Pettiskirt Hell (finished)

Purple pettiskirt in all of it's finished glory.

Don't be decieved by it's demure appearance.

"Hey, those super-popular pettiskirts are like 80$! There's no way I'm spending that much on a dress-up skirt for my 3 year old! I'll just make one instead, there's a tutorial on Martha Stewart's website, and it looks easy enough..."

That's how it all started--six or so months ago. Let's just say that the maker of pettiskirts that provided a free tutorial on Martha's show way back when was less than forthright about the important details of making a pettiskirt (like what size they made for starters, and the difference between polyester chiffon and nylon chiffon--and it has nothing to do with fiber content). From that very vague set of directions, I began my pettiskirt journey. Along this journey, I bought the wrong kind of chiffon (and now I have 8 yards of bright purple polyester chiffon), bought too little of the right kind of chiffon as per the tutorial's instructions, and then later I bought waaaay too much chiffon to make up for it. I learned that nylon chiffon is the slipperiest stretchiest lint sheddingest material known to man, and sewing on it is a kin to what it might be like to sew on mucus that sheds tiny bits of fur in large amounts. For months my sewing/crafting room looked like it was slowly being devoured by the purple blob, and I learned that working with and gathering 20-30 yards of fabric strips is no small task.

My breaking point came about a week ago when I saw a really inexpensive pettiskirt at Costco (19$). I almost bought it too, because at that point I had no idea what I was doing, but I looked closer at it and realized that it was made cheaply and with much cheaper fabric and not nearly enough yardage (making it see-through and not as full). So then my pride got the better of me, and for the sake of quality I decided to finish what I had started.

I'm elated to say that last night, I finished the purple pettiskirt! In time to give it to my daughter for Christmas. I was so excited last night, that I literally danced around my sewing room. It was a wonderful feeling of accomplishment, and I'm so glad I stuck with it. It was a great way to start my Handmade Holidays goal, and I feel energized and ready to make a plethora of pajamas.

Did I save money? Maybe a little, but I think I spent close to 60$ for all of my supplies, maybe even more if you count the purple serger thread that I could not have done without. My verdict? The people charging 80+ dollars for these skirts are earning every penny. In fact, I think I would have to charge about 1000$ to make it worth my while to make another one. And with all of the adjustments I had to make, the skirt resembles somewhat of a Franken-skirt, but all in all, I'm happy with the result.

Bottom line: if you are looking for one of these for your daughter, check out your local Costco, or I've heard that they are at Hot Topic in the mall, and of course there is etsy. And if you absolutely positively must make one, do yourself a favor and buy a tutorial from etsy. I will say that once I figured out how to do it, I found that it wasn't too difficult, the hellish part was all of the trial and error. ooh-- and please email me a pic if you decide to do this, I'd love to see it!

I'm not even going to provide the link for Martha's free tutorial because it was so misleading and difficult to understand. Trust me, you are better off without it!

** Oh, and P.S. don't tell my daughter, it's a Christmas present!

About That Time

A moment of silence please for my sewing machine which is out for service for at least the next four weeks.....

*sigh* You will be dearly missed my little Viking #1 powerhouse!

In the meantime, I will be catching up on my crocheting and knitting, and maybe even blogging (!).

I suppose, if I get desperate, I could use my old sewing machine.....

An Oath

I solemnly swear before all of you--my crafting witnesses--that I will not buy fabric for another quilt until I finish the six (yes, six) quilts that I already have fabric for.

I think I have discovered the most expensive hobby of all--quilting with new fabric.  I just spent $140 on fabric for a twin sized quilt, and it was only the top, not the backing or binding.  Yikes!  For someone used to spending $10 on some fabric for an article of clothing, this was a shocker.

Oh well, what's done is done.  Check out the quilt from American Jane, isn't it adorable?

And then after that, or in the meantime, I'd like to make a quilt out of my kids old baby clothes, and also a quilt out of my old t-shirts (it should be much cuter than it sounds, trust me).

Halloween Math

In an ideal world, there would be a large chain of Halloween exchange stores wherein you could borrow halloween costumes for free, not unlike a library.  To me, Halloween is a huge waste of resources.  People often complain about purchasing a wedding dress or a prom dress and wearing it for only one night, but I usually feel like the only parent that complains about Halloween costumes.  Think about it-- you are buying an outfit that your child will only wear once for a couple of hours (more if you are lucky) to beg for candy in.  At the end of the night, the most you can hope for is that you'll be able to pass it on to another sibling--that is, if the costume survives the night.

These are among the reasons that I refuse to make my kids costumes almost without exception.  Usually people are surprised by this due to the fact that I love to sew and craft so let me break it down for you:

Cost

Just about any seamstress knows that these days, you do not save money by making your own clothing--especially children's clothing.  If you are purchasing your materials retail, you usually spend way more than the cost of a ready made garment before you even put in the time and effort to make it.  Costumes are no exception.  Take this Cinderella costume for example:

*Pattern--$10.51

*41/2 yds blue polyester satin fabric from fabric.com--$22.41. (plus more for shipping)

*notions (ribbon, interfacing, velcro etc) 10-20$

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*Total cost: $42.92-52.92 depending on how crazy you go with the notions, and this isn't even including extras like a crown or gloves or shoes.

