Gold Ring pattern is in the shop!

Ornament No. 5, rollin' off the assembly line. I'm not sure why this Gold Ring pattern took so long to get out. Well, yes I am. Trips, vomit viruses, busyness, family in the hospital, freelance jobs, other projects and also a few days of general summer apathy sprinkled throughout. But it's done! I can see fall coming around the corner and I'm getting excited! Tights! Wool skirts! Soups! Cozy Christmas handmaking!

*singing in operatic falsetto* Fiiiiiive gooooold riiiiings...
Or blue rings. Or pink rings. No reason you can't sew outside the box. I'm a big fan of unexpected colors.

There's room on the back to add a name or date if you like.

This ornament, just like the previous four in this Twelve Days series, uses a Sulky printable stabilizer to streamline the process. It really makes the whole thing so quick and easy. No hand-tracing or transferring embroidery patterns! Just print and sew right on the printed lines. YES. Then the stabilizer dissolves away in water.

To download the PDF sewing pattern for Gold Ring or any of the other Twelve Days series, visit my Etsy shop or my Craftsy shop. I plan to release Goose a Laying this fall!

stinkface pillow for my new teenager(!)

I'm not sure how my oldest daughter managed to turn thirteen. THIRTEEN. There have clearly not been enough years between when she was a wee baby and right now, but she insists this is correct. We have a teenager. Great gophers. But back to the pillow. You may have already seen the genesis of the idea at the bottom of this post, or the fur selection here.

Now it's a reality! Why, yes, it is reversible! So she can display whichever side she is hyper-feeling at the moment:

You STINK. Go 'way.

Or...

Best day EVER! Hug me!

The eyes and mouth on both sides are wool felt applique and the noses are large pom poms. I used a 16 inch round pillow insert I bought at JoAnn so I didn't have to stuff it myself. Easy. The Mr Stinkface side is actually two pieces so that the lowered brow could overlap the eyes.

It's hard to tell, but the back (Mr Happyface) is actually an envelope opening, so it's two pieces also. The overlap edge runs just under the pom pom nose. It's hard to tell it's there, which is just the way I'd hoped. I intended for the lower half to overlap the eyes a bit, but it likes to pull away. I tacked it under the nose but I'll probably sew it all the way across.

During the making, long tufts of fur flew everywhere. I will no doubt continue finding it stuck to my socks and pulling tiny, invisible filaments out of my eyeballs for months. But this faux fur is the softest, bestest feeling fur and such a pretty color! It makes the pillow irresistable. You find you simply must squeeze it, pet it and finger comb its face. It's like an oversized tribble.

I improved muchly on my fur cutting technique this time by reading up on some tips on how you should slide your blades under the fur to only cut the backing instead of just scissoring away at it like you would regular fabric. This keeps it from having uneven, chopped looking fur at the edges and seams (much like my unfortunate mom-trimmed bangs in a long ago school picture.) Excellent.

I had some trouble attaching the eyes and mouth because even though I glue basted the pieces, they kept shifting around on the fur. My softie support group suggested I trim the fur underneath the felt pieces (thank you, makes perfect sense) but I was too afraid to do that because I might want to adjust the placement (the glue was washable). I ended up just gluing the heck out of the pieces all around and then hand sewing the edges instead of trying to wrestle them through the machine. Turned out fine.

I think my thirteen year old turned out fine too. I love you more! (x infinity squared)

what I'm up to

Busy, busy, busy. I always envision lazy summers but somehow that never happens. Doing lots but blogging little. Sewing, traveling to see family, teaching Bible classes (I just finished a quarter with my truly awesome 4-6th graders), VBS madness.

And of course I'm working on two patterns right now, the Gold Ring ornament (5th in the Twelve Days series) and the EarlyBird NightOwl Pillow. Busy digitizing pattern pieces and making test samples for both.

I've sewn a couple of shirts for myself but I can't seem to find a good time to photograph them. Or the motivation to get shots of me wearing them. Or the courage to show you. I'll do that soon. Ish.

And my head was completely turned recently by this vintage curtain remnant on Etsy. I love the combination of the brights with the dull brown. It's a 60s print called Pompeja by Swedish designer Marta-Lena Bjerhagen. It needs to become a pillow for my couch. I'll squeeze that in between samples.

I hope your summer is going well! Or your winter, for my friends in the southern hemisphere.

testing, testing

Very first try at custom printing at Spoonflower for the quick-sew version of the Early Bird Night Owl pillow. The colors came out better than I thought from the screen preview, though some patterns are darker than anticipated.

