Sew

Sewing a little girl’s tutu is actually a lot easier than you might think and is a perfect sewing project for beginners. This simple elastic waist skirt can be adjusted for a variety of ages and you can fill the skirt with fun embellishments like faux flower petals as I did.

This post may contain affiliate links. All opinions are my own.

Begin with tulle (pronounced ‘tool’, not ‘too-lee’). I happen to own a bolt of it but if you are not a fabric hoarder like yours truly, grab some at your local fabric store or by clicking the photo below from my online fave Amazon.

You could use any non-slippery, sort of see-through sheer. I’d recommend tulle because it is so inexpensive, readily available, and pretty easy to sew on. You will need about 3 times more than your desired circumference. That means if you want your skirt to be about 90 inches around the bottom (nice and full), then you’ll need about 270 inches which equals about 7 and a half feet, which also equals 2 ½ yards.

If you are thinking, gee, I have no idea what I need, here you go.

I used 2 ½ yards of tulle for a tutu for an average sized 4-year-old. I pulled it up on my waist and thought that I’d want maybe one more yard for a grown-up tutu.

I resist giving exact measurements for things that really don’t require them because I’d hate for a reader to think, shoot, all I have is 2 yards of tulle so I can’t make this tutu. Yes, you can. Go with what you have, Wildflowers.

You also need elastic. I used the skinnier variety only because it is very stretchy and good for the constant changing I imagine happening when the wearer is playing dress up. Measure around the child’s waist and add 1 inch.

Lay the fabric flat on the floor or on a big table. It will come folded in half. For a child’s skirt, you will be folding it in half hot dog style again. If you want to fill the skirt with handfuls of faux flower petals like I did, here’s when you’d do that. I saved my flower petals from my sister in law’s wedding 5 years ago. For real. I swear to you, I thought to myself that they’d be darling in a girl’s skirt someday. My whole life has been one sewing blog post idea after another, Wildflowers. I hope you are getting a kick out of them.

With the help of a friend or with your own dextrous fingers, move the tulle to your sewing machine. Sew using matching thread (regular ol’ Coats and Clark will do just fine) along the long side, being sure to sew through all four layers of tulle.

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Fold over the edge creating a casing for the elastic. Here’s where you can make a big casing and thus a shorter skirt without the hassle of trimming a few inches off the tulle. For example, if you have a short 2-year-old recipient, make the casing 4 inches or more. I made mine a bit more than 2 inches. Sew the casing as you did the first seam.

Use a large safety pin to thread the elastic through the casing. Sew the elastic to one end of the casing and then the other, creating a full, ruffled curtain.

Sew the long ‘curtain’ into a skirt, starting at the elastic waist and sewing to the bottom of the skirt. If you determine at this point that the skirt is too big, you can just sew again, an inch or more in from the edge, and trim off the excess.

Impress your friends and relatives with your inexpensive, homemade and totally adorable skirt!

So what else could you fill the skirt with, Wildflowers? Did coin size sequins? A length of ribbon? Share your ideas in the comment section below; I can’t wait to read what you come up with!

If you want to learn how to sew, check out the courses HERE!

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Easy DIY Moth Halloween Costume

This easy, DIY Halloween costume can be done fast, easy, with very little or no sewing and is way better and different from the standard Princess Whomever costume or storebought fare (yawn!). These wings are car seat and small child-friendly and because they have painted fun colors, no one is missing the standout, wired wing variety.

I am actually not as festive as most people seem to think I am. I’m not into doing a lot of decorating for holidays, so whatever I do, it is going to be simple, easy, and likely multi-purpose.

I made this moth costume to fit my nearly-four year old’s request. She loves moths, and wanted to be a “scary, purple and green moth.” You got it, Babe. I can do that, and you can too and modify it to fit whatever your darlings desire.

​This post may contain affiliate links. All opinions are my own.

Here’s what you need:

• You need a shirt that you can sew some fabric wings to (you can remove them later). I used a long sleeved black tee shirt.

• Fabric or poster or acrylic paint.

• About half a yard of fabric for the wings. If you go to a fabric store and buy fabric off the bolt, it will be a piece that is 18 inches x 45 inches. If you rustle up an old sheet, tablecloth, curtain, etc, you will simply cut a rectangle that is as wide as your child’s wingspan (I measured wrist to wrist with arms outstretched) and as tall as from the child’s shoulders to waist. Don’t get fancy and cut out wing shapes yet. You just need a rectangle.

I used unbleached muslin which comes in a wide variety of widths, so if you are buying new fabric, I’d recommend it. If you are paint-phobic, you could score some beautiful batik print (which is what I originally had in mind when planning this costume) that would mimic a moth’s pattern fairly.

• A piece of cardboard to use as a template. I cut open a cereal box and was sure to put the printed side down. The shiny printed side would have let excess paint drip off the edge (rather than absorb it nicely). Depending on the design/flying thing your child wishes to be, you might be free handing. You can do it; it hasn’t been that long since high school art class!

