strawberry skirt.

I finished making the strawberry skirt for my sister. I had to take a break from it for various reasons. I still think the scallops should have been slightly more shallow, but it was the first attempt I ever did at making real scallops so I am content with them. the skirt is fully lined, and has an attached red ruffled with white swirly do’s appliqued on it. which took longer then I had anticipated. I have done appliques this way before on my 1860’s skirt. which was on a slightly larger scale, so I had figured this would not take nearly as long. I was wrong though. it did a little less time but nearly just as long, which surprised me. the skirt is gathered onto a red waist band encasing elastic for a bit of contrast. I also put in three pin tuck pleats on the skirt and lace to dress it up a bit, and to match the dress I made for my niece and the dress I made for me. sometime this summer if we get a full day without rain we’re going to go on a picnic all dressed alike in our strawberry outfits. how cute will that be? definitely something to look forward too, I do adore picnics.
and now for some detail pics.







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new skirt.

this is a super easy skit to make. it took me all of like forty five minutes. its made from sleeves cut off men’s dress shirts, and the bottom of a dress I had cut off. basically I took the cut off of four sleeves that had been cut originally to make long sleeve shirts into short sleeve., cut them in half, sewed them all together, making the waist as tight as I needed it, then sewed the yellow ruffle to the bottom of the skirt, and hemmed up the sleeve potion, so the ruffle looks like another layer. I have made skirts like this in the past and have inserted a zipper on the side, but for this one I decided to just use the buttons on the cuff and placket for the opening. the green sleeve didn't have any buttons on them so I just sewed them up. the blue has two buttons on each cuff, which actually makes the waist a bit adjustable. I don’t know that I will need that function but hey why not have it? its easy enough. and really you can be as big or as small you want to wear a skirt like this. if your smaller you can use less sleeves if your bigger you can use more. and to make it more fun you can use all different panels if you like. length is personal too, you can make something like this as long or as short as you want depending on how much sleeve you have to start with, and how much layering you put into it. really you could put several layers on it to make it longer. or just whatever you want too do as long you have fun and love it.


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strawberry dress

about two years ago I made my niece this dress. I had actually made one for myself that is nearly identical (in my size obviously) when she saw mine on my dress form she fell in love with it, begging me to make her one just like it. and since I had about four yards left from my dress I told her I would. and since then she has worn it, and worn it, and worn it. the last time I saw her in it though I told her I thought she had about grown out of it. the bodice still fit in the width but, the dress was getting way too short. which apparently her mother had shared the same opinion telling her she would only get to wear it a few more times then that would be it. her face melted when she thought she wouldn’t get to wear it anymore. and come on how can one resist a cute little six year olds tears? I told her since I still had about two yards left I could make it longer for her . indecently this dress is not the skirt I had previously posted about. same fabric though. the plan is sometime this summer to all dress alike and go on picnic. and no I have not finished the skirt, some things got in the way, but hopefully in the next few weeks I will have that done as well.


and so here it is. I lengthened it four inches. I had left enough in the straps to let them down an inch, took out one pleat on the skirt and completely redid the center bodice piece making it two inches longer , which also meant the zipper had to be replaced. I could get another inch out of the hem but that would require taking all the lace off the bottom and for now its long enough with just the four added inches. the piece I replaced is a bit brighter then the rest of the dress but unless you look really closely I don’ t think its that obvious. and it always makes me happy when I make something for someone and they love it. to me wearing something till its worn out is such a compliment.

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yellow skirt

just a quick little skirt. I made this from some cut off of a dress I hemmed, I loved the bright yellow and thought it would be a cute skirt. I simply took the cut off fabric , sewed it too a yellow satin and made an elastic waist. the bottom was already hemmed since it was just the cut off, so easy and turned out nice.

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strawberry skirt

not much to write about on the sewing stage till now. I had started a few projects which all turned into major fails. which was alright, I set them aside for maybe later projects. after thinking about several things to make I finally decided on making a skirt for my sister which I told her I would do a while ago.

so first thing to do figure out how wide I want the skirt. then getting a can of tuna, and a small can of condensed milk.... WAH! I thought this was a sewing a blog!
oh it is, let me explain. I am making scallops on the bottom of the skirt. first sew a facing to the bottom then draw the half circles. I needed to get the circles even and with enough curve, which is something I can not free hand (yes I have tried it) so I measured up three inches and then drew around the tuna, can, and then the milk can with Tailors chalk, rotating the cans as I went.




I wish I had chosen to only go two inches the scallops are bit deeper then I thought they would be, I also whish I would have used a large can of tomatoes, and the tuna, to make the scallops slightly larger. but that’s alright this is the first time I have done proper scallops.

after marking them I sewed along the markings.



next cut out the scallops about 1/4” away from the stitching with pinking sheers.

next flip the scallops right side out, press and you have scallops!


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petticoat

I finished my petticoat back in September. and thought I had posted about the finished product, but. apparently I didn’t. I am not completely satisfied with the finished product. its a bit uneven. what I need is a bigger place to lay things out. I tired to make it all even, but in the end it just wasn’t to be. its not too bad though when its all in place, with my hoop and everything underneath it. aside from wrestling with so much fabric it wasn’t too hard to make. I just made a bunch of eleven inch strips, sewed them together. hemmed the edges with a tiny topstitch hem. on both sides, then ruffled the entire thing with my ruffling foot (best purchase ever!). next I made a simple skirt that was a hundred sixty inches wide at the bottom tapering up to I think I did sixty inches, now I can’t remember but it was something like that. I got my finished length by measuring both my hoop and the Skirt I was wearing this with. I then hemmed it, and pinned the ruffles on, which took forever. and had to be done one at a time. after each ruffle was pinned I sewed it on. somewhere along the way though things must have shifted slightly while I was sewing and that’s why its not entirely even. I have been considering redoing the uneven part, and seeing if I can fix it up a bit. but then I keep thinking its for underneath so do I really need too? the answer is probably not, I will just see how much it bugs me. if its driving me too crazy then who knows perhaps I will.

the petticoat without the hoop.

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doll dress

both dresses together.

the doll dress.
here is the doll dress I made to match my nieces dress for her birthday. I used a pattern from “sew the essential wardrobe for 18-inch dolls” by Joan Hinds and Jean Becker. except I omitted the collar, so it would be just like the big dress. it went sewed up with ease. In fact I was surprised how easily it went together the last time I made doll clothes they seemed just to take just as much time as the big clothes. so either I got used to how they are made or this book was just easier then the patterns I used before. (Could also be I wasn’t matching evil plaids.) I am thrilled with the way they turned out. they are so cute. it kind of makes me wish I had one in my size, to bad I Don’t have enough fabric for that.

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