Jess from Craftiness is not Optional is here today! She's a two-girl momma with some serious sewing skills! This toddler sweatshirt is adorable and might be my favorite of her projects. I want one of these in my size, do you think I could pull it off? Jess also has sew alongs every month or so and free patterns on her website. She makes me want a baby girl every time I read a post! .................. Hi there! I'm Jess, and I blog over at Craftiness is not Optional. I want to thank Kate for inviting me to join in on her Pleat Week! I love ...Continue Reading
the paper bag skirt
Don't you just love the classic paper bag skirt? I gave you a little preview of this here. I really love it! Super high waisted. Stiff as can be. It feels so high fashion. I can just see it with some cute grey tights and a tucked in cardi when it gets cooler. ... If it gets cooler? So this is my twist on a classic style. There are a few ways to make paper bag skirts, this way using...(can you guess?)..pleats! (good guess!) Fabric Pointers: To make this skirt extra paper-baggy you need a stiff material, something that will almost crinkle when ...Continue Reading
pleat week guest! – amy from naptime crafters
Amy from Naptime Crafters is headlining our pleat week guests! You may know Amy by her adorable baby girl clothing tutorials. She has a whole lot of them. My favorites include this polka dot dress tutorial, the sweetheart halter, and the dahlia tee. She also hosts the American Crafter craft competition. After seeing only cute stuff come out of her blog, I knew she would come up with something awesome for pleat week and she did! ................ the lollipop skirt I'm so excited to be a part of pleat week! I was planning on yet another ...Continue Reading
sewing 101: basic PLEAT lingo
I thought it would be best to start pleat week off with a little pleat dictionary. There are lots of types of pleats and they all have different names. In order to, you know, pleat with authority, we gotta get the lingo right. These are the most basic pleats, most of which will come up a few times during the pleat weeks. All definitions are straight from dictionary.com. Who knew they were so sewing saavy? There are lots more, too! Honeycomb pleats(based from pintucks), fluted pleats, plisse pleats, heat set pleats, and about ...Continue Reading
sewing 101: opening up a buttonhole
One wrong move with your seam ripper could cost you your whole project! Here's a little trick to make sure you don't mess up when you're opening buttonholes. Short and sweet. More sewing 101 lessons here.Vest details here.It's Friday! Do you know what that means!? Pleat weeks are so soon!!! Like MONDAY soon! Ready to get your pleat on? I'm am so excited!! It has been seriously hard to keep so many secrets filed under "draft". Can't wait! ...Continue Reading
bow tutorial
This tutorial was originally posted at Living with Punks for the Scrap your Stash series. bow brooch/pin/clip One of my favorite things to make with extra scraps is bows! You can make them any size, from any kind of scrap. I've been making lots lately! Let's begin: First collect your materials: (brooch pins or hair clips, 1 piece of fabric for the bow, 1 little piece for the tie, thread, and a needle) For the bow shown in the tutorial, I used a scrap 6" by 12" but you can use any size. The ratio just needs to be x by ...Continue Reading
the 9 to 5(1/2) faux bow headband tutorial
the 9 to 5(.5) faux bow headband My model friend is in town for a while so I started making a line of headbands for her to model. I love an excuse to make something new, and having friends model is way better than taking pictures of myself in the mirror. (Better for you and me!) Her hair is gorgeous so headbands were perfect! Headband tutorial, anyone? This is a super easy headband. The best part is all you need is a scrap of fabric 9 by 5.5 inches. I called it a faux bow because it sorta looks like a bow. And faux is one of my favorite ...Continue Reading
sewing 101: intro to the serger
I thought I'd tell you a little about my serger for today's sewing 101 lesson. Serger is a funny name. Some people call it an overlock machine. I think it is great to learn to sew without a serger, because you'll be forced to learn more that way. But, I'll also never go back to not having one. It makes clothing looks so professional! Not to mention making sewing so much faster and easier. My serger was a gift from over a year ago. Before that I had an ancient Husky that always broke needles (it was a hand-me-down freebie, so I really couldn't ...Continue Reading
the seriously SO easy gathered skirt tutorial
I’ve been trying to destash my fabric stash for like a year now. It’s not working. I decided to tackle it by making a few skirts for me with my bigger pieces of fabric. This is the easiest skirt tutorial ever! I just made it up as I went, but as you’ll see it’s very basic! Like the most basic. It is the perfect starting place if you're interested in making your own clothes. STEP 1: Cutting We're going to gather at a 1.5 to 1 ratio. So, measure your hips and multiply by 1.5. That's how wide your fabric should be. If you'll ...Continue Reading
sewing 101: adding pockets to any skirt pattern!
Sometimes I wonder what the point of a skirt without pockets is. If I'm gonna wear a skirt, I need a place to put my lollipops! (and pacifiers, keys, phone and lipgloss. The essentials.) I think every skirt should have pockets. And that includes the skirts of dresses. It's SO easy to add pockets to skirts and dresses with side seams. I've been making a lot of skirts this past week. I think my count is up to 10 now! About half of them I made with pockets. While making another skirt for pleat week, I slowed down to take some photos of the pocket ...Continue Reading
the pop-up pleats camera strap cover PDF pattern
**Thank you so much for your response to my pattern tester request! I used the first ones that responded with the requirements and put the rest on my email list for next time! You guys rock!! Here is finished pattern!**.................... Unlike ordinary camera straps, this camera strap cover is built to hug your strap, no more fussy strap covers! The cute pop-up pleats feature on the top guarantees that you will be the cutest photographer on the block! This 17 page pdf file comes with instructions for two variations, with full-color ...Continue Reading
