Ruffle Dress Tutorial

FYI: I corrected the spelling on the pirate treasure hunt. Sorry about that friends.

Supplies:
1 yard ruffle fabric
1 yard silky liner


I used a pattern from Burda that use to be free, but I can't find it anymore. You can easily use THIS free pattern though because they are so similar.

*Cut out 2 pattern pieces from ruffle fabric for the front and back of dress
*Cut out 2 strips from ruffle fabric that are 1 1/2 inches X 8 inches (the length may vary depending on how tall the little girl is. I wanted mine shorter, so I had to cut the length down to about 4 inches to fit my daughter).
*Cut out 2 pattern pieces from silky liner





















Here is the fun part

With Right sides together, sew the straps into a tube. Flip right side out. Set aside.

Take the 1 lining and 1 ruffle piece and pin right sides together. Sew just the arm and top of dress leave sides open. (only along black line in picture)

Snip around the curve of arm

Flip right side out and top stitch along on where you have just sewn. Repeat with remaining lining and ruffle piece.

Take both body pieces and pin right sides together. Sew along the both sides of dress. I surged along the edges to make them look more finished.

Pin the straps and the top. Adjusting the length as needed for child. Sew in place. Hem the bottom of the dress by folding edge over 1/2 inch and fold again another 1/2 inch. Sew in place.

Now you have an easy frilly dress for the little your woman.

The perfect Bag Tutorial

Well here is the tutorial for THIS bag I made for my sister.

You will need the following amounts from 3 contrasting fabrics.
Fabric #1: (The main fabric for the bag) 1 yard
Fabric #2: (fabric for the ruffle, underside of handle, and pockets inside) 24 inches
Fabric #3: (lining of inside of bag) 1/2 yard

Ideas for fabric choices: you can choose anything, but if you use a light weight fabric then you will have to line every single piece with the heaviest interfacing you can find. I used cotton with THIS bag and after using interfacing, the bag held it's form very nicely. If you use decor fabric, then you will only line the outside of the bag and one side of the handles with interfacing.

Cut the following pieces out
Fabric #1:
2 pieces @ 20 X 18 main body
2 pieces @ 3 X 30 outside of handles
1 piece @ 20 X 11 outside pocket

Fabric #2:
2 pieces  @ 3 X 30 inside of handles
2 pieces @ 20 X 10 inside pockets
1 piece @ 6 X length of fabric (mine was 42 inches) ruffle

Fabric #3
2 pieces @ 20 X 17 lining

Iron on the interfacing to all of the pieces cut from fabric #1

HANDLES:
Using the 2 contrasting fabrics (cut at 3 X 30), put RST (right sides together) and sew down the length of both sides of strap. DON'T sew the short ends closed. Do this for both handles.

Flip right side out and press out the seam OR I think it's easier to lick my fingers as I go and push the seam out because it gives me better grip and control of the fabric.

 Then I pin in  place as I get the seam pushed out.

Top stitch down the length of the handle on both side.

POCKETS:
(I purchased this fabric along time ago for really cheap. I didn't have enough of my fabric #1 to make a pocket on the outside of this bag, so I am going to show you how to make the pocket using my inside fabric. You will use the same method for all of your pockets)
fold the top over 1/4 inch and press, the fold over 1/4 inch again and press. Sew in place.

Place the bottom of pocket even with the bottom of the main fabric.  Measure in 6 1/2 inches from both outer edges and mark. I used photoshop to turn my marks black so you can see them, but I used a white marking pencil. You could also use disappearing ink. Sew a line down the front, connecting the marks.When finished you should have sewn 2 lines and the makings of 3 pockets.

RUFFLE:Fold over the edge 1/2 inch on both sides.

Gather both sides. Place the gather 6 inches from the top of the main fabric. Pin in place and be extra careful to make sure the ruffle is pinned on straight.

Line the edge of foot up with the edge of ruffle and sew ruffle in place.

LINING:
Make the pockets for the lining the same way you did above under pockets. With RST, SEW JUST THE 2 EDGES of bag together.

On the bottom of the lining, make a reinforced hole at the bottom for turning the bag. Start about 3 inches from the center and back stitch 4 or more times. Then sew the rest of the bottom closed.

SNAP CLOSURE:
Find the middle of the bag. Measure 1 1/2 inches down from top and mark. Measure 1/2 inch down from the mark you just made and mark. Mark 2 centimeters on the left and right of cent. You should have a mark that looks something like this.

 Create 2 button holes along the 2 lines on either side of the center of bag.

Using a sharp seam ripper, open the 2 button holes you just made.

Put your snap closure in place.

 OUTSIDE of BAG:

RST, sew the sides and bottom. These next pictures are going to show you how to get a square bottom for you bag to sit better. Start at one corner.

 Pinch the corner into a triangle.

 Sew a line 2 inches down from tip of triangle.

 Cut off the top.

 Flip right side out and your bottom of bag should look like this now.

Measure 1 1/2 inches in from edge and pin the handles with the main fabrics facing each other. Do this on both sides.

With RST, place the outside of bag into the lining

 Line up the edges and pin into place. Then sew around the entire top of bag.

Turn the bag right side out by bringing it through the hole you left when sewing the lining.

Now, sew the hole closed at the bottom of your lining.

Press the seam out and top stitch around the top of the bag.

You are finished! You should now have an amazingly perfect bag with 3 pockets on the outside and 6 pockets on the inside!

The Perfect Bag

My sister asked me to make her a bag (about 5 months ago). I finally got around to making it:) She has been extremely patient with me. Here is the final product. A tutorial is to come, but for now, I just wanted to get you excited:) I used some of the concepts from THIS bag, but it was much too large so I changed it up and added some features I thought were must haves.
Ruffle on the front, snap closure, and 2 toned handle.



















