is what that seam ripper is for.  It has to get it's work in sometime.)

I'm also blaming my late posting on a slew of computer problems we have had the last couple of weeks, along with a job change for Dave.  So there are my excuses take it or leave it.

The Elastic Waist Skirt

I am so excited to post this skirt.  It was one of the easiest skirts I have ever made.  The Young Women in our church want to learn how to sew a skirt and have asked me and a handful of other people to help them to make these skirts.  So since I was going to be showing how to make it, I thought - perfect opportunity to make one for Kirsten.  Of course she is always happy to get a new skirt and especially if it is pink.  I used this same material that I made the artist smock from.  I saw one on Adventures in Dressmaking that actually lead me to the site Freshly Picked that has both a tuturial for a chld's skirt and the mama version.  I basically followed the directions with a couple of exceptions.  I did a rolled hem on the bottome edge, I gathered the skirt before adding it to the elastic and I added the cute ric rak because it was there and so dang cute.  I think I finished the whole thing - including cutting time in 45 minutes.  And that was with the thread changing and decisions on the ric rak. 

I used 2 inch wide elastic (20 inches) the size of Kirsten's waist plus an inch

11 inch by 45 inches for the skirt (length from waist to Kirsten's knee.)

Of course if you are going to make it you would measure your child and buy the fabric and elastic accordingly.  I found the elastic in the elastic section of JoAnn's and they have a 2 1/2 and 3 inch I believe, that would work better for a teanager or an adult.  I would guess based on Adventures in Dressmaking's measurements that 3/4 of a yard would work for most adults and possbily 1/2 yard for a teanager.  You would have to measure from your waist to the knee and find a measurement that is close.  I would probably add 1 to 2 inches for the gathering and the hem just to be safe.  You can always cut off if it is too long.

Since I wasn't crunched for time yesterday I made a bow.  I have been using the same bow instructions I found on Tip Junkie but this time I did a rolled serger hem and added the ric rak just for fun.  I use about 1 1/2 inches of fabric by the width of the fabric (about 45 inches) to make this kind of bow.