Plaid cloned skirt

A  few years I made my eldest daughter a skirt that she wore her first day of school.

Heres the picture from the first day of school a few years ago but you can barely see the skirt.

This all began the week before school started.  I was minding my own business when out of nowhere Pinterest attacked me.  That's not how it really how it went but close enough. Lol!  I was looking for outfit ideas for my tween when I can across this photo on Pinterest.  I felt like this photo slapped me. Why didn't I think of this Look before.  I could not seem to find a pattern to achieve the Look that I was going for.

So I made this skirt and now a few years later I need to make this skirt again as part if a cosplay costume.

I figured I would share the steps I did the first time to accomplish this look.

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I used this skirt as a guide for size and construction.

 Here's the beautiful fabric that I picked up at Joanns

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Instead of making a pattern piece I laid the skirt on the fabric.  I cut the fabric an inch longer and 4 inches longer to have enough fabric to create the pleats.

 
 I serged the edges for a clean finish look.

The beautiful inside.

To create the pleats I pinned the fabric an inch wide.

After pinning, I handed basted it.

Once done I measured the from to the back piece to ensure that it would be a perfect fit

Created a 1 inch hem at the bottom if the skirt.

After basting all of the pleats, took the fabric to the machine.

I hand basted the pleats to ensure that every pleat was the same size. 

Here's a closer look at the serging.

Next up is pressing.

Heres a picture of the inside before serving the seams.   This fabric really frayed

Heres my finished skirt!

I hope this was helpful.  Have a wonderful day.

Pink Cheetah McCall 7634

A few weeks ago I purchased some fabric from Mood fabric online Mood fabric is the fabric supplier for Project Runway and Project Runway Junior.   Some day I will visit the store in New York.

I bought some really great pieces on this website.  My tween fell in love with a pink cheetah print jersey fabric .  I knew I had to make her something that was cute but a little edgy because she's a preteen.  After looking through my pattern stash I found McCall 7634.

I purchased this pattern for her to make in a sweatshirt fabric.  I decided to use this jersey print fabric and make some modifications to the pattern.

Modifications
Number one I removed the center front placket that will have the grommets instead I folded the fabric in half  and cut it on the center front in a straight line.

Number two instead of cutting the long sleeves I cut the sleeves about 6 inches long and omitted the ribbed cuff and omitted the rib edge of the dress.

Number three I lengthen the skirt by 2 1/2 inches .

Number four instead of cutting the back on the fold I cut it so that I would have a central back  seam.

This project was completed in one night it took about four hours with all of the modifications from cut of pattern pieces to hem of the dress.
. My daughter wore this dress the very next morning.  Unfortunately, II forgot to take pictures of my daughter wearing this dress.  I will have to take photos the next time she wears it.

I absolutely love this dress and how it looks on my daughter I'm not sure if I'm going to make this pattern again maybe next time I'll make it the way it is intended with the front placket and the grommets.

 Mood fabric
This was my first time ordering from Mood Fabric.  I am very happy with my purchase.

Sewing Pattern Review

Pattern Description:

Misses' Knit Tops, Dresses, Shorts, and Pants
Loose fitting tops and dresses have pocket, length and hem variations. A, C, D: Rib knit cuffs and bands. Fitted pull on shorts and pants have rib knit waistband.
 

Pattern Sizing:

I cut a size 14
 

Did it look like the photo/drawing on the pattern envelope once you were done sewing with it?

Not exactly because I made him some out of Modifications to the pattern
 

Were the instructions easy to follow?

The pattern instructions were pretty easy to follow us get quite a few stops because I made some modifications.

What did you particularly like or dislike about the pattern?

there's nothing to this like about this pattern.
 

Fabric Used:

Knit from Mood Fabric.
 

Pattern alterations or any design changes you made:

Please see conclusion.
 

Would you sew it again? Would you recommend it to others?

I will definitely make this pattern again probably in a sweater or sweatshirt fabric for the winter which is typically kind a like fall weather but it sounds Florida and with the Romans as originally intended for this pattern
 

Conclusion: 

 When I made this pattern my daughter and I had plans to go out the following day.  I wanted to make something really quick.  This dress took about four hours to make but I made quite a few modifications.   I folded the front of the dress I cut the front of the dress on the fold and omitted the steps for the Grommets.  I knew that skipping the grommets would shave an hour or two half.

The following day when she worked she looked great in the dress I do kind of wish that I had made this dress with grommets.  

Striped Handkerchief Dress

Who does not love a handkerchief hem dress?  I am absolutely in love with them!!!  They add such a beautiful illusion to the hem.  This dress was inspired by a RTW I saw in Nordstrom's.  Unfortunately, they did not have anymore dresses in my daughter's size.  That's the great part about sewing! 

When I started this project I studied a handkerchief skirt. It didn't take long to figure out how to achieve the handkerchief hem. I traced this pattern by using a straight dress.

At the waistline, I added 2 large squares, one square on each side.

My daughter loves to twirl in dresses.

Stripes:

Side View

Back View

Matching the stripes was easy...at first. Yes, I said it--EASY!  I pinned the front and back pieces together matching the stripes.  When I started to sew my pieces on my machine everything went haywire. I was working with a jersey knit which stretches. To keep the stripes aligned I moved very slowly.

First time:

• Sewing a dress using a RTW garment as the pattern piece
• Sewing a handkerchief dress
• Making my own bias tape
• Working With stripes

I would like to make this dress again with a fuller skirt.  Kind of like this:

If you know how I can achieve this look please leave comments in the field box below.