Simple Livin: March 2012

Tie Applique tutorial!!!

This tutorial is for the matching brother shirt. The skirt and ruffle shirt are in previous posts. . . feel free to share.

First pick out a tee shirt, and material for tie.

I also used Heat Bond (got it at walmart ;) ) as my fusable backing

draw out your pattern on paper (size will depend on your liking and shirt length)

this is mine. . . feel free to copy it. . . it was roughly 9" long

cut into two pieces and place on tee to make sure you like its size

cut out a piece of fabric and a piece of fuseable material, and iron the heatbond to the back side of the material

place pattern pieces upside down (because you are on back side) on fuseable backing and trace them

cut pieces out and peel paper backing off. . . place on tee

iron into place

could be done here. . . this heat bond says it doesn't need sewn, but i like the finished look

run around all edges with small close zigzag stitch

tada! adorable, right?

Ruffle Tee Tutorial!!!!!

First off the tutorial for the skirt is in my previous post, and the matching brother tee i will explain later.

Find a tee shirt to match your fabric, and measure around the neck from shoulder seam to shoulder seam. Multiply this by 2.5 : this is your ribbon length. Width depends on you, mine is 6".

example: My neckline was 11", so i cut a fabric rectangle 27.5" x 6"

here is my strip we will make ribbon out of

the son was working hard while i was sewing LOL

fold the strip in half right sides together and sew long ways making a long tube

after sewn, using a safety pin, turn inside right

will look something like this

press flat with seam hidden on back side

fold in half again and press again (just to make a crease in center)

unfold and stitch down center line as loosley as possible on sewing machine (or hand stitch: running stitch)

leave plenty of extra thread hanging off

gently pull thread to gather up your ribbon

continue to gather until it is the size of the neck band

lay in place and evenly distribute ruffles

fold over raw edges and pin them to fabric just covering the shoulder seams

Pin evenly all around neckband

Sew straight down center over existing seam, and down both ends and your are finished!! Simple huh!

Adorable Bubble Skirt Tutorial!!

First off i want to apologize if you cannot follow me at all. . . I understand that I am horrible at explaining, and not good at taking pics either,(also some are sideways) but I made my own pattern as I went and it turned out lovely so I wanted to share. Just use your little girls measurements, no pattern required.
I also made the top and matching brother tee pictured above and will post tutorials on them in the following week.

You Need:
1/2 to 3/4 yd main fabric
1/2 yd lining fabric
elastic (cut to measure of waist)
thread

You will be cutting 3 main pieces: a waist band, skirt bottom, and skirt lining
Measure 3 measurements: waist size (where u want skirt sitting), fullest hip size, and length you want skirt.

*Cut the Main skirt piece out of main material, its just a big rectangle like so:
(hip measurment x2= length. . . . and length you actually want finished skirt to be minus 1"=height)
example: my daughters hips were 25" and i wanted it to be 18"long so i cut a rectangle 50"x17"

*Cut the skirt lining as follows:
(hip measurement x1.5=length. . . and main skirt pieces length minus 4"=height)
example: hips are 25" length will be 37.5" and skirt is cut 17", so height will be 13"

*Cut waistband 6" high, by hip measurement plus 1" (for seam allowance)

Next, fold all 3 pieces over one at a time with the right sides together and sew the back seams on each, then press them out flat.

Take the bottom hem of the main skirt piece and sew a loose running stitch around it. I used embroidery floss, but doubled up regular thread can be used.

Pull the thread tight little by little to gather the bottom up

this is what mine looked gathered all up, dont tie threads off yet, mine was gathered too much.

Place skirt lining over gathered skirt bottom, right sides together and finish gathering/loosening skirt bottom until it is same width as lining, then pin them together, making sure to match up your seams.

pic of pinned

Sew skirt bottom to lining, removing pins as you go

when finished turn inside right

then fold lining into skirt bottom till both top seams are flush

should look something like this. . . you can see bubble bottom taking place

do the same thing to the top of the main skirt piece as bottom, (loose running stitch, then gather) match it to the lining top as you did on bottom, pin them together, then make another running stitch with both together and gather them both up.