She Made It!: a skirt (or two)

Late last year, just before we got inundated with birthdays and weddings and holidays (and an illegal camera placed on our property by the police, but that's a story for another day!), Miss M decided she needed a new skirt. Since the madness hadn't started yet, I let her pick out some fabric and sew herself a skirt!

She picked a pretty paisley baby wale corduroy my mom gave her and a simple gathered-rectangle type of skirt with an elastic waistband.

This was really the first time I let her use my machine on her own. She was very cautious about the needle...so much so that she sometimes forgot to guide the fabric, so focused was she on keeping her hands out of the way. But she soon got the hang of it!

Her favorite part was using the iron to press the elastic casing and lower hem. No pictures of that part 'cause my assistance was much needed.

She cut, pinned, stitched, and pressed all by herself! I was there the whole time to tell her what to do next, but she really did it herself!

Putting the elastic through the waistband gave her some trouble until she got the hang of it, but once she did, she managed to get all the way around!

Ta da! Her very own, one-of-a-kind corduroy skirt! She was SO proud of herself! The first thing she did was text a picture of herself to my mom. Hehe...

Fast forward a few months to January. Miss M got an invitation to her best friend's birthday party! But what to give her? Miss M decided she wanted to make a skirt for her friend too. So she picked out some fabric: a cute cotton print and some cotton-blend eyelet. She also picked some pretty pink fabric for a blouse (and picked the pattern too, Ottobre 2/2005, #11, but without the shirring across the front).

Of course, she had to try it on before she gave it away! I'm told the birthday girl was quite pleased with her handmade gift! And a bit amazed that a little girl just like her made the skirt.

Do you let your kids use your sewing machine? If your kid could make anything they wanted, what would it be?

I'm linking up to:

Fall SWAP progress

I finally have some progress to report on my Ottobre SWAP. There are actually six garments finished, but I only have pictures of four of them so far. You can see that the brown Maya blouse is lacking buttons. I didn't have anything suitable in my stash, so I'll "have" to go find some at JoAnn's. I'm thinking something to match the medium pink in the trim, but we'll see. I almost never buy buttons...I usually always make do with what I have on hand. The cream Maya blouse is made of a vintage pillowcase I picked up at Goodwill a while back ($0.50). It carries that oh-so-fresh smell that I love on my pillows and is super soft. I have a bit left that I'm going to hoard until just the right project comes up. I'm delighted with how dressy the little skirt came out! It's made of chocolate brown stretch velvet. Miss M thought it was great fun to pet it like a kitten. Modeled by the lovely Miss M...and just before naptime (what was I thi...

Cocoa Krispie Sod House: a model you can eat

Ahh! I just realized I haven't blogged our Adventures in U.S. History since Week 26!! What happened?! We've just been plugging away contentedly at our work and are nearing the end of our school year. So, while I go get myself sorted and whip up the rest of our weekly reviews for you, I thought you might like to see our latest project. A Cocoa Krispie Sod House Ingredients: 6 tablespoons butter 6 cups miniature marshmallows 9 cups cocoa krispies 3/4 cup fancy shredded coconut ("fancy" looks more like grass, but any shredded coconut will work) green food coloring extra butter or cooking spray Also needed: large sauce pan (or large microwave safe bowl) wooden spoon jelly roll pan or cookie sheet waxed paper small glass bowl fork knife clean scrap of cardboard popsicle sticks kitchen shears Directions: Melt butter in a large sauce pan over low heat. Don't let the butter brown! When melted, add in the marshmallows and s...

12-gore denim skirt

The other evening I drafted a pattern for a 12-gore skirt following the instructions found here . The next day I cut gores from worn out pairs of jeans! Now I have a gorgeous denim gored skirt. I used 1 1/2-inch wide elastic in the waist and designed it to sit on my hips rather than my true waist. I’m so short waisted that if I wore bottoms at my actual waist…well, it wouldn’t be pretty! I plan to reuse some of the original belt loops so I can wear a belt with it…let’s just say that a toddler and an elastic-waist skirt are a recipe for disaster! You can see a few places where I removed pockets before cutting my gores – adds character, don’t you think? And a skirt without a pocket is simply ill-conceived, so I reused a pocket from one of Hubby’s pairs of jeans. Now I can carry my cell phone when I run errands!

CHRISTEPHI

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