• Pipe cleaners for antennae + headband. I used 5 black pipe cleaners folded in half and twisted together to make a distinctly “moth” look. Do not underestimate the humble pipe cleaner; they are so versatile!

Procedure:

I used a large salad bowl as a template for a curve at the bottom edge of the wing. I folded the wings in half and made a matching curve on the folded edge so it created a wing-ish shape, kind of like a wide, fat, letter W.

You can choose to zigzag around your wings at this point but I didn’t.

Create your template from a piece of cardboard. I swear; I found a moth on the porch and modeled my zigzag pattern after it. Moths are typically found in more subdued colors and patterns in nature when compared to their daytime-flying butterfly cousins but do whatever you desire. I sprayed the paint, moved the template up a few inches, switched colors and repeated. Did I drip and were the ends a little wonky? You bet. Does it matter? No way.

The particular type of paint I used took a little bit of time to dry but dried to a super soft feel which I really was pleased with.

Using thread that matches the wing fabric (cream in my case, not black that would match the shirt) and stitches to the shirt. It can be a little tricky getting the shirt under the sewing machine because the sleeves are narrow. You should be able to sew from shoulder to shoulder and if the sleeves are bigger than a 2T, I’d think you could sew from elbow to elbow.

Happy Halloween, Wildflowers! I hope this little tutorial shows you that you do NOT have to be a skilled sewist, nor super duper crafty to make an inexpensive, creative, not super girly (unless you want to be, in which case, glitter it up!), small child-friendly costume.

Please share in the comments below: what other winged things could this little tutorial apply? Bees? Butterflies? Bats? I can’t wait to hear what you come up with 🙂

Sewing for the home can be a really satisfying thing because it can inexpensively bring order, beauty, and utility when you most need it. I needed to corral shoes by my front door and when I spied some old metal freezer baskets in my Gram’s garage, I knew organized footwear wasn’t far off. This post shares how to sew a liner for a basket and you can even download the measuring guide so you can make your own!

Chest freezers seem to be commonplace in rural or agrarian households because you need a lot of freezer space to freeze a whole beef or a whole game animal. Older style freezers featured wire baskets that helped separate different cuts of meat and made it possible for a girl to dig out a ham from the bottom of the chest without being buried in an avalanche of steaks. Now, of course, these baskets are often made of plastic which is nowhere near as good. If you come across these wire baskets, I’d suggest snagging one…or four, the way I did. The funky plastic handles can be snapped off and they are sturdy, useful, and now they are on-trend.

Of course, the baskets need a liner if you want to store anything small (like toddler shoes) in them. I had saved a queen sized sheet that tore after many mending jobs but still had lots of good fabric remaining. I imagined using some fabric dye like my tutorial here but realized the cream color of the sheet was a win.

Cutting out a basket liner is fairly simple. You will need to measure a few things, which I instinctively avoid but it’s got to be done. Get out the tape measure and jot down:

• the width of the base + height of both sides + overhang desired
• the length of the base +height of both sides + overhang desired

The overhang depends on what you prefer. If you want the wrong side of the fabric and/or the wire hidden, then you want an overhang to be the same as the height. I like a little wire showing so I did a 3 inch overhang on my 8 inch tall baskets.

I use a soft fabric tape measure (tell that man in your life to put the metal construction-style measuring tape away) and I start at one side of the basket and just measure from left to right; up the side, down the side, across the bottom, up the right side and down the right side. Write your number down and repeat for the other direction.

As for the seam allowance: I am generous and round up to the nearest inch with my measurements and sew only a quarter inch seam allowance and unless you want a very snug, precise fit, that should work just fine. I appreciate precision to a degree but if I can’t finish it before my babies wake from naptime then it goes into the giant stack of unfinished and unsatisfying projects and then I still have a tangle of shoes at the door. For me, I eyeball and round up and it works.

Now you have a set of measurements that dictate how big to cut your rectangle. I cut out the rectangle and then set the basket directly on top of the rectangle, in the middle. You can measure but if you are in the less-precise camp like me, this works well also. You will have 4 squares that will be cut from the corners, as indicated in my graphic.

I made this little graphic to show how to measure your rectangle and what happens after you cut it out.

Print yours here!

CLICK TO PRINT!

Sew the four corner seams. I zigzagged my edges first because I anticipate having to wash my liners but you don’t have to. Hem all the way around the top edge and/or make a casing for elastic or ribbon or whatever cute idea you may have. Often, a hem is all you need for the liner to stay put. Then you are done and can organize shoes, toys, or whatever and be impressed with your own industry and thrift, Wildflowers!

MY basket liner was a little on the wonky side for several reasons. I reused the existing corner seam of this old fitted sheet for one of my corner seams which didn’t exactly (literally or figuratively) add up but I was running out of sheet and I’m not about to be deterred by a little funkiness. I cut the elastic free from the sheet and used that in the casing to elasticize the top of my liner. I knew my basket would be pulled in and out often, and I wanted to help the liner stay in place.

