Swing Coat Pattern- FREE

pattern here

ruffled skirt tutorial

tutorial here

Cute romper tutorial

see tutorial here

cute spring dress tutorial

see tutorial here

xmas tree ribbon shirt

get the tutorial here

cute twirl skirts

reversible skirt tutorial here

cute tiered skirt tutorial

doll twirl skirt

cute apron top

check it out here

Peasant Top

can't get enough of this blogs tutorials. here is another one

Bag base tutorial here

Need help getting your bottom of your purse just right? Check out this tutorial.


Cute bookmarks here 

check out the tutorial here 

Create a cute romper for summer here

Make a 2 layer twirl skirt

I am trying out this tutorial. Here are all the measurements to make this skirt.

I also typed up the tutorial from the magazine that had this skirt pattern in it. Check it out here.










Size         1st band              1st ruffle            2nd band           2nd ruffle
18 mos    4.5x11.75            5.75x23            3x11.75             5x23
2             4.75x12               6x23.5              4x12                 5x23.5
3             4.75x13               6  x24               4x13             5 x24
4             4.75x14               7 x24.5             4x14             6x24.5
5             5.5x15                 8x24.75            4x15                 6x24.75
6             6x16                    9x25                 4x16              7x25
** cut 2 of each layer

I made mine for an 18 month old. Little to short for me so I put shorts underneath it instead of sewing in elastic in the waist. I just sewed the skirt to the waist band of the shorts using the elastic to gather the top. Worked great.   I adjusted the above measurements to make the skirt a little longer.  Happy sewing.

Add long sleeves to any shirt

I wanted to make a long sleeve dress the other day and all I had was a short sleeve shirt. 
I had some extra shirt material from some t-shirt dresses I made before.
I cut the sleeve using the bottom section of the shirt. I used another shirt as a guide to know what the width of the sleeve should be. Mine was about 3 1/2 inches.






Here is the sleeve cut. 

Turn sleeve inside out and sew up one side and serge raw edges. 
Shove sleeve inside the skirt and sew around the cuff of the shirt.

Now turn shirt right side out. All done.

Tiered Gathered Skirt Tutorial

I made this cute skirt for my daughter today using this tutorial.  The skirt went together really easily. The tutorial even had a calculator to figure out the measurements of all the tiers by using your waist measurement and length of the skirt.  Great tutorial. Will definatly be making this skirt again.

American Girl Doll Dresses

Tried my luck at creating a doll dress to match the peasant dresses I have been making. I borrowed my neighbors daughters doll and measured her just like I did for the big girl dresses.
They came out pretty cute, but were a lot harder to create than the big ones. Those tiny arms holes are hard to feed elastic through.
I know that they will make some little girl happy one day when they get their matching dress set.
If anyone would like the it here is the pattern .
I would be happy to share it. Just send me pics of your dresses.

I also found a great sewing video here to help with your pattern.

Make your child a skirt

I tried my luck at making my daughter a skirt today. Since I have been on the recycle clothing kick lately I decided to use an old skirt of mine for the fabric.
I just measured the length of my daughter from her hip to her knee and cut the skirt that height and the width I used only one side of the skirt for that. I sewed up the short side of the skirt. Since the hem was already done for me I skipped that step. Yeah!! I hate hemming. Next was the waist line. I actually sewed the top of the skirt to a pair of short shorts. All I did was mark the skirt in 4 equal places. Them did the same on the top of the shorts. Sew the skirt to the top of the skirt stretching as you go. Fold over raw edge as you go to so you do not have to sew twice. All done.
Here is a tutorial for making skirts

Up cycle your clothes for your kids

I made my daughter the cutiest dresses today all out of shirts I outgrew. I followed this great tutorial http://www.craftster.org/forum/index.php?topic=293063.0 It was fairly easy once I got the sleeves right. I made 3 dresses in under 2 hours. Not bad for a great nap day by my 15 month old. I went through my closet and retrived 3 large t-shirts for this project.

Some tips from my experience with this project:
Trace out your shirt bodice and sleeves on some poster board to make tracing easier

Use a yellow washable marker to trace on your fabric. It washes out easy and shows up just enough to cut out your pattern.

Try using shirts with v necks or designs on the front of them for add decoration. Maybe monogram or applique the shirt too.

I am going to try them with long sleeve shirts soon.

Doll Skirt Tutorials

To make this skirt you will need:
elastic 1/4"  (10 inches will do) 

thread 

1/4 yard of fabric ( by 2 colors is you want the ruffle to be a different color) sewing machine 

Cut your material:
cut your main piece of the skirt 17 x 6 inches.   cut your ruffle 34 x 3 inches. (you can do 2 pieces 17x3 if you want) 

Assembly:
take your main fabric and iron down a short hem 1/4"" then fold over another 1/4" take elastic and sew on top of folded over bit with wrong side of fabric facing up. Stretch elastic as you sew such that it stretches all the way across the top of the skirt. Now sew up the short side and serge or cut with pinking shears to finish edges. 

The ruffle:  take ruffle (whether you pieced it together or have one long piece) sew up short ends to make one long loop.  take loop and fold it in half long ways to make one long narrower loop. Press folded edge.  take loop and gather it using a long basting stitch. Pull strings to make loop gather to the circumference of the bottom of the main skirt. Sew the ruffle to the bottom of the main skirt wrong sides together making sure to line up the ruffled edge with the bottom of the skirt evenly.  finish edge of the joint of skirt and ruffle with a serger or zig zag stitch.  Turn over to the right side of the fabric. Fold the ruffle up and top stitch close to edge to make the ruffle lay flat. All done!!

New Peasant Dress Pattern

Got this great pattern from www.youcanmakethis.com.  It is a multi-tiered peasant dress.  Went together really well except for the gathering in the middle layers. Not enough gather for my liking.  I think it turned out cute. The bodice part is a little tight for my daughter to get on. I made a size 2 and she is only 20 months old. I think I will make the next one a little wider in the bodice section. Overall a great pattern.  Will post it on my Etsy shop.