The back has 3 large pockets. The inside has 6 very large pockets.

Angry Birds

We were at K-mart and my son found some angry birds softies. He wanted them so badly, but I was not willing to fork out $10-16 (depending on size) for them. So, then I thought that I would just make some. I was very excited and came home and started making patterns for it and then I thought, "Self, maybe someone has already made a pattern." And there was:) Using THESE patterns I made a few angry birds for my son!

They are not perfect, but he doesn't care. I did it a little different then the tutorial. I cut out the facial features and sewed them on directly like an applique. I don't have a free motion foot so this was the best option for me. My thoughts on the pattern: the beak, tail and head feathers were really small so they were extremely hard to turn right side out. BUT the directions are easy to follow and it took me about 20 minutes to complete one bird. The red bird pattern doesn't have you put on black tail feathers, but my son immediately noticed. I just added some 'feathers'  made of felt the same way I sewed the beak on.


Next up is a cardboard 'blocks' for him to create the scene to throw birds at. You could use wooden blocks if you have them, but I was really leery about using wooden blocks when he would be throwing things at them. I didn't want the blocks to go flying and hit someone or something.

Sewing for Baby

Well, I finally did some sewing. It has been a while sense I did:)
I have a friend who had a baby in July. She had a little girl and she is absolutely adorable. I finally got around to making a gift for her:)  A little skirt and onesie!

Cute little onesie with ruffle bum.

I used t-shirt vinyl for the applique on the front.

Gathered Ruffle Pillow

I recovered my pillows on my couch and I LOVED how they turned out. So much in fact, I thought I would share the love and show you how I made it. And because I know you will ask, the funky flower pattern fabric is from Joann Fabrics.

I used an old pillow form to get measurements. I flipped the form inside out and measured diagonally from one corner to another then multiplied that number by 3. That number gives you the length you need for your ruffle. Decide what width you want it to be. I was making a large pillow so I did mine at 6 inches. Gather both sides length wise of the ruffle.

It was easier for me to cut the square out the size I wanted it to be. Then, I cut out the diagonal ruffle, creating 2 triangles. Don't forget to include a seam allowance:)

 RST (right sides together) pin the triangles to the ruffle. Leave extra at the end of ruffle to finish off the corner. Sew into place.

Here is why you need to leave extra for the corner. See how the ruffle goes all the way to the corners!?!

AFTER you have sewn the ruffle and triangles together, cut the corners along the straight white line so then make a perfect 90 degree angle.

I forgot to take pictures for the next part, but it is really easy. I made an envelope back by cutting 2 rectangles from the salvaged edge (that way I didn't need to hem the bottom. Genius I know:) Make sure they have at least 4 inches over lap so the pillow won't show when put into cover.
With RST sew the pillow front to the pillow back. Reinforce the edges where the flaps meet. This prevents tearing when taking pillow in and out. Here they are on the futon. The polka dot pillows are from Ikea. I LOVE it! It dresses things up a bit and makes the couch fashionably comfortable.

Stick on your pillows and step back and admire. Then while you are making dinner 2 hours later, make sure your daughter has an orange popcycle that she can melt all over your newly covered pillows! At this point I recommend a time out for mommy as she takes the covers to the bathroom to put stain remover on and to soak and grumble while she is doing it. Scrub vigorously so you can get all of your frustration out. THEN, you can go back and happily clean your daughter's white shirt that is completely orange as well. You will then need to give her a bath because the popcycle has made her entire body sticky from head to toe because who knew popcycles like to be rubbed in hair and squished between toes. For extra fun, don't notice the sticky toes and have your daughter walk all over the house so you can mop the floor..... I recommend doing the mopping tomorrow because chances are she'll do it again after dinner.

Shirt Refashion #2

I finished another t-shirt. I used THIS pattern. ***Just print out pages 11 and 12*** Then I followed the instructions found HERE on grosgrain. For ruffle cut a strip of fabric that's 6 X 36

1. Cut down the dotted line of the Ruffle Line Template. I cut a U shape in the template so you could see how it should match up along your seam.

2. With a disappearing marker, tailor's chalk or very light pen, draw a line through the dotted lines from the Ruffle Line Template onto the right side (outside) of your fabric.

3.  Gather. If you don't know how to gather your fabric then read on....Stitch 1/4" down from the long edge of the rectangle. When doing this set your sewing machine to the loosest, longest straight stitch. Backstitch at beginning but NOT at the end.

At the end of the stitch, take one of the strings and push down the fabric making a ruffle. Do this until the ruffle is 21" long. Tie ends of thread.

DON'T FORGET TO SET YOUR SEWING MACHINE BACK TO THE ORIGINAL SETTINGS. I always forget.

4.  Pin ruffle onto front right side of bodice from A to B. Pin the ruffle so that it lies above the A-B line. (see left image for reference) Stitch to bodice from A to B. Fold down to hide stitching.

5. Okay, now here's the tricky part. When pinning the ruffle from B to C you must twist it a little so that the ruffle lies above the line. Stitch to bodice from B to C. Fold down to hide stitching. Repeat until at point E.

BUT, I did the top a little different sense I was adding it to a shirt already made. I sewed the top the same way I did the bottom ruffles.

Pin remaining ruffle from point E to point F making sure the ruffle lies above the bottom of the collar of the shirt.

Here is the before: I thought I had one with the black shirt, but all I have is the orange shirt. They are the same style just different colors.

















Here is the after!