A New Take

One great thing about finding an easy pattern is that you can adjust it.  When I started making the Peasant Top I couldn't stop thinking about other ways to alter it.  This is my newest creation.  Everything about this top is pretty much the same.  Follow the original tutorial until it is time to sew up the sides.

Either use the same material as you did for the main shirt, or find a coordinating fabric like I did.  Cut two strips of fabric at about 2 1/2" wide by whatever length you feel necessary.



Fold your pieces in half right sides together and iron them flat.



Sew the strips closed leaving one end open.

I always trim my edges down a bit so that it lays nicer.  Then flip your tubes.  I definitely would purchase a kit to do this, otherwise it can be a real beast!  Iron your piece flat.

Now it is time to decide where you want to place your strips.  I chose about 3" down from the arm pit.  Your main piece should still be right sides together.  My strips were quite a bit long so I had pull some extra fabric through.  The finished edge of your strips should be inside the shirt.  The piece you can see in the picture is the raw edge that I will cut off after.  Pin your strip into place and sew up the sides.  Do this to both sides making sure that they are even.

Finish the shirt exactly like the rest of the pattern.  When you finish this is what the back of the shirt should look like.  I made this shirt a tad wider because I knew it would be pulled back by the ties.  And a quick shout out to Walmart (we have been on a little better terms lately) for all the fabric I have found there lately.  The yellow fabric above... $0.75!

Shopping on a Budget

Since leaving Utah, Shawn and I have obviously gone from two incomes down to one. It used to be that I could go and buy things we needed (within reason of course!) and not really worry about it. With summer coming and not really having the extra money to support Tana's wardrobe I have been spending a lot of time trying to make the most of our money. I have to say that I think I have been doing pretty good, too. It also helps that there is NOWHERE to shop in Cheyenne!

We ran to Walmart today to pick out a present for Landon's new BFF.  I decided to quickly look through the toddler's section.  Sadly, there was nothing, but I noticed a ton of $1 and $2 signs in the older girl's.  While looking through what they had, and hating that they didn't come smaller than a 4, I decided to grab just a couple shirts and see if I could do something to them.  And at $1 a piece I figured I could buy a few and not worry too much about it.

I started by cutting off about half of the sleeves.  I wanted the sleeves to hit at about the elbow.

I had a couple ideas for the sleeves, but this one won out because of convenience.  I folded the raw edge of the sleeve under, pressed it with the iron, and then added a few pins.

 To make sure that my sleeves would end up the same length I folded the shirt in half, lined up the shoulder seams, and then lined up the bottom of the sleeves.  This way I could know exactly where to fold the second sleeve.

I stitched the sleeve closed by lining up the edge of the sleeve with the foot.

I wanted to add a double stitched edge because that is what is along the bottom of the shirt, so I lined up the first stitch to the edge of the foot and sewed around again.

To create the elastic bottom I cut out a scrap piece of fabric.  My piece was about 1.5" wide and just the length of the material I had.  Do make sure that the material will go all the way around your shirt.  You are creating a casing for your elastic to go into to.

Take the scrap piece and fold over both edges about 1/4" and iron down.  This way you will not have any raw edges showing.

Turn your shirt inside out and decide where you want to add your elastic.  Pin your casing into place with the raw edges turned in towards the shirt.  Pin around the entire shirt.

I started with the bottom seam because it was a lot easier to follow the bottom seam that was already there.  Sew around the entire piece of material.

Next, start sewing the top of the material closed, but this time do not close the seam shut.  Leave about an inch opening to add your elastic.

Cut your piece of elastic to about 1/2" larger then where it will hit your child.  Thread the elastic through the casing.

Sew the two pieces together making sure that they are facing the correct way.  Trust me on this!  I have sewed them twisted before.  Also make sure that you sew through elastic with a zig-zag stitch.  Trust me on that one, too!!

Once you have the elastic in the casing, sew it shut.

Flip your shirt right side out and admire your work.  Now I just need to try it on the little diva!  Adding the elastic makes any shirt that would normally be too big, fit quite a bit better.

New Favorite Shirt

I have been on quite the sewing kick lately.  I have also been scouring the internet for shirt patterns.  It seems like I find a million skirts, but shirts are a little harder to come by.  I did find this tutorial and adjusted it to a shirt.  I figure you could do that to a lot of dress patterns. 

The great thing is that they are pretty easy and really cheap.  For the top shirt I made my own bias tape, but for the bottom shirt I used the packaged tape.  Making your own bias tape can be a little time consuming, but I plan on heading out to Hobby Lobby this week and buying one of the bias tape tools that I have seen.

I did improvise on one part.  It said to sew the bias tape shut but my machine was not liking the idea.  I was having an extremely hard time maneuvering the small piece of material through my machine.  Instead I sewed the bias tape to the shirt up until the top of the bodice and stopped there.  To close the remainder of the bias tape I used Heat and Bond.  Worked like a charm!

