County Fair Pillowcase Dress

I wanted something a little country for Dylan to wear to the fair. I saw this quilt pattern bandana material at hobby lobby and new that it was it. This is a simple pillowcase top and I made her a belt using different types of ribbon. 

Outfit Fit for a Carnival

Our Walmart final got its fabric back yeah! They had this adorable rainbow fabric that I wanted the moment I saw it. This skirt is simple to make, it is a simple Peek-a-boo skirt without any room to tie it up.  The shirt applique or should I say reverse applique came from Planet Applique of course. 

Animal Boutique Outfit

Posted by Mandy

Dylan's outfit for her first trip to the zoo. 

I found the fabric and ribbon at Hobby Lobby and got the embroidery design from Planet Applique. The top is a simple pillowcase dress and the pants are a pattern by Pink Fig.

Cherry Toddler Outfit

Posted by Mandy

I got the skirt fabric from JoAnns and found a cherry embroidery applique and used my Embird software to make it just how I wanted it to look. I think it came out pretty cute although the little turkey would not sit still so I could take her photo.

Peek A Boo How To

Posted by Mandy

One of my favorite skirts to make is the Peek-A-Boo skirt because it is so easy. I mean 4 rectangles, some ribbon, 20 minutes and whalla, you have an adorable skirt. This "how to" might not be detailed enough for the beginning sewer so if you find yourself lost you can buy step by step instructions off etsy. Good luck and I hope you love it as much as I do.

Size Chart - all measurements are in inches.

Cut all pieces as instructed above. 

Finish the top and bottom edges of the waistband, top layer, and bottom layer of fabric. Finish all four sides of the drawstring fabric. In the photo below I have used a red dotted line to show my serged edges.

I finish all of my edges using a serger. If you do not have a serger you can simply use a Zig Zag stitch.

I have a rolled hem foot for my machine which makes the next step a breeze. 

Sew a clean edge to the bottom edge of the Top Layer and Bottom Layer fabric. If you do not have this type of foot you can fold the edge under and iron down the material to make a clean edge. Then top stitch the edge down. 

The next step is to simply gather the top edge of the Top fabric and Bottom fabric. For this skirt I used my Gathering Foot, but for larger skirts it is easier to use a Pleating or Ruffling foot. I set my thread tension to 6 and Pressure Foot Pressure at 7. 

Here is what all of my pieces look like after this step.

Next sew the Top layer and Bottom layer together by placing the wrong side of the Top layer on top of the right side of the Bottom layer. Sew using a straight stitch across the top. 

top left picture below

Then layout the skirt (top left) fold it in half and place the drawsting fabric where you would like ribbon to go. Mark this spot under the top layer of fabric (top right). Place the drawstring fabric under the top layer and sew three lines (bottom left). The red lines indicate sewing path. Feed the ribbon up one side and down the other. I attach a safety pin to the end of my ribbon to make it easier to pull through (bottom right).

It is now ready to sew the waistband on. With right sides together sew the waistband to the skirt. 

Take the time now to clean up any loose threads. Fold the top of the waist band around and sew it to the back of the skirt, hiding all top edges of the skirt. Sew down using a straight stitch.

Feed elastic through the waistband using a safety pin.

Once pulled through, sew zig zag stitch through both pieces of elastic to hold them together. Then sew the waistband closed. 

No begin sewing the sides together by starting with the top layer. With right sides together sew a straight stitch down the edge of the Top layer (left). Then sew the Bottom layer the same way (right).

Clean up any remaining threads and you are finished. I paired this skirt with a reverse scotty dog applique I got from Planet Applique. 

Owl Onesie and Skirt

Posted by Mandy

Dylan's first outfit with an embroidered top. This was so fun. All of the fabric came from Hobby Lobby and there is no pattern, I simply cut some rectangles, gathered the fabric and sewed each layer to an elastic band.

Peek-A-Boo Skirt

Posted by Mandy

I love making these peek-a-boo skirts. They are so easy the pattern consist of 4 simple rectangles, who could not follow that? This was my first one ever to attempt so the quality has gone way up.

Quilting Strip Dress

Posted by Mandy

This was the easiest dress to sew ever. I made a bandana dress style top and used a quilting jelly roll I got on sale at Joanns as the fabric to make the skirt bottom. It simply took me surging and the ends and using a roll hem to make a clean end. I then gathered and sewed each strip to the bandana dress.
The applique design came from planet applique and cost $1.00.
Total dress making time was 25 minutes and cost was less than $6.00.