There you have it, Wildflowers! What salvaged materials have you used for organizing? Share in the comments section below!

My Gram, a continual source of sewing inspiration (mentioned here), found this half-finished vest in her fabric stash. I loved the fabric but didn’t need a vest. Because I have been on a back-interest tank kick (like these here) I immediately imagined cutting a deeper neckline and crossing the vest front into a flyaway back. Of course, unless you also stumble upon an unfinished vest in your sewing stash, this can’t really be considered a tutorial. It is really a demonstration of using creativity and bias tape to turn something unusable and undesirable (sorry, but I’m not rocking a vest to school…at least not a floral one…yet) into something cute.  Here’s how I did it:

I took out my pattern piece used (here) and cut (I eyeballed, but you should use a pencil. Do as I say, not as I do, as my mother always said 😉 the neckline and armholes to match. If you don’t have a pattern piece handy you could use a tank you already own in a similar fabric type if you are attempting a similar project. I didn’t slim down the sides because I planned on crossing the back into a flyaway back. This decision took a lot of trying on and off in front of the mirror and pinning the back at the base of the neck to figure out if that would work. It was fun to figure out, and if you think it would be too, then you’re a girl after my own heart for sure.

Because this is a woven fabric, the back of the vest, which I used as the front, was not about to provide a flattering shape to my front. I added darts about an inch from the top of the side seam. This gave the front a more structured and pleasing appearance.

The vest arrived in me with the side seams and the shoulder seams already are sewn. I pressed open the left side seam (ladies’ zippers, seams, etc, go on the left most of the time) and sewed in a salvaged black zipper (from you guessed it, my Gram). After the zipper was sewn in, I used a seam ripper to open the seam sewn by Heaven only knows who sometime in the ’80s. This isn’t a fancy way to put in a zipper but it is simple and effective. Because it is under my arm, in a dark color, and it was a salvaged (free!) project, I didn’t feel compelled to install an invisible zipper. A zipper also allows the garment to be more fitted, which is what I was going for.

Then came my first real roadblock. Once it was on, the front (the old back) was a bit too short. I had zero extra fabric except for the curve I cut from the neckline. Look closely- that’s what I attached to the bottom front of the top. Don’t look too closely- it’s not perfect but there were few options since the fabric is about as old as I am and at this point, I was super excited (read: impatient) to get it done. To finish the edges I used bias tape. Bias tape is very handy indeed and gave a smooth, professional finish to the edge of my project without adding bulk. FYI, bulk is nearly always a bad thing in sewing. My mom rustled up two packages of the white single fold for me (more free sewing notions= winning!) and I attached as shown in the photo. You stitch in the crease of the tape, right next to the edge of the garment. Once you sew all the way around, then you fold the tape over and create a smart looking topstitch around once again. This is one time to be careful with your stitching. It shows pretty easily if you were swerving all over the road if you know what I mean. I had to do the bias tape when my kids were napping and it looks pretty sharp as a result.

Finally, I sewed the top edges of the vest together in the back and sewed about ⅔ of the way down my back.

That’s it, Wildflowers! See how a little out-of-the-pattern-envelope thinking gave me a new school top? Share any similar successful project ideas in the comment section below!

A camp chair, close to 10 years old, tore beyond repair and left behind a rectangle of polyester mesh. I cut the mesh-free and washed it in the washing machine.

I folded the mesh hot-dog style, making a long and skinny rectangle. I did this so the zipper of this lingerie-laundry bag in the making would have a sturdy, non-stretch side on which to be attached.

This black mesh is stretchy in one direction and not in the other. The factory seams provided a sturdy place for me to attach a salvaged zipper (saved by my Gram, that I discuss here).

I used a sort of low-brow zipper installation method. I sewed the seam, opened up the seam allowance, sewed the zipper in by sewing all the way around the zipper, and then ripped out the first, center seam. This is a fast way to put in a zipper. It isn’t invisible, or fancy, but it works really well and you can see in the pictures that I didn’t even have to change my sewing foot.

I unzipped the zipper, sewed the two sides shut, and threaded a matching ribbon through the zipper pull.

Now I have a laundry bag to keep my underwear safe from snagging velcro or metal zippers.

This salvaged sewing project is an example of the “Make Do and Mend” philosophy that sounds warm and fuzzy but is a bit more challenging in practice than many realize. It is so easy to just buy another lingerie bag and would have been faster to toss the whole dang chair in the garbage without another thought. By thinking creatively, I saved a little bit of polyester from the landfill (I think landfills are a gross, dirty thing indeed) and I have a new, free, perfectly useful lingerie laundry bag. And I got to spend a few lovely minutes at my sewing machine as a bonus.

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What have you salvaged by making do and mending, Wildflowers? Share a little inspiration below in the comment section!

If you want to learn how to sew, check out the courses HERE!