50's style full circle skirt

Just in case you miss my guest post on the Ribbon Retreat blog.

This first dinner at Breathing Space, was themed Stepford Wives.  I had no clue what to wear.  First off I had never seen the show and second off, I didn't have a cute floral dress that look retro.  So I decided to make a full circle skirt instead.  And I'm so glad that I did because I love it!!  I went with polka dots but polka dots are awesome!!

I used the Dottie by Moda in Teal, white tulle, teal thread, 1 1/4" elastic, 14" turquoise splash zipper from the Ribbon Retreat and then some white cotton fabric I had.   

For the skirt I, I made it a circle skirt.

To figure out the measurements for the skirt, you need to figure out the radius of your circle.  Measure where you want the skirt to lay, mine was 35".  Usually for the circle skirt you just add 2 inches, but since I put some pleats in the skirt, I added 5 inches.  So 35+5=40".  That is the circumference of the circle around the waist.  We need the radius, so we are going to divide the number by 6.28 (that's 2pi).   40/6.28=6.37, I rounded it down to 6.25".

I taped several pieces of paper together to make a big piece (poster board would be great for this).  And then I started making the pattern.

From the corner, I measured the 6.25"

I moved the measuring tape at different angles and marked the 6.25" at each angle.

I did that until I went across the paper, then I drew a line to connect the dots.

Now for the next part of the pattern.  I wanted my skirt to go right under my knee, so the length was 21".  I added the 21" to my 6.25" which was 27.25".  I did the same that as I did for the first measurement, I made a dot at 27.25" at all different angles on the paper.

I connected the dots and then cut it on the lines.  This is the pattern for the skirt, it is a 1/4 circle.

Now it's time to start cutting the fabric.  To determine how much fabric you will need, you will take the last number, mine was 27.25 and double it, so mine is 54.5".  I need a square that is 54.5"x54.5" ( I rounded it up to 55").  Since I'm using cotton and it's only 45" wide, I had to cut two pieces.  Each piece was 27.5" by 55".

It's still needs to be a big square, so I took the pieces and pinned them together and sewed them.

Here is the big square with the hem in the middle.

I folded the square in half and then in half again.  I made sure to keep the hem on the sides.  Then I pinned the pattern onto the fabric.  And then I cut it, you get a really big circle with a hole in the middle, like a donut.

I then ironed the bottom of the skirt and hemmed it.

I wanted to make pleats in the skirts, rather then just gather it.  I made three pleats in front and two in back. I folded over the fabric and then ironed it.  Then I sewed the top to keep the pleats in place.

I took a strip that was 3"x34" (my waist size) and ironed it.  You could do a really wide waistband if you wanted.

I pinned the waistband onto the top of the skirt.

And lastly, I put in the zipper.  I just cut the spot where I wanted it to go and then sewed it in.

And now I have a super cute pleated circle skirt.

Now to make the skirt really full, I made a slip.  Using the same pattern I cut some white fabric 55"x55".  A full sheet would be prefect for this.  I cut it and hemmed it just like I did with the skirt.

I took the tulle and sewed it onto the bottom of the slip.  Instead of pinned it, I just gathered it while it was on the sewing machine.  I gathered the tulle ever inch or so and then sewed it.

There is the bottom with the tulle, I love it!

I sewed some elastic onto the top of the slip (because I want to wear this with other skirts too).

And here is the two put together

  

I loved wearing it!!  I seriously felt like a  little girl, I just wanted to twirl in it!  It was so much fun!

NEON Polka Dot Shirt

Back when I was in grade school I loved neon colors.  I even had my mom decorate my room in neon colors.  We took some awesome string spray paint (it looked with silly string) and painted the walls.  I even remember getting a neon pink bean bag for Christmas one year, it was awesome!!

When I was in high school I loved the neon yellow, I had a pair of neon yellow running pants and my racing flats were neon yellow.  So when I saw that the neon colors were coming back into style, I was SUPER excited!!   I love me some bright colors!!  I don’t wear pink at all, but if I were to, it would be neon pink!!!

Anyway, I decided that I need to make something neon.  I love polka dots, so I decided to do a neon polka dot shirt.

This is how I made it

Craftvinyl.com has some AWESOME neon heat transfer vinyl and vinyl.  Just look at those colors, they are awesome!

Using my CAMEO, I cut out several 1” circles.  I placed the glossy side of the heat transfer down onto the mat and cut it at the setting of 16 and the blade at 2.

Here are the circles.  Seriously the whole time I was doing this I was giddy about the colors!!  They are so much fun!

I cut the circles out and then placed them on a black tank top I have.  I lined it up before I started ironing (I’ve made that mistake before….).

Using the teflon paper, I ironed the dots onto the shirt.

I even did it to the back of the shirt.

And that’s it!!  I love how bright it is. 

I paired it with my brightest bracelets and I’m ready to go!!

Chair Redo

Remember those awesome chairs that I got from the garage sale? 

 The funny thing is, it took a lot of work to get them!  The sellers were sitting on them when we went to the garage sale and several times I had to ask them to get off so I could check them out.  At one point, the second that I stopped touching one the lady put down her bag on it and sat down again.  :)

Here is one of them that I redid for my computer desk

This is how I did it

 First, I took off the seat of the chair.  

Then I painted it an awesome aqua blue

For the seat, I got some cushion from Hobby Lobby.  I got a super thick one since I spend a lot of my time on the computer....  Then I found some cute fabric.

I put the cushion on to the seat and then wrapped it with the fabric.  Then I stapled it (lots of staples).

Then I screwed the seat back onto the chair.  

I love the brightness of it!!  It really brightens up my room!

The back is fun too!

And I just love the fabric.

I love super easy and simple projects!!!  This one only took about 30 minutes and that was with drying!

Slice Fabrique Cutter

Do you remember when I told you about that Making Memories sale?  While I was there, I learned about their awesome paper/fabric cutter called Slice.  I had never heard about it until I went that day.  I saw a video there  of I women sitting outside and cutting fabric.  That really got my attention.  So I looked into it a little more.  It’s a cordless cutting machine!!! 

Here are the fun things I got from that sale!! 

The Slice is a hand held machine that has little card with designs.  Each card has a font and then lots of different designs.  This one is called Dilly Dally and it’s adorable!!!

My friend just had a baby a couple of weeks ago, so I wanted to try out the Slice with fabric.  And I was super impressed!!  It is super cute and does a great job cutting!

This is how I made it

I took the fusible webbing and cut it to 6x6.  I did the same thing to my fabric.

Then I place the fabric onto the rough side of the webbing and then I ironed the fabric onto it.

Next I took my glass mat and sprayed the adhesive onto it.   Then I let it dry for 1 minute. 

Next I placed the fabric onto the mat.

I place the Slice onto the fabric.  I got the hands free kit, there is a strong magnet that I put onto the Slice and it holds it down, it’s really cool!

Using the Dilly Dally card, I found a cute flower to cut out.  I got my setting all ready and then cut it out.

Here’s the machine in action. I was super shocked by how fast it cut it, it only took about 30 seconds and it’s super quiet!

Here it is all cut out, nice and clean cut.

I ironed that onto the onesies.

I wanted to put the baby’s name onto the onesies, using the Applique design card, I used those letters.

And here is the name all cut out.

I ironed on the name.

I then sewed around everything, to make sure it doesn’t come off.

Super cute and easy!!!

The Slice does more than just cut fabric (it even cuts felt!), it cuts paper too!!  It's a fun machine and I'm excited to use it on some more projects!!