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.

Space Ghost Baby Sleeper

As a long time reader of This Mama Makes Stuff, I knew that I wanted to try my hand at her T-shirt to Newborn Gown tutorial.

This used to be my husband's Space Ghost t-shirt. He wore it so often that it was starting to get holes in it, and yet he refused to part with it.

When I suggested that maybe I could bring some new life to the shirt by making it into something for the baby, he was more than happy to donate the shirt.

The tutorial is fairly straight forward, but it does require some techniques that might be a little scary to new sewers.

Once you actually start putting the gown together, it's actually a pretty easy pattern- but if you're twitchy about inserting elastic or zig zag stitching a collar that's probably going to get wavy (meaning, it won't lie flat as you sew), this might not be a tutorial for you.

Now that I've used the pattern once, I'm hoping to put one or two sleepers together before the baby arrives- we definitely have some more shirts we love that won't work for us, but have plenty of material for a baby sleeper.

In case you're wondering: this was a men's sized L shirt previously, and I had way more than enough fabric to work with for the pattern.

(Apologies for the not so great picture quality, all I had on hand was my iPhone- the camera's in the hospital bag already.)

PJ Pants

(click image to enlarge)

Another year, another round of PJ pants. I made pants last year for the family (my Husband and my immediate family) as a way to incorporate some of my Husband's traditions into my family's Christmas.

I was a little hesitant to make them again this year because they are so time consuming. However, after polling the family everyone wanted another pair, so off I went to the fabric store. I took requests this year (left to right: Pa, my sister, Mom, myself, and my Husband).

I couldn't find the pattern I used last year, so I had to purchase a different one. That...turned into a miniature disaster. Last year's pattern was so insanely easy (two pieces per pair of pants) and this year's was slightly less so. This year's pattern called for a yoke around the waist line. I? was not into that.

Instead, I chose to cut the top longer (to allow extra room to fold over the waist band myself). I also left out the pockets from this pattern because who even uses pockets in their pj pants? The pocket reduction caused no problems. The yoke reduction? Yeah, major problems.

I just didn't allow enough room in the top of the pants. My pair specifically ended up being below the waist line (which is sometimes ok for jeans- sometimes- but not ever for pjs) and a major disappointment. I did get the elastic right this year (last year the waistband was too loose), so at least there's that.

Of course, after Christmas, I found the pattern from last year. I will be using that one next year.