by Sherri Sylvester | Mar 1, 2016
I have a good stash of ribbon… well, maybe more than a good stash. More like an entire cute Ikea garbage can full! They collect much faster than I can sew them into all the things. This skirt , however, saved me a bit of stash-guilt by using up about 44″ each of 10 different ribbons – all in one skirt, hooray! Plus, I got to play with lots of fun stitches on my On-Loan Janome Skyline S5!
I decided to use some gray Essex linen, left over from my Camber Dress a few years ago. After checking with my “anti-gray” oldest child to make sure she’d wear it, I got to pull out my bucket ‘o ribbons and decide which ones to use. I wanted to add in some decorative stitches and since my oldest loves to draw, I found a few quotes to add in.
Love, love being able to personalize this skirt for her! One quote says “Creativity takes courage. ~ Matisse” and the other is “Everything you can imagine is real. ~ Degas” The Skyline S5 has a 50 stitch memory. After programming it, all I had to do was start stitching and it continued the pattern until I stopped it at the other edge of the skirt.
After using this machine for about 6 months, one of my favorite features is the automatic tension. It is so nice not to have to think about it when sewing through multiple layers and different thicknesses. I used a pink bobbin throughout this project, to match the lining, and it doesn’t show even once on the outer fabric.
As a word of caution, I am new to the world of embroidery and stitching and did not have any stabilizer on hand. *collective gasp* Yes, I know, I did just do that. #liveandlearn You can do better than me and make sure to have some behind all of your decorative stitching. Thankfully the waviness pressed out with a bit of steam – whew. I did put a layer of woven fabric behind my linen, because I was worried the loose weave and the stitching wouldn’t play well together. This helped a bit, but stabilizer is now #1 on my shopping list.
Materials
- 44″ wide outer fabric – see sizing/cutting instructions below
- lining/stabilizer – see sizing/cutting instructions below
- various ribbons/embellishments
- 3/4″ elastic, non-rolling
- thread to match ribbons for top-stitching
- removable fabric pen/ruler
- decorative stitches and thread (optional)
Note: Make sure your ribbons are machine washable, and the colours won’t run. Pre-wash them if you can. Be sure to test if they are colour-fast with hot water as you would another fabric. If you are worried, wash skirt in cold water and hang to dry. It is also recommended that you check to see if the ribbons can be pressed Some synthetic blends will melt when heat is applied. It is best to press the skirt from the wrong side with not much heat unless you are sure the ribbons can take it.
Prep Work:
- Measure the desired length of your skirt (I used a ready-to-wear size 7 skirt as an example and measured 15″)
- Add 3″ to your length to leave room for hemming and an elastic casing.
Sizing: If your child’s waist/hips are between 21″-27″ a 44″ width of fabric should be fine. If not, fabric should be cut to the final length x double your child’s waist measurement.
Cut Your Fabric:
- Cut your outer fabric from selvage to selvage at your desired length (including the 3″ from Prep Work Step 2).
- If using a lining fabric, cut this to the same size as the outer fabric. If not, prepare strips of stabilizer to be adhered behind decorative stitching.
Here We Sew:
- If using a lining fabric, place lining and outer fabric wrong sides together. Baste if desired, from now on treat this as one fabric.
- Use a removable fabric marker to mark the casing on the outer fabric at 1 1/4″ down from the top long edge. Mark the hem with a line 1″ up from the bottom.
- Lay ribbons along the width of the skirt in your desired layout. Place stiffer ribbons near the middle/bottom – since they won’t gather as well. It is good to leave about 1″ of room under the casing and before the hem. Be sure to leave room for some decorative stitching, too! If you don’t have fancier stitches on your machine a zig-zag stitch or some closely sewn straight stitched lines would be cute too.
- Mark the ribbon placement on a short outer fabric edge. It is helpful to take a temporary photo or write down the order so you can remember it later!
- Mark lines for the top edge of each ribbon across the width of the skirt, so they all end up straight! It helps to fold the skirt so the two short outer edges are lined up and transfer the ribbon placement marks- this way the ribbons will hopefully match up along the back edge of your skirt.