This is a big experiment with both the method and the cost effectiveness. So far I really don't like the results that I get sewing together the small pieces like the beak and eyebrows. Those would look much better in felt, IMO. The small size makes them kind of a pain to turn and the stuffed shape doesn't look smooth even when I carefully clip the allowances. I'm rethinking those parts.

I'm considering having the large pieces pre-printed (front and back of the bird) and then just adding felt and pom accents. That would sure be a lot cuter and easier. And you could also embellish with trims and embroidery if you wanted to. And maybe that way it would fit on a fat quarter. I'll have to check that. That would bring the cost down.

And no worries, I'm also working on the traditional sewing pattern for this in woven cottons with applique, felt accents, and poms!

wiksten based tunic top with pockets

I've been doing some sewing for myself lately. This Nani IRO print has been burning a hole in my fabric shelf and I finally formed a concrete plan for this tunic. The fabric is one of my favorite prints ever and I didn't want to waste it on a top I wouldn't like. I made a muslin from an old sheet before I made this one.

The fabric is a lightweight double gauze. I started with the top of my Wiksten tank pattern and cut it off just under the bust. Then I drafted a gathered skirt and big pockets to make a comfy tunic. I'd prefer it just a bit longer but I didn't have enough fabric and even ended up having to add a hem facing to keep as much length as possible. This tunic would make a nice casual dress too by lengthening it even more.

I kept the fit loose so I could slip it on over my head but the back ended up looking a little too roomy. I added some shirring to make the fit more flattering but not too tight.

I have a thing about big pockets. They make me happy. I considered adding buttons to the pockets as a decorative touch but decided it was better without them in the end.

Actually, the accidental hem facing makes a nicer looking hem on double gauze than a folded up hem does, IMO. It's very hard for me not to pull or distort the hem if it is folded because the double gauze has such a loose weave. For the facing I just cut a bias strip and finished one edge with an overlock. Then I sewed the other edge to the hem RST, ironed it toward the wrong side, and secured it with a blind stitch by hand.

If you have the Wiksten tank pattern you could make this mod pretty easily. (Assuming you have already made any adjustments to the tank for a good fit first.)

Specifics
Just in case you have the pattern and also have fabric that is burning a hole in your shelf:

quick tiered skirt tutorial for preteens

You'll need:

A girl that is 10-13 yrs old and sized more or less like my kids. haha. My two girls are 21 months apart but right now they wear the same size of clothes. They are both taller than average and usually wear a 12/14 in girls clothing (and sometimes a 16). I made the gray Washi skirt slightly longer than the navy original since they are both growing at an astonishing rate right now.

This is an elastic waist skirt, so it's pretty forgiving and there's room to adjust the waist a few inches either way.

If your kid is a much bigger or smaller than mine you may need to adjust widths and lengths before you begin.

Pondering? Measure your kid's:
1) waist (wherever they wear their skirts)
2) length from their waist to their knee.
This will give you an idea if this skirt will work for your kid as is.
Or if you are a petite mom, this skirt may work really well for you!

Finished size: 
This skirt is about 21 inches long from waist to hem. The waist on ours is about 30 inches around and is meant to be worn low, just below the belly button (you can adjust the waist size below and of course you can adjust the hem).

That's how both my girls wear everything, slung low.

Materials:

1. About 1.5 yards of medium weight cotton or chambray.
2. A package of 1 7/8 inch wide bias hem facing. Mine is Wright's brand. This makes for a really easy channel for the elastic and adds a nice contrast of color inside the waist. (If you don't want to buy hem tape you can use a wide grosgrain ribbon.
3. A length of 1.5 inch wide elastic for the waistband that is long enough for your kid. In my case, that was 30 inches.
4. A ruffler for your machine.

Rip the fabric pieces:

Don't be afraid to rip! It's so much faster than cutting and you can count on it being on the grain and straight. And it's OK if your yardage is wrinkly. Rip first and press later! See, I'm already saving you gobs of time.

First true up the top edge. Cut a 1 inch slit in the selvedge side close to the top of the fabric. Snip it straight across the selvedge and then use your hands to continue ripping the fabric all the way across. I pause at the end (which is the opposite selvedge) and then I snip the that last little bit with scissors to keep from tugging it too hard. Discard what you ripped off. Now you have a straight top edge to measure the rest from.

Rip the following pieces for the skirt by measuring along the selvedge and clipping a slit through it, same as you did above. Measure one, clip, rip. Then measure the next one.

Press all the ripped pieces and whack off the selvedge edges. (Which has the added advantage of squaring up the ends. They can look a bit wonky from the ripping.)

FOR ALL THE SEWING: Use 1/2 inch seam allowances.
RST = Right Sides Together

Make the waistband.

