Wednesday, August 29, 2012

Urban Turban Skirt and Tutorial

Turbans are everywhere right now and I love them!  I've make a turban headband for Alaire but god knows we've already "lost it."  Sometimes I think she ditches hair accessories at the grocery store on purpose.  Anyway back to what I was talking about... Turbans. 
 I made Alaire this little Urban Turban Skirt. I am in love and now I want one for myself.  

"Haircut Horsey" as she is known around these parts couldn't be parted with : )




What you will need:
fabric- I used stretch knit
elastic for waist (I used 2")
sewing machine and other basic supplies
(Any measurements are for my 2 year old 2T wearing Lairi)


My two year old has a 19 inch waist and measures about 10 inches from hip to knee.

For the twisty turban pieces: 2 strips 4.5 x 60 (the width of the knit)  
For the skirt and lining: two rectangles 11x 18 (2 skirts and 2 linings)

**To make your own for a bigger or smaller kid trace a skirt or pair of shorts for the skirt pieces and add a little bit for seam allowances.  
I cut each strip into four pieces for a total of 8 pieces.  I put two strips together and sewed or serged the long sides and then turned them right side out.  You will end up with a total of four tubes.

To make the twists lay two pieces in an "x"

Take the top pieces and cross them 

To end up with

This!

And repeat with the other two pieces

I pinned/clipped one side in place leaving a half inch or more free at the top and the bottom.

I stitched it into place and then repeated the other side.    



The next step is to take both the skirt and the lining and sew the front to the back at the side seams.  Turn the skirt right side out and leave the lining wrong side out.

Slip the skirt inside the lining and match up the side seams.  Clip or pin the bottom raw edges together.  Make sure not to get the twisted pieces in the way of the seam allowance.


Stich or serge the edges together, all the way around.  It doesn't matter which method because these edges will be on the inside and never seen.  By the way, I used a serger on most of this project but you absolutely DO NOT need one for it.

Turn it right side out and put the lining inside.

Take the elastic and stitch the ends right sides together and then press down the seam allowances down and stitch them flat (as shown above).

Mark off four even sections of the elastic waist  and the skirt.  Clip or pin the elastic to the skirt, right sides together.  Stretch as you stitch from marking to marking.  Do this step slowly, as you may have to stretch it with both hands.

That's it.  This is a really quick sew.  You can wear it with the waistband exposed or turned inside.

I hope you like it.









I'm linking up to






Lil\'Luna

Friday, August 24, 2012

The last few weeks..

have been soooo busy.  We have been busy around our house trying to get some projects started and some finished.  We have had birthday parties and friends come to visit.  We went back to our families in South Dakota and Nebraska for Drew's class reunion, which was a freaking blast btw.  You would never think it, but Pierre, SD brings out the 21 year old in me ; )  All in all the few weeks of summer have been a lot of fun.  I am trying to tackle the organization side of things around the house.  There has been a lot of this going on:



Sadly that isn't even half of the products I had to go through.  When we decided to put in new floors in our bathroom I emptied everything from the bathroom closet and off of the counters to the corner of our bedroom.  We do have a generously sized bedroom but Drew was getting sick of looking at it and so was I.  He would walk by and wave his hand over it and look at me.  Translation:  pick up your shit and ps you have too much of it.   It was kind of like when you were a kid and your mom said I am going to throw this away if you don't pick it up.  I think he was one step above that.



I've never given away ANY of Alaire's clothes.  Ridiculous.  So, the fun has begun.  It is pretty fun to look through everything but some of it has to go and I am just keeping the stuff I think will last or is classic for baby and kids.  Of course I will keep things that I am attached to but currently my storage room is full to the ceiling with her baby clothes.

One of my best friends in the whole world, Kedrin, came to visit last week.  We made a list of things we wanted to do when she was here.  Let's see what we got done.  We went thrifting and drank a lot of wine in sweat pants.  One day we got up and got ready and went shopping all day and when we got back she said I can't believe I am not wearing any elastic at all today.  Cheers to that.  Kedrin also works from home most of the time.  She has her own business, which you should check out. Everything is handmade and beautiful.

Here is one of my craigslist findings that I am currently in the process of painting.  I am not going to lie.  This thing is a Thomasville and it was build to last.  It is sooo heavy.  I brought it into the house, and now I wish I would have left it outiside to spray instead of hand paint.  Oh well It is about 75 percent done so lesson learned.

I still have to find knobs that I love.  I bought some but I was rushing myself to buy them. 



Now, here is a blast from the past.  Magic Nursery Doll!!!! I found this for 6 doll hairs at Goodwill.  I thought it would be so fun to do with Alaire.  It was.  I'll post the pictures of the process another time.  Her reaction was priceless.




