Today is smalls birthday and Mothering Sunday so Daddy has to wait on us hand and foot, we are definitely spoilt today.
Isn't it very annoying when you buy clothing a few sizes up and it gets to wearing time, you pre-wash them and they shrink...then you cant find the receipt or remember where they are from. So sewing machine to the rescue.
Plus little monster needs more dresses, don't know how she grows to quickly! I'm afraid I haven't got any pictures of her wearing it because Squiggle has been renamed Miss Dot-to-dot, got to love chicken pox.
What you will need....
- T-shirt
- 2 types of fabric
- One pair of jeans (or 3 types of fabric)
- Large sheet of paper or lots stuck together
One
First make a template for a circular skirt. I used a variation of this fabulous tutorial.
My Maths (who though you would need an A-level in maths for sewing) measure the waste of your child, Squiggles is 20 inches. Add 6 inches to your waist measurement (for the gathering) and divide it by 6.28.
In my case
(20+6) / 6.28 = 4.14 inches.
Following the instructions from the tutorial, measure down your length on your paper, and using either a protractor or string tied to a pencil draw a 1/4 circle.
Measure from about 1 inch under your child's arm pit to your desired length, Squiggles was 11.5 inches, and add 1.5 inches for the hem and join. Measure from your previous 1/4 circle down by your length and draw another 1/4 circle.
Its massive the smaller template is standard size I made a few months ago. This skirt is going to be lovely to twirl in.
Fold the template into 3 with 1 larger and 2 smaller and of even size. Cut your template into 3 and we are ready to go.
Two
Time to start cutting out the skirt. You will need 4 of each of the 3 fabrics, remember there is no seam allowance on the sides just the top and bottom so add 1/2 inches to each side.
When the cutting out is done you should have something that looks like this, lovely fabric, the checked are my largest section.
This is what left of the jeans hahaha perfect for the summer!!
Three
Attach the pieces together with a 1/2 inch seam and then zigzag the edges.
So that 1/4 of the skirt looks like this. Repeat till the whole circle is completed.
I think it looks very pretty maybe I need to make a floor pillow like this soon.
Four
Cut your t-shirt at 2 inches below the arm hole. Loving the fact my t-shirt has strips made life so much easier.
Five
Gathering - set your sewing machine to its longest stitch and tension to its highest positive (mines +3) then stitch 2 rows around your skirt. Don't over stitch the ends and leave long ends.
Matching up the t-shirts seams to the skirt and pin together on either side. Using the t-shirt side as a size guide pull on the bobbing threads to gather the skirt.
Once your happy with the gather pin the top and skirt together and stitch at 1/2 seam line. You might need to remove the gathering stitches once stitched.
Six
Fold the top over the join by 1/2 inches and stitch though all layers so make a pleat.
Seven
Hemming - Because of the bulk of the denim I didn't use an enclosed hem just zigzag edged the skirt folded it over and double stitched it.
And we have a finished dress with a pleat at the waist and and circle skirt.
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Now I have to think of things to do with the other 2 t-shirts....
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