Shamrock Circle Skirt

As some of you may know, I purchased an embroidery machine a few months ago.  At first, I thought I could recoup some of the cost of the machine by making reversible a-line embroidered dresses and t-shirts for sale, and while I have sold a few, the orders aren't pouring in.  I can only make my daughter so many embroidered t-shirts and reversible dresses of her own, so I decided to embroider a shamrock onto a circle skirt for St. Patrick's Day instead.

This was my first time making a circle skirt.  It was super easy!  I used this popular tutorial over at Made. First, I took Ella's measurements and followed the formulas for computing the radii of the inner and outer circles, then using my fabric pencil, marked the fabric accordingly.

For a circle skirt this small, you can cut out the entire skirt and have absolutely no seams to sew!  All I had to do was finish the raw edges at the top and bottom, sew on the elastic, and hem the skirt.

I only had a piece of 3/4" wide elastic on hand instead of the 2" wide elastic recommended in the tutorial, but I was pleased with how it worked out for Ella's skirt.  However, the waistband was much too big, so I ended up cutting about 2" off the length to make it tight enough to stay up on Ella's waist.  The trickiest part of making this skirt is sewing the elastic waistband on!  Glad when I was done with that step.

Since I wanted this to be a cute skirt for St. Patrick's Day, I used my Brother PE770 embroidery machine to stitch a shabby four leaf clover onto the bottom of the skirt.

The embroidery design is from Planet Applique.  I used the exact same design on a t-shirt I made Ella.  Read about it and the ruffle bottom pants I made to go with it here.

This embroidery design took literally less than 10 minutes to stitch out.  Since it is a shabby design, I opted to use a piece of white flannel under both the pink and green fabrics to help give the shabby edges more fluff once they are clipped.  I've used white muslin or white cotton fabric in lieu of the flannel before, but I much prefer how the flannel added both stability to the overall design as well as more shabbiness to the edges!

With the four leaf clover design stitched in place, I felt like the skirt needed a little more pop of color to complete the look.  I found some bubblegum pink ric rac in my stash and proceeded to stitching it onto the edge.  This made hemming the bottom of the circle skirt a cinch!

I used my little sewVery label folded in half to cover up the ugly seam where the ric rac ends connected.  I barely had enough of it to finish the skirt!

Circle skirts are so much fun to twirl in, but I think I need to make her a pair of bloomers to wear under it now!  At full twirl, you definitely see her underwear, and that's why you don't see a picture of her twirling in it!

Now we just need to find a St. Patrick's Day sock hop for Ella and Connor to attend!  Don't they look cute all dressed up?

And in case you are wondering, I made my son's pants and vest, too.  They are the Little Gentlemans Pants and Vest Pattern from Peek-a-Boo Pattern Shop.  Read all about them here.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!  

St. Patrick's Day Shirt & Ruffle Pants

Well, another holiday is almost here, and it's the perfect excuse for me to use my embroidery machine to stitch up a cute design for a t-shirt for Ella.  Oh, and of course, she needs some new ruffle bottom pants to go with the shirt.  Right?  I'm sure my daughter is in no need of new clothing, but I just love sewing and making fun things for her to wear.  You know what?  She really loves it, too!

Anyway, I stitched up this shabby four leaf clover from Planet Applique in 10 minutes using my Brother PE770 embroidery machine.  I think this is the simplest embroidery project I've done yet!  The only thing I wish I had done differently is position the design a little higher up on the shirt, but oh, well!  It's still adorable and perfect for St. Patrick's Day!

I used medium weight (Pellon No. 40) cut away stabilizer on the back, plus I doubled my fabric by using a piece of white flannel behind each print to give the edges more fluff when they were snipped.  I've tried using other fabrics like white cotton or muslin, but so far, I prefer to use the flannel.

Now it's been forever since I've made Ella a pair of ruffle bottom pants, so I took this opportunity to whip her up a new pair to match the St. Patrick's Day shirt.  I used McCall's M6530 pattern, View D.

These pants were made using the size 4T length and the size 5T width and stride measurements.  I also added a second ruffle by cutting it out 1" shorter than the pattern ruffle measurement and in the same pink fabric I used on the t-shirt.

Finally, I hemmed the ruffles using the rolled hem settings on my serger.  Stitch a label on there and call it done!

These were super easy and fun to sew together, so I know I'll be using this McCall's pattern again and again.  Ella loves these pants and already wants another pair!  Great!  More sewing for me!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!  Linking up at the parties shown below as well as others listed here.