Maternity Skirt Tutorial

Hello! Welcome to my *FIRST EVER* tutorial! I am so excited to share this super comfy skirt with you.

This skirt is SUPER comfortable because the waistband is made from the bottom of an old t-shirt. So it is perfect for using as a maternity skirt. I'm not pregnant and it is still comfy. I am totally going to make myself a few of these when I am expecting another little blessing.

I recycled a big sheet for this skirt. What's up with me and recycling sheets? I just love the feel of a quality sheet. And I only had the top sheet. I was saving it to turn into something fabulous. And then I needed a white skirt for family pictures, so I made one from the sheet. Free skirt? Rock on! And now you can make one!

MATERIALS

1-2 yards of fabric....or recycle a sheet!

An old T-shirt (I used a favorite T-shirt that got stained)

Cutting mat, ruler, rotary cutter

Thread and needle

Scissors

Sewing machine

Pins

INSTRUCTIONS

*Waistband
Cut 6 inches off the bottom of your T. Step into the circle strip & pull it up to where you want your skirt to sit on your hips. Pull the material tight, mark how much you need to take it in, then sew along your marking. Trim the edge. Set it aside.

*Measurements
You'll need to figure out how long you want your skirt to be. This would be adorable as a shorter skirt. I wanted a longer one, since I had not a single long skirt in my wardrobe prior to making this. I decided I wanted my skirt to be 30" long - that was my measurement from the outside of my hip to the outside of my ankle. (yes, I am that short!)

Take the length of your skirt and divide it by 3. This will give you the finished width of each of your skirt sections.

EXAMPLE: If you want your skirt to be 30"....30/3= 10" wide sections.

Now we need to include seam allowances. I used 1/2" seams. So you'll need to add 1" to each panel width. Since I used a sheet for my skirt, I took advantage of an already hemmed edge for my bottom panel so I didn't have to hem it. yay! But, if you need to hem your fabric, add 2 inches to the width of your bottom panel.

Now we are going to find the length of each section.

Take your hip measurement by slipping a tape measure around the widest part of your hips. Let's pretend my hips measure 36".

For the top section, add 8" to your hip measurement. (36+8=44" long)
For the middle section, add 8" to the length of the top section. (44+8=52" long)
For the bottome section, add 8" to the length of the middle section. (52+8=60" long)

Here are the finished measurements for my skirt sections:
TOP: 11" wide by 44" long.
MIDDLE: 11" wide by 52" long.
BOTTOM: 12"wide by 60" long (if I needed to hem) 10.5"wide by 60" long since I didn't need to hem.

Phew! Now the hard part is over. Cut out your strips of fabric & you can begin sewing!

Take your middle section and gather the top. I just do this by hand because it is easier to see and easier to pull out. You'll place the top of the middle section at the bottom of the top section, right sides together. Ease the gathers to fit the middle section, pinning in place as you go. Sew the seam using your 1/2" allowance.

If you need to hem the bottom section of your skirt, now is a good time to do it. After it is hemmed, gather the top, ease it around the bottom of the middle section pinning it in place, then sew the seam.

Now your three sections of skirt are sewn together and you are almost done!

Fold the skirt in half width-wise, right sides together. Sew the seam. Since you only have one seam, this will be in the back.

You're going to be sewing the top section to the waistband now. This is the last step!

Gather the top of your top section. Place the right side of the raw edge of your T-shirt waistband on the right side raw edge of your skirt. Ease the gathers around the waistband and pin in place as you go. I use TONS of pins. Sew it together with your 1/2" seam.

VOILA! You did it!



Master Bedroom Update

You know how some houses come with those boring, basic, yucky light fixtures? My condo *ahem, house* came with those in every single room. They looked like this. Even in our master bedroom.

Yeah. Pretty drab. Not to mention dull. And not just to look at. This thing barely emitted enough light to see anything in our bedroom. We needed to have it and two lamps on just to have a relatively acceptable amount of light.

I have always wanted a chandelier. My obsession with them began when I was little. I grew up being the daughter of a contractor. I spent most of my time with my father and we were always in the hardware stores and on various jobs. The hardware and lumber stores were a pretty boring place to be. Nuts. Bolts. Pipes. Wood. Blech for a little girl! But there was this one store, Grover's. I loved going there. They had two good things for little girls to look at. Samples of formica and crystal chandeliers. Lots of them. My dad would go do whatever it is contractor guys do at stores like that, and I would just go gaze at the pretty chandelier and marvel at their sparkles. I begged for one just like little kids beg for candy at the checkout isle. Needless to say I never got one.

Hubbie and I often talk about the elements we want in our dream home. Some of the things on our list include: A private, fenced back yard. A two-car garage adjacent to the kitchen. A mud room. A dedicated laundry room. Dual vanities. A HUGE walk-in closet. Two living rooms. And a chandelier. It just isn't dreamy enough until we have a shiny, sparkly, crystal chandelier.