- Add your decorative stitching and ribbons as desired. Switch thread colours as necessary to top-stitch your ribbons neatly.
- Trim the ribbons to match the fabric edges and finish the sides so the fabric does not fray. I used the “M” overcast foot that came with this machine, and a double zig-zag overcasting stitch. This fabric is NEVER going to fray now! You could also finish the edge with a serger or a zig-zag stitch and some Fray Check.
- Pin the short edges of the outer fabric right sides together, matching ribbon placement as you go. Stitch with a 3/8″ seam. Press the seam open to reduce bulk.
- Fold and press the hem under 1/2″ then under 1/2″ again. Top-stitch a generous 3/8″ away from the folded edge.
- Fold and press the casing under 1/4″, then 1″ to leave room for the elastic. Stitch near the first folded edge, leaving a 3″ opening.
- Insert the elastic into the casing and feed it through with a safety pin. The elastic will be roughly the length of your child’s waist measurement + 1″. Though, it is best to try the skirt on and fit it accordingly.
- Overlap the elastic and stitch it together. Push it back into the casing and stitch the casing closed. Remove any marked lines. You are finished!
Enjoy your fancy skirt! My oldest was so cute and made sure to thank me “for the most beautiful skirt ever.” She’s a keeper! 😉
Thanks for reading to the bottom of the post. Join me for “thread ride” so you don’t miss more great content!
Disclaimer: Janome Canada has kindly allowed me to borrow this loaner machine on a 1 year contract and I am so grateful to them! I want to say again, as with all the products I write about – I always tell you my own honest opinion. I have bought and worked with Janome products for 90% of my sewing life and used their products long before they contacted me. I am so happy to give them a great review because I already love and support this product.
by Sherri Sylvester | Feb 24, 2016
Whew – fun things going on over here. Today’s post is full of random fun facts about what’s going on at Thread Riding Hood. Including the 3 winners of the latest giveaways!
In the midst of lots of recent quilt piecing fun I’ve posted on Facebook and Instagram, I updated my Free Measurement Chart Printable for you today! I just realized I haven’t measured my girls recently and we’re going to need to because it is Easter dress planning time again. I added some better numbering and a few more measurements to the original chart. Head over to the Measure-Me Chart post or click below to get the new printable. I’m hoping to update the photos as well, but my printer has informed me I can’t print anything because I am out of ink. Argh!
I love making the girls super fancy dresses at least once a year – especially in time for Easter Sunday. Right now I’m leaning toward the Violette dress. While the girls still like being princesses! Of course I still have to run it by them and see what they think. I’d hate to gather that much tulle if they won’t wear it more than once! I’ve got some gold dupioni silk scraps that might stretch to make the bodice and peplum for one dress. Overkill maybe, but the scraps are too small for a “me-sized” project, so I may as well use them up! Here are some past Easter dresses – I love all of these patterns! You can click on them to link to more photos. (Crazy how big these girls are getting!)
What is your favorite little/medium sized girls’ dress pattern?
BIG NEWS! If you haven’t been over to Instagram lately, check out the machine Janome has loaned me to play with right now! I’ll be sharing a fun series with them leading up to Toronto’s Spring Creativ Festival. I’m really excited to let you know that Janome is sponsoring me as I present a trunk show once each day at the Festival this spring. Eeek!
WINNERS! I know, I held off until the end, thanks for being patient…. Here are the winners of the recent giveaways!
First off, Country Clothesline gave away two 12 fat quarter bundles during their Valentine’s sale. How gorgeous are these?!
#625 – Renee H. won by following Thread Riding Hood on Bloglovin’
#269 – Lorrie R. won by following Country Clothesline on Pinterest.
Last but definitely not least, Fabric Please! made someone very happy by giving away a Lil’ Red layer cake! I love the quilt top I was able to make with mine. The colours are super happy! (Quick tip: their 1st Year Anniversary sale is still on until Friday, February 26, 2016!)
