My 4th of July Skirt

Good Evening All!

I am doing a post tonight on a skirt I made to wear this 4th of July.  I made it for kicks but as it turns out, it's one of the most comfortable skirts yet!  It's a simple yolk skirt with a button front (cause I am not a zipper fan) and two panels gathered for the skirt bottom.  I am going to have to make a tutorial for you all should you like to make one for yourself.  I wasn't sure if this one would turn out so I didn't take pictures as I made it, but now I know it's a winner.

I made it by making a waist band yolk that is 4" wide with an arc at the top and bottom so it sat on my waist naturally following my hips.  The sides angle a bit as well or else it wouldn't sit right.  The front yolk pieces are the same as the back piece, just cut in half with an inch added to each side so it would over lap and I could button it.  I cut out duplicate yolk pieces for a lining, sewed them like the outer yolk and then with right sides together sewed the two waistbands together.  I turned them, pressed, top stitched, and added my buttons and holes.  Once I fitted the yolk I measured the bottom of the yolk to where I wanted my skirt hem to end and subtracted a couple of inches because I wanted some color at the bottom of the skirt.  With my skirt panel measurements, I cut two panels from my fabric and sewed the sides together.  I measured twice the width of the color band, added 1/2" for a seam allowance and cut two of those.  I sewed the two bands together, pressed the raw edges together and pinned it to my skirt bottom.  Once I got an idea of how big the color band needed to be I opened up the hem, trimmed and sewed the raw ends together so I had one big color band circle that would fit the skirt bottom perfectly.  I sewed all the raw edges (skirt bottom and folded color band) together and top stitched.  I then gathered the top of the skirt to match the yolk and did the same as the bottom, pinned, sewed all the raw edges together, and topstitched.

I know this sounds like a lot of work but it's actually very easy and I will include better details and pics for all of this.   If you don't want to wait for a tutorial you can always follow the top lines of an A-line skirt you have in the closet and copy it.  Just don't forget to add a half inch to all your sides for seam allowances.  It's always better to take in because sometimes there isn't enough to let out!  Well here it is for a good laugh, my Fourth of July Skirt!

Yep, my Hubbie raised and eyebrow to this one!

I got this fabric from the Alexander Henry 2012 collection  called "Just Us for All", too funny!  He also has a 2013 edition called "Pursuit of Happiness".

As you can see it sits well, comfy, and the yolk waistband makes it flattering.  I myself dislike elastic waistbands on skirts because they can make me look bulky around the middle.  Now we will have to see if I actually have the guts to wear it on July 4th!

A new baby quilt

Over the course of the last year I have really fallen in love with the art of quilting.  I have tried to perfect my free motion quilting, getting my seams to match up perfectly, ironing with out steam , etc, etc, the list goes on and on.  I have also collected copious amounts of fabric over time that I am literally out of room for storage. I know I am not the only one who can count 12+ tote bins stacked beautifully so I can see what you've got at all times.  A fabric stash is usually sorted to ones favorite method, for me it's by style, season, and then color.  I know what I have at all times and where to locate it if I need it.

So the reason for all this is the simple fact that I need to start using it.  Sure I have been using some, but it's just so easy to buy new when it's freshly released from the quilt store!  I've made many quilts over the last year but now I have decided to let some of it go for someone else to enjoy.  This week I made a baby quilt.  I haven't done one of those in a while and I thought it would be a great start.  I have always wanted to make a chevron quilt but when it comes to a pattern and fabric, you have to find the right ones!  I recently acquired a mystery bundle containing Riley Blake's Willow collection that I thought would be perfect for the job as a baby quilt.  The collection is some pale pinks, yellows, grays, and aquas.  Like I mentioned previously I have been trying to perfect my seams so I did not take the triangle rout, I followed the tutorial provided by Crazy Mom Quilt!  Her blog and tutorial can be found here, http://crazymomquilts.blogspot.com/2009/03/all-zipped-up.html.  She has a wonderful method to making a zig zag quilt using strips of fabric cut into squares and then arranged to make a zig zag.  Nice and easy and my seams matched up beautifully.  Now unfortunately I don't have any babies on the way for myself nor in my vicinity so I have decided to put this one up for sale in my Etsy shop.  I've always sold children's boutique clothing so this is something new for me.  But I think this is one of my best quilts yet, I love the clean lines and colors.

See!  Very pretty!  I had a lot of fun sewing this quilt and I can't wait to start on the next!  I also just got a new sewing machine for my birthday and I think that helped in the motivation department too!  Tomorrow I will show you all what I have made to wear on the 4th of July, it will give you a good laugh!