I found a much cuter one on ebay for under $30 dollars brand new including gloves and shipping

Effort

Last year I did actually make Greta's Tinkerbell Costume, it consisted of me hunting down a leotard and slippers, bleaching the pink out of them and then hand dying them green.  Then I had to cut a ton of green tulle strips and tie them on an elastic waistband, and make pom-poms out of yarn for her slippers.  On top of all of that, I had to purchase wings.

Through the night, Greta had a potty accident in her leotard, ripped a hole in her tights and ruined her slippers beyond repair.  So all of that money and work went down the toilet so to speak.

I think many people make the mistake of thinking that a halloween costume should be easier to sew than a regular garment, and this is simply not the case.  I guess technically you could get away with not finishing your seams or pressing, but the general construction is still the same.

I'd rather spend my time making something my daughter or sons would use over and over until they grow out of it--or better yet--something for me that I wouldn't grow out of (hopefully).

Hopefully I've convinced you to relieve yourself of the Halloween pressure and just purchase the cheapest thing you can for your kids this year, and then spend all of the time you would have on costumes for your handmade Christmas gifts (wink wink).

Holy Fall Knitting Batman!

And I haven't even finished my summer knitting...

So, I was hoping that this would have waited for another month or two, but I already have two sweaters and a scarf in the queue!

**Thanks Lion Brand for the free patterns

Yikes!  And I'm not that fast of a knitter either.  Anyone know how I can speed up?

Chococat Amigurumi (finished)

Chococat is my favorite Sanrio character. I adapted this from a Hello Kitty pattern that I bought on Etsy (just do a Hello Kitty amigurumi pattern search and pick your favorite).

Isn't he adorably mischevious? I have to admit, I'm not totally in love with the nose, I may have to redo it. It's surprising how you can create an entirely different look by just adjusting the facial features a tiny bit. If you look at the cartoon, you'll notice that my ami's nose is just a tiny bit north of where it should be and not exactly the same shape. Such are the pitfalls of embroidering with yarn on yarn... and lack of skill I guess...

Okay, the nose is definitely bugging me now...

Specs:
Pattern: Adapted from a Hello Kitty pattern found on Etsy
Yarn: Debbie Bliss Rialto color 23005
Hook: size E

What I've Been Up To

Another appropriate title would be:  The Lazy Blogger.

So here's where I apologize profusely for not blogging lately--  Sorry.

Anyway, let's get on with it.  I want to tell you all a little bit about what I've been crafting lately.  It has been a very interesting summer craft wise, I have learned a few new skills, stretched some current skills and also revisited old skills.  I have purchased way more crafting books than I need, and have therefore also made promises to myself about making more things.  Anyway, here we go:

Knitting:

I wanted to take a small hiatus from knitting for the summer, but in a visit to the yarn store, I found some delicious new yarn that I knew would make the perfect pair of summer pants for my baby boy.  Then I found a long lost pattern for a pair of booties that I've been wanting to make for about 7 years so I had to do those too (posts coming).  Overall though, knitting has not been the star of the summer.

Sewing:

I have made a thing or two for my kids, and have also desperately longed to make myself something, but I am waiting for some weight to be lost before I do that.  Oddly enough though--I've begun a couple of quilts.  I've never been much of a quilter, but lately something has churned inside of me (I think it's hereditary, personally, so if you are related to about 15 major quilters like I am, it's just inevitable) and I have caught the bug so to speak.  Can't wait to blog about those and show you all about them!

Crocheting:

When I started knitting about 7 years ago I stuck my nose up at crochet and wrote it off as too hokey and homemade-looking.  I have sense seen the error of my ways and have learned to love crochet and appreciate it in a whole new way.  I have been making all kinds of little toys called amigurumi (which is sooo addictive by the way), and have plans to make loads of other things as well.  Also, it has been a great refresher course in using quality yarn.

Photography:

In an effort to make my pictures better, and because I had once had a fling with photography in my younger years, I decided to go all the way (if you know me, this will make sense) and go back to school and get my BA degree in photography.  I am happy to report that I cashed in all of my savings and bought a camera much too sophisticated for me, and that I  have also been accepted back at BYU for hopefully the last time (this will also make sense if you know me).  I will start classes in January, and I will also be putting together a portfolio for the department because I have to apply for the program (wish me luck).  You can view my latest attempts with my intimidating new camera on my Picture Pages blog, and if you want an invitation email me or leave a comment.

Other:

An interesting thing that happened this summer, I have also begun to write.  I kept it a well guarded secret at first because I was afraid, and what I write is still a well guarded secret, but at least I am confident enough to say that I am doing it.  At the moment, I am writing novel-type stories about people and relationships, and I have found that I love it very much.  I'm trying not to give much thought to publishing, I'm just doing it for me for the time being, and I have found it to be a very satisfying creative outlet.  I can see that I am improving which makes me happy, and of course the dream is to be published some day in any way, but for now I'm just doing it for me.  I am surprised though at how I can sit and write about my characters and the time slips away and I will look up and realize that I have written 10 pages in a short sitting.  If only my school research papers went that well.  I hope to someday be able to share with you what I am doing, or to post about a publishing, but I wanted to at least tell you about it.

Anyway, this is what summer has been like for me-- I will post more about my finished projects, I promise!  Check out the one I just posted below...