Pirate Queen Layered Skirt Tutorial

Part 2 of the Landlubbers' Guide to Pirate Wear!  For the corset top, go here! :)

When Riley chooses her clothes (which is almost every day) and when there are twirly skirts in her drawers (which is quite often), she will almost always emerge from her room, decked out in one of said skirts.

So as I was sketching out pirate costumes for all the cousins, I knew Riley would need to have a skirt... preferably a circle skirt for its amazing twirl-ability.  So here's what I ended up with.  It takes only a short amount of time (especially if you use knit that doesn't fray-- no hemming!!) and it's great for a classy, twirl-lovin' pirate.

** This tutorial is only for the overskirt and doesn't include the tulle underskirt (which is just tulle sewn onto elastic)**

Materials:
black knit fabric
pirate stripes knit fabric (got mine at Jo-Ann's)
1-inch elastic, either red or black.

Instructions:
**My measurements are for a (skinny!) 4T skirt but can very easily be adjusted!**

Essentially, you just want to follow Dana's Circle Skirt tutorial, but one of your "circles" will be a square.

Fold your striped fabric in half horizontally then vertically.  Measure 10 inches from each edge and cut a 10" square. 

For your waist circle, consult Dana' s tutorial (from the link above).  My radius was 3.5".  Round out the corner of your square.  I wish I hadn't rounded mine quite as much.  Meh.

When you open it up, it'll look like this.  Make sure you forget to crop your pictures so that people will see your iPhone and know you have street cred.  Then mention how you KNOW you didn't crop your pictures, so everyone knows that you were way too lazy to go back and do anything about it.  

Now make a circle skirt with your black knit.  I measured mine out 14" from the center.  Use the same waist measurement you used for the striped piece.

Stack your striped square on top of your circle.

Cut your elastic for your waistband (mine was 20").  Sew together and sew the seams down.

Pin your two layers together, just so they stay put.  Then sew on the elastic how Dana taught you how!  Just make sure you're sewing through both skirt layers!

Easy, right?  And it's even better if you make a tulle underskirt, so it's twirly and full!  :)

Vintage-y Modern Striped "Tennis Dress"

Riley's taking tennis lessons, which I'm pretty thrilled about.  I'm not going to pressure her into a life of tennis, but I really really really do hope she loves it.  :)

She has one tennis outfit that Nana and Granddad bought for her, but-- you know me-- I'm always looking for a project, so I decided I'd make her a couple tennis dresses.  The first one I made is in the wash, but here's the second one, which she wore to class yesterday.

 Okay, so she actually could wear it as a regular dress, too, but it works pretty darn well for tennis. 
It's made from (I think) dancewear fabric-- the slick, super stretchy stuff.

 I'm calling it a vintage-y dress because, clearly, tennis players these days do not wear skirts this long.  But she's four, and she has a tendency to bounce around and sit on the ground and not worry about her underwear showing, so we went with a longer skirt.  And then there's the high neckline.

 But the stripes are nice and modern (I'm a sucker for stripes).  I switched up their directionality on the front and back of the bodice, and I LOVE how a circle skirt makes the stripes look.  So fun!

 So there she is, a tennis dress for my little tennis star!  Keep your eyes peeled for the other one soon (which you got a sneak peek, if you recall...).

Riley Dress-- the best remix of all!

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I finished it!  I finished Riley's Easter dress!  And you'll never guess what I named it: The Riley Dress.  I am "that painting elephant of being awesome."  (Anyone know the reference?)  Well, even with a terribly un-creative name, I'm in love with this dress. 

Remember how terrified I was because I didn't want to mess up on such lovely fabric?  Well, now I don't have to cry myself to sleep!  It has plenty of ruffle-ness. :)

The overskirt is, yes indeed-y, another remix of Dana's circle skirt.  I wanted to do something else with her tutorial besides a skirt, to show off whatever skill(z) I may possess.  I split the front of the skirt, and I edged the entire skirt with a 3-inch ruffle that has both (finished) edges exposed.  That ruffle is about 400 inches long.  Yowza, that was a little work.

The underskirt is a hot pink ruffle fabric.  Ow ow! :)

Looks like I'm not the only one who's giddy over the dress.

We're just all-around silly over here. :)

Now we're ready for Easter!  But so we don't forget what's truly important... Praise the Lord!  Good Friday is dark, but Sunday is a-comin'!

Chevron-esque Circle Skirt

 I mentioned, in my last post, how I was more than happy to try my hand at the Project Run & Play pattern remix of Dana's Circle Skirt.  I love me a circle skirt: they're twirly, they look adorable, they're easy on-and-off, and they're simple to make.  And it doesn't hurt that Riley adores all her circle skirts-- I think it's the 2" elastic waist?  Not sure, but it's as good a guess as any.

So here's the deal with this circle skirt.  It actually is for Riley, but my girls (though 20 months apart) have the same waist and chest measurement.  I call Noelle my little barrel, and Riley is my skinny-mini. :)  When they got up from naps, Riley had absolutely zero desire to wear her new clothes, even after she told me she liked them and that her favorite color was pink. :)  So I asked Noelle if she wanted to model.  She did.

The skirt has an ever-so-slight Chevron feel, which is what I was going for (phew!). 

I used my (shock of all shocks) polka dot fabric stash, opting for the black and pink.  After I made the skirt, I needed to make a coordinating top.  I heart shirring, so I shirred away (say "shirr" a lot, and it sounds weird... I'm shirr of it.  Bwahahaha!).  It has a V-tie that makes a nice little bow in the back, with the tails hanging on down. 

Tangent Alert!!  This is only the sixth french braid I've ever done in my life (all on Noelle).  I think I'm finally getting the hang of it.

 

Back to the clothes... Actually, if you untuck the top, it looks adorable with leggings.  I'll have to get a shot of that later.  

And how about this for a rocker chick look.  Sidenote: my girls don't usually sport tattoos, but Riley's birthday was a special occasion, so they got inked up... temporarily. ;)