See that beaut?? Believe it.  I bought that horrific hand painted craft fail for 12 bills.  For the first time EVER I literally took it out of the car and painted it right away. It is going in my in home salon for storage.

Yup, that's right I am putting in a salon.  I have a huge blank laundry room where it is going.   I have been wanting to put something in my home for a while.  A few of my friends have done it and they say "you won't look back"  We actually have all of the plumbing and most of the equipment in.  I just have to patch all of the holes from things I removed from the walls and then paint.  My goal is finish all of the painting by Labor Day.  

Alaire of course doesn't care about the paint.  She loves it.  She wants her hair washed and BLOWN OUT.  I think I ruined her today with her first blow out.  She even requested hat we listed to ballet music while she gets her hair done.  She also HAD to wear a cape.  Sweet girl, I am so sorry to your future spouse because there is a chance that you will be high maintenance 




Maybe one day she will learn to do a blow dry and return the favor.  Even Drew came home from work and said what did you do to Alaire's hair today?  It looks really good.  

We seriously had the best day today.  I gave her a blow out and then we got out this My Little Pony play dough toy, which I also found brand new at a thrift store.  You put the play dough in it and it "grows" hair so that you can cut it.  SHE LOVED it.  The only problem is she can't reload the play dough and she cut that things hair off about 50 times before lunch.  My fingers hurt.  I put up a picture of this on instagram and said "Try to tell me that your job is more awesome than mine."  I love staying home with Alaire.  I never pictured myself to be a stay at home mom but now I can't picture doing anything else but playing hair cut pony, dance party, and her new favorite salon!

I cannot believe she is going to be starting preschool next week.  She is only going one day a week but I think she will be begging for more.  Alaire talks about school and her backpack and her lunch bag all day long.  The funniest thing she has said about it so far is, "I am going to teach my teacher how to be a  ballerina."  You go girl!  
I hope everyone has a great weekend.  We are going to the neighbors tonight for a party and then tomorrow we have a birthday party for one of Alaire's friends.





Saturday, August 4, 2012

Buttonhole Halter Dress

I hope everyone is having a great weekend.  We are battling through some dragging fevers and coughs.  Summer sickness is just the worst!  Poor Alaire won't eat anything, so we took her out for ice cream (as responsible parents do).  If you have kids you just know the desperate feeling to get them to eat SOMETHING sometimes, especially when they are sick.  

I am currently "under the gun" if you will on about 100 different projects right now.  If I finish one, I will share it!  I have a garage full of furniture, which must get finished and moved into the house.  My husband has a rule he sometimes throws out at me.  "Nothing comes in the garage until something goes into the house"  He's right.  I get crazy and buy more than I can handle, but sometimes you just won't find the piece again or for the right price. 

I did find the old China cabinet/hutch for my craft room last week, too bad I only could fit half of it in my car.  The dude (I meant dude) I bought it from says he will deliver the top of it on Monday (crossing my fingers he will, but not holding my breath)  So in the mean time here is a project I have finished.

This is a quick dress I made for Alaire last month out of Drew's old button up and a scrap of stretch knit.   At the time I should have been cleaning out my side of the closet, which I actually did today.  But anyway, for some reason I was looking through his shirts that he doesn't wear or are too small.  I found this blue striped button up.   Here is what I did to make the dress:

I cut the shirt under the arms.  This is going to be your skirt piece.

I took piece of elastic, the measurement of Alaire's ribcage and zig-zag stitched it to the top of the skirt piece.  I stretched the elastic while sewing to gather it.  (You could also just gather the waistband too with thread)


I made a tube out of the stretch knit.  (width= chest measurement and length is double the finished bodice piece)  Alaire is a 2T and I made mine 20x7.5.   I used an old polo for the blue knit and used a piece that was already hemmed.  If you don't use a pre hemmed piece, you can just hem it. (Fold the end under twice and top stitch)

Turn the skirt and the tube inside out.  Slip the tube over the skirt piece and align raw edges. The right side of the tube should be touching the wrong side of the skirt. Stitch all the way around.


Flip the skirt right side out and it should look like the photo above.

As you can see here is the pre hemmed edge.  Bring it down to right above the elastic stitching on the right side of the skirt, as pictured above.  Stitch all the way around.  

Sew a button hole through the center of the bodice.

Make a long tube out of extra material or use a piece of ribbon to thread through the button hole.  
Annd... BOOM  you have a Buttonhole Halter Dress. 

It is really cute on.  It is really airy and comfortable too.  My model (Alaire) runs wayyy too fast when I try to get pictures of her in new dresses.  I have to wait until she is actually wearing them for the day to get a photo.  
Enjoy the rest of the weekend. I am off to eat a bowl of Chili and watch the Olympics!  I know I know it is crazy hot out, but sometimes when it hits the end of the summer (insert sad face)  I start getting ready for fall and football season, so Chili just sounded good.