#4 Linda B. won by visiting us on Facebook!
Congratulations to all of the winners. Thanks so much for supporting my sponsors, please take a visit over to both of these wonderful shops.
by Sherri Sylvester | Feb 12, 2016
Oooh! I am crazy about this quilt top! The colours are amazing, the star pattern is fantastic. Plus, it’s Little Red Riding Hood, so absolutely nothing could be wrong about that! 😉
When my sponsor Fabric Please! emailed me to see if I’d like to work with Lil’ Red by Stacy Iest Hsu for Moda, I’d already fallen in love with it. I am pretty sure I saw this line in the fall Quilt Market photos. Plus, I have a couple of amazing readers who tag me whenever they find new Little Red Riding Hood fabric, so I can get it for my collection. So helpful! Of course, I told Rita “Yes, Please!” and waited impatiently for it to arrive in the mail!
The Lil’ Red fabrics are in stock at Fabric Please! now, so I get to share my quilt top, just in time for Valentine’s Day – how appropriate! They have prints, layer cakes and fat quarter bundles for you to choose from. (Enter to win a Lil’ Red Layer Cake at the end of this post!)
After a ton of thought, I decided to make a Moda Love Quilt. The directions come with measurements for a layer cake, charm pack or even a tiny mini charm pack. I am loving anything with diagonals and star shapes right now. This quilt is so easy to make with rows of squares and half-square-triangles (HST’s). Plus, if you look up other versions, there are so many ways to arrange the colours. I made mini charm version of this recently and it turned out completely different due to the colour placement.
If you follow me around on Facebook or Instagram you’ll know that I asked for help deciding which colour to place in the center diamond. Your most common suggestion was to use blue (which I love, thank you!), but you may also notice that the final layout of the quilt is different from the photos posted earlier this week.
Once I was about to piece everything together, I got worried. The red chevrons at top and bottom suddenly stood out too much for my liking. Rearranging the blue/red and low volume HST’s made the center star show up a lot more, and with the pop of blue, all of a sudden it was perfect!
Now all I need to do is convince one of my daughters to love blue/red/pink and green so I can redecorate their room and make this project into a twin size quilt for their bed. (With matching pillows of course – from the extra squares!) For now the quilt top and extra 10″ squares will be joining my quickly-growing Red Riding Hood fabric collection, waiting for the perfect fabric to back it with – or maybe I should piece a few together? (I’ve also got secret exciting news that might help me with the quilting. Eeek! Can’t wait to share!)
One very lucky reader will win a Lil’ Red Layer Cake from Fabric Please! These bundles of 10″ squares are so much fun to play with. And this playful fabric line is so bright and cheerful it’s pretty hard not to love it!
This giveaway is open to readers in Canada & the US, from today (February 12) until midnight February 19, 2016. Use the Rafflecopter widget below to enter – and if you don’t have Facebook to sign in with, just use your name and email address. There’s a “click to enter”, no social media login entry too!
a Rafflecopter giveaway
by Sherri Sylvester | Feb 10, 2016
I’m really happy to feature my sponsor, Country Clothesline, on the blog again. It’s been a while! Their wonderfully curated collection of fabrics are so unique I don’t know of another shop like it. Their tagline is Fresh and Pretty Fabrics, and it’s true! Gorgeous , vintage prints, lots of dots and the cutest kids’ fabrics. Recently they have updated their website and it now includes larger fabric swatches, easier search categories and a better shopping cart.
Country Clothesline is having an amazing Valentine’s sale – For the LOVE of Fabric – starting tomorrow! This sale features discounted fabrics throughout their stock and runs from Thursday February 11 – Wednesday February 17, 2016.
I’ve been fortunate to work with Country Clothesline on a number of projects, and all four of these have links to tutorials! Two shirts for my oldest – florals are her favorite! A Flutter Sleeve Shirt and Zip-Back Peplum Shirt. The popular Floral Divided Tote that I’ve used to carry around almost everything for the last year or so. And a cute Christmas Placemat project for Janome – just posted this past December!