Peasant Top

Holy Hannah!  I have been trying to upload this blog post for almost a week now, but Blogger has been struggling.  But to much perseverance I have prevailed!!

Summer is coming (well... not really...) and Savanah's summer wardrobe is pretty sparse.  I am still enrolled in SA (Skirtaholics Anonymous) and have been making great progress, so I have been trying my hand at some tops instead.  This peasant looking top is so easy and you can change it up a ton.  I have made several already in different variations.  Savanah is in 2T clothing, so this is made to fit her.  You would obviously need to adjust the sizing for your child.  I began by cutting two pieces of fabric 14" wide by 16" long for the main bodice.  I then cut two pieces 6" wide by 12" long for the arms.

A quick tip: I always struggled making arm holes for shirts.  I would look at other tutorials that would say "go over two inches and down six inches and cut it in a J shape" and blah blah blah...  It NEVER worked for me.  Enter my brilliant idea that I am sure most of you have already figured out.  I took one of Savanah's tank tops and traced the shape.  Like DUH!!!  It makes the process a million times easier.

Take your two bodice pieces and line them up wrong sides together.  Then fold them in half hot dog style.  This way you can cut all of the arm holes at once.

 With the arm pieces line them up the same, wrong sides together, and fold in half lining up the short ends.  If this doesn't make sense, basically you are lining up the two sides that are 6" long.  Again, cut of the arm holes.  I accidentally took this picture the wrong way, but whatever.

Take one of the bodice pieces and one of the arm pieces and line them up with right sides together, and pin around the arm hole.  Sew from the top of the arm hole to the bottom. 

Take your other arm piece and sew it to the other side of your bodice piece.  When you have them both sewn on it should look like this.

Now take your other bodice piece and line up the arm holes again.  If you look at the picture above you will see when I have the two sides pinned.   

Once you have the final two sides sewn you piece should look like this.  You can see where the bodice and the arm pieces are sewn together on this side. 

 Next, line up the sides on the shirt.  I began by lining up the seem of the armpit so that it was even.  Sew up the side and the small edge of the sleeve.  You can see that there is only about 1" of the sleeve that needs to be sewn, up in the top right corner of the shirt.

 Once both sides are sewn you will want to hem to bottom.  I chose to make the hem a little larger.  I folded the bottom 1/4" and ironed it flat.  This way my edges would look finished.  Then I folded the bottom about another inch to make the final hem. 

 Sew the hem closed near the top of the fold.

 Now onto the arms.  Again, I folded the material 1/4" to hide the raw edges.  Then fold your edge about another 1/4" to create the final hem.  Sew into place.  This was a little tricky because the arm holes are a little small.  Go slow!

To finish the top, you are going to want to make a basic casing. 

 I made my casing about an inch wide.  I did this because I wanted to have a piece at the top that looked a little more finished.

 After folding, and ironing, I sewed a straight line across the entire top of the shirt about the width of my sewing foot.

 Then I measured down to a little more then how wide my elastic was.  I am pretty sure I used 1/2" elastic.  Sew another seam below the top seam, but leave a large enough space to thread your elastic through.  Also, don't forget to back stitch!

 Cut your elastic to about 1" larger then your child's chest size.  Thread your elastic through and admire my beautiful manicure!

 Sew the two pieces of elastic together using a zig-zag stitch.  This is very important and I just figured it out!

Sew the hole closed and admire your new top!

Winner, Winner, Chicken Dinner

Is the anticipation killing you?  There were really only thirteen total entries, so it was between six of you.  Your odds were pretty dang good!  I also had to adjust a few things for those of you that forgot to leave separate comments for each entry.  But alas, only one can triumph...

So, because of the adjusts, the winner is Amber!  Congrats!!  Send me Abby's measurements (waist size and from waist to knee).  Also send me you style and color preference and your address so I can ship it out.  I will give you two days to get back to me.

Boo-Ya!

I did it!  It only took me awhile (like 2 hours) but I finally figured out how to make a button.  It isn't the most unbelievable thing, but it's a start.  So, be a dear and pass it on!

Now my bragging must end, because I have no idea how to show you my button on this post (That kind of sounds dirty!).  If you take a quick looksy to your left, you can grab my button right over there.

Earrings

It is probably not news to anyone that I have a TON of scrapbook stuff.  Much to Shawn's dismay.  I have been trying to be better about using it rather than hoarding it like I have been doing.  I was going through some of my brads the other day and had an idea.

