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.

Self Draft Ankara Skirt

😏Good day all!  Happy Monday!!!

This is what happens when you are determined to have a new skirt!  A few weeks ago, I entered my local fabric store and instantly fell in love with this fabric!  Can you blame me?

I do not have any skirts with a double flounce so I decided to make one.  The joys of sewing your own wardrobe.

It did not take long to make.  One and a half yards of fabric and 2 hours later, I had a new skirt. 

In order to make this skirt. I drafted a pencil skirt.  After fitting the pencil skirt, the remaiing fabric was cut into lare strips. The strips were sewn together and then gathered on one side.  I decided to wrap the fabric on top of the skirt and sew the strips on top.  

I wore this skirt to church and there was a lot of stares. :-)

My eldest daughter and I had amazing time at church.

Books

I read every book from the Bane Chronicles.  They are pretty quick reads.  It's entertaining to read the course of events in Magnus Banes point of view. 

This week, I have started reading "The Jewel" by Amy Ewing.  It really reminds me of the “Divergent” series by Veronica Roth.

This book is the first book of the “ The Lone City” trilogy.  The story line is placed in a world where the Royal family needs surrogates. This book is a page turner.  You guys should really check it out.  

What have you been up to this week? 

New Years Eve Skirt

I had about an hour before I had to leave for work.  I decided that I wanted a new skirt to wear to church tonight.  35 minutes later, I made this.  Can you believe it!  This beginner sewer made a skirt with no pattern.  Watch out now!!

Fabric-black knit with gold specks from Joann.  My photos does not do this fabric justice..

I wore my new skirt with a black peplum top and some heels.

This past week, I haven’t done much sewing since then.  I seriously injured my right thumb.  The pain is horrible and I can’t baste or use scissors.  So I’ve caught up on some of my shows.  Hopefully in a week or so, I will be back to full speed.

What have you made this year?  What are your plans for his month?  Happy Sewing!

No Sewing

I was off yesterday!  You're thinking that's great!  It wasn't.  Usually on my days off, I get one project done and make progress on my month long project.  I started off with Simplicity 1382. I haven't made much progress on it and I wanted to complete the bodice. 5 minutes in my infant started crying.  I tried to calm her down and return to my sewing machine. She was not having that! She made me fall asleep with her.  Yes she MADE me fall asleep.  With force!  Hehehe. She must of known that I was exhausted so instead of me calming her down she calmed me down.
By the time we woke up it was time to pick up the kids from school.  After that, I spent the rest of the night running around.  I guest it wasn't meant to be.

Last night I attended Museum Night at my kids school. They were docents and presented their projects. #ProudMom.

I decided to wear my MimiG flutter top with a self-draft skirt I made last year.

I love wearing this outfit.  It makes me feel so girly.

 

Review

Pattern Description:

Knit Pencil Skirt

 

Pattern Sizing:

I took my hip and waist measurements and divided measurement by two.  I cut the length 23 inches long.  The finish length measurement is 21 inches

 

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

This is a self-draft skirt

 

Were the instructions easy to follow?

I did not have any instructions to follow.  I looked at some of my Ready to Wear (RTW) skirts to kind of guide me with the process.

 

What did you particularly like or dislike about the pattern?

Nothing to dislike.

 

Fabric Used:

Floral print ITY found at my local fabric store.

 

Pattern alterations or any design changes you made:

None

 

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

I will sew this pattern again because it came out cuter than I thought it would.

 

Conclusion:

I made this skirt in the beginning of my sewing adventure.  I found it in my closet the other day and knew it would look cute with my Mimi G Flutter top.  I will make this top again.  Maybe in a solid fabric.

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.