I recently picked up these beauties earlier this year… a little something to put in my Little Red Riding Hood fabric collection and some early Christmas planning!
Country Clothesline is giving away 2 BUNDLES of 12 fat quarters, one each to two lucky readers from anywhere worldwide! This giveaway is open from February 10 until February 17, 2016 at midnight EST. Use the Rafflecopter widget below to enter – and if you don’t have Facebook to sign in with, just use your name and email address. There’s a “click to enter”, no social media login entry too!
a Rafflecopter giveaway
by Sherri Sylvester | Jan 21, 2016
I’m happy to have my sponsor Fabric Please! back again with news about their Thank You Thursday promotions, new arolyn Friedlander fabric and a gift certificate giveaway!
Carkai by Carolyn Friedlander
Five gorgeous prints from Carolyn Friedlander’s latest line, Carkai, are now in stock at Fabric Please! They are also going to have the Carkai fat quarter bundlesin stock later this winter. You know these are going to go fast – don’t wait or they might be gone!
Thank You Thursday!
Fabric Please has been running Thursday promotions for a while now and I wanted to let you know because they are such a great deal. Each Thank You Thursday features special discounts available for only 24 hours. They are even nice enough to let you know what the sale is in advance – so you can be ready for it.
Make sure to sign up for their newsletter so you don’t miss out. Here are today’s sales, including 25% off Lotta Jansotter – Eeek!
15% off Mon Ami by Basic Grey – Code: SAVE15
20% off Pearl Essence by Maywood Studios – Code: SAVE20
25% off Lotta Jansdotter fabrics – Code: SAVE25
You could be the winner of a $40 CDN gift certificate to use for anything you’d like from Fabric Please! Might I suggest some Carkai perhaps?!
This giveaway is open to International readers, from January 21-28, 2016 at midnight EST. Use the Rafflecopter widget below to enter – and if you don’t have Facebook to sign in with, just use your name and email address. There’s a “click to enter”, no social media login entry too!
a Rafflecopter giveaway
by Sherri Sylvester | Dec 10, 2015
It’s a Shweshwe Holiday over here! This post is sponsored by Meerkat Sweshwe, who contacted me a while ago to see if I’d like to create something with their fabrics. I fell in love with the these red prints and we agreed they would be perfect for a holiday pinafore. (+ Come back tomorrow to find out how to sew a reversible pinafore, and hear the story of why my daughter’s doll has a matching dress!)
Before we get too far into the Pinafore tutorial – I know some of you are asking, “What exactly is shweshwe?” It’s a lot less complicated than it sounds! This fabric is 100% high quality cotton, produced in South Africa. It’s history is fascinating, and you can find out a lot more about where it came from, or get a condensed version in my earlier interview with Meerkat Shweshwe’s owner, Céleste.
This unique fabric is treated with starch, a traditional way of preserving it during long sea voyages. Depending on who you purchase it from it comes pre-washed or in it’s original state. I was curious to pre-wash it myself and my youngest and I had lots of fun doing it. The fabric started out very stiff and it smelled like a new box of crayons. First, we pre-soaked it in super-hot water, to remove the treatment. (Pushing it underwater with a wooden spoon is super fun according to the five year old!) Then I washed and dried it like I would a regular load of laundry and it came out super soft, just like any cotton fabric you’d use for a project. It is really nice to iron as well, very crisp and easy to press. And you can tell it is high quality – with a tight weave that will last. I tried to take a few before and after photos below so you can see the difference in the fabric.
Unwashed Shweshwe
Unwashed Shweshwe
Soft, Washed Shweshwe
I’m also excited to let you know that Meerkat Shweshwe just opened an online store! Their well laid out shop has large photos and lots of options. There is an opening special of 10% off everything in the store, until December 18, 2015! Use the promo code DOORCRASHER, minimum order $18 before tax and shipping.