In the jewelry section at Hobby Lobby they sell a ton of supplies for different types of jewelry.  I had heard about these studs on another blog and found the size I needed.  I went with the smaller sized circle (6MM Flat Post).  I would like to add that I just dug through my garbage can to find the packaging so that I could tell you the size!  That is what I like to call dedication.  They come in a pack of 36 (18 pairs of earrings, unless you have tragically lost a lobe, to which I am sorry) for $2.99.  I, of course, went when they were half off and got them for $1.50.  Using a pair of scissors, snip off the posts of the brad that you push through the paper.  Not really sure if they have a name or not.  It is really easy to clip them off and some brads, like the flowers, just pop off.  Using E-6000 place a small amount of glue to the post of your earring and then attach it to the back of the brad.  I allowed mine to dry for at least 24 hours before I messed around with them.

The possibilities are endless.  I have even seen some people do this with buttons.  Now, I just need to get Tana's ear pierced!

Giveaway!

In light of my failure to win the big $1500 room makeover at Vintage Revivals, I have decided to throw an EVEN BIGGER giveaway on my own blog!  A trip to Paris!!

Yeah, right.  Not going to happen.  I can't even afford to send myself to Paris.  But I am doing a giveaway.  I really want to get my blog out there more and my sister had this good idea.  I am offering one lucky follower a skirt and satin hair clip of their choice.  I will even let you pick the style and basic color.  Once you are chosen I will send you links of the different skirts I make, or if you have a link to one you love send it over, too.  You will also need to send me a couple measurements so we know it will fit your little princess.  Don't have a little diva? (LUCKY!)  I am sure you all know of one you could give it to.

Now, how to enter:

1. One entry for following my blog.

2. One entry for posting about it on your blog or Facebook.

3. One entry for every person you get to follow my blog.  Meaning, when you make the comment, tell me "I got so and so to follow your blog".

Remember to leave a separate comment for each item.  Also, just so people are aware following just means that when I add a new post, it shows up in your news feed on your home page of your blog.  And you CAN follow even if you don't have a blog.

The giveaway will end Tuesday at midnight.  I will announce the winner sometime on Wednesday.

Hello, my name is Breanna...

and I am a skirt-aholic.  My addiction started about three years ago when I became pregnant with a girl.  I think about skirts, I dream about skirts, and I would serve them for dinner if it was acceptable.  At the rate I am going, Savanah will have a skirt for every day of the summer. (If said season ever decides to show its face in this state!)  My latest "hit" was just way too cheap and way to easy not to make.  That's what addicts do right?  Make excuses.  The tutorial is found here.  Basically it is nothing new, just two tiered.  Just think you could do as many tiers as you want!  I think for the next one I may skip the whole 3" difference in the tiers and cut it down to maybe 1 1/2" instead.  This skirt will seriously take you less then thirty minutes, even faster if you have a lead (sewing) foot like myself!

Vintage Cheerleader

 Landon has had this shirt sitting in his closet for a while now.  He has worn it a few times, but naturally since it is white it now has a stain.  Please tell me that my kids are not the only ones who seem to be magnets for food when they wear white!  I tried just about everything to get the darn thing out.  I thought about keeping it to wear under other shirts, but the green stripes on the sleeve make that a little awkward. 

 I started by cutting off the top part of the skirt where the stain was.  I knew that I was going to make a ribbon top so I cut a simple straight line.

 This is where I should have thought a little more.  This previous statement can be argued with the fact that it was pretty close to midnight and I was probably not functioning on all brain waves.  If I could do it over I would NOT have cut the shirt into a rectangle.  Do you see in the above picture how I just cut straight down?  Instead I should have used the natural curve of the sleeve that was already there.  It would have saved me a step and the shirt would have been bigger.  But my "midnight" brain decided to make a straight cut and waste about 4" of the shirt.  Lesson learned. 

 Once you arrive at this point it is just making a simple pillow case dress. 

I took my two pieces and turned them right sides together.  I then measured about 5" down from the top for the arm holes.  Sew up the two sides until you reach the mark, I usually just mark it with a pin.  Now turn your shirt right sides out.

 

This is where my mistake would have saved me some time.  Instead of already having a natural curve and arm hole, I had to make one.  I figured out how much I wanted my shirt to go in at the top.  Mine went in about an inch.  Then I angled the material down to where I stopped sewing (at the 5" mark).  Do this to both the front and the back making sure that they are even.  Sew along the fold about 1/4 of an inch from the edge.  This will finish off the edges of the arm holes.   

Once you have finished the arm portion you just need to make a casing for your ribbon.  This is as simple as folding down the top part of of your short and sewing a straight line.  Do this to both the front and the back of the shirt.  Last thread your ribbon through, cut it off at your desired length, and then heat seal the ends of the ribbon.  I chose to have the top tie on only one side, but you could easily have bows on both sides.  You would just use two pieces of ribbon instead of one.

I also decided to add more ribbon along the bottom since a large portion of the picture was more towards the top.  Just simply sew your ribbon in place on both the top and bottom.  And you are done!  I am sadden by my lack of thought last night and have a feeling that this dress is just a little too snug for my girl.  Again, lesson learned!