Sparkly Skirt

This is the last part in my dress-up gift series.

To complete the princess ensemble I made a very fun, very easy sparkly skirt.

Originally I was thinking I would make a separate waistband for the skirt- but my sewing machine was not having it. I love this sparkly material, but the waistband became more trouble than it was worth. I think once I have my serger up and running (and I know how to use it), I might try doing a skirt like this with a separate waistband.

At any rate, this skirt is basically a big old rectangle with a hem on the bottom and a gathered elastic top. So easy and quick. I took the birthday girl's waist measurements and doubled them (with a little room to grow). Then I cut the fabric to that length (width will depend on how long you want the skirt). I used my rolled hem foot on my sewing machine for the bottom hem (detail in the bottom right inset photo). I put comfy no-roll elastic in the top.

I swear this is a very easy project, and it turns out looking so much harder than it is. Impress your friends!

Tonight I'm going to break out my crochet hooks for the first time in a decade (at least)- if I'm successful, I'll have a new project to share next week. If not, I'll share another birthday project from last week.

Cape for a Princess

This is the second part of the dress up gift I made for a little girl who turned two recently.

The birthday girl's favorite colors are aqua (turquoise) and purple. I fell in love with this purple and silver striped fabric when I was shopping for materials. It's very lightweight, so even on the hottest of summer days (and boy we've had some hot ones here this summer) it's still wearable.

I got the pattern for this over at Prudent Baby (one of my new favorite sites for kid projects). They used faux fur for the collar, but I opted to use a sweatshirt material (because I had it in my fabric stash and I feel like it's easier to clean than faux fur).

I used a simple lilac ribbon for the tie on the cape. In the inset photo you can see how the drape a little better (sorry, all I had to model was my iron).

It was really easy to sew up and it turned out fantastic. I know that when I was two, I would have loved running around the yard with this waving in the breeze.

Princess Hat

This is a project from a few weeks ago. I would've posted it sooner but my little lady (who is not so little anymore at 15lbs) has been sick.

A few weeks ago we went to a birthday party for my friend's two year old daughter. I wanted to make her something unique and special. Out of the hodge podge of ideas I had, I decided to go with a Princess dress up set.

This Princess hat was pretty easy. All I needed was some felt, tulle, and sturdy interfacing. I've sewn with interfacing before, but in the past I've used light to medium weight interfacing. This stuff? Was crazy sturdy.

I cut out a triangle shape from the aqua felt- in retrospect I should have made the bottom curved, but I didn't think about that until too late. The bottom part was the length of the birthday girl's head circumference (so, if the head you are sewing for is 18 inches around, you want an 18 inch bottom), plus an inch for her to grow into it. I cut the same shape out of the interfacing and ironed it onto the felt.

Once that was done, I cut the "R" out of purple felt and appliqued it onto the aqua felt. I used an iron on fusible web fabric to attach the "R" to the aqua felt before I sewed it. I wanted to make sure it didn't slide out of place. I just used a simple zig zag stitch to attach it.

Before sewing up the side seam of the hat, I took my tulle (4 strips- 2 each of aqua and purple) and attached them to the top of the hat- with the short ends facing in towards where the seam would be.

Then, I sewed the two sides of the triangle together and once I was finished, I turned it inside out. Viola! Quick and easy project.

Later this week I'll show you the other pieces of the dress up set.