If you ever get a chance to talk to Céleste directly take it! (at Creativ Festival maybe?) She is so passionate about these fabrics and their use, and it is so fun to talk to her because of it. You’ll have to ask her about her having a part in working to provide more jobs for South Africans by supporting the Da Gama Textile factory. I really appreciated talking to her and being able to work with fabrics that hold so much history!
This tutorial will show you how to draft Pinafore pattern pieces in any size. I will be finishing this series up tomorrow with a tutorial on how to use these pattern pieces to sew a reversible pinafore. It’s easier than you think – and my fashion-loving five year old really likes being able to choose (and change) her outfit so easily. I love the traditional look of a pinafore, and it adds extra warmth (and cuteness!) to a basic shirt/leggings in the winter.
This drafting tutorial requires a simple woven dress bodice pattern to use as a base, it works especially well with a bodice that has flutter sleeves or no sleeves. I have used the First Day Dress as my base to draft from.
This tutorial assumes your base pattern has a 1/2″ seam allowance. If your seam allowance is different, please be sure to compensate for that when drafting this pattern.
Draft the Pinafore Bodices:
- Trace the bodice front and back onto a larger sheet of blank paper. Choose a bodice size that is generous, to allow for a shirt to be worn under the pinafore. I added 3/4″ to the centre of the front bodice to allow for even more extra room.
- We are drafting an empire waist pinafore. If your base pattern has an empire waist, skip this step. If not, measure 2-3″ (+ 1/2″ seam allowance) down from the armhole along the side seam and mark the empire waist as a straight line across the front and back bodice.
- Many pinafores have a lower rounded or square front neckline. If you would like to change it, mark the changes on your pattern piece. Remember, your neckline will be 1/2″ lower than your new marking because of the seam allowance. (Pink line below.)
- The back of the pinafore is also generally cut into a v-shape, which fits well with the button closure we will be using. Mark a line from the inside of the shoulder to about 2″ up from the empire waist line. Remember the actual pinafore will be 1/2″ smaller due to the seam allowance.
- Mark the centre fold, size, cutting directions and name on each pattern piece and cut them out. The Front Bodice is cut once on the fold, the Back Bodice is cut twice.
Draft the Pinafore Skirt:The skirt pieces are large rectangles. You will need one “Skirt Front” and two “Skirt Back” pieces. Follow the steps below to find the measurements for each one.
- Skirt Front and Back Length: Measure the length of the skirt in your base pattern + the amount you removed to make the empire waist + 1″ for seam allowances and hem. Example: My base skirt length 14″ + the 4″ I removed to make the empire waist + 1″ for seams and hem = 19″ Skirt Length.
- Skirt Front Width: Measure the width of the bottom of your drafted Front Bodice, double it to account for cutting the bodice on the fold, multiply it by 1.75 to add fabric for gathering. Example: My Front Bodice width was 7 1/2″, doubled is 15″, multiplied by 1.75 = 26 1/4″ Front Skirt Width (I changed this to 26″ for easy cutting).
- Skirt Back Width: Measure the width of the bottom of the drafted Back Bodice, multiply this width by 1.75 to add fabric for gathering. Example: My Back Bodice width was 7 1/2″, multiply by 1.75 = 13 1/8″ Back Skirt Width (I changed this to 13″ for easy cutting).
- Each final measurement for the Front and Back Skirt piece = the Length by the appropriate Width. Example: My Front Skirt was 19″ long by 22 1/2″ wide. My Back Skirts were 19″ long by 11 1/4″ wide each.
Draft the Pinafore Pockets:
- I used simple square patch pockets for each side of the skirt. Decide on a size you like and add 1″ to the width and 1 1/2″ to the height for hemming. Example: My finished pockets are 4″ wide by 4.5″ high. The pattern piece is 5″ wide (4″ wide + 1″) by 6″ high (4 1/2″ high + 1 1/2″).
Hold that thought. (and those pattern pieces!) Tomorrow I’ll be back with the tutorial on how to sew the pinafore! In the meantime, check out the variety of fabrics in the Meerkat Shweshwe Shop.
