Pretty Peach Pinafore: Persnickety Knock off

I couldn't resist the alliteration.

So, this outfit was inspired by Persnickety.  I couldn't afford buying theirs so I made my own. I especially loved the apricot underdress.  So perfect for warm summer days and it layered beautifully with the pinafore.  I was smitten!  It's not the first time I've had to make my own Persnickety dress.  I made a pin tucked jumper last summer.  I might have a problem.

I used the bodice and sleeve pattern from five and ten designs to construct both pieces.  I also made my underdress 100% reversible.  The inside is pink chambray and the outside is apricot shot cotton.  I forgot to get photos of the pink dress, but it's pretty basic.  The apricot is my favorite anyway.

I scooped the neck on the bodice and brought it to a subtle "v" in the front.  I also brought in the shoulders a bit so that the whole thing would look more fitted.  Nice and simple but the shot cotton adds texture to the dress and spices it up.

Since I wanted the dress to be reversible, I had to sew on an exposed zipper.  I used a brown one to compliment the orange dress and then layered pink lace over it.  I also ran lace down the back seam of the dress.

I love how the lace and exposed zipper makes an otherwise plain dress a bit more exciting.

The pinafore's sleeves are trimmed in cotton lace and the neck is bound with matching apricot shot cotton which comes around the back to form the ties.  Little Miss has demanded a pocket.  She was sad that there was nowhere to store her treasures.

The back is left open.  You can see the zipper on the under dress.  It ties at the top and the waist with apricot ties.  I think it's cute, but it reminds me a bit of a hospital examination gown.  I'm toying with the idea of putting a button on the top but I'd have to add extra width to the back (perhaps a tab would work?)  If I do that, I'll add a bodice lining as well and lose the bias binding at the neck.

Little Mis prefers the under dress without the pinafore.  I might too.  I have a pair of linen shorts in the works to put under the pinafore for warmer summer days.

• fabrics: Kaffee Fasset shot cotton in apricot and Art Gallery Reminisce
• pattern: five and ten designs modified

Easy Heart Skirt Tutorial

Do you need a quick themed skirt for a holiday or event?  I have a very simple tutorial for you today.  You can add this to any any existing skirt or whip up a simple elastic waist skirt.  I won’t do a tutorial for making the skirt itself since there are a lot of great ones out there (like this one), but I will show you how to add these cute felt heart embellishments but you use any shapes you'd like.  Shamrocks for St. Patrick's Day.  Bunnies or easter eggs for Easter.  Maybe balloons for a birthday.  Have fun with it.  If this looks familiar, it's because it was originally written for Sewing Rabbit but I'm bringing it home today.

Materials:

• Skirt
• Several colors of felt.  I used red, dark pink, bright pink and white.
• Scissors
• Sewing Machine
• Thread

You could hand sew these as well, but a sewing machine makes it go much faster.

Start off by drawing some heart templates on paper in three different sizes.  Stack them up until you like their sizes relative to each other.  It sounds complicated but just play it by ear and have fun with it.  These are what mine looked like when I was happy with them.

Next, trace them out on your sheets of felt.  I traced 3 of each size in each color just to make sure I’d have plenty.  There is no set amount that you’ll want.  It depends on the size of your hearts, the size of your skirt and how many hearts you want on your skirt when you’re done.  Felt is cheap, cut as many as you want.  If you have too many at the end, you can use them as embellishments on something else later.  My daughter made some cards for her brothers out of some of our leftovers.

I used a dark sharpie to trace these so that they’d show up for the photos, but I’d suggest using a color that closely matches your felt.  That way, it won’t show up on your final project.  You don’t finish the edges and some of my hearts look a little too “homemade” for my taste with their dark sharpie edges, if you know what I mean.

After you cut out all of our hearts comes the fun part.  Stack them all up and make them pretty!  Play with your color combinations until you think they look good and have the variety you’re going for.  My daughter had SO MUCH fun helping me do this part.  She painstakingly arranged and rearranged these hearts until they were just right.  Look at all of those pretty stacks!

Pin them onto your skirt in whatever configuration pleases you.  I liked mine a bit asymmetrical and clustered them toward the left of the seams.  When pinning, keep the center of the heart clear because that is where you’ll sew them down.  I found that two pins was plenty to keep them in place.

Now, start sewing.  I had a two layer skirt, so I sewed these starting at the tip, but you’ll get a better point if you start at the top of your heart and sew toward the tip.  Because of the construction of my skirt, though, this was a whole lot easier for me.

Don’t forget to anchor your stitches with a backstitch at the top and bottom.  Go around your whole skirt and sew them all on.

The last step is to fold all of your hearts along the seam to make them stand out a bit, but you can keep them flat if you’d like.  It’s up to you.

DONE!  Easy!

• Fabric - Shot cotton by Kaffe Fasset in Latte
• Felt - Walmart craft felt
• Pattern - Self drafted

Craftster best of 2013

What the WHAT?!  I took a craftster sabbatical a while back and when I went back today, I discovered this beauty!


I'm a Craftster Best of 2013 Winner!  

Read more: http://www.craftster.org/forum/index.php?action=best-of-2013#ixzz2wiGVm6dx

Looks like I won their "Best Of" award in January.  Somehow, I had no idea.  I'm so amazed and humbled and a little embarrassed that I only found out now.  Well, better late than never, right?