Rainbow Butterfly Skirt

So I was looking around Pinterest yesterday and realized that all the pins for my Rainbow Butterfly Skirt were going back to Project Run and Play, where I did a guest posting and the tutorial. This made me realize that I never posted the tutorial to my own site, so I am fixing that mistake....

Flickr Friends: Jessica from My Inner Need to Create

Hi y'all! I am Jessica and I blog over at My Inner Need to Create. I am a stay-at-home mother to 3 kids (8, 4 and 3) but once a upon a time I was a web and graphic designer. Though I am not doing this as my career right now, I see this side of my style bleed through into all my crafting. In fact I like to think of all the clothes I make as a canvas waiting for me to make it into a piece of art. I like to do this in many ways but love the look of appliqueing...

Here is a recent appliquéd project: Rainbow Butterfly Skirt.

To start I took a skirt of my daughter's to use as a pattern. I chose a thick gray knit as the fabric for the skirt (it was left over from my Superhero Circle Dress from Week 1 of the Sew Along). I just made a simple A-line skirt with no seem allowance for the top since I planned on using 1.5 inch elastic for the exposed waistband.

After the front and back of the skirt was cut out, I sewed one of the side seems together and laid out the skirt flat. Next I drew out the butterfly design, I used the skirt shape to dictate the cropping on the butterfly.

Take your design and trace it on to Iron-On Fusible Interfacing, make sure that you reverse the image!

Iron the butterfly onto the black fabric.

Next- cut it out.

Peel off the paper from the back of the butterfly, you will need this for a template in a minute.

For my butterfly I wanted a rainbow, but at this step you could use a cute print or a solid color. I choose my colors and sewed them together in 1.5 inch strips.

After the strips are sewed together and ironed flat, use the paper backing off of the Iron-On Fusible Interfacing as a template and cut out the wings.

Iron the black part of the butterfly onto the colors. Take another piece of interfacing and iron it onto the back of the entire butterfly. Then iron that piece onto the skirt.

Next you have to zigzag around all the black raw edges. I sewed with black thread...

but with a gray bobbin thread so that I didn't have to line the skirt.

I sewed the skirt together at the other side then I attached the 1.5 inch black eleastic as the waistband.

The skirt turned out very eye-catching with the bold, big butterfly but it is a really simple jersey knit skirt with very limited sewing skill needed (the zigzagging around the pieces of the appliqué takes the most practice.)

My daughter loves the skirt and wears it everytime she finds it in her drawer clean.

I took these photos with her wearing a black leotard as her top but a 3 year old wearing a leotard all day is really not ideal for going to the bathroom. So I refashioned a slimming black tank top from an old (very old!) tube top if you hop over to my blog you can check out the tutorial!

Thanks for inviting me to guest post during this month of Flicker Friends! I am so glad to be able to get in on the fun! I hope everyone is having a great summer!

Appliqued Messenger Bags

I think that I will start off this post with a glowing recommendation for Oliver + S patterns. I don't own as many as I would like because they are so expensive but for my birthday a couple years ago I received Little Things to Sew and have found many favorites in the book.

 

The pattern that I have made the most is the Messenger Bag, they come together so quickly and professionally. I have made both the large and small bags:

 

I've made an Owl Messenger Diaper Bag

 

A small Shark Messenger Bag

 

and one that I attached to my bike

 

My newest bags are small ones for my daughters to carry some toys with them for when we are running around town this summer.

 



 

I appliqued one of the gray bags with a monarch butterfly.

 

 

I used the same butterfly template I sketched out for the Rainbow Butterfly Skirt I made last year. But instead of putting the rainbow colors behind the black butterfly cut-out, I put just plain orange fabric. The white dots are just white fabric paint.

 

 

I lined the bag with the same orange- I love the sharp contrast of the monochrome bag with the bright orange.

 

 

The second bag I made I chose to honor my Texan roots and applique the state flower, a Bluebonnet, onto the bag.

 

 

I used the same technique of placing the colored fabric under the black cut out of the flower before zig-zaging around all the raw edges.

 

 

I lined this bag with the middle shade of blue (used in the flower applique).

 

 

I am in love with these bags and am brainstorming right now what to applique on one for me that won't be too kid-ish.

 

Hope you all are having a great summer!

~Jessica

 

Project Run & Play: Fashion Icon Week

 

It's Week 2 of Project Run & Play Sew Along! This weeks challenge/theme was Fashion Icon. I thought I would go retro and choose Twiggy & her 1960's style to base my run and play outfit off of.

 

 

Twiggy is best know for her short hair, androgynous looks, skinny frame and thickly mascaraed eye lashes. But in terms of her style, Twiggy popularized the shift dress in the '60s- a dress that had a firmly rectangular tilt, guiding rather than conforming to a woman's body. Also widely popular at this time was bright psychedelic patterns and colors.

 

 

So here is my interpretation:

 

 

 

The dress is made with a thick gray cotton and the geometric design is appliqued asymmetrically onto the side of the dress.

 

 

The 3/4 sleeves and the boat neck collar also are fashion trends of the 60's.

 

 

I drafted this pattern myself.  I don't have a really have a good tutorial for it because I wasn't sure how it was going to turn out.

 

 

 

The neck scared me a little but it turned out exactly how I planned it so I couldn't be happier!

 

 

Jaden likes it too, so it will at least get worn =)

 

 

And it will work perfectly for our Texas winter!

 

 

Always my go-to model, Jaden is really stepping up her game by posing while jumping... I might be creating a diva!

~Jessica

 

 

Project Run & Play: Bias Pattern Remix

 

Sorry I have been missing from my blog for like a MONTH! I have been busy with non-craft stuff, like cleaning closets, coaching soccer....

But now it is time for Project Run & Play- time to dust off the sewing machine and get those competitive juices flowing.

The first challenge is to remake Katy from No Big Dill's idea of using opened up bias tape to add detail and texture to an item of clothing. 

 

 

I thought that I would remake the idea by using the bias tape to make a chevron pattern instead of horizontal stripes.

 

 

I also added a little hand embellished applique to the bodice to make the dress a little more "me."

 

 

 

 I started with Simplicity Pattern 3511.

 

 

 

I cut the back and front skirt pieces into four instead of two.

 

 

Then added all the strips of bias tape diagonally across the pieces.

 

 

Here are the four pieces before I sewed them together.

 

 

For the dragonfly applique I cut out the shape from a sliver piece of fabric.

 

 

The wings and body pieces from other scraps of fabric

 

 

Ironed them altogether...

 

 

I used the sewing machine to zig-zag stitch around all the pieces before going back and hand embellishing.

 

 

 

 

I choose to make the dress with the 3/4 sleeve option so my daughter can wear it a little later into the season and again in the spring with the mornings are cooler.

 

 

 

 

I have made this pattern several times, it is really easy with 2 buttons on the back instead of a zipper.

 

 

So I am off to get a jump on next week since it seems like lately I have been behind on everything!! Hope you all have a good weekend!

Jessica