Sunday, September 21, 2008

Cotton Candy Pink - No Pattern Required

Mindless sewing was on the agenda today. I needed some stress relief, and nothing makes me happier than an opportunity to use my gathering foot! Lu needs a few easy skirts for Sunday School and those other occasions where a skirt is necessary attire.

Since she will still wear the occasional ruffle, I pulled out a cute retro print I've had in stash for a year or more, along with a cotton candy pink dotty print, and happily started ripping. I measured her from waist to knee for desired length. I measured her hip to determine how much to take off the selvedge edges; a full 44" width would be a bit too full & "Becky Home-Ecky" for the look I was going for. It's all about proportions. RIIIIPPP.

The dotty ruffle was 2 lengths of 4". Two more RIIIPPPs. Ahhh. Stress already leaving. I made one seam in the dotty lengths to join, then pressed together hotdog bun style for a long double ruffle. I gathered using my gathering foot (superfast. Yay!)

A couple of seams & some elastic later, and here ya go!


Cute dotty hem:


Then, I pillaged through my remnant and notion stash and found some pink shabby rose trim. Lucky me, Lu had an exact matched Old Navy tee lounging in her drawer. I snipped a few lengths of the rose trim and zigzagged it in place around the neckline.


Truth be told, it ended up being easier to stitch on by hand, and quicker too. I'm lazy sometimes though, and have to learn the hard way! I picked this rosebud trim up at Hobby Lobby for about $4.00/yd. But for this tee, I used about 1/4 of a yard, so that's not a bad price!


Sometimes it's nice to just do a quick project, you know? And this one has me all in the mood to do some more!

11 comments:

  1. Cute! Maybe I need a gathering foot . . . .

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  2. This is such a cute outfit. Oh I WISH I had a girl to sew for!!!

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  3. Super cute! The pics make it look like it was taken just for a kids' clothing catalog too :) .

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  4. Too sweet! I love the skirt fabric and the rose trim! What a lucky girl!

    Shannon F

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  5. Great job, Angie. This is darling.

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  6. This is so pretty.I love the rose embellishment.

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  7. So cute! I am curious about a gathering foot-- one thing I don't yet have for the sewing machine.

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  8. That turned out super cute and I love the photo shoot! g

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  9. Really cute! And I adore ripping fabric. I don't know why the fabric stores bother with their dull scissors at the cutting counter. I stand there thinking, "Just RIP it! Just RIP it already!"

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  10. measured her hip to determine how much to take off the selvedge edges; a full 44" width would be a bit too full (Could you tell me what this means exactly? I am a total beginner and I need simple instructions. LOL

    Could someone explain this a little more beginner friendly too please? Thank you so much! :) [[[[The dotty ruffle was 2 lengths of 4". Two more RIIIPPPs. Ahhh. Stress already leaving. I made one seam in the dotty lengths to join, then pressed together hotdog bun style for a long double ruffle. I gathered using my gathering foot (superfast. Yay!)]]]]

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  11. Well, I didn't want this little skirt to be too "full" and "puffy"? So I measured her hips and then decided to make the fullness 1.5 times that measurement. I removed the excess of 44" minus that number. Does that help? Basically the total width of the skirt is her hip measurement x 1.5)

    "Lengths" for the ruffle mean from selvedge edge to selvedge edge (the non-printed edge of the fabric off the bolt, not the cut edge. Usually this is white or matches the fabric color and has some information about the fabric in it, like designer, print name, etc.). So I ripped two 4 inche strips, folded those in half "hot dog" style and pressed, then gathered it up using my gathering foot. :)

    Feel free to email me if you like!

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