rostitchery

sewing straight lines to make round things: a simple christmas tree skirt

 

(this is for my friend at the foreman four.  i promised her i'd post a tutorial on this last year, and it totally slipped my mind.)

we had to toss out our beloved christmas tree skirt early this fall.  i had made it for our first christmas as a married couple.  it was actually not a tree skirt when i made it--it was a table cloth for a round table--one side was pretty christmas fabric, with angels and whatnot, the other side i stencilled gold stars so we could use it for new year's dinner.  it ended up being a tree skirt because that table moved outside when we bought this house.

anyhoodle, the tree skirt/tablecloth was damaged beyond repair by a beloved cat who recently went to heaven :(   so i made a new one but i didn't want to invest too much time or energy because that would defeat my whole christmas craft revolt thing.

so i used stuff i found at the local dollar tree store.  i love that place.  that's what i think it should be called, "the dollar tree i love that place".

this project is all straight line sewing!  no special skills needed.  this would be a perfectly wonderful first project for a beginning seamstress--looks great, easy to make, readily available materials at a low low price.

you'll need four table runners--if you get them at a place like the dollar tree i love that place, they'll only cost $1.00 each.  if the table runners you find don't have a pointy end, you can easily make a point without losing any of the length.  just follow the instructions in my post about the apron cheat, the part where i talk about finishing the ends of the apron strings

cut each table runner in half crosswise, then stitch them together on the long sides, from the angled end toward the cut edge--that way you can be sure the pointy parts are even.  since i chose two different colors i alternated panels but you could use all one color if you prefer.  IMPORTANT:  don't sew together the first and last panels--you need to leave an opening so you can get the skirt around the tree trunk. (click to see enlargement).

 

after the panels are sewn together,  zig-zag or serge the cut edge, then fold and stitch a 1" casing--you don't have be too particular about this, it isn't going to show because it will be under the tree branches.  in fact, on mine i couldn't decide whether to use red or white thread, so i chose green.  :)

i trimmed my tree skirt with extra wide rick-rack from my stash.  i love that stuff.  that's what i think it should be called, "rick-rack i love that stuff".

when it is all done, thread a piece of ribbon thru the casing and tie the skirt around the base of the tree.

ta-da!  i think over the next couple of years i might add some appliques or embroidery.  that is, if the cats don't tear up this tree skirt too.  i guess if they do i can always just make another one.  this one took less than an hour to make.  

*if you like inexpensive craft ideas, visit dollar store crafts.  just going by what i see on this site, you could conceivably make something every day of the year and never set foot in a craft store.

*i just launched another blog and i'd love to get some visitors!  it's called romesticity, and it's all about the things i do to make my home nicer, more efficient, and all-around happier.  when you have a moment, please drop by and leave a comment.  thank you!

happy thanksgiving day!

 

 wishing all my readers a very happy thanksgiving day!

girlie gifts for girlie girls

in honor of my fourth annual christmas craft revolt, i thought i'd show you as many quick and easy gift ideas as i can.  

last christmas i made very girlie shower caps for my very girlie nieces, and of course i had to make one for ella so she could be just like her beloved cousins.

these caps only take about 15 minutes each!  and you get to use some of your pretty trim scraps and buttons too.

just cut a circle about 18" in diameter out of fabric and another out of plastic--this is a great use for those shower curtains at the dollar store!  lay the circles wrong sides together and bind the edges.  then use a piece of bias binding to make a casing about 1" from the edge and thread it with elastic.  pull up the elastic and fasten.  

now begins the fun part--embellishments!  i made little bows and flowers with ribbon scraps and tacked them on with hand stitching.   you can add anything you like, as long as you remember to use stuff that won't bleed if it gets wet.  :)

we paired this gift with some pretty soaps that ella made, and some washcloths that i knit from some yarn that i hand dyed.  i could see pairing a cap with a matching cosmetic bag, lined with more of the plastic shower curtain and filled with little goodies like lip gloss or bath fizzies.  i could also see putting this with a bathtub pillow and a trashy romance novel.  :D

what girlie-type gifts are you making this year?  

