Beachy Tutorial Number 1!

I posted a Beachy Tutorial Week tutorial over at Sew4Boys. I killed two birds with one stone with this one.

Go on over and check it out!

Beachy Tutorial Week!

Remember how I said there were some beachy tutorials coming your way? Well they're coming all right!

And to celebrate I made graphics!!!!! Yay!!!!!

Check them out:

along with

(yes they are both me but it sounds more professional - hehe) Hopefully I will post like five beachy tutorials but we'll see how it goes.

I am definitely excited for my first series! Next year I will have to invite guest posts.

Modern Ruffled Apron

So I signed up for the ruffled apron sew-a-long over at See Kate Sew and thought " well I'll get it done eventually. Then my family decided to possibly go to the beach on Saturday!!! (Which by the way means beachy tutorials coming your way)

I do this alot. Plan to do something on time then end up waiting until the last second to actually do. So last night was a late night. But it's done!

So let me break it down. I used a pretty red with white vine and green. Trust me I love ruffles on kids but on adults I think they should be used more sparingly which prompted me to add a modern twist.

I started with no pocket but then as I was wearing it my hand kept trying to find a place to put itself so i added a green pocket with a red ruffle.

Then I added two rows of green ruffles with an accent strip and flower (you can't really see it in this photo - phooey)

I also make the neck straps skinnier and the waist straps wider and added a little pleat to them. I'll post pictures of that up later.

I had fun remixing this pattern and a big thanks to see kate sew! She is so talented!

Fully Reversible Crossover Tank

This is a fun shirt. I love it. It is a Fully Reversible Crossover Tank.
And I made a tutorial for it!!!! Yay!

The inspiration for this shirt is basically that it is a trend now and I had Sarah designing something and she said she wanted something that "crossed".]
Like This:


I made my own pattern (that is not part of the tutorial), there are plenty of them out there though (like this one - which I love and may make one for myself). Maybe I will make one at some point.

Materials
3/4 yd main 1
3/4 yard main 2
coordinating thread for each fabric
normal sewing supplies

Step 1:
Cut a front of both fabrics and Cut 2 backs of both fabrics (make sure they are opposite)

See my fun fabrics? I got them both at Joann's on sale!

For when you top stitch later on you will want coordinating threads in your bobbin and your top. I used a red for my green fabric and a blue for the owls.

Sew your main and lining pieces together like this:

Press your seams

Place them right sides together

Pin in place - you are not going to sew a 3"-4" opening on the bottom and at the shoulders

Sew.

Turn it inside out through the bottom hole.

Tada! Wait- we're not done yet :) Go ahead and iron it out - you will really have to work with this (yes this picture was taken before I ironed it out)

Now we need to finish the shoulders - since this is a "crossover tank" you want to crossover and sew your back shoulder to the opposite front shoulder.

Press your shoulders together, right sides together

Sew together. 

Do the same with your opposite side

It should look like this:

Now we have to hide our raw edges.

Press your raw edges inside your garment.

Press that closed and pin.

Topstitch along entire garment (you should start at the bottom and you'll be able to stitch the entire seam with out stopping - awesome!)

Viola!

You can tell she's tired:

I made it a little big on her on purpose - so she has room to grow since we're nearing the end of summer.

Reverse side:

Annie loves it. She said it is "unversible" - hehe.

J-crew Inspired Dress Tutorial

I love J-Crew's kids clothes. Their dresses are just so cute! (like this one and this one).

Well, as I was looking through their website, I found this dress:

I loved it. But it cost $78 dollars! It was one of the cheaper dresses on there but still - I am cheap.

So I decided to make my own.

This is what mine looks like:

This picture doesn't do it justice - it really does look similar, only I don't have a fancy necklace :( And mine only cost $4!

I decided I would do a tutorial on how to make this dress.

Materials

-about 2 yards of choice fabric (I used a tan woven that was in Walmart's bargain bin)

-Four Buttons (or a zipper if you rather)

-Iron/Ironing board

-General sewing supplies

Step 1

Make your bodice pattern. You can start with a shirt that fits your child well or a basic bodice pattern.

I started with a basic bodice pattern. You'll need a front and a back.

On your front bodice piece, cut off a strip that is about 1"-1 1/2" wide:

Cut four front pieces and two of your back pieces "as is". For your other two back pieces add that strip that you cut from the front (this will be your button "placket"). If you are putting a zipper in - don't worry about this step.

Also - For the middle panel of the bodice cut a strip 3 1/2" wide by however long your bodice is plus a 1/2" (e.g. Mine was 3 1/2" by 8 1/2")

For your skirt pieces - You are going to have a total of four skirt pieces. First measure you child's waist. I made this dress for Annie and her waist is 21". Your first skirt piece will be twice the waist by desired length (with hem and seam allowance) - so mine was something like 42" x 27". You'll want your next two to be the width of the waist - so I had 21" x 27" (X2). You last piece is the center panel - You'll want this to be 3 1/2" by the desired length (mine was 3 1/2" x 27"). 

Hopefully that made sense :)

Step 2

Now we are going to assemble our bodice. The bodice is fully lined.

Sew two of your bodice pieces to the back with the added button placket. (make sure you sew them "opposite" so that you can put the right sides together. Do the same with the other two bodice pieces and the normal backs. Press the seams.

Place your pieces right side together.

Next you'll want to sew your two center panel pieces together at the top. Press that seam.

Fold it in half wrong sides together and press again.

Place that inside one of the sides of your bodice pieces - make sure you edges match up.

Pin it down.

Sew around. Sew only where the red lines are (in the picture below) NOT where the blue squiggle lines are. Also, don't sew across the bottom

Turn your bodice piece right side out and press.

Now we have to do the other side. This is where it gets a bit tricky.

Place your finished bodice (we'll call it bodice A) piece right sides together with the right side of your unfinished bodice piece (bodice B).

Pin bodice A down and out of the way like this:

Place you lining on top right side down. (Sorry my hand is there - I don't know why)

Pin it down and sew as you did with bodice A - NOT sewing the shoulders.

Clip your corners

Turn it inside out and press

See the resemblance

Step 3: Finishing the shoulders

Start by pressing the lining of one of the sides of the back to the corresponding lining of the front. See below:

Open the seam so both the main and the lining are right sides together:

Pin it 

Sew across the top of the shoulder seam:

This what it looks like on the right side:

Fold it over:

Tuck your raw edges in:

Pin around:

Topstich:

Step 4: Buttons

Next we're going to add buttons and button holes. 

I used the wider back piece for the button holes.

Place your buttons where you are going to want them.

Mark to the sides of your buttons like so:

Sew your button holes - I learned from Shwin and Shwin's tutorial on how to do it.

Open it up. I use my seam ripper for this.

Next, lay the bodice how you want it and put pins through the center's of your button holes. This will determine where your buttons go.

When you sew your button on start a little to the right (or left) of your pin. You want the center of your button to land where the pin is and the button's holes aren't in the center.

Tada!

Step 5: Skirt

Sew your skirt pieces together as shown:

Now run a gathering stitch along the all except the middle panel, like shown (black line):

\

Put your skirt piece and bodice (buttoned up) right sides together, matching up those center panels.

Pin

Sew them together. Make sure your seam is down below the gathering stitch so you can pull it out when your done.

Pull out your gathering stitch and hem the bottom

Viola!!!

Forced smile:

Hope you enjoyed this tutorial and if I missed anything or you have pointers for me just comment below.