A Simple Skirt - Finally!

I've been meaning for a few weeks to make A Simple Skirt for my daughter, but I kept forgetting to buy the 1-inch elastic that the tutorial calls for. Well, this weekend my sister-in-law and her family were in town for Easter, and since she also loves to sew, she brought her sewing goodies with her.

Last night we had a little sewing circle that involved wine and various little projects, including a "2" shirt for my boy. His birthday was last Saturday, but I'm a little behind. He is going to be 2 for a whole year, afterall.

Anyway, last night while we were sewing we decided to use some of my mountains of fabric and make the girls (her daughter and mine - they're 3 months apart and the best of friends) matching skirts. Perfect, I thought. And she just happened to have the 1-inch elastic that we needed.

The simple skirts turned out to be just that - simple. I love projects that are fast and easy, with instructions that are easy to understand. I meant to take step-by-step photos of the skirt-making, but we were all just chit-chatting and having a great time, so I didn't do it. I do plan on making more of these skirts in the future, so I'll post photos next time I make one. In the meantime, hop on over to MADE and check out the tutorial for yourself.

Next time I'll make it a little shorter since it gets so hot in Atlanta over the summer, but I like it long, too!

New Project: A Simple Skirt

-image from Dana at dana-made-it.com

I decided that while I'm doing the Ultimate Blog Challenge, I'll do another sewing project. Before I participated in the Sew Along for Japan, I hadn't actually sewed anything for a while. I finished a few projects on my embroidery machine here and there, but I hadn't actually sewn anything in...well, a while. Oh wait, I did sew a couple of key fobs, but those take about 2 seconds, so I don't feel like they really count.

I actually forgot how much I enjoyed sewing, so I started looking around for another project I could work on and blog about. I've been doing more craft blog hopping lately, and have been finding some wonderful blogs that offer a great deal of inspiration as well as tutorials. My first new favorite is Living with Punks, as I've mentioned before; this is where I participated in the Sew Along for Japan, and rediscovered my love of sewing. Just yesterday I was browsing around the interwebs and stumbled across Made. I don't even remember how I found it; I believe it was because a Facebook friend had "pinned" this particular tutorial and it struck my interest.

So, my next project is to make "A Simple Skirt" from Made for my Pookie. I figure with a tutorial this easy, I should be able to do it without a problem. Maybe I'll make her two. Or maybe I'll make one for myself. Maybe, just maybe, I'll even make matching skirts for my nieces. But then, both sisters-in-law also sew, so maybe they'll just make skirts for their own girls. ;)

I dug through my fabric stash this evening looking for some purple polka dot fabric (Michael Miller, I believe) that I know I have around here somewhere, but couldn't find. I unearthed this purple fabric from Joann's instead, so I'm going to go with it: Again, I apologize for my terrible pictures. Someday soon I'll get it together and take non-cellphone photos in actual daylight.

This fabric is perfect for a summer skirt. It's hard to tell in the pic, but it's a nice laverder-y purple color with hearts and swirls throughout. Supercute for a 4-year old!

I still need to wash the fabric, round up some elastic, and take measurements, but I'll get that taken care of and get started. Stay tuned for the finished product (or products!). Maybe I'll even (gasp!) use bias tape. We'll see how it goes.

Oh, and go check out what all Dana has to offer on her blog. There are tons of tutorials, patterns, recipes, and other great stuff!