old times cape

this is for my sister who needs a cloak but who doesn't have enough faith in her mad sewing skilz.  ;)

our family is deep in the "little house" books right now--we just started "the long winter"--and most of our playtime and learning time and all times in between are about "the old times".

in "little house on the prairie", laura gets a fur cape and muff from the church for christmas.  so one day when we were shopping for fabric ella picked out some fake fur and i made her "an exact copy" (sic) of laura's cape.

details:  i used the free wild things patternmaking program from wild ginger software to figure out the dimensions for the cape but instead of printing out the pattern i just drew it directly on the fabric.  i used some pretty, shiny stuff from my stash for a lining, stand collar, and ties.

this would make a quick and easy christmas present--you could use some fleece, or some pretty wool, and line it with something unexpected so there is a flash of surprise when you twirl!

and now my secret:  95% of the time, if i don't need an exact color or pattern of fabric, i make capes from skirts or dresses i find at the thrift store.  if i use a skirt, i just slash it up the front and finish the edges.  if i use a dress, i cut off the skirt then slash and finish.  sometimes i don't even have to slash--if it has a front opening i can use that as a decorative element.  the skirt/dress doesn't have to be a circle skirt--a half circle will make a more fitted cape, and a rectangle can be pleated or gathered at the neck to make more of a cloak or mantle.  i've made really pretty capes from velvet dresses and you can even use parts of the dress for decoration--the collar can be re-used, the buttons, sometimes there is even a lining already there.  if there are pockets in the right place, you can cut them out and you have instant arm holes!!!

and now--to make the muff!  details when i get it done.

DONE

vanderbilt opera theatre's "the marriage of figaro" opens tonight.

this is the final moment of the show.  it is not a great picture, but they are not great costumes either.  :)  

i made all the patterns using wild ginger software patternmaking programs:  boutique, tailor made, child's play, even the free wild things program!  i'm talking about:  8 frock coats, 10 breeches, 9 vests--8 different dresses, underskirts and overskirts, including one that i made overnight when the original was struck from the show the day before the first dress rehearsal--2 cloaks, one with calash hood and one with a wired hood--4 corsets--and 1 banyan and nightcap.

this is my swan song.  i'm not doing costumes for opera anymore.  at least not for a long while.  

i can't say "never", because i promised ella that if i am ever invited to design a pocahontas opera i will accept.

but it is time for me to get back to what really matters:  my family, my home, my life.

i'll post more details about the patterns in a few days, after i've had a rest.  :)

corset rant

in case you missed it:  the winner of the guessing game about my project is "heather"--who guessed correctly that i am making costumes for mozart's "the marriage of figaro" for the vanderbilt opera theatre!  the stage director hired me to work free-lance on the show!  but instead of designing from scratch i am making reproductions of real clothing from the period as represented in the paintings of thomas gainsborough and sir joshua reynolds. 

heather, send me your address by email, and when the opera is completed i will send your prize--a patchwork bag made from the fabric used to make the costumes!  i think you will like it--the fabrics are gorgeous.

and now to the rant:

i am convinced that if there had been sewing machines in the 18th century, there would not have been corsets.

for "the marriage of figaro" i made four, 18th century corsets.  originally i had considered using butterick 4234 but after looking it over, i found enough errors that i decided to just make my own patterns.

corset making is not really that hard--they are mostly straight line sewing--but they are not quick, especially 18th century corsets.  even making only half-boned models, even working assembly line to cut fabric and cut bones and sew channels and set grommets, each corset took about 10 hours.  

not to mention that wrestling a partially-boned corset thru a sewing machine is akin to sewing a slipcover with the chair still inside.

and then you have to put binding on the edges, which is like saying, "and then you will step into hell".