1) Shorten the ripped 7 inch waistband piece to your kid's waist measurement plus about 8 inches. Mine was 38 inches total. Cut a piece of hem tape to the same length.

2) Sew the short ends of the waistband fabric RST (right sides together) to form a loop. Finish and press the seam.

3) Press 1/2 inch toward the wrong side along the top edge.

4) Press under 3/8 inch of the bias hem tape on both ends. Starting to the right of the waistband seam, pin it all the way around about 1/16 inch down from the top edge. The ends should meet and overlap just a tad. Edgestitch the hem tape in place on top and bottom. When you finish you'll have a slit for the elastic where the hem tape meets. Tada.

Make the tiers.

5) Did you already cut one of your 8 inch pieces in half? Good. Throw one of the halves in your scrap pile. Sew the other one RST to the full length 8 inch piece on the short side. Finish and press the seam.

6) Sew the two 10 inch pieces RST on the short side. Finish and press the seam.

7) Break out the ruffler. Set it to one tuck every 12 stitches. Stitch length should be 2 or 2.5.  If your child's waist measurement is larger than my kid's, go with 2.5.

8) Ruffle both the tiers along the top edge with a slightly less than 1/2 inch allowance. Clackety clackety clack. ALERT: Be sure to check that your needle is screwed in tight every few tucks. The ruffler might be busy trying to loosen your needle as it goes along. It's a bummer when you have to stop and screw the needle back in while your ruffler tries to look all innocent.

9) Press the ruffles nice and flat.

10) Now sew the two tiers together RST. The ruffled edge of the longer tier goes face to face with the UNRUFFLED edge of the shorter tier. Those sides should be somewhere near the same length, give or take a few inches. Pin them starting at the midpoints. Sew the seam. Finish and press the seam.

11) Now trim the sides flush. Just follow the line of the shortest tier on both sides.

12) Lay the waistband loop flat on a table. Fold the skirt tiers in half, wrong side out, and line them up to the bottom of the waistband as straight as you can. Measure how much you need to cut off of the skirt in order for it to match up to the waistband but don't forget to keep an extra half inch for the seam. If you need to, err a bit on the large side. You can always ease it in. Trim it!

13) Pin that seam together and sew RST. Finish and press the seam.

14) Pin and sew the tiers RST to the waistband. To do this, turn the waistband right side out and upside down. Turn the skirt wrong side out and tuck the waistband down inside the top, lining up the raw edges. I like to put the vertical waistband seam in the center back and line up the skirt seam on the side.

15) Pin the front, back and sides, evenly distributing the fabric. Finish pinning well and sew. Finish and press the seam.

16) Feed the elastic through the waistband with a bodkin or a hugemongous safety pin. Overlap the ends of the elastic by about an inch and secure it with a (normal sized) safety pin. Don't bother tucking the ends inside yet.

17) Now's the time to check the fit on your kid and also the length. Call them imperiously to you and tell them to drop their shorts. Haha. If they complain about trying it on, make them stand there longer than is strictly necessary while you pretend to dither about the length of the hem.*
*Parenting styles may vary.

18) If the fitting was great, sew as is. If you need to adjust the waist elastic, do that now.

19) Sew the overlapped ends of the elastic together. Pull it inside the waistband by stretching out the waistband. Pop! It disappears inside.

20) Zig zag stitch over the hem tape slit to close.

21) Hem the skirt 1 inch with a double fold 1/2 inch hem. (Or a different amount depending on your kid.) To do that, press 1 inch over to the wrong side, then fold it under itself and press. Edgestitch and you are done! Yay!

I hope you enjoyed this tutorial! I made these two skirts in two afternoons, kind of working on them here and there.

My girls love these skirts. And each other. Deep, deep inside.

I need to make them one in plain chambray because that is such a versatile fabric. I might even take a crack at making myself one. No reason you can't make an adult-sized tiered skirt for yourself. Just make adjustments for your waist size and skirt length and use the same process. You'll probably need to use a longer stitch length for the ruffler. Love to see what you make!

perfect fur for stinkface pillow

It came. It's outstanding. Super soft. The perfect color! (Yes, that's a Jamberry nail. No, I'm not very good at applying it yet. haha)

Stinkface pillow experimentation is going to have to wait a bit until I make birthday skirts for Thing 2 and work on the Early Bird Night Owl sample for Spoonflower. But it's going to be so fun to play with this fur!

 

And this is what my studio is going to look like for weeks after. I had the plastic bag opened for mere seconds to snap a picture and now it looks like I live with 27 turquoise cats. If you want your house to look like that too you can order from here.