Cartwheels and Pearls

And as spring turns to summer, the maxi skirt trend is still in full force. I decided to hop on the band wagon and make my own. They're unbelievable simple to make! I followed a great tutorial I found here.

And it didn't really take that long at all! I spent around $3 in elastic and I already had the fabric in my stash. It was originally from a jersey maxi dress that I had made my sister.

Anyways, I decided to be bold and make the skirt. I don't have any other use for the fabric anyways so this seemed like the best answer. It was a perfect amount so I didn't do any cutting.
It's basically a seam and a waist band.

And I apologize that I'm not totally in focus in some of the pictures. I used a tripod and self timer and so it was hard to see how everything turned out on the little screen.

And I obviously wouldn't wear it out in public styled like this. No worries there! My mom was FREAKING out about my tank top. What am I supposed to do when there's no clean shirts because my sister insists on wearing all of mine?

 I like that I can wear the skirt up high or down low. It's a bit big if I wear it up high so I may need to make it a bit tighter.

The print is wild and SO not me because it's so daring but I love it. Deep down, I'm actually crazy and rebellious.

And since I STILL cannot work my serger, I was forced to use a zig zag stitch with the stretch knit...
Not my best work but it's not THAT noticeable in person unless you look really closely.

So enjoy your Summer everyone!

This weekend, I'm going up north to enjoy the great lakes with a few friends.
A few days after that we're going to Canada as a family for a week.
And a few days after that, I'M GOING TO LONDON! (for 3 weeks!)

So I can guarantee LOTS of pretty vacation photos but I'm not so sure about craft posts.

 I found this picture in a book and I fell in love with those curtains. Aren't they neat?





Like seriously! Look at this coral! I found it on the sale rack for $4 a yard.

We went to take a class at Jo Anns. It was a two session PJ pants class.
The first time it was good. I mean the girl was kind of spacey and obviously didn't know what she was doing.
The second time we sat there for 30 minutes. and waited. and waited. Finally we went to customer service and told them.
Another half hour later and a new woman finally showed up for another class.
She had to help us and the other class at the same time.
It was horrible.
And then she couldn't stay late and help us because she had a family BBQ.
And so those pants never got finished and it was a TOTAL waste of about $100.
And you know what they gave us?
A coupon! A silly coupon for another class!
First of all, their classes are 50% off very often.
And second of all, why would I even want to take another class after the first one!

And that my friend's is just one of the many reasons why I hate Jo Anns.

Well make that a success!

My parents some how ended up with this trunk from my grandpa. It's an absolutely gorgeous piece in great condition. But the top of it was horrible. I mean that fabric... those stains! She always used to set two brown pillows on top of it to cover up the fabric.

We just lifted the top part up and the cushion actually unscrewed fairly easy.

It was so simple and took me practically ten minutes to just stretch the fabric over it and staple! We were originally going to use the fabric to make a head board but my mom found this one at Salvation Army for around $20. It's not something I would have originally picked but it's definitely grown on me.

I mean just look at it! It goes great with her new bedspread which only comes out when the dogs are gone.

I did it... I helped someone sew. Gee. I didn't think I could do it... especially since that person was my sister!
This dress was a nice and easy 5 pieces. Very managable especially since there were really only 3 pattern pieces. My sister did the main parts of the construction... I did the more detailed and harder parts like the hems, darts, and sleeves.

We added in an elastic band in the middle. Here the top is too poofy but you get the point.

 It's still a bit long but it does work. The dogs approved of it. We want to hem it a bit shorter so it can be used in the fall with leggings or tights and boots.

There was a bit of a bulge in the back since I didn't stretch the elastic enough in the beginning.

All in all, it's a pretty darn good dress! And better yet, it will fit both of us!

You'll need probably less than a yard of fabric and a pillow.

I probably could have used a tape measure for this but it was better to see exactly how it was going to fit. Lay the pillow on one side of the fabric and fold the bottom up so that it's a little more than half way covering the pillow.

Lay the other side over and find the point where they overlap about 2 inches. This is going to be the length of the pillow. For the width just kind of gather up how much fabric will be required on either side of the pillow.

Cut out and iron the fabric. I left the selvage on the end since it's going to be hemmed.

Fold the prettier edge over around half way. This will be the edge that is exposed.



Here's the back:

Here's the pillow in it's new home. Don't mind the fact that the moldning still needs to be put back on and that the table still needs to be redone and that the picture needs to be hung higher.

  I found some fabric in the sale section and knew it was perfect for this dress!
 I put in my first invisible zipper too!


It's a bit wrinkled from being worn all day. I paired it with a navy blue sweater and it looked really good. It does have pockets though which is great!
 The back and bodice normally lay flat but not for the pictures I guess.

The top was quite complicated and pretty big.

So know that this one was a success, I'm ready to conquer the others.... including the knit dress. *shutter* I'll just have to face my fears with sewing with knits! First I have to find some cute knit fabric, though.

• 1 Zipper (I recommend one around 13-16 inches)
• 2 pieces of Fabric (the length of your zipper by the length minus 2... i.e. for a 14 inch zipper, the fabric would be 14 x 12 inches)
• 2 pieces of oil cloth of the same size as the fabric

I picked up an 1/8 of a yard of oil cloth at Jo Ann's for under $2, found an old 13 inch zipper, and then had some left over fabric that I had found at a garage sale.

Anyway, since my zipper was 13 inches, I cut my fabric and oil cloth into 2 13 x 11 inch of each.

So, start off with your zipper foot. You'll want to switch back later though.

I had to piece together my oil cloth since an 1/8 of a yard is only 9 inches wide and not 11. You can't even tell. So don't worry if you have to do this.


Lay your fabric face up. Lay your zipper face down with the zipper head on the left.

Lay your oil cloth face down on top.
 Make sure the far side of the zipper is lined up with the edges of the oil cloth and fabric.
Sew it up and flip it so that the zipper is exposed and the oil cloth is face down and the fabric is face up. Sorry I didn't take a picture of this next step.
Lay your other piece of fabric right side up. Lay the zippered piece face down with  the zipper on the right. Lay the final piece of oil cloth face down with the edges all lined up and then sew.
 Lay the pieces out with the zipper up. Lightly iron it if it is poofing up. Be careful of the oil cloth. I ironed mine a bit and it didn't seem to damage anything.

Flip it over and again iron if necessary.

Fold it in half like below with the oil cloth side outside and sew the bottom.

Cut off any extra fabric. Not all layers will end up the same length so be aware and make sure to sew through all of them.

Move the bottom seam until it lines up with the zipper like below.

Unzip it at least half way. Sew a seam down both sides like how my hand is pointing. Go over the zipper ends a few times to reinforce it.

The other side should look similar to this:

The top should look like this:
Poof it up. Mine was kind of heavy so it wouldn't stay up too well.

Pinch the edges in a vertical way. Choose a height for your bag. I picked 3 inches. Sew a seam that is that long.

Repeat on all four corners. It should look like this:

Clip off the corners.


Flip it inside out... and wallah!

My bottom seam was a bit off center from the zipper but it still looks pretty good.

Perfect for holding a bunch of random junk!

I wish I had cut the inside seam on the bottom a bit short but oh well.

The bottom looks nice though. I was worried about the oil cloth pattern showing through since the top fabric was really thin and see through but it didn't turn out too bad.

I still have no idea what to do with this! I don't know if I want to give it to a friend or keep it. We'll see.

linking up here