first i tried binding them by machine, because i have bound probably hundreds of things big and small by machine and managed to do it quite easily.  not these damn corsets.  the top and side edges were not too bad--even the curves were manageable--but then there is the bottom with all those tabs and slits and i might as well have just sewn with my feet because it was about as coordinated a process.

so after first trying to sew the binding the way i always do--with the wider side on the bottom and going all in one pass--i tried sewing it in two passes--sewing down one side then flipping over and sewing the other--and even that was a PITA (Pain In The Asterick) and finally i just ended up doing it by hand, breaking four sharps and three betweens in the process and stabbing myself at least twice that many times and going blind by virtue of trying to do the impossible.

each corset takes about 6 yards of binding, so based on that it should have taken no more than 10 minutes each--instead it was AN EIGHT HOUR BLOOD-LETTING ORDEAL.

so gayle, when you see the corsets, that's why the bottom of each of them looks so different from the others.  :D

that is a peek into the life of a period costumer, most days are a version of this, except with nicer fabrics.

i'll post pictures of said corsets when they become available.  and now off to ingest a medicinal dose of dove chocolate.

old times nightgown

ella wanted an "old times nightgown", meaning something like what laura ingalls would have worn (we are on book four of the little house series--yes, i know technically it is book five but we skipped farmer boy until later).  so yesterday i took some time to make a nightgown for her from some stash.  (please forgive the poor quality of this photo--i keep thinking i need to make a little mannequin in her size, and here's proof of that).

i wanted the speed of a peasant dress with the fit of a set-in sleeve, but i didn't want to make the pattern from scratch because i am doing a lot of that lately and i just wanted this to be a fun, quick project.  so i went thru my stash and found the perfect pattern, mccall's 4547, which happens to be what ella calls an "old times outfit".  it includes a pattern for a chemise that fit the bill perfectly.

the pattern instructions are written for use with woven fabrics but i chose to use a soft knit that i found last winter at joanns--sorry internet, i like joanns, most of the time.  but i refuse to put a drawstring in a neckline, especially on night clothes, i don't care how historically accurate that is, so i chose to ignore that and make an closed casing and elastic.  the construction sequence i used was:

1. join shoulders on the serger, then topstitch the shoulder seams flat on the sewing machine (top stitching adds stability to the seam that bears all the weight of the gown).
2. fold down the neckline casing and stitch in place with a narrow, short zig-zag on the sewing machine (this preserves the stretch in a knit fabric--totally not necessary on this neckline since it will already have stretch built in, but i needed this stitch setting for the hems and i didn't want to keep resetting the machine).  leave a place open in the back to insert elastic.
3. set in the sleeves on the serger--don't waste your time pinning--just serge with the sleeve on the bottom and stretch the armscye to fit.  i promise, it will work.
4. serge the side seams closed.
5. serge finish the sleeve hems and skirt hem.
6. hem sleeves and skirt using the narrow short zig-zag stitch from step 2.
7. insert elastic in neckline, zig-zag the casing closed, add a tag so the child can tell front from back.

if you don't have a serger, just do the whole thing on the sewing machine using the narrow zig-zag, and don't bother finishing the edges--the knit won't fray.

this was the fastest thing i've made in a long time--less than an hour from cutting to wearing.  

she loves it!  so much so that i already made another.   behold, the old times nightgown dance:

the long johns underneath are because it got COLD here last night!  yippie!  i pray this is a sign that snow is in our future this winter.  also, she does not wear eyeglasses, she was wearing mine for fun.

i plan to make more of this design, adding embellishments and different sleeve designs so she can wear them as dresses.  tiny versions of this might just become my new go-to baby present.

i highly recommend this pattern, it fits well and sews together accurately.  the only error i found was in the notches on the side seams but that is so minor it isn't worth mentioning except that i don't want some beginning seamstress to think she was the one who messed up.  and i do believe a beginner could manage this whole pattern package--after all, mothers and daughters on the prairie were sewing these things, by hand, without so much as one website to guide them.  i'm pretty sure a modern seamstress with access to the interwebs could do it too.

and now, back to the project!