Thinking about Gemma's fall wardrobe has spurred me on not just to do some thrifting, but some sewing, too. :) There are some fun tutorials I've been excited to try, and have finally gotten around to doing! So far, it seems like tutorial-sewing is much more fun than sewing from a pattern, not only because they're usually free :), but also they have such great pictures! And, I suppose in order for a tutorial really to work without a pattern, it can't be that complicated to begin with . . .
I really liked this jersey-skirt tutorial from Ruffles and Stuff, so I decided to make Gemma little bubble skirt from one of John's old tee-shirts! This shirt was in near-perfect condition but he hadn't worn it in our entire three years of marriage. (Don't worry . . . I got his permission first!)
You might notice that the shirt is missing a sleeve . . . that's because I used it for something else that I never got around to blogging about. Maybe someday. :) But for now, here's the finished product:
It seemed silly to cut into the body of the shirt in order to get a large rectangle when I was just going to put a seam back in it, so I modifed the directions a bit in order to avoid that seam. This complicated matters a bit . . . but it eventually turned out. The major problem is that since my old, old Singer doesn't zig-zag, the seam to attach the skirt to its waist-band rather undermined the stretchiness of the waistband. Oh well. Gemma can still wear it, but it won't stretch over her bulky cloth diapers, so I have to put it on before her diaper.
My next little project was these easy-peasy baby legs! Skirts and baby legs . . . aren't they a fun combination for fall? I actually picked up the green and gray knee socks from Target back in April when they were on a St. Patrick's Day clearance for $1.25, and then I bought the polka dotted ones more recently for the same clearance price.
In case you didn't look at the tutorial, all you really have to do is cut off the feet and do a zig-zag around the raw edge while you stretch the fabric to bring it to a finished, curly look. I experimented with the foot-ends of the socks trying to see if I could achieve the same effect with my straight stitch, but it didn't work. I just ended up folding the edges under and stretching the fabric while I hemmed them.
You can see that the hems aren't perfect . . . but they're good enough. :)
Gemma loves these! Well, she loves dress-up and pink, anyway, and she likes wearing the baby legs on her arms, too. :) They were so easy and fun to make that I picked up a pair of striped knee socks, too, and made Gemma a third pair. And then I decided that I should stop. :)
It turns out that not only are funky knee socks on clearance at Target right now, but brightly colored jersey-knit bubble skirts for toddlers are, too. Yes, and they're only $1.50 right now. At least Gemma's skirt was free? And, despite the brightly colored baby-legs, I still haven't bought into the trend of dressing my children or myself in neon and sequins. Whoa, boy. Every time I walk into Gap, I just gravitate toward the baby clothes because that's the only section where the colors aren't shocking and overwhelming! Grey is a bit more subdued.
Cute stuff :)
ReplyDeletethanks :)
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