We're a ways off from obtaining the house of our dreams. But, I got a chandelier of my dreams!! We were in Home Depot (this is Hubbie's idea of date night sometimes) and I got bored looking at power tools and various other man-stuff. So I decided to go look at the lights. I want a nicer one in our dining area. And then I saw it.

                                                                          (source)

Finally! Home Depot had something I truly wanted needed. Then I saw the price. $99.97. SOLD! Hubbie put it in the cart, we checked out, and took her home. He hung it up for me. And now, our master bedroom has a beautifully updated light fixture.

My life is now almost complete ;) and my bedroom is much brighter!!

Voila!

I promised you would see improvements soon. Look at this beautiful new blog!!
I did learn a few things from the world wide web about how to create your own blogger elements, but I decided it would be much easier to just buy a professionally designed, pre-made, ready to go template from someone who already knew how to make one and had already made one just to my liking.

Dream Like Magic is an Etsy shop full of cute premade blogger templates and Etsy shops. I purchased my Etsy shop design from them. And now my blog matches. (awe! isn't that cute?)

I have the other stuff I promised in the works. It is night time right now, and I need some sunshine to take some pictures before I can publish some posts.

Long Time No See!

Wow. Has it really been over a month since I last blogged anything? According to the date my last post was published, yes. *sigh* That is sad. You may now be wondering if it it has really been over a month since I last did anything crafty. The answer to that question is NO. I've crocheted a few new baby hats and have been deciding on the finishing touches for them before I take any pictures and post them. I made a skirt. We went on vacation. I re-finished my sewing desk. And I'll blog about all of it - soon! As soon as I get this whole blog refurbished. I'm learning about how to beautify my blog. So I guess you could consider Petit Lambie under construction. It won't be under construction for very long.
I pretty much don't do much each day. I spend a lot of time on the computer, but don't really get anything accomplished. I have decided to change my ways and make my computer time productive and constructive. I'll get this blogging thing down! Right now, I am reading the Blogger Tutorials at Momma Go Round. Nina sure makes it sound easy. I hope I'm smart enough to do something easy!! I'm going to stop writing right now and get back to reading. You'll see some improvements and more from me. Soon.

Tie Tee Shirts

Isn't that little kid super cute? Yeah. I made him. Isn't the little tie shirt he's wearing cute? Yeah, I made that too. ;)

When Jaden was little, I made him a few tie onesies. I found several applique tutorials online, created my own tie template, and went to town! He grew out of them, and I forgot to make new ones. Ok ok, I didn't forget. I just didn't like my tie template. I am not good at drawing. At all. Anyhow, one day I was looking through my forever long list of saved to-do projects, searching for one to get done and cross off. I came across this tie tee tutorial from Saltwater Kids. There is a picture of a big-kid tie tee and a little-kid tie tee & I was inspired to make one for Spencer and Jaden. I thrifted a white shirt for Spencer's, but couldn't find a suitable shirt for Jaden's. So I made his using a tee from a package of Hane's white tee's I bought at Target. The smallest size they had was 2T, so I guess he'll be wearing it for a while. Good thing it's cute!!

Photographer in Training

Remember how I graduated in April? One of my graduation gifts was a dSLR camera from my dad. I had talked with him about how I wanted to be able to capture better pictures of my kids & how Jaden is just too darn fast for the camera I had. I'd press the shutter button & by the time the camera decided to take the picture, the image I wanted would be gone. I also talked with him about wanting to be able to take my own pictures for my Etsy. I found a used camera I felt would do on our classified ads and mentioned that maybe Dad could talk Hubbie into buying it for me if they went in together. Well, Dad decided to go ALL out and get me a great camera & a bunch of extras.
It has been a wonderful gift! I've been able to get some great pictures of my kids and the stuff I made.
Here are some pictures of my kiddos.





And here are some examples of the improvement in my product pictures.

Now:


and then:



I am SO very excited to learn more about photography. I've been reading books and articles almost every day. I need to get out in the world and practice the things that are floating around in my head - and I will. As soon as I'm over whatever sickness it is I have at the moment. Ug. Until then, I'll just be making some sweet stuff and taking pictures of it.

Tuxedo Ruffled Baby Duvet Cover

This chic duvet cover was inspired by one I saw at Urban Outfitters. The smallest one they have at Urban Outfitters is for a twin bed. I thought some of their stuff was pretty sweet & became determined that such sweetness should be enjoyed by girls who sleep in smaller-than-twin beds. So I made this.

I refashioned an old pink sheet with polka dots into this tuxedo ruffled duvet cover. It will fit over a standard-sized crib quilt & closes with ties at the bottom opening. Fraying at the edges of the ruffles is intentional - I've finished the edges so that the entire ruffle can't fray.

This is currently for sale in my Etsy shop. Petitlambie.etsy.com